Author Archives: Daisy

Earth Month – Dispense with Paper Towels

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From Earth Month Challenge: 30 Easy Actions:  

For today, Treehugger suggests people try out Swedish dishcloths. These reusable cloths are super absorbent, can be washed more than 50 times, and eventually get tossed in the compost. I haven’t ordered mine yet, but the Treehugger folks swear by them.

I do make an effort to use rags and ordinary dish cloths as much as possible. We keep paper towels in the kitchen, but we don’t use many. I don’t think we use many. The best way to find out might be to put the paper towels somewhere less accessible so I don’t reach for them automatically.

Stay tuned for more eco-friendly actions throughout April – or go to Treehugger yourself!

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Earth Month: Day 10 – Laundry!

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From Earth Month Challenge: 30 Easy Actions:  

I hinted earlier that I addressed Day 10 a bit early because it was laundry day. Day 10’s action suggests that we Think About Air Drying. I’m glad Treehugger said “Think” because I just don’t need to feel guilty about not having a clothesline. With the environmental allergies in my family, there is no way I can hang sheets and most clothing outdoors to dry.

I can, however, use a drying rack indoors for a lot of our laundry. One of my habits is to wash jeans and heavy items first, hang them to dry during the rest of the process, and put them in the dryer last. By then they’re partially dry. The jeans won’t shrink as much, the wear and tear is minimized, and they’ll dry faster, too. The drying process adds a bit of humidity to the indoor air, too. What’s not to love? All in all, it works for me.

When my dryer was on the fritz and we could only use it for short periods of time, I was hanging everything on drying racks and dressers and end tables to shorten the machine drying time. It was a bother, but I realized I could do this if I had to. I’m grateful, though, that I don’t have to hang everything every time. I’ll keep air drying jeans and heavy sweaters to save energy and save wear and tear on the clothes.

Stay tuned for more eco-friendly actions throughout April – or go to Treehugger yourself!

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Earth Month – Day 8

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From Earth Month Challenge: 30 Easy Actions:  

Yesterday was laundry day, so I jumped into Day 10: Air Drying Laundry. Meanwhile, let’s go high/low tech for Day 9: Resist Double Spaces Between Sentences. According to Treehugger, the extra spaces in a published book really, really add up.

I learned about single spaces when I completed my graduate degree in Curriculum and Instruction. I was typing the old-fashioned way, the way we did in the 1970s and 1980s, when typewriters were the tool. It took me a while to adjust to the updated requirements (dang muscle memory!), but I’ve adjusted.

In terms of computer use, email, and text communications, that double or single space may not be as critical. However, if you’re in a position where emails and newsletters get printed, the single space could save pages and pages of papers.

If you’re still typing the Baby Boomer way (dare I call it Mid Century Modern?) with two spaces between sentences, make the effort to cut down to one. You’ll be glad you did.

Stay tuned for more eco-friendly actions throughout April – or go to Treehugger yourself!

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Catching Up With Earth Month

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I posted Treehugger’s suggestions for April 1 – 5, and then got lost in real life. Here we go; days 6, 7, and 8 of Earth Month’s actions.

From Earth Month Challenge: 30 Easy Actions:  

April 6: Check for leaky faucets. One dripping faucet can waste a lot of water – treated water. This is an environmental and frugal action. Check the faucets and the toilets for leaks!

April 7: Cook pasta in its sauce, not water. This, again, is a water saving and money saving action. I’ll add my own suggestion: use homemade broth for cooking pasta – or rice. It adds a hint of flavor and uses a resource that’s available and created from potential waste products. At least, my broths are made from scraps that would otherwise land in the compost.

April 8, today: Skip meat and cheese for a day. This one is tougher. I can handle skipping meat or minimizing meat to a side dish portion, but cheese? I’m a true blue Wisconsinite. Cheese is everything! But since Chuck developed a lactose intolerance, we haven’t eaten as much cheese as we used to. I don’t top the spaghetti with parmesan and mozzarella automatically – just to my portion and maybe Amigo’s. And where do eggs stand in this challenge? I had leftover rice and beans with fried eggs for lunch. Delicious! I need to give this some thought.

Stay tuned for more eco-friendly actions throughout April – or go to Treehugger yourself!

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And More Earth Month!

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From Earth Month Challenge: 30 Easy Actions:  

Today’s advice is interesting: Read an owner’s manual.

Indeed. I do keep mine. I have a stack of manuals in a cupboard, just in case I need them for reference. Appliances, especially the big ones, operate more efficiently when used according to directions. What a concept! I’m still learning the details of my new dryer so I can waste less energy heating it. Reviewing the manual helps me choose the best settings to do that.

Stay tuned for more eco-friendly actions throughout April – or go to Treehugger yourself!

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Earth Month, All Month: Day 4

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From Earth Month Challenge: 30 Easy Actions:  

Here’s another action that many are already doing. It reminds me of the energy crisis of the 1970s. Yeah, I was around then, people. I’m old enough to know better. Suggested action for April 4 is this lower the thermostat (while the heat is on) by one degree. One simple degree Fahrenheit, folks. It’s an almost undetectable difference for us humans, but it makes a significant difference in the amount of fuel used to heat an entire home.

Heck, if you’re lucky enough to have a programmable or Smart thermostat, set it to a lower temperature when you’re gone to work and turn it up just before you arrive home. Make sense? Of course it does. It made sense in the 1970s, too.

Stay tuned for more eco-friendly actions throughout April – or go to Treehugger yourself!

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Earth Month: Day 3

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From Earth Month Challenge: 30 Easy Actions:  

Today’s action is easy: turn off the tap when brushing your teeth. Fellow green-conscious types probably already do this. Folks who brush their teeth twice a day can save up to eight gallons of water this way.

Handle the challenge the way you might if you were camping. Grab your cup full of bottled or boiled water, and use that to rinse after brushing. Task accomplished – without wasting treated water down the drain unnecessarily.

Try it, folks. We can make a difference.

Stay tuned for more eco-friendly actions throughout April – or go to Treehugger yourself!

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Earth Month Action – April 2

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From Earth Month Challenge: 30 Easy Actions:  

Put a politician on speed dial.

What? How can this be considered an environmental action for Earth Month? Frankly, it can. Those in office have a great deal of power and influence by making laws that take care of the world in which we live. By having your Senators and Representatives in your contact list, you can quickly call and leave a message with your position on environmental policies and bills. Whether or not you influence the vote, the people in office will have a collection of data showing how their constituents feel about the issues facing them.

 

Stay tuned for more eco-friendly actions throughout April – or go to Treehugger yourself!

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April is Earth Month!

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April is Poetry Month, too, but I’ll focus on environmentalism here. My school district used to have Earth Week and Earth Month activities for students and staff. I usually found the staff activities, well, dull. Wimpy. Boring. Been there, done that, already on that track type of feeling. I’d fill out my calendar, get the tee shirt, and shrug my shoulders. If it helps move a few people toward a greener lifestyle, yeah. Okay, participation is worth something.

Treehugger, one of my absolute favorite websites, set up an awesome challenge for April this year. It’s called Earth Month Challenge: 30 Easy Actions.

This is a challenge I can accept. Each day has an action, for beginners or green freaks (as Amigo tends to call me). I’m going to dive in and see if this works for me.

April 1: Unsubscribe from 5 unwanted emails. Apparently email newsletters generate a carbon footprint of their own, even if they’re unread. Instead of zipping through my inbox and hitting delete, I’ll take a little time and make the inbox itself leaner.

Stay tuned for more eco-friendly actions throughout April – or go to Treehugger yourself! Subscribe to their e-newsletter. It’s one of the few that I always read.

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Water, Water Everywhere

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So, Daisy, how’s the water catchment thing going?

Very well, thanks. Too well, if I’m honest. I ran out of containers, so I had to dump several buckets in the backyard, which was actually the original plan. The shelves in the back hallway are full. The kitchen table is covered with bottles and jars filled with water. Three water bottles and a two quart pitcher (full) sit on the counter waiting to be poured into the coffeemaker one of these days. I have a box full of cider bottles now full of water. We must use this water before cider season arrives!

I’ve got Chuck trained reasonably well now. He grabs a bottle of This Water for cooking before he turns on the tap. He drinks This Water most of the time, except for the batch that somehow developed a metallic taste. Overboiled in a metal pot, perhaps, is my theory.

The next question in the Water Catchment Saga is this: how long will the water last? We need to use up enough of it to make the containers available for vegetables in June, and all of the actual bottles by October for cidering.

The forecast is promising (temps in the 40s, no new snow), so I felt confident putting the buckets in the garage. If the back door icicles reappear, I’ll drag the buckets out again.

And the water saga will continue.

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