Light green tip: Burn wood wisely

Azi la 05:57

A warm fire in the cold of winter is quite cozy. I even enjoy the smell of wood smoke in the air. Despite my nostalgic sentiments, the reality of wood smoke is less appealing: it contains toxins and harmful microscopic particles that present issues for personal health and air quality.

To reduce smoke emissions from wood-burning appliances, follow these best practices:

Stop burning wood during air pollution health alerts. Sign up for e-mail notification of air quality alerts from the MPCA.
Burn less. If you do not depend on it for heat, burn less often. It is more economical and will reduce air pollution for you and your community.
Only burn clean, dry, seasoned, untreated wood. Burning other materials causes more hazardous air pollutants, and may damage your stove as well as your health.
Maintain your appliance. Make sure all flues, chimneys, and exhaust vent pipes are properly connected, in good condition, and remain unobstructed. Have all combustion appliances cleaned and inspected once a year.
Convert to a cleaner burning appliance. All woodstoves manufactured since 1988 must be EPA-certified, which means they use one-third less wood than older stoves to produce the same heat, while emitting 50% to 60% less air pollution. Natural gas fireplaces also reduce air pollution.

Learn more about wood smoke from the MPCA and the Minnesota Department of Health.

Dark green tip: Reduce food waste

15 decembrie 2009 la 08:05

Buying the proper amount of food and eating food before it spoils will save you money. It will also reduce energy use, water use, and green house gas emissions.

Unfortunately, we waste a lot of food. In fact, a recent study of food waste in the United States estimated that 1,400 calories of food per person is wasted every day. This is up from 900 calories in 1974.

What does this wasted food mean for the environment?

Our wasted calories– 1,400 calories of food per day per person—represent 39% of the available food supply (read the study here). Because growing and processing food uses significant freshwater and energy resources, wasted food means wasted resources.

There is an impact after the wasted food goes to the landfill, too. Food in a landfill is initially decomposed by aerobic bacteria, as it would be in a backyard compost pile, but after the oxygen has been depleted the remaining waste is broken down by methane-producing anaerobic bacteria. Methane is a green house gas more potent than carbon dioxide. Significant methane production typically begins one or two years after waste disposal in a landfill and continues for 10 to 60 years or longer.

Use all your food – here’s how

Wasting less requires small shifts in the way we plan our meals and store our food. Here are five things you can do to shift towards less waste:

Buy proper portions. A website from the UK called Love Food Hate Waste will help calculate portions. Portions are listed in grams, so you’ll need to convert the grams to pounds. There are about 450 grams in a pound, but rather than remember that here’s an online conversion tool: http://www.metric-conversions.org/

Learn to store your food so that it stays fresh. Most veggies keep longer in a humid environment, such as in a plastic bag or crisp drawer in the refrigerator.

Learn recipes for tasty leftover meals. The Love Food Hate Waste website has several recipes that use small amounts of common ingredients. Look for recipes that are flexible and allow you to use whatever vegetable is in the refrigerator.

What are your ideas for reducing food waste?

Medium green: Alternative gift wrapping ideas

10 decembrie 2009 la 06:46

Did you know that household waste increases by more than 25% between Thanksgiving and the new year? This includes wrapping paper that can not be recycled because it contains too many unrecyclable materials, such as foil or fuzzy textures. Live green by starting a new low-waste holiday tradition this year:

With a piece of fabric you can try Furoshiki , a Japanese style of wrapping gifts in many different ways from one cloth.
Create reusable gift boxes and cloth bags that can be used year after year.

Make gift bags out of old wallpaper or maps.

Wrap with old sheet music or other alternatives.

See Hennepin County’s Greening Your Celebrations brochure for more ideas.

Make your own gift box

Cut two squares – one 9.5” x 9.5” and one 9” x 9”

On the back side, mark the very center of the square by crossing two diagonal lines from corner to corner

Fold one of the corners in toward the center, so that the tip touches the exact center, where your two diagonal lines cross. Crease the fold.

Then, fold your new edge toward the center, so that the edge lines up with the diagonal center line. Crease the fold.

Repeat from each corner. When complete, there will be creases that match the dashed lines in the picture below.

Cut along the creases marked by the arrows.

Fold corners 1 and 3 along the crease, so that they touch the center again.

Fold the tips marked with the stars in toward the center, to form two sides of the box.

Fold corners 2 and 4 over the newly formed sides and into the center.

Place a small piece of tape in the center to hold the box.

Repeat steps 2-10 for the second square.

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Notiţele lui Living Green

Light green tip: Burn wood wisely22 decembrie 2009

Dark green tip: Reduce food waste15 decembrie 2009

Medium green: Alternative gift wrapping ideas10 decembrie 2009

Light green tip: Recycle your old holiday lights4 decembrie 2009

Medium green tip: Be energy efficient in the kitchen25 noiembrie 2009

Air pollution health advisory: What it means and how you can help24 noiembrie 2009

Light green tip: Check your tire pressure19 noiembrie 2009

Light green tip: The best bag is the one you bring13 noiembrie 2009

Light green tip: Opt out of phone book deliveries6 noiembrie 2009

Medium green tip: Make homemade face paint28 octombrie 2009

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