lowimpacthome.org

Tonight I was thinking of frugal ways to save the planet while buying dinner makings and as I perused the pasta section, spaghetti sauce came to mind.You can buy it at my grocery store in 4 different ways.

1. In a 2 serving plastic container

2. In a 4 serving glass jar

3. In a 4 serving aluminum can

4. In a 2 serving foil and plastic pouch

Now I bet you can guess which one I prefer, but I’m gonna tell you anyway.

First the 2 serving plastic container…I’ll be honest and tell you that I have bought this sauce before. It tastes much better then most of the jar and can sauces and you kinda get a 2 for 1 deal since you can use the plastic container again. But if you are on a plastic free quest, like me, this is not the answer. Not only is it made of plastic that helps to fuel our oil addiction, it’s a smaller serving that costs almost twice as much. Neither one of these things gives it high marks on my list.

Obviousily the glass jar is my pick for the most econimical and earth friendly but let’s talk about the other items first.

Aluminum is recycable, so if you are a diehard canned sauce fan this is not the worst you could do. It also comes in a larger size so you can get more servings out of the can, but iit doesn’t have a lid so you can’t store the leftovers very easily and the inside of the can is lined with plastic. Still not a great choice but not the worst one.

What is the worst choice you ask…the 2 serving foil package. Granted it’s pretty cool that you can warm your sauce in the microwave in it’s own pouch but gesh aren’t you about to pour it over hot pasta that will warm it up anyway? Personally I think it’s an ingenious design, but look at all the extra plasticy foil packaging that is left over. You can’t reuse it. You can’t recycle it. You can’t do anything with it but throw it away in the trash. This is a bad bad choice!

Like I said before, the winner is the 4 serving jar of sauce. The jar itself is recycable. It’s resealable so you can store the leftovers. It’s alot cheaper then the foil pouch and plastic container and as for taste it ranges from ok to really tasty. The other plus…you can buy several different flavors like garlic, mushroom, veggie lovers. So it means that you can get more bang for your buck and you are not stuck eating the same thing over and over again.

Leave comments on this question…What sauce do you buy and why? Could it be considered eco-friendly?

I was reading through a maganize the other day while I was sitting in the waiting room of my Doctor’s office and I noticed something interesting.  As I flipped through I stopped to look at an Ad Council’s ad about Global Warming, it was simple and to the point, but on the adjacent page there was an ad for the new Lincoln MKS a car that gets 17mps in town.  Now I am not sure who approved that layout but it seems pretty ironic to me that one page says “What are you doing about Global Warming?” and the very next page has a car that has a much larger carbon footprint because of it’s lack of fuel efficiency.

I don’t use ads on my site, some of my blogging friends do and that’s ok, but it’s hard to keep ads that you don’t approve of off the site when you use some of the ad generators.  Hey it would be great if I could make a little money selling ad space, it would help pay for the upkeep of the site and the other fees associated with running a website but I don’t want any “ironic” ads appearing on my site and causing controversy.

I mean if I was the Ad Council I would be furious.  They are trying to get the good green word out and the magazine is pushing a car that goes against most everything environmentalists believe in.

For one thing I don’t think an environmentalist would buy a brand new car that costs over 35k.  Secondly if they were going to spend that kind of money they would at least buy a car that has better fuel efficiency like the Prius or another hybrid car.  Yeah it’s true that the MKS is a V-6 and it has a lot of getupandgo but I hope most environmentalists are hyper-milers and so speed doesn’t matter.

I’m glad that the Ad Council is trying to get the word out and I know that the other advertisers have so many ads that it’s hard to keep irresponsible ads away from the more environmentally savy ones but let’s push magazines to trade their usual “black” ads for the “green” ones and maybe we can get the word out to more people in less time.

There is a new commercial out from Discover Card that makes me very angry.  I looked for it on You Tube and couldn’t find it but let me give you the jist.

It says that it’s not a big deal to spend, spend, spend.  I believe what they say is…We are a country of consumers and that’s not a problem.  The problem is that there is just so much stuff to buy.  But maybe if credit card companies were different it wouldn’t make a difference how much stuff we bought.

Of course they are pushing their new website and their “Bright Idea” campaign, but in my opinion they are pushing people to spend more money and not think about the consequences until after they “put it on the card”.  They are saying that since their company is going to “help” you pay down your balance smarter, that it shouldn’t matter what you spend since you will be able to pay it off how you want.

I don’t have any credit cards, anymore.  I am still paying off a small balance but at the rate I am paying it, it’s gonna take me more then a year and it’s gonna cost me $150 in interest charges.  I agree it’s easy to pay with plastic.  Even now with my debit card I sometimes forget to think about the amount of the purchase that I am making but now it comes out of my checking account immediately so there is no chance of me not being able to pay it off in a month.

I know it’s hard not to want the newest and greatest thing but just like all other purchases, it affects the world around you every time you buy something.  It had to come from some plant that is producing waste and possibly toxic waste.  It had to be shipped to the store where you bought it and that truck, plane or train was pumping out air pollution and burning foreign oil.  The item that you replaced or when the item has been used up, has to be thrown out and take up room in a landfill.  If it is recycable, it will probably be shipped halfway round the world to a developing country where there are not the same safeguards and they will more then likely be exposed to chemicals that will someday kill them or at least make them very ill.

We need to pay attention to all the purchases that we make.  It’s more then the money that it costs.  It’s about the after effects.  Always ask the question…what does this really cost?  And always remember…there is more to life then stuff.

In a small town in Germany called Marburg there is a heated debate over a new mandate requiring solar panels.

“The ordinance, the first of its kind in Germany, will require solar panels not only on new buildings, which fewer people oppose, but also on existing homes that undergo renovations or get new heating systems or roof repairs” says the Marburg Journal. There is even a hefty fine of $1500 for violators.

This brings up the question…Can the government require us to become green? Most cities has Municipal Codes that require many things, could those include green issues?

For example in my city, as I found out recently, requires hot water heaters that are in closets to have louvers on the door so the hot water heater can “breathe”. The hot water heater has been just fine in my closet for the past 15 years why now can I not put the regular door back on the closet? I’m sure that they have a good reason for requiring louvers, I’m sure it’s for safety but if they require that could they have required me to install a solar powered hot water heater?

Now I would have loved to install solar power hot water heater, I would not have blinked an eye if I would have been required to install one, but would my neighbors feel the same if they were in the same situation. The issue with installing one at my house would not have been my feelings but the lack of sunlight because of the large trees in my yard. They are great to keep the house cool but interrupt the sunlight enough that solar power cells on my roof would be rendered almost useless, this goes for my neighbors also.

To require solar power would mean the loss of a lot of beautiful old growth trees and not to mention the expense of cutting them down.

Personally I think that the Government needs to step up and fund more alternative power sources but I don’t think that they can require someone to go green. I think that it is a personal choice to decide whether or not they want to join in the fight to save the planet. Now of course I think that it’s terrible if you recognize the signs of global warming and don’t do anything about it, but hey it’s your call and your bad karma.

What do you think?  Can the government require you to be green?  Sound off and let me know what you think.

Back at the beginning of the year we discussed how to keep energy costs down and now that we are in the thick of the summer season (and the fact that my bill had a significant increase last month) means that it’s time to talk about it again.

The fact that my bill went up by $45 unnerves me. My LGW has an awesome website that has a tracker that compares the previous year’s and June/July had an increase of 100 kwHrs, which brings my total KwHrs to 1507. This upsets me because I have been making sure that the thermostat stays higher then last year, so I am not sure what the increase is all about.

So here are 5 things you can do to decrease your energy usage during the summer months:

1. Clean your air filter…this you need to do about once a month for most filters but others are rated for up to 3 months. I know I have said this before but your air conditioner needs to breathe and with a dirty filter it can’t breathe properly. Most air filters are a couple bucks a piece, unless you use the more expensive allergen filters, so there should be nothing keeping you from doing changing the filter on a regular basis.

2. Turn on your fans…you can lower the temperature of a room several degrees just by turning on the fan and it costs far less to run a fan all day then it does to have your a/c running. Also make sure that your fan is running in the right direction. According to Bob Vila your fan should be rotating counter clock-wise in the summer to provide a breeze and correct movement of the air in the room. He agrees with the fact that using the fans is beneficial and even says that you can save up to 40% on your cooling bills just by turning on the fan.

3. Use the grill…who would have thought that the old grill would save on a/c costs, well it does cause it keeps you from heating up the inside of your house. The simple fact of leaving off the oven or stove not only saves your KwHrs but keeps the house cooler and keeps the a/c from compensating and over cooling the house. Now I am sure that some people will disagree with me on the use of a grill because of the charcoal or the cancer causing grill marks, but if that’s the case just use the microwave.

4. Close the blinds…what a strange thing to do in the beautiful summer time but it helps to again not heat the house. If you are really gun-ho use some tin foil on the windows that face the east. If the blinds are closed and those windows are in the back of the house, no one will ever know and your a/c will thank you.  The less sun that comes in your windows the cooler the house will stay and the less the a/c will be on which in turn lowers your bill.

5. Raise the thermostat…no brainer right?  Well it’s easy to make it a no brainer especially if you install a programmable one.  Keep it warmer in the house when you are away at work or school and at night and have it a little cooler when you are home in the evening.  Of course the best thing to do is open the windows at night but in more humid climates that might not be an option.  I know around here the humid nights make it more miserable to sleep then sleeping with the windows closed and the thermostat a little higher.  If you are going to make it warmer in the house during the day, just make sure not to make it to warm or you will lose all your savings while the a/c runs for and hour to cool the house back down again.  Remember that a few degrees can make all the difference.

Take and use these tips and report back to what your savings are…I know I will.

Hey guys !  Sorry I haven’t been around for a few weeks but sometimes life just gets in the way of what we love the most.  I’ll be back in full swing tomorrow…See you then!

I’m working on a great post for Earth Day so I thought I would just talk about an amazing phenomenon that I seem to have encountered this Spring.

We all know the saying…April showers bring May flowers.  What do May flowers bring…allergies, of course!  Well here in the Mid South we are encountering flooding along with the showers, in fact the Mississippi is just below flooding out our Memphis and May celebrations.  Yeah I know May is still a few weeks away but if the rain keeps up the Music Fest, aka Mud Fest, will be forever known as the Flood Fest.  I guess that’s what you get when you put a large scale festival mere feet from a river.  Anyway…I digress…

The rain normally starts in the midmorning or afternoon, so normally I don’t think about bringing my umbrella in since the sun is out and there are no clouds in the sky.  But recently I have been very interested in the weather patters and I have been checking the Weather Channel before I go to bed.  Because in April temps can be in the 80’s one day and in the 40’s the next.  So because I have been paying attention I have been bringing my umbrella into work with me, but on those days that I bring my umbrella it hasn’t rained.  Even when the forecasters call for terrible weather, like tornadoes and hail, if I bring my umbrella in with me it rains everywhere else but here.   Weird isn’t it?

Well guess what happened today?  I knew it was going to rain, in fact I heard the weather forecast right before I got out of the car, but I didn’t bring my umbrella with me.  It’s pouring outside, yep it’s raining.  Because I didn’t bring my umbrella it’s raining.

Does this happen to anyone else?  Let me know…

Earth Day is next week and I want to know what you are doing to celebrate.

I will be celebrating a day early at the Shelby Farms Earth Day Celebration. My other website will have it’s debut in the Memphis community, I have a sign and everything! I feel so official…

So what are you doing? Is your town putting out the green carpet? Or are you going to make a statement and not go to the wasteful celebrations? I know I will be watching out for waste and excessive plastic usage. I will report my findings on Monday morning.

So whats Earth Day mean to you? Let me know at abigail@greenermemphis.com.

So many of my plastic free friends have gone to shaving the old fashion way (with a straight razor)…I just can’t bring myself to do that, so I have opted for waxing. 

I am very lucky in the fact that the hair on my legs is very blonde and hardly noticable, so I can go long periods of time in between waxings, so the money that I do spend on it works out to about the same cost as buying disposable razors, shaving cream and all the band aids that I use!  Plus I get the added benefit of a great exfoliation, so I don’t have to buy plastic peleted exfoliation creams.  (Bet you didn’t know that those scrubbers in your exfoliant were actually little pieces of plastic, did ya?)  The best part is the great conversation between me and the esthetician, it’s 30 minutes of uninterrupted adult talking.  No phone ringing, no kids begging for attention, no husband playing the radio to loudly (sorry love, love you anyway!), no it’s just to women talking about anything that pops into our heads…it’s fantastic! (as you can tell I need more women friends)

Now I have done my research on waxing and there are pros and cons, but to me if it means that I don’t have to buy and dispose of more plastic it’s all good.  I know that it would be cheaper to go out and buy a metal razor, but if I can cut myself with a 3 bladed, wire coated, flexable head plastic razor…I can’t imagine what I would to with a single blade that doesn’t flex.  Anyway I need to ditch my razor to cancel out my husband’s.  He’s “bald” and I would like to keep it that way and to do that it means that he goes through a razor a week, so if I don’t have to throw one away that’s one less that goes into the landfill.

Yesterday was a tough day to be at work.  I think I have mentioned it before but I have two large picture windows in my office, so there are days like yesterday when it is hard to get anything done except stare out the window.  The sun was out, there was a nice breeze and the golf course was looking very inviting.  All I wanted to do was get outside and feel the warmth of the sun instead of the yellow glow of the flourescent lights.

So as soon as I got home I opened every window and all the blinds to let the sunlight and breezes in.

It was a very quiet night at our house.  My son is grounded so there wasn’t much noise coming from his room and my husband was diligently working on one of his websites.  Someone has hacked us two times in two weeks and they are using one of the sites to send phishing emails so the host shuts us competely down (hope that it didn’t interrupt anyone’s nightly blog reading). 

I worked in my son’s room going through clothes to see what still fit and what we need to replace.  I got lucky and he has only gotten taller over the school year so I only need to replace some of his warn out t-shirts and buy one or two pairs of shorts.  Next we will go through my husbands closet, I know he has some pretty warn out pants that need to be replaced. 

After all the clothes sorting I got to actually sit on the couch and not do anything.  Usually on Wednesday nights we are normally running around eating a quick dinner and driving to rehersal and then home to get kids showered and in bed before 9.  Makes for a busy evening and makes it hard to wind down and get a good nights rest.  But last night I was able to gently relax and get a good night’s sleep.  In fact I slept so well that I was actually awake before my alarm went off…I just didn’t get out of bed for a while. 

It is an overcast day so this morning at 6:15 is was very dark, so I couldn’t make myself get up until I saw some sunlight.  I don’t know why but it is always much easier for me to get up in the winter time then the spring/summer.  Something about the time change and the lack of sunlight in the morning makes me just want to stay in bed. 

This weekend is supposed to be warm and it will be a good time to take the kids to the park and let them play.  I am hoping that the sun will be out and we can get some good pictures to send to the far away Grandparents.

What are your plans for the weekend?  Is the weather getting nicer where you are?  Will you be able to get out and play and enjoy the beauty of this awesome planet of ours?