It's Easy Being Green

Here’s another interesting toilet upgrade that can help you save water in the long run.  The Sink Positive is a toilet tank lid replacement that could help you use less water and encourage healthy hand washing.  The lid replacement includes a small sink that turns on after you flush the toilet.  As the water runs out of the tap and down the drain, it refills your toilet bowl.  It’s a simple idea that could be effective and essentially refills your toilet using grey water.  Apparently the design has been popular in Japan for some time now but is just now catching on in the U.S.

I personally think the sink would make more sense if you could turn it on whenever you wanted but nonetheless it’s a smart idea.  To find out more about the Sink Positive, visit their website.

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There are thousands of sites spread across our globe where groundwater supplies have been contaminated due to dirty factories, military installations and the dumping of toxic waste.  These so-called superfund sites are left to sit until the expensive cleanup operation can get underway and have undoubtedly a harmful impact on our environment and supplies of drinking water.  But one scientist at Rice University has come up with an amazing solution, one that could leave at least part of our planet gleaming!

Chemical engineer Michael Wong developed a gold detergent that is amazing effective at cleaning up water contaminated with toxic waste.  No, this isn’t a hundred dollar bottle of soap that the likes of Paris Hilton would bathe in twice daily!  Typically cleanup of these sites containing the cancer causing chemicals TCE and PCE costs millions of dollars and it never really gets rid of the problem.  TCE is an industrial solvent used to clean greasy machinery and while it smells sweet, the after-affects are anything but.  The current cleanup method is simply a process that moves the chemicals to another spot.  The federal government has suggested that just to clean up the 1,400 military sites would cost $5 Billion.

Wong realized he could combine gold particles (molecule sized) with palladium (another metal) and sprinkle the resulting mixture over contaminated water.  What happened was pure genius!  The gold detergent broke down the TCE and PCE and turned them into a more eco-friendly gas, ethane, and chloride salt.  The gold detergent works about 100 times faster than the current groundwater cleanup method which involves pumping water through charcoal filters to remove the TCE and PCE.  Wong and his partners at Rice will now deploy the system at an actual cleanup site to see just how effective and cost-efficient their gold detergent can be.

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Reduce, reuse and recycle…we all know the now popular mantra.  It was driven into my head as a kid in elementary school every Earth Day and consequently has urged me to turn into the “greenie” I am today.  When it comes to recycling we usually don’t think of building our homes out of recycled materials.  But one Mississippi grandma took the idea to a whole new level.  After a storm practically demolished her wood-framed house, she had another idea that could just take off.  Check out her high-flying home and maybe it will provide you with a little inspiration for your next recycling project!

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With all the talk of the sub-prime mortgage crisis and the glut of foreclosures, why not talk about something positive when it comes to getting a mortgage and living a greener lifestyle.  I’m not yet a homeowner.  The real estate market is just too out of reach for first-time homebuyers like us.  That’s why we plan to move by the end of the year.  Ideally, I’d like to be in our first home by the Summer of ‘09.   In the meantime, I like to keep up on the trends of the current housing market and mortgage market including “green mortgages”.

The idea of green mortgages reportedly started in 1979 with President Jimmy Carter.  His idea was to make lenders offer incentives to consumers to buy or make their current homes more energy efficient.  It’s amazing to think that at the time, our President had the forethought even then to help out our environment!  The savings of energy efficient homes can often be considered income, allowing some families to purchase a bigger house.  These days lenders that offer green mortgages often set them up in different ways.

The first is a lender’s discount to purchase an energy efficient home.  Some will take a chunk of money out of your closing costs while others will give borrowers more credit and a small amount of money off the closing costs.  If you’re buying an older home, some lenders will qualify the buyer for more than the purchase price of the house.  This extra money is for you to put toward upgrading insulation, installing energy efficient windows and a/c units.  The long-term savings of those upgrades is factored into your income, thus allowing you to qualify for more house.

But, there are some catches because it’s not just free money.  If you don’t make the upgrades and squander away the extra money the lender qualified you for, they could put an escrow on that amount of money when you go to sell your house.  So, it’s essential that if you’re going to make the commitment to the lender to make your home more eco-friendly that you follow through on your end of the deal.  Many states are also offering incentives now as well for the purchase of a green home.  To find out more, you can head to the National Association of State Energy Officials website to find contact information for your state energy representatives.  Then you can ask them what incentives they’re offering for energy efficient homes and renovations.

A green mortgage is just another simple step in the process of living a greener life, proving it truly can be easy going green!

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So, if you’re out working on the ranch or riding your tractor around your farm a nice pair of boots would probably complement that hard day of work you’re putting in.  I’ve also often heard there’s nothing more Arizonan than a good pair of boots.  I’m a native and I still don’t have a pair so maybe I need to get some. But where exactly did cowboy boots come from and how long have they been the staple of western wear?

As it turns out, cowboy boots first came about during the 1500’s while the vaquero tradition of Spain was being imported to the new world. The tradition caught on in Mexico when Spaniards arrived there and spread into the western U.S. It wasn’t until the late 1800’s when the cowboy boot really took of though. The cattle drive era kicked off in 1866, spurred by a booming population, a demand for more meat and the soaring price of beef. Cattlemen were looking for rugged western wear that could handle the daily rigors and demands of ranching. That brought about the modern cowboy boot as we know it. The higher heel, elaborate stitching and decorative features of the cowboy boot became obtainable for even the working class and nudged out the classic Wellington, military-inspired boot that had been the mainstay for those working.

If you’re in the market for a new pair of boots, you should check out Cavender’s Western Wear. They have hundreds of pairs to chose from for both men and women. You’re bound to find a pair of boots that not only show off some style but also reflect your own personality too. Check out their cowboy boots today! Maybe you can get even more kicks by picking out a new pair of Levi’s too.

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If you’re like many people, you love to have a yard filled with birds. In order to entice them to stick around your slice of paradise, you might hang bird feeders around your home. But, did you know your feeders could do more harm than good?

Bird feeders can be a source of disease, spreading sickness from bird to bird that flies in for a quick meal at your feeders. In some cases, your birds might become lunch themselves when a neighborhood cat figures out there’s a virtual smörgåsbord in your yard or they can knock themselves silly flying into the windows on your home if you put feeders too close to them. So, a few simple steps is all it takes to ensure you can continue enjoying your fine feathered friends.

First, you should always provide more than one feeder around your yard. If birds crowd one feeding station, it can actually cause them to become stressed out which will lead to sickness and possibly even death. When it comes to re-filling those feeders, clean them out first. Bird droppings and other bacteria hanging around on the stations can lead to the spread of sickness too. Just a simple rinse of hot water and an air dry will do when it comes to cleaning them up. However, if you happen to find a bird dead near one of your feeders and there’s no obvious signs a predator got to it, you’ll want to disinfect the feeders with a bleach solution and leave to air dry before re-filling.

Moving your feeders around your yard regularly will not only prevent the buildup of wasted seed in one spot but also stop the buildup of bird droppings in one area. This is another important tip for the health of your local birds. It’s not recommended to lay seed out on the ground because that opens the birds up for an attack or ambush from a predator. Instead, hang them 5 to 12 feet off the ground in shrubs or trees that provide some cover and protection for the birds. A nearby brush pile or some cleverly placed bushes will also provide a place for birds to take cover when the weather gets bad and when a predator comes looking for a free lunch at one of your feeding stations. These should be within a 5 to 12 foot radius of the feeder.

Don’t think about just providing food. Birds need to get a drink of water every now and then too! Plus, many different species love to take a bath on the edge of the bird bath. Shallow bird watering dishes should be placed near the emergency cover as well in case they get spooked. In the winter you’ll obviously need to buy a bird bath heater if you live in a cold climate with freezing weather. During the summer, the water should be changed out about every two to three days.

When it comes time for planting and gardening season in your area, put in some native plants around your yard.  The natives will provide year round food in the form of berries, nectar and seeds.  Evergreen shrubs and trees will provide year round protection and habitat for your birds.  If you’re not sure what kind of native plants to pickup for your area, you can visit the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center for information on what’s native to your locale.  Also, if you happen to have a dead tree on your property you might want to leave it alone.  Birds will nest in the open cavities of what would otherwise be chopped up into bits and thrown out.

These simple steps will go a long way to ensure that you have many years of bird watching fun from the comfort of your own home.

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I like to compost my kitchen scraps but haven’t ever thought about composting human waste. That was until I found out there’s a new book out on the subject. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all for living in a sustainable environment but I’m not about to start composting my waste to fertilize my vegetable garden. The idea just doesn’t sit well with me. However, some people might have an interest in the subject.

Joseph Jenkins, author of “The Humanure Handbook” will be speaking down in Prescott next week on March 12th, 7:30pm, downstairs at the Crossroads. The book Jenkins wrote talks about how human waste can be recycled using natural processes and not harmful chemicals. If you’d like to buy a copy of his book or read a free online version, you can head to his website for Humanure.

What do you think? Could you compost your own family’s waste and fertilize your vegetable garden with it? Is it a mind over matter situation? Share your thoughts.

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