Live Green

I used to practice Wicca, and during that time I really got into recycling, nature, conservation, and the like. I have since become an atheist, but I still care about the planet…even though it might appear I don’t.

I really want to reduce my waste, and learn better conservation practices. I am sure there are a lot of resources that could help me out. I want to get back into my good ways of doing a little bit to help the environment, and live a less wasteful life.

I’ve been putting the hot water from the boiled eggs into the wash pan and washing dishes in it. It works fine. I could save it to water plants, but this is working for me right now. That water is really hot!

Wow, I sure didn’t know how much I missed the smell of clothes dried in sun and wind until I started folding them Sunday night. I didn’t have to put my dog in the dog run (although it is set up) because he ignored the laundry on the line. I’ll watch him and maybe, maybe he’ll be okay. The clothesline is so important to my lifestyle. I am so happy.

I bought one last weekend from a friend for $100. Recycled. Anyway, one of my dogs cannot be trusted with clothes on the line, so I’m setting this up this weekend so I can return to line drying clothes, and quit spending energy and money on the dryer at the laundromat. I’ll actually have more time at home too because I won’t be hanging around for an hour or more waiting for clothes to dry. Hanging on the line will take about 20 minutes to do everything, so I’ll have an additional 40 minutes a week at home. My naughty dog can just hang in the run until I take everything down. He’ll have a nice cool tree, a dog house, and a swimming pool in the run. I’ll also tarp the south and west panels and part of the roof so he’s got shade.

Instead of boiling the water to make tea, thus using energy, I put the Lipton Ice Tea bag into a half gallon container, fill with cold water, shake it up, and then put it in the fridge overnight. In the a.m. when I first get up, I go into the fridge (for whatever) and shake up the container, and put it back in. Before I leave for work, I fill three or four Lipton glass bottles (saved from purchasing the Unflavored Tea), and voila! I have my own tea at very little cost, using only the fridge to steep and cool it, and “recycling” the glass bottles by reusing them. The bottles wash up nicely too, with no plastic. This is my second summer (well, it’s summer in southern AZ) to do this, and it’s a winner for me!

For the past year I have been taking small steps to live a greener life. The city of Dallas has made it easy to recycle by providing bi-weekly pickup of nonsorted paper, metal, & plastic. This was my first step. I have also started replacing incandescent lights with compact flourescent bulbs when its time for a new bulb. I have a compost pile in the back yard for leaves and grass clippings but have not started composting food waste. This should be easy to start but for some reason I haven’t.

I have hardly any food waste going into the garbage since I now compost (such as it is) and because I have dogs. They eat the rest of it. I throw out cooked poultry and pork bones. Pretty much everything else gets eaten or composted. It has made a difference in the amount of garbage we produce.

Turning off the water in the shower is a little bit nippy, but it makes me wash up even faster! Still doing it, and glad to.

I stayed home and didn’t drive anywhere. It was great. I didn’t miss the bright lights at all. I walked around my place with my critters, so got out of the house. I walked one of the horses because she needs to stretch her arthritic legs, poor girl. I think we should go back to horses. Life would definitely slow down.

Steps to make NOW:

1. Continue recycling plastic bottles
2. start recycling paper as well – get a cardboard box for that purpose next to my work desk
3. start recycling glass – have a special bucket just for them under the sink
4. switch to Compact fluorescent light bulbs and put them in every lamp in the house (12 all together)
5. use reusable groceries bags (great selection on www.reusablebags.com !!!!) – order them by mid November
6. make a list of all “easy to make” recipes for homemade cleaning products

The following steps:

1. Use Ecover detergents for all the cleaning
2. Fit all radiators with thermostatic valves