Category Archives: Sustainable Living

Eco Friendly Tips for green environment
Sustainable Living

Eco Friendly Tips for Green Environment

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Living green is good for the environment. It not only reduces the environmental pollution but also saves your money. By following the simple tips and techniques you can reduce the amount spent on gas and electricity bills. More use of computers and printers resulted in global warming. Most of the people believe that global warming is caused due to the burning oil and natural gas. But 30% of the greenhouse gases enter into the atmosphere because of deforestation.

  • Eco Friendly Tips for green environmentUnion made hybrids: The gases released from vehicles results in global warming. For greener environment you need to shift to hybrid electric cars. These vehicles integrate the engine of a conventional vehicle with a battery and electric motor which results in low emissions.
  • Furniture polish: This polish contains the harmful chemical substances. You can polish the furniture by mixing vinegar with a few drops of olive oil. By this way you can not only save money but can also reduce the environmental pollution.
  • Shift to eco-friendly bags: Avoid using the plastic bags. Go for paper bags. Plastic materials take years to degrade. Buy a tote bag and use it while shopping.
  • Switch off the lights: turn off the lights in storage rooms, restrooms, and unoccupied areas. By this way you can contribute to the green environment. Reports say that two-third of the electricity will be used for lightings. Electricity productions release harmful carbon dioxide gas into the environment.
  • Pay your bills online: Use technology. Pay your monthly expenses through online. You can save the paper and can reduce the fuel consumption of post office vehicles.
  • Save wood and paper: Try to use both sides of paper. Use email to send invitations and for writing. Reuse your envelopes. Recycle papers is good for environment which can used for making invitation cards, envelopes, letter pads etc.
  • Home appliances: Opt for the energy efficient appliances. Collect the water used for washing vegetables to water your plants. Allow the clothes to dry naturally in sunlight. Shift to the rechargeable batteries.
  • Garden: Water your plants early in the morning and evening. Use efficient irrigation systems. Utilise the unused space in garden. Make a compost pit. Store the kitchen and garden waste which acts as a manure for soil. Use only the environmental friendly fertilisers and pesticides. This decreases the environmental pollution.
  • Reuse and recycle: Purchase washable nappies instead of disposable one. Use the solar equipments. Use ceramic containers to store food rather than using plastic wrap.
  • Online shopping: Buy solar products. Buy the eco-friendly home appliances. This reduces the waste and pollution.
  • Workplace: Utilise the both sides of printed paper. Use the spare paper place instead of notebooks. Purchase the recycled paper. Turn off the monitors, printers when not in use. Save the electricity by turning off the lights.
  • Holidays: Avoid travelling by air. This reduces the consumption of fossil fuels and greenhouse gases. Use public transportation.
  • Upgrade insulation: well-insulated home saves your money. It gives a cool and warm home environment.
  • Laptop: use laptops which consume less power compared to desktop computers.

Author Bio: The guest post was contributed by Lucy, financial guest blogger from Manchester, UK. Wrote many articles on ppi claims. Find out more about her finance related blogs @financeport.

Achieving a Greener Home
Sustainable Living

5 Tips for Achieving a Greener Home

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More and more of us are considering the ways we can make our home a little more environmentally friendly, from big changes to little alterations in what we buy and who we buy them from. If you are trying to make your home a greener place, you may feel a little overwhelmed with where to start. With this in mind, start by reading through these 5 tips and you will soon be on your way to eco-friendly living!

Research your Cleaning Products

Some of the biggest household brands are far from environmentally friendly and on top of this are also tested on animals. Take your first step towards a greener home by looking into ethical and environmentally friendly alternatives; Ecover do a fantastic range of cleaning products from washing up liquid to laundry powder but there are plenty of other ranges that you could try.

Apply for a Water Saving Kit

Many companies now offer free water saving kits that not only help to conserve water but can also reduce your water bills for those on a meter. The kits can be applied for online and include all kinds of interesting contraptions such as tap inserts that save 70% of the water that normally flows out of the tap, a shower adaptor and a shower timer. Some companies even offer a free fitting service so you can save water without lifting a finger!

Read up on Recycling

Most homes will now have a recycling bin or box outside the front of their home that is collected on a regular basis, but do you really know what you can and can’t put in them? Different areas have different rules so it’s worth checking with your local council. Many new bins now come with a magnet that can be stuck to the fridge outlining everything that can be recycled as a handy reminder. Some flats now receive special bags to put their recycling in, so why not purchase a secondary kitchen bin to make it as easy as possible to separate waste from recycling?

Solar Energy

There is no denying that the installation of solar panels and heat pumps is an expensive job, but there are ways you can get a little help with going green in this way. Government funding is in place in the form of the Feed in Tariff which gives homeowners generating energy through solar panels regular cash payments for their efforts. To get an idea of pricing, there are comparison sites for solar companies set up to help you find the best deal.

Teach the Family

It’s all well and good putting effort into making your home a greener place, but if the rest of the household are not following suit your hard work could be in vain. Take the time to discuss the changes you are trying to make with your partner, children or housemates and explain why it’s so important to make them. With children, perhaps consider a reward system for their efforts such as a star chart to help them really embrace the changes.

From applying for a free water saving kit to installing solar panels, no change is too big or small so start with some of these tips and feel great about doing your bit for the environment!

Sophie has recently set up Greenkind and tries her best to keep her home as green as possible, helping others to do the same by offering advice and information on the website.

eco house
Sustainable Living

How to Easily Transition Your Home into an Eco-Friendly Environment

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Many people have transitioned their home and environment into a more eco-friendly space. There are a few reasons why they are doing this, with the main one being that it helps to protect the environment for our future generations. That’s our children and grandchildren.

But, it also can help save money and help our health. And who can’t use a little extra cash in their pockets, or a few less issues with their health?

So, if you are considering taking the steps in turning your home into a greener environment, read on for some ideas to make the transition a smooth one.

Furnishing with an Organic Flair

I am first going to tackle one of the biggest areas that can be addressed. In fact, it’s big enough that you might want to take this in baby steps. I am talking about the furnishings within the home. To switch everything out for natural and organic would be put a big dent in the wallet to do all at once. So, that is why I recommend a slow transition in getting rid of the allergen traps.

Carpet is notorious for trapping dirt and stains. However, it’s also a haven for dust mites and other allergens. If you are considering a change in flooring, you might want to opt for a hard surface such as bamboo, which is good for both allergens and the environment.

Window treatments are also a home for allergens. If you are not wanting to launder them on a regular basis, you might want to switch draperies out for blinds that will not trap allergens.

One last area I want to discuss in this section is bedding. Mattresses, sheets, and comforters are not only capable of trapping allergens, but also created with chemicals…unless, you go with organic. I have a friend who is getting serious about going green, and is expecting a baby as well. The nursery was the first room they tackled, with an organic baby crib mattress, all natural sheets, bamboo flooring, and blinds. So, the baby will not be breathing in chemicals as  they sleep.

Cleaning up Naturally

One way to remove chemicals from your environment is to clean with natural products. You will notice that the shelves at stores are filling up with natural products, including a variety of cleaning products.

You shouldn’t have a hard time finding them at all. However, if you prefer to go completely natural and save money at the same time, make your own. Just look in your kitchen pantry for ingredients that work well for cleaning, such as lemon juice, white vinegar, salt, club soda, and so much more.

There are websites that are dedicated to all natural cleaning products that will provide ‘recipes’ for a multitude of cleaning needs from windows to laundry.

A Little R and R

Of course I need to address recycling, which is the first ‘R’ and far more popular and easy to do than when it first started. Many cities have bins available for you to recycle and have curbside pickup available. It doesn’t get much easier than that.

The second ‘R’ is to reuse. If you can reuse something, it can help save money, as well as the environment. The following are 5 ideas on how to reuse:

  1. Shopping Bags – the plastic bags you get from the store can be used for storing items, or as a small trash bag
  2. Cleaning Rags – use washable cloth cleaning rags over paper towels
  3. Borrow – rather than purchasing something you won’t need forever, see if you can borrow it
  4. Jars – emptied food jars can store many other items
  5. Garbage – make into compost for a natural fertilizer

I am sure you will be able to find many other items around the home that you can creatively use in other forms. It’s all about putting less waste into our world.

Energize that Transition

Simply turning down the heat will help reduce your energy budget, that’s common knowledge. However, are you aware of how much? For every degree you dial it down, you will save on average of 2% on your energy bill. Good enough reason to put a sweater on, right?

Another option is solar power. A solar-powered generator allows for currents of electricity to reach a battery ‘bank’, to be stored. They say the most resourceful form is the flat panel. These work especially well for larger roofs in sunny areas. While this is an area growing in popularity, it also takes a bit of research to know how to do it right.

In Closing

There are several ways you can transition your home and environment into an eco-friendly area, and I have mentioned just a few. Do some research to see what you can do to ease your transition and get a great start on a healthier future for your children and grandchildren.

 

As a successful freelance writer and Internet marketer, Mark Harris enjoys researching for new material for future projects. His latest series of articles on going green was inspired when he was visiting www.ecohomeinspired.com. Mark is married and lives in White Rock, B.C. on Canada’s stunning west coast. When he is not working, he enjoys time on the local beaches, kayaking, and hiking.

recycling
Sustainable Living

Twenty Ways to Use a Plastic Bag

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After going shopping, you probably have loads of plastic bags that you do not know what to do with. Some of you would throw the bags away and some of you would store them because you have nothing else to do with them. Instead of throwing the bags away and leaving them lying around, then try using them for something useful. Here are 20 ways you can use a polythene bag.

1. Plastic bags are inexpensive and are great for packaging items safely and securely.

2. When you are crushing food, such as biscuits, put that item in a plastic bag so it catches the crumbs.

3. If you feel like being creative, then try making a kite or a toy parachute out of polythene bags.

4. It can be used as a bin bag and it is good for collecting fruit and vegetable peelings.

5. If you take your lunch to school or work, then you can take it in a plastic bag.

6. You can take the bags with you when you go shopping and you can reuse them instead of having to use new ones.

7. If you have a protective cast for any reason, then a plastic bag can stop it from getting wet when you have a shower or a bath.

8. They can be used a disposable gloves when you a dealing with unpleasant items.

9. Keep some in the car to store wet and muddy shoes and clothes to stop your car getting dirty. You can also use them to store a wet umbrella.

10. Another reason to keep them in the car is so they can be used as sick bags if necessary.

11. When you are traveling, put any liquid items, such as perfume, shampoo and toothpaste, in a plastic bag to stop any of them leaking over clothes.

12. You can just use them generally to store items.

13. If you have a cat, then you can place them in the bottom of a cat litter tray so it is easy for you to clean up quickly.

14. You can use polythene bags to store leaky bottles or jars in order to save the mess in your cupboards.

15. They can potentially be used as a cheap way to insulate your home.

16. Place your shoes in a plastic bag when they’re in a suitcase to prevent your clothes from smelling.

17. You can also use a plastic bag as a laundry bag so your clean and dirty washing is separated.

18. Lay them down on the floor when you are painting or decorating so they catch any bits of paint or other materials.

19. You can cover clothing items in your wardrobe to prevent them getting dusty.

20. If your pillows are feeling flat, then you can use polythene bags to pad them out.

In a way, this is your own type of recycling because you are reusing the bags instead of throwing them away.

Sustainable Harvesting
Philosophy, Plants, Procurement, Sustainable Living

Sacred Earth: Sustainable Harvesting

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There are few but essential things to keep in mind when gathering live plants:

1. Gather the plant in the right time, for instance when it’s blooming, producing fruits, or accumulating resources in the root.

2. Make sure to not over harvest an area. Some plants prosper after being harvested while others can’t survive losing some of the same species. You have the responsibility to research and study each plant before collecting.

3. Obey the law of natural selection, taking only the plants and trees that are struggling to thrive and will probably die as a result of insufficient sunlight caused by tough competition. Remember: predators eat the weakest preys, so that the remaining prey population become stronger and healthier.

The bottom line is that Mother Nature provides all the necessities of life to each and every being but if we want to continue to receive her gifts, we have to respect and appreciate her abundance.

As you collect any material from the landscape such as wood from living or dead trees, it is a good practice to give thanks for the gifts you have been given.