We often hear about large scale green projects, such as the installation of huge solar arrays or wind power farms, new fleets of biodiesel or hybrid vehicles, or new multi-million dollar green buildings. Even at TTMYGG, we love the large scale projects that have huge, positive impacts on the environment. However, as an average consumer, it’s easy to feel a bit overwhelmed about what you can do to help the environment.
My motto has always been “every little bit helps.†Small actions on a large scale really add up quickly. Let’s take going to the bathroom as an example. Assume there are 300 million people in the US who go to the bathroom an average of three times a day (I’m willing to bet this number is much higher). Let’s say 60 percent of these people wash their hands each time (the other 40 percent is a totally different conversation). This means there are a total of 900 million x 60 percent or 540 million trips to the bathroom each day. Assuming 40 percent of these people use some type of paper to dry their hands after washing, that’s 540 million x 40 percent or 216 million trips to the bathroom each day where a person washes their hands and dries them with paper towels.
Imagine if each person used one less paper towel each of these 216 million trips. Could you use 1 instead of 2 pieces of paper? Could you use 2 instead of 3 pieces of paper? If everyone used just 1 piece of paper less, that would mean saving 216 million paper towels each day. Sure, a lot of paper towels may come from recycled paper, but think about the amount of energy needed to recycle, refine, manufacture, and distribute this amount of paper. Small actions really do add up, and indeed, every little bit helps. You don’t need to spend millions of dollars to help save our environment.
Did you know that on average, “landscaping for energy efficiency provides enough energy savings to return an initial investment in less than 8 years?” Planting tress and bushes can help cool your house in the summer, and help shield your house from wind chill in the winter.
These and other useful ways to save energy are available at the Department of Energy’s great website. Take a look when you get a chance. Or (shameless plug) feel free to browse over (see the pretty picture on the right) to our Global Warming Action Checklist, where we’re compiling a comprehensive wiki of everything you need to do to do your part for global warming.
If you live in the Bay Area and are interested in delivering efficient forms of energy to low income home owners, consider volunteering for Oakland-based GRID Alternatives.
According to their website, “[GRID Alternatives has] installed 151 solar electric systems for low-income families throughout Northern and Southern California. These systems are reducing each family’s electric bills by approximately 75%, which will translate to a total of over $2.49 million in energy cost savings over the systems’ projected life spans. They will also prevent roughly 7,555 tons of greenhouse gas emissions over the next 30 years, the equivalent of planting 10,544 trees.”
Great stuff. But there’s also a benefit to you, as a volunteer. You’re making a meaningful impact on your community as well as the environment, and you’ll pick up cool, hands-on solar electric installation experience.
I’m just starting to investigate green cleaning products. Everything I use today to clean my humble abode, I’m ashamed to admit, is pretty toxic. I have lots of cleaning agents with bleaches and other bad stuff that I’d rather not know about.
What I haven’t been able to determine is, what are the best products out there? I’ve heard of Method and Seventh Generation, but since I haven’t used them firsthand, I couldn’t begin to give you a recommendation. I know there are a lot of others that are out there too, but 1) what are they?, 2) where do you buy them?, and 3) do they work?
Well, I found this nifty site that provides a pretty decent list of various cleaning agents that are out on the market today. The information is conveniently categorized – you can choose “all purpose cleaners”, “bathroom surface cleaners”, “glass cleaners”, “laundry supplies”, and “toilet bowl cleaners.” Also handy are the other information the site provides – a “GG” rating (I assume GG means Green Guide since this is the name of the website), key ingredients, packaging information, MSRP, and retail locations. It also has another column for user reviews, but right now, these are a bit lacking.
I’ll be using this site as I search for my new green alternatives. In the meantime, if you have any recommendations, I would love to hear them!
I wanted to write a quick follow up to my post in November on Nalgene bottle alternatives.
Recently, a Canadian retailer pulled its polycarbonate Nalgene bottles off the shelves due to concerns that these bottles may leach a harmful chemical compound called Bisphenol A (also known as BPA). This compound mimics estrogen and has been linked to an increase in breast and prostate cancers.
Hard plastic bottles (such as Nalgene) are made of polycarbonate plastic, and are stamped with the number 7 at the bottom. Plastic bottles with a #7 may contain BPA. The same goes for bottles stamped with the #3 contain polyvinylchloride. If you want to err on the side of caution, avoid plastics marked with these numbers.
It’s important to note that Nalgene stands by its products. Here is Nalgene’s response.
“Agencies and researchers worldwide have studied the safety of BPA and polycarbonate for approximately 50 years; including The Environmental Protection Agency and The Food and Drug Administration in the USA, The European Commission Scientific Committee on Food, The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment and the Japan Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. Findings of studies from these agencies indicate that food and beverage containers manufactured from polycarbonate do not pose a health risk to humans. As a result, polycarbonate is used in a wide variety of consumer products including baby bottles, water bottles, dental sealants and the lining of most food & beverage containers.
Furthermore, several scientific panels including the European Union’s Scientific Committee on Food, the National Toxicology Program and the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis have concluded that the weight of scientific evidence does not support the hypothesis that low doses of BPA adversely affects human health. None of the large studies conducted have substantiated the claims made by those performing some of the smaller studies frequently cited.”
If you have concerns about the possible health impact of BPA plastics, check out this site which provides helpful information on “good” and “bad” plastics.