Saving Water/Electricity/Gasoline: Basics 101

OK now, sometimes things are elementary, right?
I mean, the kind of stuff I'm talking about is when we know what to do, but we so know what to do so well, that we no longer do it.
Does that make sense?
So today's lesson has to do with the simple, everyday, little things that you and I can do to save water.
You know, it's the little things that I'm talking about that make a difference.

Such as:

• When brushing your teeth, turn the facet water off
• Fill the water basin with water and splash your face when you wash it instead of letting the water run
• Do your laundry after 6 p.m., that way not everyone is using electricity during the day
• Hang clothes to dry instead of using a dryer
• Unplug your cell phone, laptop, ipod, etc., chargers, when they are not in use
• Turn off lights, computers, TVs, stereos when not in use
• Defrost food in the refrigerator it helps to keep it cooler
• Cool cooked food before putting in the frig
• Aggressive driving (speeding, rapid acceleration and braking) wastes gas. It can lower your gas mileage by 33 percent at highway speeds and by 5 percent around town. 
• You can assume that each 5 mph you drive over 60 mph is like paying an additional $0.24 per gallon for gas.
• Idling gets 0 miles per gallon. Cars with larger engines typically waste more gas at idle than do cars with smaller engines.
• Avoid keeping unnecessary items in your vehicle, especially heavy ones. 
• Idling gets 0 miles per gallon. Cars with larger engines typically waste more gas at idle than do cars with smaller engines.
• Using cruise control on the highway helps you maintain a constant speed and, in most cases, will save gas.
• When you use overdrive gearing, your car's engine speed goes down. This saves gas and reduces engine wear.
• Combining errands into one trip saves you time and money.
• Stagger your work hours to avoid peak rush hours. Drive your most fuel-efficient vehicle. Consider telecommuting (working from home) if your employer permits it.
• You can improve your gas mileage by up to 3.3 percent by keeping your tires inflated to the proper pressure 

• Use a ceiling fan instead of an air conditioner.
• Set your thermostat on a lower setting at night when it's colder and layer your clothing.
• Set your thermostat to a higher setting during the day when it's hot.  

So there you have it. 

Just a few simple tips that everyone can do everyday that will make a difference. 

If you're not already doing these things then at first it will be a challenge to remember to do them, but once you do them, why...it becomes second nature.

And then you really will be helping nature by adding these easy tips to your daily routine.

Second nature helping nature, get it?

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Earth Hour 2010

Let's fade to black.

That is what "Earth Hour" is all about.
I have posted this article about turning our worlds' lights off for an hour. That includes yours and mine, folks.
From 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. local time.

However there are some people who don't agree but would rather turn them on for an hour, calling it "Edison Hour" to celebrate the latest and greatest advances in technology.

I think "Earth Hour" is a great idea, I mean, why not have lights out for an hour?
Can't we all just get along?

Did you participate?

Earth Hour 2010: Record 121 Countries to Go Dark

 

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/03/100326-earth-hour-2010-record-landmarks/

Paper or Plastic or Reusable Cotton Bags?

Well, what can I say?
I'm guilty, that is all I can fess up to.
I mean, what I'm trying to say is....I am guilty of going into a store and NOT bringing in my reusable cotton canvas bag to carry my items out of the store in. OK, there, I said it.
I'm not talking about the grocery store, that seems to be easy to remember for me. I'm talking about when I go to my distributor and pick up hair supplies and products or a run into non-grocery store stores, that is where I seem to forget my reusable cotton bag.
I have worked in the retail and beauty industry since I was 15-years-and-11-months old (with the exception of the years I was a stay at home mom to my fabulous four =)) and I have bagged a lot of stuff in those years.  But, sad to say, the Blogger of WT&G aka GB&U, recently was convicted by some women who brought in their own reusable cotton bags and told me that they wanted for me to put their items in their bags.
I'll be honest. I have taken the grocery store bags or my distributor store bags and used them as trash-can liners in the bedrooms and bathrooms. I thought I was being so resourceful because I wasn't taking the bags and throwing them in the trash but I was re-using them for my own trash. After all, we need to line our trash-cans with something, right?
Well, I do have at least two cotton reusable bags and one bag, I got from Lancome cosmetics, in my vehicle.
I still say that I can get this state out of debt if I was the trash commissioner.
Let's really focus on using our cotton reusable bags. But honestly, even if they're not cotton, but have a cotton blend, let's just DO IT!

Where are my fellow environmentalists partners in crime?

Well, it's plain to see, that I may have "blog" followers, but they don't really say much, and I really don't have that many followers as it is.

I know that sports, entertainment and food are way more interesting than a blog on how to keep our planet clean, but I am very surprised with all the hype about going "green" and all, that some of you, especially you vegans, haven't come on board to help me out with posts on keeping our outside clean as you talk about keeping your insides clean. Tips on buying healthy food with biodegradable materials, such as my miso soup with a bio bowl post on 03/01/10.

After all, it goes hand-in-glove, if you are putting healthy things in your body, you have to have them coming from a healthy place. And this earth has more filth and gunk in her than she ever has before. So we need to come full circle in this with the realization that we need to start with a good foundation to build a solid structure.

I have made a commitment to bring my shopping bags into all types of stores instead of walking out with paper or plastic bags from where I shopped.  Not just in grocery stores, but anywhere I would purchase products, clothes, office supplies, or whatever.

One gal told me, that she had told herself, if she forgets her bag in the car when she goes to check-out she will have to hand-carry her stuff out to the car because she won't take a bag from the store. So that's what helps her to remember to bring her bag with her when she goes shopping.

This is everybody's problem.  It's not just the Sanitation Department's problem or the folks who get paid to haul off junk. It has to go somewhere, and it is, and it all comes back through the food-chain, animal, vegetable and mineral.

We're here live now back to you Kath!

Well hello there.
This week our class assignment, should we choose to accept this mission, was to go to a place that would have to do with what we blog on. So, since I am blogging on our environment and how to keep it clean and litter free, what better place to go than to a place that pays you to pick up your trash? AKA a recycling center.

TOMRA is the largest recycling company in North America and most likely the world, they are located in 50 countries. You know what else? They even have their own blog, check it out:
http://tomra.wordpress.com/
I mean, this is awesome! A recycling company that has its own blog.! What a recycling freak's, who's blogging on the environment, dream.

Anyway, I take my bottles and cans to TOMRA RePlanet Recycling Centers. They are located throughout the country, but in my neck of the woods, I normally trade at the Brea location on Imperial Hwy in the Albertson's Grocery store parking lot.

It's a beautiful day today, and people are lined up to redeem their glass and plastic bottles and their aluminum cans with the three letters typed in bold on each one, displaying "CRV" which means California Redemption Value.

So, if you've been to one of these places before, then you know the routine. Folks come to the facility and have various plastic trash bags, which BTW is a crack-up being that the focus is NOT to use plastic bags because they are NOT recyclable, but then how else is one to transport their recyclables? OK, I'm up. So there are metal trashcan looking containers that are used to sort the plastic bottles, the glass bottles and the aluminum cans into. I pour the contents of each of my Hefty bags into three separate metal trashcans, then they are put on this solar scale, one after the other, which is actually operated by the sun hitting a solar panel. After the containers are weighed, the attendant proceeds to dump the trashcans containing the recyclables in separate large wood type boxes behind him located within the recycling center and then out pops my receipt from this machine that has kept track of all my weighings, showing me the weight of each type of container I brought in and its total redemption.... $4.83. It seems like I should of gotten way more than that. I had a lot of glass bottles from my Thomas Kemper Pure Cane Sugar Root beer. And glass is heavy too!

Now the self control part...I then proceed to go redeem my cash inside the grocery store, but how strategic is that? I mean, in order for me to get my money, I have to go inside the market to get it, and of course, there is always something I need to buy, like food, so it ends up that I end up spending my redemption money and owing more on my purchase. It's a conspiracy, I tell ya.

Well, looking at some of the RePlanet Recycling Centers, the one by where I live, is majorly outdated. It looks like a mini mobile home that was abandoned by its owners. Sad day. It's really not as up-to-date as the other centers they have. But with the cutbacks and the fund depleted by the governor to help pay off Cali's debt, many of these facilities were cut. (See blog post dated 12/01/09 )

As I leave the market and get into my vehicle, I drive by the recycling center once more and notice the line of people waiting to recycle their containers has now gotten longer since I first got there. It sure is good to see people do their part.. even if they have to get paid to do it. But I look at it this way. Since I usually buy something to eat from the grocery store, recycling bought me a lunch. Not bad for a trade of containers, ey?

Soups and biodegradable bowls

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/01/natural_vegetar.php

 

I love Japanese food, I grew up on it, so Miso soup is one of my favs and check out this healthy soup choice that is not only good for you but the bowl is biodegradable, so it's good for your inter-vironment as well as the environment.
Hey, now, that's pretty good.