It’s Earth Day today, and in fact, it’s the 40th Earth Day to be celebrated since its inception.
In the past forty years we’ve come a long way in changing our ways to protect the earth, but as much progress as we’ve made we still have a lot of work ahead of us. Remember Al Gore on the scissor lift pointing out the spike in data? We need to make sure he doesn’t have to reach any higher than he already is to show our impact.
The inconvenient truth about getting on board with greener practices is just that, it can be slightly inconvenient to abandon our old routine and commit to a new one. It can be inconvenient to buy products that may cost more money. It can be inconvenient to actually think through all of our actions beforehand. But, in the end, if everyone took more time to consider their actions, maybe the end result would be a healthier planet for us and for our future.
Here are some of my resolutions for the coming year to help out the Earth, maybe you’ll want to add these resolutions to your list too:
1.Avoid “hypernesting”: Hypernesting is a term I recently read about from the Apartment Therapy book The 8 Step Home Cureby Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan. It’s the perfect name for the increased interest homeowners have of buying more and more things to outfit their home. With all the buying going on, and not a lot of getting rid of anything we are faced with an overload of “stuff,” hence, a constant need to “organize”. But, as Gillingham-Ryan suggests, it’s not so much that homeowners “are in need of more organizing; we need to manage our consumption, let go of our stuff, and learn how to restore life to our homes.”
Managing our consumption is the key. Stop buying simply to buy. Just live simply. The less you consume, the less waste you’ll produce and the less waste that will go to landfills. Every time I go to Target or Ikea, I’m going to re-think my impulse purchases to make sure they are actually things I really need.
2.Make My Home More Energy Efficient: While my home could do with a new set of windows, I’m not sure my budget is going to allow for it. But there are other smaller things I plan on doing like lessen my use of vampire power, run of all of my laundry on cold, turn of lights when I’m not using them, and researching other tricks for reducing my energy use little by little.
3. Start Composting : Ok, all I have to do for this one is get the appropriate receptacles and convince the people I live with that it won’t smell. I grew up with a compost heap and have always felt guilty living life without one ever since. I think this year it’s time to get back into the habit, especially since I’ve been working more on gardening than ever before.
Composting is a great way to keep bio-degradable waste such as fruit and veggie scarps out of the landfill and back into the earth. Here’s a helpful government website to get you started.
4. Use Green Cleaning Products: I’ve already started purchasing greener products such as Seventh Generation cleaning supplies for my home. But, I really want to look into more options, Such as baking soda as an all purpose cleaner, and a lemon slice as an anti-bacterial agent for cleaning cutting boards. I’m sure there are so many more of these eco-cleaning tips that are just as easy and affordable.
5. Consider a Rain Catchment System: I would love to be able to set up a rain catchment system at my house to have a water source for gardening, or even washing my car. Check out my previous post on these cool systems.
6. When Doing Home Improvements Use Eco or Recycled Products: If you’re going to be remodeling, think about the impact of your materials. While there is an array of beautiful, new recycled and sustainable materials, you may also want to consider re-using older materials. At the Rebuilding Center in Portland you can find hundreds of reusable windows, doors, and even sinks and bathtubs. Instead of adding to the landfill, why not re-purpose something so it never becomes junk in the first place.
For more about green building and an eco lifestyle check out our Green Living Section.
Looking toward fall, we’re closing the windows more often and putting down the weather stripping. Among the other emotions that come with preparing for the colder seasons, what you don’t want to be experiencing is the negative effects from VOCs lurking in your home as you’re sealing it up tight to keep out the cold.
We’re making the effort to make our homes more energy efficient and to save on our heating and cooling bills. However, this can sometimes have some unintended consequences. We’re talking VOCs: Volatile Organic Compounds, and not only can they damage your home’s indoor air quality, they can make you and your family sick.
Homeowners tend to experience the effects of VOCs more often as a result of sealing up their homes, because keeping the cold out often means keeping the fresh air out as well. Where do VOCs come from? Well, if you’ve recently had carpets installed, bought new furniture, or happen to be an enthusiastic user of household cleaning products; you’re going to want to pay attention:
In addition to carpets and cleaning products, VOCs can come from new beds. Mattresses can be big contributors to decline in indoor air quality as most are treated with chemical fire retardants. Good for your bed’s chances of surviving a blaze, not so good for your lungs. Carpets are big culprits for similar reasons, fibers trap and store chemicals, and synthetic carpet pads can off-gas harmful chemicals, mainly polybrominated diphenylethers, (PBDEs) that can cause illness and respiratory problems like asthma in high concentrations. Eeek. New furniture can also add to the problem for the same reasons.
Another big contributor? Paint. We all know it smells, and there’s a reason. Traditional paint is packed full of VOCs whose effects can linger long after the paint has dried.
Get the VOCs Out
So, what’s a homeowner to do? Short of freezing out your home in the dead of winter, there are a lot more practical options you can take to make your home’s air a bit safer:
Step 1: Replace all vinyl shower liners in favor of non-toxic nylon ones. Your vinyl liner releases chemicals (toluene and methylene chloride to name a few) that can cause allergic reactions.
Step 2: Use low or no VOC paint. (Available from most major paint suppliers)
Step 3: Stop chemically cleaning carpets and furniture- look for organic cleaning solutions that don’t use harsh, highly concentrated chemicals. Try to ditch home chemical cleaners entirely in favor of more organic options like vinegar, baking soda, etc.
Step 4: Stop dry cleaning. Not only is it expensive, but evidence suggests that the chemicals used in the process are carcinogenic and can accumulate in your home whenever you bring your comforters, bedspreads, drapes, rugs and clothes back from the cleaners.
Step 5: Cut down on carpet. If you’ve got the option, switch it out for hardwood or tile flooring options that don’t require chemical rich mats or stain treatments. If you can’t kick your carpet habit, clean it thoroughly with an organic cleaner and air out extensively afterwards. You can also opt for organic fiber rugs to keep the soft under your feet.
Step 6: Invest in solid wood furniture. Believe it or not, manufactured and pressed wood products can off-gas chemicals like formaldehyde over time as well, leading to decline in your home’s environment. Make sure you air out rooms where you’ve got a lot of particle board products frequently, and if you’ve just bought a similar product, set up a fan to vent fumes out of your home.
What would it be like to live in world that was completely self sustainable? How would life be different for us if we were completely free of our dependency on fossil fuels and foreign oil?
Well, some intrepid architects are out to get some very real answers to those questions. In what will be the nation’s first net-zero (emission free) community, a little place called Geos will be making its debut in Colorado in late 2008.
Entirely solar and geothermally powered, this experimental city should prove quite the study in green design and eco conscious building practices. And it may just be a jumping off point for increased interest in development and implementation of the strategies and products we’ll need if we want to cut our energy bills more efficiently.
Will it be, as some nay-sayers predict, a disappointing, low grade disaster that fails to make a clear case for the enviro-movement? Or will it be a 25 acre window into the future?
At first I just assumed that it was simply the new stylistic choice for modern home remodels, but I’ve recently learned that it’s actually a smart and easy way for homeowners to make their home more eco-friendly!
Traditional driveways, which are usually just a mass of concrete, asphalt or stone, are not the most environmental choice. However, options for designing driveways that is both earth friendly, and uniquely designed are becoming more widely available.
By putting a Permeable Driveway into your home you are making a big difference to the environment around you. You’ll eliminate storm water runoff that can carry toxic pollutants into the sewers, rainwater will be absorbed back in to the soil to feed trees and plants, and you’ll be reducing the urban “heat island” effect by eliminating the reflection off masses of concrete and asphalt that are often responsible for making the climate around you warmer.
Your options for how to incorporate Permeable Driveway design are abundant. Here’s a rundown of the two ideas I like most:
Concrete Pavers: Perhaps my favorite option is using concrete pavers and vegetation. For this type of design, concrete pavers are used to create a grid like pattern, and the spaces in between the pavers are planted with grass or other vegetation. It definitely creates an interesting focal point for any front yard.
Reinforced Grass Surface: New technologies have developed options in which your driveway can simply look like a continuation of your front lawn. By adding a product such as Grasspave2 under the area you would like for your driveway space you are able to make a space with great load bearing capabilities for your car, while not destroying the vegetation and root system underneath.
If you’re looking for ways to make your home more green, ripping up your concrete and replacing it with some soft, lush vegetation may seem like an easy and incredibly appealing idea.
Living in the middle of one of the greenest, lushest, and most environmentally friendly parts of the country, the Pacific Northwest, it’s hard not to constantly think about how my actions impact the environment. But I’m not the only one, there are a host of bloggers covering environmental issues online, and more specifically about being a green homeowner.
Looking for what other homeowners are doing to make their home better for the environment? Or maybe you want some help getting your own green remodeling project started? Here are some of our favorite green blogs that may inspire you:
BobVila’s On the Level Green Building Blog
Bob Vila is arguably the most trusted man in the home remodeling industry, and his green building blog is just as informative and helpful as any homeowner could hope for.
Get With Green
If you’re working a remodel, or are thinking about it, this site will help you figure out your greenest options, and where to find them. Full of useful ideas you may never have thought about (tubal skylights to save electricity and light hallways and rooms) and practical information (where to order carpet made of recycled materials), this blog will help you through the green remodeling process.
Green Building and Remodeling This site is simple, straight forward, and full of interesting articles on industry trend-spotting, and ideas for homeowners to incorporate into their home.
TreeHugger
While this blog covers a wide range of topics other than green building, it is one of the top environmental blogs out there. A quick search of green building, or green remodeling should return a number of entries that you may find helpful.
Brevard Green Homes
Run by a green minded real estate agent, this blog is another great resource for homeowners on topics ranging from tax credits, green materials and other eco news.
To show our support for homeowners who want to green their home, ReliableRemodeler.com is proud to announce that we have recently added Solar Panel Installation as one of our newest offered services! Check out some of our Green Building Resources for more information.
We hope to keep bringing homeowners more green building options, and we’ll be sure to keep covering green building topics here in the future.
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