Monday, October 15, 2007

When BAD is Good

Blog Action Day. I've been reading a lot of different blogger's environmental advice posts today and been really excited about what is going on. It's so easy to see all that is wrong with the world and how many people give no thought for the environment at all. However, there are a lot of good people doing a lot of good things.

Whoorl
listed healthy, environmentally safe cleaning products. I was just about to pull out a notebook and pen (or at least bookmark this particular post) when I realized I use a lot of these products already! My goal is to start finding ways to make a lot of my own cleansers as well.

Wardrobe Refashion is a site that is already dedicated to reusing and recycling as much as possible. You sign up with a commitment for two, four or six months that you will not purchase any new clothing. If you need something you will remake an item you already have or sew something new, usually from thrifted fabrics. I haven't gotten around to making this commitment, but I have become much more conscious of not buying new clothes. My expanding belly makes it hard, but I seem to be pretty content in my options.

LAB didn't say she was posting necessarily for blog action day, but yesterday's read was chock full of fabulous suggestions to reduce one's carbon footprint and make wise choices.

Ok, just one more. another tangential thinker listed a bunch of great things she has chosen to do since she just moved into a new home.

Lots of great ways we can be smarter about how we live and what we live with. Today I'm burning candles rather than turning on the heat. It's not quite cold enough for the heat yet. Plus, since we (again, we meaning Andy) are sanding two rooms worth of hardwood floors, we have the vents blocked off and it wouldn't be such a great idea to blow the sawdust all over the house!

As soon as the floors are done and it is time to turn the heat on, we're going to get a duct cleaning done. This will improve our airflow and reduce the amount of heat we need to use and help with dust as well.

I'm planning on getting my garden winterized today. Pile some leaves and heap some nutrient-laden dirt so that next year my veggies will grow better and more of my garden will be usefully productive.

What are you doing today to be wisely active?

12 comments:

Cheeky said...

Crazy about the LAB post coinciding--I had no idea today was a BAD day! Thanks for the linkage to www.lifeafterbaby.wordpress.com (LAB).

Talena said...

Yesterday, my friend Dawn pointed out this way cool site, and after reading one article on there, I am already making wiser choices with my water usage--plus, being totally inspired on how much can be done with a little.

Thanks for all the other great posts to read up on!

Anonymous said...

uhhh... I went to Carboncreditkillers.com and bought some carbon debits.. yes Debits ;) They are trying to undue all the damage done by Al Gore and his meaningless carbon credits that only go to a company that he has a stake in. So that's how I did my part today! Probably not quite what you had in mind though I am sure. What can I say? I am a rebel lol

Unknown said...

Ok Shawn, hard not to be mad at you when you just paid for them to knock down more trees....really? Really?

I don't know that the agenda of carbon credit killers is so much better than any other. Where is your money actually going anyway?

Have you seen AG's movie? Cuz I wouldn't go so far as to say he's done "all that damage."

Just trying to be a little bit responsible here...

Anonymous said...

Oh my.. didn't mean to get you so riled up. It's more just a funny site than anything else. I don't buy into the whole global warming thing though. I mean I think it might be getting warmer.. but not catastrophically so. It's just all cyclical. We can barely predict the weather next week let alone ten years from now. It was getting colder in the 70's and we were warned about "global cooling." And besides, you gotta wonder about someone who says we shouldn't drive SUV's and should pay for credits to a company that he is heavily invested in, all while he flies around in a private jet and heats a 12000 sq ft mansion. Hypocrite. So yeah.. he's done damage.. unfounded hysteria which will cost our economy dearly if we have to pay for tons of programs to "reverse" the warming. And that's my soapbox rant for the day :) I do hope you are not mad.. it is just my opinion :)

Unknown said...

You know I don't really get mad all that easy. But I still think you're wrong... ;)

Besides, wouldn't it make more sense to put money into reversing warming and find out "whoops, it wasn't so bad" than to ignore it entirely and find out "oh crap, we're all totally screwed."

And even if you want to believe that it's unfounded hysteria, aren't we charged with caring for the earth? Basically the first command we were ever given. Can we validly support our American consumerism biblically?

By the by...it's good to hear from you again. :) I hope you and your sweet wife are well!

Anonymous said...

Alright.. I'll just leave it as agreeing to disagree agreeably :) We are doing well.. enjoyin the fall weather that is finally setting in a little around here. All the way down to 80 now! lol We're going on a mini-camping/float trip next weekend so hopefully at least a couple of leaves will have changed by then. I love the leaves in the fall! I just don't like raking them when they pile up in my yard.. which will be soon!
Other than that just workin and waitin for Katie to graduate in May so we can hopefully move to Denver. She has a good lead on a job out there already so we should know definitely by Feb or March. Exciting! :)
Thing seem to be going well on your end.. as far as I can tell from your blog. Still can't believe you are havin a kid though! Is it just me and Shelly left in the class that aren't parents? Maybe Steve also?

Anonymous said...

Gad to hear you are getting your air ducts cleaned. Think Duct-911.com.
A shameless plug for our air duct cleaning website I know, but it is the "season" after all!

Anonymous said...

Oops, misspelled "glad". :)

Unknown said...

Are we agreeing to disagree about the climate change issue or about the fact that we were told to take care of the planet? Just checking. Ahem. I want to be clear on our agreeable disagreement... ;)

Most of our leaves haven't changed yet either this year and a bunch of my spring bulbs are trying to come up! It's very strange. It's almost as if it's just warmer everywhere or something...

Denver sounds fun! I've always thought that would be a great city to live in. Too bad we love GR. :)

And yes, things are well here. I think it's pretty crazy that I'm having a kid as well. Though I think Shelly really wants to start, I don't think she has quite convinced Paul just yet! :)



Thanks for the website link, Air Duct Cleaner Guy. Unfortunately, you aren't located anywhere near us...

Anonymous said...

Disagreeing on the climate change thing. But yes, I agree we are to take care of the planet.. alhough the exact verbage in the Bible is to "subdue" it and have "dominion" over it. Doesn't exactly say "go green." :) But then also we are to be good stewards of what has been given to us. So I am with ya as long as things that are being done are cheaper and more efficient. And what you do on an individual basis is great, I just get scared when government keeps trying to step in to try and regulate "greeness." It is a slippery slope to socialism that we are on and more regulation on day to day life is just part of it. That's my main concern I suppose. I don't want laws telling me what kind of car I can drive or what kind of light bulb to use. But we're on that road...

Unknown said...

A lot of the things I do to be as green as possible are actually a lot more cost efficient as well.

We only drive one car--less gas, insurance, only one car payment, only one car to fix, etc. Plus, it's nice to have to drive everywhere together.

Florescent bulbs--initial cost is higher, but they last four times as long and they save my electric bill.

Recycling--in my neighborhood, recycling of paper, plastic, aluminum, etc is all free and thus saves our regular trash bill which keeps going up. I keep finding more and more things that can go in the free boxes!

Reusing rainwater and other gray water from the house--saves on the water bill.

The one thing that often costs more is trying to shop locally and organically. But that ends up being way healthier, so there's that huge benefit.

Ah, here I am preaching at you again. Some things never change, huh?

I agree that we need to be very careful on what the government regulates...though at the same time I think there are probably more dumb Americans than smart ones...so maybe it wouldn't hurt? Eh. I'm so not into politics anyway!