As we all know planting trees are good for the environment. They help to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, strengthen soil to prevent erosion and are nice to sit under in their shade on a hot sunny day.
However I don’t think that you should limit yourself to planting any old tree in your yard. That’s why I think it is wise to consider the benefits of planting fruit trees and/or bushes in your yard for a few reasons. For one, aside from being carbon dioxide removers and oxygen providers they grow something we can actually eat. Another benefit is that they also provide animals in your area with another food source and a safe haven to eat it in (in the case of birds). Many of these trees are beautiful to look at when the blossom adding a whole new array of colours to your yard.
When I was young I remember being up at my grandparents farm during the fall walking down the lane way towards the back of the property. There were all sorts of different trees and bushes mixed up down the sides of this lane way including apple and pear trees. I would take walks at dusk watching the sun go down and just pop an apple off a tree and enjoying it as I strolled along. It really made me appreciate some of the simpler things in life and how easy it is to take for granted. What a great sensation.
One more thing I gotta throw in here is how funny animals can be. Deer for instance love to eat apples apparently and they’ll eat the ones that have fallen off the trees. However apples rot and when they rot they ferment making alcohol and the deer eat these rotten apples and get pretty hammered. AWESOME! I saw it on a nature show and laughed me ass off. Man that’s some funny stuff. Anyways…
What I’m trying to say is that it’s very gratifying when you grow something and enjoy the fruits of your labour literally. There are so many different types of fruit trees, bushes and plants you can grow and eat that you could even eliminate a bit of your grocery list in the summertime. Get out and go down to your local tree farm or nursery and see what you can plant. I bet you’ll be surprised.
Hydroponics have been the main indoor growing method of choice for decades. The principle of Hydroponics is the ability to grow plants with a nutrient rich solution and without soil. In the 19th century plant physiology researchers dicovered that plants can absorb essential mineral nutrients in the form of inorganic ions in water. Typically soil acts as a buffer for nutrients which plants require. When water seeps through the soil it releases nutrients within the soil and the roots suck up that nutrient rich water and grow. Hyrdoponics function the same way except that a different aggregate medium is used which contains no nutrients (ex. rock wool) and all the plant’s essential nutrients are supplied by the gardener.
Aeroponics on the other hand is a slightly different technology which functions the same way as hydroponics but goes one step further and eliminate the growing medium. Roots are suspended in air and misted with a nutrient rich solution to promote growth. Research has shown that growth is significantly increased with aeroponics when compared to hydroponics or soil. The advantage of aeroponics comes from the suspended roots. By not having to force their way through soil and being in open air roots can absorb larger quantities of oxygen and increase growth rates. A simple yet ingenious method.
The picture above shows the “AeroGarden” which is a small yet fully functional table top aeroponics garden for the home. The AeroGarden is a turnkey system which is used to grow herbs mostly right on your kitchen counter. It provides light for the plants so it doesn’t neet to be placed near a window and has a small reservoir for nutrient solution and seeds. It is fully automated so all you need to do is plant the seeds, turn it on, keep the reservoir filled and watch your plants grow. You can get them in different models and get different seed kits such as: herbs, cherry tomatoes, lettuce, chili peppers and flowers. To top it all off these units are only $149.95 US. Not a bad price and once you’re done your first grow you can go and get different seed kits and try them or even try growing something of your own.
Just recently the local shopping center “Loblaws” has put a 5 cent fee on each grocery bag you take home. Now I’m all for Green solutions to everyday problems but this seems a little above and beyond the call of duty.
Many shopping centers have had this fee for a long time and I have expected this since their prices were lower than Loblaws significantly. Some even offer cardboard boxes to take your groceries home in which I think is a good way of recycling in itself. Reusable bags are a great idea that I have been using for a while now and I’m glad that Loblaws has decided to implement them.
However, Green solution beliefs aside I must say that this is kind of a pain in the ass when it comes to our grocery bills. Loblaws is the most expensive grocery store I shop at and it seems rather greedy for them to increase their profits by charging probably 5 times what those bags are worth and at the same time making money by selling reusable bags in their place. One thing I heard was that in Florida some grocery stores actually pay you for bringing in your own bags. That would be neat if they could do that here (the idea got shot down here in favor of the 5 cent fee for plastic bags). Just a thought.
Don’t get me wrong, I think this is a good deterrent to people just wasting as many of these bags as they wish but I have to say it’s poor timing. With the current economic situation it’s sounds like just another way to stay in business at our expense. But once again it’s good for the environment so what can we do. Well you don’t have to buy these new bags, you can bring any old bag from home you wish I suppose or just the last plastic ones you got from the super market.
With all things considered reusable bags are better for the environment and promote better household waste management in a way. I’m not so sure I want to shop at some of these places anymore when I know they were already making a killing before charging for plastic bags and reusable ones. I’ll just limit my shopping there more now I think. Good or Bad we have to live it.
Growing your own vegetables is a great way for you to save money at the supermarket and live healthy.
Gardening is a very relaxing and rewarding pastime I have dabbled with in the past and I have learned much about the way plants grow. Although I’m far from being an expert I still enjoy being able to watch the results of my hard work. That’s the neat about gardening. You don’t have to be a professional gardener but you get to learn about plants, watch them grow and get free vegetables to eat.
Free Food is probably the greatest overall advantage to gardening and there are all sorts of different vegetables you can grow. It’s easy too since mother nature will do most of the work for you. But there are still other things to do like watering and nutrient feeding when your plants get weak or during a dry spell. Trimming off dead foliage is another thing to keep up on because it keeps your garden healthy and allows for more sun to reach green leaves and promote photosynthesis.
It’s a great way to get outdoors and enjoy a sunny day. You can get a fair amount of exercise by tilling soil and managing your crop. I even remember one of my first experiences at gardening when I was young. I decided to plant some corn (OK by some, I mean more like one seed) but it was fun. I planted it out back against the back wall of the house not realizing it required full sun to grow to maturity. It takes a lot of energy to grow a cob of corn let alone the two per corn stalk. Anyways, I checked it everyday and watered it waiting to see if I was going to get a good cob of corn off of it but it seemed to be growing very slowly. Needless to say by the time it needed to be harvested, my corn cobs were only about twice the size of those of baby corn. So my first attempt wasn’t great to say the least but I still enjoyed it.
Vegetables are not the only thing you can grow though. Even having a flower garden can be great investment. Planting flowers is a great way to spruce up your yard and like all plants they produce oxygen and depending on the species you choose can be very fragrant. They make your environment very appealing to be around and there are many different species to choose from. All in all it’s a great experience and a learning curve that you can benefit from with a little determination.
You may or may not have already heard about Cisterns before but for those who have not I will try to shed some light on the subject. These are really great yet ancient devices which are a still valuable addition to any modern home.
Cisterns are large tanks used for retaining water (usually collected rainwater) to use for either irrigation, household use or consumption. Generally they are buried in the ground to keep out of the way but also to help reduce evaporation but they can stand above ground as well. A fairly common above ground Cistern like device would be a rain barrel usually sitting beside peoples homes with the downspout from the eaves trough emptying into it. These are typically used by people who have gardens and wish to save tap water. Many turn of the century homes and older had them because it was where water was stored for all purposes.
Modern technology has drawn us away from Cisterns with plastic and steel water tanks and town water which is safer for consumption. Although Cisterns are now making a comeback for residential and farm use for gardens and even toilet, shower and clothes washing. They are a great way to save tap water and electricity if you’re on a well and money. By collecting and storing rainwater it remains usable for when there is a drought and you may be under a watering ban. None of us want to let our lawns and gardens dry up during a watering ban which is the beauty of Cisterns. They collect free water from your roof during rainstorms and store it for times just like that and you could have a healthy, green and lush lawn and garden all season long even in the driest of weather while others can’t because of water shortages.
Old technology or not, Cisterns are still a green way to save water and energy and store it for that not so rainy day. Plus it’s free water (a great consideration if you’re on town water) and watering bans would not effect you or your lawn the same way as a strictly town water household.
As our society grows and our technology advances we tend get caught up in our daily lives and neglect the environment around us. We discard so much material that is sent to landfills or recycling plants but a fair bit of that waste ends up as litter blowing around our streets, countryside and even ending up in lakes. Polystyrene and Plastic are major contributors to this problem and can have an extremely negative effect on not only the environment but wildlife.
Polystyrene (Styrofoam) can be a dangerous material to animals. They may perceive it as food and eat it which can kill them because it will not break down in their stomachs or it may choke them. It doesn’t seem very dangerous but it also contains toxins which if heated can be released. Although that’s not much of a problem for animals it could possibly effect their nervous systems when eaten leaching out those toxins into their bodies.
When you buy a six pack whether it be Beer or Soda, The plastic rings that hold the cans or bottles together can be absolutely deadly if recklessly discarded. They can get tangled around the necks of birds and other animals as shown in the picture to the left choking them to death. Smaller animals can slip part way through them and possibly have their internal organs compressed denying them the ability to process food and starving them to death. Although these rings are made of photo degradable plastic (breaks down in sunlight) they don’t break down quick enough around an animal’s neck.
Smokers are some of the biggest litterbugs discarding cigarette butts. Many different people have argued that the filters break down in one, two, twenty years. FALSE! Cigarette butts never truly break down. Go ahead and try to get one to decompose! You’ll be at it for the long run. These are just another piece of litter which can be consumed by animals or just sit around seeping chemicals into the ground and they look terrible.
If you want to remedy the problem, there are many ways you can help avoid these problems. One thing is to try and limit your use of Styrofoam products and when you do discard them in the trash. Don’t pile it outside where it can blow away. Those Plastic rings from 6 packs I spoke of can be cut with scissors to eliminate the holes which can tangle around animals necks. As for cigarette butts… JUST DON’T THROW THEM ON THE GROUND! It’s not that we’re all at fault but we can do simple things to help eliminate large problems.
We’ve all seen them be it in a washroom at a gas station or in public bathrooms at the mall. These hand dryers are very common and for good reason.
If you have a small business with washrooms these units although expensive are much better at saving you money when compared to buying paper towels. But the benefits don’t stop there. These units will reduce the amount of garbage you will need to get rid of which can lower costs again if you pay to have trash hauled away. On top of that it is healthier to use a hand dryer when compared to age old paper towel dispensers. These may require you to grab paper towels after you have cleaned your hands or pressing on a dispensing lever which can lead to coming in contact with more germs thus wasting your time washing them in the first place.
Now I’m not only directing this towards business owners. Hand dryers are good products and they are more environmentally friendly than paper towels. I know what you’re thinking though “They suck!” or “They don’t dry fast enough”. Well ya usually they do take longer to dry your hands but there are new advancements being made which are allowing these units to perform faster.
To the right of the page is the Dyson Airblade. This is a cool new unit which blasts unheated high pressure air over your hands at 640 km/h drying them in about 12 seconds. That’s a lot faster than conventional dryers. Since it doesn’t use warm air it requires less power to use and it the material it is made from is apparently infused with an anti-microbial coating which helps to eliminate germs that can possibly be blown onto your hands. I think the engineers at Dyson have done their homework on this one. This is probably the most advanced bathroom product I have ever seen.
All considered we really need to make a conscious choice to use hand dryers and help reduce the amount of paper towels discarded.
Polystyrene or more commonly referred to as Styrofoam is a product which is not only very wasteful but is a health hazard we have been exposed to for years.
Most commonly seen in drinking cups and food containers, Polystyrene puts a terrible strain on our environment. It has been claimed in 1986 by the EPA that the manufacturing process of Polystyrene is the 5th largest producer of hazardous waste. The original manufacturing process even produced CFC’s (Chlorofluorocarbons) which are chemicals that deplete the ozone. That alone is enough to persuade me not to use the stuff. But wait it gets better. This garbage doesn’t even biodegrade which means it will be around forever just blowing around on the ground or washing up on beaches easy enough for wildlife to mistake it for food and screw up their digestive tracks possibly even killing them. It has been shown by the National Bureau of Standards Center for Fire Research that Polystyrene releases 57 chemical byproducts when combusted. It is a petroleum product like plastic which means oil is used to manufacture it. Just what we need, another way to burn up oil!
We have seen this product everywhere from food containers to home insulation but it it safe? Not really. It has been shown to cause problems such as skin irritation, upper respiratory and gastrointestinal problems in humans. Not to mention the fact that toxins are released into the food we consume that has been in contact with Polystyrene. Especially when the container and food is heated like in a microwave. Yummy! Chronic exposure to it can cause another array of problems such as: depression, headache, fatigue and other minor effects to the kidneys and blood.
What I suggest is that we try to limit as much use of Polystyrene in all it’s forms for the environment and for our own health. How? Don’t buy it. If a coffee shop or restaurant sells food in Styrofoam containers them for a cardboard container instead or eat in the restaurant. Take out wastes so much packaging. If you receive a package in the mail with Styrofoam packing material ask the company to cease using it. You could always ask not to receive anything with the material packaged in it. Some companies are now beginning to return excess waste packaging in an effort to stop the problem. There’s all kinds of ways to reduce your use of Polystyrene (Styrofoam). Hopefully we can eliminate a fair amount of it from being produced and discarded so needlessly.
Does it have to be so hot in here? Why is this such a common question in the winter time? I think it’s because people just simply over compensate when they turn up the heat in their homes. Someone gets too cold in the house and turns the heat up. This shouldn’t be necessary but it happens all too often.
When people decide to fiddle with their thermostat and turn it up and down on a regular basis it over stresses their furnace. You should understand that furnaces have to work quite a bit just to raise the temperature in the house a degree of two and frequent temperature adjustments cause them to work even harder.
If you run the temperature in your house around 75°F your gas/oil/hydro bill must get pretty high in the winter. If you think your bill is too high consider lowering your temperature a few degrees. We run our furnace at around 68°F when we’re home and about 60°F when we’re gone for the weekend. Lowering your temperature can help save hundreds on power or fuel but you need to find a comfortable temperature and try to stick with it. Just try to lower it by 2 degrees for a few days and if it doesn’t bother you try to maintain it.
Switching temperatures up and down dramatically will not save you money but actually cost you more. This causes a furnace to be operating more frequently and increasing your utility bill. A constant temperature will allow your furnace to activate only periodically to maintain the temperature and not increase it continually. By maintaining a lower temperature fairly consistently you will save your furnace and money on fueling it when compared to erratic temperature spikes. If you dislike the cooler temperature then increase it to something more manageable and stick with it or even consider wearing a sweater. You can save a fair amount of money by heating your home a little less.
Water conservation has become a pretty big issue in the last couple of years and we are always being persuaded to find ways to save water around our homes and do our part. During the summer months water is at a premium and the less we waste means the longer the supply will last. Since tap water is freshwater we must do everything we can to conserve it. Freshwater is not unlimited as some people might believe. Below I have listed just 5 simple ways that you can help to conserve water and lower your bill.
1. Take Shorter Showers: We don’t need to be in the shower for 10-15 minutes a day. Consider how much water is being wasted to clean yourself off just once. Some people take multiple showers a day. Limiting this as well will help significantly. Also if you have a bath tub consider bathing if you take really long showers since not all that water is just going down the drain.
2. Turn The Water Off When Brushing Your Teeth: Many people just leave the tap on when brushing their teeth and water just pours right down the drain for nothing. Just turn the water on when you need it and off when you don’t.
3. Don’t Flush Unnecessarily: Ever hear the term “If it’s yellow let it mellow, If it’s brown flush it down”? I know it’s not exactly pleasant to think about but by not flushing your toilet every single time you go or put a Kleenex in it you can save a lot of water.
4. Don’t Operate Dishwashers Unless They’re Full: Pretty self explanatory. Dishwashers use a bunch of water to operate so fill them to the top before you do. Wash dishes by hand even. You can save even more water by washing the dishes and then refilling the sink with water to rinse in.
5. Wash Two Loads Of Laundry Per Cycle: If you have a top loading washing machine, try washing two loads of clothes in the same soapy water by removing load #1 immediately after the wash cycle and replacing it with load #2. Restart the wash cycle and let the machine run through it’s complete program. When finished remove load #2 and place load #1 in and set it on the Rinse cycle and let it run through. This way you wash two sets of laundry with 1/4 less water since you don’t need to fill two wash cycles worth. Remember to wash the light load first though.
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