Learning to go green (fertilizer, LED, better, powered)

[driftwoodpoint]

Buckeye in SC-what a great link with some super suggestions. I'm excited to learn more things I can do. I did grow tomatos this year, first garden in about 25 years! And I agree about being a Christian, this is God's creation, and we need to be good stewards of that gift. I want a good world for my grandkids.
We also eat very little meat. I like fish and my son in law hunts and we eat some of that meat. Nice to know it has no hormones in it!!! I worry about all the things they put in our food.
Inch by inch I will learn

[HappyTexan]

1 bottle of vinegar can replace a lot of specialty cleaning supplies.
Vinegar Tips - Cleaning with Vinegar

[nessatar]

Originally Posted by HappyTexan

1 bottle of vinegar can replace a lot of specialty cleaning supplies.
Vinegar Tips - Cleaning with Vinegar

That's what I use... with a little peppermint oil. I never have to worry about my kids getting under the kitchen sink, either! For anyone interested in homeade cleaners, I recommend Clean House, Clean Planet.

[yusufrawther]

plastic bags can be used in construction of roads by mixing them in tar.

[sponger42]

Ready for the hard stuff? Energy is where it's at. Conservation will help your wallet and the world.

Carpool, ride your bike, or walk. Do whatever you can to minimize the operating time on any vehicles you own. Running an automobile costs a massive amount of money and generates (literally) tons of pollution. A very conservative estimate is that each mile driven costs you $0.50. Simply by not circling the parking lot and walking in from the farthest space at a large store can save you dollars a week depending on your driving habits. Carpooling or finding alternate means can save you thousands.

Shut off your furnace during the times your home is not occupied, or lower the temperature to the minimum necessary to keep your pipes from freezing. The heat transfer rate out of your house is a function of the temperature gradient between the inside wall and outside wall. If you lower the inside temperature, the energy poured into the environment (and wasted) will be less during those cold hours. Even though your furnace will run longer when you get home and warm the house back up (if you must) you will have a net energy savings (good for your wallet and the environment). Steady-state operation of your furnace is more efficient, anyway. (One long warm-up run is more efficient than dozens of short temperature-maintenence runs). Heat individual rooms at night rather than the entire house. This might not be economical for very small houses, depending on your type of space heater (which tend to be very inefficient.) Try it out for a month and compare power bills.

Get tankless water heaters. In even medium-sized houses, these actually get your water hotter faster, and avoid the massive heat loss from warming up the pipes leading from the water heater to the spigot.

Switch to CFL, or if you can find it; LED lighting. LED is optimal, but very expensive initially. It lasts forever and power consumption is almost negligable compared to halogen or CFL's. Also, there's no mercury issue in their disposal. LED lighting is also very hard to find in the US, it's much more widely distributed (and cheaper) to consumers in more technologically-advanced countries like Taiwan and Japan.

[DreamWeavin]

Originally Posted by driftwoodpoint

I am just learning to go green. We have saved our cans for years but this year started finally sorting out my paper and cans and plastic. I now have a container I put old batteries in to take to a shop to recycle. I bought the cloth bags so I take those to the store now which I feel good about. I have lots of plastic sacks saved and I reuse those and whatever else I can think of.
I'm taking baby steps...what's next that I can do. I know I haven't changed my light bulbs yet...

great start...have you changed out those bulbs yet? It was something I procrastinated about but finally did and am so glad! Just start slowly and buy a few at a time. Did you know An ENERGY STAR qualified compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) will save about $30 over its lifetime and pay for itself in about 6 months. It uses 75 percent less energy and lasts about 10 times longer than an incandescent bulb? Amazing! Baby steps..........

[Jill61]

Originally Posted by riveree

*Stop junkmail

Some great resources for getting this done:

Catalog Choice - Control the catalogs you receive in the mail

https://www.optoutprescreen.com/?rf=t

https://www.dmachoice.org/

Other things you can do to go green:

• If you can afford it, and haven't already, switch from a top-loading washing machine to a front-loading washing machine. Not only does it conserve water, but they spin clothes more dry than top-loaders, requiring less drying time in the dryer.
• Start hanging clothes to dry outside when weather permits. If necessary, you can throw your clothes in the dryer for 5 minutes to fluff and soften them up when they're nearly dry, if the crispiness of outdoor drying would otherwise prevent you from doing it.
• Wash clothes in cold water when possible. As much as 85% of energy used in washing clothes goes to heating the water.
• Save and re-use yogurt, butter and other plastic containers instead of buying name-brand storage containers. Just make sure to mark them so you know what's really in them!
• Don't just bring your cloth bags to the grocery store, bring them to the clothing store or any other place where purchases are ordinarily placed in bags.
• Make sure your windows and doors are properly sealed so heat or a/c doesn't escape.
• Stop buying and drinking bottled water. If your tap water is truly intolerable, invest in a filter and some reusable water bottles.
• Use the library instead of the book store, for reading the latest best-seller. Same goes for movies and television shows -- many libraries have catalogs of DVDs for checkout, as well as books.
• Whenever you make an online purchase, offset the carbon-use of shipping by planting a tree for $2 at gaia.com.
• Check consignment shops and online resellers or trading sites like Ebay or freecycle.org before buying new.

Have fun!

[newhandle]

the first thing is to not have more than two children.

[tet tea]

Good for you going green!

- Go paperless and do your banking/bill paying online.
- Unplug all those unecessary appliances when not in use.
- Use tupperware instead of plastic ziploc baggies.
- Reduce the size of your trash can, and use a paper grocery bag instead of those huge plastic bags.
- Use old socks for dusters and rags. They can be washed again and again.

[Chi-town Native]

along the lines of the energy issue, if you're a homeowner make the modest investment of an energy audit. they'll identify the best bang-for-your-buck improvements for your house, many of them are likely to pay for themselves in a very short time.