Month: February 2007

3 Ways Under $10 To Make A Rain Barrel

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make-a-rain-barrelWhy harvest rain water? The world is 2/3 water, is it not?

True, it is, but Sam Davidson at CoolPeopleCare.org cites a fact from RainBarrelGuide.com that less than 3/10 of one percent of that water is suitable for domestic use.

Don’t you think we could find better uses for the commodity of fresh water (which we take for granted in this country) than to water our plants or wash our cars?

Recently, I posted a 2-part article here at The Fun Times Guide to Living Green that shared 3 Alternatives to Drinking Bottled Water [part 1, part 2]. Part 2 introduced the idea of harvesting rain water for such purposes as landscape care and more.

If you could have a rain barrel for less than $10 dollars (or even free), would you do it?

 

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2007 Oscars Go Green in the Green Room

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oscars-academy-awards

oscars-academy-awardsEco-friendliness is the up-and-coming trend in Hollywood, and it seems that more and more celebrities are beginning to live green every day.

Today Good Morning America featured a story that reported the 2007 Oscar Awards will be going green in the Green Room.

Hey, what a concept right?

From USAToday.com on the subject, “The greenroom is the place just offstage at theaters and late-night chat shows, where guests gather to wait, nosh and natter just before going on.”

I must say, some pretty interesting ideas have been employed in the greening of the Oscars Green Room.

 

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4 Ways to Make Your Home Environmentally (and Panda) Friendly… With Bamboo!

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bamboo-forest

bamboo-forestIt takes 120 years for a maple tree to grow to maturity and be harvested.

It takes bamboo 3 years.

Bamboo is that fastest naturally replenishing resource in the world and does not require replanting, fertilizers, and pesticides. It also acts as a great carbon sequester as it minimizes CO2 gases and generates up to 35% more oxygen than equivalent stand of trees.

TreeHugger.com points out that while it is clearly a renewable resource that can contribute to sustainable living, in some cases it may not be managed in the most sustainable way.

As long as we consider and investigate the source of the bamboo, it can be used for many things, from hardwood flooring to bed sheets.

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3 Alternatives to Drinking Bottled Water, Part 2

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Now that we know how costly, unnecessary, and potentially harmful bottled water is, and why we wouldn’t want to put our own water in a plastic water bottle (especially #7 plastic), let’s actually talk about the 3 previously mentioned alternatives to drinking bottled water out of plastic bottles.

 

#1 – Clean Water Already Comes From Your Tap

It’s important to realize that if you live in the United States it is not necessary, in the vast majority of circumstances, to employ water filtration to obtain clean water.

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Alternatives to Drinking Bottled Water: How To Tell Which Plastic Bottles Are Safe

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water-bottles

In the last post we talked about the dangers of drinking bottled water.

Now that we know why to never again put the neurotoxin filled petroleum-derived containers to our lips, let’s talk about what alternatives exist.

There are 3 pretty effective ways to do this. Two of them are easy and inexpensive, the other is a little more involved and will cost a little bit on the front end.

water-bottles

But before we talk about how to get clean and fresh tasting water at home, we have to talk about what we’re going to put it in.

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The Bottled Water Scam – What You Need To Know About 3 Types Of Bottled Water

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What cost more per gallon than gasoline?

The answer is bottled water!

This time last year earth-policy.org published an article stating:

“The global consumption of bottled water reached 154 billion liters (41 billion gallons) in 2004, up 57% from the 98 billion liters consumed 5 years earlier. Even in areas where tap water is safe to drink, demand for bottled water is increasing–producing unnecessary garbage and consuming vast quantities of energy. Although in the industrial world bottled water is often no healthier than tap water, it can cost up to 10,000 times more. At as much as $2.50 per liter ($10 per gallon), bottled water costs more than gasoline.”

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Give Green Roses For Valentine’s Day: What You Need To Know About Buying Organic Flowers

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green-roses-are-bestWith Valentine’s Day coming up, don’t forget to send your sweetheart a beautiful bouquet of neurotoxins.

That’s right.

Consumer Reports’ GreenerChoices.org reports that “more pesticides are used on a per-acre basis to grow flowers than any other agricultural product. Hazardous pesticides used on roses include possible carcinogens, such as paraquat, and neurotoxins, such as chlorpyrifos.”

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3 Free Ways To A Greener Life

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Going green doesn’t simply refer to neutralizing your carbon footprint and combating global warming.

Those are merely factors, albeit big ones, in living a greener life.

There are a lot of things you can do that are free (and/or can actually save you money), help others, and contribute to saving and enjoying our environment.

Here are 3 simple ideas that accomplish all of those goals.

recycle-plastic-bags

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Going Green: A Philosophical Perspective

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hugging-a-tree

hugging-a-treeWhy would a person want to “go green”?

That is a question that every person must answer for themselves and themselves alone.

Why I have decided to explore the nuances of a greener life, may or may not have any relevance to why you may want to.

You may find yourself in a number of different places on the spectrum of the green conversation, and maybe even sliding up and down the scale until you find where you really want to be, and that’s ok.

In this post, I’d like to explore some perspectives that exist from the natural, to the meta-physical, and to the religious.

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