Babysitting this week? Before you pack them up for another expensive sticky day at the theme park, consider an eco-friendly art project!
Even the most recalcitrant teenager enjoys painting, and why not? Grab a piece of wood from the dumpster, paint it with no-VOC color, and presto! Your tenth grader has a fabulous new bedside table… and 10 more points on his PG score!
Get inspired on Etsy!
Why not paint a wall! Be sure to use No-VOC paint, such as Mythic.... as seen on this mural in Auburn, Washington.
Maybe you have a rock! Lin Wellford can show you how to turn it into a python, a shark, or a rabbit:
Get your rock and mark your design
Rabbit! Courtesy LinWellford.com
Artists of any age may lose themselves in the fascinating scent of certain markers and paints. Don’t! Those mysterious aromas might be/probably are unsafe chemicals — and they’re especially dangerous for smaller children and expecting moms. Here’s more on Choosing Eco-Friendly Art Supplies: Why it’s important, and How to do it.
Fab bowls from the Clementine blog
If you’re an artist or have kids, chances are your home is overflowing with markers, crayons, pens, glue, and paint. Sadly many art supplies contain and offgas unsafe chemicals. Exposure to them can result in headaches, nausea, breathing problems, lung and kidney damage, and even cancer.
Your nose already knows this—have you ever gotten a good whiff of certain kinds of markers? These—and some paints—can contain air polluting solvents like xylene and toluene, which are neuro, reproductive, and respiratory hazards. Crayons and paints may contain unsafe pigments containing heavy metals. Glues may contain formaldehyde, a carcinogen. Not exactly what you bargain for when your kid draws you a rainbow!
Clementine Natural Soy Crayons. Ingredients: kosher soy wax, mineral pigments, beeswax... and "as always, no chemical dyes or additives."
Eco Paint: Powder based exploratory finger paint handmade w/ natural + organic fruit, plant/vegetable extracts from annatto seed, beets, carrots, curcumin, purple sweet potato, red cabbage & spinach, flour, cornstarch, wheat paste & earth clay.
Even the eco-friendlier art supplies on the market should be carefully researched. It’s not enough to have a label saying the product conforms to an ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) standard. This sounds promising, but it’s not a meaningful claim. ASTM ingredient reviews can be performed by employees of the art supply manufacturer.
Use your nose as a guide—avoid anything that smells strongly of chemicals as well as anything fragranced.
Avoid modeling clays; they often have high levels of phthalates.
Natural pigments and materials like beeswax and soy wax are preferable to petroleum-derived paraffin wax. Plant dyes are preferable to synthetic pigments.
Simpler is better—choose crayons and pencils over markers. Don’t use products with warning labels.
Don’t allow young children to put art supplies in their mouths. And always wash hands after doing an art project. Don’t snack as you doodle.
When all else fails, you can decorate your own hands! These ideas are from "A Show of Hands," sold on LandOfNod.com
Switch to organic cotton sheets
Who wants to zzzzzz on sheets and pillowcases made of cotton that was sprayed with chemicals?
No thank you!
We caught up with our friend Sarah Wissler of Cuddledown in Portland, Maine. It’s our personal go-to for top-quality and frankly lovely bedding and sleepwear. Here’s what she told us. You’ll notice she is a bit biased re: Cuddledown, which is understandable…. If you have another favorite to recommend, please post here or submit it right on the action page!
Organic Embroidered Dragonfly Bedding: LOVE. One of the Recommended Products on this PG action!
Nothing says romance like a new set of luxurious sheets – and with eco-friendly bedding, you can show the environment a little love, too. Why eco-friendly bedding? For starters, it is free of harmful substances and safe for your entire family. Cuddledown offers a wide selection of bedding, comforters, pillows, and sleepwear that are Oeko-Tex® certified. These products have met the requirements of the Oeko-Tex® Standard 100 global testing and accreditation program, meaning that they have been thoroughly tested and guaranteed to be free of all harmful substances, including toxins and irritants.
Cuddledown also offers bedding and sleepwear that are certified organic by the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS). Not only are these fabrics free of harmful chemicals, the results of their production pose no threat to the environment or the communities in which they were produced. GOTS is a standard used around the world to guarantee that the organic products you bring into your home are healthy and safe for you and the environment – and that these products are manufactured in fair and just working conditions.
At Cuddledown, you can also find Oeko-Tex® certified, made in Maine comforters, pillows, and featherbeds. All comforters are currently on sale – why not save energy by turning the heat down and curling up in a comforter instead!
If you’re in the market for new sheets, choosing organic cotton ones can drastically reduce the impact of what you buy.
According to the Sustainable Cotton Project, conventional cotton farming uses about 25 percent of the world’s insecticides and more than 10 percent of the pesticides. The pesticides used on cotton happen to be among the world’s worst: five of the nine most commonly used have been identified as possible human carcinogens. Others are known to damage the nervous system and are suspected of disrupting the body’s hormonal system. These chemicals aren’t permitted for use on organic cotton.
Sumptuous spicy sheets from Gaiam. Low eco-impact dyes, 300-thread count, 100% organic cotton.
Beyond sprays, there are other eco-concerns involved with the manufacture of sheets: processing and washing are water-intensive; the chemicals used to bleach and dye cotton can harm our waterways, and some colorants contain heavy metals; formaldehyde is used to create permanent press fabric; packaging and transportation take a toll. Many of these concerns are minimized or avoided with organic cotton sheets.
We want to sleep on this exact bed! These over-achieving, ultra-soft, 100 percent certified organic sheets have got you covered--literally--with approval from GOTS, EcoCert, and FLO-Cert.
Most stores that sell sheets offer one or two organic options. Read the find print. The word natural doesn’t mean organic, nor is it regulated.
Just because sheets were made from organic cotton doesn’t automatically mean they’re also low-impact dyed. Choose undyed sheets or, if you want white, colored, or patterned versions, look into how the fabric was bleached or dyed.
Two solid certifications to look for are GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) and Oeko-Tex.
Don’t forget about your blankets, pillows, and mattress. There are organic versions of these, too.
- Treehugger.com: Organic Cotton–For Clothing, Baby, Bedding And More
- Bookmark This Site: Global Organic Textile Standard
- Bookmark This Site: The Sustainable Cotton Project
- NRDC: Responsible Sourcing For The Textile Industry
- AlexandraZissu.com: Q&A — Sheets And Towels
P.S. As long as you’re on the Cuddledown site, you might consider this sale item: Calida Organic Cotton Tank top, perfect for lounging around on Valentine’s Day — or any day! 
What’s with all the plastic bags caught in trees and bushes lately?
Why not recycle them instead?
(Why not bring reusable shopping bags and stop using these altogether, as many places now require…. Seattle, Long Beach, San Francisco, Washington, Hawaii, New Delhi, Italy, France, China, Tanzania….)
From an illustration by Ben Katchor for "Bags in Trees" in The New Yorker, Jan. 12, 2004
Nearly 1 million bags are used each minute worldwide. Recycling rates of plastic bags hover near 10 percent (only about a third of paper bag recycling). Suffice it to say that we have a long way to go to reduce the number of plastic bags that are thrown in the trash and wind up in our waterways as well as our overstuffed landfills.
In 2010, D.C. businesses began seeing a drastic reduction in bag usage; environmental clean-up groups witnessed fewer bags polluting regional waterways
Unfortunately many curbside recycling programs don’t currently accept plastic bags. If this is the case where you live, seek out a grocery or retail store near you that will accept them for recycling. If you’re fortunate enough to be able to recycle them curbside, make sure your bags are properly secured within the bin. They won’t get recycled if they blow away.
Reduce the amount of plastic bags you need to recycle by not taking them at stores in the first place—use a reusable bag instead. You can even bring reusable produce bags to go inside your shopping bags! Reusing the plastic bags you do have stretches the considerable resources that went into making them.
Our friends at Blue Avocado ease the switch BYO bags, with zippy design & a passion for reducing plastic bag waste.
Check with your town or municipality to see if they recycle plastic bags. If they don’t, ask them to start.
Look online to find a store that accepts plastic bags for recycling near where you live. Double check to see what kind of plastic your bags are; some stores only take back plastic #2 and #4 bags. See if they take produce bags as well as shopping bags.
Keep in mind these guidelines from Waste Management:
Clean plastic bags are accepted in recycling containers at many grocery stores. However:
- Plastic bags are a major cause of litter and waste. It is much better to use a durable shopping bag.
- Plastic bags cause litter, slow sorting and jam machinery at recycling centers. Empty recyclables out of bags and boxes, and put them loose in recycling containers so that they can be easily identified and sorted.
From SimpleHuman: Mount this slim profile storage bin in pantry, under sink, or on wall to keep plastic bags organized & at the ready.
Earth911 makes it super easy to find a plastic-bag recycling drop-off.
At Earth911, choose an item, type your ZIP code...
… and presto! You get info on where to go and how to get there.
Or visit PlasticBagRecycling.org.
We’re not the only ones who see bags in trees everywhere; check out Beth Terry’s blog My Plastic-Free Life, or Windy, the story of the plastic bag caught in a Pennsylvania tree in 2008 (and disappeared during the freak snowstorm of October 2011).
If you’re interested in clean energy, here’s a simple one-time action: Sign up for green power from your local utility.
Click here for a map that shows you what’s available in your region – wind, solar, hydro.
Here’s another map showing the states that offer significant grant programs to reimburse your adoption of renewables—FYI some of these grants are quite significant, i.e., use the $ to take a nice vacation!!
One of many useful (and free) maps at DSIREusa.org
“It’s the simplest thing someone can do to change the dynamics of the electric power grid,” explains Larry Chretien of MassEnergy.org. “It’s the stroke of a pen. Once you sign up, you just enjoy having clean energy power.”
Wind Turbine at Portsmouth (RI) high school feeds into regional power grid
“The average American family uses 500 to 600 kilowatt hours of electricity every month. Our New England GreenStart mix of renewables costs 2.4 cents extra per kWh, so it’s an add of $12 per month to your bill. That extra amount is 100% federally tax deductible. “
According to Larry, the vast majority of Americans have access to green power. If you already take advantage of a program, don’t forget to add a nice fat 200 points to your score!
Purchasing clean and renewably generated power is one of the most effective actions you can take to minimize the environmental impact of your own energy use without purchasing a renewable-energy system for your home.
When you sign up for green power, you are telling your utility that they have to buy your annual usage (if you signed up for 100%) from a renewable source (wind, solar, etc). While the power delivered to your home may not be directly from that source, you have driven up the demand for that clean power, which in turn makes it more economically viable for large-scale renewable projects to be built.
What's powering the lights at your house? (TY Truex Cullins, Burlington Vermont)
Contact your energy utility or utilities (electric & gas) and inquire about purchasing 100% clean, renewably-generated power from them.
Ask as well about the additional cost of buying green power — it’s most helpful to speak with your utility service provider(s) in terms of additional cost, as a percentage based on what you’re paying right now for energy.
To find out which utilities in your state offer green power and what the price premium is for it, visit: http://apps3.eere.energy.gov/greenpower/buying/buying_power.shtml
On a chilly day, set the thermostat at 67°F, down from 71°. You’ll barely notice, and those 4 degrees will make a big impact on your energy bill!
How much will you save? Ask your utility company and check your statement to be absolutely certain, but we’re guessing you might save about 15% over the course of the season. You might even enjoy health benefits…. many of our New England friends swear by sleeping with the window open at night, no matter what.
Lounging around at home? Wrap up in this cashmere yummy, 50" x 65" and on sale now at WilliamsSonoma
Turning down your thermostat is one of the simplest and most effective actions you can take to protect the environment and reduce your energy bills. In general, adjusting the thermostat down by just a single degree in the winter can cut heating-energy use by about 7%.
Lower office temps are a breeze when you wear a Nau vest!
If you choose to turn down your thermostat by four degrees in the winter, you’ll be saving close to 15% in energy costs — and you’ll also be avoiding the release of greenhouse gases into the environment and utilization of non-renewable resources.
In most systems, this should be pretty straightforward. The only hard part is ensuring everyone in the home KEEPS it lower (children, visiting relatives, spouses). You also may want to stock up on sweaters and put blankets on the couches.
If you recently purchased a programmable thermostat you may want to consult the owner’s guide (which should be included with the unit) to manually adjust the programmed setting.
Snuggy slippers help, e.g. these "wicked good" ones from L.L. Bean -- order in dark brown and you can get away with them at the office?
We blogged about the amazing Nest a few months ago…. it’s an innovative game-changer, in our view.
Nest programmable thermostat
Other programmable thermostats work well—and they cost much less:
Hunter Fan Company Programmable Thermostat
Black & Decker Home Power Monitor
Black & Decker's Home Power Monitor keeps track of energy usage in either kilowatt hours or $ amounts to help you save money + prevent waste. This is a great way to monitor your spending on heating & cooling.
Thermostats and Control Systems: Energy Savers
P.S.
If you have insulated window treatments, don’t forget to pull them shut before you leave the house—and on sunny days, leave them UP!
This action goes toward your Frugalista badge!
Next time you’re inside, look around the floor. Near the wall. You might see something like this:
The red light at the top means this strip is ON. Turn it off when you don't need it!
It’s a smart strip, of course! Ever wonder why they’re called SMART? Or why it’s SMART to switch them off when you aren’t using them? Read on.
Did you know that even after you’ve turned off your TV or powered down your computer, they continue to use electricity? This is referred to as vampire or phantom energy use. Pretty much all electronics do this—unless unplugged from a socket—which is why phantom energy accounts for 10 percent or more of your energy bill each month. Unplugging devices is one way to stop wasting energy and cash, but it’s a very tedious process.
Enter the perfect solution: a smart power strip.
Belkin's Conserve Switch Surge Protector comes with a wireless remote, so you can shut off power—including standby power—to all of your electronics with the flick of a switch. It has six switchable & two always-on power outlets, so items you need on will remain on.
Depending on the kind of strip you purchase, it will either power down automatically or you simply press one switch. Either way, you’ve cut power completely to multiple devices at once—reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production of your electricity and saving money. Win-win.
The colorful Smart Strip in the photo is, well, smart. It stops drawing power when your gadgets are turned off so no more wasting money on vampire energy. It’s got ten outlets: a great choice for home offices or entertainment centers. Plug it in, start curbing your energy costs.
Buy a smart power strip at an electronics store or online (this will cost around $30). Plug in everything from your laptop to your phone charger and you’re on your way to saving energy. For bigger savings, consider investing in multiple power strips for your home office, media room, and kitchen.
Plug items you want to leave on into the wall. Or purchase a smart strip equipped with a mix of outlets that are always on, as well as power saving ones. This configuration allows you to keep some electronics on (like your cable modem or DVR), while shutting others off (like your TV or DVD player).
Cool mirrored Isole' power strip: combination power strip & motion sensor. With six outlets controlled by occupancy and two uncontrolled outlets, this energy saving power strip is ideal for home, school, or office.
If you’d like to add 270 points to your Practically Green score, simply insulate your roof, walls, basement, and pipes.
No, this is not buttercream cake frosting: it's icynene insulation sprayed between the rafters: this keeps conditioned air where you want it!
For another 20 points, insulate your ductwork! “Ductwork!?” I can hear some of you renters screaming: “what’s that?”
To understand the concept of insulation: think of these dogs as your pipes, and their plaid coats as the insulation. (TY Bill Cunningham of the NYTimes Style section)
Okay, we know: if you rent your space, or merely inhabit it as a worker, a guest, a student, or other non-invested person, this set of actions might not be for you. But if you’re a home owner, a real-estate manager, a facilities manager, you know how important it is to insulate. And even if you are a tenant, you might be able to improve upon the stuffing in your walls.
If you're ever in San Francisco, visit the Levis headquarters for a fabulous example of denim insulation. 200,000 pairs of jeans were used in this location, many of them collected from Goodwill
Owens-Corning has a new product called EcoTouch and exacting green building guru Alex Wilson gave it a thumbs up: ”EcoTouch is a large, important step for Owens Corning…. Its introduction last year was the first step of a top-to-bottom transformation of the company’s ubiquitous pink fiberglass insulation, making that a healthier, safer product.” Click here for his February 2011 blog post on it at BuildingGreen.com.
Handy diagram at OwensCorning.com guides insulation choices
Excellent insulation, captured by Bill Cunningham
When properly installed, insulation reduces the energy necessary to heat your home in the winter and cool it in the summer. Reduced energy means lower bills, results in fewer emissions, and consumes fewer natural resources. A perfect trifecta.
Almost any insulation can be considered green because of the energy benefits, but some materials are eco-friendlier than others. Some manufacturers use high percentages of recycled content, or substitute natural castor oil for petroleum-based materials. There are versions created from recycled blue jeans, recycled newspaper newspapers, and wool. Some foams are made from renewable products like soy, and avoid use of ozone-depleting chemicals. Steer clear of dangerous ingredients such as formaldehyde, a “known” carcinogen in Europe and a “suspected” one in the U.S., which has also been linked to allergies and asthma and is routinely used as a binder in insulation.
Have an experienced contractor conduct an analysis of your home’s walls, and then walk you through your options.
Air sealing any leaks before adding new insulation is common practice (and highly recommended!). Wall insulation is often installed in combination with added roof insulation.
Tip: ask your contractor if insulation close to R-40 can be added to your walls (the R factor is the measure of resistance to heat flow). This will assure maximum effectiveness, quicker payback from your investment, and provide extra comfort throughout the home. Bonus!
- Energy Savers: Wall Insulation
- Inhabitat: New Ideas for Green Insulation
- Energy Savers: Adding Insulation to an Existing Home
- This Old House: “Insulation”
- Bookmark This Site: Simply Insulate
Even if you have a no Fur policy for your body, don't skimp on padding your building envelope! (TY Bill Cunningham for another great illustration.)
Dubbed the Magic Wand by many beauties, L'Oreal's Clarisonic is upgrading, which might mean swapping yours out... but what to do with the cast-off?
How exciting! You just received a new hairdryer, telephone handset, camera, electric toothbrush, rotating face exfoliator! (…you know who you are) You’re swapping out your energy-hog toaster oven for a new compact microwave! Good for you! Now what are you going to do with the old ones? Throw them into an opaque Hefty bag for the garbage guy to transport to a crammed landfill? Not so fast.
that is, the electronics besides computers and cellphones, which have their own special set of info (and points!)
Did Santa bring you a new scooter? Fab! What's the plan for the old electric scooter you don't need any more?
E-waste, otherwise known as discarded electronics, is one of the largest—and growing—contributors to solid waste today. This should come as no surprise considering how quickly the latest must-have gadgets become obsolete. And then what? People throw them out. Unfortunately electronics contain metals including lead, nickel, cadmium, and mercury that are extremely harmful if they end up in landfills, where they can leach into the ground and water. Some e-waste gets exported and burned—polluting the air and poisoning the workers charged with this unsafe task.
You're obsessed with the awesome new camera you got for your birthday. We know. But what to do with its predecessor?
While computer and cellphone recycling receive the bulk of e-waste attention, many other electronic items can and should be recycled—including microwaves, home theater items, and all kinds of equipment associated with computers and cameras. Basically it’s good common sense to keep anything with a circuit board out of landfills. Bonus: recycling e-waste also recovers some natural resources like copper, gold, and silicon, which can be reused in manufacturing processes.
Try Gazelle.com to trade in all sorts of stuff. They power e-cycling programs for Costco, Office Depot, Sears, Walmart and other stores.
Try repairing and reusing before recycling. Reuse includes donating items you no longer find useful to an organization or someone who might find it very useful. If you prefer not to donate, you can also resell many electronics.
When the time comes to recycle e-waste, check online for the best options near you. Some towns have e-waste collection centers. Others organize occasional e-waste collection drives, as do environmental organizations as well as schools.
At Earth911, type in your item and your location... and...
... choose the solution that works best for you!
Manufacturers and major retailers like Best Buy also accept most forms of e-waste. Call ahead about specific items before you lug them to a store.
Other helpful resources:
Sometimes it’s handy to buy a bottle of water, especially if you’re traveling, especially if drinking water is sketchy. We know. But for most of the time, it makes sense to establish another routine: Replace bottled water with filtered water. Once you read this explanation, you’ll probably agree.
Water bottle with built-in filter, from Brita
By switching to filtered water or just plain tap water, you can save significant amounts of money, natural resources, and avoid a huge source of waste. Americans drink 21 gallons of bottled water per capita per year and it’s not a cheap habit. Water costs 240 to 10,000 times more than tap water.
In terms of resources, supplying Americans with plastic water bottles for one year consumes more than 47 million gallons of oil. That’s enough to take 100,000 cars off the road and 1 billion pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, according to the Container Recycling Institute. And only ~30% of water bottles are recycled.
Bottled water is not necessarily safer than your tap water. Municipal tap water is tested much more rigorously than bottled water. An investigation of 10 brands by the Environmental Working Group found that several ranked the same as municipal tap water, and several were worse. Unless you have a special health concern, tap water is likely to be just as safe.
Want one in every color! Each pitcher holds 10 8 oz units of filterable H2O. Perfect for home, office, or dorm. Brita Grand
If you like the taste of your town water, then get a few jugs and cool it in the refrigerator.
Posh Chez Panisse restaurant serves filtered tap water & house-aerated sparkling water in lieu of bottled water...You can too! Use repurposed clear wine bottles (soak off label) as water carafes; just fill w/ cold water. (Thank you, Remodelista)
PUR 3-stage faucet mount
If you want to filter it for taste or to get out an impurities, decide whether you want to go with a filtered pitcher or add a filter to the faucet or system.
Multi-Pure Stainless Steel Countertop Water Filter
Multi-Pure: This stainless-steel model sits on counter next to the sink & is connected to your existing faucet. Filter life: 750 gallons.
What's wrong with this picture? Empty room with lights on.
It’s so simple, and yet so hard to remember: Turn off the lights when you leave a room and you can save energy and money.
A standard bulb uses 60 watts of energy an hour. That’s stamped on the bulb. We get that. If you think in terms of kilowatts, here’s a little math: that bulb consumes a kilowatt of energy over approximately 16 hours. A kilowatt-hour of energy costs about 11 cents. So leaving that light on unnecessarily for 16 hours a day all year equals $40.15 down the drain. Leave the lights on in a room with multiple recessed lights and you’ve cost yourself a night out.
CFLs only use 13 watts per hour and the LED equivalent of a 60 watt incandescent uses about 7 watts per hour. So it’s a good idea to switch the kind of bulb you use. Regardless of the type of bulb you have, it’s always a good idea to turn off the lights if you’re leaving a room for more than a few minutes.
Everyone has their own way to remember to turn off the lights. Implement your own. If fear of a nagging spouse doesn’t do it, try doing a last lap around the house before leaving. Hang a reminder sign on the door. Or bribe your kids to check.
If you truly cannot remember, install a motion sensor. This is particularly good for kids’ rooms and offices.
Lutron Wireless Occupancy Sensor
Struggling to remember to turn off the lights? Try installing one of these wireless wall-mounted sensors that detects the heat from people moving in an area to determine when the space is occupied and turns the lights on or off accordingly.
Taking a break for the holidays? Power down before you leave your office/dorm/apartment/house!
The lights are on... but is anyone there to use them?
Here’s a super handy checklist from the University of Chicago’s Sustainability office, complete with links to Practically Green actions for more info, tips – and points to boost your PG score.
What You Should Power Down and Unplug
* * * * *
Holiday lights and other decorative lights
Laptops, computers, and chargers* (or put into sleep mode)
Printers, copiers, scanners, and fax machines
Coffee makers, microwaves, and other kitchen appliances
Televisions, DVD, and CD Players
We’ll add 3 ideas to the list:
Adjust your thermostat so it’s not needlessly heating/cooling your space
Close your window shades so you keep heat in (or out)
Install smart power strip to turn off electronics completely
Ilsa Flanagan, the University of Chicago’s founding Director for the Office of Sustainability
The Power Down program targets “anyone who’s going anywhere for the holiday break,” according to Ilsa Flanagan. “We have students in dorms and off-campus, post-docs and professors from all over the world, and many of them travel at this time of the year. It’s so simple and easy to take a few steps before you head out.”
With over 35,000 faculty, staff, and students at the University and the Medical Center, the energy savings can be impressive! Almost all electrical devices continue to draw power when plugged into an outlet. For example, any device with a remote control draws power while on “standby.” Any charger with an adapter, such as a laptop or phone charger, also draws a small amount of power even when the device is unattached. These small electricity drains add up when aggregated across the campus.
UChicago’s comprehensive green campaign targets plastic water bottles, recycling, and year-round energy usage. More info here: http://sustainability.uchicago.edu/ and on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uchicagostudentsagainstbottledwater
Signage promoting tap water
Water: Got too much? Not enough? What are the coolest new products for conserving water? How do the experts view this precious resource?
** Please join our free webinar on November 16, 1-2pm ET to get expert advice and answers. **
Register here: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/458003078
Practically Green has 51 Water-related actions, from Wash only full loads of laundry (99% of PG users have done this already; 20 points) to Install a shower timer (Only 1% of PG has done this one! Why is it the least favorite Water action?)
What would happen if the entire country decided to Turn off the faucets while brushing teeth? Or if every Fortune 1000 headquarters Installed a rainwater harvesting system? (150 points!)
We’re hosting an online event for a deep dive on the subject.
Panelists:
• Molly Hislop: Program Director, Green Education Foundation
• Michele Hudec: VP of Product and BizDev, American Standard Brands
• Stephanie Thornton: Community Outreach, WaterSense, EPA
• Martin Wolf: Director of Product/Technology at Seventh Generation
• Peter Yost: Director of Residential Services, BuildingGreen
• Alexandra Zissu: Editorial Director, Practically Green; Author, Planet Home and more
Moderated by Practically Green’s Founder & CEO, Susan Hunt Stevens.
Save money being green
In a skittish economy, money trumps all. Everyone wants to boost efficiency, reduce waste, and be healthy not only because it’s the right thing to do but because it’s miserable watching cash float away any more than we must. Practically Green has 70+ actions you can do that are either free or that will yield impressive financial results.
Check the list! You’re probably doing lots of these things already. You’ll see several to do starting, well… Now!
Here’s a sampling. The point value tells you the relative impact of each action:
Turn thermostat down by 4 degrees in the winter (50 Points)
Turn down hot water heater (20 points)
Turn off the heat dry feature on your dishwasher (20 points)
Switch to reusable towels or dish cloths at home (20 points)
Install one low-flow shower head (20 points)
Use reusable shopping bags regularly (10 points)
Unplug (or avoiding buying) your second refrigerator (50 points)
Turn off the lights when you leave a room (10 points)
Unplug chargers and appliances when not in use (20 points)
Buy antique or secondhand furniture and home goods (50 points)
Buy a pre-owned home instead of building new (200 points)
Commit to 25 of these next steps, and you’ve earned the Frugalista badge. Who wouldn’t want this coy pig on their Practically Green dashboard?!
So go ahead, pick your 25 actions and get this savvy oinker on board your green program!
We’ve got a fabulous panel of experts coming to our Water webinar on November 16. Please mark your calendars for 1pm Eastern, full details coming soon!
* * *
Meet Martin Wolf, one of our panelists; he’s the Director of Product & Environmental Technology at Seventh Generation. He also goes by “Scienceman.”
We asked Martin for the two or three most salient points he’d like to address during our Webinar, and here’s one of them:
Our water supply pipes and our drain pipes are connected. What goes out our drain pipes goes into a system, and is brought back into our homes and other buildings through our supply pipes. Knowing this, how should we change our thinking about what we put down our drains?
That got me thinking about my kitchen sink at home, and the drain in the sink that leads to a disposal, which grinds up all our food scraps into… pulp? mush? and then all of that glop goes … where?
To the rescue: Bootstrap Compost, a can-do composting entrepreneur who supplies households and businesses in metro Boston with a cool bin, lined with a biodegradable bag. It has a happy green lid and it looks just fine on the kitchen floor.
Who can resist this message from Bootstrap’s impresario, Andy Brooks?
Bootstrap Compost is Greater Boston’s only year-round kitchen scrap pickup service. We use bikes, trains, hand trucks, and the occasional vehicle to collect and transport compostable material from houses, apartments, dorms, co-ops, and condos. Additionally, we’ll happily collect scraps from farmer’s markets, cafes, restaurants, concerts, festivals, cult gatherings — you name it. And the coolest thing is this: all active Bootstrap customers receive a portion of super rich compost 10-15 weeks after their initial deposit to the Bootstrap Compost bank. The second coolest thing is this: We donate finished compost to urban gardens in Roxbury and Jamaica Plain.
I was amazed at all the scraps we had accumulated after one simple dinner for two and a light breakfast the next morning – and this was before we scooped in our coffee grinds! There’s something a bit intimate, revealing, about showing you our compost, but here you are:
Personal compost, after one dinner, half a breakfast, and before coffee grinds
Turns out Andy is not alone: there are compost services in many other cities (go Philly Compost and New York Compost!), some of which are actually provided by the municipality (go San Francisco and Seattle!). And composting isn’t just for home: we know restaurants, companies, and even a major-league baseball team that composts 85% of its waste (go, Seattle Mariners!).
Find out why Compost kitchen food waste is worth a big fat 100 points!
Have you ever considered composting at your home, office, school? This might just be the way to ease into the practice…. Google “NAME OF YOUR CITY + compost pickup” and see what you get!
In a couple of months, the reward: they’ll deliver a bag of urban black gold – worm-processed soil that’s perfect for houseplants this winter.
Thank you, White Flower Farm
Five reasons to love the new Nest thermostat.
Our head of engineering is a smooth unflappable type, not given to gushing.
So when he gets excited, we pay attention:
Rajiv’s on his way to earning 50 points for this action:
And another 50 points each for these two actions on Practically Green:
Nest shows how long it'll take to reach the temp you want; green leaf indicates you're in the smart green zone
Nest: it’s a brainy new thermostat designed by Tony Fadell, the guy who sold Steve Jobs on the iPod. In the past 48 hours, this stylish tool has been a complete thumbs-up for testers ranging from TechCrunch to Grist to Fast Company to Wired to the Wall Street Journal: “like Apple, Nest Labs has taken something you use every day and made it simple and delightful to use.”
Why is it so cool?
Let us count the ways:
1) It’s simple: a wheel. Rajiv says it reminds him of the rotary thermostat of his youth… and it clicks as you turn it, like the first iPods.
2) It’s gorgeous, something you’d love to have on your wall. (We’re thinking it would make a great belt buckle.)
3) It effortlessly matches your décor: the trim is a mirror. Did someone say elegant?
4) It adjusts to your behavior and routines: light and activity sensors learn your habits. You might not remember to adjust your thermostat every single time you need to – e.g., when you get up, when you go away, when you return, when you go to bed. Not to worry: this device does it for you.
5) It’s ubiquitous, i.e., you can access it from anywhere. You can set it up to connect to your Wi-Fi, then change the settings remotely from your smart phone. Say you’re heading home early, and it’s suddenly freezing outside. No problem: in a few clicks your house is getting comfortable for your return.
Watch this demo:
You can order it on Practically Green here, for $249 — scroll to the Recommended Products. We have a feeling it’ll sell out, because Rajiv is usually ahead of the pack.
Rajiv Manglani, Director of Engineering
If you live in Georgia, and especially if you work in the metro-Atlanta area, you probably know about The Clean Air Campaign. The Clean Air Campaign works with commuters and employers such as Coca-Cola, UPS, Aflac, and hundreds more to reward employees for kicking the ‘drive-alone’ habit.
In the past 10 years, more than 32,000 Georgians have participated in the Cash for Commuters program, one of just a few rewards programs the non-profit offers. Click here for details and here for a sample application.
While we don’t offer cash at Practically Green, we do award mega-points and badges for changes like these ones:
Walk to work regularly (200 points)
Take public transportation to work regularly (150 points)
Carpool to work regularly (100 points)
Bike to work regularly (200 points)
Carpool to school one day a week (50 points)
We even have a Low Car Diet! http://practicallygreen.com/actions/low-car-diet
October 24-28 is Clean Commute Week, which encourages students throughout the state to get to class by bus, bike, on foot, or via carpool. To date, The Clean Air Campaign’s Clean Air Schools program has worked with more than 300 schools in 30 counties throughout Georgia … impressive. You can follow the progress of Clean Commute Week on Facebook.
We were curious about how the Clean Air Campaign got started, so we called its (aptly named) Director of Communications, Brian Carr. It turns out that the Atlanta Olympics were the catalyst, in 1996:
“We were focused on the twin problems of extreme traffic congestion and poor air quality in Atlanta,” Carr explains. “We were worried about millions of people visiting: the athletes, dignitaries, VIPs, and about our citizens, who were already having a tough time commuting to work. A diverse group of private-sector and public entities emerged to solve the problem – the Georgia Environmental Protection Division and the Department of Transportation, the Sierra Club, Georgia Power, Georgia Pacific, a number of businesses downtown – all trying to address it. It was remarkable — and it was ironic, frankly — because some of these groups were suing each other, but they wanted to collaborate, to do something about the link between transportation and air quality challenges.”
The Clean Air Campaign was born, a non-profit supported by all of them.
“We came up with ways for people not to have to come downtown to work while the Olympics were going on. It was a huge success: during those three weeks commuter traffic declined and the air quality improved substantially. The number of emergency room visits related to lung, breathing issues dropped 37 percent. From there we established the financial incentives program and we showed that habits could be made to stick, that the white-knuckled single-person commute didn’t have to be the norm. We consult with our partners, really listen to them, and we develop benefits to commuters that employers can call their own.”
Telework begins to take off: up from 4% in 2009.
Telework is another impactful strategy. Luiz Montoro, project manager for Coca-Cola, is a fan:
According to the 2010 Metro Atlanta Regional Commuter Survey, teleworking has overtaken carpooling as the number-one commute alternative … more than 600,000 metro Atlantans telework at least occasionally, a 20 percent increase since the last survey in 2007.
Why?
Some employers may be motivated by the fact that Atlanta loses $2.7 billion annually in productivity due to traffic congestion, and that the average Atlanta household spends more on transportation costs than on food. Numbers like that tend to grab your attention.
They sure do! Check out The Clean Air Campaign’s website for calculators, resources, checklists, and other tools for employers, commuters, and schools. All of these are free of charge.
http://www.cleanaircampaign.org
Follow them on Twitter @CleanAirGA
If you or your favorite teenager are wondering what to do this weekend, check out Project Green Challenge, now in its final week. Launched on October 1, #PGC has come up with an energizing idea every single day this month. Thousands of young participants from hundreds of schools and colleges in the US and abroad are busy competing for prizes (1st prize is a $5,000 college scholarship from Natracare). Go to the Winners Circle to see the highlighted Green, Greener and Greenest submissions on everything from eco-fashion to green recipes to energy-saving epiphanies and stories of entire families changing their habits. Have a look around! Learning and doing all this healthy green stuff is genuinely rewarding and fun.
Teens Turning Green is the absolute beehive of activity behind Project Green Challenge. A student-led movement based in Sausalito, California, they’ve attracted an amazing cast of participants, sponsors, and supporters. Practically Green is proud to be a media partner (we’re tagged as a resource on Friday’s Energy challenge!) – and we welcome all PGC participants (and their parents, teachers, coaches, aunts and uncles) to Practically Green.com! Here’s one of the recent winners:
I took the survey on the Practically Green website and found out that I’m an impressively green human (8/10). I tend not to use extensive amounts of electricity powered things in my life, and the things I do use are smaller, like phones, music players, computers, calculators and things like that. However, there are still a lot of things that can be implemented into my life to be more energy conscious. – Sophia
Judi Shils and daughter Erin Schrode co-founded Teens Turning Green. Erin’s studying in Madrid this semester, and we couldn’t resist asking Judi (the Executive Director) how the whole initiative is going. No surprise, on Day 21 she sounds a little bit busy (they’re not getting much sleep!) — and thrilled:
“It is the most inspirational work imaginable.. so many lives changing before our eyes….”
If you’re a twenty-something or teen — or if you know someone who is — we suggest diving into the TeensTurning Green and Project Green Challenge Facebook pages, where you’ll find lots of activity. If you’re on Twitter, follow them there @TeensTurningGreen and #PGC. And, read their blog!
Check out this Extra Credit submission for the Whole Body challenge, from a student at Terra Linda High School:
A sample of comments from engaged participants:
“Team Green Peas wants to encourage students to take the ‘first step’ by participating in the Project Green Challenge. This Thursday, we will be meeting with the campus Eco Reps to discuss with them our experience with PGC and the rewards of participating in this innovative program. It is our firm belief that by encouraging more students to take part in these daily challenges, they too will see how easy it is to adopt healthy and environmentally responsible habits.” – Nikki
"Just went shopping with the roomies and convinced them to make the sustainable choice :) and we bought a composter. thought y'all appreciate hahah"
“My school has an absolutely amazing AP environmental science teacher. She is definitely one of my eco-heroes and shows that anyone can be an eco-leader. She fondly refers to us, her students, as her little green army that will go change the world. Besides an extensive recycling program complete with posters everywhere, the environmental science class also makes banners out of sheets that go up on Earth Week. The most important thing though, is educating people so they are conscious of the choices their making, its impact on the environment, and what could be done for a sustainable future.” – Grace
“We have our own sustainable, organic farm with free range animals that we process ourselves. We harvested approximately 7 tons of vegetables from our own farm over the summer and we also get milk from our dairy cow and goats and eggs from our chickens, which we have lots of! Plus, we have our own farm stand weekly. We recycle and compost. We use no fossil fuels on our farm, just man and cow power!” – Charlene
- Excited to use my newly purchased aluminum-free deodorant because now I know better. I’m a Project Green Challenger!”
“If itʼs easy, and makes such a surprisingly large impact,
I should definitely do my part to help the environment
and lessen the strain on both natural resources and on
the demand for meat.” - Holly
I should definitely do my part to help the environment
and lessen the strain on both natural resources and on
the demand for meat.” - Holly
Replacing a toilet sounds like a supreme hassle, but before you put it at the, um, bottom of your to-do list, consider this:
You will likely flush the toilet nearly 140,000 times over the course of a lifetime. A standard toilet uses 1.6 gallons per flush, while older toilets can use more than 3.5 gallons per flush. If you replace older, existing toilets with WaterSense labeled models, you can save 4,000 gallons per year.
Using less water allows more water to stay in the ground or in a surface reservoir which helps to maintain a natural water balance and saves water for future use. There are many parts of the country that do not have enough water to support the current population and levels of water usage. Over 36 states expect water shortages in the next 5 years.
Besides being green, reducing your water usage can reduce the amount of money you owe on your water bill. A family of four will save and average of $90 a year on their water bill by switching to a high efficiency or dual flush toilet.
That’s from Upgrade toilets that take more than 1.6 gallons per flush to standard toilets, one of 3 actions about toilets on Practically Green:
Upgrade toilets that take more than 1.6 gallons per flush to standard toilets (100 points)
Install a high-efficiency toilet (less than 1.28 gallons per flush) (50 points)
Install or upgrade to a dual-flush toilet (50 points)
Boulevard® dual-flush toilet from American Standard: 1.6 gpf OR 1.1 gpf
According to Michele Hudec, Product Development leader at American Standard, even the 1.6-gallon variety will be vintage in a couple of years, due to state mandates and customer demand:
“We’re focused on getting the industry and plumbers to transition to totally conserving toilets, 1.28-gallon per flush [gpf] maximum. Meanwhile, with record droughts in some areas and wildfires in others, people are becoming aware of water as a precious resource. Hotels, commercial builders, and municipalities such as NYC and Miami are all making huge changes for conservation.”
Save the date: Practically Green is hosting a Water Webinar on November 1st, 1 to 2 pm EST. Hope you’ll join us!
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