Top 10 Ways to Go Green This Halloween
How to Have a Green -- And Cheap -- Halloween
by Diane MacEachern
October 13, 2008 Link to full article below
Here are the top ten tips for a “green” Halloween. They’ll save you money, too!
1. Reuse Costumes
Tap into the treasures hidden in your closet or attic to pull together a fun, no-cost costume (it won’t take any longer than going to the mall, and will be a lot cheaper). Trade costumes with friends and family if you don’t want to wear last year’s get-up. Shop for accessories at yard sales or resale stores. Use your imagination but don’t obsess. The point is to have fun, not be fashionable!
2. Trick and Treat
In lieu of junk food, hand out pencils made from recycled paper, erasers, nickels or dimes – be creative!. My husband used to live in the same neighborhood as baseball legend Casey Stengel – he gave out silver dollars. My neighbor started doling out small cups of apple cider when she realized how much kids love a drink of something when they’re running around like banshees. NatureMoms offers lots of great links to organic lollipops and other fun and healthy treats.
3. Reverse Trick and Treat
Global Exchange is encouraging kids to help educate adults about Fair Trade cocoa by handing Fair Trade chocolates back as they trick or treat. The chocolates are attached to a card explaining why Fair Trade offers an alternative to child labor, low wages for farmers and a healthier environment. Order by October 13.
4. Have a Party
If you opt to celebrate at home in lieu of trick or treating, put out bowls of snacks rather than serve up individual throwaway treat bags. Offer pop corn, hummus and pita chips, carrots and dips, fresh apple cider, bat-shaped cookies and muffins. Kids will enjoy painting pumpkins, decorating cupcakes, reading scary stories, bobbing for apples, and going on “flashlight hunts” in the yard (if the party’s after dark) for hidden Halloween surprises. Send electronic invitations to avoid wasting paper and postage.
5. Decorate with Nature
A trip to your yard or the farmers market will provide everything you need to dress up your house for Halloween: leaves and branches, hay bales, gourds, pumpkins, mums, dried flowers.
To read the full article: http://www.thedailygreen.com/living-green/blogs/green-products-services/green-halloween-tips-55101302?src=nl&mag=tdg&list=dgr&kw=ist
Showing posts with label choose this: simple living. Show all posts
Showing posts with label choose this: simple living. Show all posts
Friday, October 30, 2009
Simple lifestyle tweaks key in climate change fight
Simple lifestyle tweaks key in climate change fight
gence France-Presse
26 Oct 2009 Link to full article below
WASHINGTON—The United States could cut greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of France’s total annual emissions by getting Americans to make simple lifestyle changes, like regularly maintaining their cars or insulating their attics, a study showed Monday.
If U.S. households took 17 easy-to-implement actions—like switching to a fuel-efficient vehicle, drying laundry on a clothesline instead of in a dryer, or turning down the thermostat—carbon emissions could be cut by 123 metric tons a year by the 10th year, the study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found [PDF].
“This amounts to ... 7.4 percent of total national emissions—an amount slightly larger than the total national emissions of France,” showed the study led by Thomas Dietz of Michigan State University’s department of sociology and environmental science and policy.
“It is greater than reducing to zero all emissions in the United States from the petroleum-refining, iron and steel, and aluminum industries, each of which is among the largest emitters in the industrial sector,” the study said.
But the lifestyle changes come with a much smaller price tag and no great change to the way Americans live.
To read the full article: http://www.grist.org/article/2009-10-26-simple-lifestyle-tweaks-key-in-climate-change-fight
gence France-Presse
26 Oct 2009 Link to full article below
WASHINGTON—The United States could cut greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of France’s total annual emissions by getting Americans to make simple lifestyle changes, like regularly maintaining their cars or insulating their attics, a study showed Monday.
If U.S. households took 17 easy-to-implement actions—like switching to a fuel-efficient vehicle, drying laundry on a clothesline instead of in a dryer, or turning down the thermostat—carbon emissions could be cut by 123 metric tons a year by the 10th year, the study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found [PDF].
“This amounts to ... 7.4 percent of total national emissions—an amount slightly larger than the total national emissions of France,” showed the study led by Thomas Dietz of Michigan State University’s department of sociology and environmental science and policy.
“It is greater than reducing to zero all emissions in the United States from the petroleum-refining, iron and steel, and aluminum industries, each of which is among the largest emitters in the industrial sector,” the study said.
But the lifestyle changes come with a much smaller price tag and no great change to the way Americans live.
To read the full article: http://www.grist.org/article/2009-10-26-simple-lifestyle-tweaks-key-in-climate-change-fight
Friday, March 20, 2009
It's Time to Relax: 15 Quick Tips to Help You Shift Your Gears To Relax More Quickly
It's Time to Relax: 15 Quick Tips to Help You Shift Your Gears to Relax Mode Quickly
by www.SixWise.com
http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/06/01/25/its-time-to-relax-15-quick-tips-to-help-you-shift-your-gears-to-relax-mode-quickly.htm
America's number one health problem -- responsible for 75 percent to 90 percent of doctor visits, according to the American Institute for Stress -- is stress. And it's no wonder, given that we all face stress on a daily basis from the six areas of life that SixWise.com is dedicating to providing you guidance in:
* Relationships
* Finances
* Health
* Personal safety
* Home
* Career
When stress becomes unbearable, it can lead to a host of serious illnesses, including heart disease, cancer, depression, autoimmune diseases and reproductive problems.
So whether you are feeling stressed at home, work or in the car, taking time to relax is an essential part of staying healthy and happy. Here are 20 quick tips for helping you do just that -- and, unlike drinking, smoking or other potentially unhealthy stress relievers, these tips will only do your body good.
At Home
1. Take a Warm Bath or Hot Shower
This is especially relaxing if you add aromatherapy bath salts to your bath water (at Sixwise.com, we especially love the Vermont Soap Organics aromatherapy bath salts.), as aromatherapy has been used for thousands of years to calm emotions, relieve stress and more.
2. Sit Back and Listen to Soothing Music
Listening to soft, soothing music is one of the fastest ways to alter your mood and put your mind in a more relaxed state. One of the best relaxation CDs we have found is the Pure Relaxation: Guided Meditations for Body, Mind & Spirit CD. The guided meditations and music on this CD calm your mind, soothe your emotions and create a state of deep relaxation in your body. Using these guided meditations regularly will help you to live in a more relaxed way and you'll notice that when you begin to feel stressed, you'll be able to relax more easily than before.
3. Try Yoga or Other Gentle Exercise
The repetitious movements and slow, methodic nature of yoga and other gentle exercises (like Tai Chi) are excellent for relieving stresses that have accumulated during the day.
4. Stretch Your Stress Away
Simple stretching exercises can do wonders for stress relief. If you don't stretch, your body will naturally hold on to tension and you will have reduced flexibility. However, stretching for just a few minutes a day will increase your flexibility -- and with flexibility comes a significant reduction in the tension in your body.
5. Get a Massage
According to the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA), people are using massage more than ever to help relieve stress and pain, lower blood pressure, increase circulation and flexibility and even boost the immune system.
Many massage therapists will come to treat you in your own home. To find a massage therapist near you and learn about some of the different techniques out there, check out our past article "The Amazing Benefits of Massage."
At the Office
6. Self-Massage
When you can't commit to having a standard massage, a self-massage can help you unwind easily while sitting at your desk. This can be done simply in your office to your:
* Shoulders: Use your opposite hand for the opposite shoulder. Massage the sides of your neck, down your shoulder and arm and on either side of your spine using small circular movements of your fingertips.
* Legs: Knead your thighs and calves. Next, pummel your thighs gently with soft fists to help relieve stiffness that can occur from sitting too long.
* Hands: Using small circular movements of your fingertips once again, massage between the tendons on your hands and around each joint. Then, start at the base of each finger and stretch it gently, pulling your grip up from the base of the finger to the tip as you stretch.
7. Take Care of the Quick Stuff
Our days are cluttered with "assignments" and "to-do's." Time management experts recommend taking care of as much of the small stuff as possible right away. For instance, stop on any quick errands you can on your way to work, then write back any quick e-mails, make any quick phone calls and get any other fast tasks out of the way immediately.
That way, you can completely forget about these things, rather than holding them somewhere in the back of your mind to accumulate and do later. The end result? You feel less cluttered, less overwhelmed and less stressed.
8. Power Nap
Sneaking off for a 20-minute "power nap" can leave you feeling refreshed and ready to take on new challenges. Studies have found that 20 minutes is just the right amount of time to de-stress -- sleep too much longer and you could end up feeling groggy. So grab and alarm clock and head off for some quick zzz's.
9. Laugh More
Having a good laugh can make stress melt away in an instant. Plus, it decreases blood pressure and heart rate, increases oxygen in the blood and creates an enzyme that helps protect your stomach from the effects of stress. Sadly, adults don't laugh nearly as often as they should.
"Children laugh approximately 80 to 100 times per day. By the time we reach adulthood, we laugh only 5-6 times per day. You only need to watch children to appreciate the relationship between humor and enjoying life. Children will laugh at anything! If you ask them, "what's so funny," they may say something like, "he looked at me!" says Barbara Bartlein, R.N., M.S.W., a motivational speaker and consultant.
So make an effort to have a few laughs with your coworkers as often as you can throughout your day.
10. Put Some Variety in Your Day
Sitting on the phone making sales calls for six hours straight, or filling out paperwork for five, is stressful, simply because of the repetitiveness of the activity. Breaking up your workday, by taking a walk outside, a "power nap," stopping to grab a bite to eat or even switching to a different work-related task, will help you to feel more invigorated and less tense.
On the Road
11. Drive the Unbeaten Paths
According to a study by Ohio State, study participants were frustrated when driving down industrial routes, but calm when driving on scenic routes. Whenever possible, trade in busy interstates and unsightly travel routes for the "road less traveled."
12. Turn Off the Radio
And turn on a soothing jazz CD -- something relaxing enough to help you feel calm, but not so soft as to make you fall asleep. Believe us, you won't miss the shock jocks, screaming morning and afternoon DJs, local news about murders and overplayed commercial segments one bit.
13. Breathe Deeply
Deep breathing is one of the easiest and most natural - yet most often overlooked - stress relief methods out there. Take in a deep breath through your nose, then exhale through your mouth, counting for about four seconds on each phase (in and out). Repeat this about 20 or 30 times.
When you start to breathe deeply on a regular basis, you'll notice how little you were actually breathing before, and how taking deep breathes, which increases oxygen levels in your body, is naturally calming.
14. Add Natural Scents to Your Vehicle
Said Sue Nicholson, head of campaigns for the British RAC Foundation, a motoring organization, "It's astounding how much the smell in a car can affect a driver's mood and actions." Certain scents, like fast food wrappers and pastry, can actually irritate a driver, but others help a driver feel calm, yet alert. While driving, the most calming scents for reducing stress while still staying alert include:
* Peppermint and cinnamon: They improve concentration levels and make drivers less irritable.
* Lemon and coffee: These, too, help drivers achieve high concentration levels and clear thinking.
* Sea ozone: A breath of salty sea air may make drivers breathe deeply, which helps relieve stress, relax the muscles and calm the mind.
15. Be a Courteous Driver
It's easy to get caught up in trying to "one-up" an aggressive driver, but doing so is a surefire way to add unnecessary stress to your life. If you notice an aggressive driver who is weaving in and out of traffic, tailgating, etc., don't challenge them and avoid them if necessary. And, of course, don't be an aggressive driver yourself.
by www.SixWise.com
http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/06/01/25/its-time-to-relax-15-quick-tips-to-help-you-shift-your-gears-to-relax-mode-quickly.htm
America's number one health problem -- responsible for 75 percent to 90 percent of doctor visits, according to the American Institute for Stress -- is stress. And it's no wonder, given that we all face stress on a daily basis from the six areas of life that SixWise.com is dedicating to providing you guidance in:
* Relationships
* Finances
* Health
* Personal safety
* Home
* Career
When stress becomes unbearable, it can lead to a host of serious illnesses, including heart disease, cancer, depression, autoimmune diseases and reproductive problems.
So whether you are feeling stressed at home, work or in the car, taking time to relax is an essential part of staying healthy and happy. Here are 20 quick tips for helping you do just that -- and, unlike drinking, smoking or other potentially unhealthy stress relievers, these tips will only do your body good.
At Home
1. Take a Warm Bath or Hot Shower
This is especially relaxing if you add aromatherapy bath salts to your bath water (at Sixwise.com, we especially love the Vermont Soap Organics aromatherapy bath salts.), as aromatherapy has been used for thousands of years to calm emotions, relieve stress and more.
2. Sit Back and Listen to Soothing Music
Listening to soft, soothing music is one of the fastest ways to alter your mood and put your mind in a more relaxed state. One of the best relaxation CDs we have found is the Pure Relaxation: Guided Meditations for Body, Mind & Spirit CD. The guided meditations and music on this CD calm your mind, soothe your emotions and create a state of deep relaxation in your body. Using these guided meditations regularly will help you to live in a more relaxed way and you'll notice that when you begin to feel stressed, you'll be able to relax more easily than before.
3. Try Yoga or Other Gentle Exercise
The repetitious movements and slow, methodic nature of yoga and other gentle exercises (like Tai Chi) are excellent for relieving stresses that have accumulated during the day.
4. Stretch Your Stress Away
Simple stretching exercises can do wonders for stress relief. If you don't stretch, your body will naturally hold on to tension and you will have reduced flexibility. However, stretching for just a few minutes a day will increase your flexibility -- and with flexibility comes a significant reduction in the tension in your body.
5. Get a Massage
According to the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA), people are using massage more than ever to help relieve stress and pain, lower blood pressure, increase circulation and flexibility and even boost the immune system.
Many massage therapists will come to treat you in your own home. To find a massage therapist near you and learn about some of the different techniques out there, check out our past article "The Amazing Benefits of Massage."
At the Office
6. Self-Massage
When you can't commit to having a standard massage, a self-massage can help you unwind easily while sitting at your desk. This can be done simply in your office to your:
* Shoulders: Use your opposite hand for the opposite shoulder. Massage the sides of your neck, down your shoulder and arm and on either side of your spine using small circular movements of your fingertips.
* Legs: Knead your thighs and calves. Next, pummel your thighs gently with soft fists to help relieve stiffness that can occur from sitting too long.
* Hands: Using small circular movements of your fingertips once again, massage between the tendons on your hands and around each joint. Then, start at the base of each finger and stretch it gently, pulling your grip up from the base of the finger to the tip as you stretch.
7. Take Care of the Quick Stuff
Our days are cluttered with "assignments" and "to-do's." Time management experts recommend taking care of as much of the small stuff as possible right away. For instance, stop on any quick errands you can on your way to work, then write back any quick e-mails, make any quick phone calls and get any other fast tasks out of the way immediately.
That way, you can completely forget about these things, rather than holding them somewhere in the back of your mind to accumulate and do later. The end result? You feel less cluttered, less overwhelmed and less stressed.
8. Power Nap
Sneaking off for a 20-minute "power nap" can leave you feeling refreshed and ready to take on new challenges. Studies have found that 20 minutes is just the right amount of time to de-stress -- sleep too much longer and you could end up feeling groggy. So grab and alarm clock and head off for some quick zzz's.
9. Laugh More
Having a good laugh can make stress melt away in an instant. Plus, it decreases blood pressure and heart rate, increases oxygen in the blood and creates an enzyme that helps protect your stomach from the effects of stress. Sadly, adults don't laugh nearly as often as they should.
"Children laugh approximately 80 to 100 times per day. By the time we reach adulthood, we laugh only 5-6 times per day. You only need to watch children to appreciate the relationship between humor and enjoying life. Children will laugh at anything! If you ask them, "what's so funny," they may say something like, "he looked at me!" says Barbara Bartlein, R.N., M.S.W., a motivational speaker and consultant.
So make an effort to have a few laughs with your coworkers as often as you can throughout your day.
10. Put Some Variety in Your Day
Sitting on the phone making sales calls for six hours straight, or filling out paperwork for five, is stressful, simply because of the repetitiveness of the activity. Breaking up your workday, by taking a walk outside, a "power nap," stopping to grab a bite to eat or even switching to a different work-related task, will help you to feel more invigorated and less tense.
On the Road
11. Drive the Unbeaten Paths
According to a study by Ohio State, study participants were frustrated when driving down industrial routes, but calm when driving on scenic routes. Whenever possible, trade in busy interstates and unsightly travel routes for the "road less traveled."
12. Turn Off the Radio
And turn on a soothing jazz CD -- something relaxing enough to help you feel calm, but not so soft as to make you fall asleep. Believe us, you won't miss the shock jocks, screaming morning and afternoon DJs, local news about murders and overplayed commercial segments one bit.
13. Breathe Deeply
Deep breathing is one of the easiest and most natural - yet most often overlooked - stress relief methods out there. Take in a deep breath through your nose, then exhale through your mouth, counting for about four seconds on each phase (in and out). Repeat this about 20 or 30 times.
When you start to breathe deeply on a regular basis, you'll notice how little you were actually breathing before, and how taking deep breathes, which increases oxygen levels in your body, is naturally calming.
14. Add Natural Scents to Your Vehicle
Said Sue Nicholson, head of campaigns for the British RAC Foundation, a motoring organization, "It's astounding how much the smell in a car can affect a driver's mood and actions." Certain scents, like fast food wrappers and pastry, can actually irritate a driver, but others help a driver feel calm, yet alert. While driving, the most calming scents for reducing stress while still staying alert include:
* Peppermint and cinnamon: They improve concentration levels and make drivers less irritable.
* Lemon and coffee: These, too, help drivers achieve high concentration levels and clear thinking.
* Sea ozone: A breath of salty sea air may make drivers breathe deeply, which helps relieve stress, relax the muscles and calm the mind.
15. Be a Courteous Driver
It's easy to get caught up in trying to "one-up" an aggressive driver, but doing so is a surefire way to add unnecessary stress to your life. If you notice an aggressive driver who is weaving in and out of traffic, tailgating, etc., don't challenge them and avoid them if necessary. And, of course, don't be an aggressive driver yourself.
Excellent: The Seven Stones of Simpler Living
The Seven Stones of Simpler Living
18 Mar 2009
Learning to live a simpler, greener life isn’t about the latest eco-friendly product. It’s about finding the important things — and setting them in balance.
When I was a kid, my parents would sometimes take us to a campground called Paradise Park. It was a little camp in the California foothills: a woodsy reserve dotted with old oak trees sloping down to a well-shaded river.
Most of the time, it wasn’t much more than a stream. But its bed was thick with well-worn river stones, testimony to uncountable seasons of floods and the persuasive nature of water. Over the centuries, the river had slowly carried away mountainsides, tumbling and cracking rock, reducing boulders into a rainbow of smooth, flat stones the size of a child’s hand. We’d spend hours picking through the best of them, finding the perfect rock to skip across the river. Invariably, we’d build little stacks of stones along the bank.
There’s something deeply satisfying about stacking stones. It’s a common motif in Zen gardens, which seek to create order out of nature’s seeming chaos. In doing so, they highlight the harmony and balance of our place in the world.
It’s not difficult to find a lesson in the stones for those of us trying to simplify our sprawling lives. We’ve chosen seven from the riverbed for you today — ideas that can help you live a lighter, healthier, more sustainable life. Stack them as you will.
Reduce your consumption
Stone #1
Anyone who thinks they can shop their way to greener living has been watching too much television. Sure, responsible consumerism matters. Every purchase is a choice. But the key to simpler, greener living is pretty straightforward: consume less. A simple way to cut back on unnecessary purchases is the One Week rule. Unless you have a real show-stopper, write down the things you need and sit on them for seven days. Stores are designed to encourage impulse spending, so staying away as much as possible is good news for your bank account. After a week, round up the items you still need and group them together with an eye toward combining as many trips as possible. Then stick to your list. While this all sounds very simple, you’ll quickly realize how chaotic our spending habits can be — and how much money you can save through better planning.
Reduce your waste stream
Stone #2
We call it garbage; other nations might call it wealth. There’s no end to things we send to the landfill. Recycling helps, but the sheer volume of waste generated by the average household is overwhelming. From obsolete electronics to that mason jar you casually tossed in the trash last night, we’re flooding our landfills while robbing ourselves of things which might be put to another use. Start by thinking twice when you purchase something: Is whatever you’re buying too heavily packaged? Do you need it all? Think again before putting anything in a trash or recycling bin. Nobody expects you to become a packrat, but that jar could easily be repurposed as a water bottle or something to pack a snack. Food scraps belong in the compost heap. Maybe that cardboard, too. For some idea starters on keeping things out of the bin, check out this helpful list from No Impact Man.
Trim your energy use
Stone #3
Energy prices have relaxed over the past few months as a direct result of the worldwide economic slowdown. But electricity, gasoline, natural gas, and heating oil still represent a hefty portion of the average family budget. Unless you’re fortunate enough to live in an area already invested in renewable energy, every unattended TV or flick of the light switch means you’re burning fossil fuels. That means you’re directly responsible for the air pollution and all the related consumables it took to bring that power to your wall socket. You’ll find hundreds of energy saving tips here on Lighter Footstep, and we’re posting more every week. Learn to weatherize; replace or retire inefficient appliances; consider more energy efficient lighting; and rearrange your living spaces so they take better advantage of natural heat, lighting, and cooling. Switch things off and pocket the change. You’ll probably enjoy the peace and quiet.
Prepare and grow your own food
Stone #4
If there’s one lost art in the past decade or two, it’s cooking real food. By “cooking,” we don’t mean warming up packaged food from the grocery store. We’re talking about preparing meals from fresh ingredients. That’s how our parents and grandparents did it. Admittedly, society has changed: With dual-income households and ever-expanding work schedules, it’s easy to fall back on processed meals and fast foods. And that’s a shame. Making a meal — whether it’s just for yourself or a whole family — is the one of the little rituals which forces us to slow down and be mindful of what we eat. It’s also healthier, and an enormous money saver. Not too handy in the kitchen? Take a class, or spend time cooking with someone you love. Real food needn’t be complicated. And consider growing some of what you consume. Even if you’re not blessed with the space to plant a garden, you can grow a satisfying crop of herbs and vegetables
in modest containers.
Reduce your reliance on automobiles
Stone #5
We love our cars. And why not? Virtually everything about modern living — particularly in the United States — assumes automobile transportation. Think how much blacktop and concrete there is within a hundred yards of you right now. Our cities sprawl across what used to be countryside. Stores and businesses which make provision for bicycles and mass transit are the exception, and we feel inconvenienced if there’s not plenty of parking within a few paces of wherever we travel. Dust off that bicycle or grab a backpack and get walking. Perhaps you could start by taking our Ten Mile Pledge. The more you park your car, the more money you’ll save and the healthier you’ll feel. Start small, establish new habits, and you’ll be surprised how much you can get done without burning a drop of gasoline.
Reduce your personal stress
Stone #6
It’s not an accident that virtually every one of our “simplicity stones” has a meditative component. You have to make time to prepare food, choose walking over a car trip, or even make a proper shopping list. This is a good thing, because it forces you to unburden yourself of something else. We are hopelessly overstimulated. Living a greener life is less about learning new things than letting go of the old. Think about all the tasks you do in a week that take longer than thirty minutes. Look most carefully at social obligations, hobbies — even the time you spend online. Have any of these become a chore? What could be jettisoned? It could be something as simple as dropping a social network, or a repetitive task which could be delegated to others. You could probably find a few extra hours a week in this manner. Don’t be in a hurry to fill them. Pick up a book, talk a walk, or putter in the garden. Light physical activity is a great way to
trade stress for a little extra serotonin. If you’re doing a good job saving money, you might be able to afford that once-a-week massage. Now, at least, you’ll have time to fit it in.
Learn to give back
Stone #7
You’ve reduced your consumption. There are a few extra dollars in the bank. Your environmental footstep gets a little smaller from month to month, and you’ve managed reclaim some time from the chaos of your week. Now you’re ready to give back. It’s an encouraging sign that the very same people being pushed aside by a faltering economy are sparking a new surge in volunteerism. Perhaps it’s the old adage that adversity brings out the best in people. Or maybe something new is happening: a return to the ideals of community and service. How you join in is a personal decision. Teach your new-found skills to others, help people find jobs, or assist a faith or social group. As you learn to slow down and simplify, chances are that opportunities to serve will find you.
Seven stones — but, of course, there are more. What are some of the things that have worked as you seek to simplify your life?
18 Mar 2009
Learning to live a simpler, greener life isn’t about the latest eco-friendly product. It’s about finding the important things — and setting them in balance.
When I was a kid, my parents would sometimes take us to a campground called Paradise Park. It was a little camp in the California foothills: a woodsy reserve dotted with old oak trees sloping down to a well-shaded river.
Most of the time, it wasn’t much more than a stream. But its bed was thick with well-worn river stones, testimony to uncountable seasons of floods and the persuasive nature of water. Over the centuries, the river had slowly carried away mountainsides, tumbling and cracking rock, reducing boulders into a rainbow of smooth, flat stones the size of a child’s hand. We’d spend hours picking through the best of them, finding the perfect rock to skip across the river. Invariably, we’d build little stacks of stones along the bank.
There’s something deeply satisfying about stacking stones. It’s a common motif in Zen gardens, which seek to create order out of nature’s seeming chaos. In doing so, they highlight the harmony and balance of our place in the world.
It’s not difficult to find a lesson in the stones for those of us trying to simplify our sprawling lives. We’ve chosen seven from the riverbed for you today — ideas that can help you live a lighter, healthier, more sustainable life. Stack them as you will.
Reduce your consumption
Stone #1
Anyone who thinks they can shop their way to greener living has been watching too much television. Sure, responsible consumerism matters. Every purchase is a choice. But the key to simpler, greener living is pretty straightforward: consume less. A simple way to cut back on unnecessary purchases is the One Week rule. Unless you have a real show-stopper, write down the things you need and sit on them for seven days. Stores are designed to encourage impulse spending, so staying away as much as possible is good news for your bank account. After a week, round up the items you still need and group them together with an eye toward combining as many trips as possible. Then stick to your list. While this all sounds very simple, you’ll quickly realize how chaotic our spending habits can be — and how much money you can save through better planning.
Reduce your waste stream
Stone #2
We call it garbage; other nations might call it wealth. There’s no end to things we send to the landfill. Recycling helps, but the sheer volume of waste generated by the average household is overwhelming. From obsolete electronics to that mason jar you casually tossed in the trash last night, we’re flooding our landfills while robbing ourselves of things which might be put to another use. Start by thinking twice when you purchase something: Is whatever you’re buying too heavily packaged? Do you need it all? Think again before putting anything in a trash or recycling bin. Nobody expects you to become a packrat, but that jar could easily be repurposed as a water bottle or something to pack a snack. Food scraps belong in the compost heap. Maybe that cardboard, too. For some idea starters on keeping things out of the bin, check out this helpful list from No Impact Man.
Trim your energy use
Stone #3
Energy prices have relaxed over the past few months as a direct result of the worldwide economic slowdown. But electricity, gasoline, natural gas, and heating oil still represent a hefty portion of the average family budget. Unless you’re fortunate enough to live in an area already invested in renewable energy, every unattended TV or flick of the light switch means you’re burning fossil fuels. That means you’re directly responsible for the air pollution and all the related consumables it took to bring that power to your wall socket. You’ll find hundreds of energy saving tips here on Lighter Footstep, and we’re posting more every week. Learn to weatherize; replace or retire inefficient appliances; consider more energy efficient lighting; and rearrange your living spaces so they take better advantage of natural heat, lighting, and cooling. Switch things off and pocket the change. You’ll probably enjoy the peace and quiet.
Prepare and grow your own food
Stone #4
If there’s one lost art in the past decade or two, it’s cooking real food. By “cooking,” we don’t mean warming up packaged food from the grocery store. We’re talking about preparing meals from fresh ingredients. That’s how our parents and grandparents did it. Admittedly, society has changed: With dual-income households and ever-expanding work schedules, it’s easy to fall back on processed meals and fast foods. And that’s a shame. Making a meal — whether it’s just for yourself or a whole family — is the one of the little rituals which forces us to slow down and be mindful of what we eat. It’s also healthier, and an enormous money saver. Not too handy in the kitchen? Take a class, or spend time cooking with someone you love. Real food needn’t be complicated. And consider growing some of what you consume. Even if you’re not blessed with the space to plant a garden, you can grow a satisfying crop of herbs and vegetables
in modest containers.
Reduce your reliance on automobiles
Stone #5
We love our cars. And why not? Virtually everything about modern living — particularly in the United States — assumes automobile transportation. Think how much blacktop and concrete there is within a hundred yards of you right now. Our cities sprawl across what used to be countryside. Stores and businesses which make provision for bicycles and mass transit are the exception, and we feel inconvenienced if there’s not plenty of parking within a few paces of wherever we travel. Dust off that bicycle or grab a backpack and get walking. Perhaps you could start by taking our Ten Mile Pledge. The more you park your car, the more money you’ll save and the healthier you’ll feel. Start small, establish new habits, and you’ll be surprised how much you can get done without burning a drop of gasoline.
Reduce your personal stress
Stone #6
It’s not an accident that virtually every one of our “simplicity stones” has a meditative component. You have to make time to prepare food, choose walking over a car trip, or even make a proper shopping list. This is a good thing, because it forces you to unburden yourself of something else. We are hopelessly overstimulated. Living a greener life is less about learning new things than letting go of the old. Think about all the tasks you do in a week that take longer than thirty minutes. Look most carefully at social obligations, hobbies — even the time you spend online. Have any of these become a chore? What could be jettisoned? It could be something as simple as dropping a social network, or a repetitive task which could be delegated to others. You could probably find a few extra hours a week in this manner. Don’t be in a hurry to fill them. Pick up a book, talk a walk, or putter in the garden. Light physical activity is a great way to
trade stress for a little extra serotonin. If you’re doing a good job saving money, you might be able to afford that once-a-week massage. Now, at least, you’ll have time to fit it in.
Learn to give back
Stone #7
You’ve reduced your consumption. There are a few extra dollars in the bank. Your environmental footstep gets a little smaller from month to month, and you’ve managed reclaim some time from the chaos of your week. Now you’re ready to give back. It’s an encouraging sign that the very same people being pushed aside by a faltering economy are sparking a new surge in volunteerism. Perhaps it’s the old adage that adversity brings out the best in people. Or maybe something new is happening: a return to the ideals of community and service. How you join in is a personal decision. Teach your new-found skills to others, help people find jobs, or assist a faith or social group. As you learn to slow down and simplify, chances are that opportunities to serve will find you.
Seven stones — but, of course, there are more. What are some of the things that have worked as you seek to simplify your life?
Saturday, February 7, 2009
10 Detox Tips
Ten detox tips
By Tom Francescott, ND
http://www.eomega.org/omega/enews/article/?source=ENEWS
We live in a time of immense change and great potential for extraordinary growth. It can feel overwhelming and out of control at times. We can feel off balance and sluggish. We might be stressed and having sleep difficulties. We can easily gain weight or have digestive problems. The list goes on and on. But we always have the option of turning inward and listening to our bodies, hearts, and the wisdom of nature. We can take the change surrounding us and use it to empower change within us.
It might be the perfect time for a cleanse, to let go and to give yourself a much needed rest-physically, mentally, and emotionally. As a naturopathic doctor, I have become increasingly aware that toxic overload on all of these levels contributes to many people's health issues. I believe that toxins are blocking many people from living their truest lives. The cleansing of our mind of negative thoughts, behaviors, and memories is essential to health. Emotionally, detoxification helps us uncover and express hidden frustrations, grief, fear, and anger, and replace them with forgiveness, love, joy, and hope. Physically, taking a break from the obvious environmental toxins in our food can leave us feeling energized, renewed, and protected from disease.
Many of us want to cleanse but don't because we can't find the time or we feel intimidated by myriad cleansing options, from fasting to the Master Cleanse to colon cleansing. In the sea of detox regimes and ideas, I suggest getting back to basics. Here are 10 simple things that you can do at home to start the process of detoxification.
Ten Detox Tips
Wake-Up Drink. First thing upon waking, and on an empty stomach, drink 1 cup of hot filtered or spring water with the juice from half of one lemon and two pinches of cayenne pepper. The lemon stimulates your digestion and the cayenne enhances circulation and blood flow.
Contrast Shower. Try your own at-home version of an old naturopathic hydrotherapy cure. Each time you take a hot shower, follow it by a cold rinse (60 seconds). The "contrast" stimulates circulation, your immune system, and your ability to detox via your skin. Your pores will tighten and you will feel invigorated and ready for the day.
Shake It Up. Jump on a trampoline for 3-to-5 minutes at a time. This stimulates your whole body and is particularly useful for stimulating your lymph drainage system. If you are prone to allergies or cysts, this will be very helpful.
Fever Baths. Take a warm bath in the evening and add one cup of Epsom salts to soothe, relax, and detox. You can increase the benefits of a fever bath by drinking 2-to-3 cups of hot tea while in the bath to work up a sweat. Try this recipe: Simmer some fresh ginger slices in water, tossing in one tablespoon of dried yarrow flowers. Steep for 15 minutes, strain, and drink. Yarrow and ginger have been shown to stimulate sweating, which helps the body release toxins.
Take a News Break. Observe a news fast for 3-to-7 days to limit toxic thoughts, which can undermine your health. Avoid news or other emotionally disturbing information from the Internet, magazines, movies, newspapers, radio, and television. Detoxing these "stressful" exposures and replacing them with deep breathing, relaxing activities like walking or yoga, or reading a book, can give your mind and body a much needed rest.
Spend Time in Nature. Take a break from your routine of being inside your home, office, or car, and venture out to your favorite place in nature or a new place you have always wanted to go. Bring a journal with you and start listening to your body, and record what it is telling you. Surrounding yourself with nature and all its negative ions (which act positively on your mood) will help you de-stress and encourage the inherent wisdom of your body to come forth.
Detox Tea. For at least one week, try limiting all of your beverages to just water and herbal teas. This will ease the stress on your kidneys, help flush retained fluids in your cells, and help filter your blood and liver. I recommend drinking 6-to-8 cups a day of the following tea to help "crowd-out" less healthy beverages, maintain a state of fullness, reduce your appetite, and cleanse your liver and kidneys. In a quart of water, combine 2 tablespoons of each of the following and gently simmer the tea: burdock root, yellow dock root, dandelion leaf and root, licorice root, fennel, and ginger. Multiply the recipe accordingly to make larger batches, and drink it throughout the day.
Change Your Food Routine. Many of us unknowingly consume foods that we have allergic reactions to or that increase toxins in our bodies, causing symptoms like arthritis, headaches, water retention, and fatigue. The most common culprits are gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, corn, and sugar. I suggest taking a break from all of these foods, or picking one that is predominant in your diet and taking a break from it. Often, if we simply eliminate foods that contain gluten (wheat, oats, rye, barley, spelt) and replace them with brown rice, millet, or quinoa products, we can change our eating habits and actually increase the variety of foods we eat.
Detox Your Dinner. For seven nights, prepare a simple meal of liver detoxifying steamed vegetables like carrots, broccoli, artichokes, beets, and onions, along with a 4-ounce portion of protein simply prepared with a little bit of olive oil. Consider wild fish, organic lean meats, or lentils for your protein sources.
Detox Your Surroundings. Decluttering and organizing your environment can help clear up your stagnant energy and free you physically and emotionally. Let go of papers, clothes, and boxes that you no longer use. This creates space and helps welcome new energy.
Each one of us must become an example of good health and healthy habits to inspire others to make healthy choices. Just as we tune up our cars and recycle for the environment, we must also regularly cleanse our bodies. Our bodies and the environment are reflections, or mirrors, of each other. As we cleanse our bodies, we cleanse our environment. If we all took it upon ourselves to cleanse, the world would be a much cleaner place.
Tom Francescott, ND, is a doctor, teacher, and lecturer, who seeks to inspire and transform people's lives with authentic and personalized natural health care. He is the founder and director of Rhinebeck Cooperative Health Center in Rhinebeck, New York, where he has an integrative naturopathic practice specializing in science-based detoxification. He is also the founder of Dr. Tom's Tonics, a natural pharmacy.
By Tom Francescott, ND
http://www.eomega.org/omega/enews/article/?source=ENEWS
We live in a time of immense change and great potential for extraordinary growth. It can feel overwhelming and out of control at times. We can feel off balance and sluggish. We might be stressed and having sleep difficulties. We can easily gain weight or have digestive problems. The list goes on and on. But we always have the option of turning inward and listening to our bodies, hearts, and the wisdom of nature. We can take the change surrounding us and use it to empower change within us.
It might be the perfect time for a cleanse, to let go and to give yourself a much needed rest-physically, mentally, and emotionally. As a naturopathic doctor, I have become increasingly aware that toxic overload on all of these levels contributes to many people's health issues. I believe that toxins are blocking many people from living their truest lives. The cleansing of our mind of negative thoughts, behaviors, and memories is essential to health. Emotionally, detoxification helps us uncover and express hidden frustrations, grief, fear, and anger, and replace them with forgiveness, love, joy, and hope. Physically, taking a break from the obvious environmental toxins in our food can leave us feeling energized, renewed, and protected from disease.
Many of us want to cleanse but don't because we can't find the time or we feel intimidated by myriad cleansing options, from fasting to the Master Cleanse to colon cleansing. In the sea of detox regimes and ideas, I suggest getting back to basics. Here are 10 simple things that you can do at home to start the process of detoxification.
Ten Detox Tips
Wake-Up Drink. First thing upon waking, and on an empty stomach, drink 1 cup of hot filtered or spring water with the juice from half of one lemon and two pinches of cayenne pepper. The lemon stimulates your digestion and the cayenne enhances circulation and blood flow.
Contrast Shower. Try your own at-home version of an old naturopathic hydrotherapy cure. Each time you take a hot shower, follow it by a cold rinse (60 seconds). The "contrast" stimulates circulation, your immune system, and your ability to detox via your skin. Your pores will tighten and you will feel invigorated and ready for the day.
Shake It Up. Jump on a trampoline for 3-to-5 minutes at a time. This stimulates your whole body and is particularly useful for stimulating your lymph drainage system. If you are prone to allergies or cysts, this will be very helpful.
Fever Baths. Take a warm bath in the evening and add one cup of Epsom salts to soothe, relax, and detox. You can increase the benefits of a fever bath by drinking 2-to-3 cups of hot tea while in the bath to work up a sweat. Try this recipe: Simmer some fresh ginger slices in water, tossing in one tablespoon of dried yarrow flowers. Steep for 15 minutes, strain, and drink. Yarrow and ginger have been shown to stimulate sweating, which helps the body release toxins.
Take a News Break. Observe a news fast for 3-to-7 days to limit toxic thoughts, which can undermine your health. Avoid news or other emotionally disturbing information from the Internet, magazines, movies, newspapers, radio, and television. Detoxing these "stressful" exposures and replacing them with deep breathing, relaxing activities like walking or yoga, or reading a book, can give your mind and body a much needed rest.
Spend Time in Nature. Take a break from your routine of being inside your home, office, or car, and venture out to your favorite place in nature or a new place you have always wanted to go. Bring a journal with you and start listening to your body, and record what it is telling you. Surrounding yourself with nature and all its negative ions (which act positively on your mood) will help you de-stress and encourage the inherent wisdom of your body to come forth.
Detox Tea. For at least one week, try limiting all of your beverages to just water and herbal teas. This will ease the stress on your kidneys, help flush retained fluids in your cells, and help filter your blood and liver. I recommend drinking 6-to-8 cups a day of the following tea to help "crowd-out" less healthy beverages, maintain a state of fullness, reduce your appetite, and cleanse your liver and kidneys. In a quart of water, combine 2 tablespoons of each of the following and gently simmer the tea: burdock root, yellow dock root, dandelion leaf and root, licorice root, fennel, and ginger. Multiply the recipe accordingly to make larger batches, and drink it throughout the day.
Change Your Food Routine. Many of us unknowingly consume foods that we have allergic reactions to or that increase toxins in our bodies, causing symptoms like arthritis, headaches, water retention, and fatigue. The most common culprits are gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, corn, and sugar. I suggest taking a break from all of these foods, or picking one that is predominant in your diet and taking a break from it. Often, if we simply eliminate foods that contain gluten (wheat, oats, rye, barley, spelt) and replace them with brown rice, millet, or quinoa products, we can change our eating habits and actually increase the variety of foods we eat.
Detox Your Dinner. For seven nights, prepare a simple meal of liver detoxifying steamed vegetables like carrots, broccoli, artichokes, beets, and onions, along with a 4-ounce portion of protein simply prepared with a little bit of olive oil. Consider wild fish, organic lean meats, or lentils for your protein sources.
Detox Your Surroundings. Decluttering and organizing your environment can help clear up your stagnant energy and free you physically and emotionally. Let go of papers, clothes, and boxes that you no longer use. This creates space and helps welcome new energy.
Each one of us must become an example of good health and healthy habits to inspire others to make healthy choices. Just as we tune up our cars and recycle for the environment, we must also regularly cleanse our bodies. Our bodies and the environment are reflections, or mirrors, of each other. As we cleanse our bodies, we cleanse our environment. If we all took it upon ourselves to cleanse, the world would be a much cleaner place.
Tom Francescott, ND, is a doctor, teacher, and lecturer, who seeks to inspire and transform people's lives with authentic and personalized natural health care. He is the founder and director of Rhinebeck Cooperative Health Center in Rhinebeck, New York, where he has an integrative naturopathic practice specializing in science-based detoxification. He is also the founder of Dr. Tom's Tonics, a natural pharmacy.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
9 Christmas Gifts You Can Give To Your Mother - Earth
9 Christmas Gifts You Can Give to Your Mother ... Earth
By Tara Lohan, AlterNet
December 17, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/113131
http://www.alternet.org/water/113131/
http://www.alternet.org/story/113131/
You'll read a lot this time of year about "green" gift guides. But are solar-powered cell phone chargers really the greenest gift we can come up with? Sure they save electricity, but what about the environmental impact of their manufacturing and shipping? If you really want to do something good this holiday season, what about putting Mother Earth at the top of your shopping list? It may help clean up the air and water, cut down on CO2 emissions, and it will save you a trip to the mall.
1. Stay Home
One of the best things you can do for the planet is fix up your own nest with holiday cheer and enjoy the festivities with loved ones near by. Airline travel is one of the biggest parts of our carbon footprint, and buses, cars and trains have big impacts as well.
As the Low Impact Living blog points out:
Our leisure travel by car alone accounts for over 9 billion gallons of fuel and 90 millions tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) each year. Air travel tacks on 140-plus million tons more of CO2. That's a huge amount of CO2 emissions -- taken together it represents more than the entire annual emissions of countries like Venezuela or the Netherlands!
To put this all in a personal context, if you drove roundtrip from Los Angeles to Kansas City, you'd put out 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), whereas if you flew, you'd be responsible for 2.2 tons. If you took a train, you'd contribute 0.9 tons. For you international vagabonds, if you flew from Los Angeles to Paris, you'd have put out 4.4 tons of CO2 (and yes, we know you can't drive).
Even if you recycle all your wrapping paper, you'll be hard-pressed to make up for a ton of travel miles.
2. Save a Tree
While some can make a case for the environmental benefits of tree farms, if you celebrate Christmas, think about planting a tree instead of cutting one down (or more likely, paying someone to fell it for you and truck it to the city or town where you live). There are lots of great programs abroad and in your own community. The environmental advocacy group NRDC supports a rain-forest restoration program in Costa Rica, where for just $10 you can have a tree planted. You can also make the donation in someone's name as a gift, too.
While there are a bunch of programs like this, I also think it's great to do something in your own community. Here in San Francisco, we've got an amazing group called Friends of the Urban Forest, which plants groups of trees that help clean up and green up neighborhoods. Most cities and many towns have similar programs. While you may not get to decorate these trees, you can enjoy them day after day.
3. Invest in Sustainability
The holiday season is prime fundraising time for thousands of worthy organizations, and while it is great donate to the ones that you support, you can also put your money where your heart is in another way. Consider making an investment in a community instead of a donation. The organization MicroPlace makes this super easy by giving you the opportunity to make small investments -- or loans -- to help lift people out of poverty. To a person living on a dollar a day, $20 or $50 of capital can mean the chance to build or expand small businesses and ensure income for their family. The best part is your money comes back to you over time, and you can invest again, and the gift keeps going.
Here's an example:
Consider the story of Puja Patel, a single mother who lives with her four children in a village in India. With a $50 loan, she bought a sewing machine. She made clothes, sold them for a profit and repaid the loan, with interest. She was also able to save some money to buy books and send her children to the local school. This is microfinance in action.
4. Start Valuing Water
Everyone is abuzz about energy and how much of our precious oil we have left, but a water crisis is afoot, even here in the United States, where 36 states are facing water scarcity in the next five years. And this is one liquid resource we can't find any alternatives for. There are lots of ways to save water in your home -- some that require a little more effort than others. One of the best, and most fun ways, is to collect rainwater. It's easy and and free (once you get your barrel set up), and you can use the water for your garden, plants or lawn. The EPA reports that, "Nationwide, landscape irrigation is estimated to account for almost one-third of all residential water use, totaling more than 7 billion gallons per day." You can also reuse gray water for flushing toilets.
There are also other ways you can save water, beside the usual low-flow options for sinks, toilets and showers (that should be a given by now), and that's in food and energy. According to the Stockholm International Water Institute, it takes more than 1,500 gallons of water to produce the food eaten eat day by the average American. And while we can save water by not eating lettuce grown in Arizona, we can also do really simple things like not waste our food -- according to this study, each year we throw away about $43.3 billion worth of food.
You can also cut down on your energy use, which is a huge source of water use. Over half of us in the United States get our energy from coal-burning power plants, and the Union of Concerned Scientists points out that, "a typical 500-megawatt coal-fired power plant draws about 2.2 billion gallons of water each year from nearby water bodies such as lakes, rivers or oceans to create steam for turning its turbines. This is enough water to support a city of approximately 250,000 people."
5. Buy a CSA Share
The benefits of local food are immeasurable -- and one of the best ways to eat local is by supporting small farmers by getting a Community Support Agriculture share. Basically, you just sign up with a CSA farm to receive a weekly box of whatever is fresh -- veggies, fruit and sometimes other goodies like eggs. This way you get fresh food every week, grown by folks in your community and it travels a very short distance to get to you (According to a study from the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, "the produce in the average American dinner is trucked 1,500 miles to get to the plate, up 22 percent in the past two decades.")
Eating local food and eating lower on the food chain, like fruits and veggies, is a big plus for the environment. A report from the United Nations found that eating meat is, "one of the ... most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global." And eating outside the industrial agriculture system saves on pesticides, pollution and water. Worldwide, agriculture is our biggest water guzzler, and the same is true in parts of the United States, like California.
If you're into the giving spirit you can also give a CSA share to someone as a gift -- a friend or loved one, or even a community member in need. Here's a great link to find one need you.
6. Grow Your Own Greens
Being part of CSA is fun, but if you have the space, try getting your own hands dirty by starting a food-growing garden or turning your lawn into something edible. When it comes to healthy eating, there is nothing more satisfying then being able to eat food you've grown and picked yourself. And, organic farming is a great way to combat climate change. Research from the Rodale Institute shows that "organically managed soils can store (sequester) more than 1,000 pounds of carbon per acre, while nonorganic systems can cause carbon loss."
If you currently have a lawn, considering switching to an "edible estate," as the organization and book by Fritz Haeg suggests. Here are a few facts that may make you reconsider trying to keep your green lawn:
* Of 30 commonly used lawn pesticides, 17 are detected in groundwater, 23 have the ability to leach into drinking water sources, 24 are toxic to fish and other aquatic organisms vital to our ecosystem, 11 are toxic to bees and 16 are toxic to birds. (National Coalition for Pesticide-Free Lawns)
* Homeowners use up to 10 times more chemical pesticides per acre on their lawns than farmers use on crops. (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
* North Americans now devote 40,000 square miles to lawns, more than we use for wheat, corn or even tobacco. (The Lawn: North America's Magnificent Obsession by Robert Fulford)
* Americans spend $750 million a year on grass seed alone and more than $25 billion on do-it-yourself lawn and garden care. (From the exhibit at CCA, "The American Lawn: Surface of Everyday Life")
You can find great resources and photos about edible estates on their Web site.
7. Join Forces with Community Members
If you don't have a lawn or yard of your own, fear not -- there are 10,000 community gardens in the United States that you can join. And if you can't find one in your area, then consider teaming up with your neighbors to start your own. It has great "environmental, economic and social impacts on a neighborhood," as Urban Community Gardens points out.
Not only are people in communities getting together to grow food, but there are also tool-sharing networks cropping up, as well, that help people share the cost of owning tools that can be used for gardening or home improvements. Need help getting those new solar panels up? Consider asking your neighbors and working to form a tool collective.
8. Re-energize Your Home
The most popular residential renewable energy option right now is solar, although you can find other renewable energy options, here. More than 10,000 homes in the United States are completely powered by solar, and 200,000 use some type of photovoltaic solar technology.
One of the best places to use solar energy in the home is for heating water. Solar Development points out:
* The United States spends more than $13 billion a year on energy for home water heating. That is the equivalent of 11.4 barrels of oil per household, more than the amount of oil burned by a medium-sized automobile driven 12,000 miles.
* Of all of the major types of water-heating systems, solar energy systems offer the biggest potential savings to homeowners -- with owners saving 85 percent on their utility bills over the costs of electric water heating.
Realistically, not everyone can afford to buy solar systems for their homes, although the long-term savings usually outweigh the up-front costs. And of course, many people are renters and can't put capital investments into the place where they live. So how else can we save energy, and as a result, also money and water?
Here's a few ideas from Flex Your Power:
* Enable "power management" on all computers and make sure to turn them off at night. A laptop computer uses up to 90 percent less energy than bigger desktop models.
* When possible, wash clothes in cold water. About 90 percent of the energy use in a clothes washer goes to water heating.
* Turn your water heater down to 120 degrees or the "Normal" setting when home, and to the lowest setting when away. Water heating accounts for about 13 percent of home energy costs.
* Test for air leaks by holding a lit incense stick next to windows, doors, electrical boxes, plumbing fixtures, electrical outlets, ceiling fixtures, attic hatches and other locations where there is a possible air path to the outside. If the smoke stream travels horizontally, you have located an air leak that may need caulking, sealing or weather stripping.
* Add weather stripping around windows and doors to reduce drafts.
* Unplug electronics, battery chargers and other equipment when not in use. Taken together, these small items can use as much power as your refrigerator.
There are also a bunch of great resources to do a home energy audit. And if you're curious whether your home is powered by coal that comes from the destructive practice of mountaintop removal mining, then you can check this easy link at I Love Mountains to find out.
9. Stop Buying Stuff
If it's one thing the holidays can be sure to provide, it's a desire to buy lots of stuff we don't really need. Let's start with clothes. Author Stan Cox writes about how much Americans spend on clothes:
The average annual shopping haul swelled from $1,550 per household in 2002 to $1,760 last year. That spending spree was prompted in part by what the Bureau of Labor Statistics says was a 30 percent drop in real apparel prices over the past decade. With cheap imports allowing a dollar to buy more, the physical bulk of garb purchased by the average household has risen 18 percent in just five years.
All this shopping means we each discard around 68 pounds of clothing each year. This of course, stresses landfills, but as Cox points out, the most harm comes from producing clothes with pesticide-laden cotton and synthetic fabric that "consumes petroleum, blows out greenhouse gases and spews wastewater-bearing organic solvents, heavy metals and poisonous dyes and fiber treatments."
And it's not just clothes that are a problem, our consumer goods, in general have huge environmental impacts, especially because most of it comes from overseas. Cox writes:
In and near the world's ports and coastal sea lanes, emissions from oceangoing vessels caused 60,000 premature deaths in 2002. With increasing trade, the number of such deaths is projected to rise 40 percent by 2012. Ships' crews, dockworkers, truckers, other port personnel and local residents are all vulnerable.
The particulate matter produced by burning diesel has been associated with lung cancer, asthma, chronic bronchitis, cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, decreased lung function in children and infant mortality.
And that's just the human impact, not withstanding the enormous cost of increased pollution and the burning of fossil fuels on global warming and air and water quality.
Clearly we've got to make changes, he writes:
Halting that growth or even making deep cuts in imports would not only help clear the air, it would make it easier to clean up the toxic water pollution that accumulates in sea lanes and ports; it would curb the noise pollution that can do serious damage to human health and interfere with communications among marine mammals; and it would stop the headlong rush to pave more land for logistics parks.
Of course there is an upside to all these grim numbers. A recent article from YES! Magazine summed up, that "The Good Life Doesn't Have to Cost the Planet." Spending less money on stuff and more money with family and friends is bound to be way more rewarding. And that seems like the best part of the holidays, anyway.
Tara Lohan is a managing editor at AlterNet.
By Tara Lohan, AlterNet
December 17, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/
http://www.alternet.org/water/
http://www.alternet.org/story/
You'll read a lot this time of year about "green" gift guides. But are solar-powered cell phone chargers really the greenest gift we can come up with? Sure they save electricity, but what about the environmental impact of their manufacturing and shipping? If you really want to do something good this holiday season, what about putting Mother Earth at the top of your shopping list? It may help clean up the air and water, cut down on CO2 emissions, and it will save you a trip to the mall.
1. Stay Home
One of the best things you can do for the planet is fix up your own nest with holiday cheer and enjoy the festivities with loved ones near by. Airline travel is one of the biggest parts of our carbon footprint, and buses, cars and trains have big impacts as well.
As the Low Impact Living blog points out:
Our leisure travel by car alone accounts for over 9 billion gallons of fuel and 90 millions tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) each year. Air travel tacks on 140-plus million tons more of CO2. That's a huge amount of CO2 emissions -- taken together it represents more than the entire annual emissions of countries like Venezuela or the Netherlands!
To put this all in a personal context, if you drove roundtrip from Los Angeles to Kansas City, you'd put out 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), whereas if you flew, you'd be responsible for 2.2 tons. If you took a train, you'd contribute 0.9 tons. For you international vagabonds, if you flew from Los Angeles to Paris, you'd have put out 4.4 tons of CO2 (and yes, we know you can't drive).
Even if you recycle all your wrapping paper, you'll be hard-pressed to make up for a ton of travel miles.
2. Save a Tree
While some can make a case for the environmental benefits of tree farms, if you celebrate Christmas, think about planting a tree instead of cutting one down (or more likely, paying someone to fell it for you and truck it to the city or town where you live). There are lots of great programs abroad and in your own community. The environmental advocacy group NRDC supports a rain-forest restoration program in Costa Rica, where for just $10 you can have a tree planted. You can also make the donation in someone's name as a gift, too.
While there are a bunch of programs like this, I also think it's great to do something in your own community. Here in San Francisco, we've got an amazing group called Friends of the Urban Forest, which plants groups of trees that help clean up and green up neighborhoods. Most cities and many towns have similar programs. While you may not get to decorate these trees, you can enjoy them day after day.
3. Invest in Sustainability
The holiday season is prime fundraising time for thousands of worthy organizations, and while it is great donate to the ones that you support, you can also put your money where your heart is in another way. Consider making an investment in a community instead of a donation. The organization MicroPlace makes this super easy by giving you the opportunity to make small investments -- or loans -- to help lift people out of poverty. To a person living on a dollar a day, $20 or $50 of capital can mean the chance to build or expand small businesses and ensure income for their family. The best part is your money comes back to you over time, and you can invest again, and the gift keeps going.
Here's an example:
Consider the story of Puja Patel, a single mother who lives with her four children in a village in India. With a $50 loan, she bought a sewing machine. She made clothes, sold them for a profit and repaid the loan, with interest. She was also able to save some money to buy books and send her children to the local school. This is microfinance in action.
4. Start Valuing Water
Everyone is abuzz about energy and how much of our precious oil we have left, but a water crisis is afoot, even here in the United States, where 36 states are facing water scarcity in the next five years. And this is one liquid resource we can't find any alternatives for. There are lots of ways to save water in your home -- some that require a little more effort than others. One of the best, and most fun ways, is to collect rainwater. It's easy and and free (once you get your barrel set up), and you can use the water for your garden, plants or lawn. The EPA reports that, "Nationwide, landscape irrigation is estimated to account for almost one-third of all residential water use, totaling more than 7 billion gallons per day." You can also reuse gray water for flushing toilets.
There are also other ways you can save water, beside the usual low-flow options for sinks, toilets and showers (that should be a given by now), and that's in food and energy. According to the Stockholm International Water Institute, it takes more than 1,500 gallons of water to produce the food eaten eat day by the average American. And while we can save water by not eating lettuce grown in Arizona, we can also do really simple things like not waste our food -- according to this study, each year we throw away about $43.3 billion worth of food.
You can also cut down on your energy use, which is a huge source of water use. Over half of us in the United States get our energy from coal-burning power plants, and the Union of Concerned Scientists points out that, "a typical 500-megawatt coal-fired power plant draws about 2.2 billion gallons of water each year from nearby water bodies such as lakes, rivers or oceans to create steam for turning its turbines. This is enough water to support a city of approximately 250,000 people."
5. Buy a CSA Share
The benefits of local food are immeasurable -- and one of the best ways to eat local is by supporting small farmers by getting a Community Support Agriculture share. Basically, you just sign up with a CSA farm to receive a weekly box of whatever is fresh -- veggies, fruit and sometimes other goodies like eggs. This way you get fresh food every week, grown by folks in your community and it travels a very short distance to get to you (According to a study from the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, "the produce in the average American dinner is trucked 1,500 miles to get to the plate, up 22 percent in the past two decades.")
Eating local food and eating lower on the food chain, like fruits and veggies, is a big plus for the environment. A report from the United Nations found that eating meat is, "one of the ... most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global." And eating outside the industrial agriculture system saves on pesticides, pollution and water. Worldwide, agriculture is our biggest water guzzler, and the same is true in parts of the United States, like California.
If you're into the giving spirit you can also give a CSA share to someone as a gift -- a friend or loved one, or even a community member in need. Here's a great link to find one need you.
6. Grow Your Own Greens
Being part of CSA is fun, but if you have the space, try getting your own hands dirty by starting a food-growing garden or turning your lawn into something edible. When it comes to healthy eating, there is nothing more satisfying then being able to eat food you've grown and picked yourself. And, organic farming is a great way to combat climate change. Research from the Rodale Institute shows that "organically managed soils can store (sequester) more than 1,000 pounds of carbon per acre, while nonorganic systems can cause carbon loss."
If you currently have a lawn, considering switching to an "edible estate," as the organization and book by Fritz Haeg suggests. Here are a few facts that may make you reconsider trying to keep your green lawn:
* Of 30 commonly used lawn pesticides, 17 are detected in groundwater, 23 have the ability to leach into drinking water sources, 24 are toxic to fish and other aquatic organisms vital to our ecosystem, 11 are toxic to bees and 16 are toxic to birds. (National Coalition for Pesticide-Free Lawns)
* Homeowners use up to 10 times more chemical pesticides per acre on their lawns than farmers use on crops. (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
* North Americans now devote 40,000 square miles to lawns, more than we use for wheat, corn or even tobacco. (The Lawn: North America's Magnificent Obsession by Robert Fulford)
* Americans spend $750 million a year on grass seed alone and more than $25 billion on do-it-yourself lawn and garden care. (From the exhibit at CCA, "The American Lawn: Surface of Everyday Life")
You can find great resources and photos about edible estates on their Web site.
7. Join Forces with Community Members
If you don't have a lawn or yard of your own, fear not -- there are 10,000 community gardens in the United States that you can join. And if you can't find one in your area, then consider teaming up with your neighbors to start your own. It has great "environmental, economic and social impacts on a neighborhood," as Urban Community Gardens points out.
Not only are people in communities getting together to grow food, but there are also tool-sharing networks cropping up, as well, that help people share the cost of owning tools that can be used for gardening or home improvements. Need help getting those new solar panels up? Consider asking your neighbors and working to form a tool collective.
8. Re-energize Your Home
The most popular residential renewable energy option right now is solar, although you can find other renewable energy options, here. More than 10,000 homes in the United States are completely powered by solar, and 200,000 use some type of photovoltaic solar technology.
One of the best places to use solar energy in the home is for heating water. Solar Development points out:
* The United States spends more than $13 billion a year on energy for home water heating. That is the equivalent of 11.4 barrels of oil per household, more than the amount of oil burned by a medium-sized automobile driven 12,000 miles.
* Of all of the major types of water-heating systems, solar energy systems offer the biggest potential savings to homeowners -- with owners saving 85 percent on their utility bills over the costs of electric water heating.
Realistically, not everyone can afford to buy solar systems for their homes, although the long-term savings usually outweigh the up-front costs. And of course, many people are renters and can't put capital investments into the place where they live. So how else can we save energy, and as a result, also money and water?
Here's a few ideas from Flex Your Power:
* Enable "power management" on all computers and make sure to turn them off at night. A laptop computer uses up to 90 percent less energy than bigger desktop models.
* When possible, wash clothes in cold water. About 90 percent of the energy use in a clothes washer goes to water heating.
* Turn your water heater down to 120 degrees or the "Normal" setting when home, and to the lowest setting when away. Water heating accounts for about 13 percent of home energy costs.
* Test for air leaks by holding a lit incense stick next to windows, doors, electrical boxes, plumbing fixtures, electrical outlets, ceiling fixtures, attic hatches and other locations where there is a possible air path to the outside. If the smoke stream travels horizontally, you have located an air leak that may need caulking, sealing or weather stripping.
* Add weather stripping around windows and doors to reduce drafts.
* Unplug electronics, battery chargers and other equipment when not in use. Taken together, these small items can use as much power as your refrigerator.
There are also a bunch of great resources to do a home energy audit. And if you're curious whether your home is powered by coal that comes from the destructive practice of mountaintop removal mining, then you can check this easy link at I Love Mountains to find out.
9. Stop Buying Stuff
If it's one thing the holidays can be sure to provide, it's a desire to buy lots of stuff we don't really need. Let's start with clothes. Author Stan Cox writes about how much Americans spend on clothes:
The average annual shopping haul swelled from $1,550 per household in 2002 to $1,760 last year. That spending spree was prompted in part by what the Bureau of Labor Statistics says was a 30 percent drop in real apparel prices over the past decade. With cheap imports allowing a dollar to buy more, the physical bulk of garb purchased by the average household has risen 18 percent in just five years.
All this shopping means we each discard around 68 pounds of clothing each year. This of course, stresses landfills, but as Cox points out, the most harm comes from producing clothes with pesticide-laden cotton and synthetic fabric that "consumes petroleum, blows out greenhouse gases and spews wastewater-bearing organic solvents, heavy metals and poisonous dyes and fiber treatments."
And it's not just clothes that are a problem, our consumer goods, in general have huge environmental impacts, especially because most of it comes from overseas. Cox writes:
In and near the world's ports and coastal sea lanes, emissions from oceangoing vessels caused 60,000 premature deaths in 2002. With increasing trade, the number of such deaths is projected to rise 40 percent by 2012. Ships' crews, dockworkers, truckers, other port personnel and local residents are all vulnerable.
The particulate matter produced by burning diesel has been associated with lung cancer, asthma, chronic bronchitis, cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, decreased lung function in children and infant mortality.
And that's just the human impact, not withstanding the enormous cost of increased pollution and the burning of fossil fuels on global warming and air and water quality.
Clearly we've got to make changes, he writes:
Halting that growth or even making deep cuts in imports would not only help clear the air, it would make it easier to clean up the toxic water pollution that accumulates in sea lanes and ports; it would curb the noise pollution that can do serious damage to human health and interfere with communications among marine mammals; and it would stop the headlong rush to pave more land for logistics parks.
Of course there is an upside to all these grim numbers. A recent article from YES! Magazine summed up, that "The Good Life Doesn't Have to Cost the Planet." Spending less money on stuff and more money with family and friends is bound to be way more rewarding. And that seems like the best part of the holidays, anyway.
Tara Lohan is a managing editor at AlterNet.
The Good Life Doesn't Have to Cost Us The Planet
The Good Life Doesn't Have to Cost Us the Planet
By Andrew Simms and Joe Smith, YES! Magazine
December 17, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/113476
http://www.alternet.org/story/113476/
http://www.alternet.org/environment/113476/
[Read comment:
http://www.alternet.org/environment/113476/#comments ]
For a while, it looked as though everything would fall apart. There was the triple crunch of the global credit crisis, declining oil supplies, and the threat of runaway climate change driven by massive overconsumption by rich countries and the elites in poor countries.
In 2008, humanity overshot its global biocapacity on September 23. It was the world’s earliest “ecological debt day” since humanity first started going into the environmental red in the mid-1980s. We were pursuing economic growth for its own sake, but it was completely unsustainable, and the people it was most supposed to benefit -- the poorest -- were getting a shrinking slice of the benefits. Perversely, because of the way the world economy worked, to get tiny amounts of global poverty reduction required massive amounts of destructive overconsumption by those who were already rich.
In the face of inescapable economic chaos and ecological upheaval, we finally woke to find that we already had most of the solutions under our noses. This is what a day in our lives looks like now, after things turned out right.
On waking
With less time spent working, the choice is yours -- sleep in, go for a run, read a novel. Having rediscovered the real meaning of a good life, previously overconsuming rich countries have now cured most cases of work addiction. In this “downshifted” world the phrase “rush hour” has become a half-remembered curio. Our society has begun to get the hang of how computing and IT can make for smart work, rather than generate slave work.
Those choosing the early morning run enjoy fresh air and clear paths as dramatic reductions in traffic have transformed city air and streets.
Breakfast
No need to sweat over every shopping decision: socially and environmentally sustainable trade are the (carefully checked) norm. The weekly food bill has gone up -- but so has the quality, and the damaging consequences of cheap food systems have gradually been rolled back. This is sustainable consumption universalized -- no more scanning labels. A few deft moves in boardrooms and government chambers helped to make food markets fair and sustainable.
For an international meeting -- step onto your balcony: video-conferencing and networking are so slick and intuitive that you rarely need to travel for work. The hours gained, backache cured, and wrinkles postponed make you more effective and committed to the work you do. But these changes are about more than work. Social networking software has thrown you together with new people -- your desktop gives you a global network, but also connects you in new -- live -- human ways to the community where you actually live.
Computer connections aside, there are plenty of benefits in the new sense of community that has evolved from the revival of local shops (where the shopkeepers actually remember who you are) and the way that residential streets and town centers have become people-friendly. Streets are safer, with some entirely car-free, and many towns have reclaimed central plots of land as public squares. A calmer environment and more opportunities for casual contact between neighbors means people gather and talk to each other more. Even in cities, people, and especially the elderly, feel less lonely.
Take some time out late morning to plan your long-awaited summer trip. While the big increases in the cost of fossil fuels have made international travel a rarer experience, it tends to be much better -- and longer -- when you do head off on your travels. In the bad old days you might have dashed off a postcard after thirty-six hours in a congested foreign capital. These days it is more a matter of picking out a few choice photos from the hundreds you’ll take on your once-in-a-lifetime three-month trip to India. Travel has returned to being a pleasure and an adventure.
With more leisure time and good cycle and public transport links, low impact local excursions are a much-loved part of life. But with our experience of both cities and countryside transformed by investment in really great public spaces, people feel less need to get away in order to unwind.
Lunch
Need to get out of the house? Take a short stroll to one of the thousands of courtyard and street cafés that are enjoying the cleaner air and quieter streets. Plenty of these are cheap workplace and school cafés that have opened their doors to locals. The combination of a few familiar faces, a random mix of new ones, and a daily changing menu of fresh local food makes food a daily pleasure.
Afternoon
A journey to work? Problems are as big as you make them: it used to be said that people wouldn’t give up their cars. But instead of denying people their cars, the big breakthroughs were made by offering people really appealing alternatives. Some of these were alternatives to travel (like the conferencing tools). But we all want to move about.
So, by raising revenue from polluting and inefficient fossil fuel-run cars, governments completely transformed people’s experience of cities and towns. Owning and driving cars to meet most of your mobility needs has come to seem simply eccentric. Lifespan and quality of life have dramatically increased as a result of cities being redesigned around people -- and walking and cycling -- not cars. Transport options range from trains, streetcars, and quiet clean buses, to on-demand rural shared taxis and simple car-share schemes that meet the range of needs we have through a year. The common “ting” of the cycle bell is as much to say “hello,” as to remind you that you’re stepping across a cycle path. And when we do get in a car, the uncongested roads and beautifully designed hyperefficient vehicles remind us what a great invention these things can be.
Perhaps your office is one of the last bits of the building to have a green makeover. In hot weather you’ve got to turn the air conditioning on. It is not as wasteful as the old machines, but you know that some of the electricity is still going to be fossil fueled. You can comfort yourself with the knowledge that the increased costs brought about by carbon taxes have got your finance department talking to your building managers who are talking to the builders about natural ventilation systems. In the meantime the tax raised is salving all of your consciences.
In an idle moment you reflect on where this cash goes, and why that matters. One of a series of breakthrough climate deals between north and south ensures that the inhabitants of Brazil, especially those living in the Amazon, are directly rewarded for their stewardship of the ecological services that the rainforest provides to the whole planet. As we gradually descend from our carbon-fix high we can at least ensure that our habit is funding some security for us all by protecting these key carbon sinks. The bill for your air-conditioning that helps you cope with climate change in your office is, in effect, helping to pay the bill to keep the global air-conditioning running in the Amazon basin.
Dinner
Time released from long working days, and the fact that fast food and ready meals have gone up in price now that they reflect their full ecological costs, has seen a revival of home cooking. With lots more single households there are some twists. More people get together to take turns to share informal meals in a neighborhood. There are delivery services providing decent food in returnable containers for people without the time or inclination for the kitchen or company.
Evening
Stories and music are as old as campfires. For a time we forgot it, but being actively involved in making entertainment made us feel much better than just passively watching others perform. One of the first things taught in school now is the medical evidence that watching TV induces a mental state almost identical to clinical depression. It’s now common in pubs, clubs, and in any available hall to find groups of friends showing films made by themselves on cheap, easy-to-use equipment, and putting on a wide range of music and other performances.
People are intrigued and drawn in by the fact that they can actually get to know the musicians and filmmakers, because they are likely to live in the area. Just as people are happier to go out more locally during the day, because towns have become more pleasant places to be, the same is true at night. In the early evening people of all ages take to strolling around town, just for the sake of it. The increase in spare time means people start reviving half-forgotten festivals and celebrations, as well as creating new ones to mark everything from important global events, to the seasons, local history, people, and important events. There is much more partying in general.
The good life is active, but it’s full in a good way. By pressing all the right buttons it creates its own energy to thrive. So, by the time evening turns to night, most people are still in the mood to press other right buttons on the one they love. Then we’ll settle, tired maybe, satisfied surely, to take stock of how things have gone, round off our day, look forward to the next one, and enjoy our sleep, deeply.
Andrew Simms and Joe Smith wrote this article as part of Sustainable Happiness, the Winter 2009 issue of YES! Magazine. Andrew, pictured right, is policy director and head of the Climate Change Programme at nef (the new economics foundation); Joe Smith is a lecturer in the Geography Department at the Open University. They are co-editors of Do Good Lives Have to Cost the Earth? (2008) Constable, London. This article is developed from the book.
By Andrew Simms and Joe Smith, YES! Magazine
December 17, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/
http://www.alternet.org/story/
http://www.alternet.org/
[Read comment:
http://www.alternet.org/
For a while, it looked as though everything would fall apart. There was the triple crunch of the global credit crisis, declining oil supplies, and the threat of runaway climate change driven by massive overconsumption by rich countries and the elites in poor countries.
In 2008, humanity overshot its global biocapacity on September 23. It was the world’s earliest “ecological debt day” since humanity first started going into the environmental red in the mid-1980s. We were pursuing economic growth for its own sake, but it was completely unsustainable, and the people it was most supposed to benefit -- the poorest -- were getting a shrinking slice of the benefits. Perversely, because of the way the world economy worked, to get tiny amounts of global poverty reduction required massive amounts of destructive overconsumption by those who were already rich.
In the face of inescapable economic chaos and ecological upheaval, we finally woke to find that we already had most of the solutions under our noses. This is what a day in our lives looks like now, after things turned out right.
On waking
With less time spent working, the choice is yours -- sleep in, go for a run, read a novel. Having rediscovered the real meaning of a good life, previously overconsuming rich countries have now cured most cases of work addiction. In this “downshifted” world the phrase “rush hour” has become a half-remembered curio. Our society has begun to get the hang of how computing and IT can make for smart work, rather than generate slave work.
Those choosing the early morning run enjoy fresh air and clear paths as dramatic reductions in traffic have transformed city air and streets.
Breakfast
No need to sweat over every shopping decision: socially and environmentally sustainable trade are the (carefully checked) norm. The weekly food bill has gone up -- but so has the quality, and the damaging consequences of cheap food systems have gradually been rolled back. This is sustainable consumption universalized -- no more scanning labels. A few deft moves in boardrooms and government chambers helped to make food markets fair and sustainable.
For an international meeting -- step onto your balcony: video-conferencing and networking are so slick and intuitive that you rarely need to travel for work. The hours gained, backache cured, and wrinkles postponed make you more effective and committed to the work you do. But these changes are about more than work. Social networking software has thrown you together with new people -- your desktop gives you a global network, but also connects you in new -- live -- human ways to the community where you actually live.
Computer connections aside, there are plenty of benefits in the new sense of community that has evolved from the revival of local shops (where the shopkeepers actually remember who you are) and the way that residential streets and town centers have become people-friendly. Streets are safer, with some entirely car-free, and many towns have reclaimed central plots of land as public squares. A calmer environment and more opportunities for casual contact between neighbors means people gather and talk to each other more. Even in cities, people, and especially the elderly, feel less lonely.
Take some time out late morning to plan your long-awaited summer trip. While the big increases in the cost of fossil fuels have made international travel a rarer experience, it tends to be much better -- and longer -- when you do head off on your travels. In the bad old days you might have dashed off a postcard after thirty-six hours in a congested foreign capital. These days it is more a matter of picking out a few choice photos from the hundreds you’ll take on your once-in-a-lifetime three-month trip to India. Travel has returned to being a pleasure and an adventure.
With more leisure time and good cycle and public transport links, low impact local excursions are a much-loved part of life. But with our experience of both cities and countryside transformed by investment in really great public spaces, people feel less need to get away in order to unwind.
Lunch
Need to get out of the house? Take a short stroll to one of the thousands of courtyard and street cafés that are enjoying the cleaner air and quieter streets. Plenty of these are cheap workplace and school cafés that have opened their doors to locals. The combination of a few familiar faces, a random mix of new ones, and a daily changing menu of fresh local food makes food a daily pleasure.
Afternoon
A journey to work? Problems are as big as you make them: it used to be said that people wouldn’t give up their cars. But instead of denying people their cars, the big breakthroughs were made by offering people really appealing alternatives. Some of these were alternatives to travel (like the conferencing tools). But we all want to move about.
So, by raising revenue from polluting and inefficient fossil fuel-run cars, governments completely transformed people’s experience of cities and towns. Owning and driving cars to meet most of your mobility needs has come to seem simply eccentric. Lifespan and quality of life have dramatically increased as a result of cities being redesigned around people -- and walking and cycling -- not cars. Transport options range from trains, streetcars, and quiet clean buses, to on-demand rural shared taxis and simple car-share schemes that meet the range of needs we have through a year. The common “ting” of the cycle bell is as much to say “hello,” as to remind you that you’re stepping across a cycle path. And when we do get in a car, the uncongested roads and beautifully designed hyperefficient vehicles remind us what a great invention these things can be.
Perhaps your office is one of the last bits of the building to have a green makeover. In hot weather you’ve got to turn the air conditioning on. It is not as wasteful as the old machines, but you know that some of the electricity is still going to be fossil fueled. You can comfort yourself with the knowledge that the increased costs brought about by carbon taxes have got your finance department talking to your building managers who are talking to the builders about natural ventilation systems. In the meantime the tax raised is salving all of your consciences.
In an idle moment you reflect on where this cash goes, and why that matters. One of a series of breakthrough climate deals between north and south ensures that the inhabitants of Brazil, especially those living in the Amazon, are directly rewarded for their stewardship of the ecological services that the rainforest provides to the whole planet. As we gradually descend from our carbon-fix high we can at least ensure that our habit is funding some security for us all by protecting these key carbon sinks. The bill for your air-conditioning that helps you cope with climate change in your office is, in effect, helping to pay the bill to keep the global air-conditioning running in the Amazon basin.
Dinner
Time released from long working days, and the fact that fast food and ready meals have gone up in price now that they reflect their full ecological costs, has seen a revival of home cooking. With lots more single households there are some twists. More people get together to take turns to share informal meals in a neighborhood. There are delivery services providing decent food in returnable containers for people without the time or inclination for the kitchen or company.
Evening
Stories and music are as old as campfires. For a time we forgot it, but being actively involved in making entertainment made us feel much better than just passively watching others perform. One of the first things taught in school now is the medical evidence that watching TV induces a mental state almost identical to clinical depression. It’s now common in pubs, clubs, and in any available hall to find groups of friends showing films made by themselves on cheap, easy-to-use equipment, and putting on a wide range of music and other performances.
People are intrigued and drawn in by the fact that they can actually get to know the musicians and filmmakers, because they are likely to live in the area. Just as people are happier to go out more locally during the day, because towns have become more pleasant places to be, the same is true at night. In the early evening people of all ages take to strolling around town, just for the sake of it. The increase in spare time means people start reviving half-forgotten festivals and celebrations, as well as creating new ones to mark everything from important global events, to the seasons, local history, people, and important events. There is much more partying in general.
The good life is active, but it’s full in a good way. By pressing all the right buttons it creates its own energy to thrive. So, by the time evening turns to night, most people are still in the mood to press other right buttons on the one they love. Then we’ll settle, tired maybe, satisfied surely, to take stock of how things have gone, round off our day, look forward to the next one, and enjoy our sleep, deeply.
Andrew Simms and Joe Smith wrote this article as part of Sustainable Happiness, the Winter 2009 issue of YES! Magazine. Andrew, pictured right, is policy director and head of the Climate Change Programme at nef (the new economics foundation); Joe Smith is a lecturer in the Geography Department at the Open University. They are co-editors of Do Good Lives Have to Cost the Earth? (2008) Constable, London. This article is developed from the book.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Simple Ways To Afford Your Green Lifestyle! - by Heather Havey, M.A.
Simple Ways to Afford Your Green Lifestyle! - by Heather Havey, M.A.
The economy may be challenged, and our own wallets may also be challenged, during these times. However, we still would like to eat right. It is more important than simply a desire to eat well; it is a non-negotiable. It is your Life we are talking about!
That said, the NUMBER ONE excuse that I hear from people is that they "can't afford to eat healthy." I have a few responses to this that I hope will really help us all!
So you understand where I am coming from: We are all in this together, and I feel your pain. I live as a monk, a very simple lifestyle with very few possessions and low income, and I understand the challenges that can be presented for our wallets in this endeavor towards healthy, holy living. But, we can do it! Here are some helpful tips...
(1) Pay now, or pay later! You can pay a little more now for organic produce and natural foods lifestyle, or you will pay later in feeling tired, feeling bad, and having high medical bill potentials.
(2) Buy local, from farmers...or grow your own organic vegetables/fruits. Local farmers are going to charge you significantly less for their products than you would pay in a grocery store, health food store, or coop. So seek out your local organic farmers, CSA farms (Community Supported Agriculture), and so on. Another option is to grow your own organic vegetable garden. Local foods do not have to be shipped cross country or around the world, so they can be sold to you much cheaper. It is okay to choose local produce that does not have organic certification, as long as they grew them "unsprayed" (without applying pesticides).
(3) Plant fruit and nut trees all over your property. Not only will this make the birds and squirrels happy, but trees protect smaller shrubs and crops from harsh weather conditions, and provide healthy habitat for many types of life. Also, you will get hundreds of fruits each year off of every single healthy tree. Planting trees helps not only your and your family, helps not only the animals and plants, but it also helps the world to combat greenhouse gases and global warming! Trees release more Oxygen into the atmosphere, and we are clear-cutting the entire planet right now. WE DESPERATELY NEED TREES! And they will lower your grocery bills! If you have enough trees, you could even sell your fruits and nuts locally, and MAKE money off your trees.
(4) Buy bulk! Bulk bins make items SO much more affordable, and they give us the double benefit of saving on packaging materials and plastic bags. Many, many items - ranging from cereals, beans, grains, chocolates and desserts, herbs, spices, honey, nut butters, and even household items like soaps, shampoos, and cleaning products are available at health food stores in bulk bins.
(5) Eat Natural Foods. Though organic foods may SEEM expensive, really they are a much better deal than conventional produce. The reason for this is that they are far higher in nutritional value than conventional produce, so you get far more nutrition for your penny. Also, they have no poisons within them, so they are not filling your muscle tissues with small amounts of poison that build up over time to break down your health. Also, the most expensive food choices out there tend to be the most highly processed, and least healthy, ones. So when you go shopping, simply choose the most natural, whole, raw, and organic choices that you can.
Some ideas include eating fruit salad, vegetable salads, smoothies, juices, and sandwiches or wraps that you make yourself at home. These options are endless, are all natural, support your own health and the health of the planet, and cost less overall. Meat and dairy are the most expensive choices out there that you can make.
(6) Adopt a vegetarian or vegan diet. Diet is a personal choice that everyone must make, but veg choices are the healthiest and the most afforable choices out there.
(7) Grow your own food. It is actually very easy to grow food. It does not take much time after you set things up. All you really need is a small pot or seed sprouting tray, some basic soil, a little soil nutrient (organic fertilizer or compost or manure compost), seeds, and love. You can grow quite a few things indoors. Pepper plants (bell, or jalapeno, or other types) grow very beautifully and well indoors. So do most herbs and many other plants. I am currently even growing starfruit trees all over my room because it is too cold at nights for baby trees where I live right now. Plants need sunlight, water every few days, nutrients occasionally, and love. With half an acre of land, you could grow enough food for six families or more. A little land, and a little love for it, can go a LONG way. To get started, get some organic or heirloom seeds from Seeds of Change.
(8) Prepare your food at home rather than eating out. You will save a lot of money doing this - on gas, on tips, on restaurant food costs, and so on. It is easy, it is fun, and it is a wonderful bonding experience to either cook for your family/friends or cook with your family/friends.
(9) Bring your lunch to work/school rather than eating out there. You can ensure that you eat much more healthy choices this way, and it will cost you far less than it would to eat out everyday at work or school.
(10) Live simply, and eat simply. The more simple the meals you make, the less they will cost. Also, simpler meals tend to be healthier meals. The simplest and easiest lifestyle, and one of the world's healthiest, is to be an organic raw foodist grazer. This means that you eat only raw, organic fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and grains, and you simply snack on items whenever you feel like it. Your body will become cleaner and healthier, you will feel more energy, and you will lose weight if you need to. You will feel great. Simplicity and quality are the keys.
(11) Love, Love, Love. This is the answer for everything: for your own body and health, for the plants and trees and wildlife, for our friends and family, for the soil, for the entire world. The more we live with love and regard for others in our hearts, the happier and healthier our worlds will be. And best news yet! Love is totally free and an unlimited resource.
Aloha, have a blessed day, Heather Havey
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The economy may be challenged, and our own wallets may also be challenged, during these times. However, we still would like to eat right. It is more important than simply a desire to eat well; it is a non-negotiable. It is your Life we are talking about!
That said, the NUMBER ONE excuse that I hear from people is that they "can't afford to eat healthy." I have a few responses to this that I hope will really help us all!
So you understand where I am coming from: We are all in this together, and I feel your pain. I live as a monk, a very simple lifestyle with very few possessions and low income, and I understand the challenges that can be presented for our wallets in this endeavor towards healthy, holy living. But, we can do it! Here are some helpful tips...
(1) Pay now, or pay later! You can pay a little more now for organic produce and natural foods lifestyle, or you will pay later in feeling tired, feeling bad, and having high medical bill potentials.
(2) Buy local, from farmers...or grow your own organic vegetables/fruits. Local farmers are going to charge you significantly less for their products than you would pay in a grocery store, health food store, or coop. So seek out your local organic farmers, CSA farms (Community Supported Agriculture), and so on. Another option is to grow your own organic vegetable garden. Local foods do not have to be shipped cross country or around the world, so they can be sold to you much cheaper. It is okay to choose local produce that does not have organic certification, as long as they grew them "unsprayed" (without applying pesticides).
(3) Plant fruit and nut trees all over your property. Not only will this make the birds and squirrels happy, but trees protect smaller shrubs and crops from harsh weather conditions, and provide healthy habitat for many types of life. Also, you will get hundreds of fruits each year off of every single healthy tree. Planting trees helps not only your and your family, helps not only the animals and plants, but it also helps the world to combat greenhouse gases and global warming! Trees release more Oxygen into the atmosphere, and we are clear-cutting the entire planet right now. WE DESPERATELY NEED TREES! And they will lower your grocery bills! If you have enough trees, you could even sell your fruits and nuts locally, and MAKE money off your trees.
(4) Buy bulk! Bulk bins make items SO much more affordable, and they give us the double benefit of saving on packaging materials and plastic bags. Many, many items - ranging from cereals, beans, grains, chocolates and desserts, herbs, spices, honey, nut butters, and even household items like soaps, shampoos, and cleaning products are available at health food stores in bulk bins.
(5) Eat Natural Foods. Though organic foods may SEEM expensive, really they are a much better deal than conventional produce. The reason for this is that they are far higher in nutritional value than conventional produce, so you get far more nutrition for your penny. Also, they have no poisons within them, so they are not filling your muscle tissues with small amounts of poison that build up over time to break down your health. Also, the most expensive food choices out there tend to be the most highly processed, and least healthy, ones. So when you go shopping, simply choose the most natural, whole, raw, and organic choices that you can.
Some ideas include eating fruit salad, vegetable salads, smoothies, juices, and sandwiches or wraps that you make yourself at home. These options are endless, are all natural, support your own health and the health of the planet, and cost less overall. Meat and dairy are the most expensive choices out there that you can make.
(6) Adopt a vegetarian or vegan diet. Diet is a personal choice that everyone must make, but veg choices are the healthiest and the most afforable choices out there.
(7) Grow your own food. It is actually very easy to grow food. It does not take much time after you set things up. All you really need is a small pot or seed sprouting tray, some basic soil, a little soil nutrient (organic fertilizer or compost or manure compost), seeds, and love. You can grow quite a few things indoors. Pepper plants (bell, or jalapeno, or other types) grow very beautifully and well indoors. So do most herbs and many other plants. I am currently even growing starfruit trees all over my room because it is too cold at nights for baby trees where I live right now. Plants need sunlight, water every few days, nutrients occasionally, and love. With half an acre of land, you could grow enough food for six families or more. A little land, and a little love for it, can go a LONG way. To get started, get some organic or heirloom seeds from Seeds of Change.
(8) Prepare your food at home rather than eating out. You will save a lot of money doing this - on gas, on tips, on restaurant food costs, and so on. It is easy, it is fun, and it is a wonderful bonding experience to either cook for your family/friends or cook with your family/friends.
(9) Bring your lunch to work/school rather than eating out there. You can ensure that you eat much more healthy choices this way, and it will cost you far less than it would to eat out everyday at work or school.
(10) Live simply, and eat simply. The more simple the meals you make, the less they will cost. Also, simpler meals tend to be healthier meals. The simplest and easiest lifestyle, and one of the world's healthiest, is to be an organic raw foodist grazer. This means that you eat only raw, organic fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and grains, and you simply snack on items whenever you feel like it. Your body will become cleaner and healthier, you will feel more energy, and you will lose weight if you need to. You will feel great. Simplicity and quality are the keys.
(11) Love, Love, Love. This is the answer for everything: for your own body and health, for the plants and trees and wildlife, for our friends and family, for the soil, for the entire world. The more we live with love and regard for others in our hearts, the happier and healthier our worlds will be. And best news yet! Love is totally free and an unlimited resource.
Aloha, have a blessed day, Heather Havey
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