After doing some research I have found that no one really knows how long that trash bag will take to biodegrade.  The reason…plastic has really only been around for the past 50 years or so, so it makes sense that no one really knows how long it takes.  Now depending on the bag thickness, it might develop a hole almost immediately since there is a lot of  mixing and turning that goes on in a landfill.  But if it’s a really good bag it might take a while for the sun and the rain to degrade the bag well enough that the elements finally get to the contents.  Only at that point will the “biodegradable” stuff start to decompose.

Now I’m not saying that it’s not important to use biodegrable packaging, in fact I would perfer that you do but we have to think further the just the packaging.  We have to think about the facilities to sort the items and if the people that will be at the event have the right mindset and if they are informed as to how and where to put their trash.

When I was at the Earth Day celebration they had volunteers at each pre-sort location.  The volunteers were to help gently inform the participants which barrel their specific trash belonged in.  Without those volunteers most people would have just thrown their trash into whichever bin was closer to them.  That’s the kind of thing that you have to do when you are teaching consumers how to better treat their trash.

At my house we have a bin for veg and fruit waste, 2 bins for recycables and another for “other” waste.  The small 13 gallon trash can in our house gets used so little that we can go for almost 2 weeks without emptying it.  We have a 30 gallon trash can for trash pick up that really only gets full every 2 1/2 weeks, but the recycle bins needs to be emptied once a week.

Yesterday I threw out the first piece of non-recyclable plastic that we have used in months and unfortunately there is plenty more where that came from.  I spoke about it a few days ago but we decided to join a food program called Angel Food Ministries and where as the program is great and you get to eat good food for a very reasonable price, everything comes wrapped in plastic.

I’ll be honest with you and say that after I lost my job I took the first one that I could find and the difference in pay has left a HUGE hole in our budget so unfortunately I am going to have to make a plastic sacrifice to be able to feed my family.  It’s only 1 piece of plastic a day that we are throwing out so it’s much less then the average family, but it still makes me sick to my stomach thinking about how far we had come in the past 10 months just to take steps in the wrong direction.  But I keep looking up and I continue to interview and I know that the Lord will bless me with the position that best provides for my family.

So in closing, if at all possible pass on the plastic bag.  Whether it’s the plastic baggie for your leftovers or the trash bag in your trash recepticle.  We do it in our house, I know that you can too!

I was reading Fake Plastic Fish while researching for this post, she took a trip through her local Walgreens and was appalled with what she found. (You can read the post here.) Plastic costumes, plastic wrapped candies…plastic, plastic, plastic.

One of our long standing traditions is that our kids get to go to the dollar store and pick out a present for everyone that will be at my parent’s house for Christmas. This way they actually get to put some thought into what they want to give to everyone and it’s not just mommy or daddy buying gifts. It’s very cute to watch a 5 year old’s eye light up when they find the “perfect” gift for their aunt and uncle. I think it’s the best part of Christmas since you never know what the reaction to the gift might be. Like last year when my youngest bought her 30 year old aunt a sparkly baton and my middle child bought his grandmother a rubber ducky paper weight. The gifts are so cute and from the heart but 9 times out of 10 they are made of plastic…you can’t ask for much when it only costs a dollar!

I’m not a big fan of buying my kids “toys”… wait before you judge me, let me explain. I mean toys that they will play with the day of Christmas or Halloween and never pick up again, toys that have no educational value. Now last year I bought several items to put into their Christmas stocking that I know went from the family room to the bottom of the toy box. How do I know? I saw them there the other day while cleaning out their toy boxes to give away unused toys to charity. The toy that I saw that made me the angriest was the puppy that knows your name and grows. I didn’t buy it, grandma did but I know she played with it one day and then the batteries wore out and no one every replaced them, so she never played with it again. And then when I asked if she wanted to give it to charity, she said no!

I love to buy my kids board games, puzzles and books and I leave it up to the grandparents to give them toys and other items that I don’t believe in buying…so don’t worry they have plenty of toys!

Normally the kids are with their father on Halloween so he is the one that forks over the cash to pay for the one time use costumes, when they are with me I normally get out the iron and the stich-whitchery and make them a costume…I can make a wicked princess outfit!

I haven’t had to face the “should I give out candy to the kids that come by?”, so I haven’t had to think about the plastic wrappers much. But I believe that if I was faced with a kid at my door I would probably cave and give him/her some candy…they are so cute on Halloween!

I’m going to talk more about my holiday plans in future posts, but until then…what are you going to do to reduce/eliminate the plastic from your holidays? Can you really celebrate without all the wrapping paper and bags and loud plastic guns? What are you getting people that you love for Christmas or Hanukah? Keep me posted!

Several months ago I pulled the plug on these energy guzzlers and saved mucho denero on my electricity bill.  Want to know how much?  Well at the begining of the summer I did 2 main things to save on my electric bill.  I turned up the thermostat and started unplugging or turning completely off all the energy wasters and the difference between this month’s bill and last September’s bill…500 kwh or $42! wo0t!  While other people are paying $200 for their utility bill we are paying $90 for gas and electricity.

So think about unpluggin all those items that have blinking or steady lights that stay on all the time, you never know how much money you might save!

It ment there were a few close calls when I had to run out into an inpending storm to roll up my windows, and there was the time that I knew it was going to rain but I was dumb and only rolled up the drivers side windows so everything on the passenger side was soaked.  It also ment on those 100 degree days that I broke a sweat just sitting in my car on my 8 minute drive home, but I made it and the benefits were great!

Before when I used the a/c I would only get an average of 25mpgs without the a/c I averaged 32mpgs, in fact my miles per gallon went up so much that one week I even got 34mpgs.  So out of every tank I was able to get an extra 70 miles.  With my daily round trip being 16 miles that meant I was able to get appromimately 4 more trips to work, so instead of filling up once a week I started filling up once everyother week.

Now I know that I changed a couple other driving habits that also helped in the consumption of fuel.  I stopped running yellow lights, well tried to at least.  When I light would turn yellow I wouldn’t floor it to make it through and gently pushed on the break and coasted to a stop.  I also tried not to travel over 40 unless I was on the highway and then I would only go 55.  To me this was the hardest thing to do because I have a lead foot.  Normally on the highway I would be pushing 80 and on the streets 55 weaving in and out of traffic.  But as I watched my gas meter plummet on those days that I was in a hurry and decided to exceed the speed limit, I realized that it wasn’t worth it.  Not only was I setting myself up to get a ticket, I was also wasting precious resources…my money and the nation’s petroleum reserves.

I recently went to get my oil change and after spending $45 for 4 quarts of oil and a filter (OMG!) with oil prices like that we need to change the way we are thinking about our driving habits.  Can you shorten your commute?  Can you share a ride with someone in your office?  Can you bring your lunch to work so you don’t have to go somewhere and eat?  Can you push the accelerator gently and ease up on your lead foot?  All these things make a difference in the amount of gas we use, take a minute to figure out what you can do to help ease the oil crisis.

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?

Anyway…at the Farmer’s Market I bought butter beans, corn, tomatoes, peaches, apples, cucumbers and lettuce.  What makes me sad is that the market is only open for a few more weeks and during the winter I won’t be able to go and get really tasty fruits and veggies.  I don’t know what it is but produce from the grocery store really doesn’t taste as good as farm fresh produce.  It’s probably cause they pick it early to ensure that it won’t be bad before it gets to the store.  I can’t explain it but something happens to food when it’s picked before it’s ripe.

The only problem with the Farmer’s Market…it’s not necessarly organic but lately, since I have been shopping at the grocery store, I haven’t been eating organic and with food prices who can?

I know, I know…you should only eat organic since it’s better for the environment but when I started this blog it was supposed to be about being green and practical.  And since my food budget hasn’t changed and the price of food has, something has to give.  While I agree that using pesticides are bad for your body and for the planet, so is paying $3.00 for a head of lettuce when you are trying to feed 6 people on $150 a week.  The trade off?  The way I see it…I am not buying one of those unnecessary convenience bags of pre-cut lettuce, that not only has been trucked around the world but has also contributed to our petroleum dependency.  When I buy lettuce from the Farmer’s Market I am buying a product that has been shipped less then 100 miles and hasn’t been packaged unnecessarily, especially when I bring my own bag to carry it in!

Now more about being practical and saving the planet…there is a fine line that we walk to help keep our planet in better shape and not break our pocketbooks.  Recently I was laid off because of the down turn of the economy, I worked in the sports industry and when people cut back on buying extra things the people that make those things take a hit and being the low-man on the totem pole I was the first to go.  But it’s made me really think about what I buy and how I can buy smarter.  Luckily I was able to find another job almost immediatly, it’s making quite a bit less then what we are used to so what we are able to buy will change dramtically.  I’ve been looking into local CSA’s and subscription services.  We found a food ministry called Angel Food Ministry, where for $30 you can get a box of food that will feed a small family for a week.  Typically the amount of food in the box would cost me $65 to $70 at the grocery store.  You don’t have to qualify, it’s open to anyone and there are delivery locations all over the US.  If I remember right there were 10 within 5 miles of my home.  You have to pay for the food upfront and by a specific date and then about 2 weeks later you pick it up at a nearby church.

We have all been affected by the turn of the economy and over the next few weeks I am going to continue to talk about what we can do to keep costs down but make a real difference in the life of our planet.  What have you had to do now that food costs are rising and paychecks are shrinking?

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.

Do people actually use that much stuff on their Chinese food?  Do you know how much sodium is packed into one of those packets?  I don’t think they have an expiration date so they are full of preservatives, do you really know what you are putting into your body?  Think of all the little plastic packages that are being thrown out each day because of Chinese take out!

As I thought about all those questions I watched my husband tear into a couple of the hot mustard packets and gobble it down with his spring roll.  I mean if I got 20 packages and let’s just say for easy of math that 100 other people who ordered take out that night received the same amount that’s 2000 plastic packages that are going into the landfill just from one restaurant in one night!

I thought it about that number some more…if you do a google search for “Chinese restaurants, Germantown TN” you get 6 restaurants with Germantown addresses (there are countless more in a 5 mile radius but I’m gonna stick with ones in my neighborhood).  If we use the same math with the average amount of packets in a take out bag as 20 and the average amount of take out customers in one day as 100…heck let’s say 50 to make it more believable…and the number of restaurants in the local area as 6.  That would bring the amount of plastic packets given out to 6000 in just one day!  Now if your like me I put most of them in my refrigerator, so let’s say only half get used and thrown away that day.  That’s 3000 plastic pieces added to the landfill just from Chinese food take out and only from a 3 mile radius!

Think about how much Chinese take out is eaten everyday…OMG!  Think of all that plastic that is needlessly thrown away everyday because we are eating take out.  Not only are there the Chinese plastic packets but there are ketchup packets and dressing packets, mayonnaise and barbecue packages, honey mustard dipping sauce containers, plastic lids from the drinking cups.  Mc Donalds alone serves 47 million customers a day around the world, think of all the plastic lids that are thrown out each day.  That adds up to millions of pounds of plastic that is discarded from our eating out, no wonder our ocean is full of trash!

So remember this…don’t just go through life ignoring the stuff that surronds you, it all has to end up somewhere and plastic doesn’t just decompose overnight.  Do you really need a lid on your cup?  Or what about that plastic straw, can you drink straight from the cup instead?  When ordering take out can you say hold the condiments, I have my own?  Most Chinese food condiments come in glass jars it would be so much better if you bought it in a larger size and were able to recycle the jar later then needlessly throwing away plastic packet after plastic packet.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…Don’t just do, think first then do.

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.