Simple Steps to Go Green: Week 3 &4

I feel bad that I missed out on posting last week (I'm sure you were all broken up inside), so I am going to do the best entry yet this week. I hope you find it as exciting as I do.

1. The Gandhi of Websites.

I recently came across a company called BetterWorld Books (www.betterworld.com), an entirely online bookstore that I just love. The first thing I loved is that they sell tons of used books as well so you can cut down on unnecessary waste and cost. Yes, yes, I know, Amazon does that too, but check out the other reasons why BetterWorld is probably the most ethical company I know of.

- They donate portions of their profits to literacy funds around the world. You can actually choose which region to send this donation to, there tends to be one organization per continent, so they specialize in supporting literacy in South America, for example.

-Free shpping anywhere in the States, $2.97 anywhere else in the world. ANYWHERE. from their website: "We'll always help you out, no matter how unusual the request. Shipping to Inner Mongolia? We'll go find a yak. "

-they are more used than new, and carry an incredible selection (1.8 million used titles, 500 000 new). Really, why buy a new book, once yo uare done reading it it looks used anyways.

- if you receive a book and you aren't satisfied, they take it back no questions asked. Period.

- According to their website, libraries have actually had to resort to tossing books in dumpsters because they are short of space and can't find anywhere to put them when new ones come in. BetterWorld works to rescue books like this so they aren't discarded, and obviously the libraries are pretty happy about this too. (interesting stat: they have kept 5 million pounds of books out of landfills this way)

- possibly the best part: BetterWorld works with CarbonFund.org to offset the environmental impacts of their shipping. Each order is charged an extra 5 cents to go towards purchasing carbon offsets like planting trees to neutralize the environmental impact of their shipping. They call it the Carbon Neutral Shopping cart. They also use the post office (when possible) instead of couriers (apparently this is the most energy efficient way of shipping) and still manage to ship in only a few days. If they are running late, they email to tell you when you can expect your order to be in.

Can I just say it? WOW. I am doing all my Christmas shopping here next year.

Weekly Green News

sorry I haven't quite lived up to my promise of weekly blogs, but now I am done school and you will bombarded with all sorts of ramblings for the duration of the summer. Here are a few things I think should be brought to your attention.

1. Black, white, and green all over:

There has been a lot of hype in the digital world (some new thing called the internet? I dunno) about an alternative website to Google called Blackle. It is powered by Google's ever-reaching searching powers, but the difference is that the "whitespace" is actually black. (Quick sidenote: for those of you that aren't really into design, whitespace is any space that doesn't really have any design on it, generally the background, but strangely doesn't even have to be white) The point is supposed to be that by turning out the lights at Google, you save energy. I'm not sure why this has gained so much attention, since Google has debunked it themselves. Blackle unfortunately only works on CRT monitors, which are the old kind that most people no longer have. LCDs however, which most people do have, actually use the same amount of energy no matter what is displayed on them, so blacking out the whitespace actually does nothing. This being said, I have yet to see any evidence that it uses any more energy, so if you really just like how Blackle looks better, feel free to keep using it, just don't be fooled by the claims that it is more green.

2. Carbon Libre

Reports have surfaced on a few environmental sites that Costa Rica has set a new record for clean energy usage. According to the reports, Costa Rica is now running at 99% renewable energy, meaning that only 1% of the energy they produce and use comes from sources that contribute greenhouse gases (bravo). The country is set to become the first carbon neutral one in the whole world (why would I report on it otherwise?) so truly, bravo Costa Rica, just another reason to love you. For those who aren't familiar with Costa Rica and how awesome it is, here is a quick background: generally, Costa Rica is one of the most stable, progressive and safe countries in Central/South America. It has tons of rainforest and relies on coffee and bananas as its main exports (just in case you are into fair trade and want to support Costa Rica). They don't even have an army, which should speak for how stable they are, considering they don't engage in war externally or with themselves. (They were, however, part of the "Coalition of the Willing" for the Iraq War, but they don't have an army to send, so who really cares?)

Anyways, I spent some time in Costa Rica a few years ago, and now I am dying to go back and see the "real" country (not the resort and touristy stuff) even more. it's truly beautiful and somewhere you should check out)

Simple Steps to Go Green Week 3- DIY and Repurposing

so I know among the very, very, few of you that actually make a point of reading my rants, there are a few that do care at least moderately about greening their lifestyle. One of the coolest things you can do, as well as the most challenging is to repurpose otherwise wasted items. It is truly remarkable what can be reused and altered to give new purpose. I have seen several examples of people making messanger bags from old clothes, or even plastic banners (see pic). This seems pretty complicated for me, but if you are crafty maybe you can pull something like this off. I am hoping at best to recycle a pair of old pants into some new slippers and a few other things, maybe a wallet? The point is to use your imagination, and reduce your waste! often you can find any materials you need on freecycle (see previous post) or even spruce up a find at value village. I would be very, very interested to hear about any repurposing that any of you have done because it could very well be a new idea I can try (and likely fail). Anywho, that's all for now. Ciao

Spin-tastic

Quick update on my Freecycle pursuits...

I just picked up about 25 records from another freecycler in Markham, and to my disappointment (although I wasn't that surprised), most of the records were BRUTAL..we are talking 5 Julio Iglesias, 3 Air Supply records in one collection bad. Also, about half of them were Chinese records, but I did manage to extract a few worth having. The reason I mention it though, is to remind you not to get jaded if freecycling doesn't work out every time. I have already been brainstorming about some awesome ways to reuse the bad records without actually having to play them. One of these ideas involves using them to make a table to put my record player on, or maybe a frame for a mirror. Either way, it's going to be something cool.

On the plus side, one of the Chinese records looks exactly like the cover of 'Thriller' but with a Chinese woman on the front, it's pretty great.

THIS WEEK'S POST!

God bless treehugger.com

The site that brought my attention to freecycle recently gave me another gift, although I can't really use it until I get my own place. If you are looking to reduce your energy usage in the laundry room, check out a company called The Laundry Alternative. They offer a new dryer that takes only 3 minutes, uses no heat, and costs only $130. This being said, the dryer isn't meant to have your clothes come out wearably dry, they come out slightly damp (although for 3 minutes thats damn good). The purpose of the dryer is to be used in conjunction with a drying rack to finish of the drying process (but not have to wait all day), although if you really wanted your clothes dry immediately you could probably finish them off in the real dryer for just a few minutes. Naturally, since the dryer uses no heat, it is significantly smaller than a regular dryer and way better for the environment. I will try and post a picture of it, but we will see whether or not that actually happens. The Laundry Alternative offers a smaller dryer for $60 that is meant for a few pairs of jeans or something similar, since jeans retain way too much water and make your regular dryer run longer than needed. They also have a washing machine that uses no electricity but requires hot water, so i don't see that being much better than running a regular machine on a cold cycle. I am sure most of you reading this won't need any of these products any time soon, but keep them in mind for whenever that time comes.

Simple Steps to Go Green- 1st Weekly Installment

This is going to be my first of hopefully many segments on simple changes we can make to our own lives to live better in relation to the environment. i will try to get one post done a week, but we will see how long that lasts. :-)

This Week: Freecycle

This week I have been SO excited, because I got into this site called www.freecycle.org. The website it really just a number of yahoo! groups based in local communities, but essentially the idea is to reduce unecessary waste. Once you are a member or your local network, you can post anything you have that you no longer want, and interested people will respond and request the item (and obviously vice versa). If there is anything in particular that you are looking for, you can post that as well, and people will surprisingly come through pretty often. What is amazing about this site is not only its vision and goal, but the qulity of items and members. Even though it seems like people would just post trash they don't want, there are a lot of things worth having, including tv's musical instruments, office furniture, etc. The members themselves are obviously generous people since they are willing to give things away, but I have found in my correspondence so far that they are incredibly courteous and helpful, as well as respectful.

My activity so far (in only 2 days)
Gave away:
-desk chair to an ESL teacher
-broken laptop to an artist looking for broken computers (how perfect, there's actually a lot of people looking for broken stuff)

Received:
-full record collections from TWO different people

anyways, this is my favourite website right now, I HIGHLY recommend you check it out, especially if you are looking to get something and need to save a few bucks, or if you want to get rid of some clutter. Enjoy.