Table of Contents

Publisher's Note

Cover Story

Taste Buds

Events Calendar

April 2008

by Nicole KIDDER

© Copyright 2008 ColorsNW Magazine

Are You Living Green?

Tips within reach for a more sustainable life

There are many free and low-cost ways to support a more sustainable planet. By modifying habits, you can impact the world around you. Implement a few of these ideas into your daily routine or use this list as a creative jumping-off point to discover ways you can improve your community.
 
INSPIRE KIDS
Implement a Family Energy Saving Day by unplugging all unnecessary electronic gadgets, including televisions, computers and video game consoles. Spend the day exploring the wonders of nature by walking to the park, picnicking at the lake or hiking through the evergreen forests of the Pacific Northwest. Or, plan a family sit-down dinner, play board games and talk about what’s happened during the week.
To encourage recycling at home, set up a paper reuse box near the computer printer. Use the backside for brainstorming project ideas, working out math problems or crafting rough drafts. When doing homework, encourage your children to use both sides of the paper and to use a pencil instead of a pen. Recycle yogurt and butter tubs for crafts projects, crayon holders, buckets for building castles, bathtub toys and paint cups.

Teach your children about community involvement by joining a family clean-up project on April 22 or planting a tree on April 25. Or, have your child’s youth group borrow paper shopping bags from the local grocery story to decorate them with Earth Day messages for the shoppers. Youth groups can also donate their gently used clothes and toys to local children, adopt a family, hold aluminum can or clothing drives at school or sponsor a bake sale to raise money for the rainforest.
Use some of these resources to introduce your younger children to the concepts of recycling: “The Great Trash Bash” by Loreen Leedy, “The Day the Trash Came Out to Play” by David M. Beadle and “The Garbage Monster” by Joni Sensel. For fun craft ideas, check out “EcoArt” by Laurie Carlson, “Earth-friendly Crafts for Kids” by Heather Smith and Joe Rhatigan, and “Ecology Crafts for Kids” by Bobbe Needham.

HOME MAINTENANCE
You can improve your home’s energy efficiency by caulking and weather-stripping doors, windows, fireplaces and chimneys, as well as insulating the water heater and setting the thermostat to 121 degrees degrees. Place a monthly reminder on your calendar to vacuum vents, registers and furnace filters.

If your home is often too cold or too hot when you walk in, program the furnace thermostat to kick on 30 minutes before you arrive. Never set the thermostat higher than the desired temperature as it does not heat your home any quicker and causes the furnace to run longer. Air conditioners near heat-generating electrical appliances can confuse the thermostat and cause it to run longer. While on vacation, lower the thermostat to 55 degrees.

IN THE KITCHEN, SET THE REFRIGERATOR TO 38 DEGREES AND THE FREEZER TO 5 DEGREES OR LESS, AND DON’T OVERLOAD. FOR MAXIMUM EFFICIENCY, VACUUM THE UNIT’S COILS TWICE EACH YEAR AND CHECK THE SEALS. IF A DOLLAR BILL CAN EASILY BE PLACED BETWEEN THE SEAL AND DOOR, BUY REPLACEMENT GASKETS AT THE HARDWARE STORE. UNLESS BAKING BREADS OR PASTRIES, FORGO THE PREHEATING OF THE OVEN AND RESIST THE URGE TO OPEN THE DOOR WHILE COOKING. TO REDUCE A LENGTHY WARM-UP TIME, TURN ON THE OVEN’S SELF-CLEANING FEATURE IMMEDIATELY AFTER COOKING. REDUCE COOKING TIMES BY KEEPING RANGE BURNERS CLEAN, USING LIDS AND USING SMALL PANS ON SMALL BURNERS. CHARGERS FOR ELECTRONIC DEVICES, SUCH AS CELL PHONES, COMPUTERS AND DIGITAL CAMERAS CONTINUE TO DRAW ENERGY EVEN WHEN THE ITEM ISN’T PLUGGED IN.

LIFESTYLE CHANGES
Instead of heading to the gym, where you burn electricity running the treadmill, opt for recreational activities that use your muscles. Take a walk to the park, jog around the lake or climb a hill. Rather than watching television, listening to the radio or surfing the Internet, pick up a book, write a letter, paint a picture or tell your children a story. Better yet, enjoy all the beautiful things the Pacific Northwest has to offer by planting a vegetable or flower garden. One strategically placed shade tree in your garden can reduce cooling costs by 25 percent. Collect rainwater in buckets or barrels for gardening use.

VEHICLE FUEL EFFICIENCY
Since every 100 pounds of weight decreases vehicle fuel efficiency by one percent, remove all unnecessary items in your vehicle and only fill up half of its gas tank. To conserve fuel, gradually accelerate and slow down. Aggressive driving can reduce your gas mileage by 33 percent on the highway and 5 percent in the city. And, for each 5 miles you drive above 60 mph, you can expect to lose approximately 20 cents per gallon.

Make sure the air pressure in your tires is at the appropriate level to increase gas mileage, as well as the life of your tires. If you are going on a long road trip, fill up on your tank during the middle of the week before gas prices increase for the weekend traffic. If you are buying a new vehicle, be sure to check out www.fueleconomy.gov to compare gas mileage for cars made between 1985 and 2008. Expect an annual savings of nearly $1,000 between a car that gets 20 mpg and one that gets 30 mpg.

OFFICE IDEAS
The office is a great place to start a recycling program. If you think your office is too small, team up with other offices nearby. The most successful programs provide clearly labeled containers near copiers, shipping and receiving areas, break rooms and conference spaces. You can collect white and mixed papers, newspapers, magazines, cardboard, glass, aluminum, plastic and more. Encourage participation by providing paper recycling containers in each employee’s office and at each copy machine. Learn how to start an office recycling program at www.recycling101.ca.

If your office already has a recycling program, further reduce paper waste by posting forms on the network or online, setting machines to two-sided printing, updating mailing lists, omitting envelopes by designing self-mail flyers, reusing envelopes for interoffice mail and printing directly on envelopes. Use the backside of collected paper as a fax cover sheet, as draft paper in the copy machine or cut and staple into scratch pads.

CREATE AN ANNUAL ALL-STAFF CLEAN-UP DAY WHERE EMPLOYEES EXCHANGE USED ITEMS, DUST THEIR COMPUTER EQUIPMENT AND SHRED CONFIDENTIAL FILES. CALL YOUR WASTE COLLECTOR TWO WEEKS BEFORE TO REQUEST EXTRA RECYCLE AND GARBAGE BINS. SURPLUS ITEMS OR SUPPLIES THAT AREN’T CLAIMED CAN BE GIVEN AWAY AT WWW.FREECYCLE.COM OR ADVERTISED ON WWW.CRAIGSLIST.ORG.

SHOP WISELY
Being a conscientious shopper doesn’t have to mean a higher receipt at the end of the trip. Invest in 10 canvas grocery bags (average cost is $1 each) and keep them in your car. Avoid buying products that that come in aerosol bottles and plastic packages or that contain chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), chemical compounds that deplete the ozone in the atmosphere, which wards off harmful ultraviolet radiation. Instead, opt for packaging that can be reused or recycled. Purchase products in bulk form and boycott products that utilize materials from the rainforest.

Be creative when looking for ways to save. Repurpose objects like envelopes, jars, paper bags, scrap paper and resealable bags. For example, instead of buying gift wrap tissue, shred newspapers for package filling. Send postcards rather than letters for short messages and stick a label over the return address on the hundreds of junk mail envelopes you receive. Buy items that last, such as lunchboxes, in favor of one-time use products, such as brown-paper lunch bags. Be sure to maintain and repair the items you do have. If you won’t use an item often, borrow it from a friend, neighbor, relative or local rental store.

CLOTHING & BEAUTY PRODUCTS
The average American tosses nearly 70 pounds of clothing and textiles each year. Gather your friends and relatives for a fun night of drinks and clothes swapping. If you can’t repurpose a garment or purchase something secondhand, buy clothing that is environmentally conscious.

Hemp and bamboo are biodegradable, antibacterial and as equally soft as cotton, which requires the production of nearly 10 percent of all agricultural chemicals and 25 percent of insecticides used in the United States. Also, look for sneakers made of eco-friendly resources, such as recycled tires or jute.

Shop with a plan. Buy classic garments that can be paired with several other items. Do not buy clothing that needs to be dry-cleaned or find a green dry cleaner near you at www.greenearthcleaning.com . Educate yourself on which clothing companies engage in questionable labor practices at www.sweatshopwatch.org  and www.behindthelabel.org .

Many beauty product companies use containers that are not biodegradable and have harmful chemicals. Buy products made with natural ingredients, packaged in recyclable containers and that have not been tested on animals or contain animal products. Don’t buy disposable beauty aids, such as makeup remover cloths.
Finally, be sure to properly dispose of liquid cosmetics. Before throwing away products such as suntan lotion or nail polish, pour the liquid into cat litter. Once it is absorbed, dispose. Also, most fingernail polishes and hair dyes contain harmful chemicals that can seep into the blood system, which can be especially detrimental to pregnant women.

LEARN HOW TO LOBBY
The only investment these ideas require is your time. Contact your local League of Women Voters to learn how to lobby or log on to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Web site at www.epa.gov to learn ways in which you can urge your local, state and nationally elected officials to support environmental legislation.

You can also encourage your local government to expand the roadside pickup program for recyclables and hazardous-waste materials. Attend a city council meeting to suggest restrictions on automobile use in high-traffic, congested areas or to support legislation on climate change issues. If you notice a sidewalk is cracked, contact your city government to have it replaced so pedestrians, joggers and walkers can enjoy the neighborhood. Encourage your local government to buy recycled paper or support political candidates who back environmental programs.
Don’t forget about local businesses, as well. Urge restaurants to use recyclable packaging and computer chip manufacturers to stop using CFC-113 as a solvent. Write to automobile manufacturers encouraging them to produce fuel-efficient cars or talk to your local auto center about installing CFC recycling equipment to prevent Freon from releasing into the ozone when servicing air conditioners.

GET INVOLVED
More than 1 billion people are expected to join community and youth groups to plant trees, spruce up parks and clear waterways on Earth Day, April 22, and Arbor Day, April 25. Grab a friend, spouse, parent or child and get involved in a local environmental organization. Throughout the rest of the year, support work to protect local watersheds or to alleviate poverty, a major cause of deforestation and other environmental problems.

DISPOSING HOUSEHOLD MATERIALS
Because they contain hazardous materials, many electronics and household appliances are not acceptable for garbage pickup. The “What Do I Do With?” directory at www.metrokc.gov/dnrp/swd/wdidw/category.asp?CatID=8  lists hundreds of organizations that will take your animal waste, appliances, carpet, cleaning products, construction debris, fluorescent lights, furniture, hot water heaters, paint, pallets, pesticides, propane tanks, textiles and more.
To find disposal options for audio, video, computer and office equipment in King County, log on to www.metrokc.gov/dnrp/swd/wdidw/ . If the equipment is in good working condition, consider donating it to the Take it Back program at www.metrokc.gov/dnrp/swd/takeitback/electronics/index.asp . To find services in your county, contact your local Public Works Solid Waste Division or log on to www.thefreelibrary.com/How+to+recycle+practically+anything-a0147013003 , which lists resources on how to recycle everything from VCR tapes to printer cartridges. Proper disposal of prescriptions drugs is also critical to ensuring the safety of your environment and health. Go to www.wastenotwashington.org  to learn about measures to ensure proper disposal. 