It’s so simple. I never knew about solar lights before, but it seems they sit in your lawn charging throughout the day, and then automatically turn on at night (or they’re always on as long as they have enough charge?). So why not use them inside the home too?
Get a few from the hardware/garden store and rig them up to hang in any window that gets sunlight in the evening. Then, come nightfall, they’re providing you with plenty of free light to last as long as you need. Apparently, however, there’s no way to turn them off, but who cares, because the electricity is free and clean and you can put them in another room or drape a piece of fabric over them when you’re ready to go to bed. It sounds like they’re pretty affordable too.
Get the whole lowdown here, at Dawn’s Frugal for Life blog.
We’re going out to live something of an indoor/outdoor existence at my girlfriend’s father’s house for the next couple months. It’s a small house, so we’re probably going to set up a big tent in the yard to sleep in and spend a lot of our awake time on the porch or elsewhere on the property. I’m going to get me a few of these lights on the way out there and try them out. Why ever pay for lighting again?
So we’re moving this week. So we need boxes. A boatload of boxes.
But we resisted the temptation to buy them from the UPS store this afternoon. Why? Because there are plenty of boxes on this Earth already.
So we used a couple my mom brought us from her hospital. We got creative with some other packing maneuvers, made extra space by consolidating some boxes we already had, and mom’s bringing a heck of a lot more boxes tomorrow.
Ooooh, that little green light really drives
me crazy! And yeah, I own a Kawasaki
DVD/CD player. So what?
I finally got home to my apartment tonight. For various and sundry reasons, my 10 day trip had extended to nearly 2 months, and so the apartment had been closed up for almost all that time (thanks to my Mom for saving my plants and Mike for saving my overstressed mailbox).
When I arrived home, I was delighted to find that I’m brilliant. Before leaving in February, I had switched off the power strip that feeds my television and stereo. This is particularly important because my stupid stereo sits on standby when it’s not on. I’ve heard some unbelievable statistics about the amount of U.S. energy wasted on standby electronics, but since it’s late and I’m sick, I’ll search for those specifics another day.
For now, suffice it to say, the simple flip of a switch saved me a bunch of money and the Earth a bunch of energy. In the future I’m going to power down every night — not just before trips.
I really needed some healthy yummy juice yesterday, so I bought a bottle (at the local food co-op in Mount Rainier, of course - Glut represent!). This morning I really needed some healthy yummy water, so I poured some from the tap (through a Brita filter of course because this is Washington DC and I have no interest in spending the rest of my week here in the bathroom), and into yesterday’s juice bottle. I carried it around with me all day — to a conference, to the park, even to a coffeeshop — refilling it in water fountains when necessary. What are the advantages of this?
(1) tap water is free. bottled water is not free.
(2) No extra bottle means 1 less plastic bottle produced, 1 less bottle of water shipped across the country, 1 less plastic bottle sitting in a landfill somewhere. If I use this bottle all week, that’s 7 less bottles. If I get a permanent water bottle, like a Nalgene, that means hundreds fewer bottles produced, shipped, and sent to landfills every year — just because of me. That feels good.
(3) I get a hint of flavor in my water.
(4) I get to carry my “Naked” bottle around longer.
Do you know that human beings spend $100 billion dollars on bottled water every year, but for just $15 billion a year everyone on the planet could have safe drinking water and proper sanitation? It’s true. Did you ever stop to think that, at $1.50-$2.50 per liter ($6-10 per gallon), bottled water costs twice what gasoline costs in the United States? Get the whole low-down on the implications of buying bottled water from this excellent OneWorld article from last year.
Seems like an inocuous thing to do. It was one of those one-person-at-a-time bathrooms in a small restaurant. Imagine how much electricity is wasted every day in all the millions of small public bathrooms not being used! Think about all the bathroom lights that get left on all night long because the person who pays the bills isn’t around at closing time. It was around the end of the night when I came out of this bathroom and turned out the light, so it’s possible I saved a whole night’s worth of electricity. Maybe not, but a girl can dream, right?
Staying on the anti-leather theme today. It might seem difficult to find dress shoes and running shoes that aren’t made from dead cow parts. But I’ve discovered that, once you start looking — and particularly once you start to know where to look — it’s actually not that hard. You might not have the same selection, sure, but you can find some sweet kicks.
Today I bought a nice pair of dress shoes and some Doc Marteniques from Payless. Yep, Payless. Turns out they sell a lot of shoes made of “all man-made materials.” I doubt they stock them for the same reasons I like to buy them, but who cares. I’m also not quite sure what exactly is meant by “all man-made materials,” — probably I should try to find out — but for now I know it’s not leather anyway.Check out the brand State Street. They do some good work, and no cows are harmed in the process (that I know of).
To buy online, check out vegshoes.com — they’re based in the UK, but they’ll ship anywhere.
Normally I don’t buy magazines like Time that provide mostly news bytes with little real context or deeper exploration of issues. But the April 9 edition includes 51 things each of us can do to reduce our impact on global warming. Some great ideas — many of them simple and as such really in line with this blog. Includes things like bringing your own bags to the grocery store (the thought that launched this blog), going vegetarian (cuts 1.5 times more carbon even than switching from a regular car to a hybrid), and building a bamboo fence.
I’ve only flipped through it so far, but my mother- and father-in-common-law read through it all this afternoon and said there were a bunch of things they realized they already do, and a bunch of things that are not that practical to do easily at home. But there are certainly also some good ideas that we can start doing immediately and some others we’re going to file away for later.
Sign up to have your home powered with renewable energy.
The view from 32,000 feet—
each turbine is about 10 stories tall.
The Earth from above — there’s almost no more amazing sight. I’ve been flying back and forth between NY and Colorado fairly frequently over the past few years, and despite my long legs, I always take a window seat and generally keep my face pressed to the pane the whole time. Across those 1,800 miles of farmland, hills, dales, small towns, and big cities, Friday was the first time I ever saw a windfarm. A sign of the changing times, I’d say.
I saw a few windmills from below once when driving in West Virginia. You can’t imagine how big these suckers are until you stand below one. Most are about 10 stories or more these days. Once you understand their size, the sight of 50 of them from 32,000 feet is all the more impressive.
Over the last ten years (through the end of 2005), wind energy-generating capacity grew by an average of 29 percent worldwide More…
When your car is supposed to be serviced, don’t put it off.
Don’t try and extend the time between oil changes in your car, it will end up costing you more in fuel and increases the pollution levels your car pumps out.
According to EarthEasy.com, a poorly tuned engine will use up to 50% more fuel and pump out 50% more emissions. Also, be sure to change clogged air filters that can eat up 10% of your fuel efficiency.
Another fuel and environment saving tip is to check and maintain your tire pressure regularly. I know More…
My wife came across this tip about ten years ago when she was trying to grow her hair long and healthy. It is actually healthier for your hair and scalp to not shampoo your hair every day, according to Marie Claire Healthy Hair 101 and the Embracing Women’s Health site. The natural oils from your scalp, once adjusted to producing the correct amount, are very beneficial to healthy hair. In addition to being healthy, it is also good for the your wallet and the environment. As a guy with short hair, if you skip shampooing your hair every other day, you can save about 2 minutes of water and the energy to heat it. For folks with longer hair it is even more important and the savings add up faster.
My wife had been encouraging me to skip washing my hair every day when I shower for a few years. Her main reasons were to save time and give me the flexibility to not need a shower every single day. She also More…
It’s so simple. I never knew about solar lights before, but it seems they sit in your lawn charging throughout the day, and then automatically turn on at night (or they’re always on as long as they have enough charge?). So why not use them inside the home too?
So we’re moving this week. So we need boxes. A boatload of boxes.
Actually it was a juice bottle first.
Don’t try and extend the time between oil changes in your car, it will end up costing you more in fuel and increases the pollution levels your car pumps out.
