Wednesday, June 16, 2010

There's Always A GREENER Way!

"It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment." -Ansel Adams

How does one become "green." Is it an unconscious decision or conscious one? Is it born into us to be aware of how we affect our environment or do we eventually take notice of our actions and what consequences sprout from them? I believe it is different for everyone, depending on our up bringing, the immediate environment we live in, and the schools we attend. But I will not accept that we are too far out of the loop to understand that what we do has a consequence, which means we have a choice!

For me, going green was a conscious decision after many years of living with parents who do what they can with what they have, from recycling, reusing, and growing their own veggies and fruits. Before that, I was a typical American who wanted everything and was spoiled by our detached sense of reality that our actions have no detrimental consequences. The truth is that our actions do indeed have detrimental consequences on the environment and I want to do what I can to eliminate my contribution to those negative affects on our Earth.

So, I wanted to educate myself as much as possible about what I could do at home, at work, at the grocery store and how I could teach others. If that makes me part of the movement, than count me in, because I will do everything I can to keep our Earth happy, healthy, and hopeful for a cleaner future. Technology has come a long way, but it has taken us away from simple living that kept a balance between us and Earth.

"We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children." -Native American Quote

I recently came across the book, The Green Book by Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas M. Kostigen. Forwards are written by Cameron Diaz and William McDonough. My attention was brought to this book because of Cameron Diaz's connection to it. I heard she was a green, hippie gal and I was interested in hearing how she became affiliated with this book. I finished the book two days ago and decided I wanted to share these tips with as many people I could reach. The book is filled with hundreds of ways we can improve our life in simple, inexpensive ways that help us and the environment we love without dramatically changing our lives. Yeah, it's that good!

So, for the next little while, all of my blogs will be about how to be green-er. I will be posting links to eco-friendly products, give you tips of how to recycle and reuse items in your home, and how some of the things we use can have negative affects on not only the environment, but our health and the health of our children.

"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." -Joanne Kathleen Rowling

I'll start in the easiest place to create change, our home. This is the place we spend most of our time and because of this, it is where we create the most waste and waste the most. Aside from the amount of trash we accumulate in our lifetime, which I will hit on in another blog, we waste the most water at home. (On an individual level.)

"By 2025, the world must increase its water supply by 22 percent in order to meet its needs. Meanwhile, 40 percent of the drinking water supplied to homes is flushed down the toilet." -The Green Book, pg. 2

Not only is that quote eye opening, it begs to question why we use drinking water to flush human waste. Not to mention that 40 percent of household water bills in the summer are attributed to watering our lawn, with clean drinking water!! This baffles me, especially since millions and millions of people around the world have little to no clean drinking water in their daily lives. We use clean drinking water so frivolously, while others around the world walk hours in search of clean drinking water for a single days use.

There has to be a breaking point in N. America where we say, "That's Enough!" Instead of continuing our selfish behaviour and throwing perfectly clean drinking water down the toilet and on our lawns, we need to evolve and find a better way to conserve the little clean drinking water we have left!

So here are some tips to how we can conserve the water we have.

1. Take shorter showers. "Every two minutes you save on your shower can conserve more than ten gallons of water. And that can add up: If everyone in the country saved just one gallon from their daily shower, over the course of a year it would equal twice the amount of freshwater withdrawn from the Great Lakes every day. The Great Lakes are the world's largest source of fresh water."

"I found out that every two minutes in the shower uses as much water as a person in Africa uses for everything in their life for a whole day - drinking, bathing, cooking, and cleaning... everything!" - Jennifer Aniston

Another thing you could do to prevent gallons to be dumped down the drain is to install a low-flow shower head. There are many different brands and styles, but I've found Ecoflo to have several style shower heads to fit the needs of any style bathroom. A family of four could save up to 42,200 gallons of water in a year with a low-flow shower head, and it's as simple as changing old, energy eating incandescent light bulbs to the energy efficient CFL bulbs!

2. Turn the tap off. "Turn off the tap while you brush your teeth. You'll conserve up to 5 gallons of water per day. Throughout the entire United States, the daily savings could add up to 1.5 billion gallons - more water than is consumed per day across all of New York City."

3. Flush once less per day. The average toilet in North American households flushes down 3 gallons of water with each flush. Flush when you need to, and adapt the selective flush, "When it's yellow, let it mellow. When it's brown, flush it down." Though, I'm not too keen on this idea, as I don't like my waste mellowing in my toilet. Instead, I prefer the dual-flush toilet. The first (for #1) uses only .8 gallons of water and the second (for #2) uses 1.6 gallons of water. There are also dry flush toilets as well, for those who don't want to waste any clean drinking water for their waste to be flushed.

4. Rain Barrels. Since so much of our water is used on our lawns in the summer, a simple solution is to resort to our free source of water... RAIN! Rain barrels are simple and relatively inexpensive, and can be used for flower beds, gardens, and lawns if set up appropriately. By elevating your rain barrel, the free use of gravity will have enough force to push water out of a hose to water anything and everything outside.

Another way rain could be used to replace clean drinking water is through a rain catch for your toilet water, utility sink, and showers. (If you're okay with rain water for your shower, if not you could put a filter on it to make it cleaner.) Ask your plumber about rain catches and if they're legal in your area. Unfortunately, some regions of N. America don't allow rain water to be directed into our homes, though it makes perfect sense to use rain water instead of clean, drinking water to flush our waste down the toilet.

I hope this helps everyone find simple steps around the home to conserve water. And until next time... think and be green!

Love,
Katie


"It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment." -Ansel Adams

4 comments:

  1. Nice site Katie. I am currently completely remodeling my house (down to the studs). It may not be very green to throw away all the building materials, but it is my goal to get the house as self sufficient as I can. I have plans for solar panels, an energy efficient roof, foam insulation in the walls, a solar water heater and a passive air heater, along with an air to air heat pump and numerous other green items. I have no idea how long it is going to take me to install all this, but I plan on doing it myself so I can afford it. People don't seem to realize that if you spend a little more time and money upfront with green technology in the long run you will not only save your pocket book, but the earth as well. Anyway, I enjoy your blog keep it up.

    Brian Cummings

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  2. It sounds like we come from similar backgrounds. I grew up on a farm and we had tons of rain barrels, a compost, etc. Lights were always off until needed, taps off while brushing teeth, etc, plus shorter showers. I must admit, I am pretty good at reducing my carbon footprint, but I indulge in long hot showers and baths from time to time. Hope the good and bad don't cancel each other out LOL!

    Please come join my *Cupcake Challenge*, I promise it will be loads of fun!!

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  3. Thanks One Crafty Fox, we do indeed come from similar backgrounds as my parents raised me much the same as yours. Though, I too enjoy a long hot shower once in a while. Although after reading, The Green Book, I have started to be more mindful of how long I'm in there.

    I'll take a look at the cupcake challenge, sounds fun!! :)

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  4. Brian,

    Thanks so much for your comment and I absolutely love that you're rebuilding your house to be completely green. I also noticed on fbook that you donate much of your scrap building materials to Habitat for Humanity, when they'll accept what you're bringing, but sometimes we cannot eliminate waste completely. Keep me posted on your progress, as I too will be building a house completely off-grid with eco-friendly materials. Including wood from certified forests and using bamboo.

    And lastly, thanks for the support... I enjoy sharing green knowledge!

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