1greengirlblog

Tips for Celebrating Holidays – The Green Way

admin — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 06:04:38 +0000

A holiday season is great time for new beginnings. If you have not yet started living a green lifestyle, it is the right time to begin now! Listed below are top five tips for celebrating holidays, the green way -

Cards : Replace paper card with e-cards this festive season to reduce your paper waste. If you still want to stick to paper cards, choose a card that is made using 100% recycled paper and is printed with soy inks.

Lights: Instead of using incandescent lamps, switch to LED lights this festive season. LED lights are 90% more efficient as compared to traditional lights. Also, they are comparatively cooler reducing the risk of fire. You can light the entire driveway, garden, and even poolside using strings of LED lights. They have a long shelf life and works even when one of the bulbs goes out. They are cheaper too!

Decorations: Instead of using paper decorators or other form of decorative, make a commitment to go green while decorating your house. Stick to eco-friendly material and homemade accessories for Christmas decorations. Moreover, creating your own decorative materials is a great way to involve entire family in a creative project.

Gift Wrapping – While wrapping gifts, use something that can be re-used for another purpose afterwards. Using items like scarfs, re-usable bags or other similar items will not only make the wrapping item useful, it will also reflect your creativity and unique ideas.

Electricity – Whether you call for wasp removal Hereford or switch on the LED lights, electricity is required for every task you do. Although it might sound unrealistic to switch to solar power just for a celebration, but it might be a good time to finally take the long awaited decision. Once you switch to solar power, you not only save money but you contribute significantly towards promoting the greener source of power.

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Plastic Bags and How They Affect The Environment

admin — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 16:03:08 +0000

There over one trillion billion plastic bags in used every year worldwide and as such you can surely imagine what the negative effects of these bags will be on the environment over time. Plastic bags take close to 1,000 years to degrade and break down and when there are dumped into our landfills or in our waterways they can pollution and thus problems for the environment. Chances are plastic bags were develops as a means of convenience and cost.

Because of the high dependence on overseas oil and the fact that plastic is made from a byproduct, namely polyethylene, close to 100 million barrels is used in the production of these bags. China saves close to 37 million barrels of oils each year since it has banned the use of plastic bags.

As said before they take a very long time to break down and as such most of the plastic bags that have not been incinerated or recycled are still here somewhere on the planet. They can be found in our kitchens, the storage rooms of our favourite same day courier service, roadways and lakes, in our parks, floating in the pecans, and in landfills. One key thing to note is that most of the plastic bags are photodegradable. This means that they require sunlight in order break down. So when they are dumped in a landfill they will take longer to break down and when they do they will do so into microscopically smaller particles known as petrol-polymers. These petrol-polymers can seep into our waterways and enter the soil and our food chain in the long run.

Plastic bags are responsible for the death of thousands of animals each year. This is because many animals see the bags as food and then end up choking on it or they swallow the bags and develop problems and die when it enters their digestive system.

How technology is cleaning up the world

admin — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:04:02 +0000

When you stop and think about it, technology – specifically things like data cleaning services and the machines which enable us to understand and collate data – is amazing. OK, so it has brought with it a lot of unnecessary problems we would much rather be without, but at the same time it has helped us to get the most out of nature and work alongside it to better effect.

Take oil spills for example. Now, before data could be organised properly using computers, information was sent from government to government via paper. Lots and lots of paper…a never ending supply of it that clogged up the roads and made for a difficult time if being a Postman was your trade. While there is something organic and nice about this, there is nothing nice as far as time is concerned, especially if you’re the one who is waiting on something…it takes a very long time to send a letter from one side of the country to the other, and in times of an oil spill – or oil accident – this presents an awful lot of problems.

It’s amazing what a little invention like The Internet can do for peace of mind, don’t you think?

Firstly take into account the family of a man who works at an oil plant. It is the beginning of the early oil days and oil is exciting, bringing money to people who had never been accustomed to it before.For this reason, the danger is often not thought about as much as it perhaps should be. It’s a sad truth but when money gets in the way, risk tends to go out the window.

So this man has an accident…his leg is broken, and the family need to be notified. Only they are miles and miles away and a letter will take as long as a week or two to reach them. In this situation, the family believe the man is OK when that is anything but the case.

In the modern age of data evaluation, of course, communication is completely instant. The man has an accident, and within fifteen minutes the family are notified and within an hour on their way. It’s amazing what a little invention like The Internet can do for peace of mind, don’t you think?

Of course, the cleaning of data has helped in numerous other ways too: transport, health and millions of personal lives have benefited from this excellent progression of modern technology. In short, it means that the world goes round a lot better and a lot smoother than ever before.

Retirement for Coal

admin — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 12:33:15 +0000

Science has made so much development in the last century that we are now able to see a lot further into the space then just the sun and the moon. After years and years of research and study scientists could not find a single planet in the whole universe that is capable of sustaining life like the Earth. It’s not just water or oxygen that makes earth a liveable place, but it’s the combination of small and big things that together make life possible on earth. This makes Earth very special and priceless.

But the question is do we deserve to live in this wonderful planet that we so often abuse. With tons and tons of coal burning all around the world the vital combination for life slowly but steadily is deteriorating. We have to understand that we are not the only ones who are changing things around here, but the planet itself is continuously changing itself to stabilise the irregularities that we create. This makes us two times faster towards destruction.

Coal has helped us with all the developments that we have today by giving us enormous amount of energy. But I guess it’s time for coal to retire and for alternative energy to replace it. Last week as I was shopping for solar panels at PV panels Essex, I knew that I was making an expensive investment, but I was sure that it was the need of the hour and that it’s time to do something for the betterment of planet Earth.

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Moving backwards?

admin — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 03:03:53 +0000

I’ve posted on the following topic in a few different blogs. I’ve had conversations with mechanics about it. I’m still waiting for a satisfactory answer. First, the backstory.

A friend of mine recently bought a new Honda Insight Hybrid for about $18,000. Here’s some fuel efficiency information on that. More generally, look at these. (They’re all about 35 - 40 mpg, for those of you who don’t like links.) Now . . .

Three years ago, I bought a 1984 Volkswagen Jetta for $1,000, then had it repaired for another $600, then had it converted to run on vegetable oil (WVO) for another $1400. All in all, it cost me $3,000, and I spent the last three years driving basically for free at about 40 mpg. Does this sound like an amazing feat?

Unfortunately, the fact is that diesel engines, especially older ones, are extremely tolerant of alternative fuels (like vegetable oil). The diesel engine is simple, the conversion likewise. (It involved some plumbing hose and simple electronics.)

Now, one final key piece of information:

My 1984 Volkswagen Jetta, an antique car running on vegetable oil, got about (wait for it) . . . 40 mpg. And was essentially carbon neutral.

Finally, the question, which had probably made itself obvious:

Why can a $3,000 Volkswagen Jetta still compete with, or even outperform in regard to environmental friendliness, an $18,000 2011 gasoline car? Why is it that the automotive industry is using complicated new technology on top of outdated gasoline technology to produce a wholly unsatisfying version of “environmentally friendly” cars? (A corollary: why are they also still making big, gas-guzzling 4×4 cars and trucks?)

Now, convince me that a hybrid is a truly environmentally friendly car . . .

How green is the land?

admin — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 21:33:13 +0000

The title was inspired by the lyrics of a very inspiring African song. The singer was definitely not talking about the need to save the environment we live in but her song was also directed to supporting good causes in her country and on her continent in general. The environmental awareness on the singer’s continent and even her country Nigeria is low. This is far from the level of literacy because Nigerians are one of the most literate people on the continent of Africa and surely has global reckoning in such matters as well. Nigeria is commonly described as the giant of Africa because of the resources and human power at its disposal. There is no field you won’t find a Nigerian. I will not be surprised to see a Nigerian among London electricians as well. Someone recently said that one out of every five black person is a Nigerian.

If Nigeria, the giant of Africa can be that low on environmental awareness; how much more other countries that are scattered around the continent? This takes us to my point that the government of these countries are not doing well enough when it comes to making efforts on making the world greener. Saving the environment is much more than just planting trees, it requires commitment from both the government and its citizens. It is important that African nations are involved in the global warming process as well because we all live on the same planet. Africa needs to understand it more and the best way this can be done is to direct global attention to the continent.

Hanging Basket Lover

admin — Sun, 29 May 2011 15:33:06 +0000

Ages ago, when I used to go and see my nan where she lived at her old people’s home, I met one of nan’s friends by accident. They were neighbours and were standing in the door-way of nan’s friend’s place when I arrived. I got bored waiting for them to finish their nattering, so I approached the door and had a look in, like you do. What happened next blew my mind…

Everywhere you could look were hanging baskets on the walls: blue and red and yellow and purple flowers. Literally everywhere. It turned out that this woman – Fran – had been collecting them for years. Nan and Fran were laughing and nattering about how they had taken over and now had a life of their own.

Since that day yep, you guessed it, I have been a major hanging basket lover. Here are 5 reasons why you should be to:

1) You don’t need planning-permission for them.

2) They are cheap.

3) They are colourful and fun.

4) Anyone can make them up, even if they are terrible at gardening (I am a good example of that).

5) Looking at them and watering them and stuff takes the stress out of your mind. Forget about that GP Job you’ve been looking for forever, don’t panic about that upcoming divorce. Hanging baskets are the answer, I am telling you! If that wasn’t enough already then they also smell really nice, all them flowers. Put them wherever you like, that’s the beauty of owning these little wonders!

A Small Bit of Concrete

admin — Fri, 13 May 2011 10:33:04 +0000

It is a little depressing trying to change the small bit of concrete in the back of a two up two down into a little eco haven, but I have renewed myself and have started to do my best. While my house mate was looking for military kit insurance, I was walking around the neighbourhood looking for old tyres. Creating planters out of used tyres has the advantage not only of recycling, but also gives you an area to grow in where you can more easily control the pests. When you have a micro garden, it is best to think about it in terms of permaculture design. You want to grow foods that are high in nutrition, need daily care, and are fast growing. The two best choices for this are kale and dark green leafy vegetables. You need to include a strategy where you do succession planting so that you will have a continuous supply of greens.The advantage to most of these types of terrace houses is that the kitchen will overlook the garden, This allows you to do very simple grey water recycling. Without any technology you can switch to an eco washing up liquid and use the water from your dish washing basin to water your garden. Depending on how your drainage works and how many plants you have, it would also be very easy to have your kitchen water fill a water butt. The next step is learning about efficient and tidy ways to compost your kitchen waste!

Saving the planet one step (spoke?) at a time

admin — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 14:29:24 +0000

It’s amazing that even in the so-called times of austerity, we’re still able to do our bit and help the environment. Those of us with money to invest (I should be so lucky), can make sure it goes towards helping green compliant companies and renewable energies, while the rest of us can always do our bit with some recycling – or save the planet by walking, car-pooling or cycling (check out the new ‘Boris Bikes’in London)!

The best thing about that is you’re saving travel fare, and perhaps that’s one of the reasons why the UK’s been able to keep supporting charities even at a difficult time like this. There are plenty of ways in which you can support Green charities, either by making the odd payment, signing up on the street, or by payroll giving (speak to your HR or payroll department to see if their payroll software supports this).

Doing a bit of good always cheers us up (well, it always does the trick for me), so now that the sun’s bright and out, enjoy a sunny walk to work, knowing that you’re saving the environment by reducing your carbon footprint, getting fit, enjoying some fresh air, and using the money you save to do that little bit extra.

Your colleagues might get irritated by that smug look on your face, but there’s always something very gratifying in knowing you’re doing a good thing. Even more so if it’s fun to do, and not costing you any money!

gas v electricity

admin — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 18:33:06 +0000

There are lots of ways to economically use energy to heat out homes. Today lots of people use gas to heat homes as opposed to electricity. Gas has the added benefit that it produces half as much CO2 per heating unit.

There are many gas and electricity companies out there to choose from as ^13Msure you are aware via their extensive home, phone and even email marketing schemes. There are many new offers and discounts by those competing in the market but how can one know which s the best company? And furthermore how can you know if the company is based on ethical marketing principles.

It seems it can all be a bit of trial and error. It can take a lot of research to find out what a company is truly about and even then one can’t be too sure.

At the very least it is good to know one is doing their bit for the environment via choosing the best type of heating for their homes. Those little portable electric heaters may seem a good buy at the time as they are often cheap to purchase but they are not the best for the environment. They also have the additional downside of being expensive. I had one for a rather cold office in the Winter once and the heating bills turned out to be pretty high so much so that the office rental agency asked me not to use it anymore (as all the bills were included in the rent).

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