Walking Fido? Pick Up Some Trash While You Do It!

Every day I like to take my dog for a walk. Its good for him and it clears my head of all my worries of the day. A while ago I noticed that there was a lot of trash around my neighborhood and it really started to bother me. Whenever I see trash I always pick it up to throw away later but lately I've been collecting handfuls of trash. To make it easier on me I attached on of those doggie duty bag holders to the back of the leash so that whenever I see trash I can pull out a bag to put it in so I can throw it away later. I've started to notice a remarkable difference in my neighborhood; it looks a lot cleaner. It makes me feel so good when I know I'm doing something good for the environment. Now whenever I walk anywhere its an instinct to pick up trash I see on the ground! What small things do you guys to do help the environment?

Would You Like A Spot of Tea?

Now, I am a huge tea lover. I like it iced, hot, sweetened, unsweetened, anyway you can make tea I drink it! So for all you tea lovers, like me, I'm going to share a few eco tips about tea! One is, if your gonna drink it opt for organic. The reason you should drink organic tea is because other teas have the possibly of being treated with chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The conventional way of growing tea is pretty harmful to the environment as well, it leads to soil erosion and disease. Not to mention that the pesticides being sprayed on the plants are harmful to workers who have to harvest it. Teas that are certified organic do not treat the soil with pesticides or anything harmful to the environment. A few great brand of organic teas that I recommend are Tazo, Yogi, and Stash Teas. If your not into any of these brands check out your local Trader Joes or Whole Foods. All of their teas on the shelf are organic! Another great way to go green with tea is to compost the tea bags! They make a great natural soil for your garden! Using tea will allow your flowers to flourish without the need of any chemical fertilizers.

Earth Hour 2010

Guess what, its that time of year again! At 8:30 on Saturday March 27th everyone around the world is going to turn off all of their lights! That's right, its Earth hour! I believe that this day should just be created a Holiday for everyone to use as little electricity possible! I love when I go outside and look around my neighborhood at about 8:45 on the 27th and almost everyones lights are out! I feel its an empowering experience because when you see lights out you know that someone cares enough about the Earth. If you feel your going to be bored for an hour without electricity, then plan something fun to do that doesn't involve any power! If you can't think of any ideas, I have some suggestions for you! If you want more information about Earth Hour then click here!

• Play a board game with a flashlight
• If you have an outside fire pit, sit around it and roast marshmellows
• Have a late picnic outside in the grass under the stars
• For people with a pool or hot tub, take a dip in it!
• Light candles in one room (be careful not to set anything on fire!) and read a book by the candle light!
• Go outside and play a sport with your friends and family
• Plan a small block party outside, where everyone brings food and drinks to share!

Simple Green

The other day I was cleaning out the garage and I had to mop the floors. I was digging through all our cleaners until I came upon one I really liked. It was called Simple Green. It was a cleaner that was for floors, bathrooms, kitchens, and more. All you have to do is pour a little bit in the bottom of the bucket your going to be using to clean with. (Trust me on this one, a little goes a long way!) Then add water to it, it foams up right away. Usually eco-friendly products kind of have a bad smell to them or they just smell organic, well this product is not like that at all! It smells fresh and clean, sort of like evergreens. Another thing that is fun about this product is its bright green! I believe that Simple Green works just as well as any other cleaner, even better since your saving the Earth! Its made specially so that when you dump your water it biodegradable and won't harm any plants or insects where ever you dump it. They are also non-toxic so no need to worry about that harsh ammonia smell you get from other cleaners such as windex and clorox. Man, sometimes those smells just suffocate me and I need to stop for like five minutes just to catch my breath! I highly, highly, highly, reccomend Simple Green! This product line has so many different options! From tile cleaner to concrete and driveway cleaner! You can find it at places such as your local grocery store, Walmart, and Target!

Happy Earth Day!

Wooooo! Its Earth Day everyone! I'm so excited! It makes me happy every time I see someone participate! Today at my school they turned out all the hallway, cafeteria, and some classroom lights! It made me so happy! Plus it was kinda of cool to sit in the dark! Right now I have all my lights off in my room and I have my blinds open to soak up all that natural lighting (: Today I'm just going to tell you guys some easy tips to do and share with your friends and family!

• Instead of putting your laptop/computer in sleep mode put it in hibernation! Its basically the same accept it saves more energy and your battery.
• Instead of using a table lamp opt for using candle light, it'll save you money and make your house smell good!
• During the day if its really bright in your house don't bother to turn on the lights. Get your daily amount of Vitamin D and open all your shades and blinds!
• Try finding re-usable coffee filters! This will save you a major amount of cash.
  
• Switch your washing machine dial to use cold water! Did you know that 80-90% of energy of washing clothes goes into heating the water.
  
• Remove yourself from bulk mailing lists. It'll save paper!
• Recycle your plastic and paper grocery bags!
• Try using non-toxic soap when washing the dishes!
• Switch from a stove-top kettle to a electric plug in one! It takes a lot more energy to heat up one on the stove because its on there a lot longer than an electric one. An electric on takes less than half the time of a stove.
• When going out to dinner try to bring plastic containers to store your leftovers in instead of using the restaurants disposable ones.
• Try installing a low-flow shower head, it'll save tons of water each time you shower.
• Do not dump cooking oil, grease, or poultry fats down your sink. Its really hard on your plumbing, and it hurts the environment as well. How you may ask, well it kills all the pollution fighting bacteria and ends up going into our beautiful ocean killing even more creatures. Instead wait until all the gooky stuff cools then put it into a plastic bag and dispose of it in your regular garbage can.

Even though these tips seem like they can't help, they will. Each small step you take to make yourself a greener person it helps the Earth in a long run. Have a Happy Earth Day!

Earth Hour!

Great news everyone, Earth hour is back! Now if your new to going green, Earth hour is when you turn off all your lights, TV, anything that uses electricity for one full hour. It will be taking place on March 28, 2009 at 8:30 pm. This is like letting our Mother Earth have a day off at the spa. It rejuvenates, and will allow the Earth to work harder. I will remind you guys by posting about it on the actual day! Click here, to check out a video about it. Go Mother Earth!

Tip Of The Day!

Hey everyone, I found out this really cool tip! Its about dryer lint! Did you know that lint can be composted? You can put it in your garden and it will disintegrate! Also a few other things that you can compost in your dryer are the Sunday Comics, tea bags, leather dust, pet hair, your hair, freezer burned fruit, and grocery receipts! Just make sure that when you are putting the dryer lint into your garden that you didn't use a dryer sheet with it! This way the compost will be chemical free. Making the world greener one tip at a time!