Day 337 of our Green Year: Buttons Made Sustainable

Throughout Our Green Year, we have tried to remove plastic from our lives. Plastic is the scorn of our planet's existence. It seems that every area of the planet has plastic in it and when archeologists look at our layer in history when they dig down, they will see a solid layer of plastic. While that is an exaggeration, the truth is that plastic is everywhere and in everything and it takes 1,000 years for it to degrade away.

One plastic item that most of us never think of, but may use every single day, is the buttons on our shirts. I enjoy wearing plaid shirts, but all my plaid shirts have plastic buttons on them. When one breaks off, I have to go and get another one, made out of plastic.

However, as it turns out, there is an alternative and it is TreeButtons. TreeButtons are a sustainable alternative to other types of buttons. These buttons are made from Cherry, Birch, Oak and Maple tree branches, and they do not warp or crack. They are finished with sandpaper and are preserved with natural nut oil. Plus, these buttons are made from sustainable trees so that the environment is not threatened.

Now when a button comes off a shirt, we will replace it with TreeButtons.

Day 238 of our Green Year: Bulbs and Empty Sockets

Today, it was an easy task to take care of at the ranch. Months ago, early on in Our Green Year, Layla and I began unplugging anything not in use in an effort to keep vampire power from being a problem.

Well, recently I looked up at one of our lights with CFL bulbs in them and saw that one socket was empty. As a result, I began to think that the empty socket may still be drawing power, albeit only a small amount. This seemed like wasted power since there is nothing there to use the power. If you are going to have light while you are in a room, you might as well use all the power efficiently, without waste. I'm not an electrician, so I can't say if having a light in two of three light sockets in the kitchen is better than having a light in all three, but might as well use what we have.

Therefore, we went around the house today and made sure that all sockets had CFL lights in them. The argument could be made that leaving a socket empty can save energy, but we see it as more of wasted energy. One of the worst things for the environment is wasted energy, hence why we unplug everything.

If you have wasted energy in your home, whether it is heat escaping through windows, an open fridge or empty sockets, you need to take care of it.

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We did laundry today by hand and dried by the heat of the wood stove. As well, we cleared out some of the snow with the snow shovel. One thing everyone in the house has been doing to keep warm, without using extra heat, is wearing a toque. I started wearing one in our downstairs office, and before long everyone was wearing them. It is amazing how much you can heat yourself up by just wearing a toque indoors.

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Do you have a tip for us?
Do you have a picture of yourself going green?
Tell us your story about going green!
E-mail us at craigbaird@wildmail.com

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Please register and vote at BlogNetAwards and also vote at Wellsphere

Thanks!

Day 233 of our Green Year: Make Your Own Acid Mask.

Throughout Our Green Year, we have tried to create things in the house rather than buy them. We have done this with ice cream, yogurt, pita chips, butter, body wash, body soap and more. Well, today we are adding another to that list; an Alpha Hydroxy Acid Mask. All I know is that this can help your skin. I have not used one but Layla has, and she will be making these for herself.

This mixture is very easy to make, and it can make your face feel wonderful and fresh, while adding a nice glow to it.

You do not need those typical toxins in your skin when you use this acid mask. It is also important to remember that many facial creams have Alpha-Hydroxy Acids, which come from fruit sugars that are made from sugar cane that may not be fair-trade.

To make the acid mask, use 1/4 cup of lemon juice, 1/4 cup of apple juice, 1/4 cup of grape juice and 1/4 cup of fair-trade sugar. The lemon, apple and grape juice should be home-made or organic, as it will be for us.

Put this in a glass jar and mix it all together, then apply to your face with an organic cotton ball. Leave it there for 10 minutes and then rinse it off. Use it for the next four days until it is empty and start over again. Typically, this mixture will last about four or five days in the fridge.

As we have said before, going green means you can look good too.

Day 182 of our Green Year: Clearing Clogged Drains

Nearly all of us have from time to time had to clear a drain. Maybe food got down it and got stuck, maybe there is hair in it, or maybe a sodium build-up has resulted in the drains clogging. Usually, most people will go to the tried and true method of using Drain-O, but putting that into the water, which then goes to the water treatment plant, is not perfect. Sometimes, those chemicals in Drain-O, like the prescription drugs and other items flushed into the water, make their way back to us. Hence, it is important that we all look for solutions that do not use chemicals like Drain-O.

Previously, Layla and I have mentioned the uses of baking soda and vinegar in the house, and as it turns out, they can be used to clear drains, as Layla and I have demonstrated to media on occasion. First, to keep everything clear in the drain before it clogs, pour one cup of baking soda, and three cups of boiling water down the drain. Do this a few times and your drains will be nice and clear, instead of ready to clog.

Another method is to pour vinegar and baking soda into the drain, which will react together to unclog the drains. It creates a cool reaction, and it is safe for the environment.

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Here are same startling statistics given to us by a fan who read it in the Edmonton Sun.

• The average baby uses 10,000 diapers before being toilet trained. Each year, 1,000,000,000 trees go to the use of making diapers.
• By the age of six months, the average Canadian consumes the same amount of resources as a person in the developing world does in their entire lives.
• North America has eight percent of the world's population, consumes 33 percent of the world's resources, and produces half of the world's non-organic garbage.
• Only one percent of all the water on Earth is usable. Only two percent is in the poles, the rest is in the oceans.
• One ton of newspapers can be recycled to save 19 trees.
• The average North American throws away 600 times their weight in garbage during their life.
• Canadians produce seven million tons of organic waste each year, 66 percent of which is compostable. In fact 70 percent of all landfill waste is recyclable or re-usable, and 35 percent of municipal solid waste is packaging.

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Today was a busy day for Layla and I, and we have some pictures for you of some of our activities today.

Here is a photo of Layla after she made some awesome organic doggy donuts out of Certified Organic ingredients.'


A close up of those yummy doggy donuts.


Here is a photo of me doing some hand-washing of my shirts today.

This is me drying said shirts next to the fire.


Here is a photo of me taking the shower water we collect and putting it in a container for the animal's water.

Day 177 of our Green Year: Joining The Nature Conservancy

It is the day after the federal election and nothing much has really changed except Stephen Harper has a slightly stronger minority government. So that was a few hundred million dollars spent over a month to change things slightly. We are a bit bummed out that the Green Party of Canada did not get anyone elected. We really thought they had a chance this time considering Elizabeth May was getting press and got to go into the Leader's Debate. Oh well.

Moving on to our task for Day 177, we have decided to do what we did last week and join another environmental organization. This time it is the Nature Conservancy of Canada. The NCC is the leading national land conservation organization in Canada. The NCC works with individual and corporate landowners to protect important tracts of land. Since 1962, NCC has helped to save 2,000,000 acres of land across Canada.

This is a great organization that has worked hard to protect the environment of our country and to help ensure that in future years, people will be able to enjoy the protected lands that we now have, thanks to them.

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Today, I read a report from Forum for the Future that detailed five likely scenarios for the year 2030 based on the world's response to climate change. It is a 76 page report that I read but they have a condensed version I highly recommend here. Some scenarios are inspiring, others are highly frightening.

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As always, if you have any green ideas, tips or comments, send an e-mail to craigbaird@wildmail.com. If you have a picture of yourself going green, send to that same address.

Day 160 of our Green Year: Joining AmIGreenOrNot?

We are always ready to join online communities that help spread green ideas because Layla and I are by no means experts in going green. We are learning as we go and we are always looking for help in how to go green from those who are going green as well.

This is what has led us to join the online community of AmIGreenOrNot.com, which was created in May to increase awareness, share ideas and collectively gain a richer understanding of what it really means to be green. The website lists their objectives as:

1. To provide a place where people, groups, businesses and organizations from the around the world can share and promote green lifestyles and direct feedback from their peers.
2. To harness the wisdom of crowds as a way to accumulate viewer opinions, compare one's green lifestyle with another and to help identify who among us is really green.

We both think this is a great idea and have joined to not only help promote our message of going green every single day for a year, but to find out some useful green tips from others.
The website also has several blogs that list ways to go green for individuals and groups. Since we feel this is a great site, we want to spread that message for Day 160 of our Green Year.

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!