Earth Day

It is earth day and I am feeling guilty for not keeping up on this. It was cute today, my son went out to pick up garbage (in the cold rain) and came back in terribly disappointed that there wasn't any trash to pick up in our neighborhood. We tried to explain that that was a good thing. I am not sure he felt the same.

On WPR Today

An awesome new book is out. It is a great reference book to know which companies are being responsible and where our money will be used wisely not just as $$$$.

Reuse and ReStore

So, we ripped out a closet in our office to make way for something that fits our needs more - and so we can turn off all those vamp power sucking peripherals more easily. Anyway, we stumbled onto Habitat for Humanities ReStore. They take building donations, even closets parts. Yeah for not having to but steel in the landfill and yeah for someone being able to use what I cannot.

A new fun thing

Where have I been? Well, everywhere. Doesn't matter, I am back. Now that school is back in it is time to think about the waste created by Lunch. Schools throw out ridiculous amounts of unnecessary garbage every day. Here are some new fun ways to reduce the waste that daily school lunches produce. For more info go to www.wastefreelunch.org -

http://citizenpip.com/

http://www.kidskonserve.com/

http://www.laptoplunches.com/

Saving Plastic

These look really quite useful and cool. Think of all the plastic we waste simply to carry our veggies around in the store and home. Lame! So here is a solution - even better than my mesh bags (I swear I am paying a few oz extra on my tomatos, but it is better than using plastic). Check these Produce Bags out at www. EcoBags.com

A Greener Christmas

So, still looking for those Christmas/Holiday cards? Well, both Amazon and Target are carrying some more reasonably priced recycled paper cards and holiday papers! Yeah! They have been way up there the past few years. Paper source had some too - but they were a tad pricey!

http://www.target.com/Natural-Wreath-Holiday-Cards/dp/B002RLKSRU/sr=1-6/qid=1260244317/ref=sr_1_6/192-1456708-5865307?ie=UTF8&search-alias=tgt-index&frombrowse=0&index=target&rh=k%3Anatural%20christmas&page=1

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_0_12?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=recycled+christmas+cards&x=0&y=0&sprefix=recycled+chr

One ther tip - watch the labels - I gave up my clear plastic labels this year for handwriting on the addresses on my envelopes this year . . . . my hand still hurts!

Breaking Down

So our dishwasher finally stopped functioning well. It has never been great, but now it was functioning more like a food spreader than a dishwasher. One morning I woke up to a messy coating of chocolate pound cake on all the dishes. It took two more cycles to get it all clean. What a waste of water, gas and electricity! I had even scraped the bowl that I put in the dishwasher.

Anyway, after much searching I found a dishwasher that will use less water, less gas, less energy and even clean the dishes too!!! In my research I found a division of consumer reports that uses environmental criteria. It might be helpful next time something breaks at your home. - http://www.greenerchoices.org/ You can also go look at the energy star ratings at energystar.gov

Lastly a tip - the newer dishwashers handle scraped dishes - they do not need to be rinsed. This habit change saves an average of 20 gallons per dishwasher load. On average this is 6,500 gallons per year. I save more than 7,000 per year with not scraping. Scrape those veggies etc. into a composter - decrease your garbage and get free fertilizer for your garden. For more tips on dishwasher efficiency http://www.greenerchoices.org/products.cfm?product=dishwasher&page=GettingMostValue