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.