Treat Yourself... the Eco-Friendly Way

Let's face it: you come home in the evening, you're tired, you don't want to work or think-- you just need to relax. You may think you don't have time to be eco-friendly, but in reality, you do! You can be eco-friendly and treat yourself the same time! Here are some ideas on how to do this:
1) Spend some time on my blog. :)
2) Enjoy a fresh, organic, locally-grown fruit salad.
3) Go out for a day for a hike in the wilderness, bird-watching, and a picnic.
4) Watch a movie on the natural world, environmental issues, and what you can do about it.
5) Go shopping at a thrift store like Value Village. (The clothes are actually quite gorgeous.)

Well, right now I'm pressed for time, so I've got to fly! But at least by writing the post in my blog I got to treat myself... the eco-friendly way.

Read... the eco-friendly way

I like reading, and I will let nothing get in the way of me and a good book! However, I always make sure I read... the eco-friendly way. There are many options nowadays for doing this.
1) Borrow library books
2) Download books onto your e-reader (if you have one!)
3) Many people like to actually own and hold their books. So, buy second-hand books.
4) Attend a book swap, or hold your own. You can go to a book swap with the Ottawa Women's Book Club, for example.

Want to go a step higher? Here are some books to read... the eco-friendly way.
1) The Little Green Handbook by Ruth Cullen: Practical tips for everyday living, divided into very short "chapters".
2) Green Career$ by Jennifer Power Scott: A guide for teenagers on how to "make money and save the planet"!
3) 250 Things you can do to Green the World by CosmoGirl: For teen girls. Similar to The Little Green Handbook and my blog.
4) Eco-friendly Families by Helen Coronato: How to raise a family the eco-friendly way.
Of course, this is only a sampling of what's out there. Have fun!

Top 10 ways to Re-Use Cans and Jars

"Reduce, re-use, recycle"-- each of these actions is mighty important for living a sustainable life. But one of them should be remembered more often: "re-use"! Recycling is important and useful, and it uses less energy to recycle than it does to throw everything in the garbage and produce new ones, but it is not the eqivalent of "giving back". It takes energy and waste to recycle. This is why we should try to re-use whatever we can before it hits the bins. That being said, lets look at some cool ways to re-use our metal cans and glass/plastic jars:

1) Remove any labels to create a pencil holder for your desk. You can decorate it, if you'd like, with pictures, colourful (recycled) paper, ticket stubs, etc.
2) For glass jars, put the dry ingredients to a recipe in them and tape baking instructions to the side. Give the gift of instant-freshly-baked-brownies to a loved one!
3) Re-use as a container for just about anything-- elastics, pennies, cookies... you name it!
4) Use to hold homemade pasta sauce or vinaigrette salad dressing.
5) Make candles in them!
6) Turn into a plant nursery for little tomato plants, etc.
7) Use as flower pot.
8) Use as lamp covers-- no, seriously, see this site for cool pics: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/08/james-shaw-jar-lamps.php
9) Turn trash into art! Paint your cans and jars, and get creative. These can make perfect gifts even if you have no artistic talent. (And if you are an artist, you could even sell them!)
10) If all else fails, give them to a child as a craft material. You never know what they'll come up with...

Do you want more? Go to: http://www.squidoo.com/reuseglassjars
Lastly, remember to celebrate Earth Hour tomorrow! See my previous blog post for details!

Get Set for Earth Hour!

Are you all prepared for Earth Hour this year? For those of you who don't know, Earth Hour is taking place on Saturday 26 March from 8:30pm to 9:30pm, when we turn out all the lights and everything else in our houses (except the furnace and the fridge!) to save energy and raise awareness.
This is their logo:

"60" represents the 60 minutes in an hour, by the way, and the + signifies that we will go "beyond the hour".

So, what are you going to be doing during Earth Hour? Here are a few of my own favourite tips:

1) Light some soy wax candles and enjoy a late candlelit dinner

2) Take a walk

3) Sleep (that's what I'll be doing! As a matter of fact, my Earth Hour will be an hour earlier, from 7:30pm to 8:30pm)

4) Host a party, make your own music, chat with friends, serve veggie sandwiches, etc.

5) Practice your storytelling skills with family or friends

6) Play cards, board games, and any other games you know of

7) Cuddle with your animal friends

8) Make a list of ways to help the environment in the future!

Make sure you unplug your appliances so electricity won't go down the drain! Even unplug your digital clocks-- you still have your watches and analog clocks, right?

Have fun!

Some things to look at

Here is my lantern:

Your House is Haunted

   That's right... just as I said last week, today I'll be talking about "phantom loads".
   Phantom loads are appliances that are plugged in to the wall when they're not on. People tend to think that just because it isn't officially sucking up energy, it really isn't. Period.
   But I'll bet you didn't know that phantom loads can use up to 40% of electricity from your household appliances! Not only cell phone chargers, but also anything else that uses a transformer-- like TVs and stereos.
   Oh, and BTW: phantom loads are also called vampire draw or vampire load, so any house with them must be seriously haunted! De-haunt your house while helping the environment and reducing cost by unplugging all your electronics when not in use.
   Right now, I want everyone reading this to go around the house and look for wires. If you see any, unplug them! (Make sure there aren't any people on the other end of the wire, mind.)
   Thanks for following this blog!

Turning Negatives into Positives

    Today I'm not here to talk about reducing the negative impact we have on the environment-- instead, allow me to explain how to have a net positive impact on the environment during your life! I like to put it this way...

    There are two different forms of helping the environment:

    1) Passive
    2) Active
    Passively helping the environment is the effort of not doing. Like not buying stuff you don't need, reducing your eco-footprint, and saving paper by printing on both sides. Actively helping the environment, on the other hand, is through doing. Like picking up garbage around your neighbourhood, fundraising for an eco-friendly cause, or even just encouraging others to be more environmentally-friendly.

    Passively helping reduces the negative impact, and that is mainly what people tend to focus on. But actively helping is important, too. If we relyed only on passively helping the environment, we would never have a positive imact on Mother Nature-- just a less bad one. Which is why we need to look for ways to actively make a difference. You don't have to go too far out of your way-- just do something. And even if you never achieve that net-positive-eco-friendly-guru status, just remember one thing:

    There are so many ways you can help the world. Yes, the environment, but also other humans, animals, and yourself. You might very well be helping one of these categories, and that is good because they're important too. You can still have a net positive impact on the world, if not the environment.

    But this blog is about the environment, so...
    Make a table of lots of the ways you passively and actively help the environment. I'll make one for me as an example:

Passive

-turning off lights

-using scrap paper in class

-being a vegan

-refraining from computer games and TV

-unplugging things when they aren't in use (I'll tell you about phantom loads next time)

-etc.

Active

-writing in this blog

-encouraging others to use scrap paper and generally be eco-friendly

-writing articles for Teenink.com

-the speech that I'm going to give today at the public speaking contest on veganism

-etc.

    If your lists aren't quite as long, don't sweat it. Just start brainstorming, that's all.

   Well, then, happy brainstorming!