Tag Archives: green

Be a Mean Green Cleaning Machine

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After the Swiffer Mop and Before the Vinegar

After the Swiffer Mop and Before the Vinegar

After the vinegar!

After the vinegar!

So I’m cleaning my apartment for the in-laws’ holiday visit and my kitchen’s tile grout looks filthy.  I use my Swiffer mop and then scrub with Clorox (the new Green Works version available in stores) to no avail.  In desperation, I seek google’s sound advice.  The solution (literally)?  One part vinegar one part water or a little baking soda paste.  It sounds homey and environmentally friendly and inexpensive, but does it really work?  Just look at the before and after pictures above!

When picking out cleaning products I try to moderate between price and environmental efficacy, so I have an assortment of ‘green’ cleaning products in my apartment.  Some work, some don’t.  But what seems to be most puzzling as peruse my way through all of the cleaning products I own is why have cleaning products in the first place?  Nearly everything I clean, as I think about it, could be easily cleaned with three fully biodegradable, non-toxic household items: lemon juice, vinegar, and baking soda.  The Do-it-yourself website, has a new Going Green topic on its side menu, has a great article called How to Clean Green which lists several recipes for green cleaners. Here are two easy and useful examples:

Carpet Spot Remover
•Cornstarch or baking soda
•Club soda
Blot the spot and apply baking soda or cornstarch immediately. When dry, blot with club soda and vacuum.

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Necessity is the Mother of (Green) Invention

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actual cleaning bucket in use at my house

When you buy the product, you are buying the package, too.  So says my friend Gina who comes half-day on Mondays and a full day on Friday to help me clean up after myself and my family.  I finally realized that I am not a slacker mom if I enlist some help around here.  And Gina makes it nice. Continue reading →

How to: Offset your carbon footprint

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As seen on LifeGoggles, Joel Williams ramps us up on the first R of environmental responsibility: reduce. Of course the whole article is a must-read, so check it out. The jist of the post brings us tools to evaluate how large/small our carbon footprint is, and then gives us snappy ways to implement greener living from the comfort of our own home.

Joel’s words: Whether or not you believe carbon dioxide is the cause of global warming or not, it is harmful to the environment and reducing your carbon footprint is a great idea.

I evaluated myself at one of the several sites mentioned [Carbon Footprint], one that is based out of the UK but has data to compare me to my peers here in central U.S.A. The calculations for the primary emissions are based on a combination of metrics from the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), the UK’s Department for Transport, and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). P.s. it was fun. :-)

I gave US dollar figures for various types of fuel (electricity, coal, natural gas, LP, others) use at home and the results:

Total for your home = 7.437 tonnes of CO2
Total for your cars = 3.124 tonnes of CO2
Total secondary footprint = 4.813 tonnes of CO2
Total = 15.374 tonnes of CO2

* The average footprint for people in United States is 20.4 tonnes.
* The average for the industrial nations is about 11 tonnes.
* The average worldwide carbon footprint is about 4 tonnes.
* To combat climate change the worldwide average needs to reduce to 2 tonnes.

The final stage of the evaluation reveals several options to donate to offset one’s personal carbon footprint!

Step into a Healthier, Green Lifestyle

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April 4th was National Walk to Work Day.  We might have missed it, but there’s no reason we can’t extend it to today and to places other than work.   As someone walks, he or she is saving money put into their vehicles (including costly repairs and gasoline) and spending a lot of their own energy instead - with each mile a person burns approximatly 100 calories.
According to the The Walking Site, burning  3500 calories is equal to one pound. Further, think of the amount of money and gasoline I’m saving!  I live about 1 mile driving distance from my school and lets say I go to school about 200 days of the year and that I live in a dorm.

200 days x 1 mile x 60 students in my school = 12,000 miles driven less this year!  That also means that collectively all the students have lost about 343 pounds!!!

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Google going green(-ish)

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Is it noblesse oblige or something more that is driving Google to a leading role toward a greener tomorrow? I’d love to see Google’s name on this list – there’s some impressive names already there. Like Shaklee, climate neutral since 2000.

Joshua S Hill brought to my attention today at Green Options that the world need not wait for government to do the work of the hungry consumer. To me, this means entrepreneurs and corporates alike will no longer have to make do with the energy sources that brought us the horseless carriage and the steam engine. Using oil and coal to run today’s technology is what’s called transitional technology. It’s time for a new normal and I’m buyin’.