Grow a Beard for the earth and your wallet

 Beards are sexy, so I’m told, by my wife. They also help us humans lower our impact on the earth on a daily basis. If you want to help reduce your foot print, grow a beard.

By growing a beard, you will conserve energy used for electric razors or reduce the amount of shaving creams and gels, water and disposable blades and razors that you would normally consume. You’ll save a good amount of money as well. With replacement blades selling for upwards of $20 for a package of 4, the savings can add up. Not only will you save resources and money, but you will also gain some precious time every day by skipping the blades.

If you are required to maintain a smooth facial man-scape, consider using products that are more earth friendly.

“Kissing a man with a beard is a lot like going to a picnic. You don’t mind going through a little bush to get there!” – Minnie Pearl

 

Reusable Coffee Travel Mugs

I’ve been bad. I’m guilty of not using a reusable coffee mug, but I’m changing my ways. The last couple weeks, I’ve been bringing my own mug for coffee, and I feel good about it. I’ve even cut down on how much coffee I purchase, having a mug around all the time, it’s become more convenient just to make my own at home and skip the stop. Some shops are now offering a discount to customers who bring their own cups, knocking of 10 – 25 cents a cup and that is a great incentive to save a bit of money and reduce your waste. Keep a cup at work.

This past week, the city of Toronto has announced plans of a tax (.25$ per cup) on the cups or even an outright ban. It’s a good plan I feel to place a tax on the cups, but going just a bit too far placing a ban. The tax would promote people to bring their own cups while not forcing them to purchase a reusable cup which may end up creating more waste over the long haul if people frequently find the need to purchase them.  Even using the paper cups over Styrofoam doesn’t solve anything as the paper cups are lined with a plastic coating making them unsuitable for composting. 

The simplest solution is to get a sturdy travel mug. There are many options out there in a plethora of styles and colors. If you choose a plastic vessel, pick one made with #2, #4 or #5 types of plastics or better yet, a stainless steel cup.

 

Coffee Cup Tree by Zappowbang

 

Selective Flushing, A Motto to Live By

If it’s brown flush it down, if it’s yellow let it mellow

I was first introduced to this catchy saying while working on a college project for a company called Earth’s General Store. The owner of the shop Mr. Michael Kalmanovitch is quite passionate about living green and well, I suppose some of that passion has rubbed off on me. No matter where he goes, he spreads the green word to anyone who will listen and this phrase stuck hard.

It’s simple really, less flushes equates to more water savings. Kids seem to like this saying as well and they take to it easily. With the average person using the washroom 6 times a day on average for urination, it quickly adds up. Assuming that you already have a low flow toilet (1.5gallons / 6 litres) that is a monthly savings of 270 gallons or 1080 litres a month per person. If you still have the older larger capacity toilets, the savings can skyrocket for a small family.

Drink more water, don’t flush it.

 

BYOB – Reusable Shopping Bags

The more I think about it, the more it bothers me. How many times in my life have I gone shopping and received a plastic shopping bag just to throw it out once I got home. What a waste of resources and energy. The last few years I began to refuse bags for small purchases I make. It’s always met with a “are you serious” look from the cashier. If I can carry the item without any problem, then a bag is out of the question. If it’s going to need a bag, I bring my own. I feel good about using less, especially bags.

Grocery shopping is likely the worst offender in my case. We try to reduce the amount of items we buy, but groceries are a necessity. Many grocers now offer a reusable bag for purchase for a reasonable price. I’m horribly surprised that not everyone uses these, but I am happy to see more and more people picking up this habit. If you do happen to use these plastics, many supermarkets are also providing a place to recycle them as well. Take advantage of the service. By us using these reusable bags, we have saved about 250 grocery bags a year by a conservative estimate.

One other thing you can do is to reuse the small bags used for fruits and veggies. I have never seen anyone else doing this at the local shops, but it was bugging me that we were using fresh bags every time we bought apples, only to go home unpack them and discard the bag. We now stuff these bags back into the reusable grocery bags for our next trip to the grocer. It’s a small thing, but like everything else, it adds up.

Image (C) Copyright nowin

 

Shower with your Partner

Save some time, have more fun and save the planet. Taking a shower with your partner has a fist-full of benefits. First off, you’ll save a bit of water. One can soak while the other soaps up so that no water is wasted. Because you are conserving water, you will also conserve energy that would be needed to heat the water. Take this one step further and share a towel as well. It’s one less piece of laundry that will be washed, further boosting your conservation. Last of all, you’ll have someone there to give you back a good wash cause we all know just how hard some spots are to reach.

If you don’t have a partner to share the water with you can still take this opportunity to save a bit of water. After you jump in and get wet, turn off the water while you soap up and shampoo. Turn the water back on to rinse.

Also keep in mind a few other showering tips. Keep your shower short. Air dry your towel to reuse. Save the water from the facet while bringing the water to temperature to water plants and grass or to put to other good uses.

Image (C) Copyright Emily B. Hoyer.

 

Plant a Tree

Plant a tree, better yet plant 2. Better make that fruit trees. Tree’s are a vital part of the health of the earth and directly help to combat the CO2 emitted into the atmosphere every day. Through photosynthesis, trees absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen back into the air. One large tree can provide a day’s oxygen for up to four people, now that is a great reason to have a tree. Now add apples, pears, cherries or peaches to that equation and you pull even better karma from your tree. If you want to offset the carbon produced by your vehicle, bring a bigger shovel as you’ll need about 500 trees to equal 12,000 miles (20,000km) for the average car.

Planting trees around buildings can help to reduce heating and cooling needs by providing shade and insulating from winds and cold weather. Trees are also great for adding humidity pulling up to 100 gallons of water from the soil to release into the surrounding air. Trees and shrubs also shield out noise pollution, creating a quieter community.

In addition to these great benefits, trees are also ideal for reducing stress levels and adding to the aesthetics of the neighborhood. Studies have shown that hospital patients with a view of a tree from their room recover more quickly and have fewer complications than those without. I love trees!

 

Stop Buying Bottled Water – Get a Stainless Steel Water Bottle

This is something that my family has moved to in the last 6 months or so. When I was a kid, my friends and I each had a canteen of water we were sent out with every morning and would just filled it up from the nearest faucet whenever the need arose. Now as an adult, I’m doing it again, more or less. There were a couple reasons for getting away from plastic bottles, mainly for health reasons. For what ever reason, and I’m not alone on this, I prefer to drink water from a bottle rather than a glass. It’s convenient when I’m running around or out enjoying the outdoors. There are a few issues I have with buying bottled water on a regular basis, but that being said, there is a place for them. I do keep a case of water for emergency circumstances along with my other emergency supplies and plan to change it out once a year. Make sure that you recycle the empties.

Part of the issue I have with the bottles is that they are made from plastic. There have been quite a few conflicting reports about the safety in reusing these bottles, which I was doing on a regular basis.  I spent $15 on a reusable stainless steel bottle and have now been using it for the last 6 months or so. I just give it a quick wash every couple days. If I were drinking straight bottled water, I would have saved about 720 bottles from just one person. In reality our household has saved the use of around 180 of the plastic bottles by using 2 stainless steel reusable bottles. I don’t expect the bottles to go out of commission anytime soon either and hope to get at least 2 years of use out of each one. They are a modern day canteen for the urbanite.

The other big issue I have with bottled water is the amount of fresh water diverted from our streams and lakes. Most North American water supplies are perfectly safe to drink. The city I live in has actually won awards for the purity of their water, so why would I need to buy water imported from across the state or in some cases from other countries? The processing of the water consumes energy, shipping consumes energy and the consumer must also consume some energy in order to buy it. It’s a tiny step to switch to a stainless steel bottle, but so worth it in my opinion.

Photo by allie™ Via Flickr.com

 

Hang a Clothes Line

Sometimes I think we had it much better just 30 or 40 years ago. Well, some things anyway. The average household clothes dryer contributes over 1,400 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere every year. Hanging a load to dry emits 0. WOW!

Some communities have actually put legislation in place to banned residents from putting up clothes lines in recent years, but in light of the current energy woes have removed some of these aesthetic restrictions. If you can not hang clothes outside because of weather or law, you can always set-up a drying rack inside the house. Also note that some dryers will have technology that detects temperature and/or moisture and can help to reduce energy use by up to 15% if you choose to use the dryer.

It may not always be feasible to hang your clothes, but even by reducing the amount of loads you power dry by one or two a week can make a big impact on your CO2 emissions and save you money. You can see just how much carbon your dryer causes using this calculator - [LINK]

 

Hello world Going Green 365

I’ve actually been on my greener lifestyle for a long time now. With the amount of things I hear in the media now, and the lack of action I see on a daily basis, I figured that I could use this blog just to share some of the things I am doing to be greener, live healthier, leave a smaller carbon footprint and best of all save some money.

You will find here easy tips that you can bring into your lifestyle. I don’t think that a drastic change is going to suit everyone and that make a number of small changes over a period of time will let people ease into this lifestyle. I’m not personally a hardcore greenie, but I’m aware of my actions more so now than ever, and make more informed decisions in my life. I believe more people would make some of the same decisions I make if they only had a bit more information at their hands. Some of these tips do cost a bit of money upfront but will typically save a bit of money in the long run.

I would also love to hear what tips you have. I’m open to making more changes in my own life and it may be something we can share on the blog as well. The more steps I can take to save energy and resources without sacrificing my quality of life, the better.

-Green Darren