Melting steel with solar power
Posted by Laird on Dec 8, 2008
Melting steel with solar power
AWESOME
How To Have A Green Christmas
Posted by Laird on Dec 8, 2008
Working towards a green Christmas is not difficult, but it requires some thinking. With careful planning and some common sense, you can celebrate a green Christmas this year too.
Try to avoid sending paper greeting cards. Send e-cards or direct people to your blog. Compile family photos of previous Christmas in a video, add some Christmas tunes and you have a fun way of sending your best wishes. It is also a way to remind old friends and families of how much fun you had last Christmas.
When shopping, bring your own tote bag and refuse paper or plastic bags from your store. Make sure you listed down everything you need, such as gifts, groceries and so forth, so as to avoid making returns to the store and wasting both time and gas. You can opt for online shopping too. This way, you can avoid driving and getting caught in traffic.
When giving gifts, consider gifts that do not turn into waste, such as concert or theater tickets. Suggest family and friends create wish lists to exchange, so no gifts given are wasted or left to sit on a shelf collecting dust (or worse, in a landfill).
Consider making gifts, many handmade and homemade gifts are easy to make. This also makes your gifts extra special as they are one of a kind and made with love. Give homemade gifts such as cookies in glass jars that your mother or aunt can easily reuse in her kitchen. For co-workers or teacher’s gifts, consider biodegradable candles made of natural ingredients like beeswax.
Use recycled wrapping paper or reusable materials such as scarves or bandanas. Use fabric ribbons instead of synthetics. Practical items such as seasonal cookie cutters or handmade ornaments can be used to accentuate your gifts.
As for decorations, use strings of LED lights. They are energy-efficient, helping you save on electricity bills. Consider putting the lights on a timer so there’s no chance you’ll forget to turn them off, wasting energy.
For Christmas tree, try to get a real tree, if possible. Live trees with the root bulb intact are best, as they can be planted after the holidays, but a real tree from a christmas tree farm is also a good alternative. Be sure to send it to be processed after Christmas for mulch. Make your own Christmas ornaments or pick pine cones and berries as pretty ornaments.
If throwing a party, keep the portions just enough for everyone. Keep leftovers such as turkey, chicken or even salads in the fridge for next day’s meals. After a big feast, compose food wastes in your backyard for earth-friendly, natural fertilizer.
If you are traveling this Christmas, consider going paperless. Use e-tickets whenever possible. Walk whenever you can, if the weather permits. If you are driving, check the condition of your car and make sure everything is working fine. This will also improve mileage, thus saving you money on gas. If you are going out of town and need to rent a car, ask for a hybrid.
Having a green Christmas can be achieved with these simple steps. Remember that every little things you do will affect the environment, whether you realize it or not. Always choose natural, environmentally friendly alternatives.
Tips on Getting Children Involved
Posted by Laird on Dec 1, 2008
Tips on Getting Your Children Involved In Your Earth-Friendly Lifestyle
There are many tips on getting your children involved in your earth-friendly lifestyle. If you are in the process of going “green”, it is important to know and understand that this is a lifestyle choice, a way of living that should involve every member of your family. Children of all ages can get in on the “green” epidemic by learning how to live in a manner that is healthy, and rewarding to themselves, as well as the environment. The secret is to ensure that your children enjoy what they are doing, and have fun doing it. If you make it resemble a “chore”, then they will likely lack interest. However, if you make it a fun task with a lot of initiative, then they will be excited about it! Here, you will be introduced to tips on getting your children involved in your earth-friendly lifestyle.
Water
While the earth is composed of 75% water, we are unable to use all of the water resources in the world. There are many water resources available for our use when it comes to cooking, cleaning, hygiene, and drinking, but even those are limited. It is important to teach your children that water is the single most valuable resource that we have on earth. This substance is important as it is the basis of all life on our planet. When teaching your children how to live “green” and save our planet’s water resources, there are many things that you can instruct them to do:
1. Teach them that when they are washing their hands, it is important to use hot water but they should not turn it on full blast. Instead, they should challenge themselves to create a small stream of water about the thickness of a pencil.
2. Encourage your children to turn off the water while they are brushing their teeth when they are not using it to rinse their toothbrush.
3. When children are allowed to wash dishes in the home, encourage them to run a half sink full of soapy water, and then turn the water off. Tell them to wash as many dishes as they can, and set them in the empty sink. Once the empty sink has been filled with dishes, then inform them to turn on the water and rinse them with a small stream of water.
While there are hundreds upon hundreds of ways to save water, these are the most common and a good way to get kids into going into a lifestyle that is friendly to our planet.
Electricity
The next way to live “green” is to save on electricity usage. Children should be taught the importance of saving energy. If your child receives an allowance, you may use saving electricity as an initiative to that allowance. For example, if a child is caught turning off a light, or some other electrical device, then maybe you can give them a penny or a nickel. In the same respect, if they are caught leaving something on, then a penny or a nickel can be deducted and added to a special jar that goes towards something that helps save electricity, such as energy efficient light bulbs, outdoor solar lights, etc….
Conclusion
There are many ways to get children excited about living “green”. The two most important areas when it comes to this type of lifestyle are water preservation and limiting energy usage. By using the idea listed here, you are likely to excite your children about getting involved in your earth-friendly lifestyle!
Green Reasons/Ways to Borrow Instead of Buy
Posted by Laird on Dec 1, 2008
Green Reasons/Ways to Borrow Instead of Buy
The best way to cut down on the amount of materials it takes to make new things is stop buying so many. There are literally thousands of ways to borrow instead of buy if you just take the time to sit down and think about how easy it can be.
The library is a good place to start. They have books, Cds, and movies that you can borrow. You can go to the library and look at the latest magazines. Instead of having all this excess paper piling up in your home, take a trip to the library a couple of times a week and you will save your home from becoming littered with all the excess magazines and papers, not to mention the money you will save.
Newspapers are another way to save. Almost any newspaper today can be viewed online. This is another excellent way to keep from having so much extra paper in your home.
Rent your tools or borrow them instead of buying. Unless you do this for a living, the occasional tool for a project can be rented or borrowed and this keeps your home and garage free of many items that are only used occasionally.
Instead of having to make a trip to the grocery store for one item, borrow from a neighbor until your next regular time to go to the store then you can pay it back. If all you need are a couple of eggs for something you are making, instead of spending the gas to run to the store it would make much more sense to borrow.
Keep a small amount of cash on hand for anything that may come up. If you or your children or your husband need a few dollars for lunch or the boy who mows your lawn, it will be there, you will not have to run and cash a check and you can put back what you borrowed so it will be available for the next person who needs to borrow. This will not only save gas but it saves checks, especially if your bank charges per check.
If your home has become so cluttered you can hardly get through it, have a yard sale and get rid of things you no longer use. If you are keeping items because you may need them in the future, the time to get rid of them is now. If the occasion arises in the future when you need something you no longer have, find someone to borrow it from and then it will be returned and you will not have all the clutter in your home. This is one way you can limit your buying when it is something that you really do not use enough to justify the expenditure.
There are many ways you can utilize to save money by borrowing many things that are easier to borrow than to purchase. There are many items that are cost a lot to produce just for a one or two time use. The need to cut down on the overabundance of items being produced that end up being waste we have to dispose of is increasing. The best way to stop the waste is to cut down on what we purchase.
Myths and Facts about Global Warming
Posted by Laird on Dec 1, 2008
Myths and Facts about Global Warming
There are many myths and facts about global warming. In recent years, climate changes such as the overall increase in the Earth’s temperature, destructive hurricanes, melting glaciers, heights in sea levels, and other situations have caused scientists and the general public to take a look at the issue of global warming and how it can affect our world, and every single individual in it – now, and in the future. Unfortunately, there are a number of myths surrounding this very important topic. Here, you will be offered insight on the myths and facts about global warming.
The first myth that many believe to be true is that the issue of global warming is not an exact science and that the basic uncertainties of the topic make it something that is not quite as urgent as scientists and other specialists have us to believe. The truth is, however, that the individuals that specialize in studying the concept of global warming have all the tools and resources that they need to be completely accurate when it comes to the facts surrounding this serious issue. Conclusive studies indicate that not only is global warming occurring and that over the past one hundred years, the average temperature of the entire atmosphere has increased by nearly one degree Fahrenheit, but that people are causing this to happen!
With that being said, this brings us to our next myth. Many individuals feel as if the issue of global warming is a natural one that is destined to happen over time, much like the issue of the Ice Age, and the progression of the climate over time. However, scientists and other specialists that study this issue have determined that the issue of global warming is far from “natural”, and that people are actually causing the issue to occur at a dangerously rapid rate. This issue is a direct result of the amount of carbon dioxide that is being emitted into the atmosphere. There are many things that we do to contribute to global warming. These things include:
• Consistently burning fossil fuels to provide electricity like that of natural gases, various types of coal, and even oils
• Using trees that are cut down from forests with very little
• Polluting and not recycling materials, therefore creating more waste that has to be burned away upon disposal
The third myth that many individuals have is that humans are fully capable of adapting to the changes that may occur as far as climate goes, and that we can easily adapt to the warmer temperatures that are currently occurring. While it is true that we have all been able to adapt to various weather complications, history indicates that there have been societies that have died off as a direct result of shifts in the climate that were considered to be dramatic. It has been found that many will experience death by flooding near sea areas and lakes, others will suffer from medical conditions, and economic hardships will be completely inevitable. This is why it is so important to ensure that you learn all that you can about the myths and facts about global warming.
