It's Easy Being Green

Now more than ever, American companies need to step up their game and innovate. We’re now in the race of our life with growing economies all across our globe and if we don’t smarten ourselves up, I’m afraid of where we might find our great nation a few decades down the road.

One industry I’ve felt needs to get much better at the innovation game lately is the good ‘ol Detroit motor works. For too long American automotive companies have been stuck on bigger, badder, more oil-guzzling tanks that ferry soccer Moms from one end of the city to the other or for dear old Dad to simply drive daily back and forth to the office.

While greener vehicles are on the rise, I think American automakers have been slow to think ahead and join the trend. GM started out remarkably several years back when they unveiled the EV-1 but then later recalled the vehicles and mothballed the program for reasons we will probably never fully understand. Fast forward 15 years later and here we go again with most of the American automakers releasing some sort of all-electric vehicle to compete with the ever-growing foreign car market.

I’ve been a huge proponent behind the release of Nissan’s Leaf and both Homestead Hottie and I dream of parking one in our own driveway sometime in the near future. Speaking of the Leaf, did you know you’ll soon be able to use your cell phone to pre-heat or pre-cool the cabin of your car while it is plugged into the power outlet? That’s a new little fact I learned today while reading about all the negative side-effects to letting your car idle in the driveway so you can pre-heat on those cold winter days.  I also need to give some love to my American ingenuity too, namely Chevy’s brand new Volt.   I am ecstatic that GM seems to be jumping on the electric bandwagon too, trying to innovate and develop the cars of our future that will help evolve and lessen our reliance on foreign oil. Speaking of oil, remember that pesky disaster in the gulf thanks to BP’s Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill that lasted for months?

GM has taken ingenuity and environmental stewardship to a new level by finding a way to recycle those oil-soaking booms that were used to skim the spill off the ocean’s surface. So far the automaker has been able to help divert about 100 miles of the oil soaked booms from landfills by turning it into new plastic parts used under the hoods of the Volts. The recycling process will produce about 100,000 pounds of plastic resin for the Volt’s components, enough material to supply the first year production needs of the Volt’s roll out.

Image courtesy GM

The parts are used to deflect air around the Volt’s radiator and are made from 25% of that boom material and another 25% or recycled tires coming from GM’s Milford Proving Ground vehicle test facility. The remaining 50% is a mix of post-consumer recycled plastics and other polymers.

The parts, which deflect air around the vehicle’s radiator, are comprised of 25 percent boom material and 25 percent recycled tires from GM’s Milford Proving Ground vehicle test facility. The remaining is a mixture of post-consumer recycled plastics and other polymers. There is no doubt this development helped the Volt land its latest award of Green Car of the Year by Green Car Journal.

Image courtesy GM

The recycling initiative doesn’t just end at the Volt though. GM has started recycling their manufacturing materials at every stage of their lifecycle. They are using renewable materials in cars and trucks that are at least 85% recyclable. Used tires, old plastic bottles, denim and nylon carpet are all redirected from landfills and reused in select GM vehicles.

GM facilities worldwide recycle 90 percent of the waste they generate. The automaker recently announced more than half of its worldwide facilities are now landfill-free – all manufacturing waste is recycled or used to create energy.

This is American ingenuity and innovation I can be proud of and more companies need to be striving to do the same. They also need to not rest on their laurels and continue pursuing even better ways to make their manufacturing processes even more environmentally friendly and sustainable.  Have you considered buying a new electric car?  Maybe you’ve already purchased one.  Leave a comment below and let us know your experience.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Before you toss all those 2010 holiday cards into your trash can, have you ever considered re-gifting them?  I’m not talking about pasting your own messages over those that were written to you and then mailing them back out next year, though that is an interesting recycling idea.  Just don’t tell anyone you’ve done it or make the mistake of mailing a card back to its original sender (insert a snicker here)!

One Tristate family is actually putting those used holiday cards to good use, turning them into custom wall-art they plan to sell in 2011.  The Bothast-Revalee Family here in Evansville is taking donations of new and used holiday cards to make the art.  Bothast says the proceeds from the planned sales will benefit two local child-advocacy organizations.  As soon as I got wind of their project, I knew it was one that needed to be shared with others.  Not only is it a great way to recycle it is also for an amazing and truly heartfelt cause.

“Our family has made a commitment to make art for these agencies,” said David Bothast, ” all the while reflecting on our own blessings.”

Both David Bothast and Brian Revalee have close ties with civic service in the Evansville community, working for much needed civic agencies.  Revalee is currently the Executive Director of the AIDS Resource Group, the only HIV/AIDS Service Organization in the Evansville area.  Bothast serves as the Director of a transitional housing programs that serves homeless parents with children.  In 2010, both also became foster parents for three siblings with the help of  Evansville’s The Villages.

” I hope this initiative raises both funds and awareness for area child-centered and family-strengthening organizations in our Tristate community,” Bothast said.  ” Mostly, I hope modeling voluntarism and advocacy to my new family will instill in them a sense of civic pride and community responsibility that will continue throughout their lives.”

Bothast says the initiative is a home-based endeavor and third-party fundraiser. “The proceeds will be directly donated to receiving agencies to use toward strengthening their programs and changing lives in our community. With this initiative, ‘charity begins at home.’”

“We see daily the need for services and the impact hard-working and under-appreciated social workers and activists make not only immediately, but generationally,” Bothast said.

Card donations will be accepted by the family all year long but now is a great time to help those cards find a new life before heading to the city dump.  If you would like to help out an undoubtedly great cause by re-gifting your holiday cards, please contact David by emailing him: Davidbothast@gmail.com

If you our somebody you know has another great way to not only be more eco-friendly but also to help out the local community, let us know about it by sending me an email.

Above photo Seasonal Still Life courtesy of Christmas Stock Images

Popularity: 14% [?]

Cruising the backroads of western Kentucky and making deliveries these past couple of days after Christmas, I’ve already seen some scattered Christmas trees thrown into the drainage ditches.  Some have been carelessly tossed on the front porch as if waiting for a magic ride to the dump or perhaps waiting for a hitch to the next rural ditch somewhere.  While some could argue this is redneck composting at its finest, this is not the preferred way to recycling your evergreen tree.

Here at the half-acre homestead, we usually keep our tree up until January 2nd, when we are finally all but drained of festive holiday feelings and yearn for the return of our living room.  Well, maybe the return of one, little used corner of the living room but the though is the same nonetheless.  In years where we’ve lived in a house with a fireplace, the Yule Log will get stripped of its branches and be left to dry for burning next year.  The same can be held true for the outdoor firepit.  True the romance isn’t quite the same but the novelty can ring out for all your neighbors to see.  I know what’s coming next because it is by far a Midwestern specialty.  No, I don’t think burn barrels or burn piles qualify for the same appropriate disposal of Ihren Weihnachtsbaum.  For all of you non-Germans in this pro-German area, that’s “your Christmas tree” in deutscher Sprache.

If you don’t have a neighbor handy with a chipper or shredder you can borrow, simply take advantage of one of two drop-off locations on either side of the Ohio.  In Evansville, you can drop your tree off at Newman Park near where the nature trails begins.  The city parks department says there are signs already posted and even some trees which have already been dropped off.  The Christmas trees will be chipped and mulched for use in the local parks.  The last day for drop-off is January 7th.  In Henderson, you can drop off your trees at the Newman Recreational Complex on Sand Lane through January 8th.  Don’t forget to remove as much tinsel and ornaments as possible because those items don’t beautify the forest floor or local tree trunks anymore than that Styrofoam thirst-quencher cup tossed out the window.  Most of all, please don’t ditch your tree in a drainage ditch, farm field or other illegal dump site.

Do you know of another Tri-State Christmas tree recycling drop-off point?  Leave a comment and share with our other readers so the word can spread!  Happy mulching!

Popularity: 14% [?]

This past week the cacophony of lawn equipment has officially heralded in warmer weather here in southwestern Indiana.  The first warm and sunny day we had last week apparently awoke every neighbor’s desire to mow their lawn, even though most hadn’t even grown an inch.  With lawn work and garden cleanup comes a lot of waste and the question of what to do with all of it.

I generally mulch mow my lawn meaning I finely chop the clippings and leave them on my lawn to decompose and provide green manure for the rest of the growing season.  If the lawn is too thick or too long, I’ll compost the clippings.  Most of the time it just simply doesn’t make sense to throw grass clippings away.  It’s a great waste of time and resources to bag all those clipping, haul them out to the curb for pickup and watch all that water and fertilizer you bought get hauled off to the landfill.

That said, there are times when you do need to bag yard waste and there are greener alternatives to the normal plastic lawn garbage bag you might buy.  This past week I’ve been trying out some EconoGreen Plastics bags made by Jig-A-Loo.  The company has just released a line of trash bags and plastic drop cloths made entirely from recycled plastic.  They also claim the bags are “oxodegradable”.  Supposedly an additive in the plastic helps accelerate the decomposition of the plastic into simple organic compounds when it’s exposed to oxygen.

In my tests using a handful of bags the company sent me to try out, I found them to look, feel and hold up like most normal bags.  They weren’t any more puncture resistant to twigs and sticks but also weren’t like the thin, cheap trash bags you might find at the discount store.  If you do have some trash that needs to be thrown away and can’t be composted, these bags seem like a good option to help reduce the environmental impact at least just a bit.

The EconoGreen line includes large trash bags, tall kitchen bags, lawn and leaf bags, contractor bags, garage and automotive bags, wet/dry vac liner bags and drop cloths.  Home Depot is said to be carrying the full line of EconoGreen plastic products.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Living just 3 hours away from Indianapolis has allowed me the opportunity to make some visits for pleasure with my family and for work.  Large cities like Indy can be an environmental nightmare but they can also be great catalysts for bringing green life to the forefront of thousands of people who live within its confines.

During my last two trips to Indy I’ve seen two very cool public displays of green living, nudging city dwellers to live life at least a tad more sustainably.  At the state capitol, people are encouraged to ride bicycles to conduct business there.  Gone are the days of using a chain to tie your bike to a tree trunk or some other hopefully immovable object.  Instead, the state has installed bike lockers, so riders can store their wheels in an enclosed and locked space.  It’s like having your own secured parking garage for just your bicycle.  I think this is a fantastic idea and leaves you with little worry about the condition of your bike when you return to bail it out.

Bike Locker

Also seen on sidewalks in downtown Indy are dozens of recycling bins.  The water bottle that someone chugged while dashing from one meeting to the next can now be tossed into a recycling bin instead of heading off to the landfill.  City-maintained recycling bins are a simple concept and why more municipalities don’t offer them up is beside me.

Tim Mahoney of the Hoosier Environmental Council was recently asked to rank the city’s efforts to become more sustainable.  It’s pretty interesting and shows while Indianapolis is making great strides to try and take more responsibility for its environmental impact, they still have a long way to go.

Popularity: 2% [?]

It’s taken me a while to jump on the LED Christmas light bandwagon, mainly because the incandescent strands we have still work and the prices on the LED lights are still a little high for my liking.  Last year though, I noticed I had about three strands that weren’t working properly, so I began pillaging them for bulbs.

Mini-LED Lights

This weekend, Home Depot was running a trade-in deal that I couldn’t pass up though.  For every strand of incandescent Christmas lights you brought in to recycle, you got $3 off the purchase of a new set of LED lights.  I ended up picking up 3 boxes of LED lights for about $9 after the discount, saving me 50% off the original cost.  That’s what I call a heckuva deal!

I can’t wait to decorate for Christmas and see how these new LED light strands look and perform compared to their old outdated cousins.  It will be nice knowing I’m using 80% less electricity to light up my holiday display with LED lights, they stay cool to the touch and you can (if you’d want to) plug in dozens more strands to each other before you risk overloading an outlet.

Have you purchased any LED lights?  If so, share your experience with how they’ve performed and if you want to share a photo of your LED light display, that would be great too!

Popularity: 22% [?]

Are you looking for an environmentally friendly way to get rid of those tires that may be piling up in your Vanderburgh County yard?  If so, Tire Amnesty day is coming up, allowing you a free opportunity to drop off old and used tires and not have to pay a thing for it.

Each year we discard tires at about the rate of one per person.  Vanderburgh County alone throws out about 175,000 tires a year which is a huge environmental waste.  Instead of throwing them in a creek or letting them rot in your yard, have those old tires recycled at the Tire Amnesty Day on Saturday, October 3rd.  The event will be held at the Civic Center in downtown Evansville from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.

The first four tires will be accepted for free and recycled.  Any additional tire beyond four will be accepted with a nominal $1 fee per extra tire.  Make sure mud and water has been drained from the tires and remove from the rims if possible.  They will only be accepting car and light truck tires.  No business tires or commercial vehicle tires will be accepted.

It’s nice to see Vanderburgh County taking some steps to keep tires out of local yards and other places of beauty throughout the county.  Left sitting around, old tires are a detriment to the environment and people should take more care in disposing of them.  It appears this event is catching on with local residents.  At their event in the spring, the county collected about 2,000 tires for recycling.

If you have any questions about the event, contact the Vanderburgh County Solid Waste District at (812) 436-7800.

Popularity: 4% [?]