Archive for personal changes
Calculate your carbon impact
If you go to http://green.msn.com/tools/calculator.aspx you can calculate your carbon impact. I did this and came up with a score of roughly 8.45. Apparently the average is 7.5. That doesn’t make me feel great but it’s not too bad.
As it is, my husband and I have 1 car (by choice) with good gas mileage. We are presently talking about replacing it with a hybrid, of course. Also, my husband has just started a carpool sign up sheet at his work. Hopefully, that will allow him to find someone in our area that he can ride in with.
Another thing that I’m sure hurt our score is our gas bill. We have an older home but we’re working on weatherproofing it. I covered the windows this year as well as the door jams. One thing I haven’t done is to buy a water heater blanket, which I keep meaning to do but just haven’t. It is one thing of many though. I’ll keep you updated the more progress I make.
Lastly, my husband and I take a lot of road trips, occasionally flying when we need to. Traveling is a great love of ours and isn’t something we can cut out. However, I will try and find out if it better to travel by car than plane.
They do provide a list of things you can do to decrease the number on their site: http://green.msn.com/Articles/article.aspx?aid=273.
Some things I already do is to:
- keep our thermostat at a reasonable temp.
- We wash & rinse in cold
The other things are things I will be working on from now on.
More on plastic
According to The Green Book, we should avoid plastics containing PVC (like in some raincoats, backpacks, and folders) because it can be harmful to the immune system and very hard to recycle. Recycling aside, if these plastics can be harmful to our immune system, it’s especially important then to pay attention to the fact that it is being put in children’s items.
The Green Book also says that you can buy your children’s plastic rulers out of “70% postconsumer recycled plastic”. I mention it because it seems like one of those things you might not even think about, but that we need to become aware of.
Now, as for plastic bags, I have made the jump to cloth bags that you reuse when you go to the grocery store. I also have a cloth bag that I use when I go to the library. I bought these bags at Wal-Mart for $1 a piece. I know that on Oprah’s “green” show, she was selling bags for close to $10 and saying that it was just the cost to make and ship. I have a huge problem with that because I make things that I sell and ship and can tell you a bag does not cost $10. However, I know that Oprah does have some good tips on her site for going green (see my links).
That aside, any plastic bags I do end up with, I recycle at Wal-Mart. They have a huge bin right out in front, very easy thing to do. It’s something everyone could and should be doing for sure.
Recycling
Recycling is a huge topic, one that I’ll be referring to often. As for the part I play, I recycle everything I can at the curbside for pick-up. Then I collect the rest (glass, foil, styrofoam, etc.) to be dropped off at the recycling center.
You can find out where you can recycle things in your area on http://earth911.org/recycling/. Simply put in the items you’re curious about and your zip code and it will give you the closest recycling centers information. If you are in the Kansas City area, contact me and I can definitely help with that.
I also collect recyclables from my family members who I know won’t make the trip themselves.
Right now, I am trying to find out more about where I can recycle certain plastics not accepted at curbside pick-up or the recycling centers; and why they’re not accepted in the first place. I will keep you posted on what I find out.
earth911.org has so much good information on this topic. This is just one of the articles I found helpful: http://earth911.org/blog/2007/12/14/five-tips-for-better-recycling/
