The Green Path Company

Replace the Plastic but “RTB!”

August 7, 2008 – 12:16 pm

It’s encouraging to see more and more people ditch the plastic shopping bags in favor of reusable bags. It’s also encouraging to see more and more retail outlets offering some type of bag for customers to purchase. Unfortunately there still remains a problem with this process. Well more than one problem but until big grocers and retailers stop offering plastic bags as a choice we will have to rely on ourselves to help solve the problem. The problem I am talking about is to remember the bags when we go shopping. Even with the best intentions we all seem to “forget” from time to time. We have our bags in the car all the time and we sometimes forget to take them into the store with us until it’s too late. Frustrating as that is we have come up with a solution that works for us. Remember the old song line “Tie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree”, well we tie an organic cotton ribbon round our old steering wheel as our reminder to Remember the Bags (RTB). Kind of like tying a string around your finger to remind you to do something. It works for us, so far, and in additon to this solution I have a few others that may prove helpful to you.

Try these ideas out and let us know how they work for you and also let us know if you have tried and true methods you use that we can pass along.

1. Write on your shopping list “Remember the Bags” and highlight it so it stands out. This should remind you as you head out for a shopping trip to bring your bags.

2. Put a sign or note on your garage door or whichever door you go out to get into your car to RTB.

3. Put a sticker on your steering wheel as a reminder.

It doesn’t matter what you do as long as you remember, so continue to spread the word about replacing the plastic AND more importantly RTB.

Share and Enjoy:

By admin | Posted in GREEN Tips | Comments Off

Breath a little easier, naturally

August 1, 2008 – 9:00 am

In our effort to make our homes more eco-friendly and energy efficient we have sealed up our homes to prevent cool air from escaping in the summer and warm air seeping out in the winter, and in doing so have trapped indoor pollutants in our living and breathing space.

I don’t mean to be an alarmist, but the materials used to construct our homes, furniture, carpeting, and many other common household products emit harmful vapors into the trapped air in our homes. The most common chemicals are formaldehyde from carpets, plywood, furniture, and insulation; benzene from particle board and paints; trichloroethylene from paints, lacquers, and varnishes; and carbon monoxide. An accumulation of these chemicals in our homes has the potential to cause a variety of health problems including respiratory issues and skin problems.

Before you rush to the mountains or move into a cave, you should know that there is a simple solution to this problem, common house plants. You could also open doors and windows to ventilate your home, but for summers in the Southwest and winters in the Northeast this is not a viable solution. Going green indoors is an effective and inexpensive way to combat this issue.

NASA conducted a study in the early 80s, in an effort to find a way to purify the air in their space stations and found that common houseplants can remove up to 85 percent of the airborne pollutants and help control humidity levels. Over the last 20 years subsequent studies have verified NASA’s results proving that houseplants can purify the air in our homes at a rate of one or two plants per 100-square-feet of home. These studies have also shown that in addition to removing pollutants, they can also remove up to 50 percent of airborne molds and reduce dust particles by as much as 20 percent.

There are many other benefits to bringing some living, breathing green into your life; plants can make rooms feel warm, friendly, and more inviting, they can lower blood pressure and stress levels, and can help improve concentration.

There are a wide variety of houseplants that are especially effective at removing the pollutants in our homes and most are low maintenance and even hard to kill for you non-green thumbs. These plants are effective air purifiers and only require minimal water and sunlight, and an occasional dusting:

Bamboo Palm: formaldehyde, CO2, benzene, trichloroethylene

English Ivy: formaldehyde, CO2, benzene, mold

Peace Lily: formaldehyde, CO2, benzene, trichloroethylene

Spider Plants: formaldehyde, benzene, trichloroethylene

Dracaena: formaldehyde, CO2, benzene

Several other common houseplants varieties are sturdy and work well as natural air filters, it all depends on your preference in plant style: Rubber trees, Golden Pathos, Ficus, Chinese Evergreens, and Snake Plants come in a variety of shapes, colors and sizes. Check your local nursery for the plant that best fit your needs and climate.

You can all breath a little easier now that you know about our little green helpers, the common houseplant. No need to get rid of all your furniture, carpeting, and interior walls of your home, just pick up a few house plants, give them a little TLC and take a deep breath.

Share and Enjoy:

By admin | Posted in GREEN Tips | Comments Off

Whistler, BC

July 17, 2008 – 7:21 pm

I just got back from a week long trip to Whistler, BC and it was an impactful reminder of why I love it there so much. It is nestled in the mountains about 70 miles or 140 km north of Vancouver and is a spectacular setting if you like mountains, waterfalls, lush green forests and a myriad of outdoor activities at your finger tips. You can walk or bike to almost anywhere in the town and most people do, even the tourists. They are very eco-friendly as well with trash bins everywhere seperated for paper, plastic, glass and of course just plain old trash. Their new buildings are green built including the roofs that support native grass and flowers, an interesting site. People love and live in co-existance with nature and make a concerted effort to protect the beauty that surrounds them.

There are hundreds of miles of bike and hiking trails, you can even take a trip up the mountain in a gondola to hike up to glaciers or just find a small mountain lake surrounded by wildflowers, waterfalls and streams. There are several companines that provide a variety of eco-tours that include kayaking, biking, zip lines… you name it, you can find it there! I rented a bike for about $20 Canadian and rode for 2 hours through maintained single track trails that are well marked and well traveled so you are never alone. The scenery is breathtaking and diverse with a variety of pine, aspen and maple trees, ferns, moss covered logs and wild mushrooms growing along the trail. I had to take several breaks along the trail just to make sure I took it all in and didn’t miss anything. There are several lakes in town that serve as swimming holes in the summer and the grassy areas around them are packed during a hot summer day with tourist and locals enjoying the water and scenery.

All in all Whistler is a great place to visit for the beauty and if you are interested in enjoying the outdoors through a variety of activities, it has it everything you could ask for!

Share and Enjoy:

By admin | Posted in outdoor activity | Comments Off

It’s a gas!

June 26, 2008 – 11:31 am

In our June newsletter we included some “green” tips on ways to improve your gas mileage and in this day and age with the price of gas rising daily, it seemed appropriate. Our tips are simple and cost next to nothing and if done on a regular basis can save us $.94 per gallon. Seems like we should all do our best to incorporate these into our “routines”, especially now, and IF the price of gas goes down to more reasonable levels, say below $3.00 (ha ha) we will be the big winners in this. If you are skeptical about the savings I read an article this week in the local paper from a Consumer Watch reporter who tested some similar tips over the course of 2 tanks of gas. He drove his “normal” way to work for one week and his normal way was 5 miles over the speed limit, accelerating quickly when lights changed and not paying attention to the lights as he approached them. Then he followed his own advice for one week and one tank of gas and tried the following:

1. He drove the speed limit 2. Accelerated slowing from a stopped position up to the speed limit. 3. Payed attention to the traffic lights and slowed down sooner when the light ahead changed to red and tried to time it so he did not have to stop as often.

The results were about a 10% increase in his gas mileage from 21.5 mpg to 24 mpg. He estimated that this would save him about $250 per year or about $10 per month. If you combine these savings with the ones outlined in our tips below it can add up in a hurry. Here are our tips:

1. Air it out – keep your air filter clean and improve gas mileage by up to 10%. You can do this by using an air hose to clean it out or replacing it when you can’t see through it. Estimated cost savings: $.28 per gallon

2. Straighten up – if your tires are out of alignment it forces your engine to work harder and will reduce fuel economy by up to 10%. Keep them aligned and save another $.28 per gallon

3. Stay in Tune – regular maintenence, including tune ups can improve gas mileage by up to 4% and save another $.11 per gallon.

4. Keep up the pressure – make sure the air pressure in your tires is up to manufacturer’s standards and improve gas mileage up to 3% and save about $.08 per gallon. I do this monthly and it takes about 10 minutes.

5. Take it easy – a 5 mile reduction in driving speed can improve fuel consumption by up to 7%, especially on the freeway. If you drive 65mph Vs 70mph you can save up to $.19 per gallon.

I know all of these take effort, but come on how hard is it really? Try these tips and the tips on city driving mentioned above and test them for your yourself. I am.

Share and Enjoy:

By admin | Posted in GREEN Tips | Comments Off

Green & Growing

June 17, 2008 – 2:49 am

I was at an Eco show this last weekend and met another small green business, Victory Electronics – electronics recyclers, just one more example of small green businesses popping up everywhere. It’s refreshing to see more and more businesses opening up in response to the increasing awareness of our current environmental situation. In addition there are also many small businesses that are adding GREEN sections to their websites covering a wide variety of topics from raising green children to greening up your office. I believe we need to support each other and have joined forces with the following companies in an effort to spread the word and hopefully help each other grow and survive in these tough economic times. Please do what you can to help support these businesses and if you know of any others please let us know:

1. Mommy Perks: an online Mom’s site that helps moms save money everday on a wide variety of products and services. The have added The Green Scene to their site, an area that gives moms tips and ideas on how to live greener lives. Check them out at: http://www.mommyperks.com/green/

2. Arizona Mama: another online Mom’s site that offers green tips for mom’s each month covering topics ranging from gas saving tips to how to go green with sunscreen products. Check them out at: http://arizonamama.typepad.com/weblog/2008/06/green-up-your-sunscreens-and-bug-repellants.html

3. Eco-Office Gals: an online company dedicated to helping small businesses begin the process of greening up the office. They want to help small businesses begin growing green together one step at a time. Come check out the new small business resource site where you’ll find the information and encouragement to grow your business green: http://eco-officegals.com/default.aspx

4. Vegan Family Living: a site dedicated to providing simple solutions to living a vegan lifestyle. They have book reviews, pod-casts, meal planning tips all centered around a healthier lifestyle. Check them out at: http://www.veganfamilyliving.com/

5. Victory Electronics: an Arizona based company dedicated to helping remove electronic waste from our landfills. They provide several options for old computers and electronics equipment and will help you clean up personal and company information from your computers and help you sell your old equipment rather than just discarding them. You can find out more about them at: http://www.victoryelectronics.com/

These are just 5 examples of how the Green Evolution is expanding to mainstream businesses and each are worthy of our support. We would love to hear from you on businesses in your area that are going green, so please let us know so we can do what we can to support each other.

Share and Enjoy:

By admin | Posted in GREEN Tips | Comments (2)

Smelly old shoe

June 10, 2008 – 11:39 am

If you are like me you probably have several pairs of old athletic shoes, running shoes, cross trainers and just plain old athletic shoes. I usually rotate these shoes from current running shoes, to yard work shoes to the trash and on to the next new pair. That was until I found out about this cool program sponsored by Nike. Nike has a program called NikeGO that helps promote healthier lifestyles for kids by encouraging physical activities. As part of NikeGO they have a program called Reuse-A-Shoe that recycles old athletic shoes and turns them into sports courts covered with a surface called Nike Grind. This program began in 1993 and has built more than 170 sports courts in communities around the world. This benefits us in several ways the least of which is to provide safe surfaces for kids to play on and keeps hundreds of thousands of old shoes out of landfills, overall a win for all of us.

You can learn more about the NikeGO program and Reuse-A-Shoe at the following websites and can also find a drop off location in your area for your old, smelly shoes: www.nikego.com and www.nikereuseashoe.com

You can also send your shoes to Nike at the following address:

Nike Recycle Center c/o Reuse-A-Shoe 26755 SW 95th Ave Wilsonville, OR 97070

Let’s do our part to help out and start sending our old, smelly shoes to Nike, they won’t mind!

Share and Enjoy:

By admin | Posted in outdoor activity | Comments Off

Electronic Recycling

May 29, 2008 – 1:47 pm

Here’s a Jeopardy question for you… What weighs 200 million tons? The answer: the amount of electronic waste that goes into our landfills every year. Computers, monitors, cell phones, DVD players, copy machines, TV sets… you get the picture. Most, if not all of this electronic waste, contains hazardous chemicals like mercury, lead and chromium that end up leaching into our ground water from landfills or being emitted into the air from incinerators causing a GROWING environmental and health crisis. This problem is fueled by the fast pace growth of new technology that renders electronic products obsolete long before their normal lifecycle ends and the fact that most people do not know how to properly dispose of these types of products. In fact, most don’t know that these products can be recycled and reused.

But discarded electronics can be properly disposed of or recycled and it is easier than most people think. Tons of companies have programs that allow you to donate usable electronics to churches and schools, and other companies will recycle usable components, raw materials and materials like plastics, glass and aluminum. Many cities also have e-waste pick up as part of their hazardous waste pick-up programs. You can even take advantage of tax breaks when you donate your unwanted electronics. The 21^st Century Classrooms Act for Private Technology Investment allows large companies to donate used equipment to public and private schools for tax breaks and donations to nonprofits can be written off. You will need to check with each nonprofit organization regarding its particular documentation for your tax returns.

The environmental benefit to donating or recycling used electronics goes far beyond just keeping harmful chemicals out of our landfills; it also helps conserve our precious natural resources. It takes approximately 530 pounds of fossil fuel, 50 pounds of chemicals and 416 gallons of water to produce one desktop computer. Recycling electronic components can help preserve these resources and can also help use far less energy than the production of new components. Mining of aluminum, for example, uses 20 times the amount of energy it takes to recycle the same amount of aluminum from electronic components. Last year alone, electronics recyclers recovered over 100 million pounds of materials like aluminum, steel, glass and plastic which was reused.

Now that we know the benefits of e-cycling let’s, figure out how to find an e-cycler in your area. You can start with the Electronic Industry Alliance . This site has an easy to use map that allows you to search for e-cycling by state and offers you several other helpful links to guide you through the process. You can also check with your city government to see if it offers e-cycling as part of its hazardous waste programs or with Goodwill industries . There are several additional organizations you can check that offer training programs that teach students and individuals how to refurbish used electronics which are then donated to local schools:

Students Recycling Used Technology (StRUT)

Learning and Information Networking for Community via Technology (LINCT)

Reuse Development Organization (ReDO)

Even Sam’s Club has an interesting program that runs in cooperation with N.E.W. Customer Service Companies, Inc. Members of the organization who want to recycle computers, LCD monitors, printers, camcorders, digital cameras and MP3 players, can log onto the program’s website and print a FREE shipping label to have the products mailed to N.E.W. Those members will receive a Sam’s Gift Card for the value of the donated item. All donated items are either refurbished or disassembled and the parts are used to rebuild electronics or recycled into raw material and reused.

The final pieces to this recycle cycle are personal data security and rethinking your purchasing habits. You need to protect all your personal data contained on computer hard drives and cell phones. Please make sure to remove ALL stored phone numbers and call logs from your cell phone and you may even want to remove the SIM card to insure protection. Cleaning up your computer may prove a little more difficult but is equally important. If you are unsure of how to do this you can find FREE hard-drive erasers through your favorite search engine. Type in “free hard-drive eraser cleaners.”

Although there are no laws governing the use of hazardous materials in electronics equipment you can help to encourage manufacturers to move in a “greener” direction by considering the following when buying your next piece of equipment:

Does the manufacturer use recycled materials in their products?
Are the products designed for easy upgrades and disassembly?
Does the manufacturer offer a lease or “take back” program?
Does the manufacturer use minimal toxic materials in their equipment?
Does the manufacturer use minimal or recyclable packaging?

The age of electronics is upon us and with the constant introduction of new technology, system upgrades and fancy new gadgets coming at us daily we need to be more conscious of what we do with our e-waste. Take the time to do the right thing, remember one man’s trash is another man’s treasure and you may be surprised at who would love to have your “old” computer.

Share and Enjoy:

By admin | Posted in GREEN Tips | Comments Off

“Trailer” trash

May 14, 2008 – 4:16 pm

I was out trail running last week and came across a new use for plastic grocery bags. I was out on a trail close to a city park and stumbled on a 1/4 mile stretch of garbage ridden trail, really a disappointment! There were several plastic bags stuck on cacti, in creosote bushes along with empy water bottles, beer and soda cans and a variety of other trashy items. I stopped and took one of the plastic bags and used it to collect as much trash as I could and by the end of my run I had a completely stuffed plastic bag full of trash. So, the next time you go out on a trail run take a plastic bag with you and multi-task. You can get exercise AND do some trail restoration. Use the plastic bag to pick up trash while you run and when people see you maybe they will do the same or at least think about not littering the trails.

PS – to dog owners who scoop up their pets “poop”, put it in a plastic bag designed for that pupose, and then leave it on the trail, STOP IT! It’s better if you just move the mess off the trail and leave it to naturally decompose versus putting in a bag and leaving it there. If you don’t plan to take it with you then at least have a clue and save the bag.

Share and Enjoy:

By admin | Posted in outdoor activity | Comments (3)

Growing Up Green

May 5, 2008 – 7:49 pm

I think that kids can make a difference in the world by cleaning up litter and telling everyone they know to help the environment. Kids can try and get permission to put up posters saying “We can all help the environment by cleaning up litter.” This can promote kids to make a difference in the world and build their character at the same time! If we all can make a difference in the world it will be a better place.

- Chandler, age 9

From Mesa, Arizona

How cool is that? When I was his age I thought litter was a group of newborn puppies! I think it’s great that children of all ages are becoming more aware and are concerned about the environment. I also think it’s our responsibility to help keep them motivated and to help educate them since our generation is partly responsible for the mess we are in. The thing I love about their ideas are that thye are simple BUT make sense, so…

Start simple and lead by example but more importantly explain why! Tell your children why you have changed to CFL light bulbs, why you recycle, why you buy organic pasta, why you bought a Green Path Organic cotton tote bag (ha, ha), why you do whatever you do to live a greener lifestyle. They are smarter than we think and they learn from our actions and they will learn faster when we tell them the reason for what we are doing.

Another thing you can do to help them Grow Up Green is to take them to a Farmers Market once a month. All you have to do is do a Google or Yahoo search for Farmers Markets in you area and I’ll bet you can find one near you. You can probably even find an Organic Farmers Market close by and you are not only helping the local economy but also cutting down on carbon emissions by buying local. Plus it will be fun!

You can also help them start a garden or plant flowers or a tree. It’s a great way to teach them about the benefits of growing their own food or how flowers help bees make honey or how trees help clean the air. We have a two year old granddaughter and she loves being outside at our cabin in the mountains and loves strawberries so we are going to help her plant her own strawberry plants over Memorial Day weekend.

There are so many benefits to getting kids involved the least of which is that we spend time with them and maybe we can learn something from them.

Share and Enjoy:

By admin | Posted in Youth Education | Comments (4)

Lazy waste of water

April 21, 2008 – 3:50 pm

I saw it again yesterday. It’s the third time in the last two weeks that I’ve seen people cleaning off their driveway and sidewalks with a garden hose! There was a guy being interviewed on TV about the housing slump and he was hosing off his driveway, oblivious to what he was doing. Wasting at least 80 gallons of water! A lady was out yesterday morning hosing off her entry way and the final straw as a construction crew hosing off a sidewalk and driveway after they finished landscaping a church parking lot area. It’s not only the waste of water that irritates me but also the fact that they are just plain lazy. We live in a desert where water is our most precious resource and we constantly hear about growing concerns for our water supply due to population growth. Even our water companies preach water conservation, xtera landscaping, low flow shower heads and toilets, fixing leaks, shortening shower times and people are still wasting water by the gallon because they are too lazy to push a broom. OK, I’m done and I feel much better. I will feel even better when I stop next time and say something!

Share and Enjoy:

By admin | Posted in Rant | Comments (2)

Pages

Categories

Archives

Search

Blog Partners

RSS Feeds

Part Of:

Meta

Replace the Plastic but “RTB!”

Breath a little easier, naturally

Whistler, BC

It’s a gas!

Green & Growing

Smelly old shoe

Electronic Recycling

“Trailer” trash

Growing Up Green

Lazy waste of water