Green Sexy

Saving Energy in Schools

Today the lights went out in the hallways in my school at 11 a.m.  Students and teachers alike peered into the hallways, wondering what malfunction had occurred.  Students everywhere buzzed about the possibility of school being let out early due to a power failure.  However, once I checked my email, I learned that the hall lights were turned off from 11-12 a.m. in an effort to save energy costs.  This decree was handed down from one of the powers that be in Albany.  Oddly enough, a follow-up email from my administrator made it seem like this would be an isolated event.  So, what would be the actual savings if they made this a daiy event in all school districts in New York state?  It's hard to tell, but let's take a look at some Minnesota schools to see what they're doing to save on their energy costs.

In some Minnesota school districts, students, teachers, administrators and custodians have taken the initiative to turn off lights in rooms that are empty, turn off computers when they're not in use, and to turn their thermostats down to 68 degrees in an effort to save energy and money.  According to the Southwestern Review News, "The costs of lighting, heating and cooling schools are so vast in school districts that the cost of energy is second only to staff salaries, and exceeds the cost of supplies and books." 

Many Minnesota schools have implimented the SEE Program (Schools for Efficient Energy), which focuses "on low and no-cost energy efficient strategies, the districts enrolled in this program strive to reduce their energy use by 10 percent and achieve 'Energy Star' status. The 'Energy Star' award program is sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy. District 197 received 'Energy Star' status in 2004; it was the first to receive this award in Minnesota and the 10th in the nation."

By following the guidelines of the SEE program, "the West St. Paul-Mendota Heights-Eagan district has saved $330,000 in energy costs. This past spring, the district saved $34,000 in a single quarter, of which $10,000 came just from Heritage Elementary."  Sounds like a pretty bright idea.

What your recycling bin won't accept

Municipal recycling programs don't recycle everything, in fact, they don't recycle nearly all that can be recycled. They are in it for the money. Not that there is anything wrong with that, they have to cover the costs of running those huge trucks, and the staff to collect sort and get it to where it can be recycled. (Hopefully that is what they are doing, some recent investigative reporting has found that some companies are just dumping recylables in with the garbage), but that is another post. In fact, there are ways to collect recyclables to raise money for your favorite charity, through Terracycle cash for trash now that ain't bad!

Photo and crayon recycling tutorial are found at Little Birdie Secrets

What can you do with things that aren't picked up at your curb? Here is a great link to a fairly comprehensive list for recycling some non-traditional things like sneakers, batteries, rigid caps like those found on soda and water bottles and even crayons or recycle crayons yourself. The page is part of a local program, however most tips are for programs that are nationwide.

Trash to treasure that ultimately preserves our greatest treasure --- our gorgeous green Earth!

Text to help Haiti

On January 12th, 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake rocked the tiny island nation of Haiti.  In this age of 24-hour news we are constantly bombarded with horrific stories of man-made tragedies, and in tragedies of this nature, we have "bad guys" to point the finger at and direct our scorn towards.  But who do we blame when our Earth, in displays of unfathomable natural power and might, remind us of our tenuous position as mere tenants of this planet?  Who do we direct our anger towards?  With tragedies such as this one, we are all victims, and we are also reminded of our shared humanity and mortality.

One amazing development that has come to light in this dark time is the fact that we all have, in our pockets, the chance to make an instantaneous difference for the people of Haiti.  Charity has caught up with this internet age and has learned to utilize people's texting obsession to help garner funds for the needy.  Charities such as the American Red Cross or the Salvation Army have offered cell phone users the chance to send a text, which will transfer a specified amount of money to help the relief efforts in earthquake-ravaged Haiti.  American Red Cross spokeswoman Abi Weaver reported that so many Americans were texting their pledge to donate $10 from their upcoming cell phone bill that it amounted to $100,000 an hour, to the tune of $10 million total---in just 3 days!  “It has become the single largest mobile donation campaign ever,” said Hillary Clinton, who recently visited Haiti.  Jim Manis, head of the Mobile Giving Foundation, first tested out text donations after the 2004 Asian tsunami and managed to raise $150,000.  He is now heading up the current U.S. text-to-give campaign and says of this new philanthropic phenomenon: “These are emotional events and people want to reach out and help but sometimes they can’t -- they don’t have a credit card or they forget to write a check or go online to make a donation."  But cell phones, love them or hate them, are a part of our daily existence, and have now become a real tool for doing good.  Imagine that!

So, interested in making a difference via text message?  Try out these organizations:

• Text "HAITI" to 90999 to donate $10 to the American Red Cross.
• Text "Yele" to 501501 to donate $5 to "Yele Haiti, a group founded by former Fugees singer Wyclef Jean, who has Haitian roots, raised more than $2 million by Friday", reports Business World Online.  The text message can be resent up to six times.
• Text "HAITI" to 20222 to donate money to the Clinton Foundation.  
• Text  "HAITI" to 85944 to donate money to the International Medical Corps.
• Text "HAITI" to 25383 to donate money to the International Rescue Committee.
• Text "HAITI" to 52000 to donate money to the Salvation Army.

For a more comprehensive list, click on the following link to see more organizations that you can also text to donate money, such as Habitat for Humanity or UNICEF, to name a few:

Mobile Giving Foundation

Moving Windmills: The William Kamkwamba story

via www.youtube.com

I have been wanting to share this for a while. This is an amazing story of ingenuity, reuse, harnessing a sustainable energy source and tenacity. Given the lack of resources William Kamkwamba is a true inspiration, imagine what we can do if we lived by his example. This is a true story of necessity breeding invention.

A "Green Porno"?

It seems like everything else has gone green these days---why not porno? Now, does this mean that we have porno stars using biodegradable condoms and eco-friendly lube?  Well, not exactly.  You see, Isabella Rossellini, former Lancome model and star of the ultra-sexually-charged movie Blue Velvet, has changed her focus from human desire and sexuality to that of the insect and animal world.  She has created a series of internet shorts on animal sexuality entitled Green Porno that can be viewed on Sundance Channel's website.  Season one focused on the sexuality of insects, while her new season two focuses on sea creatures and their sexual exploits.  The costumes and props she uses on the show are purposely amateurish and child-like, as the aim of the show is to amuse and inform, rather than to arouse. 

So, if you're looking for a good laugh and have a super short attention span, then get turned on to Rossellini's Green Porno, and you'll never see "green" the same way again!  Now, that's Green-Sexy!

Schools that "Go Green" save "Green"

Schools all over the nation are doing little things that are saving their districts a lot of money. 

 15 schools in District 91, Idaho Falls, Idaho received the Energy Star Label for increasing their energy-efficency by changing their habits.  How'd they do it?  Not by making any sweeping changes that required a lot of time and money---rather, they made simple changes in their behavior by being more mindful of their energy use.  For example, the district has saved more than $40,000 dollars a month by making sure that lights were switched off in rooms that were unoccupied.   Think of all the empty rooms with lights on in a typical school that you pass while walking down the hall---how many light fixtures are there in a typical classroom?  How many bulbs are in each fixture?  How old are those light fixtures?  How much energy per kilowatt-hour (kWh) are these bulbs burning?  How much is the school being charged per kWh by their electric-provider during these peak-hours when school is in session and the grid is most taxed?  How much money could be saved if teachers simply hit the off switch when they left the lavatory or their classrooms?

Another conscious effort made in these schools was to shut down computers when they were not in use.  The district saved over a million dollars in energy costs!  The U.S. Department of Energy recommends that you should consider turning off your computer's monitor if you don't plan to use it for more than 20 minutes and to consider turning off your computer altogether if you're not going to use your PC for more than 2 hours.  In the warmer months, shutting down computers helps to save on cooling costs because of the extra heat that computers produce.  Thankfully, most district's computers are set to power down to a "sleep mode", in which a computer consumes "15 Watts or less power, which is around 70% less electricity than a computer without power management features."  This feature saves much money in energy costs, but the computer is still on, and it still is consuming energy, so if nobody is using it, then why is it on at all?

So, in this time of economic hardship, isn't it amazing how making a simple conscious change in our daily habits can help save money for our schools, and potentially even help save enough money to save someone's job?   If you have any green-energy tips, please feel free to pass them along.  Hey, every little bit can add up to a whole lot!    

The Short, Tragic Lives of Farm Animals

I found this ultra-disturbing video on ChooseVeg.com about the ill-treatment of commercially-raised animals, from when they're born until they're led to slaughter.  In one portion of this ten-minute video, a cow is castrated, has its horns snipped off, and is repeatedly branded---all without any anesthesia.  In another part of the video, chickens are "debeaked" so that they won't peck at each other in their disturbingly-cramped cages. 

My wife and I eat vegetarian meals as often as we can, but more and more we find it difficult to reconcile our meat-eating ways.  We have taken measures in the past, such as buying meat from a farmer who specialized in organically-raised cows, and have looked into buying eggs from families who keep chickens in their backyards and sell the eggs from these free range chickens, but our guilt sometimes is hard to reconcile. 

This video may push us closer to vegetarianism---watch it and let me know what you think.

How to Recycle Your Christmas Tree

According to Earth911.com, "Between 30 and 35 million real Christmas trees are sold in the U.S. each year. Luckily, about 93 percent of those trees are currently being recycled through more than 4,000 available recycling programs."  That's encouraging news!  One of the most common ways old trees are recycled is as mulch for playgrounds, trails, landscaping, etc.  There are many other novel ways that used Christmas trees are being recycled and reused, from providing habitat for animals, to helping to stop erosion. 

Each January, 400 old Christmas trees are strapped to a concrete block and dumped in Lake Havasu, which is a man-made desert lake located in Arizona and California.  These trees, which take a decade to decompose, form a reef for young bass, bluegills and other fish.  This provides protection and a habitat for the fish, and has considerably improved the fishing in Lake Havasu.

For the past 16 years donated Christmas trees have been used as a wetland preserver in southern Louisiana's coastal marshes.  The used trees are converted into four-foot-tall cribs that help to collect the sediment from the water as it rushes in.  Eventually, the sediment builds up behind the crib to form new land that helps to build up the eroded shore.

In Tomahawk, Wisconsin, the Packaging Corporation of America burns about 500 used trees a year as a source of power for their paper mills.  The resulting steam powers the mill for ten minutes.

On Baker Lake Island in Cook County, Illinois, volunteers prop used trees on foot-tall steel pipes to provide nests for herons and egrets.

To find the nearest Christmas tree recycling program near you, visit Earth911.com, or click on the previous link.

Packaging Gifts the Green Way

 Whether you meticulously peel off the tape or voraciously tear into your presents, piles of wrapping paper often times adorn people's living rooms during this holiday season.  If you've been making a habit of buying up rolls upon rolls of cute wrapping paper every year, just think of all the resources that go into making that wrapping paper---from trees to dyes, to electricity, fuel used in shipping, etc.---you could be doing the Earth harm while trying to bring happiness. 

So what can you do?  For one, reuse wrapping paper or gift bags that you had from the previous holiday season.  Heck, it seems like my family has been using the same wrapping paper and gift bags for years now, and no one seems to mind, since it's what's inside that is truly memorable.  The Guardian suggests that you use nice festively-colored shopping bags that you've gotten from stores as wrapping paper, or even cutting up old gift bags and using those to wrap with.  Another idea they put forth is using interesting magazine pictures or maps as wrapping paper.  The way some teens plaster their walls with pictures of their idols, this could be a fun way for a kid to wrap up a gift.  You could try wrapping your presents in sections of the paper that speak to the personality of the person who is receiving the gift---the sports section for the jock, the comics for the joker, the editorial section for the opinionated one, etc.  They also suggest using left over fabric, gift scarves, or clothing items from a thrift store to wrap your presents in.  A final innovative idea is to wrap your presents in aluminum foil, which will add a real shine and glimmer to your display and can be washed and reused to wrap holiday treats or leftovers in!

If using recycled materials as a means of packaging your gifts doesn't tickle your fancy, then there are some eco-friendly products that you can purchase to help decorate your gifts.  National Geographic's The Green Guide suggests Paporganics' hemp-blend wrap that is made from 90 percent post-consumer fiber with 10 percent hemp.  Paper Mojo makes gift wraps made from jute, lokta or banana fiber---that could impress as much as the gift itself!  For gift bags, you could go with Global Exchange's Native Leaf Gift Bags made in the Philippines using certified less-toxic dyes. Not only is Global Exchange a fair-trade organization, but they will also wrap any of its products in a 100 percent recycled box, tied with a raffia ribbon and accompany it with a recycled rice-paper greeting card for $3.95.  Recycled-fabric gift bags can be purchased from Patagonia.  To fill your gift bags, you could purchase white tissue paper made from 90 percent recycled paper and colored tissue made from 75 percent recycled fibers through Nashville Wraps.  

Well, hope you have a great holiday, and if you're anything like me, you'll have a nice, neatly-folded pile of used wrapping paper next to you, ready to be stored and reused next year! 

Set a Place for Mother Earth This Thanksgiving

My local newspaper, Rochester, New York's Democrat and Chronicle offers 10 environmentally-friendly tips for greening up your Thanksgiving:

1. Forgo disposable dishware. If you don't have enough plates, glasses and flatware to go around, borrow from guests or neighbors.

2. If you must do disposable, buy biodegradable and then compost it (otherwise, it just takes up space in the landfill, along with Styrofoam cups, paper plates and plastic forks).

3. Switch to cloth napkins. They feel better on the skin, absorb food mess better and don't take up much space in the washing machine and dryer. If this is a first-time investment, buy one set for special occasions, one set for everyday use. It won't be long until you wonder how you tolerated flimsy paper napkins for so long.

4. Use reusable food containers instead of wrapping leftovers in foil or plastic wrap or putting them in plastic bags. Want to send food home with your guests? Ask them to bring their own containers.

5. Yes, it's fun to have lots of food to serve and share. But don't overdo it to the point where you are throwing food out afterward. Plan, shop and cook carefully to avoid waste. Freeze whatever food you won't eat as soon as possible.

6. A 2006 study from the University of Washington found that driving several miles to the farmers market wiped out any savings in carbon emissions that might have been gained by purchasing locally grown food. Consolidate your trips to the farmers market and supermarket. Plan ahead to avoid last-minute runs to the store, and walk, bike, bus or carpool to shop whenever possible.

7. Decorate with what's on hand. Instead of flowers flown in from overseas, how about a lovely table centerpiece of locally grown gourds and squashes from the farmers market?

8. Buy local. Late fall is a great time of year to buy local: Potatoes, apples, winter squashes, greens, pears, onions and cabbages are abundant this time of year.

9. Buy a locally grown, organic and/or sustainably raised turkey. There are many area livestock farmers who now offer free-range, organic or sustainably raised birds. Supermarkets also offer organic turkey options, as do natural food stores. Be aware that in some cases, orders must be placed early, so if you can't eat organic this Thanksgiving, there's always next year.

10. From wine bottles to empty cans of broth, a holiday meal generates extra trash. Be sure all your recyclable waste goes to the recycling bin.

An additional tip, although probably too late for this Thanksgiving, is to look into purchasing a Heritage Turkey, which are turkeys that are genetically pure and whose ancestry can be traced back 100 years.  These turkeys take longer to raise than traditional, commercially-raised turkeys, but you won't be getting any antibiotics or hormones---just good 'ol 100% whole turkey goodness! 

However you celebrate this Thanksgiving, raise a glass in thanks to Mother Earth and all she has done for us!