Showing posts with label Green. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Green. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Go Green AND Stop Junk Mail
One way to go green is to opt-out of all of those annoying credit card mailings. You can do so by going to http://www.proquo.com/ You can also sign up for the National No Call List there as well.
Monday, May 05, 2008
The Hodges Go Green...We Challenge You!!
(I just realized that this post was saved as a draft and never published, sorry it's late.)
Evan and I had GREAT fun celebrating Earth Day!!!
Sadly enough, we've never taken the time to recycle. Whenever we have an event at our house I'm stricken with guilt every time someone asks, "Do you want me to throw this [can] away, or do you recycle?" I've been really feeling a moral duty lately to begin to make some changes in our lives and not to live so vicariously but instead to take into account the impact that we have on our plant. It occurred to me within the last week, probably because of all of the global issues in politics and the awareness ads on television that we really do have a negative impact on the precious earth that God created for us. Not to mention the negative example that we're setting for Evan, that was the big one that opted the change. I want him to become aware of our impact and learn that we can make a difference.
After school, we went to the store and bought Rubbermaids to use as recycling bins. We used black chalk board paint to paint a square on the top so that Evan could write, what would be kept inside of it. We watched a video on recycling cans on youtube and he thought it was really cool. I explained to him why we need to recycle and he was really into it. Part of his daily chores now are taking out the recycling.
While we waited for the paint to dry we began making a paper mache Earth. Evan had so much fun getting messy and he was so funny trying to eat our homemade flour/water paste. The next day, he painted his earth and it now is proudly on display in his art room.
While we were at the store we also picked up some of the new energy efficient light bulbs. We plan on switching all of our bulbs out, but we are going to "grandfather" them in as our bulbs burn out. Did you know that these new bulbs are supposed to last up to 5 years and save over $100 in energy bills, not to mention they release 76% less green house emissions than standard bulbs do? Yeah, they cost more than standard bulbs but Wal-mart and other stores often have then on sale, plus you can click here for a coupon to use.
We also entered a contest at Kroger.com to create a reusable bag. We created a bag by uploading a photo that we took in Russia. (A photo of our bag is below)
Other thing change that we are making is to try to only buy concentrated products whenever possible b/c the packaging is smaller it equals less waste. CVS has concentrated ALL Clear buy one get one free this week.
My friend Renee, whom I used to teach with will really get a kick out of this one. I'm trying to use less paper towels and use rags and dishcloths. (Yes, Renee I did have to go buy some) I've never been much on rags and towels b/c they aren't disposable and I seem to think paper towels have less germs. Oh well, I'm giving it a try.
Yes, We still buy water bottles like crazy but we are recycling them now. I did some research and a plastic water bottle will sit in the landfill for 100 years! I also read that in the U.S. alone, we use 1 billion water bottles a week and 76% of them are not recycled!! No wonder our landfills are overflowing!
Another change... In the next couple of weeks I plan on purchasing reusable shopping bags for my groceries. You can get a pack of ten for $20.00 at BagsOnTheRun. A plastic bag sits in the landfill for 1000 (yes, 3 zeros) years.
There is lots that I would love to change but right now just can't. For example, our diaper situation. While I was pregnant I wanted to use cloth diapers but decided I would wait until they got a little bigger so that I wouldn't have to purchase so many different sizes. Now that they are a little bigger, I can't justify the time that would be spent washing them. Our laundry, without 20-25 cloth diapers a day piles up so, that I can't imagine adding that many diapers to the laundry.
We challenge you to make just one change to make a difference!!! Here are some things you might choose to do. Change your light bulbs, combine errands by driving less, take Bob the Builder's advice and Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, buy concentrated items, use less water, turn the thermostat up or down 2 degrees, (we haven't done that one yet), turn things off when not in use. If you already do some of these things or if you begin, post us a comment. Evan and I think it will be fun to see what our friends and family do to help save God's precious earth.
Evan and I had GREAT fun celebrating Earth Day!!!
Sadly enough, we've never taken the time to recycle. Whenever we have an event at our house I'm stricken with guilt every time someone asks, "Do you want me to throw this [can] away, or do you recycle?" I've been really feeling a moral duty lately to begin to make some changes in our lives and not to live so vicariously but instead to take into account the impact that we have on our plant. It occurred to me within the last week, probably because of all of the global issues in politics and the awareness ads on television that we really do have a negative impact on the precious earth that God created for us. Not to mention the negative example that we're setting for Evan, that was the big one that opted the change. I want him to become aware of our impact and learn that we can make a difference.
After school, we went to the store and bought Rubbermaids to use as recycling bins. We used black chalk board paint to paint a square on the top so that Evan could write, what would be kept inside of it. We watched a video on recycling cans on youtube and he thought it was really cool. I explained to him why we need to recycle and he was really into it. Part of his daily chores now are taking out the recycling.
While we waited for the paint to dry we began making a paper mache Earth. Evan had so much fun getting messy and he was so funny trying to eat our homemade flour/water paste. The next day, he painted his earth and it now is proudly on display in his art room.
While we were at the store we also picked up some of the new energy efficient light bulbs. We plan on switching all of our bulbs out, but we are going to "grandfather" them in as our bulbs burn out. Did you know that these new bulbs are supposed to last up to 5 years and save over $100 in energy bills, not to mention they release 76% less green house emissions than standard bulbs do? Yeah, they cost more than standard bulbs but Wal-mart and other stores often have then on sale, plus you can click here for a coupon to use.
We also entered a contest at Kroger.com to create a reusable bag. We created a bag by uploading a photo that we took in Russia. (A photo of our bag is below)
Other thing change that we are making is to try to only buy concentrated products whenever possible b/c the packaging is smaller it equals less waste. CVS has concentrated ALL Clear buy one get one free this week.
My friend Renee, whom I used to teach with will really get a kick out of this one. I'm trying to use less paper towels and use rags and dishcloths. (Yes, Renee I did have to go buy some) I've never been much on rags and towels b/c they aren't disposable and I seem to think paper towels have less germs. Oh well, I'm giving it a try.
Yes, We still buy water bottles like crazy but we are recycling them now. I did some research and a plastic water bottle will sit in the landfill for 100 years! I also read that in the U.S. alone, we use 1 billion water bottles a week and 76% of them are not recycled!! No wonder our landfills are overflowing!
Another change... In the next couple of weeks I plan on purchasing reusable shopping bags for my groceries. You can get a pack of ten for $20.00 at BagsOnTheRun. A plastic bag sits in the landfill for 1000 (yes, 3 zeros) years.
There is lots that I would love to change but right now just can't. For example, our diaper situation. While I was pregnant I wanted to use cloth diapers but decided I would wait until they got a little bigger so that I wouldn't have to purchase so many different sizes. Now that they are a little bigger, I can't justify the time that would be spent washing them. Our laundry, without 20-25 cloth diapers a day piles up so, that I can't imagine adding that many diapers to the laundry.
We challenge you to make just one change to make a difference!!! Here are some things you might choose to do. Change your light bulbs, combine errands by driving less, take Bob the Builder's advice and Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, buy concentrated items, use less water, turn the thermostat up or down 2 degrees, (we haven't done that one yet), turn things off when not in use. If you already do some of these things or if you begin, post us a comment. Evan and I think it will be fun to see what our friends and family do to help save God's precious earth.
Happy Earth Day 2008!
Our Bag...
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