Recent Articles
How to Make the Basics of Going Green Into a Huge Sacrifice
Feb 20, 2012 Going Green Comments Off
One thing that annoys me is how some people act as though going green is a huuuuuge sacrifice. They pay attention to the bigger steps some people choose to take and declare that the environmental movement as a whole wants that for everyone, or that environmentalists want people to live in caves, that sort of thing. With just a little more effort, you can be cranky about even the smallest eco-friendly steps you can take, and make them sound like a major sacrifice.
Declare That Energy Efficient Homes Are Too Expensive
Whether you own a home already or are looking at one, decide that going energy efficient is way too expensive. Just look at the cost of all the appliances.
Pay no attention to the simple things that will save a lot of energy over time, such as insulating
Certainly don’t consider buying energy efficient appliances when you actually need one. Efficiency doesn’t have to be a consideration, does it?
Don’t Worry About Personal Care Product Safety
Ugh. Someone wants you to research the safety of the stuff you use to take care of yourself? Shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, moisturizer and all that? That’s way more trouble than it’s worth. You probably expect me to make it all at home myself, right?
Dismiss the mild toxicity of some of the ingredients. It hasn’t bothered you yet, so why should it matter? Certainly don’t bother to consider the safer products that are right there on the store shelf too. Can’t be as good as what you’re used to using.
Skip the Reusable Bags
Bringing your own bad to the store is just way too much trouble. You might even have a few, but actually bring them? Too much trouble and way too embarrassing. Besides, you like saving up those plastic bags for when you need them and just throwing out the excess.
Never Combine Errands
You’ve got a lot to do, but there’s no need to be efficient about it just because it’s better for the environment. You can just ignore the benefits to your own day.
Don’t Keep Your Tires Properly Inflated
You don’t really need to worry about gas mileage or wearing out your tires sooner than necessary, do you? You can just fill up as needed, and replace the tires when the wear is too much. No big deal, right?
Keep Drinking That Bottled Water
Tap water? Carrying a reusable water bottle? That’s just not for you. Besides, you love the taste of your preferred brand. Cost isn’t a factor, waste isn’t a factor. It’s just too inconvenient to head for the tap every time you need a drink of water or to refill your bottle. Far better to get a supply at the store and just crack open a new one.
Skip the Recycling Bin
It doesn’t matter if your area wants all recyclables in one bin or sorted by type. It’s way too much trouble to think before you throw it in the trash. Just throw it all away. Not like you benefit personally anyhow.
Keep Using Those Harsh Chemicals to Clean Your Home
It doesn’t matter that you have to use gloves when you’re cleaning your house or that you have to keep your cleaning supplies well away from children. They’re powerful and make cleaning a lot easier. You’re not worried about what they put into the air of your home or that they make your eyes water if you forget to open the window. Besides, you don’t really trust that simple things like vinegar and baking soda can really do the job. They probably take too much time and effort to use anyhow.
Obviously, I’m being sarcastic in the above. These are things I’ve done, and not one is all that hard, certainly not harder than skipping them, and most I like better.
How Does Your School’s Garden Grow?
Feb 13, 2012 Gardening Comments Off
My kids’ school has been pretty interesting this year. It’s an International Baccalaureate candidate school, so they’re trying a lot of new things right now. Each class has taken on a community project. For my son’s class, that’s starting a garden at the school.
School gardens have become more popular in recent years. School have come to see the value of gardening as a way to teach science to children and to show them what fresh produce looks like. Students get to see how seeds grow into plants and how plants produce fruits, vegetables and flowers. They can learn about bees and insects which are valuable to the life cycle of the plants, and the ones which are damaging to it.
Our school is just starting it’s gardens. This weekend they had volunteers come on campus to prepare garden beds, and they’re having a seed drive to collect seeds. We sent quite a number from my husband’s stash of seed, as in our current situation we just don’t have the space to plant many of them.
Later this week, the school will have groups of students planting seeds. The plan is to grow both vegetables and flowers for the kids. It’s not going to be easy, as not all the spaces chosen for gardening have sprinklers installed already, and those areas will have to be watered manually.
If your children’s school is gardening already, I hope it’s a wonderful experience for them. If not, maybe it’s a good time to bring up the subject and see what it would take to put aside a little space for a school garden. It doesn’t have to be huge, just enough space to be educational. Civil Eats has a good article on a few school garden programs across the country.
Is Your Community Walkable?
Feb 6, 2012 Going Green Comments Off
One of the easiest ways to get some exercise is to take a walk. All you really need are your feet and a place to walk. Sadly, a good place to walk isn’t something all communities provide, as many were designed more with driving in mind. Some neighborhoods don’t even have sidewalks, so people who want to walk there have the choice of walking on other people’s lawns or on the street, neither of which are really great options.
Walkable doesn’t just mean you can take a walk around the block for exercise, of course. A community is even more walkable if you can reasonably walk (or bike) to do errands such as going to the store or to school, or even to work.
What’s the Problem?
A big part of the problem is that many people live far from work, making it impossible for them to consider walking or riding to work. That can be a reasonable choice, such as when you change jobs and it’s farther from the home you already live in, or if your work isn’t in a safe neighborhood. These things happen.
My husband’s job, for example, is in a downtown area that coworkers immediately warned him we would not want to be in. We got lots of advice from them on better areas to live in, and eventually picked one. None of the places would have been even biking distance, especially in wet weather or much of summer, when temperatures often break 100º F.
Many people don’t have shopping conveniently near either. Admittedly, groceries get heavy really fast, especially if you like to stock up for the week rather than shop daily.
For kids, there’s also the fear parents have for them these days, even when they live in relatively safe areas. Many parents are all too aware of the potential dangers out there, and for them, the balance falls on the side of protecting them from admittedly rare problems. Sure, there are neighborhoods where you absolutely don’t want your kids roaming, but many parents don’t let their kids roam where they should.
Where Are the Solutions?
It’s never easy to solve this kind of problem. A part of it comes down to our own choices, and a part is how communities are developed. You have to look at both.
Community development takes significant time, and changing an existing community to something more walkable is even more difficult. Developers need to be encouraged to include sidewalks in their communities, and to think about walkability just as they consider driveability. Prioritizing cars over feet will always lead to less walkable areas.
As an individual, you can choose to live in more walkable areas when possible, and to take advantage of that. Get out and let developers see that people are using the walking areas and they have more motivation to add them to future developments.
I also believe this means giving kids more freedom to explore. I really enjoy Free Range Kids, and while I don’t always agree with everything there, the idea is generally good. Kids need to be allowed age and skill appropriate independence, but many parents are too afraid to let their kids have it, despite the statistics being in their favor.
You don’t have to get it all perfect; it’s not always practical or even possible to find a place to live where you can walk, bike or even get public transportation to most places you’d like to go. Just have some degree of walkability be a factor as you search for a place to live.
Are the New Rules for School Lunches Enough?
Feb 2, 2012 Eco Friendly Parenting Comments Off
The first big change to school lunch nutrition standards was released last week. The goal is to provide healthier lunches for children at school, a major meal for many school age children. The change means more fruits and vegetables in school lunches, and smaller portion sizes. But are these changes enough?
There’s a lot good to be said for the changes. Schools can get six more cents per meal, which doesn’t sound like much, but it’s the first real increase in 30 years, and is tied to the school’s performance in providing better meals. Training and assistance is available to help schools comply. There is a focus on limiting saturated fats, trans fats and sodium. More whole grains are to be served.
The news on school lunches isn’t entirely good. It rarely is when you’re talking about something that goes through so political a process.
Tomato sauce on pizza still allows it to be counted as a vegetable, and there aren’t limits on how often potatoes can be served. On the plus side, baked or roasted potato servings will be encouraged, rather than french fries.
I’m sure this will have more impact at some schools than others. My kids’ school, for example, already has a salad and fruit bar option for the kids daily, and they go for local produce when possible. It’s a pretty nice deal, and something I’d love to see more schools offer. The only problem is that you get that or the hot lunch, and the hot lunch is more of a typical school lunch most days. On the plus side, pizza days include the salad bar with the pizza, so that one is popular and probably balances out better than many other school lunches… depending on the kid picking the lunch, of course.
As a parent, I think they key here is to make sure that your school makes the most of these new standards. If your school isn’t offering sufficiently healthy lunches, speak up and encourage change. There’s still a ways to go, both in making school lunches healthier and in teaching kids to eat better. The schools can’t do it alone. We parents have to do our part to encourage children to eat healthier foods and to be more active. It will take time and effort to get it right.
Start Planning Your Garden Now
Jan 23, 2012 Gardening Comments Off
It may be winter, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be planning your garden already. It takes time to figure out what you want to grow this year, get the seeds and get things moving. A little extra time means you’ll be ready when it’s the right time to start planting in your area.
In our garden, for example, we already know that we’re switching where the vegetables grow and where the wildflowers will be. It will be a bit of a pain switching them, but it seems to me that where we had the vegetables last year got too much direct sun combined with reflected heat for the health of the plants. Our yard is small, and we rent, so we’re limited in what we can do. The fence there is cinderblock, and reflected quite a bit of heat onto the plants. The soil there dries out much more quickly than the rest of the yard.
I already have the kids taking some of the seeds from last year’s wildflowers and shaking them over the area where we had the vegetables. With any luck, a few of them will sprout when the time is right. We’ll add more seeds and actually plant them when it’s spring. More planning is of course necessary for the vegetable garden.
Decide What You Want to Grow
You probably have some favorites you grow each year. Tomatoes are the one my husband insists upon, with several varieties grown each year. Sweet basil is another favorite. I want to include string beans this year, as when we’ve grown them other times the kids have eaten them like candy. By that I mean begging to eat more, willing to do chores to get extra. They really love fresh, raw string beans.
I recommend looking for heirloom
Lay Out Your Garden on Paper
Figure out what space you have for your garden and how much room you need for each kind of plant. There are plenty of gardening books
Know When to Start Planting
When it’s safe to start planting your garden depends on where you live and what you want to grow. Some plants are more frost resistant than others, some need warmer weather than others to grow well. There are plenty of garden zone maps available online, and seed packets often tell you where and when they’re most likely to do well.
Decide How to Prepare Your Soil
You may not be able to do any actual soil prep in the winter, depending on where you live, but you can consider what you’re going to do with it. If you have a compost pile, for example, you may want to mix in some of that compost.
Decide How to Start Your Seeds
Many people start their seeds indoors. You don’t have to worry about frost or critters getting your seeds or very young plants that way. You can get a bit of a head start this way.
Others prefer to start their seeds in the ground. It’s simpler to not worry about transplanting things later on. Either way can work.
Talk Rewards With Your Kids
One thing that helped our garden last year was setting a reward for spotting tomato hornworms. The kids loved getting paid to spot those pests, which were doing some serious damage to our tomatoes. They’re learning to pull weeds too, although that requires more supervision as they usually have questions. Kids can be a wonderful, natural way to control weeds.
