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Creating Compost is an Easy Task

July 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Materials in a compost bin.

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If you have a garden, you may wonder whether you should start a composting process to help your garden grow. Well, the answer is a resounding yes. Compost will act as a conditioner, fertilizer and mulch. It will also help the health of your plants, as well adding soil nutrients. And of course, let’s not forget that it helps the environment through the recycling of kitchen and yard wastes.

Here’s how you can easily create a compost pile that will be beneficial and will not smell bad.

  1. Choose an out-of-sight location that is close to both your garden and kitchen.
  2. You can either use a compost bin or create a compost corral. The bins generally look better, but a well-designed natural compost is just as effective.
  3. Whether you choose a bin or not just make sure that you can add the materials easily. It is also essential that you be able to turn the piles easily. If you live in an especially rainy area, make sure you compost heaps are covered.
  4. The two main elements of compost are garden debris that is green, such as grass clippings and brown debris, such as dry leaves. The compost should be two parts brown to one part green. Add a shovel of garden soil, which will add the microbial element.
  5. Add water so that the material resembles a damp sponge. Adding too much water will create unwanted odors.
  6. The pile should be turned once a week, moving the material from the outside to the inside.
  7. Your compost should be finished and ready to use in about two months.

 

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How Businesses Can Go Green the Easy Way

July 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Businesses can benefit from going green in a number of ways. This does not have to be an expensive venture, but one that can actually save the business money in the long run.

The first thing the business owner can do is to purchase supplies that are made from recycled products. These can include:  paper, packing material, folders, boxes and related items. These are often priced cheaper than regular products are and help to support recycling efforts. If you receive your inventory by mail, save the packing material and reuse it when sending items to customers. This will help to cut spending in your monthly budget. You can also budget your efforts with a reach prepaid card.

You can cut down on energy spending by installing lights that activated by motion sensors in bathrooms, storage rooms and other areas that are not used often. When someone leaves the room, the lights turn off automatically, saving on electricity. When you close down your business over the weekend, turn your heating and cooling system, raise or lower the temperature to keep the system from running as much. Your staff can help by turning off lights when leaving a room and shutting down equipment when it’s not in use.

The other step that businesses can take is to support local efforts to recycle products and to embrace alternative forms of energy. This will present a positive image for the company as it helps to keep the environment clean and save money at the same time.

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Exploring Jobs in the Green Industry

February 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Discussions of global warming and climactic changes have alerted the masses to society’s responsibility in protecting the environment. With this growing concern have come new jobs and new ways to make existing jobs go green. If you’re exploring jobs in the green industry, you’ll find a multitude of options.

Transportation Jobs

Anyone working in mass transit can potentially be considered a green worker. As fuel prices rise and access to gasoline is limited at certain times and in certain regions, bus and train drivers meet the need of transporting people to where they need to go. Green conscious employees in the transportation industry can educate themselves on driving practices that save fuel and limit environmental pollution.

Working in the Recycling Industry

The more society reuses and recycles materials, the better it is for the environment. It takes energy to create glass, paper, aluminum and other materials from scratch. Employees in the recycling industry make great contributions to protecting the environment. The potential jobs are recycling center administrators, pick-up and delivery coordinators, and individuals who sort the recyclable materials.

Green Education

Educators and writers may also be considered green workers if they focus on informing people about green principles. An educator might do this at an elementary school as part of a science class. A writer might create a green blog and share the latest information on the internet with the public.

Technical and Engineering Jobs in the Green Industry

As alternative sources of energy are explored, additional jobs are created. Wind turbines create clean energy. The turbines need to be designed by engineers and transported to ideal locations. Additional technical personnel are needed to install and maintain the turbines. Technical and engineering jobs also exist in the solar, geothermal and biomass industries. You can find green jobs in all locations where alternative sources of fuel and energy are being actively explored and developed.

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Things to Consider When Creating a Green Business

February 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

With increasing awareness about the need to protect the environment and greater government funding for green programs, potential opportunities exist for creating your own green business. If this idea appeals to you, here are a few ideas and things to consider before launching a new venture in the green arena.

Make Sure You Care Enough

It’s a good idea when starting a new business to be passionate about the purpose and the concept. Your green business will have a much better chance of prospering if you truly care about the environment. Your deep and invested concern will push you to continually learn about new findings, products and processes to advance the cause of environmental protection. So, first and foremost, you want to be passionate about your green business idea.

Do Your Homework About the Green Industry

Developing a useful and eventually profitable green business requires knowledge. To learn more about green principles, read books on the subject. Be selective. Find reputable books that have been reviewed by people you respect. When researching online, find trusted information from government and educational sites, and other reliable sources. These sites usually present verified information and are more trustworthy than some sites which may be more interested in profits than offering an effective green service or product.

Develop a Useful Green Product or Service

It goes without saying when you start a business that your concept should appeal to at least a segment of the population. Your green product or service should meet a clear need. You might decide to compile and sell information about the green industry in an easy-to-understand format. Whatever your business offering will be, make sure that it will add value to the green industry. When you add value to any endeavor, the product or service tends to sell itself through word-of-mouth and buzz marketing.

Once you’ve considered the above, get started with planning your green business. The environment needs your passion and your useful product.

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Going Green in the Office Environment

February 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Office environments can be large consumers of energy and materials. For the environmentally conscious person, observing unnecessary waste can be challenging. If you are in a position to implement some green practices in your office environment, here are a few tips.

Cutting Down on Paper Usage

Creating paper requires depleting natural resources, using large amounts of energy to produce the paper, and fuel to transport it from manufacturers to retailers. When you reduce paper usage, you help the environment. Technological advances have naturally reduced the amount of paper society uses. Previously, office communications were typed or printed out on paper. These days, much of written communication is conveyed in emails, on websites or through the transfer of electronic files. This practice results in a tremendous reduction of paper use. Still, you can reduce paper usage even more by printing necessary documents on both sides of a page, distributing marketing materials electronically and, of course, keeping recycling bins in the office and encouraging everyone to use them.

Turning Off the Lights

Another form of energy consumption in the workplace is the use of lights. Some offices leave the lights on in unused rooms. The last person to leave sometimes doesn’t remember to turn off lights. You can conserve energy by implementing automatic sensors to turn the lights on when people enter a room. Timers can be installed to only leave lights on during work hours. Using fluorescent light bulbs will also greatly reduce electricity usage.

Placing Recycling Bins in Strategic Locations

Place recycling bins in locations that are most likely to be used. In the office cafeteria or break room, the bins should go next to the regular garbage can. Be sure to post clearly marked instructions for what should go into the recycling bins. Some people don’t recycle because they just don’t know which items are recyclable. A little bit of education will help them to do the right thing.

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Green Living and Your Health – The Connection

January 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Living green and saving energy is the mantra of 21st century. Green living not only helps you save money but also improves your health and wellbeing. Here are five health benefits you can enjoy with green living:

Firstly, by reducing your dependency on cars and other harmful gas emitting modes of transportation will motivate you to walk or ride bikes, which is undoubtedly beneficial for your health. If you walk to your office daily or do household purchases on foot, it is no less than cardio-exercise. You keep your heart healthy with green living.

Secondly, by reducing your dependency on processed and chemical fertilizer-filled foods, you will be inclined to absorb freshly grown fruits and vegetables. Visit your local organic vegetable grower and take regular food supplies from him. Best will be if you can turn a complete veggie. Reducing meat consumption will help you to reduce your carbon footprints on the planet.

Thirdly, stop depending on bottled water; it is one of the least green items around. Lots of chemicals are used to produce the bottles and some can even leach into the water causing it to contaminate. When you drink this water, you make yourself vulnerable to health problems. Best is to depend on tap water; it is the greenest healthy option.

Fourthly, if you have to renovate your house or office, always use low VOC paint. VOC means ‘volatile organic compounds’ – use of this compound excessively in paint will endanger the health of everyone in the house or office. When you buy paint, it should have less VOC.

Fifthly, channelize natural resources like sunlight and wind energy to light your home. It is a safer and cost effective way of green living and you can produce as much electricity you want. During day time, open windows and let sunlight flow in and touch every corner of the house. This way one receives natural Vitamin D.

 

 

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Budget Friendly Ways to Go Green

January 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Going green can be costly with purchasing environmentally friendly skin care products, household cleaners, clothing and even food. Several things you can do will not pinch your pocketbook or max out your prepaid credit cards while living a wholesome green life.

  • Water – Purchase a home water filtering system. Filtering your own water will save money, as you will not be purchasing bottled water. The extra-added bonus is saving the planet from the nuisance of plastic water bottles.
  • Laundry – Launder garments in cold water and then dry on a clothesline. Using cold rather than hot water to wash your garments saves on electricity. Make sure you wash full loads to save on water and energy. Drying them on a clothesline helps keep garments from color fading and shrinking, as well as saving electricity.
  • Light Bulbs – Replace your existing incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs. Fluorescent light bulbs tend to cost more, but they save energy. Saving energy will lower your electric bill and thus putting extra money in your household budget.
  • Shopping Bags – Say no to paper and plastic bags by providing your own shopping bags. If you crochet or knit, craft your own out of organic cotton. The result of using your own bags is saving the planet of precious trees and keeps plastic out of the landfills.
  • Shop Local – Shop your local farmers and farmers markets to show your support as well as provide healthy organic foods to serve your family. Most local farmers choose to have completely organic operations. Thus, the foods, meats, vegetables, and dairy products are free of chemicals and pesticides.

There are many other budget friendly concepts to use in keeping your life green without going broke doing it. Remember to reduce, reuse, and recycle. By keeping these in mind you will make conscious decisions throughout your green life.

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Working Green

December 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Living green is a focus of many, but can you work green? Here are some simple ways you can help the environment at your work even if your job does not have its own policies.

When corresponding with others try to do as much on the computer without the need for printing. If printing is necessary and multiple pages are needed, print the document using both sides of the paper to reduce how much paper you use. If your company has a recycling program ensure that any paper you throw away goes into recycling and not the trash. Send emails instead of paper memos to not only save paper but save yourself a correspondence trail. Try as much as possible to use the computer instead of marking up on paper documents when doing revisions on documentation.

If you buy office supplies for the company or your own use try to get recycled material. Many items today are made from recycled materials and it is not limited to just paper products anymore. Recycle toner cartridges and other items that have recycling programs available. There are quite a few recycling programs that can help your company go green. The following are just a few examples of some major companies or websites trying to make a difference in conservation.

Xerox Green World Alliance, www.xerox.com/about-xerox/recycling/enus.html

Earth911 has a listing of various organizations that recycle at http://earth911.com/recycling/mail-back-programs-recycling-from-home/

Staples offers EcoEasy environmentally friendly products at http://www.staples.com/sbd/cre/marketing/ecoeasy/index.html

Many other office supply companies are also joining the movement toward a more earth friendly office. From Cannon to Office Depot the smart business move today is Mother Earth. Simple online searches for office recycle programs can locate many resources from recycling monitors and cell phones to purchasing recycled paper products and other office supplies. If your office does not have a recycling program, suggest research into the various companies offering support for eco-friendly offices.

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Going Green By Working At Home

December 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Have you ever thought about the cost to the earth that today’s millions cause by going to and from their place of employment? Most people cannot stop this from happening. Most people need to remain in their jobs and should not give it up solely because of the cost involved in the process. On the other hand, it is important to point out that if you can find ways to work at home or to participate in ways to cut down on your imprint on the earth, you should do so.

One of the reasons to work at home is because it can help to save the environment. You do not have to waste the time, money or pollute the earth by getting in a vehicle and traveling to and from your job. You do not have to worry about spending money on eating lunch out (nor the costs to the environment because of those wrappers). You do not have to invest in new clothing for work, and therefore save the earth in that way, too.

If you have ever thought that you wish you could work from home to achieve your goals, now is a great time to do just that. You can find great products and services to promote online. Read a affiliate review of a product or service and begin promoting it to earn a commission off of those sales. Another option to consider is the investment in selling your own products online.

As you can imagine, finding ways to cut down on the effect on the environment is going to help you, too. If you have the opportunity to stay at home and work, instead of getting in a car to do so, go for it. If you cannot do that just yet, another option is to commute in groups or to bring your own lunch to work.

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