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.