Carbon Fast
The idea of the Carbon Fast is driven mainly by the Church of England and is coupled with Lent. You've given up Coke, chocolates and chips for Lent before, now try and give up carbon. The idea is to use the period of Lent as a catalyst for debates around climate change and carbon footprints, and to join as a congregation in adapting your lifestyle to maintain a smaller footprint. It also opens up an interesting debate of earth stewardship as a moral imperative, a theme that cuts across all religions.
Source: Going Green - Simon Gear
Wear Organic Cotton
Cotton is one of those crops that is really unfriendly to its surrounding environment. There are high levels of genetic modification in the industry and conventional cotton requires more pesticide per hectare than any other crop. South Africa's first organic cotton project was launched in the Eastern Cape recently and is heavily supported by Woolworths (although at the time of writing, most of their organic cotton is still imported). It's a project well worth supporting, as not only is the method of production much greener, but by buying local green cotton you are supporting local industries and decreasing your carbon footprint.
Source: Simon Gear - Going Green
Telecommute
There are so few jobs out there which actually require your physical presence in the office each day. Talk to your boss about working from home once a week. It benefits you by saving you time and money spent on commuting; it benefits your boss by keeping you sane, and it benefits your bank account by turning some stuff that you already have anyway, like your internet connection, into pre-tax expenditure. If your boss is so controlling that he doesn't trust you to work properly at home, you might want to consider getting a new boss. And if you enjoy your job so little that you can't trust yourself to work effectively away from the office, you might want to consider that a good indicator of time to start looking for another career. But for everyone else, 2 further pieces of advice: don't fall in the trap of now being available to your work 24/7, just because your work email is downloadable at home. That isn't going to win you any prizes. And use the time that you save commuting to spend time with your kids outdoors. There's no point in making a lifestyle choice if all you do is swap 2 hours on the road for another 2 hours in the office.
Source: Simon Gear - Going Green
Low-Energy Lights
The newest energy-saving stars on the holiday scene are Christmas lights made with light-emitting diodes, or LEDs. First introduced in 2001, LEDs incorporate the same computer-chip technology used to light calculators and watches. The lights, which use semiconducting material rather than incandescent filaments, are 90 percent more efficient than traditional Christmas lights.
Source: National Geographic
Next time, buy a laptop
Unless you have a business that really requires serious computing power, modern laptops can certainly cover your PC needs. The laptop option is significantly more energy efficient than a traditional desktop PC, costs less and has the added benefit of being portable. And if, like me, you struggle with the small laptop keyboards, just pick up a cheap keyboard from your nearest IT shop and plug it in to the laptop. After a day you will have completely forgotten that you're using a smaller machine and you will have already saved around R5 in electricity costs.
Source: Going Green - Simon Gear
Sourcing Firewood
Buying firewood
Ensure the timber you buy is dry. Damp or "green" timber will create more smoke and carbon dioxide emissions. You'll also pay up to 25% more when you take into account water weight. The easiest way to gauge if wood is reasonably dry is through sound. Rap on a sample piece with your knuckles. Dry wood should make a "toc, toc" type sound whereas green wood will make more of a dull thumping sound.
Dead trees
Dead trees still standing may seem like a great candidate for an axe or a chainsaw, but they can be important habitats for birds and other creatures that utilise hollows for protection or nesting purposes. These hollows can take decades to form and are prime real estate for these creatures. Dead trees also attract bugs that other creatures may feast on.
Fallen wood
As with dead trees, fallen wood is a habitat for many creatures. As I was gathering wood on my property and noticing all the bugs, it dawned on me that it wasn't a good idea to clear an entire area of fallen wood for this reason - to leave some behind. Additionally, the wood also adds nourishment to the soil as it decomposes.
Alternatives
Instead of buying or collecting wood, consider wood pellets. These are generally made from compacted sawdust and are a byproduct of milling operations. Given their density and low moisture content, they have excellent combustion efficiency, burning very cleanly.
Source: Green Living Tips
Carpool with friends
Don't limit your carpool options to people you work with. At times that can be great but there are many instances that the 8 hours you spend in the office together is just about the limit of everyone's endurance. Be open to the idea of carpooling with friends who work in different offices. If you commit to once a week, you are decreasing your contribution to traffic congestion and carbon emissions by a whopping 10%, and the time spent together isn't too much to be a burden. We all have a mate whom we wish we could see more often. Get creative about your scheduling and kill a flock of birds with one stone.
Source: Going Green - Simon Gear
Buy South African
South African products are not inherently better for the environment than imported ones but there is one crucial difference. The shorter the distance between the factory gate and your door, the less energy used (and pollution produced) in the transport of that product. Include the fact that so many of the products in our homes probably started off as South African minerals, shipped to China, manufactured and then shipped back, that it seems ridiculous to not try to buy the same thing made locally . This may not be practical as far as some electronic goods are concerned, but for other things, like out-of-season fruit and vegetables, you'll not only be saving money, you'll be helping to combat global warming too.
Source: Going Green - Simon Gear
Keep a Healthy Snacks Box on your Desk
One of the impressive things about health food is that it is almost always more environmentally friendly. By nature it is less processed, has less packaging and tends to be locally grown. If, like me, you’re a bit of a sucker for the vending machine down the hall, get into the habit of keeping a little box of trail-mix-type snack food on your desk. The object is to avoid getting to the desperation point where a mid-afternoon chocolate bar feels like the difference between life and death. You may land up eating a little more during the day but what you eat will be far better for you and the environment.
Source: Going Green – Simon Gear
Rechargeable Batteries
Kevin Rogers of UNiROSS, specialists in rechargeable batteries, says using rechargeables is a viable environmental alternative to disposables.
Here’s why:
- Replacing disposables with rechargeables will eliminate 333 000 tonnes of waste worldwide (which includes toxic chemicals that contaminate ground water, plant, animal life and soil for up to 50 years)
- Rechargeables have up to 30 times less impact on ozone pollution, 28 times less impact on climate warming, nine times less impact on air acidification and consume up to 23 times less non-renewable natural resources, fossils and minerals than disposables
- One pack of rechargeables replaces 93 packs of disposables, which saves paper and plastic
Source: Elle Magazine
Use Both Sides of All Your Paper Before Chucking It Out
You'll remember this one from when you were a kid. Every piece of paper has two sides and I reckon less than a tenth of what we print out at work is so important that it needs to be on fresh paper. Get into the habit of drawing a single red line through a page once you've finished with it and popping it in a used paper tray on your desk. As long as you've kept them all facing the same way up, you'll have a ready supply of waste paper to feed back into the printer.
Then, on the very rare occassions when you have to print on a clean sheet, either have a dedicated printer for those documents, stocked with blank sheets, or just pop in fresh paper as you would if you needed to print on an official letterhead. You can't tell me that any internal corporate paperwork needs to be on anything other than waste paper. Saves you money and makes it a lot more satisfying when you do eventually get to screw up a sheet and score a perfect three-pointer into the recycling bin.
Source: Going Green - Simon Gear
How Green Are You?
So you have recycling down pat, you're using energy-saving light bulbs and keeping candles to hand in every room. But when it comes to the less obvious everyday things, how green is your life really?
- If you're in the market for a new computer, consider a laptop instead of a desktop. Besides requiring less plastic to manufacture, laptops use about half the energy.
- Electric kettles use less energy than their stovetop counterparts. Similarly, a toaster uses less than an oven grill and a hand-held whisk less than an electric beater. Train yourself and your family in the most energy-efficient ways to accomplish everyday tasks.
- Bottled water might seem de rigueur, but just think of all the plastic needed to bottle your daily eight glasses! (Even worse, plastic is one of the most difficult materials to recycle.) Instead, fit a water filter onto your kitchen tap, or get a Brita's handy counter-top model.
- Apart from using the washing machine only when you have a full load ( a half load on a full cycle wastes water), teach your children (and husband) to be more discerning about what constitutes dirty laundry. Hint: a shirt that has been tried on without being worn, does not qualify.) Remember, you'll cut down on the ironing too.
Source: Real Simple
Boiling Point
Although you should only boil enough water for one cup when you break for tea, when it comes to boiling water for pasta or veggies, the 'full' mark - or thereabouts - is the limit. Boiling the right quantity of water in a kettle not only saves time, it also saves loads of energy.
Source: Real Simple
Water Works
Saving water doesn't mean you have to give up gardening altogether. Just get your green fingers to work a little smarter. For instance, water your plants after dark when it's cooler. Less water will evaporate, which means you'll use less to get the same job done.
Source: Real Simple
Carbon Fast
The idea of the Carbon Fast is driven mainly by the Church of England and is coupled with Lent. You've given up Coke, chocolates and chips for Lent before, now try and give up carbon. The idea is to use the period of Lent as a catalyst for debates around climate change and carbon footprints, and to join as a congregation in adapting your lifestyle to maintain a smaller footprint. It also opens up an interesting debate of earth stewardship as a moral imperative, a theme that cuts across all religions.
Source: Going Green - Simon Gear
Wear Organic Cotton
Cotton is one of those crops that is really unfriendly to its surrounding environment. There are high levels of genetic modification in the industry and conventional cotton requires more pesticide per hectare than any other crop. South Africa's first organic cotton project was launched in the Eastern Cape recently and is heavily supported by Woolworths (although at the time of writing, most of their organic cotton is still imported). It's a project well worth supporting, as not only is the method of production much greener, but by buying local green cotton you are supporting local industries and decreasing your carbon footprint.
Source: Simon Gear - Going Green
Telecommute
There are so few jobs out there which actually require your physical presence in the office each day. Talk to your boss about working from home once a week. It benefits you by saving you time and money spent on commuting; it benefits your boss by keeping you sane, and it benefits your bank account by turning some stuff that you already have anyway, like your internet connection, into pre-tax expenditure. If your boss is so controlling that he doesn't trust you to work properly at home, you might want to consider getting a new boss. And if you enjoy your job so little that you can't trust yourself to work effectively away from the office, you might want to consider that a good indicator of time to start looking for another career. But for everyone else, 2 further pieces of advice: don't fall in the trap of now being available to your work 24/7, just because your work email is downloadable at home. That isn't going to win you any prizes. And use the time that you save commuting to spend time with your kids outdoors. There's no point in making a lifestyle choice if all you do is swap 2 hours on the road for another 2 hours in the office.
Source: Simon Gear - Going Green
Low-Energy Lights
The newest energy-saving stars on the holiday scene are Christmas lights made with light-emitting diodes, or LEDs. First introduced in 2001, LEDs incorporate the same computer-chip technology used to light calculators and watches. The lights, which use semiconducting material rather than incandescent filaments, are 90 percent more efficient than traditional Christmas lights.
Source: National Geographic
Next time, buy a laptop
Unless you have a business that really requires serious computing power, modern laptops can certainly cover your PC needs. The laptop option is significantly more energy efficient than a traditional desktop PC, costs less and has the added benefit of being portable. And if, like me, you struggle with the small laptop keyboards, just pick up a cheap keyboard from your nearest IT shop and plug it in to the laptop. After a day you will have completely forgotten that you're using a smaller machine and you will have already saved around R5 in electricity costs.
Source: Going Green - Simon Gear
Sourcing Firewood
Buying firewood
Ensure the timber you buy is dry. Damp or "green" timber will create more smoke and carbon dioxide emissions. You'll also pay up to 25% more when you take into account water weight. The easiest way to gauge if wood is reasonably dry is through sound. Rap on a sample piece with your knuckles. Dry wood should make a "toc, toc" type sound whereas green wood will make more of a dull thumping sound.
Dead trees
Dead trees still standing may seem like a great candidate for an axe or a chainsaw, but they can be important habitats for birds and other creatures that utilise hollows for protection or nesting purposes. These hollows can take decades to form and are prime real estate for these creatures. Dead trees also attract bugs that other creatures may feast on.
Fallen wood
As with dead trees, fallen wood is a habitat for many creatures. As I was gathering wood on my property and noticing all the bugs, it dawned on me that it wasn't a good idea to clear an entire area of fallen wood for this reason - to leave some behind. Additionally, the wood also adds nourishment to the soil as it decomposes.
Alternatives
Instead of buying or collecting wood, consider wood pellets. These are generally made from compacted sawdust and are a byproduct of milling operations. Given their density and low moisture content, they have excellent combustion efficiency, burning very cleanly.
Source: Green Living Tips
Carpool with friends
Don't limit your carpool options to people you work with. At times that can be great but there are many instances that the 8 hours you spend in the office together is just about the limit of everyone's endurance. Be open to the idea of carpooling with friends who work in different offices. If you commit to once a week, you are decreasing your contribution to traffic congestion and carbon emissions by a whopping 10%, and the time spent together isn't too much to be a burden. We all have a mate whom we wish we could see more often. Get creative about your scheduling and kill a flock of birds with one stone.
Source: Going Green - Simon Gear
Buy South African
South African products are not inherently better for the environment than imported ones but there is one crucial difference. The shorter the distance between the factory gate and your door, the less energy used (and pollution produced) in the transport of that product. Include the fact that so many of the products in our homes probably started off as South African minerals, shipped to China, manufactured and then shipped back, that it seems ridiculous to not try to buy the same thing made locally . This may not be practical as far as some electronic goods are concerned, but for other things, like out-of-season fruit and vegetables, you'll not only be saving money, you'll be helping to combat global warming too.
Source: Going Green - Simon Gear
Keep a Healthy Snacks Box on your Desk
One of the impressive things about health food is that it is almost always more environmentally friendly. By nature it is less processed, has less packaging and tends to be locally grown. If, like me, you’re a bit of a sucker for the vending machine down the hall, get into the habit of keeping a little box of trail-mix-type snack food on your desk. The object is to avoid getting to the desperation point where a mid-afternoon chocolate bar feels like the difference between life and death. You may land up eating a little more during the day but what you eat will be far better for you and the environment.
Source: Going Green – Simon Gear
Rechargeable Batteries
Kevin Rogers of UNiROSS, specialists in rechargeable batteries, says using rechargeables is a viable environmental alternative to disposables.
Here’s why:
- Replacing disposables with rechargeables will eliminate 333 000 tonnes of waste worldwide (which includes toxic chemicals that contaminate ground water, plant, animal life and soil for up to 50 years)
- Rechargeables have up to 30 times less impact on ozone pollution, 28 times less impact on climate warming, nine times less impact on air acidification and consume up to 23 times less non-renewable natural resources, fossils and minerals than disposables
- One pack of rechargeables replaces 93 packs of disposables, which saves paper and plastic
Source: Elle Magazine
Use Both Sides of All Your Paper Before Chucking It Out
You'll remember this one from when you were a kid. Every piece of paper has two sides and I reckon less than a tenth of what we print out at work is so important that it needs to be on fresh paper. Get into the habit of drawing a single red line through a page once you've finished with it and popping it in a used paper tray on your desk. As long as you've kept them all facing the same way up, you'll have a ready supply of waste paper to feed back into the printer.
Then, on the very rare occassions when you have to print on a clean sheet, either have a dedicated printer for those documents, stocked with blank sheets, or just pop in fresh paper as you would if you needed to print on an official letterhead. You can't tell me that any internal corporate paperwork needs to be on anything other than waste paper. Saves you money and makes it a lot more satisfying when you do eventually get to screw up a sheet and score a perfect three-pointer into the recycling bin.
Source: Going Green - Simon Gear
How Green Are You?
So you have recycling down pat, you're using energy-saving light bulbs and keeping candles to hand in every room. But when it comes to the less obvious everyday things, how green is your life really?
- If you're in the market for a new computer, consider a laptop instead of a desktop. Besides requiring less plastic to manufacture, laptops use about half the energy.
- Electric kettles use less energy than their stovetop counterparts. Similarly, a toaster uses less than an oven grill and a hand-held whisk less than an electric beater. Train yourself and your family in the most energy-efficient ways to accomplish everyday tasks.
- Bottled water might seem de rigueur, but just think of all the plastic needed to bottle your daily eight glasses! (Even worse, plastic is one of the most difficult materials to recycle.) Instead, fit a water filter onto your kitchen tap, or get a Brita's handy counter-top model.
- Apart from using the washing machine only when you have a full load ( a half load on a full cycle wastes water), teach your children (and husband) to be more discerning about what constitutes dirty laundry. Hint: a shirt that has been tried on without being worn, does not qualify.) Remember, you'll cut down on the ironing too.
Source: Real Simple
Boiling Point
Although you should only boil enough water for one cup when you break for tea, when it comes to boiling water for pasta or veggies, the 'full' mark - or thereabouts - is the limit. Boiling the right quantity of water in a kettle not only saves time, it also saves loads of energy.
Source: Real Simple
Water Works
Saving water doesn't mean you have to give up gardening altogether. Just get your green fingers to work a little smarter. For instance, water your plants after dark when it's cooler. Less water will evaporate, which means you'll use less to get the same job done.
Source: Real Simple