Green Parenting for Non-toxic, Healthy Homes
From the category archives:
Choosing a natural birth under the care of a midwife certainly has its environmental benefits compared to a labor filled with medical interventions in a hospital facility. A South Dakota Midwifery Clinic has taken it a step further by earning the Green Star Certified Mark of Consumer Environmental Awareness. Now families-to-be are not only comforted by their plans for a natural birth, but they can rest assured that the midwifery clinic the visit is energy efficient.
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Follow Joe on Twitter @GreenCartoons and on the web at JoeMohrToons.com.
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Follow the entire Hank D and the Bee series on JoeMohrToons.com–and on Twitter @GreenCartoons.
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Taken from “What’s the Big Deal with Idling”
by Stephanie Hastings–President at Naperville for Clean Energy and Conservation
According to the U.S. EPA, the personal automobile is the single largest polluter. Motor vehicles are responsible for about half of the toxic air pollutant emissions in the United States.
But what about when our cars are idling?
When our vehicles idle the combustion of fuel in our engines is incomplete. Incomplete combustion causes our vehicles to create more tail-pipe pollution than when our vehicles are traveling at normal speeds. Believe it or not, idling for just 20 minutes generates the same amount of hazardous emissions as driving nearly 320 miles!
[read the full article...]
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There are so many beneficial reasons to buy in bulk, so this simple green practice is easy and rewarding to implement. Living an hour away from the nearest grocery store, buying our food and personal products in bulk is a necessity of mountain life. The survivalist in me does not feel comfortable unless my pantry is stocked with staple goods bought in bulk. Not only does buying in bulk make life more convenient by saving trips to the grocery store, it saves money and environmental resources as well. Bulk good prices are cheaper than individually packaged goods, and fewer trips to the store means less fossil fuel burned and more leisure time for you! The following five ideas will help you make the most of buying in bulk.
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Holiday season fanfare has already begun, and I am reminded of my holiday motto: No more junk toys! Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and/or the Winter Solstice, if you have children, you know what junk toys are. Junk toys are toys that will have little educational value, are usually made of plastic, are overly commercial, and end up in our landfills. Green parents often try to make these toys disappear, but it is better to prevent their buying and giving in the first place.
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Cooler than average temperatures have hit northern California, and the reality of heating our homes for winter has set in. In my experience, most people like to keep their homes comfortably warm, so that they are only wearing a light weight clothes while inside; however, there are many benefits to lowering your thermostat and wearing a sweater. Remember, it is almost winter out there!
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I have been living off the grid for 15 years now, and there are certain parts of my daily energy use practices I take for granted as normal. Yet, when I visit friends or relatives living on the grid, I become aware of how differently I use electricity. While watching last week’s PBS NOW program about families living off the grid in Iowa, I began to wonder if the principles of energy use necessary for living off the grid might be beneficial for people living on the power grid. Specifically, I am referring to using only one heavy load appliance at a time, constantly monitoring your power meter, and turning off "phantom" power loads.
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