Use the Gulf Oil Spill as a Reminder to Live an Eco Friendly Lifestyle
Jul 12, 2010 Environmentally Friendly
The oil spill in the Gulf has gone on a horrendous length of time. It has directly taken 11 human lives, countless animal lives, and the effects of the spill has ruined the livelihood of many in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Texas. We won’t know the full effects for a long time.
While there’s no way to quickly wean our society from its need for oil, this disaster should serve as a reminder for why we need to find alternatives. It is not an excuse to drill closer to land or on land. It is a reminder that these disasters happen because we use oil so freely and in so many ways.
Cut Back on Driving
Cars are what most people think of when they think about cutting back on petroleum products. People know that we drill for oil to produce gasoline for cars. Cutting back on your driving is an easy, feel good way to use less gas.
Unfortunately, this is not an easy thing for many people to do. There are places most people have to drive, or feel they do, such as to work or to run errands.
If you want to get serious about cutting back on your driving, you need to do better than that. Can you live closer to work? Can you live closer to public transportation that can get you to most of the places you go regularly? Can you carpool?
You can do more. If there isn’t good enough public transportation in your area, start demanding it. If you get it, make sure to use public transportation more so that your local government sees the demand for it and keeps it up. Encourage family, friends, coworkers and neighbors to do likewise.
Buy a bicycle to do your more local errands. Install a basket on it so you can carry groceries on it more easily. You may need to ask your local store about installing bike racks if they don’t have a place for them already. If there’s demand, they’re more likely to do it. Tell them what you need.
Stop Buying Plastic
Plastics are another major use of petroleum. Plastic is so ubiquitous that it’s really hard to avoid. It packages food in the grocery store. It’s in many children’s toys. It’s in so many things we use every day that plastic is incredibly hard to avoid.
Do your best.
Buy reusable shopping bags, including some lightweight produce bags so that you can avoid plastic bags at the grocery store. Avoid foods purchased in plastic containers, although if you buy foods such as yogurt this can be next to impossible to do.
If you need more food storage containers, go for glass. I like to buy spaghetti sauce in glass jars because they’re so easy to reuse. You can even put some kinds of leftover food in them, although they aren’t the right dimensions for everything. You can buy glass food storage containers
I hope I don’t need to add not to buy bottled water. Get yourself a good reusable bottle! I’m loving my stainless steel Intak Thermos bottle
Don’t buy plastic toys for your kids. Younger kids will get quite a bit of delight from wooden toys. When the kids start asking for the latest hot toy, talk about why you don’t want to buy it. They won’t always be sympathetic to what you say; kids want what they want, but that doesn’t mean you have to give in all the time. If they have a toy they just begged and begged for that is now sitting in the closet or toy chest completely unused, give that as an example of why you don’t like to buy too many toys.
Avoid Petroleum Products in Your Personal Care Products
Many personal care products have petroleum derivatives in them. Avoid products with propylene glycol, mineral oil, petrolatum, and anything with the word “petroleum” in it. There are many other ingredients you should try to avoid, and I suggest using EWG’s Skin Deep database to review products you use.
I don’t use a lot of traditional personal care products myself. Mostly toothpaste. I love my handmade soaps, and I was my hair with baking soda and vinegar. Coconut oil
That’s not the lifestyle for everyone, of course. Do your research and you can find the types of products you love to use in versions that are safer and use fewer or no petroleum byproducts.
Encourage Your Kids to Be Active
Jul 9, 2010 Eco Friendly Parenting
From a young age, most kids are very active. They love to run around the house and play. It’s a lot for many of us to keep up with, especially if we haven’t been particularly active ourselves.
But as they get older, TV and video games slow many down. Sitting around takes the place of active play. As a parent you know you should encourage more activity, but it’s not always easy to decide what to have your kids do.
Have Them Take the Lead
Signing your child up for an activity is an easy way to encourage activity, but it can also be frustrating for kids. Many parents choose activities for their kids based on what they would want to do, not the child’s interests. This can lead to frustration.
Find out what your child would like to try. Don’t limit options to just team sports; there are a lot of alternatives out there. My own children love karate. It’s a good workout, and they progress at their own rates. There’s no guilt for not being the best player on the team.
Don’t stress if they find they don’t like a particular sport or activity. Just agree to try something different next time. Swimming, karate and dancing are all good activities, and don’t have to be done on a competitive level.
Remember That They’re Children
A big mistake many parents make in signing their kids up for activities is forgetting that they’re children. Parents can expect their child to put in unreal amounts of practice in the hopes that they will excel. Some parents have dreams of their kids going into a professional career in whatever sport they’re playing as an activity.
It doesn’t matter what your dreams are for your child, or even if he or she agrees that they want to do their sport professionally. As a parent, it is your job to make sure that they don’t do more than is good for their bodies. That means no over training. That means leaving time for other things in their lives such as playing with friends and relaxing.
Overdoing is a huge mistake. Children can permanently injure their bodies trying too hard in their sports. Their bodies are still growing and really are not ready for intense training.
Don’t be the screaming parent watching your kids either. You’ve probably heard the reports of parents getting into fights at their children’s games. Your job is to encourage your child. You don’t need to do that by yelling at them, their teammates or their competition. You’ll do better to teach good sportsmanship.
Get Involved
There’s no reason why you shouldn’t be getting active yourself. It’s better for your health to be active, and you’ll probably have fun.
This is a wonderful, non-materiel gift you can give your children. Participating in an activity creates great memories, which will be remembered for many years. It also helps to create healthy habits.
How involved you get depends on the time you have available. You don’t want to overdo it – kids need to learn how to do things on their own too – but you should be there to help them practice sometimes and as needed to get them to their activity. It also might help you to remember how much fun being physically active can be.
Tags: activities, being active, children, kids, sports
11 Eco Friendly Ways to Keep Cool During the Summer
Jul 7, 2010 Environmentally Friendly
Summer’s here in full force and it’s not always easy to keep cool without using the air conditioner. While sometimes that really is the only way, there are other ways you can cool yourself and your family that won’t add so much to your power bill.
What works best for you will depend on the conditions you live in. Some tips aren’t so great for areas with high humidity, for example. Try things out and see what’s right for you.
1. Damp Washcloth on the Neck
Soak a washcloth or bandana with cool water. Drape it on your neck. It feels great.
You can also wipe the cloth across your face and wrists to feel cooler. It’s amazing how much of a difference such a small thing can make.
2. Turn on the Fans
Before you resort to your air conditioner, turn on your ceiling fan
3. Eat Spicy Foods
It may sound contrary, but it works. Spicy foods can help you to feel cooler due to your body’s reaction to them.
4. Get Your Hair Wet
Damp hair helps you to feel cooler too. Use the coldest water you can stand, and towel dry as little as you can stand. Most people aren’t going to enjoy going dripping around the house, but on a really hot day that effect won’t last for long.
5. Spray Yourself with Water
Fill a clean spray bottle with water. Spray yourself lightly with water wherever you have bare skin. The evaporation of the water will help you feel cooler. You can even spray a fine mist into the air and walk through it.
6. Cover Your Windows
Windows are a major source of heat for your entire house. Let the sunlight through them and you’re going to heat up.
Closing curtains and blinds should be a basic step, but you can do more. Cardboard boxes look ugly, but they block a lot more heat. Covering your windows with blankets is an alternative, as is using mylar
7. Open the Windows
Different times of day, different solutions. If your nights are cool enough, an open window can cool your home nicely while letting in a breeze.
8. Eat Raw Fruits and Vegetables
These won’t cool you directly, but they’re quite refreshing on a hot day. Keep them in the refrigerator until it’s time to eat. Cucumbers are particularly popular with my family.
9. Enjoy a Frozen Treat
I make popsicles out of fruit smoothies, but any sort of frozen treat is going to feel good on a hot day.
10. Wear Cool Clothes
Dress right for the weather. Wear lightweight cotton clothes as much as you can. If not, at least go for short sleeves.
11. Adapt
Your body can adapt wonderfully to a range of temperatures. It can cope well with hot days if you don’t always demand a thermostat set at 72 degrees F.
Tags: keeping cool, save energy, summer
Are You Greening or Greenwashing Your Life?
Jul 1, 2010 Environmentally Friendly
Going green is pretty popular these days. Many people are aware that we need to think about the impact we have on the environment in our daily lives. That doesn’t mean we all get it right.
It’s not an easy thing to make your life more eco friendly. There are a lot of challenges that really complicate things. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try our best.
Can You Go Completely Green These Days?
Most of us can’t do all of the green things we’d like to do. Going completely off the grid is financially impossible for the average family. Most of us don’t have enough yard space to grow enough food for our families for the entire year. Avoiding all plastic is next to impossible.
Most of us
can’t do all of the green things we’d
like to do.
Just go to the store and look at how hard it is to be green, even when you’re trying to shop with the environment in mind. So many companies advertise their products as eco friendly when they really aren’t. So many basic household cleaning supplies come in plastic, even if you use eco friendly cleaning supplies.
To top it all off, many of the people who want to go green don’t know how to see past the greenwashing practices that so many companies have enthusiastically adopted to make themselves look better. Much of the terminology they use is completely unregulated. They can make claims about their products which sound eco friendly but really mean nothing at all.
What Can You Do?
The most important step you can take in making your life truly more eco friendly (aside from getting started) is to educate yourself. Find great resources that will help you to know when a product claim means something. Learn how to make some of the simple changes in your lifestyle.
Really think about the things you’re changing and the things you’re not. Why does your family need two cars? Is mass transit in your area good enough that you could maybe get by on one car? Is a backyard vegetable garden a good choice in your area or are watering restrictions too likely to kill it off? What can you do about that darn lawn anyhow?
Look at your shopping habits. When do you buy? Why do you buy? Do you ever ask yourself if you should buy? Do you really need more or newer electronics in your life?
Not buying things you don’t need is one of the best things you can do for the environment.
Not buying things you don’t need is one of the best things you can do for the environment, especially once you understand how big the “don’t need” category is even in modern life. If you’re shopping to keep up with styles or the hottest technology, ask yourself why. Be sure you have a good answer.
Sometimes your answers won’t be perfectly eco friendly. Your circumstances won’t always allow you to do what you know is the greenest answer. But try. Find ways to break your non-green habits. Keep at it even when it’s not easy.
The environmental effects of the changes you make usually aren’t apparent. But they’re present, not only in your home but in your ability to encourage others to do likewise. The difference one person can make won’t solve all our problems. The example one person can make can encourage others, who can encourage others, who can encourage others as the ideas continue to be accepted. That’s where the big differences may someday come in.
Tags: eco friendly, greenwashing, lifestyle
