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Green MattersTM Blog
written by Crissy Trask

Welcome to my blog where I share almost anything I think will help make greener living undeniable and simple. News, tips, insight and resources served up weekly.

I also share my perpectives on others' perspectives and actions. Agree or disagree, I hope you will find them thought-provoking and a starting point for conversation.

November 9, 2008 "Plugging the Dam"

Last week one of my toilets started leaking. This was most annoying because I knew I had to address it right away. Well, more accurately, I had to convince my husband to address it right away. Why the urgency? Because, a leaky toilet can waste about 200 gallons of water a day, according to the Environmental Protection Agency!

Luckily, fixing a leaky toilet--the gravity kind at least--can be as easy as cleaning and/or adjusting some parts. And that's exactly what we did to fix our leak. If replacement parts had been necessary, they are inexpensive and relatively easy to install.

The guide I like to use for troubleshooting leaks is produced by the City of San Jose and can be downloaded at www.sanjoseca.gov/esd/water-conservation. From the same web site you can download repair guides for fixing leaky faucets too.

On the subject of leaks, almost every home has them. In fact, in the average home leaks account for nearly 14% of all water use. If you think your home is leak-free, don't be so sure. Silent toilet leaks, faucets that drip less than once every thrity seconds and hidden leaks can go undetected for months.

First perform a visible inspection as follows:

Toilets: To check toilets for leaks, put a drop of food-coloring in the tank and wait 15-20 minutes. If any of that coloring shows up in the bowl, you have a leak
"Spouts": Check indoor faucets, showerheads and outdoor spigots. Watch them for a full minute, or place a cup under the spout and check it after a few minutes.
Pipes: Check visible pipes at connections and supply lines to ice makers, dishwashers and washers.

If you find leaks, repairs you are not comfortable or qualified to make still need to be made quickly, so bite the bullet and hire a plumber.

Once you are reasonably sure you are leak-free, make certain by performing the follow test:

1. Turn all water off inside and outside the home.
2. Read your water meter.
3. After one hour, read you meter again. If the meter does not read exactly the same, you still have one or more leaks.

If this test detects further leaks, it's time to hire a Leak Specialist to find the concealed leak or leaks. Wasted water is just one drawback to leaks--they can also cause costly damage to property. According to State Farm Insurance, among leaks that cause property damage, the average leak costs policyholders more than $7,500 to repair.

November 1, 2008 "e-Traffic"

Today there was an electronics recycling (a.k.a. "e-cycling") drive in my city. Sponsored by a major electronics retailer, Huppins, and Sony, it had been publicized all week--the first e-cycling drive of its kind in Spokane. So, eager to participate, I dug out what I had to recycle--an old Lan card, two motherboards and a defunct keyboard. Not much, but that's good. Most of the electronics I've gotten rid of have gone to needy individuals or schools. Anyway as I hit the freeway exit for Huppins, I came to an abrupt halt. Traffic was at a standstill, and we weren't going anywhere. Two minutes passed, then five minutes and still we hadn't moved an inch. What was going on? Construction? An accident? Could all this traffic be for the e-cycling drive? Yes, it could! A line of cars two miles long had formed and it wouldn't be long before the line was backed up out to the freeway! Sitting in this line wasn't for me. I could afford to stash my little pile until another day. As I pulled out of line and drove past the waiting cars full of hardrives, computer monitors, CRT TV sets and the like, I was so proud. All these people were giving up a big chunk of their Saturday to sit in traffic just so they could do the right thing and recycle their e-waste.

E-waste is one of the fastest growing segments of the wastesteam, and 82% of e-waste ends up in landfills. Landfills are not the place for e-waste. Many electronics are about 30 percent to 40 percent plastic and much of that can be reclaimed and recycled. Also, computers contain trace amounts of hazardous substances such as lead, cadmium, beryllium and hexavalent chromium. These substances can enter the air and water when incinerated or landfilled. What makes e-waste particularly hazardous is the shear volume. Two million tons of e-waste ended up in landfills in 2005, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. As consumers of electronic products, we can mitigate the harm they pose to the environment by doing three things:

1. Buy from responsible manufacturers. Identify manufactures that use recycled materials, fewer toxic substances and take back their products for recycling. Find them and their products through EPEAT (Electronic Product Assessment Tool) and Computer Take Back Campaign.
2. Less is better. Buy products that use fewer materials: laptops over PCs, smaller TV sets, and multifunction devices, for example.
3. Use your electronics for as long as possible, but when you are ready to replace them, donate functional items or recycle them. Look up donation and recycling resources at Earth911.

October 26, 2008 "Boo!"

It seems like there are two kinds of people: Those that love halloween, and those that don't. My sister-in-law and her husband love Halloween. They throw an annual Halloween party and the two of them spend months thinking about and preparing costumes for themselves and their two boys, ages 5 and 3. And I must admit they pull off some pretty creative, hilarious and scary costumes. As for me, in a good year I fill a bowl with candy and stingily hand out one piece to every kid that comes to the door. In a bad year, I hide at the back of the house with all the lights off pretending I'm not home. But here's what I really want to say...Halloween is the second most wasteful holiday next to Christmas. Decorations that turn Main Street into Mockingbird Lane, trillions of wrappers from indivdually wrapped treats; and cheap, disposable costumes purchased from WalMart are among the reasons. So here are some ideas for a less wasteful Halloween:

- Trade your kids' last year's costumes for something different at Swapthing.com or Zwaggle.com.

- Make a costume with what you have. Adults should try to come up with a creative costume that doesn't require tearing open a plastic bag--or on the other end of the spectrum--sewing. Here's your chance to show your friends how brilliant and creative you are using clothing and objects around the house. Some ideas to get you started:

- Celebrity with a signature look (e.g. Paris Hilton, Ellen Degeneres, Sarah Palin, Snoop Dogg, Joe-the-plumber)
- You Tube "celebrity" (e.g. Obama Girl, Star Wars Kid, Evolution of Dance Guy)
- A character (e.g. The Joker, Napolean Dynamite, The Godfather)
- A profession (e.g. farmer, truck driver, rock star)

- Support a local farm and take your kids to a local pumpkin patch--if you can find one nearby. Use as much of the pumpkin as possible. Toast the seeds and try out some pumpkin recipes. And remember to compost your pumpkins. If you don't have a compost bin, none is required. Just find an out-of-the way 3' x 3' section of your yard and get started.

- Resist buying special plastic or paper bags for trick-or-treating. Remember when everyone used a pillow case? Still works.

-Take along an LED flashlight when trick-or-treating. LED lights are more energy efficient and last longer than incandescent bulbs.

- Walk, don't drive around the neighborhood. Idling your car at each house wastes fuel and emits harmful pollutants--pollutants which disproportionately impact children who breathe 50 percent more air per pound of body weight than adults. If you want to go to another area of town to trick-or-treat, car pool or take public transit.

- Kids get enough candy during Halloween, but healthier snacks and non-edible treats can also come with extra packaging. So, the challenge is to find something that isn't wastefully packaged or to come up with a trick in lieu of a treat. Frankly, I think coming up with a trick would be easier to do. So my recommendation is to learn a magic trick between now and Halloween and don't give kids the option of a treat. Will they be disappointed? Well, that depends on your trick.

October 19, 2008 "In Case of Fire"

As an urban homeowner, I have to be especially careful when it comes to building a fire in the fireplace. The concentration of chimneys in high density neighborhoods and the presence of other urban pollutants make fire-burining season one of the unhealthiest for urban dwellers. High efficiency gas fireplaces are far cleaner than wood burning stoves or fireboxes, but they are pricey to purchase and install. Not everyone with a wood-burning device can afford to upgrade to a gas unit. Does this mean those with traditional fireboxes should stop having fires? Not necessarily. Moderation is advised, but on the occasion when a fire in the fireplace is just too irresistable there are ways to make sure your fire is cleaner.

1. Burn manufactured logs. Manufactured logs burn cleaner and longer than cordwood, create little or no creosote inside flues, and utilize recovered materials. Two good options are JAVA LOG made from reclaimed coffee grounds and GOODWOOD FIRELOG made of post industrial wood by-products. Both products use bio-based binders instead of non-renewable petroleum binders like those used by other manufactured log producers.

2. Burn a hot fire. If you are using cordwood, the trick to eliminating the amount of smoke, and thus pollution, created by your fire is to get it burning very hot very fast--and keep it that way. Follow these steps to ignite a fire quickly and always use dry, well-seasoned kindling and wood:

- Crumple plenty of aged newspaper in the firebox on top of a fire grate.
- Stack a generous amount of fine, dry kindling on top of the newspaper, crisscrossing it to create air space. Then place one or two very small logs on top of the kindling.
- Light your newspaper. If there is a door on your firebox close it 95% of the way to create a strong draft.
- When the fire is burning well, add more small logs. Don't add large logs until you have a strong, hot fire going.

The above are general guidelines. If your firebox came with an owner's manual, follow its particular instructions for starting a fire.

October 12, 2008 "Eco Safari?"

In case you were wondering where I've been for the last two weeks, I was in Africa. My husand, sister, brother-in-law and I were on an eco-Safari that was, in a word...amazing.

Eco tourism is about choosing desinations and activities that will minimize your impact on the land and its resources, and support local communities and economies. With most of these trips, the "eco" is waiting for you at your destination. The inevitable flight to get from here to there is the sticky part. It can be uncomfortable trying to justify flying 12,000 miles to have a reduced-impact vacation. For this problem, carbon offsets help neutralize global warming emissions generated by energy intensive activities--like flying. Skeptics have called carbon offsets a scam, but this is very unfair. Certainly the buyer needs to be aware of disreputable peddlars of carbon offsets, and there are many buying tips for consumers in my article "Solving the Mystery of Carbon Offsets."

Once we arrived in Botswana, the eco was evident. We stayed in tents, and not the bleached white kind with teak floors, electricity and "housekeeping" included--just tents with two cots and a side table. We ate locally produced foods prepared by native Botswanians--all cooked over a fire so hot I never saw it smoke. We bathed--rarely--in an open-top tent under a gravity shower--easily sharing five gallons of water with four other adults. And finally, we buried our waste (too much information?) and packed out our trash. Despite these low impact practices, there were a few things that weren't so eco. The local water where we were isn't safe to drink, so bottled water was a necessary choice. Anyone who knows me knows how hard it is for me to consume water from a plastic bottle, but this is what bottled water is for. Unlike the mostly superfluous reasons for consuming bottle water in the States and other developed countries, bottled water in remote regions is justified. However, I couldn't understand why the Safari operators had chosen water packaged in half litre bottles. With temperatures over 100 degrees Farenheit daily, consuming water, and lots of it, was mandatory. So I wish that they had supplied bottled water in less wasteful 1.5 litre bottles. Or better yet, provided a barrel of clean water that guests could refill bottles from.

There was also the issue of the game drives. The Moremi Game Reserve where we spent much of our safari, covers 4,871 square kilometers. Finding wildlife required covering several kilometers in a 4X4 jeep, even if we did only explore a small portion of this vast park. We spent close to seven hours a day in a vehicle. Not always moving, but still. Seeing wildlife from the back of an elephant, as some safaris do, would have been more eco, but I'm not into the domesticaton of wild animals, so for me it was the jeep--and another visist to Terrapass.com for more carbon offsets.

September 21, 2008 "Can't See the Forest for the Trees"

Last week, as I stood in line at Kinkos, I overheard someone say that buying recycled paper isn't necessary because paper today comes from young trees grown on farms, and thus no forests and mature trees are sacrificed. It's at times like these that I wish I were bold enough to tap people on the shoulder and correct them on the spot. Or maybe that's not bold...maybe that's rude. Well, I'm neither bold nor rude, so I stood there knowing two things. First, this guy had gotten some bad information, and second, I had the topic for my next blog.

The suggestion that the cultivation of tree farms is saving our heritage forests is false. Tree farms are often created on deforested land! Land that has been cleared and replaced by a mono-crop has none of the properties or benefits of a diverse, fully functioning forest. Even if a tree farm's existence did not come at the expense of a healthy, thriving forest; the land, water and energy used, and pollution created, to produce paper from farmed-raised trees is not--I repeat not--on par with utilizing post consumer recycled content for paper production in economic or ecological terms. Consider the following facts:

- Producing paper from recycled material uses less water and energy and produces less pollution than producing paper from trees.

- Post consumer recyclable material is extremely abundant and available--it doesn't have to be planted, watered, fertilized or harvested. It only has to be collected and transported. And on the subject of transportation, recyclable material is lighter to transport. You need only one ton of recycled material to make one ton of recycled content paper, whereas you will need 3.5 tons of trees to make one ton of tree paper.

- Neglecting to support recycled products jeopardizes recycling itself. In order for the paper that North Americans consume and throw away to be sufficiently diverted from landfills and into recycling programs, consumers must close the loop on recycling--meaning they must buy back the material in its second generation.

Paper cannot be recycled forever. Eventually the fibers wear out, so virgin sources (trees) will always be a part of overall paper production, but when recycled paper is available, it is the environmentally preferable choice.

September 14, 2008 "Necessity or Novelty?"

Every time I see a commercial for a new cleaning product today, it's for a single-use, disposable "innovation" created, presumably, to make our lives more convenient and sanitary. I find it a bit ironic that manufacturers like Clorox, Pledge and Swiffer are trying to make cleaning our homes an exercise in polluting the planet. Products designed for just minutes--or seconds--of use not only create more garbage, but they also needlessly consume resources and create pollution because single-use items must be produced in huge volume to keep up with the demand for perpetual replenishment.

I can understand the temptation to use these products, but with the need to reduce our ecological footprint increasingly apparent, this is an easy area in which to curb waste. Rejecting disposable products can also leave money in the bank for other things--even when "splurging" on seemingly more expensive eco-friendly cleaning products. Consider the savings over one year, outlined in the Table below.

	One year's supply of single-use/disposable products	One year's supply of bulk products
Furniture	Pledge Grab It Dusting Cloths: $13.94	Earth-Friendly Products Furniture Polish: $6.17
Toilet	Clorox Toilet Wand disposable cleaning heads $27.61	Ecover Toilet Bowl Cleaner: $4.11
Windows	Windex Wipes $6.55	Earth-Friendly Products Window Cleaner: $2.86
Countertops	Lysol Kitchen Wipes: $44.16	Seventh Generation Kitchen or Bathroom Cleaner: $12.14
Floors	Swiffer Wet Jet and refills $28.19 Swiffer Sweeper plus refills $14.45	Country Save All Purpose Cleaner: $24.79 Broom & dust pan: $0 (negligible cost over it's life)
Laundry	Shout Stain Removing Wipes $12.19	Citra-Spot Stain Remover: $6.51
TOTAL	$147.09	$56.58

As the Table shows, you'll spend almost one third as much on natural, non-toxic products from a bottle as you would on single-use products. As that celebrity homemaker would say, "That's a good thing."

September 7, 2008 "Green Favors"

I was recently asked by a reader--who will be getting married next spring--to recommend some green gifts that she can either buy or make for her guests. There are lots of green-themed gifts available now, but when shopping (or creating) for so many, i.e. a hundred or more guests, you'll want to keep costs and labor to a minimum. At least I would!

Gifts made from all-natural or recycled materials are green, but the greenest gifts will also use local and reused materials as much as possible. So if you're creative and feeling a little industrious, here are several ideas:

1. A live plant. Purchase 4" flower pots made from 100% biodegradable material (such as peat and wood pulp) and plant a seed early enough so the plant grows to a height of 6" to 8" by your wedding day. Tie ribbon or raffia around the pot to dress it up.
2. Fresh cut herbs (pictured). Tie fresh herbs in a neat bundle with ribbon. This idea will fill the room with wonderful fragrance!
3. A tiny fruit basket. Pick up small baskets at your local thrift store. Thrift stores are an excellent resource for baskets (no two will be alike!) and you can probably get a discount if you buy lots since thrift store our generally overstoked with baskets. Line each basket with a natural material or shredded paper grocery bags that you've saved (you'll need a mechanical paper shedder to make quick, neat work of this). Choose a variety of seasonal, locally grown fruits for each basket.
4. Natural soap bars. See if a local soap shop or natural market sells handmade soap by the pound. You can cut your own bars off of blocks of soap made from natural ingredients, and wrap them in tissue and ribbon for your guests.
5. Organic treats in a "jar". It's back to the thrift store to find one-of-a-kind containers. Glass, ceramic and tin containers with lids can be washed and reused safely for edibles, and small wooden and paper boxes and fabric pouches can be used for non-edibles. Fill your unique gift receptacles with the treat of your choice. This could be loose tea, coffee beans, nuts, spices, bath salts, seeds, organic chocolate, etc. Use ribbon and cards made from recycled or non-tree fibers as needed.

If you'll have more guests than you can find reused baskets or jars for, look for containers made from recycled materials at treecycle.com/catbag.html

If you'd like to try and find some ready-made gifts online, check out these websites for wedding favors:

ecoparti.com
plantamemory.com
easternleaf.com

August 30, 2008 "My Old House"

For those living in a Northern climate, like me, it's time to start thinking about getting the house ready for winter. That means getting storm windows out of storage and cleaning them, making an appointment to have the heating system serviced, searching for cracks where heated air can escape, and making a shopping list for needed weatherization materials.

I hate spending my weekends doing chores, and I usually put off doing things for as long as possible, but not when it comes to weatherization. Getting a jump on winterizing the house makes a huge difference to my comfort and my heating bill. I live in a 100-year old house, and slacking off on weatherization could cost me hundreds of dollars because air infiltration can account for 30 percent or more of a home’s heating costs. This is one set of chores I take seriously.

Many old houses aren't insulated, and that's the first thing I remedied when I bought the house four years ago. I have balloon construction and lap siding so it was easy for the contractor to pop off the siding, drill holes in the sheeting from the top floor and fill every cavity with recycled cellulose insulation. It cost me only $600 after the rebate I earned from my utility company, and I'm sure it's saved me even more in energy costs since the installation.

The original windows aren't energy efficient, but replacing them isn't in the budget right now, so for insulation I rely on a combination of storm windows (I don't have a full set) and heavy curtains. For stopping air leakage I use two products. For non-moving seams all the windows have been caulked inside and out. For cracks around moving parts of the window I use rope caulk. It's like coiled play dough, and you peel off cording and press it into the cracks. It's a great project for kids and you can remove it easily in the spring when you want to open the windows. It's also reusable, although each time you reuse it, it becomes a little harder to work with. I've never found this stuff at the major home improvement stores. I get mine at a True Value Hardware Store.

For plumbing or electric penetrations on exterior walls, I used an expandable foam sealant to fill in cracks four years ago and it's holding strong. If you're going to use expandable foam, keep in mind that it is not earth-friendly, so use it wisely (i.e. trust that it will expand and don't use too much) and make sure to clean the applicator afterwards, so it doesn't clog. If it clogs, what's left in the can becomes trapped and you'll have to throw it out.

Doors are my biggest problem. Through trial and error I've found different products for different doors that work. For example, I installed a rubber gasket in the jam of one door, but then the door wouldn't close properly, so I ended up applying a foam strip. I don't like the foam because it isn't durable and it has to be replaced every 2 to 3 years. But anyway, those are basically your choices for sealing gaps in the jam--rubber-type gaskets that apply with tiny nails or adhesive or adhesive-backed foam strips.

To seal cracks under exterior doors I have gasketed thresholds. I'll admit, I had some problems with doors closing properly after installing the thresholds, and I had to remove a couple doors and saw off a quarter inch or so before they would close. It can be a project, so if you are going to do this make sure you are equipped with the muscle and power tools to retrofit the door if necessary. Otherwise, hire a handyman.

The professionals will tell you that once you've tightened up your home, you should provide controlled ventilation to ensure that the right amount of indoor air and outdoor air are exchanged. They are absolutely right. Controlled ventilation is necessary to provide fresh air, exhaust excess moisture, and reduce stuffiness. I don't have a controlled ventillation system yet, and I'm fortunate that I've had no issues with mold or my health.

For much more information on weatherizing a home, download Alliant Energy's guide to weatherizing your home.

August 22, 2008 "Make Some Shade"

If the hot sun turned your home into a sauna this year, it's not too late to think about planting shade trees. Fast-growing species can provide shade in as little as two years, and trees that block the sun can reduce cooling costs by 40 percent!

Fast-growing shade trees include Red Maple, River Birch, Yellow Poplar, and Sawtooth Oak, but you'll want to select trees based on your climate zone to give them the best chance for survival. The website, Fast-Growing-Trees.com has many suggestions for shade trees that can be organized by state or climate zone--wonderful!

Since shade trees must be very tall to shade the South side of the house during the summer, when the sun is at its steepest angle, concentrate your efforts on the West side of the house where trees don't have to be as tall to provide shade due to the lower angle of the sun after 4 pm. The South side of the house can still benefit from shade trees, it just may take a bit longer--especially if your home has two stories.

Fall is the best time to plant shade trees, so visit your nursery soon!

August 15, 2008 "One is Enough"

How many "yellow page" phone books did you receive last year? If you live in a medium to large city, I'm betting in was at least two and maybe three. The printing and distribution of multiple nearly identical annual directories for the same city-- plus smaller versions--is a needless waste of paper and fossil fuel. And the manner in which these books are distributed--dropped without notice or invitation on countless stoops in cities all across the country--blurs the line between littering and providing a community resource.

Why do so many companies produce directories and provide them free of charge? Because they are raking in money from advertisers. You see, directory publishers sell ads by bragging to advertisers about their distribution, which is huge because they drop directories all over town to build these numbers up. Unfortunately for the advertiser, distribution has nothing to do with readership. A technicality that is making directory publishers rich and duping advertisers.

Sure you can recycle phone books, but this won't replace the harvested trees, plant effluents and carbon dioxide emissions resulting from their overproduction. Recycling is reactionary--it's time to get proactive in stopping the waste from superfluous phone directories.

Even with online directories, most people still find it convenient to refer to a print directory from time to time--or even exclusively, and for this, one directory should suffice. Most people are unaware that they have the power to stop phone book deliveries. Ironically, you'll find the phone number to call to remove yourself from the distribution list inside each directory under the heading "To request additional copies, call:" You can also go to yellowpagesgoesgreen.org and opt out of receiving unsolicited phone books.

For added insurance, once you've received your first new directory of the year, post a sign on your door that reads "NO PHONE BOOKS." If you happen to receive extra phone books you don't need, drop them off at the company's distrubution office next time you're driving by, or round up several from other neighbors and call to have them picked up. Do not simply take extra phone books to the recycler. Phone book distributors need to be made aware that they are overproducing directories so they can adjust production runs accordingly.

Help stop waste and legitimize phone book distribution figures by calling to get off unwanted phone book distribution lists today.

July 30, 2008 "Hypermiling"

Last week my husband and I drove from Spokane, WA to Bozeman, MT for my Dad's 70th birthday. This is the first long trip (406 miles) we've taken since gas was around $3.00 a gallon, and I was less than enthusiastic about the $120 I'd calculated it was going to cost us in fuel. Then I remembered "hypermiling." I'd heard that cross-country travelers had been recorded getting up tp 88 miles per gallon! Without knowing much about hypermiling, I knew that mileage like that would require some fancy and even risky driving techniques that I would not be trying out.

One technique I was willing to try was coasting in neutral down hills. There are four mountain passes to cross between Spokane and Bozeman, giving me plenty of downward grade to coast, however if the grade ws less than 6%, I would rapidly lose speed and end up coasting at a slow 30 mph crawl. Since I didn't want to cause an accident or turn a 6 hour trip into a 10 hour trip, I estimate I coasted less than 10 miles out of 406! Also, before I could coast, I had to climb, and there was no getting around the fact that my Subaru Outback needed a heavy right foot on the gas pedal to make it up the passes.

Whenever I had to break or accelerate I tried to remember to eased into it--another hypermiling tip. I found myself forgetting a lot, though, and lapsing into old habits, so I didn't get much mileage out of that tip either.

Then I tried an old trick...drafting behind a tall semi trailer to cut down on wind resistance. I followed a semi-truck for about 20 miles never sure what distance I should follow at to stay within the draft-zone. I kept narrowing and expanding the gap between us, trying to find the right spot, and this must have irritated the truck driver because eventually he slowed down unexpectedly, and I got the not-so-suttle hint that he wanted me off his tail. So that ended that.

My vehicle has cruise control and I used it as much as possible which is only about 30% of the trip since it's only beneficial on long flat sections. But I've always used cruise control so that savings is alread figured into my 26 mpg number.

My first attempt at hypermiling fell way short of proper hypermiling and my husband, who did half the driving, wasn't into it, so we bettered our gas milage by a only a small fraction this go around. I think with more experience and attentiveness I can improve--both my technique and gas mileage. And I don't plan to wait for a long trip. I'll be practicing hypermiling techniques that apply to city driving next chance I get.

For hypermiling tips, go to ecomodder.com

July 2, 2008 "One Cold Summer"

I haven't worked in an office for ten years, but when I saw a story on the TODAY show about over air conditioned office buidlings, it brought back unfond memories of being forced to spend hours in a climate controlled building where the climate the controllers were shooting for was more like subactric than a cool summer day.

According to the TODAY piece, some office buildings are kept so cold in the summer that worker productivity suffers as a result, and women in particular rely on outerwear and space heaters to get through the day without freezing!

It's not just office building workers that deal with this problem, though. I've learned to take a coat along with me to the bank, grocery store, restaurants--anyplace I know will be air conditioned. Generally if a business is using air conditioning, they are probably misusing it.

It's a tad cruel and woefully energy inefficient to cool buildings to the point where occupants need winter attire or heating equipment or both to be comfortable. The Earth and all who've transitioned into their summer wardrobe beg that thermostats in buildings everywhere hover around the mid 70s and not the mid 60s.

Thermostats set at 76 degrees will conserve energy and this is a comfortable temperature for most people if dressed for the season and not exerting themselves. For each degree you adjust the thermostat up, you'll save 3-4% in cooling costs.

June 2008 "Did I Feel Raindrops?"

Here in the Pacific Northwest, one week until the official start of summer, we're just seeing the arrival of spring. May and June, for the most part, have been cool and rainy. Just this week we reached consistent afternoon highs in the low 70's. But some residents--paying more attention to the calendar than the weather--have been watering their lawns for several weeks despite cool and satisfactorily wet conditons.

The first rule to water-wise lawn care is pay attention to the weather. Nothing says your not paying attention or just don't care, like permitting a sprinkler system to come on and stay on right before, during or directly after a rainstorm.

Weather is something all of us pay attention to, now we just have to get more people with sprinkler systems to connect the dots between the weather and watering needs. Watering when none is needed is not only wasteful, it's bad for the grass. Too much water weakens a lawn's root system and its abilty to out-compete weeds, fight off disease or ever adapt to less water.

As a general rule, lawns need only one inch of rain per week. This amount can double in very hot conditions, but then again, lawns aren't really meant to thrive in hot conditions. For this application, xeriscaping would be a wiser choice.

I'm for taking out any personal lawn that exceeds what a child or dog needs to chase a ball. Short of this, practice water-wise lawn care to avoid water shortages this summer and the myriad problems they bring for farmers and wildlife.

May 2008 "Golf and Greenwashing"

Last month I read an article in United Airline's Hemispheres magazine titled "The Greening of Golf." The article raved about a hot-weather grass called paspalum that can be irrigated with recycled water and requires less mowing and fertilizing than other turf grass. This is indeed good news for those who build golf courses in hot climates using traditional grasses that require massive amounts of clear water, fertilizer and fossil fuels to maintain. But there's more to the golf industry's excitement over this grass.

Another benefit of paspalum is that it can can survive harsh coastal conditions. This grass can withstand salty sea spray and even survive being buried by sand in the event of a tropical storm, so paspalum will make it more possible to hack out courses alongside beaches and coral outcroppings. Hmmm...nothing green about that. For developers wanting to replace seaside vegetation and habitat with groomed golf courses, paspalum has given them a new reason to plow ahead. Paspalum cannot be heralded as the grass species that will green golf if it is replacing coastal wildlands.

April 2008 "Mercury Rising?"

As energy efficient compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) become more popular, the concern over their mercury content is growing as well. But a typical CFL contains only a trace amount--about five milligrams--of mercury sealed inside its glass tube, and new CFLs are being developed that will contain even less. Nonetheless, the presence of mercury in CFLs has some consumers nervous. Here's what anyone using or considering using CFLs needs to know.

1. Not using CFLs can actually lead to more mercury pollution. The majority of this country's power comes from coal-generated power plants--the largest remaining source of human-generated mercury emissions in the United States. Due to CFLs' lower energy requirements, the average coal-fired power plant will emit 3.3 milligrams of mercury to power a CFL, compared to 13.6 milligrams of mercury to power a typical incandescent bulb. A difference of 10.3 milligrams or a 75% reduction in mercury emissions.

2. CFLs last for up to 10,000 hours or about as long as 10 incandescent blulbs. This means there will be much less waste created by using CFLs. The downside is, CFLs, due to their mercury content, are considered hazardous waste and should not be tossed in the garbage. You can look up disposal regulations and recycling options by state at www.epa.gov/bulbrecycling/.

3. If no local facility exists to recycle your lamps, consider mailing them to a qualified lamp recycler. Locate one through the website www.lampreycling.org and carefully follow instructions for packing and mailing. Broken lamps will not be accepted.

4. While some states permit households to throw mercury-containing lamps in the trash, it's not a good idea. Lamps that are thrown in the trash will break, releasing mercury into the environment. If you will be disposing of lamps in the trash, take precautions. The Environmental Protection Agency recommends placing the fluorescent lamp inside two well sealed plastic bags before putting it into the outside trash. They also caution that fluorescent lamps should never go to an incinerator. If your trash is sent to an incinerator, search outside your area for an alternative disposal method.

March 2008 "Grab a Glass"

Water that is bottled in plastic has become a major environmental problem. Manufacturing plastic bottles produced 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide, the chief global warming gas, in 2006. I takes 3 litres of water to make one litre of bottled water, and after recycling, 25 billion single-serving plastic water bottles are thrown out annually.

How did we become so addicted to drinking a beverage, that flows freely from taps across the country, out of a bottle--and paying to do so? Part of the problem is that the bottled water companies convinced the mass market that tap water was potentially bad for us. If the industry's fear campaign didn't convince us to pay an average $1.29 per gallon for water, the availability and portability of those one litre bottles quickly did. What a convenient way to quench our thirst on the treadmill, in the car, at our desk--anywhere! But the reality is that bottled water is a luxury that is contributing to unnecessary fossil fuel use, greenhouse gas emissions, pollution and waste.

First, let me bust the myth that tap water is less safe than bottled water. Bottled waters are subject to less rigorous testing and purity standards than city tap water, so consumers who choose bottle water over tap water may be more, not less vulnerable to bad water. If you're concerned about your tap water, there is no shortage of solutions for filtering tap water--all of them more economical than paying for water in a bottle year in and year out. The average consumer spends $400 a year on bottled water. I countertop filter will cost about $85, and pitcher-style purifiers cost around $25. Even when you factor in the cost of replacement filter cartridges, home filtering saves money.

When it comes to portability, again there are many solutions. Reusable water bottles are being produced for and marketed to the consumer who wants to take their water anywhere. Bottles made of lightweight stainless steel, produced by Klean Kanteen, and aluminum, produced by SIGG, are excellent choices. They won't leach toxic chemicals into your water, as plastic can, and they'll last several years. If weight isn't an issue, grab a glass beverage bottle and reuse it--just don't drop it!

The reasons to avoid bottled water are numerous and range from protecting the environment to saving money. The reasons to buy bottled water are almost non-existent in the face of solutions that make purifying and toting water economical and easy.

February 2008 "I'm Not Listening" (hands over ears)

Things are starting to change. There is new interest in all things green and information on everything from alternative energy to using less plastic is reaching a wider audience than ever before. Publishers, teachers, network producers and bloggers by the thousands are sharing information and solutions on going green--trying to wake us up to our situation and our role in the solutions.

Many people are paying attention and taking action in both simple and grand ways. But for all the people that have committed themsleves to correcting lifestyle habits that are short-changing the earth and us all, there are still too many dragging their heels. And then there are those with heels defiantly dug in! I give the heel-draggers the benefit of the doubt. Getting around to making changes is a factor of so many things we can't always control. My real complaint is with the stuck-in-my-ways-and happy-to-be group. I call them "resistors."

With all the evidence of an earth out of balance that's been reported, and no shortage of solutions being offered, there are still those that turn a deaf ear. Well, actually many resistors are not that passive. The resistors have typically taken either a fight or flight stance on change, and increasingly, resistors are choosing to fight because it's getting harder for them to hide. With more and more people paying attention to our situation and changing behaviors to correct a dismal course, the resistors are frequently confronted on their lifestyle choices. Denying that there are problems in defense of careless choices is no longer good enough. Resistors are finding their voice, and it sounds a lot like Rush Limbaughs'.

It's maddening to hear people using over-simplified, incomplete, and inaccurate arguments to undermine environmental goals. What exactly is wrong with protecting the earth? It's not only basic, it happens to be--due to decades of less-than-sustainable choices--overdue.

January 2008 "Litterbug"

Of all the ways we can harm the earth, littering seems to be one of the most pointless, thoughtless and avoidable. Everyone knows littering is bad (I think). It's a child-like impulse we're taught to stifle when we're four years old. Even if a child's parent or guardian forgot to render this basic lesson, surely a relative, teacher, friend or stranger at some point would have set a young litterbug straight. People know not to litter the same way they know not to break people's windows, lie and steal, for example. But people do it anyway.

I can't go anywhere without seeing litter--lots of it. But one form of litter stands out among all others: cigarette butts. Not only are their more cigarette butts than any other kind of litter, but those littering them are remarkably unapologetic for the act.

What is it about cigarette smokers that makes so many of them litterbugs? If I had a dime for every cigarette butt I saw on the ground in parking lots, on nature trails, under the chair lift, on park pathways, on street corners, at bus stops, on beaches and really any place man can go, I'd be rich. And that's no exaggeration. I once picked up 48 cigarette butts from a campsite I was staying in. There were 100 campsites in that campground. If every site produced an average of 48 butts--each worth a dime, I could have made $480 that day. I'm just saying, if someone out there was paying me to collect butts, I'm confident I could make six figures a year--very confident.

Some smokers use the idle time spent sitting at a traffic light or parked at a curb to empty whole contents of their vehicle's ash tray right onto the pavement. Not only have I seen several cluster-piles of butts and ash to indicate this isn't a completely rare occurrence, but I saw a guy do it once. What are these people thinking? I'm outraged and confused. I'd really like a smoker who does this to explain to me why.

Sometimes a smoker's flick-and-crush way of disposing of a butt is downright scary. Last month a gal pulled up to a gas pump one row over from me, got out of her car and tossed her lit--lit!--cig on the ground. My heart stopped for a moment as I waited for the shockwave. Thankfully, I and seven other people pumping gas that day dodged a bullet when her cigarette failed to make contact with any combustible fumes or fuel puddles. What on earth was she thinking?! She wasn't, obviously. Tossing lit cigarettes may have become so habitual for smokers that they are not only litterbugs, but dangerous.

Smokers (not all of them, of course--please don't send me angry letters) also like to toss lit cigarettes out the car window, but I know for a fact that vehicles have been manufactured with ashtrays since at least the 1940s. And this is another way to either blow people up in their cars or start brush fires--or both!

I know what smokers who litter will say--cigarette butts are small. They are--and so are bottle caps, gum wrappers and juice-box straws. They're all litter, and still cigarette butts are the most littered item. It is estimated that several trillion cigarettes end up as litter every year.

Smokers may also be under the impression that their butts are biodegradable. They are not. Cigarette filters are made from synthetic cellulose acetate which does not breakdown (not the same thing as biodegrade) for several years. And butts and the remnant chemicals sucked through them will start to leach contaminants into the environment as soon as they get wet.

There are several campaigns lamenting cigarette litter specifically; littering fines are severe enough to make most people think twice; and as I mentioned before, everyone knows better than to litter, yet the butts keep landing on the ground. I don't know if there's a single thing I or anyone could do or say to someone who just wants to be unpleasant.

Blog Archives 2007 2006 2005

Some of my favorite blogs in cyberspace.

This is a personal and frank chronicle of a "typical" families quest for greener living. Day by day, week by week, they share what they are doing to live greener. This blog is refreshing, honest and real and I look forward to each new post!

From alternative energy to wine, you'll find entertaining reviews of the latest eco-products.

Paul Dorn is the authority on bike commuting, and this is his blog. Get tips and inspiration to make your bike commute possible.