Cloth Diapers Instead of Disposable Diapers

My daughter is 7 years old, so my days of changing diapers are over for now at least. But I've been remembering back lately to those days because a friend of mine has a baby boy. Thinking about it makes me realize how much garbage I created by using disposable diapers. Looking back I wish I would have used cloth diapers. Sure, it's not fun to clean a diaper, but it's the sustainable way to have a baby. The truth is that disposable diapers create toxic waste in landfills. The plastic and gel wrapped excrement slowly degrades over time creating a stew of petroleum based chemicals and human waste.

A quick search on Google for cloth diapers returned a bunch of results for companies trying to sell reusable, cloth diapers. Based on how much I used to pay for disposable diapers, I would be willing to be that putting down a few extra dollars for a cloth diaper would actually save you money in the long run. Like so many other environmental initiatives, going green can save you green. :)

Eliminating the e-Waste Problem

This video shows an e-waste recycling center in Japan. e-Waste is the garbage made up of electronics such as cell phones, computers, TVs and other modern devices. This story focuses more on the gold which is found in e-Waste, but it also contains lead, zinc and copper and other metals and plastic. All of these materials are recyclable and most are toxic when just thrown in a landfill. Completely recycling e-waste is the only way to not damage the environment when disposing of electronics and it's the only way to make modern technology sustainable. Make sure to recycle your e-waste instead of just throwing it out.

The Future for Sustainable Electricity Production: Solar

Of all the renewable power sources that scientists have found, there is only one that promises a virtually unending supply of power: the sun. I think the future of electricity production has to lie in solar and wind. While I completely believe that if we want to survive we'll need to develop sustainable energy sources, it's not something that's cheap or easy.

My wife and I have talked about it before and when we finally do have the opportunity to buy a house of our own, the first big investment we want to make is in solar roofing. Personally, I think that a distributed solar power grid is the way to go; but I read an article today about how scientists are also making inroads to developing solar power plants.

One thing that I love to see and wholly support is government incentives to move to renewable, sustainable power sources. So I did a little research and found a great site which lays out all of the state and federal energy incentives across the United States. Check it out and see what is available to you!

Stop Using Regular Laundry Products

One source of garbage that I haven't been able to get rid of with my no garbage initiative is dry sheets. They're impossible to reuse, can't be recycled and if you've ever tried to dry your clothes without fabric softener - trust me the static is horrible! So how do I eliminate this source of garbage? I got a great tip from somebody that I work with; use eco-friendly laundry detergent and softener.

With a few searches on Google, I was able to easily find in variety of environmentally friendly laundry soaps and fabric softeners. All of these products seem to be based on vegetable oils - something I've never seen before. So I'm going to order a bottle with my wife and I'll report back on how well it works.

I also did a little research on how damaging fabric softeners and dryer sheets are to the environment and was a little shocked. Most dryer sheets contain all or some of the following chemicals which have been proven to cause health problems:

• alpha-terpineol
• benzyl acetate
• camphor
• benzyl alcohol
• limonene
• ethyl acetate
• pentane
• chloroform

According to the EPA, these chemicals have been shown to cause the following health maladies:

• central nervous system disorders, headaches, and loss of muscle coordination
• irritation of mucous membranes and impairment respiratory function
• nausea, vomiting, dizziness, or drowsiness
• liver or kidney damage
• skin disorders and allergic reactions
• cancer

So let's all do the Earth and ourselves a favor! Stop using dryer sheets!

Recyclers Vacation in Ocean City!

I said in my last blog post that I just got back from my vacation in Ocean City, MD. Now I want to show how Ocean City is trying to lessen it's impact on the environment. Everywhere I went, there were signs reminding people to clean up after themselves and to "leave only your footprints". On top of that there were recycling and garbage bins at every dune crossing and each sign at the entrance to the beach reminded people to recycle. The city also provides municipal recycling bins to each residence for glass, paper, cardboard and metal. Ocean City, MD seems to be a very progressive community when it comes to recycling and trying to keep their city clean. I would recommend to anybody interested in recycling to vacation there.

Is It Better for the Environment to Fly or Drive?

I haven't blogged for the past week because I went on a vacation with my wife to Ocean City, MD. The city actually turned out to be a great place for recyclers to vacation (more on that later), but while driving there I began to wonder, does driving or flying on a trip leave a smaller carbon footprint?

According to an article on Salon.com, it's actually more environmentally friendly to drive to your vacation instead of flying. That makes me feel a bit better considering we clocked a total of 745 miles between the trip down, traveling around in Ocean City and the trip back. Not only is driving a move which helps the environment, but it also helps your wallet and it's something the whole family can get behind.

How To Save The Climate? Convince Peers!

The more I talk about environmentalism with my peers, the more I see that it's "uncool" to want to save our planet. That's something that we can combat! Letting people know that they're responsible for the future is something that we all need to do. I know it doesn't always earn me brownie points, but I will always urge my peers to reuse, reduce and recycle!

You can do the same and it's the only way to bring the idea that we're responsible for our children's future into the forefront. The more that people say something, the more that the world will come into our thoughts.

Living Close to Where You Work and Your Environmental Impact

I live 3.1 miles from my job. This isn't something that happened by mistake; it's a small change that makes a big environmental impact. When I found my current job at Worldwide Sport Supply I actually lived 6.4 miles from work and one of the reasons that we choose our current house is that it was that much closer to my work.

By moving closer to where I work, I was able to cut 6.6 miles out of my daily commute. My car gets about 25 miles to the gallon so in the 3 years that I've been working for my current employer I've managed to save over 205 gallons of gas. Not only has that saved me a ton of cash (I've been working here through the increase and spike in gas prices) but it's also a good first step at reducing my carbon footprint.

My New Compost Heap On The Cheap

Yesterday I started a compost heap in my back yard. It was relatively inexpensive coming in at under $40, which if you ask me is a pretty cheap compost heap. To put it all together I went to my local Home Depot and bought the following items:

• 25' x 2' of Chicken Wire
• 6 Pieces of 2' Rebar
• Wire Cutters

Putting it all together only took me about 25 minutes. I found a small area of land which is out of the way and on an already desolete patch of grass (if you can call it that). From the looks of it, there hasn't been any growth there for years and the soil doesn't appear to have much humus in it. So I scoped out a small triangle and drove the rebar into the ground with one bar at each corner of the triangle and one in the middle of each side for support. Then it was just a matter of weaving the chicken wire down onto the rebar and cutting the excess wire. The whole thing is pretty exciting! Check back to see how it all goes.

What's Another Source of Garbage?

Unfortunately, I've found another source of garbage in my project to completely eliminate my waste: ash from a charcoal grill. On top of the meat waste that I have nothing to do with, there isn't much that I can do with my charcoal ash. I found this article on using wood ash in compost, but I don't think the same would apply for the ash from a charcoal grill.

I guess this points back to the fact that people shouldn't eat much meat due to the fact that eating meat is environmentally less sustainable than other sources of food. However, convincing my wife that it's a good idea to cut back on our consumption of meat has been an exercise in futility. But if you're interested in leading a more eco-friendly life, check out this article on eating meat vs. environmental sustainability.

Second Step to Being Garbage Free: Compost

After one week of my no garbage project I ran into a small problem. Of course, every household will have food garbage and we've been saving ours in our garbage can for a compost heap. However, we didn't realize that meat products cannot be included in the mix. That's one week of perfectly good compost out the window! Lesson learned: I still have to throw out meat which is garbage. There has to be something it's good for; but I guess for now we'll still be using the landfill for that. I'd better make sure my daughter isn't reading this blog - meat waste is just another reason for her to want a dog!

The one nice thing about this idea is how easy it is to make a compost heap. In it's simplest form all one needs is a small area of land which is out of the way and can be fenced off. For my first try (but probably not my last), I'm going to use a few stakes in the ground and chicken wire around a small area. Check back to see how things are going.

A Sign of Impending Change?

Things like this make me a little worried. It could be a one time thing, or could these ladybugs be a sign of climate change? I've heard scientists say that species will seek new habitat as weather patterns change. What do you think?

Paper or Plastic?

I am an enemy of the plastic bag! I hate plastic bags. They clutter the land, add toxicity to landfills, choke animals and are creating a continent-sized stew of plastic bags in the pacific ocean.

With that in mind, I only take a plastic bag from a store if the law requires it (NY has a *stupid* law that requires bags for beer) or when I'm purchasing meat at the grocery store. I will even reuse those bags as a place to store other bags until I'm ready to recycle them. So I guess the key is to not use plastic bags or, if you must use them on certain occasions, reuse plastic bags instead of throwing them out.

This can be harder than you think. I've had to practically get in a fight with cashiers over the fact that I don't want a bag. When I'm only purchasing a few items, I'll often ask for no bag at all citing the fact that I was able to carry them to the counter without a bag; but I think the store clerks are trained to push bags onto customers.

Of course, the best solution is to either use no bag at all or to use a reusable bag. My wife and I bought 4 canvas tote bags from Wal-Mart and we will often use them when shopping. (That can cause fights with cashiers too!) But this is a little thing that we can all do to help the environment.

Getting The Family Behind A No Garbage Project

While I feel personally compelled to eliminate the garbage that I've been producing throughout my life, I have to admit that it wasn't an easy sell to get this started. From my experience, the older somebody is - the more resistant they are to trying to achieve a goal of producing no garbage.

I have a 7 year old daughter who has really latched on this idea and made it her own. She's very eager to put refuse in the our recycling bins and is excited at the prospect of helping to make the world a better place. I'm sure with the right encouragement, any child would be happy to help with this project.

On the other hand, my wife understands that I'm trying to make a difference, but doesn't really care because she wants to continue using a garbage can for the convenience of being able to just throw everything out and have it "go away." To be honest, I didn't really sell her on this idea, I only gave in other areas so that she had to put up with my environmental crusade; but it was worth it! It's not easy to convince those closest to us that we need to do this. I'm afraid if we don't, we may not have the luxury of a comfortable life that we've grown to love.

So what do you think? Do you have an argument or favor that you did to help bring your loved ones into the mix? I'm sure that every environmentalist has had to drag their friends and family along with them; but without the effort how else can we make a difference in society? Let everybody else know what worked for you!

Day One: No More Garbage

Today I'm starting a journey to help reduce the environmental foot print of myself and my family. This blog is the documentation of that process. For years I've felt that global climate change was a problem too big for me to do anything about personally. At the same time, I've watched humans slowly pollute our world to toxic levels and we pump more and more carbon into the atmosphere every day. Climate change is something too big for any one person to tackle, but at the same time, if we do nothing, we won't survive.

This environmental blog will focus on everything that I do to help reduce my carbon foot print. I'll also focus some on reducing the use of pollutants and opting for my environmentally friendly methods and materials.

The First Step

I've been making advances in reducing the amount of energy I've been using over the last year, but the first big step that I'm taking in conjunction with my blogging is to eliminate my contribution to the landfills. I live in upstate New York were we have great recycling programs. Our local government picks up plastic, metal, paper and cardboard for recycling. I'm also able to dispose of computer electronics for free 1 weekend of the summer/spring months. The only problem was the recycling of plastic wrap and plastic bags, which local companies like Walgreens are now recycling for free. So when I put all of those pieces together, I'm able to recycle or reuse everything that I consume; there shouldn't be any need for garbage.

With all of that in mind, I've gone out and paid for a nice set of industrial grade bins which I can use for sorting my recyclables. I was VERY surprised to find out how difficult it was to find something that fit my needs. I couldn't have huge 30 gallon garbage cans, which were easy to find. But I wanted this to be easily accessible as well as keeping things tidy on my back porch. After literally 2 weeks of searching, I found exactly what I was looking for: the Suncast heavy duty stacking bins are perfect! I bought 4 and labeled them for plastic, glass, metal and paper/cardboard. On top of that, I'm using my old garbage can for refuse which I can use for compost (more on that to come later) and I reuse plastic shopping bags to store my plastic wrap and bags in to return for recycling. It's definitely more work that throwing everything out, but anybody with such good municipal services should be able to do exactly the same thing.