Happy Earth Week everyone!
I learned something new in the past couple of weeks. We recently closed on a house (yay!) and one of the first things I mused with our realtor about was, “should we install A/C?” The Bay Area in general has great weather, but the last few summers have had a few days here and there where temperatures were above 90 degrees, making it unbearably hot indoors as well. Today happens to be one of those days – yesterday, temperatures were almost 90 in our apartment, and today, it definitely went past the 90 F mark. It’s hard to resist the temptation to install A/C on days like this.
Anyway, our realtor mentioned installing an attic fan instead. Have you heard of these?  During the summer, the temperature in your attic can get well over 100 F. Without an attic fan, heat gets trapped, and it makes your house warmer. An attic fan helps cool down your attic, making your house much cooler. IF you also happen to have A/C running, an attic fan improves efficiency; there’s less work required by your A/C unit to cool down the house. I’ve read that it can save up to 30% on cooling costs, so in the long run, it may be cheaper for you to install one in your own home.
By the way, attic fans are electric or solar. I think they may also come in hybrid versions but I haven’t seen any so far. We’re thinking of installing the solar fan since no energy would be required to run it. Now we just need to figure out where to buy one of these and who can install it. Anyone have any recommendations?
The economy continues to battle through troubled times. Unemployment is near an all time high, wages are down, uninsured numbers are on the rise, housing prices continue to fall, and trillions of dollars in wealth has evaporated. On top of this, we in California are facing one of the worst droughts we’ve seen in years. The only bright stop is the recent rise in the stock market.
During these times, I’ve heard people are trading in being green for some extra green. When it comes to putting food on the table or keeping a roof over your head vs. buying products that have are green (and more expensive), it’s tough to argue which one wins.
However, keep in mind that being green often means living a smarter and more frugal lifestyle. For example, turn off lights and appliances when you’re not using them. Take shorter showers. Use cloth towels instead of paper towels. Combine trips when you need to go out and run errands. Bring a reusable shopping bag to the market – it doesn’t cost you a thing, and you may even get a little green back from the store. In fact, doing many of the things we’ve been discussing in ThingsThatMakeYouGoGreen will help you save green.
If you have ideas and tips on green things that save green, let us know. I can be reached at greenhl [at] ttmygg [dot] com. I would personally love to hear your ideas!
I’ve been thinking about selling my townhome and buying a house that actually has a yard. A YARD! Can you imagine the possibilities? I can grow my own vegetables! I can have a place to sit outside!
Well, with a yard comes great responsibilities. That is, taking care of the lawn. I grew up in the midwest where our family had a pretty decent size yard (about a half an acre) and I have to admit, I never once touched a lawn mower. I am such a princess.
Anyway, I’m kind of excited about the possibility of having my own lawn to take care of – and have been thinking about push mowers. Paul thinks that this is not a good idea because he believes they would be hard to push, but I hear this is not really true anymore.
Another option would be to get an electric mower – at least this would still cut down on the pollution.
Anyone have any experience with either? Recommendations would be appreciated!
It was only a matter of time before this happened. Planet Green, the first and only (so far) 24-hour channel devoted to eco-friendliness just launched. Planet Green is part of the parent company that own the Discovery Channel, which I admit is one of my favorite channels. I never thought non-fiction television could be so compelling – and I’m not talking about “reality TV” folks.
Planet Green offers both television and online content focused around all things green. This includes not only tips and suggestions to help make your life more green, but also the latest green technology, how others are going green, and how you can detoxify your home and your lifestyle. As Planet Green says, it, along with TreeHugger.com, is helping to energize and move the green conversation into the spotlight.
There is a handy channel finder for you to located the channel it’s on in your area and with your particular subscriber. It’s even offered in HD quality if you want to be really blown away by green! They appear to have some great programming that I can’t wait to start watching.
Here’s a list of some products which contain palm oil. I’m sure there’s a lot more out there, but it’s hard to tell because many manufacturers say their products have “vegetable oil” rather than calling out palm oil explicitly. Anyway, I urge you to take a look at this list - I’ll bet all of you have at least a few of these products in your homes today. Here are just a FEW of the things that I have at home (or consume regularly) that have palm oil: Quaker Chewy Chocolate Chunk Granola Bars, Lindt truffles, Pepperidge Farms Pirouettes, Kellogg’s Eggos Waffles…Â (OK, I know I just listed off a lot of items containing chocolate – now you know I have a big sugar problem.)
So, what can you do to help? Well, I personally don’t believe the answer is in boycotting these products altogether as this may have a long term negative impact on the people indigenous to those areas where palm oil is produced. Instead, we need to pressure these companies to be more environmentally responsible. New standards and regulations should be put in place to minimize (and hopefully eliminate) environmental destruction.
Feel the need to do more? Write directly to manufacturers – believe it or not, these companies do listen (sometimes). Or, consider getting involved with support organizations such as Greenpeace, which is increasing consumer attention and awareness of the problems of palm oil production.
