How To Live In An Environmentally Friendly Way

Do you sometimes reflect on the way you live and end up feeling bad about the impact your existence is having on the environment? Is so then you are like most of us but feeling bad won’t get you or the environment anywhere, decisive action is needed. You can make today the first day that you begin to live a greener life but you’ll need a guide to show you how. Well you’re in luck; let’s take a look at how you can live in a more environmentally friendly way.

Use Natural Products

Are you removing household stains and odours with bleach, vapour sprays and other mass produced cleaning agents? The answer to that question for most of us will be yes but have you considered using natural products instead? Why? Because they can do just as a good a job, they don’t contain toxins that will pollute the environment and it’s cheaper. Try removing a stain with a mixture of vinegar and water or some baking soda and you will see that they are just as good as the products you usually buy and without having to buy them you will be reducing the amount of rubbish you amass.

Eat Less Meat

The amount of land and resources which used up to sustain the demand for meat throughout the world is huge. If we all did our bit and just had 1 0r 2 days a week when we didn’t eat meat we could greatly reduce these figures freeing up more land for us to enjoy and less destruction of areas to create farm land. When was the last time you went a whole day without eating meat?

No More Plastic Bags

This is one that we will all be familiar with. You’re probably sick of being asked if you want a bag every time you go shopping but you really should consider bringing your own canvas bag which will last for years and eliminate the need for plastic bags. Think about how many plastic bags you throw out each week and then think about how long they take to decompose, the number is staggering.

Snuggle More

Do you have you heating blasting for most of the night? Try using it much less and when you’re cold put some extra layers on and snuggle up to a loved one (that includes the dog). Reducing the amount of oil or gas you use will greatly reduce your carbon footprint and as we all know these resources are on the decline.

Consider The Alternatives

Get some information on alternative energy sources and how you can utilise them. Renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power are going to be the ‘must haves’ of the future so why not get in their early. Many governments offer incentives to people who use solar energy and your electricity bills will be greatly reduced so find out more about your options.

Plant A Tree

This is one of the simplest solutions out there but it really does help reduce your carbon footprint. Try planting a tree in your garden which will produce more oxygen for the environment, it’s that simple. Not only will it produce oxygen but it will use the carbon that you produce which will set you well on your way to living a much more environmentally friendly life.

Learning about the environment in the Early Years

It's widely publicised that play and learning outdoors have a positive impact on children's well-being and their development. Outdoor learning is fun, giving children room to explore and investigate nature, improving physical abilities and experiences the sights, sounds, smells and movement. Being outdoors also introduces young children to our environment with first hand experiences with weather, seasons and the natural world.

Playing outdoors provide children from birth to 5 years old with the following opportunities: 

• be excited, energetic, adventurous, noisy, messy
• talk, listen, interact, make friends
• imagine, dream, invent, fantasise
• create, invent, construct, de-construct
• investigate, explore, discover, experiment with their own ideas and theories
• make sounds and music, express ideas and feelings
• find patterns, make marks, explore different media and materials
• investigate concepts and ideas
• be active, run, climb, pedal, jump, throw
• dig, grow, nurture, cultivate
• hide, relax, find calm, reflect
• take risks
• have responsibility, be independent, collaborate with others

A popular activity for learning about the environment is gardening; it helps children to develop to greater understanding of the world around us with gardening in containers or outdoor spaces. Planting fruit and veg, weeding and sweeping leaves are some activities that promotes care and concern for the environment.

Early Years Resources based in the UK provides an excellent range of outdoor learning resources and equipment such as gardening equipment for children, nature exploration kits and weather resources.

5 Reasons Every Business Should Have an Eco Policy

If your business is in the green sector — a supplier of solar panels or a recycling clearance services provider, for instance — it makes obvious sense for your company to have a policy on ecological and environmental friendliness.

What if you're in a sector that's largely unrelated to green issues — do you still need an eco policy?

It's tempting to assume that you don't. After all, why would you take time and resources away from your core business in order to develop a policy that, at first blush, appears to have nothing to do with what your enterprise is about? Ignoring the growing public interest in environmental concerns or the role these play in consumer choice is a mistake, however.

There are many hidden benefits to having a solid and well-planned environmental policy for your company.

Here are some of the five top reasons why you should start thinking about your eco policy today.

1. Consumer Interest

Simply put, customers care about the environment. Maybe not all of your customer base is strongly concerned about the environment but a sufficient segment of it is likely to be somewhat interested in green issues to make a difference to your business. Some customers will be interested enough to choose you over a competitor.

Many sectors that were previously divorced from environmentalism have begun to embrace green issues as a way of wooing new customers. One example is the insurance industry. By offering discounts for homeowners who have invested in solar panels or other green improvements — typically a lower insurance risk in any case — some insurance providers have carved out a niche for themselves as "green" companies.

2. Green Relief

Discounts on business rates and other economic advantages are another good reason to look into setting up an eco policy. An example is the Government's new Green Deal, which rewards businesses for adopting energy-saving policies.

You probably already know that green enhancements can save you money; reducing your energy consumption will cut your company's fuel bills, for instance. You may also find that some of the companies you rely on for supplies and services offer incentives to go green. As mentioned above, there are some cases where going green can pay off in terms of reducing insurance premiums. This is true for businesses as well as households. If your policy includes physical upgrades to your premises, this may lower your risk profile in the eyes of an insurer and result in lower premiums once improvements are completed.

3. Promotional Opportunities

Opportunities for business promotion in eco-friendly media are more numerous if you establish some green credentials. Making a name for yourself as a company with an environmental conscience can pay dividends in terms of good publicity. As well as making green media more interested in accepting advertising for your firm, you can use your new policy as the springboard for a publicity drive. Sending out a press release that details your eco policy is potentially a way to get your company featured in reporting from green and eco-aware outlets.

Some environmental charities offer awards or certification for businesses that make a firm and demonstrable commitment to becoming more environmentally friendly. If you can show that you've established a meaningful company policy on green issues and that you are following through with real change and measurable improvements, you might be eligible for this kind of recognition. Such an award can be a source of excellent publicity and an opportunity for promotion in green media, as environmentally-oriented outlets often report on the winners of such plaudits.

An eco policy can also offer a way to break into conventional media. Increasingly, green stories attract mainstream attention. Your firm's story could be one of them. Local media might be particularly interested, especially if your policy affects the environment in their area of interest. The news that your new policy will mean less pollution in the local air or water will definitely be seen as newsworthy by many outlets.

4. Public Relations

It makes a business look good if the general public can see that you are taking steps to build a more environmentally-friendly business. Sometimes representatives can be wrong-footed if they're quizzed over green concerns without having any policy guidance to refer to.

Prospective or current customers who get in touch with your company for information regarding environmental issues will be much more impressed if your representatives can quote confidently from a solid eco policy instead of seeming vague or uninterested. If your company gets a reputation as one which cares about the environment on a local as well as a global scale, this often translates into more business and greater loyalty from your existing clients.

5. Real-World Benefits

As well as helping you look good, establishing an eco policy for your company genuinely is good for the planet. Cutting down on waste, reducing the amount of energy your business consumes, eliminating pollution that originates with your company — all these are genuinely good news for the environment.

Even relatively small changes, such as replacing lighting with energy-efficient alternatives, arranging to recycle office waste and offering paperless billing for your customers, can make a big difference to the environmental impact of your enterprise.

Get Involved!

It's fair to say that whatever sector your enterprise is active in and no matter what size your company may be, you need an eco policy. Your policy will need to be tailored to your company's activities. Possible areas to look at might be:

• Investing in more energy-efficient premises
• Offering greener services, such as paperless billing
• Adopting sustainable energy sources
• Switching to more environmentally-friendly raw materials
• Offering discounts and incentives for customers who adopt greener approaches themselves.

The more companies get on board with the green revolution and try to change their practices, the better it is for our world as a whole. Get involved!

Here's How You Can Help The Environment In 2 Minutes A Day

Saving the planet is not difficult. You can help the environment in 2 minutes a day by using common sense and logic. It does not take expensive ingredients to go green, but a desire to do your part. There are hundreds of tips and tricks written and suggested and you can probably think of many more.

Change your Bulbs

One of the best ways to help the environment in 2 minutes is to change your lights. You need to replace your old regular light bulbs with a new fluorescent bulb. The contamination reduction is equal to removing thousands of cars from the road in a one year period. There are regulations in place that require electric light bulb manufactures to cease producing traditional bulbs. Get used to those swirly fluorescents.

Turn off Computers

Do you leave your computer on all the time? Computers need sleep too and instead of leaving in it sleep mode all night you can save 40 watt hours per day buy turning your computer totally off at night. If you have a timer you can set it to turn on your computer automatically a few minutes before you get to work.

Don’t Rise Dishes

Many consumers have the feeling that they have to wash their dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. Today’s dishwasher models are designed to take excess foods off the dishes and flush them away. By not rinsing your dishes before your load them, you can save up to 20 gallons of water each load. You are also saving the time and energy that it takes to heat hand washing water.

No Pre-Heating

Avoid preheating the oven. Just turn it on when you put in your food. You do, however need to use the pre-heat selection when you are baking. Check the condition of your food through the oven window instead of constantly opening the door.

Recycle Glass

If you recycle your glass instead of throwing glass in the trash you will reduce pollution by almost 20 percent. Related water pollution that is caused by glass can be reduced by 50 percent. Glass does take almost a million years to decompose.

Cloth Diapers

You will have a terrible time convincing mothers and fathers that they need to use cloth diapers. Yet we use about 4000 to 8000 diapers on a child from the day of birth until they are potty trained. Diapers are nasty, generally do not decompose quickly, and fill up trash sites. Find a friendlier disposable if you insist on using these types of diapers. You can find eco-friendly diapers in the organic section of your supermarket.

Vegetarian Diets

If you have ever wanted to jump on the vegetarian bandwagon for a meal or too, you can switch in no time and save the planet. One less meat based meal during a one week period will give both you and the planet increased health. It requires 400 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef. It takes only a couple of gallons of water to produce lettuce. Save trees by eating vegetarian. Every hamburger that comes from animals raised on rainforest land costs approximately 44 square feet of trees.

No Bottled Water

Almost 100 percent of plastic water bottles never hit the recycling bin. They do take thousands of years to decompose and when throw away water bottles on the ground you produce an ugly landscape and damaged ecology. Your tap water is better for you than most bottled waters, which is really fancy tap water. The FDA has more stringent requirements for home tap water than bottled water manufacturers.

Featured images:

•  License: Image author owned 

While working with DATS Environment Services, the author, Craig Miller, has been working to educate people on how they can do their part in helping to take care of the environment. He has contributed many articles to different sites and spoken at several green conferences.

Decreasing Your Personal Carbon Footprint

Unless your name is Al Gore, you probably can’t afford solar panels, a house remodel to increase energy efficiency and a new Hybrid car. Although efficient, these ways of reducing energy consumption and lowering your carbon footprint can be costly. These types of endeavours don’t only require thousands of dollars – they necessitate a large time commitment and plenty of forethought and planning. Some of the best methods to lower your carbon footprint are the small changes you can make to your daily life. Like crash dieting, doing something drastic isn’t as effective as making smaller, incremental changes you can pursue for the long-term. Here you’ll find a comprehensive list of several tactics that that will help you develop sustainable lifelong practices that will help you help the environment.

What is a Carbon Footprint and why it Matters

Your personal carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions associated to your consumption. Examining your carbon footprint is an effective way in determining your indirect effect on the environment. There are many tools available that can help you estimate your carbon footprint, and knowing this number can provide a clear view of your consumption and how it’s affecting Mother Earth. Knowing your “number” isn’t everything; whatever it is, most people can still make small improvements to their overall consumption habits. Greenhouse gas emissions matter – especially for global warming believers and evangelists. If you haven’t caught on yet, excess greenhouse gas emissions are the primary cause of global warming – which is bad for everyone.

Buying Local Products Results in Less Emissions

Production of local products, like produce, cheeses, and honey, are the least likely to contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. Unlike large production plants local establishments are smaller and have limited resources, making their production processes different from those of their larger competitors. The carbon footprint of local facilities is usually a fraction of a larger plant’s footprint. Local products also travel a fraction of the distance to get to distributors, like your local food market. Shaving cream that has been manufactured in London and that is sold in a London shop has a much lower carbon footprint than a product that would have been manufactured in China, due to the transportation-related emissions. Sometimes it’s just impossible to buy local products, like coffee. Coffee beans are cultivated from approximately 70 countries around the globe and Germany is the world’s largest transfer point of coffee beans. This doesn’t mean that Germany produces the beans. In fact coffee beans aren’t cultivated in Europe at all. The largest cultivators and exporters of coffee beans are Latin America, Southeast Asia, Africa and India. The amount of greenhouse gas emissions from transportation alone should definitely incite cutting back on your trips to Starbucks.

Reduce Heat in Your Home

The most obvious issue to address is the temperature of your home. Did you know that simply reducing the temperature on your thermostats by one or two degrees can result in a significant decrease in greenhouse gas emissions? Whether your heating is electric, oil or slow combustion stove (the kind you fill with fire wood), reducing the temperature, consumption and general use of the heating source will lead to a reduction of your carbon footprint. Reducing consumption will also be good to your bank account. With the rise of heating oil prices, did you know that turning down the heat by one degree could reduce your heating costs by up to 10%?

Another heat source to consider cutting back is the temperature of your water heater. Most households have their water heater set too high anyway, and reducing the temperature by the same one or two degrees will lower your carbon footprint and save you money on heating oil prices.
Finally when considering heat for your home, think of the hot water used to wash your clothes. Most detergents work just as well in cold water and, in fact, washing your clothes in cold water prevents stains from setting in the fabric. Washing your clothes in cold water will save you money on your power bill, reduce your carbon footprint, and lengthen their lifespan.


Nick Thorping is a writer with an interest in sustainable business practices. He suggests that just as reducing consumption of heating leads to a reduction of heating oil prices, reducing consumption can lead to cost savings in your home.

Eight Top Kitchen Eco Tips

Robert from Flow Living is here to give you eight ways to improve your kitchen's eco "output", or rather, reduce your kitchen's waste output.
The kitchen is often to most-used room in the modern home, which also makes it possibly the most-abused in terms of energy usage. Have a read through these tips - I hope you can get something good from them!

Re-Use All Things

There are two overriding themes to been environmentally conscious: reducing waste, and re-using things where possible. You really can re-use a lot of kitchen waste, from using certain food wastes as compost to turning an old bin into a waterbutt, there's a lot of opportunity if you're the inventive type. If you're not the inventive type, think about the problems you currently have in your kitchen/garden. Is there a way you can help them by re-using something you consume on a regular (or irregular) basis? Necessity is the mother of invention, so solving a problem is perhaps where you should start. If that doesn't get you anywhere, there's always the artistic route - transform a part of your garden into a more creative space by painting old appliances, or building interesting sculptures out of old kitchen items.

Eat...Microwave Meals?

Okay this idea might be slightly controversial, because there's certainly something that feels more natural about cooking "properly" in a oven. But microwaves are more energy efficient. They're quick (that meal it takes an hour to heat in the oven only takes three in the microwave) and literally use less energy than a gas or electric oven.
If you have to use a stove to cook with, why not prepare food in bulk to then freeze. Then, when you're ready to eat it, reheat it in the microwave rather than on a stove.

Buy Recycled Goods

It's a no-brainer, isn't it? You buy recycled goods, which you then recycle, which then get bought by another as recycled goods, who then recycles - it's a lovely round recycling circle...or cycle. Whilst it's easy to conceive, it's slightly harder to implement. But it's all about getting into a mindset, thinking first about recycling: the next time you have to buy something, just ask yourself "is there a recycled version of this?"

Save Water

Hot water is an everyday necessity, for cooking, drinking, cleaning, and bathing. In the kitchen, you can cut down on the amount of hot water that you use, and the amount that you waste. "Waste" is the key here. It takes energy to heat water, so if you end up running the tap for slightly longer than you should, or pouring some hot water away then you're wasting energy. A good way to ensure you use less water overall, without having to concentrate so much, is to use a tap that has a slower flow. Having a nice looking kitchen tap to accompany your stylish undermount sink is one thing, but having a tap that saves you money, saves energy and still looks great is a greater thing.
Another quick water/energy saving tip: if you fill the kettle up to full every time, but don't use all of the water, then you're wasting energy every time you heat the kettle.

Save More Energy

So this nicely follows on from the previous tip. Due to your undoubtedly electricity-powered kitchen, there's a lot of energy usage. Think of all the appliances you have. Anything steam-powered? Hamster powered? Nope. Here are some quick tips, that also work throughout other areas of the house:

• Use low-energy lightbulbs (compact fluorescent bulbs), including in side-lights and task lighting
• Turn everything off when you're not using it (except the fridge/freezer, unless you want to have to eat all of your frozen food tomorrow)
• Monitor your central heating - if the kitchen warms up when you use other appliances, do you need the central heating on as well?
• Buy new appliances - this one will cost you money short-term, but save in efficiency over a longer period as newer appliances are generally more efficient
• Using kitchen appliances elsewhere? Do they need to be switched on? That freezer in your garage might not be fully stocked, so can you transfer its contents and turn it off?

Outsource It!

Your best chance of succeeding with making your kitchen a more eco-aware is with you committing to the idea. But if you share the house with others (especially others of an under-18 and occasionally messy persuasion) then you're open to their input, whether you like it or not. Therefore if you convince your family to become advocates of your ideas, those ideas could go a long way.
Kids, when they believe something, often put a lot of energy behind their beliefs. If you lay out the reasons why you want to change the way you dispose of waste, pick the food you use and be aware of the impact of your decisions, your children will be better informed, better prepared and possibly better disciplined overall.

Finish Your Meals

Saying "don't throw things away" is too easy, too obvious, and not quite right. Most UK councils are stepping up their recycling programmes, which means that more of your home waste can be sorted into various recycling buckets. Or at least, that's the intention. However, if you can just produce less waste to start with, there's less to recycle. It does help if you have a "human dustbin" in the house, but, sincerely, weighing your food and working out who consumes what sort of quantity of food can go a very long way to reducing your overall waste, reducing food bills, cutting down the amount of packaging you use, trips to the supermarket etc. There's a whole big knock-on effect that starts with a simple thought and spreads out a long way from there.

Tell Everyone About Your Success

This is perhaps the best thing you can do: pay it forward. Spread the word. If you've seen "success" after implementing a green or eco policy in your kitchen, tell everyone about it. For every naysayer and pessimist you encounter, there may be one or two that you encourage to change the way they think about how their waste at home affects them and the wider world around them.
Do you have tips nine, ten and eleven? Please add them in the comments!

How To Build Your Own Wind Turbine At Home

Wind turbines are quite simple and easy to make, and they can save you a lot of money on electric bills if you can build your own. And that is what this article is going to attempt to do- help you build your very own wind generator through the gathering and assembly of fairly widespread and cheap components.

Introduction

If you know how to build a home wind turbine, your electrical bills will cost significantly less and luckily this is relatively easy to do. Plans and instructions showing how to build your own wind turbine are commonly available and thousands of people have built their own home wind turbine. It is often said that only an area prone to strong winds is suitable for wind power generation. This is absolutely not so. Even gentle breezes will produce power which is stored in batteries till needed.

Before you start building it is crucial that you grasp a basic understanding of how a windmill or turbine works. Wind turbines are made up of three major components: the rotor with blades, the tower, and the motor. All of these components work together to generate electrical energy. The tower is used to strengthen your wind power turbine. The blades are used to capture the power of the wind; when constructing your turbine you should consider aligning the blades in the direction of the wind to enhance this ability. The motor is the component that converts the wind blown into the blades into usable electrical energy for your home.

Material and Tool Needed for Wind Turbine

Now that you have a fundamental understanding of what you will be creating you will need a work place that can fit all your needs to start building. A decent-sized garage or shop will help you with this. You wouldn’t want to have your things cluttered around, so it should be large. Subsequently, with your do-it-yourself wind turbine plans, you are now equipped with instructions and the facility to build your wind power turbines.

For you to get started, you must secure your tools such as the wrenches, saw and the cordless drills. Furthermore you need to make a detailed plan in building your wind turbine.

There are a number of materials you could use for the generator’s blades. Almost all experts suggest a strong, pliable wood such as cedar or spruce. Using cedar means your generator can withstand strong winds best by bending slightly with them. Any durable, not-overly-dense and not-too-weak wood will suffice. You could also use plastic blades, like PVC, but you have to be aware that cold weather can fracture them.

The dimensions of your blades will establish the strength of the motor you should get. Something around 40 volts is reasonable. And lastly, your wind generator will need a power source and a monitoring device. A large battery, like a car battery, and a diode will work perfectly.

It is required for you to purchase a DC motor. This will be your power turbine. The DC motor will serve as the heart of the wind turbine, so it is necessary to get one. Ordering this may take days before it is delivered at your home, so place the order ahead of time. The most challenging part of building a home wind turbine is the process of matching blades to the power turbine properly and effectively. Nonetheless, don't be threatened by this because it will not be very difficult if you correctly outlined your plan. If you are aiming for more power production, then you may need to have larger sized blades and of course bigger DC motor.

In making a 1000 watts home wind turbine, your blades ought to be at least 4 feet long, therefore the diameter will have a total of 8 feet all in all. This will catch more wind and will create more power. If you are making small machines, it is recommended to use a PVC pipes for the blades. While you are waiting for the DC motor that you have ordered, you can begin building your blades it basically takes only one day to be able to finish the blades.

Instructions how to get started

With a band saw, cut the wood or PVC into the shape of fan blades. Make sure you cut them into a size that will accommodate your power source. Use bolts or screws to attach the blades to your saw blade pivot. Cover your blades in a primer paint with an oil base, then add additional layers of enamel paint. Later on, attach the blades and pivot to your stainless steel core.

Test the blades to ensure weight is being distributed equally. Run copper wire around the base of the stainless steel core of your generator and attach that wire to your battery. Attach the diode to the battery. Then place your core on the TV tower to keep it elevated. In combination with what you’ve already constructed, you may add a gear box to your generator. This significantly boosts the power generator, as it does a lot of extra work for you with the same amount of wind as it was receiving before.

Conclusion

Where you place your home wind turbine is essential for the success or disappointment of your project. You need to do extensive investigation on the amount of wind available and the speed of that wind. If your site is among trees or surrounded by steep hills, it's impossible to be useful for wind power. It is best if your site is flat or with hills that are far away from trees and other obstacles.

Author:

This article was written by Philippe Allaire, a French Canadian writer with hopes of teaching the world great alternative energy sources. If you’re looking for other alternative energy sources, many can be found at www.greenieproducts.com.