If I haven't said it before, thanks for reading my lowly little blog. I write it because it gives me an outlet to promote my thoughts regarding recycling, green living, and environmental friendliness. The blog is not an overwhelming commercial success in any sense of the word, but thanks for those of you who put up and occasionally click on ads through my blog. I sincerely thank you for tolerating them even though I generally am not in love with the thought of acquiring more items.
I have made many personal strides in my own life this year. Eating locally, purchasing items second hand, preferring hand made goods to those commercially made abroad are some of the strategies I have focused on. I will continue to put these to good use, and may even opt in to a local CSA for the summer months.
Here are three of the most popular posts on Think, Act, Prosper this year, and I hope you will re-read them or discover them for the first time, since many of these articles are worth reading more than once!
1) Replace Paper Towels with Rags
2) Use Natural Light and Air Conditioning
3) Go Green: Beer Growlers
4) Green Investing
5) Buy Food in Bulk
Check out my series 20 Ways to Go Green that Make a Difference for a number of small ways to make impactful change
Finally my favorite post of all time, Single Stream Recycling, a topic I plan to revisit!
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Environmentally Friendly Christmas
Holiday Seasons are upon us and as an Anglo-Saxon American, I celebrate Christmas with my family. The holidays are a time of excess and consumption here in the United States. It's extremely unfortunate, because the bedrock of Christmas is the Christian holiday, but all of that has changed. People eat tons of unhealthy food, max out their credit cards to buy gifts, and drive all over the place to get to sales, malls, and various parties.
All of this is a shame and it hurts our precious environment. Here in New England, where I live, we are having an extremely mild winter so far, which one of my favorite bloggers, An Affordable Wardrobe, touched on this week. This thrift shopper extraordinaire laments the lack of snow and bone chilling cold of the days of yore, and although it can't be definitively proved that global warming and our pollution is at fault, it can't help.
We do not necessarily need to go as far as Leo of Zen Habit's who is advocating his Buy Nothing Until 2013 Challenge. There are however some things you can do to limit the impact you have on the environment this holiday season.
Merry Christmas/Happy Hanukkuh!
All of this is a shame and it hurts our precious environment. Here in New England, where I live, we are having an extremely mild winter so far, which one of my favorite bloggers, An Affordable Wardrobe, touched on this week. This thrift shopper extraordinaire laments the lack of snow and bone chilling cold of the days of yore, and although it can't be definitively proved that global warming and our pollution is at fault, it can't help.
We do not necessarily need to go as far as Leo of Zen Habit's who is advocating his Buy Nothing Until 2013 Challenge. There are however some things you can do to limit the impact you have on the environment this holiday season.
- Consider second hand gifts, such as from a thrift store or eBay
- Green gifts
- Make things yourself, people love a personal touch
- Bring your own bags when you go shopping
- Support a local business and buy a real Christmas tree and adorn it with homemade ornaments
- Buy local food in bulk for meals
- Have a fire with your family, and turn off the lights
- If Grandma gives everyone ugly Christmas sweaters (or not), turn down the heat!
- Drive less often, and when you need to go to malls or parties, drive slower!
- Be careful with waste, always recycle
Merry Christmas/Happy Hanukkuh!
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Green Winter Clothing
Clothing is one of the items that the US has such a ridiculous surplus of, yet we still continue to produce in the cheapest, most wasteful, least green methods. That's what the market desires, low prices and coinciding low quality. Winter is when we need clothing the most, especially here in chilly New England. I am a huge proponent of thrift stores, although if I convert too many of you to shopping at these great second hand clothing outlets, all the great finds will dry up extremely quickly! I am on the look out for some great blankets for winter and a heavy jacket at the moment. A pair of boots would be nice as well.
There are however several brands that I can recommend in good conscience. First of all, if you don't need a new item, don't buy one. You can always repair your old things. However, if you have identified a need, I follow a process like the following.
1) imagine the perfect item to fit my needs
2) reach out to people in my network for ideas and suggestions
3) search for more information about potential choices, Google is your friend
4) consider second hand outlets like eBay
5) buy the item and use it for many years
Some of my favorite brands, particularly for winter are Ibex, Smartwool, Icebreaker, and Patagonia. I prefer wool for all weather clothing. It is incredibly warm, soft and durable, a far superior fiber to cotton. Don't even get me started on Polyester. Not only is it a better performance fiber, it is much
more green. Watch Ibex's video below.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Hurricane Sandy: Gas Rationing NYC
Disasters often cause us to reconsider the old way of doing things, for example last year Hurricane Irene was a major disaster in my area. Mayor Bloomberg's gas rationing program in response to the damage and ensuing shortage of gasoline following Hurricane Sandy was issued for the city of New York to limit gas consumption. This terrible storm badly damaged the city, particularly the subway, which many New Yorkers rely on for daily transportation. In response, denizens of the city loaded up on gas to power generators and alternative transportation vehicles.
The ban restricts the ability to purchase gas based on the last digit of the owner's license plate. If it ends in an odd number, that individual can buy gas on odd days, and vice versa for even days/last digits. The only other gas rationing I have experienced was in crowded Beijing, China. They take it even further, wherein drivers can only drive on odd/even days.
Although no one likes their liberties being restricted, there is definitely the potential for good to be accomplished through a rationing strategy. My idea is to promote gas rationing, but make the incentives positives rather than negative. Offering benefits for those of us who choose to only purchase a small amount of gasoline per week/month, or offering cheaper public transportation. In addition, I think gas prices should be increased, and the additional tax used to offset damage caused by pollution.
These suggestions take time to implement, but this is the exact type of external benefit or cost that supply and demand economics fails to accurately capture. The maximum marginal value to society is not reached at the supply and demand equilibrium price and quantity. By limiting gas consumption through raised prices or artificially lower quantities, it will encourage more efficient use of the precious fuel. This non-recoverable, polluting resource consumption must be curtailed, and it won't happen organically.
Monday, June 25, 2012
20 Ways to Go Green That Make a Difference - COMPLETE!
On September 12, 2011, I penned a list of 20 Ways to Go Green that Make a Difference. It took me more than half a year, but I am glad to say that I have finished. I tried to write up tips that would not be huge investments of time or money, and would actually have a positive impact. I think that I was successful. Here is the full list, I have bolded the posts that I think are my best.
3) Eat local food, less resources used for transport and supports local farmers
4) Grow your own vegetables, even if its just herbs in your window
5) Bring your own bags to the grocery store, fully reuse paper/plastic bags if you forget
6) Drink from a reusable water bottle
9) Run full loads in the dishwasher/laundry
10) Conserve water in everyday situations
11) Make things yourself
12) Use rechargeable batteries
10) Conserve water in everyday situations
11) Make things yourself
12) Use rechargeable batteries
15) Give green gifts
16) Green Investing
17) Volunteer
19) Limit food packaging, buy food in bulk
20) Use rags or old clothing over paper towels
My next series will be on affordable ways to go green, I have still not developed the list, but I expect there will be more than 10. Not everyone can afford to buy a Prius, but we can all find ways to go green!
My next series will be on affordable ways to go green, I have still not developed the list, but I expect there will be more than 10. Not everyone can afford to buy a Prius, but we can all find ways to go green!
Friday, June 22, 2012
Replace Paper Towels with Rags
This is part of my series: 20 Ways to Go Green that Make a Difference. This series discusses practical ways we can go green in our lives, that will have a measurable effect on the environment. This is an alternative to the many lists that offer 100+ suggestions, many of which are not easily applied to our lives or the impact is minimal.
Paper towels are extremely expensive. Several cents per sheet, in fact. Don't believe me? Peruse your local Wal-Mart and see the packs of rolls on sale for $20. They are also extremely not green. Many people use them for a small stain and toss them right in the garbage.
A much better alternative is to use rags. The key with them is reusability. Unlike a paper towel, after you soil a rag, just toss it in the laundry. If you have a large set of rags, you can run a load just for rags, or even toss them in with your regular laundry. While this does increase the cost from the ~75 cents you pay for the rag, it will pay off in green dividends and cash dividends if you wash the rag enough times.
Rags do not necessarily have to be purchased, and this is where the real savings both green and otherwise comes in. You already have a bunch of rags sitting in your closets somewhere, the fiber is just in the form of your old clothing. Old t-shirts (see above) make great rags, and repurposing your old clothes means you don't need to outlay any money for rags. Just grab your scissors and an old shirt or set of sheets and cut into rectangles. Soon you will have a big bucket of rags. Reach for them in any situation that you would need a paper towel.
Finally, if you must use paper towels, make sure to get maximum utility from them. Do not use a huge piece of towel for a miniature stain. Make sure to grab a small piece of towel and use it completely. If you are mopping something up, make sure to wring out the excess liquids and try to re-use. If you end up getting a paper towel not that dirty, you can recycle it.
Paper towels are extremely expensive. Several cents per sheet, in fact. Don't believe me? Peruse your local Wal-Mart and see the packs of rolls on sale for $20. They are also extremely not green. Many people use them for a small stain and toss them right in the garbage.
A much better alternative is to use rags. The key with them is reusability. Unlike a paper towel, after you soil a rag, just toss it in the laundry. If you have a large set of rags, you can run a load just for rags, or even toss them in with your regular laundry. While this does increase the cost from the ~75 cents you pay for the rag, it will pay off in green dividends and cash dividends if you wash the rag enough times.
Rags do not necessarily have to be purchased, and this is where the real savings both green and otherwise comes in. You already have a bunch of rags sitting in your closets somewhere, the fiber is just in the form of your old clothing. Old t-shirts (see above) make great rags, and repurposing your old clothes means you don't need to outlay any money for rags. Just grab your scissors and an old shirt or set of sheets and cut into rectangles. Soon you will have a big bucket of rags. Reach for them in any situation that you would need a paper towel.
Finally, if you must use paper towels, make sure to get maximum utility from them. Do not use a huge piece of towel for a miniature stain. Make sure to grab a small piece of towel and use it completely. If you are mopping something up, make sure to wring out the excess liquids and try to re-use. If you end up getting a paper towel not that dirty, you can recycle it.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Buy Food in Bulk
This is part of my series: 20 Ways to Go Green that Make a Difference. This series discusses practical ways we can go green in our lives, that will have a measurable effect on the environment. This is an alternative to the many lists that offer 100+ suggestions, many of which are not easily applied to our lives or the impact is minimal.
The modern food industry is a topic that fascinates me and is often the subject of posts here. There are many ways we can make this industry greener and it is very important to consider changes, as this is one of the industries that affects every single person in the world. We all need to eat, and if we can make green improvements in this industry, the scale will make a big impact.
One of the biggest problems is packaging. It is very wasteful and in most cases unnecesary. Preservation of food is one thing, but the excess packaging favored by marketing types to "differentiate" processed foods is completely excess and unnecesary.
We do not need food wrapped tightly in plastic, then stuffed into a cardboard box. Many of us simply see this as more garbage, and promptly deposit it into the trash barrel. This could be recycled, which would be better, but what would be best is simply avoiding it at all. I have mentioned my "deposit theory" and I believe if there were a deposit on cardboard boxes and plastic bags, it would incentivize people to reduce consumption or increase recycling, any excess money would go to recycling programs to sort the actual garbage to find deposits which were not redeemed. This would create more jobs and would improve the environment, a win/win if there ever was one.
One way individuals can go green is by buying their food in bulk. Not just granola is available, although feel free to buy that in bulk as well. Beans, rice, nuts, candy, flour, sugar, spices, vegetables, coffee, meat, syrup, honey and many other commodity goods can be purchased with simple bags (that you will re-use) and priced by the pound. You may want to consider bringing reuseable containers right to the store, to avoid wasting bags. Another way to buy in bulk is by purchasing a large side of beef direct from a farmer or a fish from a fisherman and wrapping it minimally before putting it directly into your fridge or freezer. Bring back old egg cartons and fruit boxes to the farmers market and re-fill them. There are many ways to go green in the food packaging world, so be creative.
A related topic is the packaging of commercial foods. Although 100 calorie snack packs allow you to keep your portions of crappy processed food in check, they are mainly vehicles that allow food companies and their marketing teams to make a few more percentage points of profit from you. Avoid pre-sliced food that is then packaged and sold in smaller containers (for a higher price). When buying deli meats, have them weight your meat and cheese separately, then put into one deli bag.
These changes may seem small, and on an individual scale, they might not make a difference. However over the course of a year they certainly will. Every human on the planet needs food and if they bought in bulk, it would cause a huge shift in the food industry and cut down on waste and pollution. I also bet everyone would have a few more bucks left in their pockets! Green and cheap, a solid combination. Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma is a great read if you want to re-think the food industry.
The modern food industry is a topic that fascinates me and is often the subject of posts here. There are many ways we can make this industry greener and it is very important to consider changes, as this is one of the industries that affects every single person in the world. We all need to eat, and if we can make green improvements in this industry, the scale will make a big impact.
One of the biggest problems is packaging. It is very wasteful and in most cases unnecesary. Preservation of food is one thing, but the excess packaging favored by marketing types to "differentiate" processed foods is completely excess and unnecesary.
We do not need food wrapped tightly in plastic, then stuffed into a cardboard box. Many of us simply see this as more garbage, and promptly deposit it into the trash barrel. This could be recycled, which would be better, but what would be best is simply avoiding it at all. I have mentioned my "deposit theory" and I believe if there were a deposit on cardboard boxes and plastic bags, it would incentivize people to reduce consumption or increase recycling, any excess money would go to recycling programs to sort the actual garbage to find deposits which were not redeemed. This would create more jobs and would improve the environment, a win/win if there ever was one.
One way individuals can go green is by buying their food in bulk. Not just granola is available, although feel free to buy that in bulk as well. Beans, rice, nuts, candy, flour, sugar, spices, vegetables, coffee, meat, syrup, honey and many other commodity goods can be purchased with simple bags (that you will re-use) and priced by the pound. You may want to consider bringing reuseable containers right to the store, to avoid wasting bags. Another way to buy in bulk is by purchasing a large side of beef direct from a farmer or a fish from a fisherman and wrapping it minimally before putting it directly into your fridge or freezer. Bring back old egg cartons and fruit boxes to the farmers market and re-fill them. There are many ways to go green in the food packaging world, so be creative.
A related topic is the packaging of commercial foods. Although 100 calorie snack packs allow you to keep your portions of crappy processed food in check, they are mainly vehicles that allow food companies and their marketing teams to make a few more percentage points of profit from you. Avoid pre-sliced food that is then packaged and sold in smaller containers (for a higher price). When buying deli meats, have them weight your meat and cheese separately, then put into one deli bag.
These changes may seem small, and on an individual scale, they might not make a difference. However over the course of a year they certainly will. Every human on the planet needs food and if they bought in bulk, it would cause a huge shift in the food industry and cut down on waste and pollution. I also bet everyone would have a few more bucks left in their pockets! Green and cheap, a solid combination. Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma is a great read if you want to re-think the food industry.
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