Lenten Carbon Fast: Week 2 (Shelter and Utilities)
This post originally appeared March 4, 2009.
Photo credit: earl53 from morguefile.com
Last week I shared with you my decision to reduce carbon this Lent, and I asked you to join me.
So how did you do?
Here is a quick run-down of the ups and downs of our attempts to cut back on our carbon emissions from transportation:
Driving. Fortunately Steve and I are able to avoid commuting emissions since we both work from home. Although we have two cars, they often stay put. Some would say we are lucky to live in a small town where it is easy to walk most places. However, we do lack mass transit and there are times when we need to drive elsewhere to get to events, certain shopping, church, etc. However, five of us from our book club all piled in a friend’s car the other night in order to carpool to a book reading a half hour away. This really wasn’t an inconvenience. It took a bit of planning and helped make the evening that much more fun. They did say they were grateful that I didn’t force them to bike.
We also made a more conscious effort to walk to school. However, a couple of blisteringly cold days and one very slow-walking 4-year-old did cause me to pull the van out of the garage. With (hopefully) warmer weather approaching, we will be hoofing it much more regularly!
Tune up: We recently had both cars in for a tune-up and oil change and we always make sure that our tires are properly inflated.
Lightened the load: I gave our van a Spring Clean. Extra weight reduces a car’s gas mileage. With 3 children, it is easy for me to let the van accumulate all sorts of clutter. I will continue to make a point of cleaning it out weekly. Besides, it helped me find that nasty smell that had been permeating throughout the interior…
So this brings us to week #2…
Shelter and Utilities
Did you know that about a third of your household’s energy goes to drying your clothes? Heating a house is responsible for nearly 10 per cent of a person’s total carbon emissions. Up to 15% of your energy bills go to keeping your milk cold and your ice frozen. A fridge with the Energy Star label uses 40% less energy than conventional models sold in 2001. Were you aware that laptops use much less power than desktop models? The typical laptop draws about 30 watts of electricity while bulkier desktop models use about 120 watts.
*Note: Please don’t tell people that Jenni said to buy a laptop for Lent.
Below are a few ideas for how to reduce your carbon emissions through your home. Once again pick a minimum of two. If you are already doing most of these things, pat yourself on the back but see if you can stretch yourself to reduce even more for the remainder of Lent. Don’t forget to keep up the good work with your transportation habits!
1. Turn off all appliances, or pull out the plug when not in use. The easiest thing is to use power strips for multiple appliances and flick the switch when they are not in use. Even when electronics are off, they are still pulling energy if they are still plugged in.
2. Own fewer devices. Buy less electronics. Don’t zone out in front of the TV. In fact, consider cutting your viewing significantly during this time.
3. Consider buying or borrowing a device that tells you exactly how much electricity the house is using every second. Many libraries now have Kill-a-Watts that can be checked out like books. The price of these have also dropped considerably at places like Amazon.
4. Generate light, not heat, using energy-efficient lightbulbs such as CFLs. These use 3/4 less energy than standard lighting and last up to 10 times longer. So despite their higher up-front cost, they yield lifetime savings of up to $50 per bulb.
5. Hang your clothes to dry - outside in the warm weather, inside during the winter. IKEA and most hardware stores sell inexpensive indoor drying racks. If you need to use the dryer, consider wool dryer balls to help soften clothes and reduce drying time.
6. Wash your clothing in cold water and wash with a full load.
7. Use beeswax or soy candles. Any other candle is made from paraffin - a petroleum product- and does not burn cleanly. Artificially scented candles are one of the biggest sources of indoor air pollution in homes.
8. Use a programmable thermostat and turn down the heat when you are not at home.
9. Consider how low you are willing to reduce your home’s temperature. A 1 degree reduction can decrease fuel needs by as much as 15 %. I grew up wearing sweaters and heavy socks in our house. It builds character.
10. Consider replacing your furnace if it is more than 20 years old. Make sure to change/clean filters regularly.
11. If you have an old fridge or freezer in the basement or garage, consider getting rid of it. They’re often power leaches. If you really do use your extra freezer, make sure it is full as this makes it more efficient. Alternatively, keep you refridgerator clear of all of those science experiments. Good air-flow in the fridge keeps it at its most efficient.
12. Consider switching to a utility company that runs alternative energy such solar and wind.
13. If you can afford it, install your own solar panels or wind turbine. Go off-grid.
Keep up the good work!! And feel free to send me any of your ideas for ways to further reduce carbon emissions from your home. Mine was a short list aimed at motivating those just beginning to understand their footprint on our Earth and some simple ways to start being a bit greener.
Filed under Carbon Fast, Easy Being Green, Green School and Churches | Comments (2)A Wake Up Call
For those of you receiving this post by email, please make sure to click on the blog link so that you are able to view the video. It is worth it! This post was written as part of Steady Mom’s 30-Minute Blog Challenge.
Janelle from Healthy Child/Healthy World has asked the mom community to help spread the word about a new campaign that they just launched centered on a video called “A Wake-Up Story.” They are trying to WAKE UP as many people as they can to the issue of chemicals in everyday products and encourage them to vote with their dollars in the marketplace and vote with their voices to governments.
Please watch this very short video (it is absolutely gorgeous) and then pass it on to as many people as you can. One by one we can make a difference together.
A Wake-Up Story from Healthy Child Healthy World on Vimeo.
Need some ideas for ways to share this very important message? How about…
…your blog
…on Facebook
…on Twitter (”Are you awake? Watch this and you will be. AWakeUpStory.org)
…on YouTube (you can comment on the video and/or share it on your playlist)
…on StumbleUpon (give the website a thumbs up)
…on Digg
…anywhere else you can think of!
National Healthy Schools Day: What you can do to make sure no child’s health is left behind
I am so excited to have my first guest blogger on My Web of Life! Janelle Sorensen is the Senior Writer and Health Consultant for Healthy Child Healthy World (www.healthychild.org). You can also find her on Twitter as @greenandhealthy.
When my husband and I first toured schools to find the one we wanted to enroll our daughter in, I’m sure I was silently voted one of the strangest parents ever. Why do I feel I was secretly endowed with this title? Because every room and hallway we were taken through, I sniffed. A lot. And, according to my husband, I wasn’t terribly discreet.
I didn’t have a cold or postnasal drip. And, I’m not part bloodhound. I was simply concerned about the indoor air quality. My daughter was (and still is) prone to respiratory illnesses and I wanted to be sure the school she would be attending would support and protect her growing lungs (in addition to her brain). For many air quality issues, your nose knows, so I was using the easiest tool I had to gauge how healthy the environment was.
While air quality is a significant issue in schools (the EPA estimates that at least half of our nation’s 120,000 schools have problems), parents are also increasingly concerned about other school health issues like nutrition and the use of toxic pesticides. Many schools are making the switch to healthier and more sustainable practices like green cleaning, least toxic pest management, and even school gardening. What they’re finding is that greening their school improves the health and performance of students and personnel, saves money (from using less energy, buying fewer products, and having fewer worker injuries among other things), and also helps protect the planet. It’s truly win, win, win.
To highlight the issue, the Healthy Schools Network coordinates National Healthy Schools Day. This year, over three dozen events will be held across the country (and more in Canada) on April 27th to promote and celebrate healthy school environments.
What can you do? Healthy Schools Network recommends simple activities such as:
• Adopting Guiding Principles of School Environmental Quality as a policy for your School;
• Distributing information related to Green Cleaning or Indoor Air Quality (IAQ);
• Writing a letter or visiting your Principal or Facility Director to ask about cleaning products or pest control products;
• Walking around your school: looking for water stains, cracks in outside walls, broken windows or steps, and overflowing dumpsters that are health & safety problems that need attention. Use this checklist.
• Writing a Letter to the Editor of your local paper on the importance of a healthy school to all children and personnel.
You can also help support the efforts of states trying to pass policies requiring schools to use safer cleaners. (Or, initiate your own effort!) There are good bills pending in Connecticut, Minnesota, California, Massachusetts, and Oregon. According to Claire Barnett, Executive Director of the Healthy Schools Network, the key pieces to promote on green cleaning in schools are:
• Not being fooled by ‘green washing’ claims—commercial products must be third-party certified as green (to verify claims);
• Understanding that green products are cost-neutral and they work; and,
• Learning that “Clean doesn’t have an odor.”
She encourages parents and personnel to tune into one of the archived webinars on green cleaning (like the first module for general audiences) at www.cleaningforhealthyschools.org.
The fact of the matter is that whether you’re concerned about the quality of food, cleaning chemicals, recycling, or energy use – schools need our help and support. Instead of complaining about what’s wrong, it’s time to help do what’s right – for our children, our schools, and our planet.
What are you going to do? There are so many ideas and resources. Find your passion and get active on April 27th – National Healthy Schools Day.
Additional Resources:
Creating Healthy Environments for Children (DVD): A short video with easy tips for schools and a variety of handouts to download and print.
Getting Your Child’s School to Clean Green: A blog I wrote last year with advice based on my experience working with schools.
Healthy Community Toolkit: Healthy Child Healthy World’s tips and tools for being a successful community advocate and some of our favorite organizations working on improving child care and school environments and beyond.
The Everything Green Classroom Book: The ultimate guide to teaching and living green and healthy.
Filed under Green School and Churches, Guest Bloggers | Comments (3)Giving Up Carbon for Lent - Beyond our Homes
How is your carbon fasting coming along? I am quite pleased with what our family has accomplished. Not simply because reducing my carbon footprint this Lent caused me to stop and reflect on my life (both spiritually and physically), but because over the course of 40 days my family and I are building some solid habits that we can stick with. Aside from choosing to use our own feet more often, we are now remembering to unplug the electronics and microwave at night. Our house is chillier, but we just snuggle more (and wear sweaters). And I really seem to have lost the urge to shop recreationally! These are all changes that I am quite proud to say we have been able to sustain for the past few weeks and plan to maintain in the future.
My next challenge shifts the focus from our homes and places it out into the rest of the world…
Did you know that while ’civilized nations’ continue to consume more and more energy, our poorer neighbours are suffering? Countries in sub Saharan Africa are experiencing some of the strongest impacts of climate change today. These areas are caught helplessly in a cycle of floods and droughts. Other nations are under great risk of being completely submerged as sealevels begin to rise.
Until affluent nations have demonstrated that we are serious about cutting our own emissions, we are in no position to preach restraint to the poorer countries. Our governments’ most common excuse for inaction can be expressed in one word: China. They like to cite that China’s emissions per person have been rising by around 2% each year. However, these increases are still relatively small compared to our own. A citizen of China produces, on average, 2.7 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. A citizen of the U.K. emits 9.5, and of the U.S., 20.0. To blame the Chinese for our Earth’s problems is beyond hypocritical.
This is the point where we need to stretch beyond our own lives and become activists for others.
Action Suggestions:
Pray. This can be a personal prayer for guidance or an outreaching prayer for others in positions of power. Pray for those who are already suffering from the effects of climate change.
Reflect. The reality is that your actions can affect someone half a world away. Think about making conscious decisions every day rather than simply running on auto-pilot.
Talk. Share your carbon fast experience or other green choices that you are making with other people in your churches, schools and communities.
Write. Let politicians know that they need to take action on climate change today.
Participate. Join, or help to start up, a committee at your workplace to lower their carbon footprint. Your boss will probably appreciate the savings to the company’s bottom line. This idea also applies to churches, schools and even towns.
Vote. Vote for governments that are going to invest in the environment (i.e., fund research and development into renewable energy, governments that are committed to improving public transit).
Learn. Continue to educate yourself about ways to tread lightly on the planet.
Are you ready to become an activist for our Earth? You do have the power to make a difference in your home, your community and across the globe. Don’t turn your back on what is the right thing to do.
Carbon Fast Challenge:
Filed under Carbon Fast, Green School and Churches, Taking it to the Streets | Comment (0)Giving Up Carbon For Lent: Week 3
Have you lessened your carbon footprint yet? Let’s review what we’ve done so far:
Week 1: Transportation - Our family is still continuing to walk when we can, combine errands to reduce our driving, keeping our tires properly inflated as well as keeping our cars clear of clutter.
Week 2: Shelter and Utilities - This week we turned down our thermostat two degrees during the day and an extra degree at night. We had already switched over our most-used bulbs to CFLs. I have a Kill-A-Watt on hold at our local library. I can’t wait to use it! I am also still completely forgetting struggling to remember to unplug appliances when they are no longer in use. This is definitely something that I am going to work hard to make a habit. FINALLY (and this is a bit tongue in cheek) I hardly did any laundry this week, saving both water and electricity. However, the mountains of laundry that are currently piled up are going to need to be done sometime!
So this brings us to Week 3:
Shopping
I’ve already challenged you to Buy Sustainably. This follows along those same lines. Did you know that the fabric industry is one of the most polluting on the planet? Cotton soaks up 10% of the world’s pesticides and 25% of its insecticides. Countless barrels of oil go into weaving millions of synthetic garments a year. Were you aware that an acre of hemp absorbs five times more carbon dioxide than an acre of forests? Hemp uses much less pesticide and herbicide, and grows faster than cotton without stripping the soil as it grows. Hemp grows well in sandy soil, thus making it an excellent alternative to growing tobacco. Bamboo is also an extremely fast-growing crop (it is actually a grass) and is considered much more sustainable than traditional cotton.
So what can we do to reduce our carbon footprints when shopping?
1. Consider a shopping fast for the remainder of Lent. Only buy the essentials (and be honest with yourself about what truly is essential)!
2. Simplify. Buy less. Separate ‘needs’from ‘wants’. Resist advertising that turns everything into a “need”.
3. Take your own bags when you do go shopping.
4. Buy thrift vintage.
5. Freecycle.
6. If you need something new, consider organic cotton, hemp or bamboo clothing. More and more options are becoming available.
7. Look for clothes made with “Tencel” and “Ramie.”
8. Buy the best quality you can afford, so that you are not replacing items so often.
9. Avoid excess packaging.
10. Replace items only when you really need to.
11. BUY LOCAL!!!!
This really is only the beginning. We have become a consumer society and often shopping is done as recreation. I know I have been certainly guilty of that! Lent is the perfect season for some serious soul-searching. What are we buying? What is its true cost compared to its price? Will buying more ’stuff’ really make me happier?
I am personally going on a shopping fast for the remainder of Lent (aside from food of course). Trust me, this is not going to be an easy goal for me.
How do you plan to reduce your shopping footprint?
Filed under Carbon Fast, Green School and Churches | Comments (3)
