Coming Back
Hey gang.
I’m sorry I’ve been MIA for so long. I guess my next post should be Save Money, Save The World, Save Your Health.
Right now, we’re dealing with a very sticky situation with my mom’s health.
Her aortic valve is failing. Because of this, her heart can’t get all of the blood out of it and to the rest of her body. That causes heart failure, and her lungs to fill up.
Her meds are incredible to try to keep a balance until they determine if she can have surgery to circumvent the valve.
Until then, we walk a very fine line between independence and death. Literally.
90% of this could have been prevented if she had eaten right, exercised and quit smoking. But much of it is hereditary and could have been avoided had her physician listened to her and done the tests that would have shown her problems 11 years ago.
So, I am truly hoping to be back this week. Please forgive me my long absence and I do hope I can contribute to this great forum once again.
L
Save Money, Save the World, Brown Bag It « by Leslie Holly
Posted by LeslieH in by Leslie Holly, food & gardening, recycling, sustainability on August 16th, 2009
Hey folks! I’m back for a bit. My tomatoes got nailed by Late Blight, so I went from at least a 20 gallon harvest to a 1 quart harvest within a week. Ahh, gotta love the gamble of veggie gardens.
However, this discussion does not include my gardening woes. LOL
Thanks to MichaelTurton.com for picture
Here in the US, we eat out an average of 3X per week. I honestly think it’s far more often than that, but I’d guess people lie to not look so gluttonous/lazy/frivolous. At any rate, I’ll be pulling some more of my numbers from a post I wrote for the Carbon Fast
The US has just under 1 million public restaurants. I’ve witnessed about a third of these in Dallas, TX alone! LOL – not really, but I have never seen so many eateries with so many cars in their parking lots, regardless of the time of day or day of the week. Take into account, the average restaurant uses 38 kWh of electricity and 111 cubic feet of natural gas per square foot of space per year, there’s a lot of energy being used for us to not make our own meals.
In fact, food production alone is responsible for 1/3 of all greenhouse gases – world wide. Since the US uses something like 1/2 of the world’s food, you can extrapolate its food is responsible for 1/6 of the entire world’s greenhouse gases. It’s actually more since we use so much more energy to produce our food than any other country in the world. We need at least 10 calories of energy – mostly from fossil fuels – to produce 1 calorie of food, whereas the majority of countries use 1 calorie of energy to produce 5-20 calories of food.
How do we change this? It’s rather simple. Make your own meals. On a far simpler level, take your lunch to work.
Thanks to Families.com for picture of brown bag lunch!
Microwaves have made brown bagging your lunch more varied than the staple cold cuts or PB&J. You can now take left-overs to reheat and enjoy in the break room, out on a bench, or (God forbid) at your desk.
Somewhere in my research surfing, I saw that an average lunch out costs $7 US. My jaw just DROPS in disbelief that people are willing to toss that kind of money away for food that is awful in every way possible, other than convenient. Even then, trying to get to an eatery and back to the office within the specified time you have for lunch is hardly convenient.
Bringing lunch from home – anywhere from pennies to $4, depending on what you like and what you’ve eaten previously to bring as leftovers.
The collective amount you save in energy, greenhouse gases and water waste depends on how heavily you rely on prepared foods bought in the store, or how much you prepare foods from their “whole” state. However, regardless of what you use to make your in-home meals, the energy expended and chemicals used will be far less than even the greenest of restaurants. One research project I did for myself puts it at a 90% energy savings. So even if you save half, think of the difference!
Something as simple as a pre-bottled drink versus bringing a thermos makes a huge difference. Bottled water consumes 3 ounces of petrolium products in the manufacture, collection and distribution of it. Basically, the same can be said of any bottled drink, and generally more, since it takes more petrolium products to make a soda or orange juice, than bottling water.
A cheeseburger from a fast food eaterie uses 32 ounces of oil to produce and hand to you.
Make it a game. See how fast you can “save” a barrel of oil. If this appeals to you, I’ll try to find the numbers for you on general foods.
Good luck. Save money! Save the World! It’s there for you and you alone!
Save Money, Save The World – Makes No Scents « by Leslie Holly
Posted by LeslieH in by Leslie Holly, other, sustainability, water on August 5th, 2009
First – I’ll be MIA for a week or so due to harvesting. Everything is coming on now and I’ll be incredibly brain dead during this time. I’ll be back ASAP.
OK. Onward!
I’m no fan of scented products. I have allergies that send my sinuses into hyperdrive whenever I get around someone who does use scented products. But, beyond my sinuses re-enacting Niagara Falls, there are very good reasons to go scentless – your health, your family’s health and the environment.
Laundry Detergents are scented beyond belief! Buy unscented powders for the best value and environmental impact
Literally everything you buy has a scent – usually one that has been added to disguise the chemical odor of the product. These scents aren’t from your grandmother’s sachet pouches. They are purely chemical, or so far removed from its natural origin that it won’t be recognized – such as corn producing a raspberry scent? Scary!
Rather than try to discuss each possible item, I’ll go with broader subjects.
What you put on your skin
Photo from Warmglow.com. Products like these are all absorbed by your skin. Why do that?
Your skin is the largest organ of your body. It absorbs a great many things – nicotine and nitro patches are prime examples of helping the body. But mostly, what it absorbs is vastly negative in nature.
Most chemicals that are created to act as scents to our noses also act as hormone disruptors within our bodies. When you shower/bathe, these chemicals are in the water, the air (aerisolized water and cleaning agents) and on your skin. When you rinse off, many don’t leave your skin, but many do, and end up in your waterways. Recent studies on municipal drinking water within the US show vast numbers of chemicals not being filtered out in the standard sewage treatment – with caffeine and estrogen being top contenders. Think about it. Do you really want to drink what’s in your hair conditioner?
What you put on your clothes
You can make your own laundry soap for pennies and control the scents. Thx SacredShowers.com
Everything advertised for clothes revolves around the scent. Did you know that the “new clothes smell” is a mix of chemicals, including formaldehyde? The way dryer sheets make the scent stay on your clothes is adhering it with wax. They call it a ’surfactant’, but that’s just a fancy word for “waxy substance”. And again, these scents are chemicals that also act as hormone disruptors. Since natural scents can’t hold up under high heat, they turn to petrolium based chemicals.
And again, you place them next to your skin for at least 12 hours a day, and wash them into your water every time you do laundry.
A side note – No one speaks of the chemical changes that undergo these scented products during the intense heat of a dryer. But every time the wind blows from the south, I can tell what time of day the neighbor 2 doors down is doing laundry. I’m inhaling those chemicals. As are you.
What you put in your air
Scented candles are the devil! LOL - not really, but they aren't heaven scent either. Thx WickItGood.com
As if making our bodies and our clothes smell of a dozen different scents isn’t enough, we have to make the air we breathe smelly too. We spray, squirt, fan-diffuse and burn scented products to mask something. What? Air? On a personal note – I have a cat with IBS. For such a small thing, she has a whole lot of stink built up. But, people don’t know it when they walk in the house. And we don’t use anything other than 2 squirts of Febreze over the litter box. We open the doors and the windows. It’s a concept!
Scented candles, both petrolium and soy (don’t get me started on soy!) are being shown to disrupt boys’ puberty, enhancing their minute amounts of estrogen and diminishing their testosterone. All from “merely” breathing the scented air. What is it doing to the rest of us!?
You breathe scents you put out there on purpose. You breathe the scents you put on your body. You breathe in the scents your clothes. And finally, you breathe in the scents of the perfumes and aftershaves and colognes and hairsprays and make up, etc.
Conclusion
Estrodiol molecule. It (or something very similar) is in your water, your clothes, your air.
Think of this as a diet. Don’t toss every scented product in your home. Reduce the use of them. Get rid of them slowly – as you run out of a scented product, either quit using it entirely, or use an unscented form. Since many unscented products are less expensive, you save money. And once you find you have no use for them, you spend even less, saving even more.
This is a very simple thing to do. And probably one of the most profound in terms of the environment. Just consider it. Try it for one round of a product.
Why Doesn’t Green = Better? « by Joel Makower
Posted by Joel Makower in by Joel Makower, green business on August 3rd, 2009
So many green products, so little progress. At least, that’s how it seems most days. As we report in GreenBiz.com — and have for the past decade — the progress is undeniable: Companies are embracing green practices as never before, and doing so at a deeper, more holistic level. It’s no longer just about “greening up.” It’s about doing better.
Better. It’s a word I’ve been thinking about lately. And as I look at the landscape of sustainability, the green economy, and green marketing, I’m struck by how much of what’s greener isn’t necessarily better, at least not in the ways that matter to most people. And until “green” is synonymous with “better,” it’s destined to remain marginalized, incapable of fomenting change at the scale and speed necessary to address climate change and other pressing problems.
What does it mean to be “better”? Obviously, it means different things to different people, and the definition can shift depending on the topic, the day, and the circumstance. Here, in alphabetical order, is a decidedly incomplete list of attributes that could reasonably be deemed as “better”:
cheaper to buy
cheaper to own
enhanced features
healthier
higher performance
improves my image
innovative
less wasteful
more convenient
more durable
more stylish
repairable
reusable
upgradeable
uses less energy
. . . or just plain “cool.”
I’m sure there are dozens more adjectives and attributes that could be added to this list. And most all of these focus on an individual’s needs, and possibly that of his or her family or neighbors, but not much on one’s community or beyond. Each of those is likely to have its own definition of “better.”
Using whatever definitions you choose, I defy you to scan the green marketplace — the products, services, companies, communities, jobs, government policies, and other things that claim some environmental attribute — and see how they measure up to your list.
Think about green cleaners, clothing, computers, cosmetics — whatever. How many definitions of “better” can you find? Are their price, performance, and other attributes truly an improvement over the status quo? Or is what’s “better” simply the way they make you feel? If so, is that enough to justify their purchase?
How about green energy? Green vehicles? Green furnishings? Green appliances? Green light bulbs? While each of these has positive attributes, not many are demonstrably “better” from the standpoint of providing benefits or value propositions that most shoppers care about and can afford, in addition to their environmental benefits.
Some green things are better. Green buildings can be cheaper to operate, cheaper to build, more pleasant and healthful environments, and may contribute to happier, healthier, and more productive employees, students, or residents. Greener health care, too: Medical professionals that hew to principles that reduce toxic materials in their practices and are generally more efficient can produce better results for their patients. I’m sure there are other examples of products and services where green equals better. But these tend to be the exceptions, not the rule.
Read the rest of Joel’s article HERE on Two Steps Forward
Joel is co-founder & executive editor of Greener World Media, Inc., which produces GreenBiz.com & its sister sites: GreenerBuildings.com, ClimateBiz.com, GreenerDesign.com, and GreenerComputing.com. He’s principal author of the annual State of Green Business report & the Greener by Design conference. Joel serves as a senior strategist at GreenOrder & co-founder and principal of Clean Edge Inc. From 1991-2005 he was editor & publisher of The Green Business Letter. Joel is author or co-author of more than a dozen books, including his latest, Strategies for the Green Economy.
Stock Market Gardening « by Leslie Holly
Posted by LeslieH in by Leslie Holly, food & gardening on July 28th, 2009
Yes, I’m a gardening nerd. Sorry. That’s just the way it is. LOL
I have a smaller garden. Some people call it huge, others think it’s cute. It just depends on which side of the gardening fence you stand.
Anyway, I’ve got about $12 worth of seeds “invested” in the garden. Yes, I planted it, weed it, trim, pick, chop, freeze, cook, etc. So there’s more of an investment than just throwing $12 at the soil. But not much. It does all the work.
Tomatoes, the wild card of gardening investment
Gardening can look a lot like working with the stock market. You make an investment in it. You watch it to make sure nothing drastic is happening. If there is, you do what you can to minimize damage, or maximize potential. And you hope. There’s always a lot of hope involved in both.
My “stock” in string beans is doing great! I’ve already seen a 200% return on the investment, and I’ve only picked twice. I didn’t even plant all of the seed I bought, and it cost me less than $4. I have at least 10 more pickings in what is coming due now, and have 2 other plantings to harvest from.
My peas were a break-even investment, but that’s fine. I now know they aren’t going to give me more than I invest. Like the market, it’s a learning experience.
The beets – they’re going to be a great return! I’ve already harvested 8 pints – which, after the first 2, are pure profit – and have a full bushel to go. That’s about 30 more pints.
3 Separate plantings of 4'x20" each, and still have seed left
I don’t know about the Brussels sprouts yet, but am certain it’ll be a sizeable profit.
Tomatoes – this is always iffy. If they don’t ripen in time, you get precious little. But since it only takes 1 quart – 4 tomatoes – to make the entire packet of 100 seeds pay for itself, it’s an ok risk to take. I’m hoping for a bushel, which is about 15-20 quarts.
Onions – wow – another cheap one! I’ll guess I’ll get a bushel out of a .99 bunch of starters. That’s a full 16X the initial investment.
Dill – is free! You leave one plant to seed next year’s growth and there’s no buying the seed. Since we use a lot of dill, and it’s not a cheap herb to buy in any form, it’s a wonderful return on a nothing investment – sort of like stock splitting. 1 stalk pays for the original seed purchase, which was 3 years ago. I’ve got around 50 stalks this year alone.
3 Brussels sprouts plants and still have about 80 seeds left. I should get about 40 sprouts from each.
To top it off, this investment is tax free! How much better can it get?
The trick to it all is taking this money and stuffing it in a jar or a mattress or a savings account for later. You’ve earned it. Use it to the best of your ability. When the stock market dreams of an 8% return per year, and you’re getting 1000% in 60-90 days, you just can’t beat it! Even in a bad gardening year, you’ll do no worse than to break even, which in today’s market, is something everyone wishes would happen since the losses have equaled the last 7 years worth of gains.
I’m using some of my return and reinvesting it into my garden market by getting another small freezer. I also plan on using some in getting more fruiting plants – maybe currants, maybe more grapes, maybe more plums. I don’t know. But I know I’ll be reinvesting it to keep making my returns that much larger.
Last year's veggies packed in the freezer. I'll need more room this year.
Gardens are the best investment you will ever make. Period.
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