Before we get started, I'd like to thank all of you who graciously took the time to vote for my article in the Vegan Coach's contest. I so appreciate your support. The contest ends today and the winner will be announced in a couple of weeks. I'm keeping my fingers crossed but either way, your friendship and support has meant the world to me. Thank you!
Okay ... let's get started on this week's Change The World Wednesday activities!
There's a lot of great information in this post and I encourage you to read through it ... however, if you'd rather jump straight to the current challenge, you can do so by clicking here: This Week's Challenge
Last week we did a little maintenance on our refrigerators. We checked the seals, vacuumed the coils and made sure that we were neither over filling or under filling them. It wasn't a huge activity and didn't take more than a few minutes but keeping it maintained ensures that it runs as efficiently as possible.
We lovingly refer to them at the #CTWW Gang. They hit the Twitter waves each week and spread the word using the hashtag #CTWW. If you're on Twitter, these are great folks to follow. Let's meet them:
Our Honor Society is made up of people who write posts and/or leave comments about our challenges. Let's check in with them:
Brenna was in the emergency room, last week, with her daughter. We hope your daughter is okay, Brenna!! She didn't think she'd have time for a post about this week's challenge but ... she made time. In this ARTICLE she talks about her efforts and offers us some additional information. For example, did you know that cleaning around the refrigerator (coils, vents, etc.) can improve efficiency by 30 percent? And how cold should our refrigerators be? Brenna tells us. It's a wonderful, informative post! Thanks, Brenna!
Amy wrote a lovely post called Wishcasting Wednesday and CTWW ... doesn't that sound intriguing? She shares a sentiment that it so important ... in her words: "One of the things that I have to remember in my life is that I can take small steps to get to the large goal I have, I don't have to leap to the large goal right away." How true!
Argentum Vulgaris says that his fridge is his nemesis. Hm ... what do you think he means by that? Are you curious? Head over and read this POST.
Sometimes a picture ... or in this case a video ... is worth a thousand words. That's certainly the case with THIS VIDEO from Cinella. In it she shows us how she checked her refrigerator including checking the seal at various spots on the door. Brilliant!
Stephanie took the challenge and promised to do a little refrigerator maintenance this week. By the way, she's completed her second week of Project Green Foot. Each week she lists her purchases, the miles she and her husband drive, etc., with the goal being to reduce their carbon footprint over a year's time. Be sure to check it out and follow their progress.
Our Funtastically Green Girl, Lynn, met this challenge by potty training her fridge. Oh you know you want to read this one ... and you can do so HERE.
Ann asked a very good question ... should the refrigerator be kept full or not. As I understand it, the refrigerator shouldn't be too full because it operates most efficiently when cool air can circulate around the food. On the other hand, it shouldn't be too empty because cold food helps keep the temperature low. In this POST Ann shares our banner and she talks about teaching children to "save".
Jen was planning on cleaning out her refrigerator so to meet this challenge she decided to do a real "spring" cleaning on it as well. Yay! Recently, on her blog, she did a great piece on junk mail ... check it out HERE and find out what weird mail she received.
Jennifer has a new, Energy Star refrigerator so she's in fine shape. She offers us a good tip on another energy drain ... the stove. She shares that to maximize efficiency, try to match the pot size to the burner size so that no heat is wasted. Brilliant! Have you ever thought about the reasons one might NOT go green? Jennifer has given it a lot of thought as you'll see in this POST.
How did Mrs. Green score on this challenge? She's always very honest with us so do you think her refrigerator is in tip-top condition ... or does it need work? Find out HERE. In the comments section of that post she said something very interesting. When she and her family went on holiday, only three things were left on ... the refrigerator, the freezer and one small LED light. Now remember, The Greens were on holiday so that means that the refrigerator wasn't opened and closed ... neither was the freezer. So how much electricity was used while they were gone for a week? 3 kwh! Wow! It is definitely worth our while to operate all of our appliances as efficiently as possible.
Alicia keeps her refrigerator maintained so she shared a tip on how to keep another energy hog running efficiently ... the clothes dryer. She suggests making sure that the dryer is vented properly and that the lint screen is cleaned after every use. Here's a surprise ... a dirty lint screen can make your dryer use up to 30% more energy. Wow! I'll add a tip to Alicia's ... if you use fabric softener sheets in the dryer (which, by the way, aren't Eco-friendly), the lint screen may become clogged. How can you tell? Take the lint screen and run water through it ... if the screen holds water, it's clogged. Give it a good wash with dish soap to remove the obstructions. Speaking of Eco-friendly, if you're looking for natural soaps, balms and lotions ... check out Alicia's shop HERE.
Mat stopped in. I'm hoping he'll swing back by and give me some hints on how to recover "lost" work from blogger ... last week's post was lost but according to Mat, I might have been able to recover it from somewhere deep in the recesses of my computer. Thanks for coming by, Mat!
Rewinn had his shop vac out a few weeks ago and vacuumed all the coils on his refrigerator. This week he checked the seal and made sure the unit is level. He's in fine shape! So he wrote this POST which made me go "Ahhhhhh". Thank you, my friend ... it was so kind of you! :-)
We talk about cleaning the coils on the refrigerator but do you know why that keeps things efficient? In this POST Rachel gives us a great explanation. She shares before and after pictures of her refrigerator and talks about the "tool" she used to do the cleaning. Rachel offers us another energy-saving tip ... take foods out of the freezer a day before you need them and let them defrost in the refrigerator. That lowers the temperature in the refrigerator so that it doesn't have to work so hard. Great idea, Rachel!
Great job everyone!! If you wrote an article, I have Stumbled, Tweeted and Facebooked it. If you'd like to help spread the word, please use the share feature at the bottom of this post.
Okay ... onward ...
This Week's Challenge:
We've done several challenges designed to reduce water in a big way. For example, we've taken fewer showers, shorter showers and only washed clothes when they were truly dirty. This week we're going to again reduce water use by wasting less. Here you go:
This week pay close attention to the water which gets tossed down the drain and reduce it. For example, if you put ice in your drink, toss the ice in a planter rather than toss it in the drain. Is there a small amount of coffee left in the pot? Try freezing it for use in iced coffees or to flavor cake. How about the water left in a pot after steaming vegetables? Mrs. Green taught me to save that water & use it for making rice, pasta, etc. The idea, here, is to pay attention to those small amounts of water which usually get tossed down the drain and find more Eco-efficient uses for them ... and thereby reduce waste.
AND ...
In addition to reducing water waste, I'd like your help on future challenges. Please leave a comment with ideas for new activities. These can be something your passionate about ... something that you struggle with ... or perhaps something you'd like to use as a way to increase our awareness. If your idea is used (which is almost 100% certain), I'll give you credit and link back to your blog.
In addition to reducing water waste, I'd like your help on future challenges. Please leave a comment with ideas for new activities. These can be something your passionate about ... something that you struggle with ... or perhaps something you'd like to use as a way to increase our awareness. If your idea is used (which is almost 100% certain), I'll give you credit and link back to your blog.
Are you up for this challenge? I know that you are!
Until next time ...
WE'RE CHANGING THE WORLD ... ONE CHALLENGE AT A TIME
hey there - sorry i've been MIA for a bit, just feeling a bit boring lately :).
ReplyDeletewater - thinking of that a lot as i'm canning, and doing several loads of jars before i pour it out for garden watering. rainbarrel filled at start of summer took care of all front yard watering needs (roses, herbs, berries, etc).
ideas for the future?
* one bicycle trip a week to replace a car trip
* calculate carbon offset & make donation (terrapass, carbon fund etc)
* eat vegan for an entire day
* reduce your garbage output by going to the next lowest can size or going to once-monthly service (or on-call if you already rock!)
* create a recycle bin for all the non-curbside recyclables - batteries, CFL bulbs, misc plastic, etc - and then find out where to recycle them.
* do a 'waste audit' or ask a super green person you know to do one and help you see where you can do better in creating less waste.
Go me, I've written up already! http://littlegreenblog.com/green-technology/water-conservation/8-tiny-tips-for-reducing-water-waste/
ReplyDeleteI love EcoGrrl's suggestion of being vegan for a day. I would find that super challenging.
I think maybe with Christmas / Yule coming up we might start thinking about how we can buy gifts that comply with the other person's values, yet don't have too much of an impact; this is something I struggle with for friends who are NOT on my green wavelength. Even finding stuff for LMG, who is into plastic toys and more, more, more of anything is very hard.
A two week challenge might be to take a meter reading after an 'average' week then set ourselves the challenge of reducing it by 10% (or another figure) the following week.
Can't wait to read everyone else;s suggestions!
CTWW is up and running on:
ReplyDeletehttps://ecocrap.wordpress.com/2011/09/21/change-the-world-wednesday-21st-sep/
An idea included in the post.
AV
Ideas
ReplyDelete* teach someone else a new way to be green
* volunteer for a week
* clean out your ducts to improve heating/cooling efficiency
* preparing your home for winter
* finding items in your home that are using energy when they don't need to be
* re purposing items that you already have in your home
* making gifts (or decorations?) for the holidays
* reducing our impact with what we give out at halloween
My biggest problem with running water too long is with cleaning, when I mop, when I scrub toilets or the tub, I keep the water running! YIKES! This week (and forever after) I will buy a bucket and fill it with water when I clean which will help reduce the amount of water I waste! GREAT CHALLENGE! Tristin and Tyler always turn the water of when brushing so they are already on the right track!
ReplyDeleteI already wrote a post in water conservation but will try and come up with a fun post to write!
ReplyDeleteWe try our best not to waste water. Our biggest waste is the animals. They either swim in thier water or like the ogat knock it over just out of spite. We try to tie her bucket to something so she can not tip it over. We also use rain water to water our garden and and animals. We also are planning a grey water watering system, and a rain water collection system for our house for every day use. The other way to save is to buy newer appliances. Dishwashers, and clothes washers.
ReplyDeleteI am a fellow water conserver--Have written a number of articles on the subject--here's one: http://www.wendmag.com/greenery/2010/03/5-solutions-to-our-water-woes-on-world-water-day/
ReplyDeleteTwitter @GreenCartoons
I offer these 2 ideas that save literally GALLONS of water every day:
ReplyDelete1. I keep empty 2-liter plastic beverage bottles (from cranberry juice, V8, etc.) in the bathroom. Before having a shower, I catch the still-cold running water from the bathtub faucet into these bottles. Sometimes it seems to take forever for the water to become hot; catching the "waiting water" and using it to water plants later saves at least 2 liters of water per shower. When the water from the tap turns hot enough for the shower, I flick the switch to divert the water from "tub" to "shower".
2. During the non-winter months, I keep a plastic dishpan (or bucket, depending on the depth of the sink and the configuration of the taps) in the kitchen sink. We catch all the water we use from rinsing vegetables, washing hands, running a glass of drinking water---basically everything not involving dishwashing, fats/oils, or meats (we're veggies, so this isn't an issue in our house). We also empty leftover tea and coffee into this bucket. We then dump the collected water onto outdoor plants: flowerboxes, junipers, rosebushes, evergreen trees---anything in the yard. We live on the Canadian prairies, so we don't do this in the winter, as we fear that pouring warm water onto "hibernating" plants at extreme temperatures would result in plant damage. On an average day with 2 adults in the house, we save at least 15 gallons of water this way! We did not have to use the hose to water our plants all summer long.
Thanks for this blog. I really enjoy reading it and gaining new ideas.
CC in Canada
Doh! I threw out some pasta water before reading this post today. I think most of my water waste is in the kitchen, washing dishes and the like. Now that I think of it, I can empty the cat's water dish into my plants rather than the sink every day.
ReplyDeleteIdeas for future CTWW: find one way to lower the impact of your pet, eat local food for a week, barter or swap for something you need instead of buying it.
Just linked my post...
ReplyDeleteSome ideas....
How about battery usage, eco-friendly recipes, jewelry cleaning, thanksgiving crafts, power-cords, your TV (we bought a new tv and our electric bill went down over $80!), green technology, favorite eco-friendly brands/companies, eco-friendly mail, DON'T DRIVE FOR A DAY! Don't use your cell phone for a day, kid snacks, share your goals, Challenge of who can buy more ORGANIC for less, organic clothing or sustainable clothing, how-to reuse "something".... and I could go on and on.
When I did this cartoon ( http://joemohrtoons.com/2011/09/22/hank-d-and-the-bee-green-snots/ ) I learned that If every household in the US replaced just one box of 175-count virgin fiber facial tissue with a 100% recycled version we could save
ReplyDelete140 million gallons of water, a year's supply for over 1,100 families of four.
Buy recycled paper products (if u have to buy any). It's a big way to save water beyond what everyone is already doing.
Save water, drink beer! But seriously folks, rinsing out our "growler" wasted water until I read this challenge and realized I could just water the garden with the H20: Water, Growler, Beer: A Gleesome Threesome!. Some day I hope to pipe the kitchen sink directly to the garden, or at least to a barrel for re-use; I'm not sure how to get started but our city water utility is very interested in cutting water use so perhaps I'll ask them for tips.
ReplyDeleteP.S. coffee ice cubes are very very useful!
Won't be blogging for this go 'round, but I am of course up to the challenge! I think our biggest waste is when waiting for the water to get hold (or cold) and letting it run. I have been trying to capture the water as it gets hotter to water my plants. I am going to start keeping water in my fridge for drinking so I don't have to waste any waiting for the tap to get cold enough.
ReplyDeleteWe've always been pretty conscious about our water usage, but this week, after reading your post, I became even more careful, especially with the drought we have had this past summer. Left over water in our glasses after meals and from my husband cleaning out our fish tank this weekend has gone to water our lawn that has been thirsting for some badly needed attention. Thanks for your awesome ideas! Ready for the next one!
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to take water conservation seriously when you live in Wales ;-)
ReplyDeleteWe have two rainwater barrels, one for the plants and one for washing cars (except when it doesn't rain for a while - then I tell my husband that the cars can stay dirty, my plants need a drink!) Our main worry with these barrels is that they're always overflowing, which can create an ice rink on the driveway in winter.
One small water saving thing I do in cold weather is use the still-warm water from my hot water bottle to have a wash in the morning. I started doing this when our heating broke, leaving us with only the shower for running hot water. On days when I don't have a shower, my other alternatives would be washing in cold water or switching the kettle on.
AV's post did prompt me to investigate where our water comes from in the UK. I was surprised to find how much UK water comes from aquifers - I thought it was all reservoirs - but not so much in Wales, where only 5% of water supplies are groundwater.
Challenge ideas: How about revisiting old challenges? For those of us relatively new to the party, that gives us a chance to have a go at things the rest of you have already done. For those who did them before, it could be: One year on, how are you doing with this now?
I just have to say that we have been MIA for a while because we have been so busy. We missed you guys though, and it's funny how I come across some of you in my other blogging circles. We actually were reinspired by Good Girl Gone Green to join up in the challenges again, and we've posted about water conservation this week at http://www.greenbabywilmington.blogspot.com.
ReplyDeleteGreat ideas! I like the eat Vegan for a day and ride your bike (or don't leave the house) one day. I also like Mrs. Green's ideas about Christmas gifts. That sparked me to think of this:
*In December, do a challenge that requires you to use recycled materials for gift wrapping. It would be awesome to see other people's creative ideas!
*Composting-even if you live in a bigger city, there are often places you can take your compost
*Grow one vegetable. You can actually just buy a bag of soil, lay it down, cut it open, and plant seeds in it. No green thumb necessary!
*Junk mail: Go through your mail for one week and contact any company that sends you unwanted mail.
I also like the idea of going back to old challenges. So many people post so much good advice that it would be great to revisit the challenges with the new tips.
We all should do our share in taking care of our environment. We can start by going green. I found this fun social networking site, motleygreen.com, that lets you share green acts with fellow environmental advocates.
ReplyDelete