Environmentally Friendly Living

Environmentally Friendly Living How and why should we, as parents, protect the environment? Why 1) Health and Safety 2) Controlling effects on behaviour/learning 3) Legacy – leaving something (good) behind How The process of creating an environmentally friendly home is one akin to weening. Simply replacing old products and ways with environmentally friendly ones may take some time but it is effective. Preserving Resources Waste: Reduce, Re-use, Recycle Reduce        Buy wisely eg cloth towels Not Paper wax paper/re-usable containers plastic wrap “silver”ware and dishware disposables glass or metal containers plastic bars of soap plastic dispensers rechargeable batteries (if necessary) nonrechargeable recycled paper products chlorine bleached cable powered cordless (using a battery) bulk items Paper vs Platic? - Neither. Re-usable cloth bags Buy products with less packaging or at least recyclable packaging Avoid extra bags for produce When printing click on”draft” whenever possible, and print on both sides If only printing Black and White then save your colours and use the black cartridge Compost (try a plastic trash can with the bottom cut out) Re-use      Buy products with multiple use in mind Wash and re-use plastic shopping bags and other plastics like cottage cheese containers and the like. Gift wrap (use kids artwork) Glass jars and foil products Save stained old cotton shirts to cut into cleaning rags" Recycling saves     energy (when you count the energy needed to make new products from raw materials into the equation) natural resources space (landfills) air and water pollution Energy         Drive less Turn off lights and other electic gadgets Use compact flourescent light bulbs and use lower wattages where possible Don't do electrically what you can do by hand eg sharpeners Use fans in summer instead of AC (fans use 1/10 energy of AC) Adjust your thermostat. Between 65-70 deg F in winter and 75-80 deg F in summer Close doors to unused parts of the house Plug leaky homes (check for drafts, moisture on insides of windows on cold days)         Use less hot water (eg plug the sink, wash in cold water) When buying new appliances buy energy efficient ones Run dishwashers and washing machines when full. Clean the lint screen of your drier regularly Use a toaster oven for small quantities Use the microwave to “cook” (it uses 1/3 as much electicity as a conventional oven) Defrost earlier in the refrigerator instead of using the microwave Shovel your own driveway instead of plowing or using a snowblower, rake instead of blowing leaves. Air, land water            Buy organic Don't be wasteful of forest products Favour products that can be harvested from the rainforest without damaging it. Plant trees – protect house (less AC), absorb Carbon Dioxide Avoid fertilisers and pesticides When rinsing or washing dishes by hand fill the basin. Use water normally wasted eg when waiting for water to go cold/hot from the faucet Be water wise in the garden and on the lawn: water deeply and less often; mulch (leave lawn clippings on the lawn), plant water conserving plants densely; mow less frequently Use Baking Soda instead of air fresheners Buy phosphate free, biodegradeable detergents Avoid products containing Chlorine Wildlife      Don't buy pets taken illegally from the wild Don't buy products if endangered species are killed to make it eg ivory Cut apart plastic rings eg 6-pack holders Make sure your pets aren't killing wildlife Support local zoos if it's a good one 10 things you can do for a more environmentally friendly lifestyle 1. Remember the first “R” of “Reduce, Re-use, Recycle” 2. Drive less - Whenever possible, walk, bike, carpool or use mass transit when you go to work to reduce air pollution 3. Don't heat/cool rooms you don't use regularly 4. Keep our water clean – use “safer” cleaners and fertilisers and eliminate pesticides 5. Use Compact Flourescent Lightbulbs 6. Put the plug in when doing dishes in the sink. 7. Use a broom and rake (snow shovel) instead of a leaf blower (snow blower) for a quieter, cleaner and less noxious neighborhood. 8. Hang your clothes to dry – especially in summer 9. Use Tea-tree oil to treat mildew and mould 10. Aim for a simpler, safer, healthier lifestyle Favourite websites  Care2 – healthy living – lots of tips on everything from cleaning products to homeopathic products for pets, organic foods to how to make a “destress bath”. http://www.care2.com/healthyliving/ New Americal Dream – how to live consciously amd buy wisely. http://www.newdream.org/about/6tips.php The Wilderness Society Releases New Report The House voted late Aug. 1 to pass a giant energy package which includes opening the Arctic Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil drilling. The bill also contains billions in subsidies for the nuclear, oil and gas, and coal industries. Now the bill moves to the Senate, where its controversial provisions are not expected to fare well.     WASHINGTON, DC, January 4, 2006 (ENS) - The Peruvian Amazon, a region that still holds some of the most pristine biodiverse rainforests on Earth, is facing an unprecedented wave of new oil and gas exploration. “Around 54 million acres of remote and intact rainforest is now zoned for oil and gas activities in Peru,” said Dr. Matt Finer, staff ecologist at Save America’s Forests. “This amounts to more than 25 percent of the entire Peruvian Amazon.” WASHINGTON, DC, January 4, 2006 (ENS) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued a new regulation that exempts most storm water discharges from oil and gas exploration, production, processing, treatment operations, or transmission facilities from the requirement to obtain National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit coverage. The exemption also covers associated construction activities. Population growth – unsustainable!    Real cost of recycling:(“Wired” Stephen Leahy, 2004) To get an accurate picture of the real value of Nova Scotia's recycling and composting program, the report considered a number of factors, including how much energy was saved by using recycled materials instead of those extracted from virgin resources. It also determined the direct and indirect value generated from new employment in the recycling sector and from nearly doubling the lifespan of the remaining landfills. "It takes three to four or even more times as much energy to make something from raw materials than from recycled," Walker said. The report also included the real but uncounted cost of existing landfills, which leak, gave off noxious gases and are home to large numbers of rats and seagulls -- all of which affect the quality of life and property values of nearby residents.It took just five years -until 2000 -- for Nova Scotia to reduce its wastes by 50 percent through a wide range of programs, including a deposit/refund system for all beverage containers, curbside organic collection for nearly all homes and businesses, and recycling of all paint, tires and other similar materials. However, Nova Scotia's recycling numbers slipped to 46 percent of all trash in 2003. Friesen attributes this mainly to the increase in difficult-to-recycle plastic products and the fact that people buy more goods in general 