ecobites.com

Making your life greener - one bite at a time.

 ... you would have been talking about the beach or their shoe size. Now, it is all about greenhouse gas and climate change

There wouldn't be too many people these days who aren't environmentally aware, but there is usually some room for improvement.

It's more about treading lightly than trying not to leave a footprint. For most of us, this is simply not possible. At ecobites, we say one 'bite' at a time - don't sweat the really small stuff. Work on what you can where you can. Keep striving and pat yourself on the back for each achievement. The key is to continue achieving. It also makes the process so much more enjoyable and richer.

Remember that just because you read something on Ecobites or any other website, just because you can't put the idea into action immediately, it makes you less environmentally-conscious than anyone else. You do not fail. There is no ex-communication. Those of us who run these sites aren't  green-perfect, believe me - we're learning just like you.

Hopefully awareness will lead to people demanding change in the way things are done not only consumers, but producers, then we will reduce impact!

A million people making one small change is better than a hundred people making a hundred changes to their lifestyle.

Resources Used x Environmental Harm  = Total Planetary Damage.

To celebrate Spring, clear out old clutter and ideas and make room for the new: new ideas, new life, new (truer to one's) self. This Discardian tip is about letting go of material objects. There are two main reasons for ending up with a bunch of things you don't really want or need: entropy and guilt.

You know how the entropy ones happen; they just pile up, usually literally. Magazines and newspapers, clothes with missing buttons, mail to read, half-finished projects, obsolete computer parts...

The problem is not that you don't know how to get rid of these things - you know how trash, recycling and the Goodwill donation box work - it's making yourself get around to it.

For example, you might decide that you won't buy anything or bring anything into your home and that you will instead just enjoy the fact that you have enough.http://surelyyounest.blogspot.
 
Sustainable living and leaving less of an imprint by making Eco-freindly / 'greener' living choices, and make it budget - friendly too.

1. Recycle. Simple, Free / Swap, Easy.

Waste not, want not

Waste is not just rubbish - it's also items that are unused or remain inactive.

Don't buy new stuff. Whether you're looking for furniture, books, appliances, or clothing avoid paying top-dollar at retail shops. By buying second-hand goods without supporting industries that draw on the Earth's precious resources. Try... swap online sites, Ebay, thrift stores, Ecobites free classifieds. 

There are many ways of reducing the environmental impact of the textiles we use ... Thrift shop dressing, not being a slave to fashion, and washing garments only when they need it.

Make clothes-shopping sustainable instead of wasteful - organize a swap, where people bring unused good quality clothing and exchange. It is a simple idea, the idea of sharing and can be used for virtually any non-perishable consumer item, from baby clothes to furniture to books.Bring the number of buttons for clothes to swap. Next swap you organize you have the buttons.  And the thing about sharing is that it brings people together. You get more friends. Happier planet, in other words, happier people.

2. DIY...Available in a kitchen near you Rather than buying expensive green cleaning products for household and beauty. Make your own with household supplies, available in your closest kitchen and garden. You've probably already got everything you need to create all-natural, eco-friendly household cleaners and personal products. For cleaning your two best friends can be baking soda and elbow grease. To make a scrubbing solution that's perfect for cleaning bathtubs, simply combine half a cup of baking soda with enough liquid detergent to make a spreadable solution.

For your beauty needs, your two best friends can be baking soda and organic coconut oil. Baking soda for an effective toothpaste and deodorant. Organic coconut oil for nourishing, moisturizing and cleansing.

Simply use chickpea flour mixed with a little coconut or olive oil and use in place of soap on the body. Alternatively,grind 1/2 cup organic short grain brown rice in blender with 1/2 cup of water and use as a body scrub - it is effective at smoothing away dead skin cells, but gentle enough for daily use instead of soap. If you require extra moisturising, add a few drops of almond, coconut or olive oil to the scrub. To preserve, add a few drops of grapefruit seed extract and store in an airtight container in the 'fridge.

For an earth-friendly window cleaning spray, a furniture polish, deodorant, toothpaste and more, check out Ecobites Holistic Homemade Beauty http://ecobites.com/holistic-beauty/33.html
http://ecobites.com/natural-tips/natural-cleaning-around-the-home-8.html
Lemons, vinegar and bicarb, cleaning for around the home
http://ecobites.com/natural-tips/lemons-vinegar-bicarb-as-natural-cleaners.html

3.Green your commute ... Use your feet  Some workers combine commuting with exercise by biking or walking to work.New Belgium Brewing (NBB) in Fort Collins, Colorado, wants all its employees to cycle to work. NBB gives every employee a free bicycle after one year of employment and runs Team Wonderbike to encourage staff to bike to the office at least once a month. “Team Wonderbike is promoting bikes as tools for positive social change," says Chris Winn, NBB’s self-proclaimed event evangelist.

Walking is another alternative -- and not just for people who live around the corner. Many commuters, like Yahoo! chief Java architect Doug Crockford, combine walking with public transit options, including ferries, buses and trains. “I hate automotive commuting,” Crockford says. “So I make choices that allow me to avoid all that, such as finding housing about five miles from work. My current commute is part walking and part light rail. On nice days, I’ll walk the whole way”.

If you can't bike, walk or use public transport, but want to reduce your pollution (and how much you pay at the pump) consider getting a motorcycle or a hybrid scooter. If your commute is less than an hour, and you live somewhere with moderately decent weather, you can use the smaller vehicle and reduce pollution.Buy a monthly bus pass, or try carpooling with a neighbour.

But if you just can’t (or won’t) spend a workday without your own wheels, you can still reduce your negative impact on the environment. Here are some fuel-efficiency tips  from DrivingGreen.com http://www.drivinggreen.com/gvehics.asp

The most eco-friendly commute of all, of course, is telecommuting. Your boss may not let you work in your PJs every day, but if you can score a single day each week to work from home, you could drastically reduce your carbon emissions each year.

Carpool Links

http://www.carpoolworld.com/
http://www.ridester.com/
http://www.icarpool.com/en/MainPage.aspx
http://www.erideshare.com/

4. Food Footprint  So how do you minimise your "tucker footprint"? By buying local, and organic. But the greenest solution - in every sense - is growing your own. There is no act more gratifying, more basic, more liberating, than to coax organically grown food from the Earth and to prepare for your family.

Humans once lived closely with the world around them. These days our gardens are the only contact most of us have with the natural world. You need only look at children's faces when they pick their first apple to realise how deep in the human psyche is the need to grow things.

The salad you ate for lunch yesterday may have used more fossil fuel than you used all week. Your snow peas were probably flown from Zimbabwe; your vacuum-packed greens were probably brought from China, which was where the garlic came from, too. Your salad's "energy miles" also included the fuel needed to grow it. That salad probably used more water than you did, as well. (Only about 3 per cent of water use is domestic). What's the use of turning off lights and cutting back on travel kilometres if your beans came from China?

Aha, I hear you chorus, impossible! I've only got a balcony and 10 spare minutes a week …

Impossible? Of course not. Self-sufficiency on a balcony...

http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/selfsufficiency-on-a-balcony/2007/04/23/1177180569548.html

But there is also another hope for the gardenless. Find your nearest community garden, where you'll be welcome to plant your own crops.

Australia - http://www.communitygarden.org.au/

USA http://www.communitygarden.org/

UK The Federation of City Farms and Gardens encourages, advises and helps community gardens and provides a starter pack that tells you how to find a site, raise money, enlist volunteers, get training and meet legal requirements. www.farmgarden.org.uk

The UK, Western Europe and the USA now have well developed and cohesive city farm and community garden movements. In the UK, community gardens and city farms are backed by the National Federation of City Farms. The organisation has received funding from the Department of the Environment offers valuable support and advisory services to groups seeking to secure access to land. The Federation was an inspiration to Dr Darren Phillips in setting up the Australian City Farms and Community Gardens Network - later to be shortened to the Australian Community Gardens Network - in the mid-1990s.

Green Tucker Choices

environmentally responsible, safe seafood
organic and locally grown fruits and vegetables
organic meat, poultry and dairy
eat more organic vegetarian meals
eat less meat  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/weekinreview/27bittman.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Food that Treads Lightly on the Planet http://ecobites.com/ja-slideshow/easter-food-that-tread-lightly-on-the-planet-2.html

Taste not Waste  http://ecobites.com/content/view/782/48/

5.Green Celebrations - not just St Patty's Day - make every holiday and celebration green

Of course, it would be easy enough to eliminate the impact on our environment by eliminating parties, but that would prevent us from sharing our happiness with the people we love best. And that's certainly not the point. No, it's to celebrate, joyfully, without being unnecessarily wasteful.

http://ecobites.com/green-celebrations/index.php

6. The Power of Green - Go Green and Save Some Green. Forget cutting carbs - it's time to cut carbons.

As each light bulb burns out, make the switch to energy-saving CFL bulbs to stay green even while you're using power. CFLs cost a bit more than regular light bulbs, but you'll more than make up for the extra few dollars when it comes time to pay your electric bill. http://www.coned.com/thepowerofgreen/100tips.asp

7. Eco-conscious Lifestyle  Reducing Environmental Impact  =  Helping the Environment.

Admittedly, it takes extra effort to live a eco-conscious lifestyle  - - or to do anything the unconventional way. Almost every action in our daily lives uses or adversely effects our natural environment.

And how on earth can we ignite ourselves to make any change at all - because change is hard and seems to take so much energy...the rarest resource of all. The solution - attitude, for the individual and corporations. The solution may not be to hobble producers, but to reward them when they do the right thing. It's a long process, and Earth will be around when we are gone, just make sure that our decisions make our grandchildrens children proud. There are two ways to reduce the harm to the planetary habitat we depend on for our health, happiness and security. One is to reduce the amount of resources we consume or degrade--air, forests, atmosphere, water, etc--and the other is to make the consumption of those resources less harmful.

By introducing consumers and producers to the idea of reduced harm, we will get them to thinking in such a way that will eventually get them to thinking about reduced resource use. Perhaps we will help them to move from recycling to reusing to reducing.

Make the right choices and enjoy the simple things in life - strive for waste-free. Enjoy life on this very old, wobbling, spinning planet. Accept there are challenges - propose solutions and positive attitudes - not all doom and gloom.

There’s a lot to be done with the right attitude. Just remember that every little bit counts. If everybody starts today, also by encouraging corporations to contribute, we can help repay the Earth and give back to it what we have taken.

8. Parenting the Green Way We need to teach our children how to listen to Mother Nature breathing, because whether we like it or not, we're part of the ecosystem. And we need to tread lightly and respect our environment, because every time Mother Nature breathes out, we breathe in.

The more our children understand about our connection to the earth and its natural rhythms, the better equipped they will be for the future.

The Green Parent: A Kid-Friendly Guide to Environmentally-Friendly Living
by Jenn Savedge (Author) http://thegreenparent.blogspot.com/

The Green Parent is the perfect book for parents who would like to teach their children about living green. From how to save energy, to how to reuse and recycle everything, this resource offers advice for getting children involved in conservation, as well as products and services that can help parents raise more environmentally conscious children. Through a series of fun activities such as how to start a “light patrol,” how to make a “waste-free” school lunch, and how to build a “green” bird house—parents and kids will learn ways to make the biggest impact, save the most money, and discover how making even the smallest of changes can make a big difference.

Keep your Babies Carbon Footprint Small

http://ecobites.com/natural-parenting/keep-your-babies-carbon-footprint-small-3.html

As the Great Law of the Iroquois Federation eloquently states, “In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact on the next of seven generations”