Day 193 of our Green Year: Closing Air Vents

For our Day 193, we decided to do something that is very easy for everyone to do, and it is a great way to conserve heat in your home. All you have to do is close the air vents that are in rooms that are not being used. You do this because it will prevent heat from going into these rooms. Less heat to heat up rooms that are not used means you will have savings on your power bill, while helping to limit CO2 that is produced and put into the atmosphere.

This is a great little tip that everyone can do, and it is even one of the acts listed on One Million Acts of Green from CBC. Obviously, you should not close vents in rooms that you use a great deal, but you can even close vents in rooms that you only use on occasion. For example, close the vents to the bedroom during the day, and open them about an hour or two before you go to bed. That should be more than enough time to help heat up the room, but you won't have wasted heat on that room when you do not need to. Also, remember to turn down your thermostat at night to limit the amount of heat that is generated when everyone is sleeping (hence the reason to open the vents an hour or two before you turn down the temperature. If it is a bit cold in the bedroom because you closed the vent, then that is just a good excuse to cuddle in bed!

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Happy Halloween and Samhain to everyone! Remember to stop vampires in your house by preventing these power suckers from drawing power on things that do not need to be plugged in! Unplug your things when not in use.

Day 190 of our Green Year: Passing on Decorations

For our next Halloween tip this year, we are talking about decorations. In an effort to be green, Layla and I passed on putting up Halloween decorations this year. We decided that while we have the Halloween spirit and are fine with handing out organic and fair-trade candy, we did not want to buy Halloween decorations this year because most are used once (or twice) and buying the decorations do not pass the purchase questions. Of course, if you want to put up some decorations up, here are some helpful tips:

• Skip buying plastic costumes. Many contain PVC, which releases dangerous chemicals.
• If you are going to be using makeup for your costume, try and buy organic make-up for your costume.
• The best option is to make your costume out of things in the house so that you are re-using what you already have and not consuming anything from stores for your costume. You would be surprised by the good costumes you can make out of household goods.
• If you have kids, the best course of action is to make a costume at home so that you can then re-use those items in the house again. While married couples can get away with buying a French maid costume and using it more than once, it is unlikely your kid is going to dress as Superman after Halloween, so make your kid's costume re-usable.

We both love Halloween, and perhaps next year we will have the time to make some eco-decorations, but for this year we decided to just pass on them. However, if you made eco-decorations, let us know and send us a photo of it at craigbaird@wildmail.com. If you made a costume out of re-used materials, do the same!

Day 189 of our Green Year: Halloween Treats

Well we are getting close to Halloween, and the time is coming when everyone needs to start buying treats for the kids. At the ranch, we do get kids from the area coming by on occasion for treats, and unless we want tricks, we better have something for them.

Naturally, since we are smack in the middle of Our Green Year, we figure that this year we should go with green Halloween treats, rather than the typical Halloween treats that are given away in the past. These treats can range from organic chocolate to organic lollipops, and they are a great way to help the Earth and to educate the kids during the Halloween season.

You can also choose treats that have little or no packaging, since packaging produces fossil fuels and not all packaging can be recycled. It is also very important to buy treats that are made locally, so you can support the local economy and reduce the CO2 used.

If you do not want to give any candy away, you can give away things that can be used like pencils, crayons and more.

At the ranch, we will be giving away some treats that we make here. This may not work in the city where many people do not know, nor trust those in their neighborhood, but many people in this area know those we live with and have known them for many years. Their kids know them too and there is no worry about the treats being tainted.

If you want, you can give away healthy treats like fruit, but again these may be thrown away by parents and therefore wasted, or they may not be appreciated by the kids and you could find yourself cleaning eggs off your house the next day. All in good fun on Halloween! :)

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Recently, I saw an article that said Africa could solve its food crisis if it did not use the Western way of agriculture with pesticides and herbicides, and instead began growing their agriculture organically. In a study by the United Nations, through an analysis of 114 projects in 24 African countries, they found that yields doubled when organic methods were used. In East Africa, that jump was as much as 128 percent.

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If you are doing things green this Halloween, why not let us know by sending us some pictures of your kids dressed in recycled clothing or costumes, or you making Halloween treats out of organic products. You can send your pictures to craigbaird@wildmail.com