He's One-of-a-Kind

Richard Taylor, 49, could possibly one of the most interesting people one could hope to meet in a lifetime. Known as Ricky or Ricky T., Taylor has spent his life going against the grain, and it has served him well.

Taylor sits on his worn in couch in his log cabin in Jersey, Ga. smoking a cigarette and drinking a glass of iced sweet tea. His hair reaches below his shoulders and he dons camouflage Crocs on his feet. “I built this house all on my own. I cut the trees down and I designed it for my family,” said Taylor. He has two children: Hudson, 20, and Elsa, 15. The house is marvelous. It boasts a star design in the hardwood floor and hand-painted stained glass windows in the bathroom.

Taylor grew up in Jersey, but did not graduate high school before left home at the young age of 16. “I was tired of all the rules. I wanted to get out and go on some adventures,” said Taylor. He traveled the country hunting and sight-seeing. He returned to Georgia frequently, only to leave again. He finally returned home and settled down to start a family. His trips are still frequent, however. He has recently been to South Africa, Belgium, and Maine.

He is very passionate about nature and the preservation of it. He grows his own garden every year with a wide expanse of vegetables and fruits. He then eats them straight from the ground or cans and freezes his crops. He claims that his homemade salsa is very tasty. Just this past summer he had a bountiful crop of tomatoes, squash, garlic, peas, beans, several types of lettuce, cabbage, carrots, muscadines, and apples. “I just grow things that I know I'll eat. I enjoy doing it, and it's less expensive and healthier than buying it at the grocery store,” said Taylor.

His hobbies overlap into his job. Taylor is employed by Burge Plantation in Newborn, Ga. Burge is a 930-acre farm that holds private events and hunting parties. It has been in the same family for 200 years. He is a grounds keeper of sorts, but from his explanation of his job, it would seem that he is more of a jack-of-all-trades. Taylor said of his job, “I planted an orchard of over 1,000 trees this past spring. I do tours for the hunters, and I also guide tours for elementary school students on field trips. My job is pretty laid back, and I get to do what I like to do.”

The annual Earth Day Celebration at Whippoorwill Hollow Farms in Covington, Ga. is one event that Taylor never misses. Whippoorwill Hollow is a certified organic farm that hosts many events and sells produce along with having a “pick your own” option for blueberries. Taylor does wood carvings there with a chainsaw and paints for a live audience. It is quite a sight to see. When asked where his visions come from for his carvings, he said, “I just carve what I think somebody might enjoy looking at.” Taylor sells his carvings and paintings and donates the money to establishments such as Whippoorwill Hollow.

Taylor feels that life has been good to him thus far, but said everyone should, “Be careful. Don't get caught up in the rules of everything. Do what you love and do it well. At the end of the day, that'll always be better than getting paid a lot to do something that you hate.” Well said, Mr. Taylor.

My Garden

I started thinking last night about what all I want to plant in my garden in the spring. This past spring, I had tomatoes, squash, carrots, strawberries, peppers, and watermelon. They thrived throughout the summer and helped create some delicious meals. This coming year, though, I think I want to plant some experimental things. I want to change it up a bit.

I think I'll only do big, fat tomatoes. No cherry tomatoes. I absolutely love fried green tomatoes, and it's impossible to make them from the small guys. And maybe some kind of purple green bean. My catalog has some very interesting specimens in it. Definitely going to do peas this time around...I really missed out on my fresh peas this year.

I may even try a lasagna garden. I don't like spraying pesticides and the like on my plants, and I hate pulling weeds, so maybe if I do the lasagna technique that will solve half of the problem. Plus, it'll use up this monstrous pile of newspaper that I haven't wanted to get rid of because I knew it would come in handy. I know it seems a little early to be thinking about all this, but you've got to get a plan in mind early on. Gardening takes preparation! I'm so excited! :)

Christmas recycling

I was thinking about getting all of my Christmas decorations down this afternoon and putting them up, but decided that I had too much to do. They will have to wait until this weekend. I got to thinking about how much trash I go through every year at Christmas time.

After shopping, all those shopping bags inevitably get thrown away instead of reused. The scraps of wrapping paper get tossed, along with the wrapping paper itself and probably the box too, after it's torn open. Then there's all the plastic that things are packaged in. I always have double the trash than any other normal time.

So I think this year I'm going to strictly use bags. Because I don't know about everyone else, but I reuse bags after I receive a gift in them. I neatly fold them up and use them the next time the occasion rolls around. So as much as I loooove wrapping presents, I'm going to stick to bags in hopes that they will be reused in 2010.

Is your house stinky and stuffy?

Knapp gives some tips on how to refresh the air inside your home the green way.

Make it Rain!

Scientists are trying to discover a way to make precipitation fall, either in the form of rain or snow. This method, called cloud-seeding, has been tried out in China. The droughts are causing them to resort to desperate measures. Read more.

Deck the Halls!

But should you deck them with a real or fake Christmas tree? A blogger posts on the positive and negative effects of both and makes a ruling on which is greener. She also gives suggestions on ways to find organic tree farms if you go the natural route.

Slightly humorous, but also true

A blogger posts on the negative effects of the amount of toilet paper we use and how many forests are destroyed to make our super soft tissue. Suggestions are made to buy recycled toilet paper and which ones are the best.

Ever eat out in Atlanta?

I do! That's why I was excited to find out this little interesting tidbit of information. HalfOffGreen.com gives coupons for restaurants that are trying to go green in Atlanta. If you eat in Atlanta at all, this could possibly save you some money! Check out the blog post for more details.

Green School

Portman Family Middle School was built to be green. All the features are described. They went all out when designing this thing!

It's tough!

Why can't being environmentally friendly be a little easier? I mean, it really is sort of an inconvenience to try and drastically change your lifestyle to go green. Who wants to wash cloth napkins when they can just buy paper ones and throw them away? Who wants to load the dishwasher twice as often when they can buy paper plates and cups? And it's so much easier to just throw everything into the same bin instead of separating out garbage vs recyclables.

Are these things that you think to yourself often? If so, then I applaud you. Because at least then you're thinking about the environment. These thoughts don't cross many people's minds. They use and abuse. So even if you're not the most "green" person out there, you're still doing better than most by simply putting forth the tiniest bit of effort.

Check out Mario's Green House

A reality TV show called "Mario's Green House" airs on TVOne. The program shows a family taking steps to green their home. This post tells a little about the show and a has a short interview.

Recycling by Number

I went through my cabinets and pantry this afternoon just to see what numbers were on the bottoms of my plastic packaged goods.
The numbers mean the following (*info found at The Daily Green):

1. PET or PETE (polyethylene terephthalate)
2. HDPE (high density polyethylene)
3. V (Vinyl) or PVC
4. LDPE (low density polyethylene)
5. PP (polypropylene)
6. PS (polystyrene)
7. Miscellaneous

The overwhelming majority of the plastics in my home are labeled 1. This is a good thing, since number 1 plastics seem to be the easiest to recycle. They are picked up by curbside recycling/garbage services. There were a fair number of number 2 plastics, mostly from under my sink. Cleaning products and dog shampoos were the majority of the number 2's. These are also picked up by most curbside companies. The only number 3's I found were my shampoo bottles. This is good, I guess, because according to The Daily Green, these are rarely recycled. I only found one 4. These are sometimes not accepted by curbside programs. Numbers 5 and 6 had a small number in my house, and both can be recycled through my curbside pickup. Number 6 products have been researched and can possibly leak toxins into food when used to store it. Number 7's are not traditionally recycled, and according to The Daily Green, they can emit hormone disruptors. This is the category of products that just do not fit into anything else...so they are stuck here. There were two number 7 products in my home.

Of course, I didn't go through and check every single product that had a number on the bottom...That would have taken a week. I did a quick run through of my kitchen, bathroom, and laundry room just to get a general idea. I feel better knowing that most of the plastics in my home can be thrown in to my recycle bin and rolled to the end of the driveway for pickup on Tuesday mornings.

Green Coke Can

Parsons introduces a prototype for a silver Coke can...no paint at all. She says that it would reduces pollution and save energy. Although it is not red and white, it is still very recognizably a Coca-Cola can.

Silverstone's Cookbook

Hutton reviews Alicia Silverstone's vegan cookbook The Kind Diet. I'm not vegan, but I do make meatless meals every once in a while. It may be worth a shot to try out a recipe or two.

Green Wedding

Since I am currently planning a wedding, this blog post immediately caught my eye. Batista blogs on how to "green your wedding" by doing just a few simple things. I never really thought about making my wedding environmentally friendly, but maybe I will now.

It's available...but will we use it?

DePeso brings up some good points on whether or not people will actually use environmentally friendly products and methods as they grow more advanced. Will we move with the times, or will we stick to what's comfortable and routine?

I wish my thermostat could do that.

Fehrenbacher describes the launch of a new thermostat by EcoFactor. It manages the temperature in homes by tweaking things ever so slightly minute by minute to save you money on your energy bill...up to 30 percent.

Ungreen Aircrafts

Picow discusses the advancement in aircraft in the last several decades and the ecological responsibility engineers have when creating new flying machines. Green innovation is important.

Going green could be fun!

Dawson describes "The Fun Theory" which is a contest sponsored by Volkswagen. Included are videos of entries to the contest. These are some pretty nifty ideas to get people (especially children) involved in go green efforts.

Thowing a kegger any time soon?

Mr. Green answers a college student's inquiry on an environmentally friendly alternative to plastic cups that are often used at parties. Good to know.

"Just Do It"

Being the shoe-aholic that I am, I was interested in this post because Mr. Green explains how to recycle gently worn shoes that you don't wear anymore. He give some websites on how to do so, but also provides a link to a site that tells you how to recycle everything else.

Allergies Because of Climate Change?

Novak briefly discusses how global warming could be making people's allergies worse. People who have never suffered from allergies may start to have symptoms. Interesting.

Reverse Fans

Underwood from TreeHugger explains how much you could save on your energy bill by reversing the direction of your ceiling fans in the winter. I already switched mine...have you?

Croatian Biofuel Towers

Meinhold describes cactus-shaped biofuel production towers in Croatia. They help improve urban air quality and lower transportation costs.

"Easy on the Meat"

Easy on the Meat--Who ever thinks about cutting back on meat consumption to reduce greenhouse gases? Most only think about it to save the animals. Lord Stern talks a little about how eating meat in moderation can help save the planet.

It's just water....right?

I had lunch with my cousin and her 3-year-old son, Sawyer, at Ruby Tuesday's just the other day. We were sitting in a booth chatting away when Sawyer decided that he wanted more pickles to go with his cheeseburger sliders. So we asked the waiter if he would be so kind as to bring Saw a few more of his beloved pickles. He returned with a plate...and on top of that plate a bowl with the pickles nestled inside. This bothered me.
A typical commercial dishwasher uses four gallons of water per rack. There are approximately 50 tables at your run of the mill restaurant such as Ruby Tuesday's. If each waiter uses one extra plate per table to bring out a condiment or accompaniment each time the table is occupied throughout the day...multiply that by 50...you do the math. Think about how many gallons of water could be saved by cutting out that extra plate.
I know that the waiter has been trained to use the extra plate. It looks more professional, the customer doesn't want to see his hands that close to the food, etc. But he had to have touched the bowl in the first place to put it on the plate, and I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't pick up the pickles with his bare hands and plunk them down in the bowl as well. But it's not the waiter's fault.
Only 2.5 percent of the water on this planet is freshwater. The other 97.5 percent is not drinkable in its natural state. My point is this: There are countless things we can do to cut down on water waste. Don't pour that last bit of water from your water bottle down the drain because it got hot--water a plant with it. Don't let the faucet drip. Don't flush that spider that you killed in the bathroom down the toilet--throw it out the back door or in the garbage. And the next time you're at Ruby Tuesday's, tell the waiter you don't need that extra plate under the bowl of pickles or ranch or ketchup. Better yet, tell him to just bring out the bottle of ketchup instead of squeezing some into a little cup that will have to be washed later.

Recycling: You Can Help

Andrew Lentini spoke on Monday evening about the University of Georgia's efforts to reduce waste and promote recycling. His lecture, titled “Rethinking Recycling,” was an insider's take on what can be done to help educate people about the benefits of recycling.
Lentini is the recycling coordinator of UGA's Physical Plant. The Physical Plant is in place to maintain and operate UGA's physical facilities, grounds, and utilities. “We do cool stuff,” said Lentini, “Campus is doing an amazing job, whether you know it or not.”
The event was sponsored by the Honors Program Student Council at UGA. Free pizza and drinks were served to the 40 or so students who showed up at the Miller Learning Center. Although the room was only about half full, there was a feeling of closeness in the air. Everyone was attentive and truly interested in what Lentini had to say.
Lentini went into more specific facets of his job, such as putting together a monthly recycling report. He reported that last month on campus 42 percent of waste was recycled, leaving 52 percent to go to a landfill. The surprise was audible in the room when Lentini informed the audience that UGA produces enough trash every 30 days to fill up a line of dumpsters that reach from the arches all the way to Ramsey Center, which is over a mile from one end of campus to the other.
So what has the university done to move towards greener pastures? “We switched to green cleaning,” said Lentini. UGA replaced 350 varieties of normal, everyday cleaning products with three environmentally friendly products. There are also recycling receptacles all over campus to make it easier for students to recycle things like bottles, cans, and paper.
Lentini floored the audience once again when he began talking about the everyday things that no one thinks about being toxic. Some dryer sheets, for instance, have a warning label that reads “Do not touch.” He then proceeded to explain the differences between the numbers on the bottoms of plastic products. The number seven means “other.” That means that the chemicals included in the plastic could be harmful to your health. “The plates in some of the dining halls say seven,” said a woman from the audience.
The Physical Plant performs waste audits every so often of the waste from different buildings on campus. Lentini showed a video from a waste audit that showed this breakdown of waste: 15 percent was bottles and cans, five percent was organics (UGA currently does not have a process for recycling food waste.), 35 percent was paper, and 45 percent was actual waste that would need to be taken to landfill. The Ecology Club provides most of the volunteers for the program that performs these audits, but “if anyone would like to volunteer, feel free,” said Lentini.
Lentini then went on to get the audience involved in an activity. He used the audience's input to calculate an “ecological footprint” on the Web to show just how many resources the average person uses. To calculate yours, go to http://earthday.net/footprint/index.html. He also showed another video and gave links to various sites to learn more about going green. These sites included: The Story of Stuff, GoGreen UGA, and Athens-Clarke Recycling.
Lentini gave some very interesting information and made it sound easy to recycle. “Recycling is a big, long process,”said Lentini, “It's my job to make sure there's something there to pick up.”