Going Green

Back to school!

2010-09-01T12:15:00.000-07:00

Hey, hows it going?

I'm good thanks. Been riding my bike to school.

Saves me a lot of gas and money. Not time though, but to me, it's worth it.

Check her out. Isn't she a beauty?

And she rides like a dream.

I don't know much about bikes, but I know I love this one.

President Bush, What happened?

2010-08-03T13:56:00.000-07:00

Today I would like to share with you a video from 2007 of the wonderful wishes and dreams of the Country's favorite President everyone has forgotten about: George W. Bush

Check it out here.

Brought to you by ColbertNation.com, this is a memorable moment of GBush's many strong Presidential actions while in office.

And some people thought he only cared about war!

But of course Bush, being the freedom-fighter we all know him to be, did not make any binding contracts or commitments. Instead he thought it best that each government figure out for themselves when and how they want to deal with global warming. And, you know, if they want to deal with it at all.

We've got all the time in the world! What are you worried about?

BP Oil Spill, old news, literally.

2010-08-03T12:27:00.001-07:00

The BP oil spill may have made some Global headlines, but lets not forget, this is not the first oil spill the world has seen. In fact, Planet Earth has experienced oil spills since 1967, and these are just the recorded ones.

The Mariner Group has a list of most of the oil spills all over the world. You can check that out by clicking here.

But for now, I thought I would remind you about the Exxon Valdez oil spill back in March of '89. If you dont recall this oil spill, let me refresh your memory: The Valdez was positioned off the coast of Alaska when it ran aground spilling 10.8 million gallons of oil along the Alaskan coastline, according to Associatedcontent.com. Even better, they list this as only the 35th worst oil spill in history.

Just so you know, there way are over 100 oil spills recorded.

I wonder where BP will rank?

P.S. wanna know the biggest joke on youtube? BP has their own youtube channel. Here.

The Truth Behind Airfresheners

2010-05-19T11:23:00.000-07:00

Air fresheners are pretty common. They can be found in many homes, bathrooms, dormitories, locker rooms and anywhere else that might be prone to stink. The soft sweet smell of lavender bliss or ocean breeze tricks our nostrils into believing it's harmless. Unfortunately we are wrong.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) found that out of the 14 common air fresheners they tested, 12 of them contained "hormone-disrupting chemicals known as phthalates."

What are phthalates? Exactly that, hormone disrupters. Because phthalates interfere with hormone and testosterone productions, little kids especially are vulnerable to these chemicals. Yet none of these air fresheners, not even the "all natural" ones, listed phthalates on the label. I wonder why?

According to NRDC, "the state of California notes that five types of phthalates- including one detected in air fresheners- are 'known to cause birth defects or reproductive harm.'"

Phthalates are also used as solvents in perfumes and fragrances.

What's a good alternative to air fresheners? Home-made ones! And they are very easy to make.

Here's a quick DIY for air fresheners.

What you'll need:

1. Plastic spray bottle- Can be found at local drug stores or target for about $1

2. Baking soda- $3 at your local grocery store

3. Extract of your choice (vanilla, almond, lavendar, etc)- these range from $5-$15 at grocery stores (maybe you already have this in your pantry?)

4. And water- free if from your sink!

Combine these ingredients in the spray bottle, shake and sprits away! It may take a few tries to find the right measurements of each ingredient for the mixture, but you'll figure it out.

Also, if you squeeze some lemon or lime juice in your vacuum bag before vacuuming your carpet, it'll smell citrusy fresh by the time you finish!

Now remember, this is just a quick fix. If you want to get more detailed, there are some serious freshening recipes out there with ingredients such as vodka and corn oil. These involve boiling water and mixing ingredients at the perfect temperature, but I'm a simple kind of girl myself. There are many recipes out there, so do some research and find the one thats best for you!

Shit, its been a while.

2010-05-01T23:16:00.000-07:00

10 days as a matter of fact, and my 30 days segment is just about over.

More like really over.

I blogged for more than 30 days, and will probably continue blogging about living a "green" lifestyle.

The most important thing you should all know:

ITS NOT HARD.

At all.

(but we'll talk more about that next time)

Living green is all about conscious decisions. Whether you want to make those decisions or not, the Earth needs a change.

This time, I want to talk about greenwashing.

According to Greenpeace, www.stopgreenwash.org, greenwashing can be defined as "Used to describe the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service."

Most of the big oil companies like Exxon and Shell and Chevron are huge examples of greenwashers, airing commercials about "clean coal" and "less CO2." What people don't understand, and what you'll see from the video below, is that there is no such thing as "clean coal" or "less CO2."

I recently watched a video on 60 Minutes with Scott Pelley, on Duke Energy and their greenwashing bit. It's pretty unsettling to think that America is such an educated country about the danger our world is in, but we willingly choose not to care or do anything about it. Better yet, most people choose to be ignorant about it. Good idea, lets just pretend because we can't actually see anything wrong, that nothing is really wrong and we'll all live happily ever after!

Our Earth doesn't have much time left, and obviously neither do we.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4969902n

P.S. check out TheCorsairOnline.com for the articles I've written about my green lifestyle adventures, hopefully you'll learn something new.

2010-04-19T11:59:00.000-07:00

I've got a lot to update y'all on. To start, here's a composting tip from a friend in New York:

Carbon to Nitrogen Ratio- Carbon=Browns, Nitrogen=Greens. You always want more browns than greens.

Here's a link to a sight with some excellent examples of each and the ratio to maintain.

http://www.composting101.com/c-n-ratio.html

I got some more worms from The Armstrong Garden Center back in my parents hometown. Mixed with the ones I got from the Urban-worms lady, there should be enough for my worms to mate and reproduce, woohoo! One pound of worms can devour about a half a pound of food waste in 24 hours, keep in mind.

Now for the upsetting news- Greenwashing! Greenwashing can be defined by Greenpeace as "Used to describe the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service."

Here's a prime example:

An excerpt from a 60 Minutes interview with Duke Energy CEO, Jim Rogers, taught me in twelve minutes that our Earth is doomed. One of the world's largest coal companies, Duke Energy has been fooling everyone with their greenwashed "Clean Coal" ads.

Rogers stated that Duke's clean coal plans should be in full effect by 2050. Too bad for us, we don't have that long. NASA researcher's and engineers have estimated that optimistically we might have 20 years left.

According to Rogers, we have no choice. In order to keep glutenously overindulgent American consumer-driven lives afloat, we can't cut coal out, ever.

Check out the video and other Greenwashing Giants at:

http://members.greenpeace.org/blog/greenwashing?cat=34335

Almost Half-Way!

2010-04-11T23:48:00.000-07:00

So I'm about thirteen days in, and although I'm not as far as I wished to have been by now, I still feel excellent about what I have accomplished.

Trying to reduce you're own waste isn't really that hard. Sometimes it can be more work to be wasteful. I've saved money, time, and electric energy, woohoo!

Today I found biodegradable dryer sheets (with no nasty chemicals!) at Whole Foods. I was originally looking for the Trader Joe's brand of lavender dryer sheets, but the store by my place doesn't sell them anymore, interestingly enough.

Want to make some eco-friendly money? If you collect the plastic bottles you want to recycle, you can take them to certain recycling stations and they'll pay you. Granted, its a few cents per bottle, but that should only encourage you to recycle more; the more bottles, the more money!

Lately, one of the hardest parts of composting has been actually finding the worms. Everyone is sold out. Even the Urban-Worms.com lady! Apparently, vermi-composting is all the rage now-a-days. You can always order them online from a bunch of companies, but I'd prefer to pick mine up in person, and name all 1,000 of them.

Quick tip for composting: Carbon to Nitrogen ratio! Brown stuff is Carbon (shredded newspaper, soil, etc.) and Green stuff is Nitrogen (food waste). You always want more Carbon (brown) than Nitrogen (green).

If you're compost is too wet you're worms will try to escape or it can get to moldy and attract too many insects. Put more browns, in there and make sure its the consistency of a damp sponge.

Don't forget that foods like meat, dairy, fats, and oils should be avoided because they can create maggots and attract unwanted predators, yikes!

Hopefully you checked out last week's Composting Article of mine in the corsair. If not, go on over to TheCorsairOnline.com and check it out!

Trash-Free Difficulty

2010-04-06T11:36:00.000-07:00

Living trash free really brings to light how much our world supports wasteful habits. Sometimes I feel like everywhere I turn is another trash can full to the brim with waste. The worst part is seeing ones that have easily recyclable material in them.

When you buy food, is the handful of napkins you grab really necessary?

How about all those plastic bags at the grocery store? Or even the paper ones? Trader Joe's uses two paper bags as one when they pack groceries, but I always tell them one is enough. I recycle all my paper bags, and plastic bags can't be curbside recycled, but most grocery stores have plastic bag recycle bins.

I am proud to say that I have significantly reduced my waste daily! Any food I can't finish when I'm out, I have to bring home for the compost. At school, the cafeteria doesn't have much of a recyclable selection. Today I bought a tuna croissant with salad. It comes prepacked in a plastic container which is completely recyclable. The utensils they use are eco-products too. I can take the utensils home and compost them or recycle them, depending on my mood.

Collecting compost is easy, its finding products that are 100% recyclable or at least reusable that's the issue. Yes water bottles are recyclable (except for the caps), but buying them in general is wasteful when you can buy a reusable, dishwasher safe bottle. I just always forget to bring mine to school, so I find myself running to the drinking fountain a lot more often.

A very sweet person reminded me that I can ride my bike anywhere I don't feel like walking. I would have thought of that if I had a bike, but I don't. Lucky for me, my roommates do and they're more than willing to share. Google is coming out with a bicycle Map application, so you can find the best routes to ride.

On the other hand, taking the bus isn't bad at all. The only problem with taking the bus is the timing. It usually runs late, but the more popular buses show up every 10-15 minutes at their stops. On the plus side, I love not having to drive. No looking for parking, no need to get gas, no possibility of an accident and therefore raise of my insurance payment; this shit is awesome!

I hope you checked out my Eco-Intro in last week's Corsair, if not you can always check it out online: The CorsairOnline.com

Look for this weeks composting article in the paper, and let me know what you think. For now, Stay Green Ponyboy!

Consumer Composting!

2010-04-01T23:24:00.000-07:00

As humans its only natural for us to eat, and therefore waste. The average American creates about 4lbs of trash per day, and almost 56 tons of trash per year. How much of that is waste that could be recycled? Or how about food waste that could be composted? A lot.

Recycling your paper, plastic, glass and what-not isn't always enough. We create so much trash that even when we recycle, the recycling facilities can't recycle these products fast enough, but we'll save that topic for next time.

Composting food is one of the best ways to give back to the Earth, and its simple.

There are many ways to compost, from buying the $100-$200 compost bin sets at your local Home Depot, Lowe's, Armstrong Garden Center, etc. to a DIY method I ventured upon.

Originally, I bought a circular 2 foot plastic trash bin from Smart&Final, in hopes of making that my compost bin, but after finding smaller square bins at my parents house, I was able to convert those into my worm compost project and made the taller trash can my recycle bin!

After I found out the basics, and the science of the composting process, I went shopping at a few local stores. Here's what you need to start: two plastic bins, a drill, metal mesh or an old window screen, two bricks, some old newspaper, a little bit of soil, red worms (optional) to quicken the process and prevent any nasty odors, and of course, your food scraps.

Drill holes along the sides and bottom of only one bin. This will keep circulation in your compost bin, bringing oxygen to the worms. Cut the mesh or screen into squares a little bit bigger than the holes you drilled and glue them on the inside of the bin to cover the holes. This will keep your compost from spilling out if it gets too full.

Next, put the two bricks inside the bin without any holes, and place them on either side. Put the bin you just drilled into the other bin, onto of the two bricks. Now you're ready to create your compost! Shred up the newspaper into strips of about an inch thick and place them at the bottom of the top bin. Add water the the newspaper to get it moist, but not too wet. You want it to feel like a damp sponge, not dripping with water. As a rule of thumb, add one pound of worms for every half pound of waste. You can add some store-bought composting fertilizer, but regular soil is suitable as well. Finally, add your food scraps and seal it off with the lid.

I got my worms from Lara Laskay with Urban-worms.com. She was extremely helpful, and she hosts booths at farmer's markets in Pasadena and Studio City, but her office is located in North Hollywood. Check out her website to learn all about vermicomposting, it's very informative and extremely helpful.

You want to layer the bin with dry ingredients first, like shredded newspaper or shredded cardboard, then some moist soil with your worms for a wet layer, then another dry layer, and then your food scraps! The consistency of the misture should be that of a damp sponge, any wetter and the worms will try to escape.

Some foods to avoid include meats, oils, grease, dairy, and citrus rinds. These attract creatures and animals and make it hard for the compost and the worms.

I also found out that the Cities of Santa Monica and Los Angeles have a worm-bin distribution program, where you can get worm bins and maybe even worms for discounted prices if you are a SM or LA resident. Just go to Smartgardening.com!

That's all for now. Keep you're selves updated and the world clean!

Trash Free is the Way to Be!

2010-03-28T23:14:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! Hope the green life is going well.

My research has taken me to a route I never thought I'd find myself on: Trash-free living.

Obviously not right away, but I'm going to work up to living trash-free at least 3 to 4 days out of the week. What is trash free? Exactly that-- no waste whatsoever. I will compost, reuse, recycle, or just not buy (less consumption also helps). This will be extremely difficult, but not impossible!

As it turns out, you can't curbside recycle everything. With that, I found a couple recycling centers around my neighborhood (Googlemaps) that can take the things I can't recycle at home. For example, medicine bottles, plastic bags, bottle caps, certain types of plastic wraps and cardboards are all everyday items that curb-side recycling will not take care of. Centers like the JG Recycling Co take care of most of these items.

Check out the blogs listed below. They're people who have been living trash-free for a while, and have some interesting ways of doing it. Very informative and very helpful, especially to me!

Trash-free Blogs:

http://www.naturemoms.com/blog/2009/06/23/the-go-trash-free-challenge/

this one is awesome: http://www.greengarbageproject.com/

http://www.yourguidetogreen.com/learn/articles/Garbage-Free-Lunch

http://noimpactman.typepad.com/blog/

Catch ya later!

Its Been a Minute

2010-03-22T21:45:00.000-07:00

This Green Lifestyle is crazy!

Speaking of green lifestyles, this weekend I attended the Green Lifestyle Film Festival at UCLA.

It was pretty eye-opening.

I walked into the theater expecting to start off with an educational video on veganism or recycling and such; instead I got a full shot of a woman giving birth in water. That was a bit shocking, but then again, so was the entire movie.

It was unbelievably moving. To see women giving birth in water, and then women in a hospital with surgical tools- shocking.

I learned a thing or two from the vegan "Cruelty-Free" chefs they had give delectable demonstrations. Whole living foods chef Koya Webb made a delicious "Cha Cha Chili" that was incredibly tasteful.

The films were very educational, except for Vegan 101, which was an Australian actress/film maker who thought she was a lot funnier than she actually was. Her attempts at poking fun at the many "vegan haters" out there were anything but funny; in fact, they were quite nauseating.

Other than that I went to a bunch of the booths set up by vendors from a variety of organizations. One lady in particular was selling purses she made from old movie films. Instead of burning them and releasing all those toxins into our atmosphere, she cuts them up (which is still destroying them according to copy right laws) and sewed them together to recycle them into cute little bags and cell phone cases.

I got a nifty little goody bag (made of 100% grass) with a cornucopia of different eco-friendly products such as biodegradable toothpicks, eco-friendly pet grooming wipes, glee gum, organic Amber Ale, organic olive oil, ecotulip seeds, and much, much, more!

Next up: Sustainable Works

I go to my first meeting this Thursday at 3pm, I'll be sure to let you know how that goes.

For now, stay green!

Learn Something New Everyday

2010-03-12T23:49:00.000-08:00

I have a confession to make: I've been extremely wasteful lately.

At least I can admit it though!

I think I'm making progress just by noticing how much I waste now, and trying not to waste as much. The whole having a cold thing isn't very "eco-friendly."

Thats my largest problem besides laziness at the moment.

Otherwise, I've been slightly successful!

Today I went to Trader Joe's and bought one of their nifty reusable grocery bags for 99¢, and it's adorable!

Trader Joe's has some awesome organic products too. This may sound dumb, but I never really realized that regular grocery store eggs are white because they're bleached. That creeps me out, a lot. TJ's has "Free Range" eggs, which are brown by the way, and very tasty!

I did my laundry yesterday. I happened to get it all done in 2 loads, which I thought was conserving water.

Nothing to be concerned about right? Wrong.

As it turns out, dryer sheets and fabric softener are some of the most toxic products available today. I know, i was shocked too.

So i did some research. I found out that multiple ingredients in dryer sheets and fabric softeners are actually on the EPA's (Environmental Protection Agency) hazardous waste list, and we're washing our clothes with them!

Want to do you're own research? Check out this article from NaturalNews.com

http://www.naturalnews.com/001061.html

Or how about this one from Ezinearticles.com

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Toxic-Danger-of-Fabric-Softener-and-Dryer-Sheets&id=16953=

Why don't you just google "toxic dryer sheets" or "danger of dryer sheets" and see for yourself!

"But Ale, my clothes smell so good and feel so soft! I can't give up fabric softener!"

You don't have to! Health food stores like Trader Joe's and Whole Foods have brands of dryer sheets and fabric softeners that are much more safe for you and the environment. They also sell these "Eco-friendly" dryer balls on TrueGreenOnline.com

As it turns out, a lot of the household items we use everyday are toxic. Everything from deodorant to toothpaste to perfume and even shampoos.

What the hell has been going on? I feel so violated!

Starting Slow

2010-03-10T16:20:00.000-08:00

How do you go green when you've got a cold?

Best suggestion: Buy a handkerchief.

Maybe two, I'm not sure.

Today I learned I'm going to have to stop buying water bottles. I think I'll keep the ones I have and just refill them with my Britta Water filter.

I already have a separate trashcan for recycling, and my roommates and I definitely take advantage of it, but that's just the beginning.

If you watched the video "The Story of Stuff" you know the average American throws out about 4lbs of trash per day and up to 56 tons in a year.

What the fuck?

ALE STOP BEING LAZY!

This is one of my biggest challenges: stop being lazy.

Here's a list of the little things I'm starting out with and maybe already do:

1. Recycling trash can

2. Don't run the water

3. Refill/Reuse water bottles

4. Conserve tissues/napkins

5. Carpool/ take the bus

6. Use energy conserving lightbulbs

That's not too bad to start!

I joined this organization called "Sustainable Works" at my school. They'll be teaching me more about how to reduce my "footprint" and what-not. I'll be doing more for the environment and more for myself.

Now that's what I call a win-win.

One last thing! Here's another video for your informational pleasure:

"Collapse" by Jared Diamond

find it on youtube or watch it here:

http://www.ted.com/talks/jared_diamond_on_why_societies_collapse.html

Now go out and paint our planet green!

A Formal Introduction

2010-03-08T21:43:00.000-08:00

Hey there!

The name's Ale. It's splendid to meet you.

I'm just going to get straight to the point here:

It has been brought to my attention that the world as we know it is dying. Like literally, Planet Earth is dying. Whether you want to believe it or not, humans suck.

We suck the life out of anything and everything we can. Why is that? I have no idea.

Maybe its because we're all selfish bastards in one way or another. It's not always intentional, and we can't help it, but most people put themselves before others.

Not all the time, but definitely most of the time.

Where was I?

Oh right, selfish bastards.

Well anyway, I've been taking a psychology class at school, and my professor is awesome.

He's been taking an evolutionary psychology direction, and I love it. To me, it makes perfect sense: We must understand where we came from and what we were designed for in order to understand how we got to where we are now, right?

So he started the class by informing the class of exactly what I just informed you. And we've been watching some pretty convincing videos.

So, I'm devoting this blog to my "turning over a new leaf" experience.

I'm goin' green!

Everyday I'm going to make some effort to save the environment. Whether it be recycling, conserving energy, or not using as much water, I am going to do the research and find the many ways in which I can reduce my "Footprint."

I'm going to start you off with a video that seriously altered my perspective on this issue, maybe it'll help change yours too.

It's called: The Story of Stuff

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLBE5QAYXp8

Watch it and let me know what you think.

Got any suggestions? Please do tell!

Don't forget we're all in this together.

It's not just my Earth, its yours too.