Day 82 of our Green Year: Clothes Washing

A few weeks ago, Layla and I eliminated the dryer from our house in an effort to stop us from using the energy that it needs. This has worked out great so far this summer, and come this winter we are already thinking of ways to make this work.

Now the time has come to start changing how we wash our clothes. There are several ways of doing this, and Layla and I are going to be implementing the following choices:

First, we are going to wearing clothes a bit more as long as they are clean and don't smell. This means instead of wearing a shirt and pants once, then tossing it into the clothes hamper, we will wear those two or three times before throwing them into the hamper. Once they start getting smelly, then we will wash them. This brings us to our second point.

When we are washing clothes, we are going to wash them by hand as much as possible. This means that instead of putting a load into the washer, we will simply put some water in the sink, and wash the clothes like that. It uses less water, no energy and it is good exercise. We are hoping to find a washboard and washtub, but are having a lot of trouble locating one, so this is the option we will be going with now.

Now, we can say our clothes washing and drying is nearly no impact, with no carbon footprint. Also, you will have a much greater appreciation for your clothes and keeping them clean when you have to wash them by hand, but at least its good exercise!

Day 36 of our Green Year: Green Birthdays

Today we hit Day 36of Our Green Year and there is a birthday in the Baird household. I won't tell you who it is, but there are only two of us here and it is not Layla's birthday.
So, the point of this blog is to focus on going green for birthdays. Too often during someone's birthday we will try and buy them as much as we can to show how much we care, and this is a nice gesture, but it feeds into the consumerism and unsustainable mentality too many have about our world.
Instead of buying things that are not 'green' or 'environmentally friendly', why not go green for a birthday. There are a number of ways that this can be done, and all it takes is thinking green.

1. Why not plant a tree for someone on their birthday? You are adding another oxygen producer to the world, and you are also putting down a living symbol of this person that will grow for decades and decades.
2. You can do what Layla did and paint a flower pot, which she planted a Marigold in. For me, this gift will last longer, and mean more, than any other gift she could have given.
3. Donate to a green charity in someone's name. This is a great gift but some do not like it because it seems like you gave their gift to someone else.
4. Buy the person something that is consumable, like organic tea, fair trade coffee, dried fruits, or fresh flowers. This is a great gift that will bio-degrade and not sit in a closet.
5. Give the gift of yourself. Sometimes a coupon (on recycled paper) for a free hug can mean a lot, or simply a cozy date in front of the fireplace.
6. Buy a gift that is made locally or grown locally. This will support your local economy and you won't be spending money on clothes or products that are made in Third World Countries in sweat shops.
7. Think about the packaging of the gifts. Too many people buy wrapping paper that is used for a moment and then ripped apart. Instead, why not use cloth bags to hold the gift? Why not use some of the scrap paper, newspaper or even subway sandwich wrappers as something to cover the gift? You can buy gift bags that will last for years instead of buying wrapping paper that will last for two minutes.
8. Buy fair-trade, eco-cotton shirts that are made with green screen printing processes and that use natural dyes. This will allow you to get them some nice clothes, without having to think about where they come from.

Personally, getting the gift of a flower pot that I can use over and over again is a great gift for me that I will cherish for a long time, just like the pen monster Layla made for me last year out of cardboard, yarn and an old jar. Sometimes the greatest gifts are creative, personal and green.

Here are a few stats on gifts to get you thinking about going a bit more green for gifts this year:

• There is a 25 increase in the trash generated during the holiday season.
• Most people feel their kids have too many things, but they continue to buy them more things during birthdays and holidays.
• About 97 percent of restaurant gift certificate receives say they would like to receive that type of gift again. This is a great green gift because it supports a local restaurant (make it a local one, not a chain one), and it is a consumable.
• About 83,000,000 square meters of gift wrap ends up in United Kingdom garbage dumps after the holiday season.

Thank you to Treehugger for those stats.

Also, thank you to our good friend Min in Hanover who submitted our name to her local radio station, 101.7 The One for the Website of the Day. We won today and are listed on the radio station's website.

Also, don't forget to send us your own stories of going green so we can put them on our bandwagon page (link is on the right hand side), as well as pictures of you using green solutions outlined here for our photo gallery!

Day 34 of our Green Year: No More Dryer

Layla and I already wash our clothes with cold water detergent, and we only do it when we absolutely have to (although hand washing may be coming in a future blog ;) ). However, we thought that it didn't make much sense to save energy by using cold water in the washer, and then use the dryer which uses up a bunch of energy.

So, from now on we will no longer be using a dryer, and that means in the winter time as well. The great thing about clothes is that they dry, and since we don't wear tonnes of different clothes, we are not going to be overwhelmed with the amount of clothes that we will need to dry. The truth is, we will be able to dry them quite well outside. We know that this is common knowledge, but surprisingly, not many people actually do this. It may be because they are not allowed, as many cities do not allow clotheslines because they are 'unsightly'. However, there are other solutions to drying your clothes without a dryer.

One of our readers actually suggested drying your clothes in your living room in the summer. This is a great idea that Layla and I will be using because you can actually cool down your living room with the clothes drying in there, so you are keeping cool without energy and you are drying your clothes without energy. A double whammy!

If you live in the city and are not allowed to dry your clothes outside, then you can also dry your clothes in the basement of the house. There should be plenty of room and the clothes will dry just as well as they would outside, albeit slower.
Layla and I are quite lucky because we live in a mountain town that allows clothes to be dried outside, so we can dry our clothes in the fresh mountain air. It is a win-win scenario.

If you do dry your clothes inside, you can actually kill a few more birds with one stone (sorry for the expression). Put some pots or bowls under the clothes and catch the water that drips off of them. This keeps your carpet from getting wet and you can reuse that water on the lawn or garden. This of course works best if you don't use detergent. Right there you have water saving, energy saving and you are cooling down your house!

In the winter, things get a bit tougher but you can still dry your clothes inside just the same, and if things cool down, then just bundle up.

Thankfully, things are beginning to change and cities, states and provinces are beginning to change their minds on outdoor clothes drying. In fact, in April the Ontario government lifted the ban on drying clothes outside. This was because several subdivisions, cities and towns did not allow it, but the new ruling by the government means that it does not matter and people can dry their clothes outside, which means our good friends Min, Jay and Faith can begin drying their clothes outside.

Here are just a few facts about dryers and the environment:

• Five dryers produce the same amount of emissions as an average-sized car.
• The average dryer uses 900 kilowatt hours of electricity a year.
• Consumers can save 25 percent on their energy bill each year by not using the dryer.

I don't know about you, but I am looking forward to sniffing that mountain air in my clothes from drying them outside.