Green Tip

The green tip for this week is to vacuum your fridge's coils twice a year. The kitchen is a high traffic area and your fridge's coils get surrounded by dust, dirt, and pet hair quickly! When dust builds up on the coils, your fridge then works harder to keep everything cool, so more energy is used.

Before

 After

You'll need to remove the bottom cover and use the vacuum tube to remove the extra dust, then your fridge will run more efficiently and save you money!

Warmly,
Jamie

Green Tip

This week's tip is avoid using products that has the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) in it. BPA is usually found in plastic products like water bottles, food storage containers, and toys. Also, it can be found in the lining of metal food cans and soda cans.

Scientist are still gathering data on BPA, but the the main concern is that BPA "can mimic actions of estrogen, a reproductive hormone. Most health risk studies have been done in animals and have found breast- and prostate-like cancers and altered growth of these and other reproductive organs during development" (LA Times).

 While scientist are still researching BPA, it is wise to avoid it in the meantime by:

1) Look for products labeled BPA-Free. These labels are becoming fairly common on kitchen appliances and tools, but I still haven't seen this on food or soda cans.

2) Avoid plastics with a recycling label on the bottom with a 7 in it

3) Use glass, ceramic, or porcelain instead

4) Do not heat up plastics containing BPA--no microwaves, no dishwashers

Warmly,
Jamie



Green Tip

This week's tip is unplug appliances when you're not using them. When appliances are plugged in, they still have energy running through them whether you are using them or not, which is also known as phantom energy or standby power. This phantom power becomes very cumulative and ends up wasting money, electricity, and resources.


A few easy ways to stop phantom energy is to unplug your coffee maker or toaster or phone charger or fan when aren't using them.

Another solution is to get a smart power strip and it does this work for you! For example, it can tell when you "turned off" your computer or DVD player, etc. and will stop sending electricity to that device. When you press on, your device will turn right back on.

Warmly,

Jamie

Gift Wrap

With the holidays nipping at our toes, here are a few alternatives to buying wrapping paper that is only single use.

Maps, comic, newspaper, kid's art work:

Hat box or storage box:

Fabric:

Wrap a present in a present:






















Images found here.


Warmly,
Jamie

Green Tip

Weekly, I'll post one easy sustainability tip that I find very useful and makes a big impact.

A tip for Black holiday shopping and grocery shopping is to bring your own bags!

Three resons to bring your own bags:
1) We only use a  plastic/paper bag for only 5-12 minutes
2) It takes about 1,000 years before a plastic bag starts to decompose
3) Plastic bags are made of non-renewable resources, which hurts the planet and reduces our nautral resources

You can reuse your paper bags from previous shopping trips.

Also I have a slew of these canvas bags that I have gotten for free at events, concerts, and as a thank you for signing up for a magazine. I leave these canvas bags in my car and I grab them whenever I am going shopping.

If you think carrying around these extra bags are too bulky or not spontaneous enough for your shopping habits, you can also get this reusable bags that folds in on a small bag. This way you can always have a reusable bag on you!

Do you have any  other green shopping tips?

Warmly,
Jamie

Skin Deep

This past spring I took a sustainability workshop series through Sustainable Works and one website I now frequent is Skin Deep. Skin Deep discusses the health and safety impacts of cosmetics ranging from eye drops to sunscreen to deodorant to makeup to soap, etc. Their website is user friendly and you can search by company or product or chemical.

This image shows you some of the harmful effects of products that females use every morning.

Some of the products I had in my house were considered "high hazard" like carmex chapstick and Essie nail polish, so once they ran out, I consulted this website to find low or moderate hazard products. I do take into consideration price point and how easy it is find new products when shopping, so usually I write out a few options and see what my local store has.

One of the challenges is finding safe products that are the equivalent of the products I used to have, but usually I can find it within the first or second try! Have you used Skin Deep before?

Warmly,
Jamie

Sip the good life.

On our trip up to northern California we made our way up the coast by--a Cajun breakfast in Santa Barbara, wine tasting in Edna Valley, tri-tip sandwich at Firestones in San Luis Obispo, then finished off the night at the Thursday farmer's market with friends.

In college I really didn't enjoy wine, but now I write this while sipping on a glass. While tasting we notice the below signs and the stewards explained they are certified sustainable vineyard meaning they're mindful of their watering practices, use of pesticides, impact on air quality, etc.

 http://www.sipthegoodlife.org/

I was impressed by all the SIP certified wines we tasted and the prices were reasonable too! Have you seen bottles with the SIP labels at your local market?

Warmly,

Jamie

Unplug.

I was driving in LA this past weekend and saw the below advertisement in a bus shelter. I wasn't sure what the campaign was about, but from the looks I had to go to the website when I got home.

 Discover the Forest 

 It is a PSA campaign encouraging teenagers to go outside and reacquaint themselves with nature. The website it fun to play around on and informational. I found a new hiking spot on there for this weekend! Overall this campaign has a great message and I am curious to see what press and momentum it gets! Have you seen these posters in your neighborhood?

Warmly,

Jamie