Environmental Savings

If you want to buy recycled goods, there are several ways to do this, and is best to do it online unless you’ve got a store near you that has a lot of them. There are anything from recycled pencils and pens to recycled frames and furniture. If you’re not sure about how to get quality recycled products just search “recycled” and whatever you’re looking for. A good way to make sure the product is good is to call the company you plan to buy it from, just ask how it’s made and how durable it is. 

This is also a profitable field of work. You can create and sell your own recycled furniture! Seriously, check it out. Some things like that table above sell for a hefty price. They do look stylish too, so don’t rule out good looks just because your things are recycled. It gives your home a vintage look and if you do it yourself, that’s a great accomplishment. 

The average North American uses 20 tons of CO2 per year. The united states has the HIGHEST usage of all countries in the world as far as the average goes. Keep in mind, this pollution is only from your carbon footprint, not other pollution that each individual person contributes. The average usage in the world is about 4 tons. So the average American uses 5 times as much carbon in a year in comparison to the average in the world. That’s pretty mind boggling to think about. We, a consumer nation, use more than anyone else. This 20 tons is only 82% of what each person uses. That means 18% still remains to be accounted for. Industrialized nations main usage comes from vehicles, factories, households, and day to day electricity use. Being one of the top polluters of the world means that people aren’t trying very hard to reduce their usage.

A lot of this pollution that people support are destroying habitats of animals that are already endangered. By destroying habitats this decreases how much pollution is taken out of the air. Plants consume our pollutants, if we have less, that means less is taken out. 

Here’s a picture of what used to be a forest, this is an example of what is going on all over the world, not only in our country, but in others too. Myself and many other associations urge you to make sure you approve of how companies create their products before purchasing them. 

Homes that are a little older sometimes aren’t insulated properly. Insulation is what keeps cool air from escaping your home in the summer and warm air from escaping during winter. 

My family actually just got done remodeling a home from the 70s, so if you’ve got any questions, email me at Greenjerrid@gmail.com. I’ll reply with in 24 hours. Thanks!

Ways to save:

1. Check your attic for insulation, if it doesn’t have the recommended amount, add more. You can get insulation from places like Home Depot.

2. Check for holes in walls, doorways, mail slots, window seals, etc, these let air escape and come in.

3. Caulk these spaces that are letting air leak in and out.

4. Wall and window mounted A/Cs are a major problem a lot of the time. If you have one, make sure it’s properly inserted and that air isn’t leaking in or out of the spaces around it.

Doing this can reduce your A/C and heating bills by 5%-30% a year depending on the amount you’ve closed up. Check the energy savers website for more information.

There are three commonly known toxins that are in foods that most Americans consume somewhat regularly. These toxins cause cancer, heart disease, health deficiency, harm to cellular health, nerve cell deterioration, and much more.

They are called:

1. Sodium Nitrate: Is in hot dogs, sausage, and bacon, generally processed.

2. Excitotoxins: Aspartame and monosodium glutemate are the usual names. Avoiding anything with “MSG” in it will help too.

3. Hydrogenated oils: These are found in foods, such as crackers, margarine, and cookies.

Feeding children processed hotdogs actually increases the chance of brain cancer by 300%.

Don’t buy products that have “carmine” in them. These are actually ground up cochineal beetles that affect your health. 

Please visit www.organicconsumer.org to find out more about these interesting health tips and facts. It could save your life.

Getting rid of less means that the things already in landfills will have time to break down and be used as soil and other compost related products. Most of the things we own will last over 100 years in a landfill, and as of lately, we’ve been using quite a bit. If you fix some of the things that you own rather than throwing them out and filling up precious space, the planet will be that much cleaner. If you have a messed up shirt, sew it. If you have a screwed up bed, add a support. This will save you tons of money just by doing small things that add up over time, and in turn, the world we know will be a lot more likely to not fill up with junk. 

Overall people need to learn to fix things themselves, such as apparel, cars, shoes, and especially anything glass or metal. These types of things can be refurbished by you! Just turn on your computer or even look on your mobile device and use one of the many search engines available to you to search how to fix “insert word”. 

The Daily Green is a good website I’ve found that helps you find things that you can fix rather than throw away. 

If you can’t fix that product, maybe find a way to reuse it. For example, if you’ve got a bunch of messed up shirts, turn them into rags, or maybe even into a rug with a little bit of sewing and creativity. 

Another small way to help our world is to use cleaning products that contain little to no chemicals that are harmful to our environment. Note that soap and all of these things that we use to wash our cars and products in our homes go directly into the rivers and oceans. I do know that these things are sometimes filtered, but they still do have a major effect on our environment, due to the massive amounts used with in our societies. 

After doing some thorough research on products created by Green Irene, I discovered that their products are generally less harmful to the environment and people. The cost difference is very little to none and they have tons of products. Anything from glass cleaner to stain and odor eliminators. 

Another REALLY interesting product I found was the Water Conservation Kit, it allows you to heat up the water before actually using any, which most other shower heads don’t allow. The kit also includes other products as well, check it out for all of the details. It’s not bad looking either.

The products also come with reusable bottles. Refills for the bottles are available. So the first purchase will always be the most expensive, but after that it’s pure savings. Check out http://www.greenirene.com/ when you get a chance!

Gardening can be another way to reduce your cost on food products and it’s very healthy for you as well. It gets you out of the house and outside in the sun! The sun actually contains vitamins which people are supposed to take in daily, but not too much of it at the same time. The vitamin in which sunlight contains is vitamin D. Gardens also require a lot of upkeep, so you won’t have a problem getting out daily and obtaining these vitamins. It’s also very educational and fun I believe.

Blueberries themselves actually have a lot of health benefits. They contain vitamin C, dietary fiber, and manganese. They have virtually no fat and only 80 calories per cup. Vitamin C keeps your gums and capillaries healthy, while fiber keeps your cholesterol level down, and the manganese is essential for the development of bones. They also contain antioxidants, these antioxidants are used to get rid of any molecules that aren’t stable. Unstable molecules can lead to diseases, such as cancer and even eventually Alzheimer’s disease.

So today I did some research about blueberries. Blueberries require very fine soil, the plant likes moisture, well drained soil mixture is preferred. One thing to keep in mind is how acidic your soil is. Blueberries really like a pH level of 4-5. This acid releases sulfur and zinc, which makes the blueberries thrive. The pH levels are on a scale of 1-14, 1 being the most acidic, and 14 being the least.

How to take a pH test: 

1. Dig a hole a couple inches deep.

2. Remove any debris, such as twigs or rocks.

3. Fill the hole with water that is either bottled or distilled. 

4. Put the test probe into the water (which is now more like mud), make sure the meter is clean and calibrated before you insert it.

5. Wait 60 seconds and take a reading.

6. Sometimes it’s good to repeat this test in different areas of the garden to make sure the entire area is good for the blueberry plant’s growth. 

If the reading is 4-5, this is ideal for blueberries. If it’s too acidic (below 3), I would add peat moss around the base of the plant and cover it with mulch. If it’s not acidic enough, you can actually just plant the blueberries in the peat moss themselves.

This here is a meter I found, it’s Solar and at Ace Hardware. The cost is $13.99, check it out if you don’t already have a meter.  

Today I stumbled across some reusable plates, utensils, and other things that are made from bamboo and are 100% safe for your health. I’ve decided that these are an EXCELLENT replacement for anyone who uses paper plates and plastic utensils for parties or picnics often. They are rather inexpensive and light weight, as well as easy to clean. 

This is a picture of one of the plates, there are several more options on the website ( bambu-veneerware.html )

Visit if this is the case for you. Like I said, they’re rather inexpensive, so I personally think it’s worth the investment. 

The products biodegrades in 4-6 months, which makes them ideal for the environment. 

There is a lot of conflict about people wanting new things versus the good of the Earth and extending the human race’s time on it. New things aren’t always to best deal out there. For example, if you go shopping, no matter who you are, if you buy something used that means it won’t end up in a trash can and in a pile of garbage buried somewhere which used to be a forest or habitat for animals. This also means that by not purchasing a new item, you don’t waste more material. It’s a double-win situation. The way this works is that by not buying something new, a manufacturer will make one less of that in the future and like previously stated, that material which may have not been bought, won’t end up in the trash. This too can be fashionable, ladies out there who want to be in style can still do this with a little bit of creativity. Taking used clothing and using it to patch your clothing which might have holes in it may make your belongings look trendy, or even fabricate a whole new garment with the second hand stuff. This is also a great substitute for typical pricy entertainment and it will also give you a little variety in life. I wouldn’t expect anyone to do this all of the time, but every little bit helps. An example for this could be a new shirt costs 15$ and you find a similar shirt with the same fit except used and not much different except the tags and the first time you wear before washing, for 5$. There’s a 10 dollar savings on one piece of clothing that you just purchased.