Category Archives: Environmentally Friendly

How to Clean Outside Areas

I got thinking on the topic of summer today when my daughter’s kindergarten teacher commented that there are only 4 Mondays left in our school year. It was one of those “wow, summer’s almost here” moments for me.

That, of course, brought me to thinking about cleaning up the outside of the house. Living in southern California, it’s pretty practical to keep the outside areas of the house nice all year. We don’t get much rain here, after all, never mind significantly colder weather.

One of those things that has always been a bit annoying is how some people like to clean their walkways and driveways with the hose. Considering the water situation in our area, I hope to see very, very little of that this year, but I know people will do it just because it’s faster.

A good broom will allow you to take care of most of the problem without water. You’ll want one that does well outdoors, which may be a little heavier duty than many like for the kitchen or other parts of the house. I always liked the big push brooms for larger areas myself.

Most of the time, that’s all you need. If there’s a dried up mess outside then yeah, you might want to get the hose as the fastest way to clean it up. But most of the time you don’t really need it.

The same goes later in the year for leaf blowers and such. Get a good rake and a broom for the walkways, and get your yard cleaned up without wasting fuel, electricity or water.

Of course, many people do one thing that is pretty green is add plants to their garden. That can be more or less green, depending on how you garden. The plastic containers that many plants come in can be problematic, although some garden centers may take them back if they’re in good condition. Use compost instead of fertilizer, and you can make your yard more beautiful without hurting the environment much.

How Does a Family Cope with Just One Car?

Having two cars in a family (or more) is so common these days that many families just cannot imagine living any other way. The sheer convenience is hard to beat. Why would anyone give that up?

using just one car

I can think of a few reasons.

For one, it’s better for the environment, provided you are actually driving less. It’s less gas used. Fewer oil changes. Fewer car repairs in general. It makes you think before you drive anywhere.

It’s also a solid financial decision. The points above that are good for the environment are also good for your pocketbook. You can add in that it cuts back on your ability to shop, since you have to plan your shopping trips better. That does help with saving money.

My family has been living with just one car for close to a year and a half now. It’s not easy, since the city we live in does not have great public transportation. But it is doable. Just takes extra planning at times.

As gas prices go up, this has been more and more a benefit to us. I work at home, and drive much less now that I don’t have my own car. Frivolous trips are much harder to make. But it’s still not easy.

For example, my son has speech therapy on the other side of town. I used Google’s transit website to check the bus schedule. The buses here would get me about halfway there; the rest I’d have to walk. You can see where there’s a bit of a problem. The walk is very long for a 3 year old.

But in many areas, public transportation is one of the big keys to coping with just one car. Need to go somewhere and not take the car? Know how to research your local bus schedules. Most cities have them online now; if not, get a supply of the paper ones and keep them in a safe place.

Scheduling helps a lot. Whenever possible, I schedule things around when I will have a car available. This is easy for things like grocery shopping and other errands, but more challenging for doctor’s appointments and such.

If nothing else works, there’s always borrowing someone else’s car. I don’t like to do this, as the people I can most easily ask this of live a distance away and so there’s a lot of extra gas used. Kind of takes away from the whole point of having just one car. But done only when there’s no other solution, this can be a valid solution while still cutting back on your total use of cars.

This brings up another possibility that the person who needs the car most should consider. Carpooling. A good carpool can cut back even further on your use of your car and make it available for other needs.

You can’t forget the biggest challenge, of course. What if the one car breaks down? Suddenly there’s no other car to replace it. A plan for getting to work or any other places that you have to go to become vital. You’ll need to know your alternatives. If you carpool, you have a big advantage.

And of course, there’s always biking or walking. Either of these is good for you and for the environment. A bike with a basket is great for local errands, and you’re limited in your shopping to what you feel comfortable carrying on your bike. That’s more limiting for some than for others.

If you want to walk to the store, you can bring a rolling basket or your kids’ wagon along. I don’t know how stores would feel about a wagon being brought in, but you can always ask the manager or find the bike rack and lock it up there.

Overall, this can be a workable possibility for many families. If you aren’t sure that it would work for yours, just try driving like your family has only one car for a time. Keep one car at home at all times, and you’ll know if it’s possible.

Any Plans for Earth Day?

Tomorrow is Earth Day. Anyone have plans?

I don’t so far. We already went to an early celebration over at Blue Sky Ecological Reserve about a week ago. The kids had a lot of fun. They ended up too tired to help plant trees or even hike very far, but they got to see a rescued possum, tortoise and some other animals.

Besides, we’d hiked about 4-6 miles there the week before that. Not quite sure how far because the trail indicators said about 4 miles, but when my husband looked it over online he came up with about 6 miles. Lots of trails to pick from, so we probably just didn’t go the short way.

We do have a lot of things we do regularly anyhow. We garden. If things go well, my husband gets a new job so we can stay here, we really want to plant a fruit tree in the yard. No budget to do so otherwise.

We open blinds during the day when the weather is nice so we use less electricity. That will stop working in the summer, when it’s keep the blinds shut and cover the windows with sheets or cardboard so we don’t need to use the air conditioner.

We compost. Recycle. Try not to buy things we don’t really need.

So, no particular plans for Earth Day. But I think we’re off to a decent start most of the year anyhow.

What are you doing?

Greening Your Gift Wrap

One of the most difficult things about gift giving to green up can be the gift wrap. So much wrapping paper ends up in the trash every year. Wrapping paper is potentially recycleable, but many people don’t bother, and some of the papers can be challenging to recycle.

wrapping paper

So how do you make your gifts look beautiful without wasting so much?

  1. Buy recycled
    Gift wrap made from post consumer waste is out there.
  2. Reuse
    Any gift wrap that isn’t too badly torn can probably be saved for next year. With young children a lot will be pretty badly torn, but think as you unwrap your own gifts and save what you can.
  3. Make your own
    This is especially fun if you have kids. Get some butcher paper, brown bags, newspaper, etc., and get creative. Draw on it, stamp it, just have fun with it.
  4. Use a basket
    A good basket can be a lovely way to present a gift. Try to skip the plastic wrap like you see in the stores.
  5. Reuse gift bags
    Just like gift wrap, gift bags can be used over and over. In my family these can go back and forth for years.
  6. Make the wrap a part of the gift
    Get a cloth shopping bag and put the rest of the gift in it. Put gardening supplies in a garden bucket or watering can. Get creative.

Best of all, many of these ideas, including sometimes wrapping paper and gift bags, can be found at secondhand shops like Goodwill. People often don’t finish and sometimes don’t even start rolls. You don’t have to buy new if you shop early enough.

The Need to Recycle Electronics is Getting a Lot of Attention

I spotted yet another article on how we need to make electronics more recycleable. This one was on Wired’s website. And it’s quite true. There’s so much innovation, but little interest in taking care of the mess created as people buy new electronics whether or not the old are any good.

Worse is how many break down in just a few years.

I think this is one of those topics we really can’t afford to let go of. Electronics are a major part of modern life, and I don’t expect or want them to go away, but we need to think more on the long term impact.

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