Rain, Water, And Wash

It’s raining more often now that summer is (not officially) over. At least it seems that way.

I was thinking of all the water we use from our garden hoses on a regular basis, whether it be to water the lawn, or our gardens, or wash our cars.

Why not stop by one of those stores that sell those huge garbage cans, and dedicate one of the plastic garbage cans to collect your rain water. Then you can use the rain water collected to do some of those things that you would normally do with water from your garden hose.

Just a thought… just cuz!

Show Your Best Mug

I’m a coffee-holic, and have no plans to recover from this.

One of the little things I do when I stop by my local coffee shop (not one of those corporate ones — but I’ll talk more about that tomorrow), I take my 20 ounce travel mug with me. That way, when I get my five shot vanilla latte, I don’t have to waste a cup!

Now, I realize that this may make such an insignificant dent in deforestation and lumps of junk in the landfill, but if all of us avid coffee drinkers got together and did this, I’m thinking it may make one heck of a dent.

So bring a cup with you, just cuz!

Compost, Compost, Compost

If you are one of the fortunate people who have a house with a backyard, consider installing and maintain a compost bin.

It’s a great place for your lawn clippings, coffee grounds, egg shells, raked leaves, and spoiled vegetables to transform into rich soil. It also alleviates some of this waste being sent to a landfill.

If you (like me) know nothing about how to do it, there’s a TON of resources on the Internet.

So compost, just cuz!

Make Clothing Throw Pillows

I know a lot of us keep a bag of donate-able clothes in our closet or in a box, and take them to the nearest clothing charity whenever we find the time. But sometimes, there’s that pair of jeans or old shirt that is just no longer wearable.

Instead of tossing them to very slowly deteriorate in a landfill, why not take the items that are the most absorbent and cut them into rags you can use to clean with.

Even better, if there are some that are tattered beyond being wearable, get out the old sewing machine, sew up all the arm, leg, and head holes (except one), and fill it up with a bunch of other non-wearable outcasts. Sew up the final hole, and you have yourself a lounging pillow – something that sits in the corner until you feel like lounging in front of the boob tube, and want something squishy to lay your weary head on.

If you’re REAL adventurous, you could cut the clothing into squares, and fashion yourself a clothing quilt.   Use it for yourself, or for your dog’s bed.  But I’ll admit, that’s even too much for me.

Sent me your ideas! And make a clothing pillow… just cuz it’s better than filling up a landfill.

Stop Recycling!

When we were children, we were told that the most important things we were learning in school were the three R’s – Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic. As a kid, I was pretty good at spelling, and thought it was weird to call it the three R’s when it was really an R, W, and an A.

Now in the beginning of the 21st century, there’s a new set of “R’s” – namely, Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.

It seems the most prominent of the three is the last – Recycle, however, when you think about it, it really should be a last resort!

Here’s a different way to think about it all:

Reduce – when purchasing items, consider how much extra packaging is being used to contain the product. If the product’s packaging wastefully uses plastic or empty space, consider buying an alternative!

Reuse – Although storage is a concern in many households, before you toss something in the trash to be carried off to a landfill, or toss it in the recycling bin to be carried off to a recycling plant, perhaps there is an alternative! Many churches, schools, and daycare centers use cleaned tin cans, egg cartons, and other items for children’s crafts.

Recycle – This doesn’t mean “Replace!” There have been times when friends or co-workers tell me that they’re “Thinking Green” by replacing all of the non-green things in their lives with green things. So they go out and purchase paper cups for their picnics and throw away their unused Styrofoam cups that have been collecting dust for three years. They buy the new fangled swirly fluorescent light bulbs and replace all of their current (WORKING) light bulbs, throwing the perfectly good light bulbs away. Once a recyclable items has used up it’s life (so to speak), and can no longer be used (or reused) as something else, then (and only then) should recycling be the option.

So I’m not really saying DON’T recycle, I’m saying we should think about reducing and reusing first, and then choose recycling as the last resort.

Don’t Buy Bottled Water

Another twist to this blog will be my feelings on some of the things that are happening with our environment. Now, I don’t consider myself a “tree hugger” or a “crunchy person” by any measure. I do, however, try to think about cause and effect, and how little things I do (or don’t do) may not make a dramatic change in my daily life, but a thousand little changes can at least make a dent and promotes that good stuff.

Recently I heard a statistic that I won’t repeat here, because frankly, I am wary about how statistics are formulated. The statistic had to do with the amount of empty water bottles that are filling up landfills. The numbers stated in the statistic were huge, so of course, the cynic in me (which I need to work on) doubted the authenticity. I’m pretty good in math, so I try to form my own rationale regarding things.

Back in the 80s, when Olivia Newton-John was getting physical, there appeared on shelves a product called Evian. I thought the world had gone insane. Buying water? That’s just silly.

Almost 30 years later, it’s not so silly. Everyone seems to be doing it. And I’m all for the convenience of carrying around a 16.9 ounce ice cold helping of clean and tasty water. But the packaging is what concerns me. Millions of these small plastic bottles are being thrown away (or recycled). And while recycling this material is better than throwing this material away, what’s even better than recycling is not having the need to recycle.

Now, you may be asking, “What? What do you mean by “not having the need to recycle?”

If you didn’t purchase individual servings of bottled water, you wouldn’t have to recycle the individual bottles.

Do you want a potentially cheaper and more convenient alternative? Rent a water cooler. Yes, rent a water cooler. Many of the well-known bottled water distributors now offer rentable water coolers for home use. They deliver those 5-gallon polycarbonate water jugs to your home, and you place it in the rented cooler. Most of the time, it ends up being much cheaper than those individual bottles.

So run to your nearest convenience department store, and purchase a water bottle that you can refill from your own home water cooler, and skip the whole recycling process. You’ll be saving money, energy, and doing a little bit of good stuff.

Just cuz.