My final carbon footprint reduction entry

At the beginning of the school quarter, I recorded my current ecological footprint and how many planets we would go through if the whole population lived like I did. During this quarter, I created four way to help reduce my footprint. My four goals were:

1. Start a recycling program

2. Lower my energy bills

3. Eat less packaged food/ less meats

4. Reduce the amount of paper plate I use

Now let me review how I did. I am most proud of my first goal. I started a mini recycling program in my house. Before this quarter, nobody in our house recycled. I now have two large empty boxes set up, and I have also convinced everybody in my house to use these boxes for their recycling. It has been very successful and I will continue to 'force' everybody in my house to recycle. For my second goal, lower my energy usage, I did not really see that much of a difference. Every month has been about the same as it was last year. I did my part of unplugging all electrical devices that I did not use on a daily basis. I just feel that since I have three other roommates, and that half of our house is heated by electricity, its hard to see if I made any difference. I will continue to unplug devices that I am not using in hopes that I am personally using less energy. For my third goal, I feel okay about it. I could have definitely done a better job, but I did try and eat more local foods when I could. It is also hard for me to cut out so much meat on my diet, and I have a hard time believing that I will stick with this diet going forward. I just LOVE steaks! Finally, I did a pretty good job at reaching my last goal. I did use a lot less paper plates, and did a lot more cleaning of the dishes this year. It was not too bad, and I will have a pretty easy time keeping up with this trend in the future. 

I would now like to compare my two footprint calculated results.

My First Calculation

My Second Calculation 

 

So comparing both of these tables, it is clear that I did reduce my footprint a great deal. I would like to mention I think my first test was a little miss leading because I did the meat consumption wrong the first time and said I ate way meat products than I actually did. So the difference is not as much as the chart makes it seem, but I did have significant changes in other categories. This is a very small sample size, but I will continue to do all that I can to help reduce my footprint. 

Toooo much excess paper??

So I was surfing the internet reading up on some news, when I came to the title, "Nine Tips of Cutting Down Paper Clutter at Home." I then looked at my desk and realized that I could use some help. A lot of Americans have the problem of using too much paper products, and there is no need for a lot of these paper products. Here are nine easy ways to help reduce paper clutter. I will just list them off, but if you are more interested, I will leave the link below so you can read into this further.


1. Sort papers by verb, file by noun
2. Enlist help in getting off mailing lists
3. Open your mail over the recyling bin
4. Pay your bills online
5. Scan paperwork and toss the originals
6. Spend 10 minutes a day organizing your papers
7. Create 'daily' and 'long-term' filing systems
8. Purge your old papers
9. Integrate a filing system with your home decor.

There you have it. Nine very easy steps to help reduce paper waste. Best of luck!

http://green.yahoo.com/blog/guest_bloggers/83/nine-tips-for-cutting-down-paper-clutter-at-home.html

GM invests $40 million for green energy

GM, yes the company that used to produce the Hummer, is heavily investing money in green energy. At a recent green car show, GM announced that they will be investing $40 million dollars into the environment. GM announced this news as they showed off their newest addition, the Chevy Volt. The $40 million will be spent in part over a two year span, and is estimated to save eight million tons of carbon dioxide. All $40 million will be spent on US projects, anywhere from "encompassing local initiatives, renewable energy programs, and broad-based conservation efforts."

Even though GM is well known for producing very large, gas guzzling cars, it is hard to accuse them of green-washing charges. GM is more interested in spreading the money out and doing the right thing, instead of spending it all at once as a positive image in hopes to increase sales.  "GM says that the eight million tons of carbon reduction could offset the 1.9 million cars and trucks Chevrolet might sell in 2011."

All in all, we can see that GM is trying to move in the right direction and are heavily investing in their new decision. Many people will still blame GM for producing large cars and trucks, but like the old saying, don't hate the player, hate the game. When the demand for something is high, sales will be as well. It is just nice to see that GM is trying to offset their bad habits with good deeds. The article also says that GM has reduced their carbon emissions by "60% between 1990 and 2010, and has also gone zero waste at 75 plants, which are more than half of its total inventory." GM is fighting at all cylinders to being green,  as so far, they are doing a pretty good job.

9 Vegetarian Thanksgiving Recipes

Since Thanksgiving is this week, I thought it would be appropriate to a post on several vegetarian ideas. Now I will be the first to admit that I am craving a smoked turkey (home cooked meals are so much more amazing after living on your own for awhile), but I will also open my imagination and try new, sustainable menu items. Actually, my step sister is a vegetarian, so there will be several items catered towards that life style. Like I mentioned before, I will not try and push anybody away from any traditional food items, but I just ask that they at least consider some vegetarian food items, as well as all produce from a local farmers market. Here is a link to 9 vegetarian recipes that include:

• Pumpkin soup
• Butternut squash-chestnut soup
• sweet potato fries
• Rice Pudding
• And many more.

Enjoy the healthy, local food, and have a great Thanksgiving.

http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/vegetarian-thanksgiving-44090308?click=getstarted

FindAComposter.com

One of the largest struggles in today's world, according to many major grocery chains, is keeping compostable waste out of the landfills. With the problem, a new website called FindAComposter.com was created. It is a quick and easy site that can show you on a map the closest compost recycling centers within a 50 mile radius. This website can also be linked up with social media networks (facebook, twitter, etc.) to help spread the word on how this new website works. In the days of global warming and an increase of unwanted methane in our environment, switching to compost recycling is the new way to go.
http://green.yahoo.com/blog/care2/146/online-tool-makes-composting-easier.html

Update on reducing my footprint

So its been a few weeks since I have written anything on my blog, so I though an update on how I was doing was in order. Things are still going pretty well. I have really done a good job on getting my whole house to start recycle. It is nice, because everybody is starting to help out with it, but probably because they are tired of me bitching about recycling everything. I have also gone around my room and unplugged all electrical devices that I do not use on a regular basis. I was surprised on all the lamps that I own. My third goal was to use less paper plates, and while I have done a better job, I still find myself using them from time to time, so I can definitely make improvements. Finally, my last goal was to eat less pre-packaged foods and meats. I have actually been cutting down on the meats I eat, but still have not made a trip to the co-op. I also still do eat out a lot more than I should.

So in conclusion, I have really been trying to get better at my goals, but I still have areas where I can do more to reduce my footprint.

The story of Electronics

Its from the same person who created the story Stuff. I tried to upload the video directly onto the blog, yet was having trouble, so here is the link.

http://green.yahoo.com/blog/care2/134/are-most-electronics-designed-for-the-dump.html