Ice, ice baby. And snow. Two treacherous forces we face every winter, but there are environmentally friendly ways to combat each of them. Let’s talk about snow first.
The New Year is Here! And some people are making resolutions and setting goals to do more this year. The Green Queen wants to be different. She wants to do less…by reducing her carbon footprint on the world. The only way to reduce your carbon footprint is to cut down your impact on the environment. There are a lot of options you can choose from to help achieve this effect.
1) Go to Work a Different Way:
a) Don’t drive your car,
b) Take mass transit,
c) Ride your bike,
d) Or even run/walk.
You’ll get into better shape, save money and help protect the planet all at the same time.
2) Use natural remedies to heal your ailments.
a) Slice large onions and lay them on your chest, to help clear-up sinus congestion.
b) Steam a pot of water, add a teaspoon of crushed lavender, hold a towel over your head and inhale the warm revitalizing scent.
c) Pour 1/2 cup of Epsom salt into your bath to help soothe aching, tired muscles.
3) Use Products a Different Way.
With the new year here people often want to clean out the old and here’s how to do it without polluting the planet.
a) Use vinegar and water to wash your windows and even your clothes. You can mix 1/4 cup of vinegar in a quart of water. Moisten a dry cotton cloth with this mixture and you can wipe down your counter tops, appliances and even your bathroom.
b) Use a slice of lemon to clean the bottom of your copper pots and pans. Simply rub the copper with lemon juice and salt and you will be awe…mazed.
c) Use baking soda to clean out your refrigerator. Take two tablespoons of baking soda and mix it in a quart of water. Use a sponge and dip it in the liquid to clean your appliances.
People haven’t always had store bought cleansers that were full of dyes, perfumes and chemicals. They used vinegar, baking soda and scrub brushes. You can too!
Posted in health, house stuff, Uncategorized
Tagged Have A Small Impact, Protect the Planet, Reduce Your Carbon Footprint
Recycla’s daughters got a lot of plastic gift cards for Christmas, which is an easy gift for grandparents, aunts, and uncles to give two middle schoolers. After all those iTunes cards were entered into the girls’ iTunes accounts, what remained was a stack of plastic cards that needed to be disposed of in some way.
Posted in 3 Rs
Like many folks, Enviro Girl begins each new year with a resolve to eat healthier–and get her family to eat healthier, too. Given the choice between a bag of chips and a bag of carrots, her family will always reach for the chips. The men in her household are huge carb junkies, leaving almost no room for the other food groups. But over the years, here are a few ways she’s encouraged their fruit and veggie consumption:
Everywhere people are taking down their Christmas decorations and storing them for another year. But what to do with that slightly dried-out Christmas tree in the corner of your living room? Whatever you do, do NOT shove it in your garbage dumpster! Your tree does NOT belong in a landfill–there are plenty of environmentally responsible ways to recycle or even extend the lift of that tree.
Sometimes Eco Lassie only has to look inside her pantry or cabinets to find home remedies that really work. All of these she’s going to mention have scientific proof behind them that they work — trust her, she’s a nurse!
Since Enviro Girl shared her eco resolutions for 2012 yesterday, Recycla thought she’d share hers today so that you can see that even within the Eco Women, their goals differ greatly. Because even here within the group of six Eco Women, they are at different places in their eco-ness and what they can do and are willing to do. For example, the Green Mommy lives in a major city and doesn’t own a car, so she walks or takes the subway to get around. On the other end of the spectrum, Enviro Girl and Eco Lassie live in rural areas and rely on their cars for nearly 100% of their transportation needs. In between, Recycla, the Green Clean, and Captain Compost are able to walk and bike sometimes, but sometimes also need to drive.
Posted in Uncategorized
Enviro Girl views New Year’s Resolutions as a way to evolve. Each year she sets personal goals, sometimes with the intent of changing her habits and behavior and sometimes just to challenge her personal development. Over the years she has adopted “greener” behaviors, like diligently composting food scraps and recycling plastic bags. Let’s recap her 2011 resolutions:
Everyone starts a new year with plans to improve–lose weight, save money, take a risk, accomplish a goal. Enviro Girl thinks everyone should start the new year with an Eco-resolution, one small thing they can do to improve the environment. The small things add up, as illustrated in this recent post over at Fake Plastic Fish. Here are some free, incredibly convenient and easy Eco-resolutions for you and your friends to try:
We hope you have a healthy, happy and green New Year!
Love,
The Eco Women
“Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind ?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and old lang syne ?
CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne. ” Robert Burns (Scottish Song)
Posted in Uncategorized
