Happy Worms

So far so good! This time I just used a lot more dirt at the bottom, and moved my tub out of the sunny corner.

I'm not sure what my objective is... the compost only stays in the balcony tub for a few days before it ends up in the garden pile. I guess I thought maybe the worms could get the compost party started.

We'll see! At this point I'm just happy that they're still alive ;-)

Two New Green Habits

It all adds up, right? I'm happy to report that I've been successful in incorporating two new habits into my daily life:

1) Leaving my desktop on Standby when I'm not using it (I know this is such a simple thing, but it's something I was never in the habit of doing before).

2) Shorter showers - I'm bad (or I was!) at using the shower to wake up and warm up in the morning. Now I just use it to bathe.

Such simple things, and yet I was never doing them before. I have to say this blog has really encouraged me to think about my "green" habits more often than I did before writing it. Now hopefully all the other positive changes I've been making make up for the extra computer time ;-)

Oops I killed My Worms

I didn't mean to. I thought I was setting them up in worm paradise - you know, in the tub where all the food scraps are. This was yesterday, and when I checked them today they were no longer, um, wiggly.

I put them in my plastic tub on the balcony, which is the "second stop" for my scraps. The last time I emptied this tub, just for fun I thought I'd put a scoop of soil at the bottom and fish out some worms from the garden heap and add them to this soil at the bottom of the balcony tub.

My guess, now that I've done some reading (should have done that first - sorry little guys!!) is that the tub was too wet and hot. It's plastic, with a lid, and sits in a sunny corner of the balcony. Mind you, as we're discovering this season, sun does not necessarily mean heat!!! (sigh) It's also usually quite wet as well, since one of the things that I routinely dump in there is the last dregs of cold coffee leftover in my pot.

I think I'm going to try again (the worms are shaking in their boots!), only this time with some kind of bedding. I'll update you on how it turns out.

Is One Day A Year Enough To Save The Planet?

"We grow corn that hungry people need to eat, but turn it instead into biofuel to run our automobiles"
- Alan Ferguson, The Province, April 22, 2008

That pretty much sums up for me all that is wrong with the world.

Today as I waited for my daughter after Kindergarten, I watched another class out in the field with garbage cans and salad tongs as they picked up garbage, presumably in honour of Earth Day. This got me wondering if one day a year is really enough.

It becomes like Christmas. We all mean to practice good will to all men through out the year, but human nature rears it's cranky head and we forget, until next season. On Thanksgiving we count our blessings, and then promptly return to taking everything we cherish for granted.

These same kids who scoured the playground with such enthusiasm today will more than likely return to the old habit of tossing their garbage on the grass if a can is not handy. They're nice kids - they're just afflicted with human nature.

If we want to be cranky to one another or take each other for granted, that's one thing, but destroying the planet is a whole other problem.

Why not have Earth Day once per month? It could be, say, the first or last Monday, for example (a week day is better because it would require school participation). At the very worst, if it fails to create new habits, at least we'd clean up more often...

Four Uses For Vinegar

There are a million and one posts out there about the wonders of vinegar, so I thought I'd throw in my two cents. Here are four ways I personally have used it:

1) Mould inhibitor: I make homemade bread, which has no preservatives. I keep the bread wrapped in a paper towel in a Tupperware tub in my fridge, and between each loaf I wipe out the container with Vinegar. I have yet to see any spoilage using this procedure.

2) Spray cleaner: This one is good for the kids: I can clean the walls with the kids in tow, and not worry about them breathing in vapours or fumes.

3) Cleaning coffee maker: An oldie but a goodie - enough said.

4) Deodorizing cat pee: Just pour on full strength, and it takes care of the stinkies. I`m not sure how. Your house smells like a french fry stand for a day or two, but once that smells fades, the cat pee doesn`t return, unlike with most commercial sprays.

I buy vinegar in bulk from Costco and always have lots on hand. It`s definitely useful stuff!

Rising Gas Prices and Electric Cars

The recent suggestion by automakers to Ottawa to raise gas prices to cut emissions won't work unless an alternative to the pricey fuel is available.

What about either changing the rules applying to electric cars or manufacturing these cars to go faster? Another alternative could be to reduce speed limits everywhere to accommodate the 40 km cars. Although that option wouldn't go over well initially, once consumers enjoyed the savings in fuel costs there might be a different prevailing opinion. Not only that, there might be a safety benefit to a slower speed limit maximum.

Just my two cents for today...

Banning Plastic Bags

Why not??? It's already done in South Australia and San Fransisco, among other places I'm sure.

Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts said on the news tonight that she thinks that banning bags alone is not the answer, and that there should be a more comprehensive strategy in place to ban other things as well (Styrofoam, etc.). Obviously I don't know as much about this issue as she does, but it seems to me that banning just bags now and other things later is better for the environment than waiting to ban anything.

My guess is it's a cost issue? (Or is my ignorance showing?) I guess only time will tell.

Compost

Wow - I'm impressed with those busy little worms (OK, big fat wiggly worms with attitude). I was not expecting my kitchen scraps to be ready for the garden so soon, because I'm doing what's sometimes referred to as "cold composting" - in other words, here's a pile, worms, dig in!!

Today I thought I'd start setting up the garden for planting next month, so I got the shovel and started re-arranging the worms' hang-out. I was happy to find that the compost was ready for use on the garden beds. I'm really interested to see the difference in this year's crop from last year, when I wasn't composting. I'll keep you posted!

The New Router

How can adding another electrical component to my office make me greener? Well, it has to do with my Internet security. I've just installed a wireless router, and although the tech support staffer I spoke to assures me that it's secure, it gives me the creeps when my laptop finds two other networks in the 'hood to choose from when I go to connect. Somewhere someone is at their laptop logging in and seeing MY network on their screen. Of course they can't access it without the bazillion-character password, but still... creepy.

Anyway, I'm getting to the "greener" part. Bear with me.

OK, so I'm in the habit of turning on my PC first thing in the morning, whether I'm using it right away or not. This is because my older desktop (unlike my shiny-literally-new laptop!!) takes about five hours to boot up. I'll let you decide from your own personal experience as to whether or not I exaggerate.

Anyway, I powered up this morning, before taking my son to Strong Start (thank you government for doing something right by creating that program), and was reminded of all those laptops out there ('cause there must be at least 300 on our street alone) with my network showing on their screens. Hmmm. (Ohhhh this is not good for my anxiety.)

Right then and there I decided to NOT switch on my desktop (and power bar, which powers the router - I shut everything off at night) until I'm about to sit at my desk. The end result will be fewer "on" hours for my electrical empire, and hopefully greener data!

My next challenge is to convince my husband that my paranoia is good for the planet.

7 Green Habits

Well so far so good in practicing my three new habits from April 8th's post. The one that I still get stuck on is leaving the kitchen light on. It's ironic, because that's the easiest of them all. Rather than be too hard on myself, I thought I'd do a quick recap of good habits I already have:

1) I compost as much organic waste as I can. Last year I gave it up because it was too messy and too much work, but this year I have finally figured out a system that works for me.

2) I hang clothes to dry. Not all, but as many as I can get away with (my hubby likes them machine dried, but my two kids don't care, and they generate the most laundry anyway!!)

3) I walk everywhere (well, almost). That good man of mine is often re-arranging his (luckily flexible) work schedule to accommodate my taxi needs.

4) I turn lights off behind me.

5) I'm obsessed with recycling. So much so, I think, that the recycling pick-up guys used to dread coming to our house because there were sooooo many little pieces of paper and plastic from anything and everything that would fall out of the bags and onto the sidewalk. I've since learned to package things properly to make their jobs easier. Now they no longer make angry gestures at the house.

6) I've started using fewer plastic bags at the grocery store. I don't know if that qualifies as I habit yet, but I'm trying.

7) I grow my own produce in the spring and summer months. At the moment I have a row of tomato seedlings along my office window ledge. Last fall I briefly looked into methods to extend the short Canadian growing season (like surrounding the garden with plastic, etc.) but I never really got that far with it. Maybe this fall?

I have more but my son is calling me so I have to go. I'll continue later...

5 Benefits of Walking

Who am I trying to convince here? (lol) Aw, I'm happy being a non-driver, except when I'm trying to beat the setting sun in the winter months (there's a down side to everything I guess).

Here are some of the many upsides...

1) There's the lack of emissions and resulting benefit to the environment (now all I have to do is stop tossing the candy bar wrappers on the ground ;-) KIDDING

2) There are numerous health benefits, such as cardio and respiratory fitness, as well as weight management.

3) There's the cost advantage - no gas, insurance or parking expense.

4) I set a healthy example for my kids, and they end up walking a lot more than they would if I drove them around everywhere.

5) Contrary to what the non-walkers think, you actually have more energy when you're a regular walker (as opposed to being tired from all the walking ;-)

3 New Green Habits

Since it's hard to make many changes at once, I thought I'd trying simplifying by tackling only three at a time. Here's my latest Go Green objectives (I'll keep you posted as to my success in keeping them!)

1) Turn off the kitchen light when I'm not there. I have a habit of leaving the light on more often than is necessary - our kitchen is mostly white and receives good daylight from the window, so I could probably leave the light off more often.

2) Turn off the DVD player and VCR when not in use. This sounds fairly obvious, but we tend to press "stop" and leave it at that... tsk tsk. I can do a quick check and make sure everything is powered down completely instead.

3) Unplug chargers when not in use. Ah!! My dear hubby has a habit of leaving the cell phone charger plugged in... I don't blame him because it is convenient and it's hard to imagine much energy waste, but it does add up.

There you go... three new green habits for me to develop. Wish me luck :-)

Turning Off More Lights

I'm pleased to report that since starting this blog I've been more aware of electricity use in our house. I find myself turning off lights more, for one. Not just turning them off when I leave a room, but making more of an effort to walk down the hall and turn off a light that's been left on by someone else (assuming they're not still using it ;-)

Oh the fun you can have with a bathroom light switch that's in the hallway!! (Why do they put them there, anyway? Never could figure that out. Is it so you can hurry someone along if you really need to use the facilities??) I digress.

Anyway, I'm hoping that my decreased light usage compensates for my increased blog related computer time...

Loads of Laundry...

With two kids and a Mechanic in our house, I do a lot of laundry. My latest "go green" endeavour is to reduce the amount of dryer time we use.

I have one of those on wheels hanging rack things (lol, I'm soooo articulate) that I keep in the basement. It doubles as a portable closet for relatives when they're in town staying in our basement. When no one is occupying "Jeanne's Bed and Breakfast", however, it stays parked under the ceiling furnace duct (ahhh!!! nice and warm).

The drawback is that this duct is in front of the window, which means I won't be hanging bras or undies, thank you very much. I have, mind you, been able to reduce my dryer loads to about one per day using this rack (previously three or four loads).

My next goal is to teach my kids to stay clean so I won't have to use the washer as often...

Diaper Wipes...

...are not at ALL green. Aw geez, but they're so handy!!! I confess that I use them more often than I should, but I did go "wipes free" for awhile. If anyone is looking for a wipes alternative, this is what worked for me.

I used three containers. Two were the plastic wipe tubs and the third was a small bucket. I designated a bunch of baby face cloths as "bum only" and kept them in the "clean" wipes tub, in mildly soapy (baby soap) water.

Next to that tub on the change table was the other wipes tub which was empty - this was my "ewwww, where do I put this poopy wash cloth??!!" tub. After each bum change, this tub of dirty wipes would be emptied into the small bucket, which stayed in the bathtub, filled with water and some bleach (I used toddler knobs on the bathroom door so that my mobile child couldn't get in the bathroom by herself and get to the bleach).

I was skeptical, but ultimately surprised at how well it worked, and how easily I transition from disposable wipes to washable cloths. It's definitely worth experimenting with - at least if it doesn't work out you can say you tried!

Enlighten Me!

I'm pretty good about turning off the lights when I leave a room, but I just can't bring myself to watch TV in the dark. Oh my eyes!!! Too much contrast.

Tonight, though, I thought I'd give it another try. So as I watched David Cook and crew pay tribute to mentor Dolly Parton on Idol, I dimmed the room lights. It was all going well until I needed to use the remote control and realized I couldn't see the buttons. Oh, that's not good!! MUST see clicker buttons!!

I wonder if the TV volume uses extra wattage? If so, maybe next time instead of turning off the room lights to save electricity, I can mute Simon Cowell...