It's Easy Being Green

Here in Evansville, Indiana, recycling seems to be somewhat antiquated.  Compared to the system we had in Flagstaff, Arizona, there are even fewer things the recycling program here will accept.  To make matters worse, they only provide you with one small bin to put all your stuff into.  I quickly made friends with the man who runs our curbside pickup (which by the way, only happens every two weeks and is a huge drawback for big time recyclers like us) because I watched him have to sort out every category of item and place them in specific bins at the curb.  I thought that just seemed a terrible waste of time for him and decided we would sort our own items into separate containers.  Using old plastic storage bins, we now have four containers we place curbside.

My Crude Recycling Setup

Yesterday, I completed a week’s worth of sorting duties on the back porch and was amazed at how much we actually recycle.  Each week, we generally only produce one or two bags of garbage thanks to composting the organics and sorting out the recyclables.  My  neighbors aren’t so diligent though and that’s when I ran across something they should watch.

A Canadian filmmaker has released a new project that is all about our waste: the trash you put in that container to be picked up and hauled away.  Andrew Nisker shot his documentary using the McDonald family.  The family of five were asked to collect every piece of trash they generated over three months and keep it in their garage.  What was generated three months later is said to be an eye-opener.

Garbage: The Revolution Starts at Home runs 76 minutes and explores the waste generated by the family as well as where the materials came from to generate the waste and where they will go in the end.  The film shows how we act with our garbage has a profound impact on our surrounding environment.  To learn more about the film or to order a copy, head over to their website by clicking the link above.  I think it’s worth a look-see and can’t wait to watch the film.

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Have you ever thought about the environmental impact of all those paper coffee filters you might use to make your pot of coffee every morning?  Our last coffee maker required a special kind of paper filter.  But we tried to make the environmental impact of those as little as possible by purchasing unbleached filters and composting them, complete with the coffee grounds when they were done.

Reducing that impact can be simple and save you money in the long run.  You can buy a reusable hemp or gold coffee filter to fit your coffee maker’s filter basket.  They range from as little as $3 on up to about $15.  You could even to make filterless coffee by picking up a french press, a fun way I’ve found to make an unusual cuppa morning joe!  Do you have a reusable coffee filter?  If so tell us how well it works and any challenges you’ve faced!

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Last week, Arizona’s newest renewable energy project went online and started generating enough electricity to supply about 9,000 homes.  Renegy’s Biomass Power Plant is located near Snowflake, AZ.  The plant takes forest waste generated from thinning projects, chips it up, dries it and then burns it in a boiler more than 10 stories tall.  Renegy claims that the process is 98% cleaner burning then if forest crews just burned the slash piles like they normally do.  Plus, we’re getting electrcity out of it.  Some of the first fuel that came to the plant is actually being cleaned out of the devastating Rodeo-Chediski burn area in Arizona’s eastern White Mountain region.  The plant has about a 2 year supply of wood chips already spread across 120 acres of land and expects there will be plenty more fuel coming from forest waste over the years.

The plant actually sits next to the old Abitibi pulp paper mill.  The plant takes all of the recycled paper from the Phoenix area and turns it into new paper.  Some of the recycled paper pulp can’t be reused again so that is normally sorted out and dumped into a landfill in the area.  But now, that waste paper that can’t be used again is dried into chips and burned along with the wood chips.  It creates another steady fuel supply that would normally just go to waste.  Both APS and SRP are purchasing power from the Snowflake Biomass Power Plant which I think is a great demonstration of renewable energy ideas we need to pursue full speed right now.

To read more about Renegy or their new plant in Snowflake, AZ head to their website.

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I’m on the road for business for the third time in just a little over a month.  The frequent hotel visits are showing me a glaring environmental impact of just staying for the night or several nights.  I’ve noticed a lot of people seem to have their room cleaned on a daily basis by housekeeping.  To me that’s just wasteful and unnecessary.  You don’t clean your bed sheets and bath towels on a daily basis do you?  Think about the daily environmental impacts of washing all those items, like the amount of water being wasted and the detergent flushing into our sewers.

A lot of hotels seem to be stocking rooms with plastic and Styrofoam cups for drinking water and coffee in the mornings.  This is another silly practice with a huge environmental impact.  I prefer it when hotels provide you with actual ceramic coffee cups or glasses.  Better yet, I travel with my own travel cup so I’m not using either.  It’s a simple solution that can go a long way.

Do you have any suggestions or tips for traveling a little greener?  Let us know about them by leaving a comment!

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Would you believe that it is possible to have a floating greenhouse in New York that actually produces food? Well it is and the full scale greenhouse operation on the Hudson River in New York has once again opened its doors for all to see. The project is called the science barge and is a prototype of a sustainable urban farm. It also serves as an education center. Last year, more than 3,000 school students made their way through the Science Barge.

So what makes the floating greenhouse so special? Inside the greenhouse they grow tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce with zero emissions and no runoff into the Hudson River. The barge is powered by solar, wind and biofuels and harvests irrigation water by filtering from the Hudson River and catching rainwater. The developers say the Science Barge requires 7 times less land and 4 times less water to grow than conventionally grown crops. In a city like New York, land has skyrocketed to the point that it would be nearly impossible to grow food in town. Riverfront barges could be the answer to the dilemma. Some studies have also suggested that there is enough rooftop space in New York to grown enough food for the entire city.

What are the hopes? The non-profit group New York Sun Works wants to demonstrate that it is possible for cities to reduce their global footprint by looking at ways to provide their own food. They say most land in cities is contaminated and shouldn’t be used to grow food anyway. That’s why they think they’re hydroponic growing system is the best, most sustainable way to grow! If you’d like to learn more about the project or how to visit, head over to The Science Barge website.

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Five days and counting to Earth Day so enjoy the easy ways to go green tips I post as we head to the big celebration:

1. When it comes to doing the dishes with your dishwasher, use the energy-saving setting. If your dishwasher is older and doesn’t have one of those settings, just let the dishes air-dry. Don’t use the heated option.

2. Reduce the energy needed to wash your clothes by washing in cold or warm water, not hot. We do all of our laundry with cold water, sometimes warm if some stain treatment or sterilization is needed and we’ve never noticed a problem with our clothes!

3. To save on energy used to heat up hot water, turn your water heater down to about 120-degrees. I have to confess, that’s a hard one for us to stomach because we love our hot showers and baths!

4. As you replace appliances in your home, pick out on the best energy efficient appliances. A lot of new appliances carry the Energy Star label which tells you that particular appliance is designed to save you money. If you’d like to learn more about what appliances to look out for, head over to the Energy Star website.

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It’s that time of year again where high school students begin to fret over who they’re going to prom with and what they’re going to wear. I remember how stressful that one event was or at least how stressful we as high schoolers perceived it. My how things change! Prom can be a wasteful event, especially when it comes to the $100+ girls will spend on special shoes and a formal dress that might not ever be worn again. The guys have it easy when it comes to renting their tux. It’s eco-friendly since that penguin suit is worn again and again for multiple occasions. But, when it comes to the one-time worn prom outfit that looks hot on the girl, it’s not so hot for our environment.

What can you do you ask? It’s easy! After your big night, donate your outfit. I know it might seem harsh but just think of the amount of girls who might not be able to afford all that glam to go to her prom next year. Across the country there are dozens of organizations that take donations of dresses, shoes and unused makeup and provide them totally free for other girls. The Fairy Godmothers of the Flagstaff Elk’s Ladies is one such group that collects hundreds of dresses each year and racks them up for a big weekend event. Girls who pick a dress out will even return it after their prom is over, giving that special dress another chance to shine again. The Glass Slipper Project also offers a list of organizations that do similar things in other states. You can also Google your state and “prom dress donations” to find other community groups on the same mission.

It’s a fun, easy way to be green and help another girl enjoy the experience of going to prom.

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