My Quest For A Greener Life
Ranked #279 in Green, #28,450 overall | Donates to Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation
"Thoughts About Going Green"
The first thing I'd like to make clear is that I'm not, by any means, a poster child for the eco-movement.
I love to travel but I don't like airplanes and I've had a couple of really, really disasterous train trips so travel by car is my first choice.
I'm sure I waste more than my share of stuff and buy things I shouldn't. Need to work on that, too.
I do believe that it's important to do whatever I can to live a healthier life and be more earth friendly.
So this lens is about some of the small steps that I'm taking to do my part. I don't know 'em all, that's for sure, but as I figure things out, I'll share what I learn."
Be Aware - Be Mindful
Notice The Little Things...
Quest For A Greener Life, I've developed an awareness or a mindfulness that I didn't have before.
Being mindful of what I'm buying.
Being mindful of waste.
Being mindful of the consequences of my decisions.
Being mindful of the impact on the future.
This is the easiest and most important way to start living a greener life. That's a good thing.
Photo courtesy of Razzmatazlady
The Russian River Valley in Sonoma County, CA
Buy Less Stuff!
Here's a case where less really is more.
Buy less stuff! Do you really need one more sweater/pair of shoes/coat/whatever? And kids' clothing (if a sibling isn't wearing it) is easy to get rid of. In fact, it's smart to buy kids' clothing at garage/tag sales or resale shops like Once Upon A Child.
Here's a link to a website for finding garage sales in your area. It's a pretty new website and all cities and towns might not be included, yet. But give it a try. It's Garage Sale Tips and Maps
A good idea: When you bring something new into the house, get rid of something old - don't just throw it away - donate it or recycle it.
Another good idea: Shop for books at used bookstores. Better yet, check them out from a library. Same thing for cd's and dvd's. My daughter recently needed to read several books for a graduate school class she was taking. She found them at a library and saved herself a bunch of money! Smart girl!
"It doesn't cost the earth
to save the planet."
What Is A Carbon Footprint?
Calculate Your Carbon Footprint.
Photo courtesy of didier vidal
A ccording to Carbon Footprint.com, "A Carbon Footprint is a measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of green house gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide."
Of all the green websites out there, I think their definition is the most concise.
Their mantra is "It doesn't cost the earth to save the planet." I love that. It really illustrates the fact that it doesn't have to be an overwhelming task.
Put another way, our ecological footprint is the land that's needed to manage what we consume and waste. For each American, that computes to about 25 acres. That's about 20 acres more than can be sustained globally!
How do we reduce that enormous footprint? Very simply by consuming less.
The simple steps that I'm taking in "My Quest For A Greener Life" are all directly related to reducing my own personal carbon footprint.
The Nature Conservancy has a Carbon Footprint Calculator that's easy to use. You can compute your personal impact or the impact for your household. You'll probably be amazed at the results. Check out Climate Change Calculator.
Reusable Shopping Bags
More important than ever...
Photo courtesy of Razzmatazlady
Use reusable shopping bags. This is not a new concept anymore. It's getting so it's not cool to ask for plastic bags! If you DO use plastic bags, at least return them to the market when you get a bunch. Most supermarkets have a recycle bin for them right by the front door.
Did you know:
"...The average family brings home 1,000 bags every year. Most of those bags end up in land fills. That really adds up - 100 billion plastic bags are sent to landfill in the US each year.
In landfills, it can take up to 1000 years for a bag to decompose. Plastics don't biodegrade, they photo-degrade, breaking down into tiny toxic pieces that contaminate soil and water or harm wildlife."
Reusable Shopping Bags - Pretty Jazzy!
Check out these prices! They're not expensive, They're Sassy, and you're helping to save the earth.
Flip and Tumble 24-7 Reusable Shopping Bag, Brown
Amazon Price: $12.00 (as of 07/06/2009) 
Green Bee 3pk Reusable Shopping Bags W/Pouch
Amazon Price: $12.99 (as of 07/06/2009)
Earthwise Reusable Grocery Tote Bags, Enviro Starter Kit, 7-Count Bags
Amazon Price: $11.85 (as of 07/06/2009)
Reusable Grocery T-Sack Bag, Assorted Color 12 Pk Set
Amazon Price: $6.00 (as of 07/06/2009)
Chico Bag Green Reusable Shopping Bag 1.50 Ounces
Amazon Price: $4.95 (as of 07/06/2009)
Repurpose, Reuse, Recycle
Thinking Outside The Box
Photo courtesy of FenBranklin
Recycling everything possible is greatfor several reasons. I don't just mean tossing stuff in our recycling bin. I mean sell it at a tag sale or give it away. If I can't use it there's a better-than-even-chance that someone else can.
Not long ago we turned my "art/workroom" into an extra bedroom. I had a bin of broken pottery and china that I was saving for a mosaic project. Yep, I was going to create a work of art just as soon as I had the time (and the inspiration).
Probably had that bin for (I am not exaggerating) six or seven years. I also had thirty or forty empty wine bottles that I was "saving" so I could make flavored oils and vinegars to give as gifts. I love wine. Am sort of a wine snob, in fact. But I digress...that collection of wines bottles wasn't that old but it did take up lots of room.
Well, I got tough with myself. Admitted that I'd probably never get either project off the ground. And if I get inspired some day, I can either buy a bunch of junk china or collect more empty wines bottles.
I joined the local Yahoo Freecycle group and offered my bins of china and wine bottles to anyone who wanted them. All of it gone in a flash.
Other useful sites are Craigslist and one you may not have heard of - Kijiji. If you have books, video games, CDs or DVDs that you no longer want you should look at SwapTree where you can trade them for titles that you DO want. So far, SwapTree is only available in the U.S. but that could change.
Check them out.
Squidoo Lenses Dedicated to Recycling
Please visit these other Squidoo lenses dedicated to recycling. You'll be amazed at the number of everyday items that can be repurposed into something else. Very inspiring.-
50 Things You Can Recycle
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You've heard of people recycling everything from printer paper to your old jeans, but you can recycle nearly everything in your life. If it can't be reused, then it most likely can be recycled instead. Car batteries and tires? Yes, those can be recyc...
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How to Reuse Paper Rolls
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Before you throw away a paper roll, do you consider what it can be used for? Never thought of that? Or you already reuse them? Although our society urges people not to throw out but recycle and reuse as many common household items as possible, we st...
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Making old clothes into funky bags
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This lens joins my other recycling lenses (links below the guestbook) to hopefully save you some money and keep the "trash" out of the landfill. I'll add more bags as I go along but there are only so many hours in the day. I hope the examples I'm sh...
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Recycle Just One More Thing
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A survey for Recycle Week 2008 revealed that if every household in England recycled 'one more thing', the total amount collected for recycling could increase by more than three quarters of a million tonnes and could potentially raise the national rec...
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Recycling sweaters into new accessories
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Often a jersey or sweater will wear through at the elbows or develop a hole somewhere just through use. While smaller holes can be darned and elbows can be patched over, modern jerseys etc don't lend themselves to patching as it rather ruins the sty...
Clever Recycling Projects
There is no limit to the things you can create with found objects. These are some of my favorite Flickr photos of recycling gone wild.
Recycled Bikes
Recycled Can Lantern
Recycled Bottle Vases
Recycled 3-Liter Bottle Planters
Recycled Circuit Board Bookmarks
Important Essays on Water
I encourage you to read these other lenses on water. They illustrate how precious this natural resource is and how pollution is taking it's toll.
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The Water Around Us
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Although water is all about us, seen and unseen, we still find it mysterious and, in many ways, one of the least understood of all our natural resources. The Earth is a watery planet, with most of its surface covered with oceans and seas. The presen...
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Let's Stop Polluting the Oceans!
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A few months ago, I presented to a group of 7th graders about the harmful effects of plastics, especially in our oceans. Recently, Oprah brought attention to the problem after seeing a video of plastic waste in the ocean the size of Texas! Did you k...
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Rain Gardens-Nature's Water Filters
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A rain garden is a landscape feature that collects storm water runoff from roofs, driveways and paved surfaces in a bermed garden area. Rain garden designs are simple - they're basically a shallow depression or bowl shape surrounded by planted areas....
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Simple Steps to Prevent Water Pollution
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Preventing pollution of our waterways is everyone's responsibility. Our oceans, lakes, rivers and streams are suffering from industrial waste and unhealthy farming methods. "But," you say, "I don't contribute to industrial waste and I don't farm. Wh...
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Rain Gardens - A Beautiful Way To Improve Water Quality
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Did you know that 85% of pollutants in our lakes and streams is the result of stormwater runoff? Did you know that every parking lot and road that is built only increases the pollution? Did you know that these pollutants affect wildlife habitats as...
Wine Lovers Unite!
Thinking Inside The Box
I love wine. I even consider myself a bit of a wine snob. There was a time, not long ago, when I considered any wine bottle without a "cork" cork to be suspect. And if it had a screw top it had to be, without question, inferior.There's still the romantic side of me that favors the traditional cutting of the foil and extracting the cork with my very best corkscrew (which is a sweet thing, indeed - quite possibly the subject of another lens).
But I have come to terms with the facts. Boxed wines have come of age. And not a moment too soon.
To top it off, I've just received the latest edition of the "Wine Buzz", a newsletter from WineCountry.Com and there, in black and white, is an article about wines and their impact on the environment. And I quote:
"The use of box, or more technically, a bag-in-box (BIIB), has numerous environmental benefits. Chief among these is the reduction a wine's carbon footprint thanks to less weight of a box than of a bottle. This eases the impact incurred during shipping. Some estimates put the reduction in a bottle of wine's carbon footprint at 50 percent by using this simple packaging switch and the reduction of packaging waste at a whopping 85 percent."
That's pretty heady stuff. Not to be taken lightly. So I'm challenging all you wine lovers out there to give it a chance.
Reducing wine's carbon footprint and reducing packaging waste is worth it in my book. Black Box Wines are award-winning wines and if they're doing it, who am I to argue??? Check out some of the other wineries who are getting in on this new, environmentally friendly idea.
I'd be really interested in your feedback on this.
Fabulous Thrift Store Finds
Better than new!
I'll admit it. I'm a thrift store junkie. Give me something used over something new, any day!
A Piano
Tigger and Piglet
Beautiful Dishes
Cool Shoes
Great Furniture
Goodwill Stores Online
- Shop Goodwill - Online!
- Goodwill's online auction site offering a wide array of antiques, collectibles, books and much more--culled from Goodwill's vast inventory of donated goods. From unique one-of-a-kind items to estate pieces, the depth of resources is enormous. Revenues from auction sales fund
Easy Ways To Cut Home Energy Costs
And A Few Good Reasons Why We Should
Did you know that if every American turned down their heat by six degrees in the winter, 500,000 barrels of oil would be saved EACH DAY?
Did you know that more than a billion tons of greenhouse gases are emitted into the air each year just from heating our homes?
Did you know that for every degree of difference between the outside temperature and the inside temperature of your home your heating and cooling costs can be as much as 10 percent more?
- So, turn down the thermostat a few degrees. Still cool? Put on a sweater or sweatshirt. Wear warm socks or slippers while indoors. Do the opposite in the summer...turn the thermostat up and wear lighter clothing.
- Keep the furnace filters clean. Either replace them or, for permanent filters, clean them once a month.
- Check for possible heating leaks through window and door frames and caulk and weatherstrip the areas that show leakage. Be sure the insulation in your attic is sufficient.
- Keep window shades or curtains closed during the heat of the day in the summertime to keep the heat out. Keep them open on a sunny day in the winter for some "solar" heat. In winter, close all window coverings at night to keep heat from escaping.
- Shade your air conditioning unit. Plant small shrubs nearby to protect it from the hot sun.
- Turn down the temp on the hot water heater and wrap it in an insulating blanket.
Shop Locally
How far does your food travel?
Shop locally. We live in a small town in Minnesota with lots of farmers who sell their produce and whatever else they grow. If I don't grow it in my own garden I try to buy from our local farmers' market or I go directly to the farm.
Check out the website Local Harvest. You just plug in your zip code and it'll give you a list of all the local food sources within a few miles. You will be amazed, I promise you.
Check out their blog, as well. Local Harvest Blog
Eating Locally And Eating In Season
Great Books About This Very Subject!
(O.K., not a piece of cake, but as easy as that...)
Jack's newly planted raised bed garden. Love it.
Grow A Garden
Big, Small or Container Garden - What's Your Style?
Jack, my hubby, plants a fabulous big garden every year. That's a picture of the raised beds he experimented with last summer. It turned out great.
But, up close to the house I have containers with herbs, cherry tomatoes, chives, etc. so they're handy if I need a bunch of herbs for a recipe.
There's more than one benefit of planting a garden. First of all, the stuff just tastes better! Seriously, have you ever tasted the difference between a hothouse tomato and one that has ripened on your very own plant? If you have, you know what I'm talking about. A big, red, sweet, juicy vine-ripened tomato defies description. Ya gotta taste it to believe it.
More important than that, however, is the fact that you know what you're eating - no pesticides, for example.
A lakescape is a beautiful garden that will help stop erosion of our shorelines.
Rain gardens help improve water quality by filtering pollutants from rainwater runoff.
Got A Garden? Try Composting.
The Benefits of Composting (as noted at epa.gov)
By composting you will be helping to:
- Suppress plant diseases and pests.
- Reduce or eliminate the need for chemical fertilizers.
- Promote higher yields of agricultural crops.
- Facilitate reforestation, wetlands restoration, and habitat revitalization efforts by amending contaminated, compacted, and marginal soils.
- Cost-effectively remediate soils contaminated by hazardous waste.
- Remove solids, oil, grease, and heavy metals from stormwater runoff.
- Capture and destroy 99.6 percent of industrial volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) in contaminated air.
- Provide cost savings of at least 50 percent over conventional soil, water, and air pollution remediation technologies, where applicable.
Squidoo Lenses Dedicated to Composting
More great lenses that go into much more detail about composting. Everything you need to know.
Do yourself a favor and check them out.
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How Compost Works
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What rot! A compost addict's guide to composting
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Composting turns waste products into pure gardening gold, saving the planet in the process. Whatever the size of your garden (or even if you don't have one at all), there's a style of composting for you. You can compost in a heap, or a bin (buy one...
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A Lazy Man's Guide to Compost
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Making compost that your plants will love is quite easy. You don't need an expensive bin or a fancy compost tumbler. All you really need is an enclosure of some kind and the organic ingredients to create black gold. Black gold is wha...
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Lo Cost and Efficient Home and Apartment Composting
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I have a few tricks that work out for me when I compost at home. I am just a regular person who enjoys sharing what I have. What I found out are ways to compost very little mess or smell, while taking up very little space in my kitchen. I create the...
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Composting in Minnesota
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People think of Minnesota as being in the frozen state this time of year, well we can garden here too! And we can also make great compost, granted, we don't have 6 months to get it done. That doesn't stop us from making some of the best compost aroun...
Learning About Composting
Basic Composting: All The Tools & Skills You Need To Get Started
Let It Rot! The Gardener's Guide To Composting
Composting: A Practical Step by Step Guide
The Rodale Book of Composting: Easy Methods for Every Gardener
Backyard Composting: Your Complete Guide To Recycling Yard Clippings
The average gasoline mower tested by the EPA emits in just one hour the same amount of hydrocarbons that a 1992 Ford Explorer emits over 23,600 miles?
Astonishing!
Change Out Your Lightbulbs & Turn Off The Lights
CFL Bulbs Are Energy Savers & Cost Effective
Replace incandescent bulbs with CFL bulbs. It's one of the first changes we made in our quest for a greener life.This link will help you choose the right bulbs for your particular needs. Find an Energy Saving Bulb
But, do you know why it's important to use CFL lightbulbs? Because incandescent lightbulbs don't just give off light - they also give off heat which generates the greenhouse gases that are contributing to global warming.
At first, I didn't like how those spiraly bulbs looked and I didn't think the light was as good. Then I discovered that they're always dimmer when they're first turned on and they brighten up in a matter of minutes. Also, when they burn out they don't just go dark - they get dimmer and dimmer and dimmer...
The CFL bulbs are more expensive but they last about eight times longer and, in the long run, will use much less energy - about 1/4 of the energy of an incandescent bulb.
Another thing: We used to turn the lights on first thing in the morning when it's still dark and forget to turn them off. That kitchen light was always on! Now I try to turn them off when it becomes light outside. Amazing what you can see with just plain old natural light!
Green Lightbulbs are Beautiful
Celebrating the beauty of saving energy
An interesting collection of CFL's as art... I love the colors. Photography is great and there are so many awesome Flickr photographers. I love highlighting them.
Awesome Go Green Squidoo Lenses
I'll be adding to this list as I discover other Squidoo lenses dedicated to going Green.
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Go Green Guide: Little Changes for a Big Impact - Green Living Tips
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It seems as if every day we are reading of the alarming impact the global community has made on the environment. Regardless of which side of the issue you favor, there is no denying that here is only one Earth, and a finite amount of resources and sp...
Living Green Books
Ten Minute Energy Saving Secrets
The Home Energy Diet: How to Save Money by Making Your House Energy-Smart
The Carbon Buster's Home Energy Handbook: Slowing Climate Change and Saving Money
Daily Tips from iVillage's Green Machine
Drive Less And/Or Buy A More Fuel Efficient Vehicle
Drive Less. This is a tough one for me. Really, really tough.In the first place, I like driving. I especially like long car trips. There is so much to see while you're traveling across this great land of ours.
But I'm working on it. Around home I do try to consolidate trips...going for milk? Make sure I don't need anything else from the market. Making appointments for the same day - doctor, dentist, tax guy, whatever.
Purchase a more fuel efficient vehicle. I hate to admit this but we do not have a fuel efficient vehicle at this time. Why? Well, mostly because we own a small smoothie concessions franchise (possibly the subject of a future lens) and we need the big rig to haul our cargo trailer to various venues - art fairs, for example. One thing we did do right (I think) was to not purchase a new vehicle. I guess you could say we "recycled" someone else's SUV when they didn't want it anymore.
We're winding down that little business, though, so as soon as we do that SUV is history!
The Isle of Squid
Lucky me! This lens has been accepted at The Isle of Squid Please visit and rate this page.Thanks very much...
Squids Choice Award
I feel very honored that this lens is a winner in the Squids Choice Awards. There are so many wonderful "going green" lenses - what good company!
Love This Lens?
- Rate this lens:
- Email it
- Favorite it
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Reader Feedback, Please.
I'd just love to hear your comments and suggestions! If you see an error or if a link doesn't work, let me know that, too. Thanks!
Demaw wrote...
I can relate to saving things for "future projects". I had to also get tough with myself and give away bags of yarn and material that I know I will never get to use among the other "future projects" and unfinished projects. Five star lens.
Posted June 06, 2009
TheGreenerMe wrote...
I love this lens! One thing I'm trying to do more of that you mentioned is to buy locally. It's tough sometimes to find local produce, but it tastes so much better. Great work, and lensrolled!
Posted June 03, 2009
cjones wrote...
Wow! I really enjoyed your lens, being a newbie you not only have helped me with my own quest to reduce my carbon foot print, but you also have given me some really good ideas of how nice a lens can and should look. Bravo!
Posted March 21, 2009
manujarch wrote...
Very practical and simply adaptable. Cheers for such a clutter-free blog!
Posted February 12, 2009
My Favorite Green Websites
- Environmental Defense Fund
- Please join the thousands of people who have pledged to switch from regular light bulbs to compact fluorescent this year. Take The Pledge
You'll fill in a form stating how many bulbs you pledge to switch and you can see immediately the number of bulbs pledged plus the pounds of CO2 prevented. - Local Harvest
- The place to go when you want to find local food sources like farmers' markets, food co-ops, family-owned farms. Even if you live in the middle of a city, you'll find great sources, I promise.
- Ideal Bite
- Earth Friendly ideas from Ideal Bite: Your place for green living tips made fun and easy, green consumer, organic foods, organic living, eco-friendly, ecologically sustainable lifestyle website!
- Earth 911
- A great place to check for local recycling centers. Especially when you need to find out where to take old batteries, paint, etc. Enter your zip code and voila!
- Planet Green
- "Created by the same savvy folk who brought you the award-winning TreeHugger, Planet Green is your user's guide to living mindfully on this big blue marble we all call home."
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Copyright Notice
by CherylK
I love gardening, reading, watching sunsets on our lake, turtles, traveling, art galleries, feng shui, photography, cooking, esp... (more)
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