FLYing Green!!! : Share the ways you help keep our world green!! Options

[Cuppa Coffee]

Yes, good advice, Nashes - and I agree, it is important to remember recycling is the 3rd thing down the list - reducing and re-using come first.

going no poo
eating less fast food for less fast food waste, esp takeout coffee cups
buying organic and/or local
buying less
buying good quality and using it until it wears out and then fixing it and using it longer

I get points 2 - 5 but what do you mean by 'going no poo'??

is this an American saying I am not aware of or a typo??

Please explain

[Nashes]

Not a typo, Cuppa, lol. No poo refers to cutting out conventional shampoos (made with sulfates and such) and using gentler cleansing methods on your hair and scalp (often a baking soda solution to wash and an apple cider vinegar solution to rinse and condition). Babystepping was going well for me but you need to up the physical scrubbing when you give up that toxic foaming lather and right now I am one-armed due to surgery. When I have healed enough, I will go back to it. I have to say that my curly hair loved no-poo days.

[ShinyStella]

So true Cuppa, reducing and reusing should be the priority.
Some people are very good about recycling but recycling takes up energy and moving the materials to the recycling plants take up fuel, so it is nice to work on reducing to begin with.

Nashes, congrats on being green even in your personal and home care!
I hope to one day be able to move on to those things as well!

At the moment i am focused on reducing waste when it comes to food preparation, which in the US can be soo crazy. Here in NYC we get all food delivered and tons of take away which means a lot of containers that end up in the trash.

My usual lunch is a salad.
Tomatoes are not local, but i get them unpackaged and just put then in my reusable bag. (no waste)
The cucumber is regional which is good. also upackaged, (no waste, small fuel to get it to supermarket)
The olives are in a glass jar, I go though about 1 a month. I need to figure out how to buy them without the jar, sadly, weighed olives are WAY more expensive.
I sometimes add hard boiled eggs which i buy read from Trader Joes, this is a lazy habit that i picked up recently and need to go back to basics and boil my own eggs, so as to not have plastic bag the eggs come in, but only have to compost the egg carton.

Goal : Next week i will boil 3 eggs ahead of time and bring to the office to add to salads.

[Nashes]

Shiny, as far as impact on the environment, glass jars aren't all that bad. First you can reuse them, second they don't leach chemicals into the food or whatever you keep in them and third glass is easy to recycle for recycling facilities and it's not all that damaging in a landfill either (it won't pollute the ground, water or air). I always choose glass over plastic and I reuse jars for storing bulk ingredients and such.

I made my concentrated-tea water flavourer in a gherkin jar. My peppermint water is delish, thanks for the idea!

[Medusa Hair]

I agree, glass is good, much better than plastic.

Today I went and bought some barn laid eggs from the local chicken farm, much better than what you can get from the supermarket.

[Cuppa Coffee]

Yes when we had our backyard chooks, the eggs tasted much better than supermarket bought ones.

[ShinyStella]

Thanks Nashes!
Yeah, glass is not too bad but im running out of uses for the ones i have and feel bad chucking them. Just found a farmers market of sorts that sells olives so ill try them instead.

I love the fresh organic eggs but they are twice as expensive as the ones at the supermarket. Only makes sense to eat them soft boiled by themselves to enjoy the taste, instead of hard boiled muddled with the taste of a salad?

Ps. this may sound gross but yesterday my boss made some coffee and i felt like i wanted some and it had run out, so i just put one cup of water and made the coffee with the same beans/filter. The machine was still warm from the previous batch and well, im not that picky about my coffee when im sitting in front of the comp, just wanted a little kick. It worked! Wont make a habit out of it, but do feel bad about loading the machine with new filter and coffee for just one mug....

[Medusa Hair]

I wish we could have chickens, the back yard is too small

But we are so lucky to have a lovely barn kept chicken farm really close. The eggs are so much better than the store bought cage ones!

[prairie wind]

I live in a small town and we are able to recycle plastics, aluminium, and paper including cardboard. I can recycle glass but have to take it only a block away. We have replaced our old bulbs as they died and I think we have all of the newer ones now. My church recycles batteries and eyeglasses and also glass, paper, aluminium. I do try to conserve water. I keep the temp set at 68 in the winter and 77 in the summer.

Thank you for more ideas.

[Medusa Hair]

Latest thing I am going to try - bicarb as a path weed killer. It is safe for everything but plants

[bent]

@ shiny- sorry haven't been here in a bit=) yes i have a sewing maching and it does make it easier.
bought a 25 yr water filter so no more bottled water, bought 64 oz non-bpa water jugs for us all.


i hve fell off the wagon of green this two weeks (been using chemicals for oven cleaning, floor cleaning, floor waxing as inspections have been moved up two months to next week) - i use lemon juice, baking soda, vinegar, peroxide, usually to clean -ds and i are both sensitive to chemical smells) I've opened all the windows and used the fans to draw out the smells of the wax.

[Medusa Hair]

Used Ammonia for oven cleaning (worked much better than commercial cleaners!)

Have put up aluminum foil on DD's and laundry windows to keep heat out (it is spring here in Australia) as I have heard it works wonders. Was easy to put on and so far keeps light out.

[Canrunner]

Most of my green stuff has already been suggested, but here is what I do.

I have a solar panel for my hot water heater. It's 200 litres so I almost never run out.
I have cloth sanitary napkins, yes I do have way less cramps! And not as icky as you think.
I grow my own herbs, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini. I am a terrible gardener, all I do it water daily.
Line dry clothing. I have a dryer, and have used it about 5 times in the last year.
Use vinegar mixed with water and a drop of dish soap as a multi-purpose spray (swish and swipe, windows, spills, etc)
Use vinegar to mop floors
Compost veggie/fruit scraps, egg shells, paper products.
We have to pay 3 or 5 cents per plastic bag in supermarkets so I always have reusables in the car.
I use teatowels for everything! Cleaning, drying, windows. I only use papertowels on the REALLY disgusting stuff (ex. cat vomit)
I recycle. Lucky I have a recycling depo at the end of my street.

Fortunately I live in a warm and arid climate so I can air dry clothing year round etc.
Unfortunately we cannot drink the tap water so it's 100% plastic bottles.

Even if you recycle I heard for every plastic unit produced there is 3 times it's own weight in byproduct. So try to opt for less packaging!