Can You Spare a Square?

Seinfeld’s Elaine Benes may have posed the original question, but it’s something we should all consider since we in the U.S. average 50 pounds of toilet tissue, paper napkins and paper towels per year! That’s seven trees worth! Worldwide, about 270,000 trees are used and discarded each day. Here are a few ways to reduce your paper footprint:

· Buy single-ply, unscented and lotion-free tissue products whenever possible.

· Avoid colored tissue. Buy dye-free (i.e. white) or unbleached paper products. These dyes and bleaches also can irritate your skin.

· Switch to cloth napkins. They are much more civilized, not to mention more effective. Use different colors or unique napkin rings for different members of the family and wash them when they’re soiled.

· Cut paper towel use with Green Irene’s Twist Sponge Cloth (3-pack for $4.50). They easily wipe kitchen and bath surfaces like a paper towel and absorb like a sponge. Better yet, they replace 17 full rolls of paper towels! You may also like our Twist Scrubber Sponge (2-pack for $5) and the Twist Dish Dumpling Scrubber ($4; featured in the February 2010 issue of Bon Appétit).

Ellen Hall
Green Irene Eco-Consultant
ellen.cincydayton@greenirene.com
http://www.GreenIrene.com/CincyDaytonEllen
513-932-7304

Is Your Home Exhausting You?

While we are all trying to stay comfortable in the cold, the furnace runs frequently in the winter, especially during cold snaps like we’ve experienced over the last few weeks. But what do you know about how your furnace operates, other than how to turn it up or down, and maybe how to change the filter once in awhile?

Don’t be indifferent to this large combustion appliance, or any other fuel-burning equipment in your home. These appliances, which burn oil, natural gas, liquid petroleum gas (LPG), wood or biofuels, produce carbon monoxide exhaust. Because our houses generally are built pretty tightly (even though it may not feel like it sometimes), it’s important to take some precautionary steps to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning while the house is closed up for the winter.

Here are some basic safety measures to prevent carbon monoxide exhaust from entering your home:

• Install carbon monoxide alarms on all levels of the home (you conveniently can order one online through Green Irene).
• Replace any carbon monoxide detectors that are more than five years old. The sensors in the detectors are accurate for only about five years.
• Don’t warm up your car in an attached garage.
• Don’t use the top of your furnace or water heater as a shelf. Keep it clear all around.
• Keep flammable and corrosive materials far away from heat sources.
• Don’t run bathroom exhaust fans for more than 10 minutes after your shower, and try to avoid running multiple fans at the same time. Depending on the venting system on your furnace or hot water heaters, running the bathroom or kitchen exhaust fan can cause negative pressure (backdraft) in the home. It also can suck all the hot air out of your house, too (hot air naturally wants to travel to cold and seek every opportunity to do so).
• Watch for soot build-up on or around the furnace or water heater.
• Be sure the chimney and flue pipes are clean, tight and free of corrosion and obstructions.
• Never use an unvented gas or kerosene heater in a living or work space.
• Know where underground fuel and electric lines are buried.
• Have all fossil fuel appliances tested annually for proper operation by a qualified service person.

Green Irene Item #: 40150
Kidde Carbon Monoxide Detector and Alarm

Ellen Hall
Green Irene Eco-Consultant
Greening Our World One Home and Small Business at a Time
ellen.cincydayton@greenirene.com
http://www.GreenIrene.com/CincyDaytonEllen
513-932-7304

Save Money This Holiday Season by Going Green

The December holidays may be the most wonderful time of the year, but they also can be very expensive and quite wasteful. In fact, between parties and gift giving and all the festivities, Americans spend hundreds of billions of dollars each year celebrating the holidays and generate 25 percent more trash than normal between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. So, it’s a wonderful time to go green to save some green! Here are six ways to keep a little something extra in your pocket:

1. Wrap Things Up – Use brown grocery bags for simple wrap, look for recycled gift wrap or “wrap” items in reusable tote bags. Reuse gift wrap, gift bags, boxes and ribbons whenever possible, or repurpose items from around the house to make gift wrap: fabric remnants, magazines spreads, old calendars, kids’ artwork or the Sunday comics.

2. Light Up – Put holiday lights on a timer so you don’t forget to unplug them. Also, check out new LED lights to save energy. Target has solar LED lights, and Home Depot is offering $3 off LED Christmas lights when you recycle your old or broken incandescent light strings.

3. Clean Your Plate – Really, just dish up what you will eat, then take a break from cooking and eat your leftovers! At least 28 billion pounds of edible food are discarded each year, or more than 100 pounds per person. Much of that is wasted during the holiday season.

4. Give Gifts of Time – The gift of time is often the most appreciated. Offer a gift certificate for leaf raking or snow shoveling for a neighbor. Offer free babysitting for a new mother. Match your talents with the other person’s needs and you have perfect gift.

5. Shop ’til you Drop – When ordering online, consolidate purchases to reduce packaging and shipping. Order early and choose ground delivery over air. Unless you intend to use the store’s shopping bags as gift bags, bring your own canvas bags to reduce waste. When shopping, walk or take public transit, or combine your car trip with other errands.

6. Be a Scrooge – If you close your office or leave your home for an extended period over the holidays, avoid “phantom” or “vampire” loads by unplugging electronics and turning off power strips. Also, adjust the thermostat to save energy and turn your water heater to “vacation” mode.

Ellen Hall
Eco-Consultant
Green Irene
Greening Our World One Home and Small Business at a Time
http://www.GreenIrene.com/CincyDaytonEllen
513-932-7304

America’s Best Idea

After watching the second installment of Ken Burns’ National Parks on PBS, my seven-year-old daughter sorrowfully said that she didn’t understand why anyone would want to “cut down those beautiful old trees in the national parks.”  As I looked around her room at the furniture and pile of papers on her desk, I replied that people then, as now, saw using those great natural resources as a way to meet the needs of others while providing for themselves and their families.  For many it was – and is – a way out of poverty.

The question for us all today – in all of our abundance – is how do we balance consumption and conservation, prosperity and preservation?  I believe that “National Parks” is a call to all of us to explore our own relationship with nature, to scrutinize our use of natural resources and to critically examine our needs versus our wants.   The documentary also presents a perfect opportunity to discuss these issues with our children and to teach them about sustainability.

My children have been fortunate to hike in two of nation’s greatest parks, Yosemite and Sequoia, both of which have been featured in the documentary.  Despite their young ages, they both have felt that connection with nature and appreciated the awe-inspiring beauty they have beheld.  But we must realize that we don’t have to be in a national park to appreciate nature.  In our daily lives, we have the opportunity to see the beauty in a storm, savor the richness of a sunset, or experience the buoyancy of heart and soul that results from a frolic in the autumn leaves.  In these moments, children learn and adults are reminded that abundance doesn’t just come from a store.

Some steps on the path of going green are easy, but others take dedication, discipline and perseverance.  In watching the documentary, we can be inspired by those individuals who, as Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, “in the midst of a land grab and increasing development and all kinds of political ambition, were able to step back, see the beauty in various spots across the country, and devise a plan to set those areas aside for future generations.”  We should all hear that call today.  As French philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin said, “The future belongs to those who give the next generation reason for hope.”

Ellen Hall
Eco-Consultant
ellen.cincydayton@greenirene.com
http://www.greenirene.com/1106

Cleaning the Air and Improving Health

Those of us who live in the Cincinnati-Dayton area have the unfortunate distinction of living with some of the worst air quality in the country. Moreover, I have been told by friends who were born and raised here that the area is considered an “allergy alley.” So, short of moving, what can we do?

Changing behaviors that contribute to carbon output will have an aggregate affect on air quality and climate change. Many of the tips and tools resulting from a Green Home Makeover for your home or small business will help you identify areas in which you can make a difference. The EZ Bulb Swap Out is one of the most effective actions you can take to make a change (less electricity used=less coal burned). Plus, you gain the economic benefit of energy savings on your monthly electric bill.

Additionally, you can change the quality of your indoor air by decreasing the number of toxic chemicals you use in cleaning and personal care. Your local Green Irene Eco-Consultant can help you identify the toxins and recommend effective alternatives.

With U.S. households accounting for 38% of carbon emissions, it’s not just industry that needs to change. Rather, we should take action into our own hands immediately to improve the conditions inside and out. Think about that the next time you step outside for “fresh” air or plug in the “spring breeze” indoors.

If you’re interested in learning more and Going Green with Green Irene in Cincinnati, Ohio, contact:

Ellen Hall

http://www.greenirene.com/CincyDaytonEllen

ellen.cincydayton@greenirene.com

513-932-7304

Going Green

What does it take to go green? The first step is to build awareness, and those who build enough of it arrive there from different paths. For some, repeated stories in the media of climate change influence their perspective. For others, it may be a personal conviction for human or nature’s rights. Yet for others, the shift comes from dealing with a personal illness – a child with asthma or Aspergers, a parent with Alzheimers, or a spouse’s cancer – that raises questions about how human actions impact our health. Whether the journey begins from an isolated experience or results from a confluence of factors, in the end it is about getting there (thinking green) and wanting to make changes that matter.

The second step – action – can be more of a challenge. Even after we pledge to become better environmental stewards, taking the initiative can be overwhelming, especially when your efforts may be belittled by those around you. When that happens, you can become defeated by the perceived futility of your individual impact. This is where Green Irene can be a valuable support network. Not only can the Eco-Consultants provide actionable and effective ways to green your home or small business, Green Irene also provides assistance and encouragement through its Ask Green Irene service. Green Irene is creating a community through which you can sustain your own sustainability efforts. With this type of support, you’ll soon find that going green is really pretty easy.

If you’re interested in learning more and Going Green with Green Irene in Cincinnati, Ohio, contact:

Ellen Hall

http://www.greenirene.com/CincyDaytonEllen

ellen.cincydayton@greenirene.com
513-932-7304