Going Green in Comfort

Plastic water bottle. (Photo by Sandra Trajkovska / FreeRangeStock.com ) Until recently, I thought the only things I have to worry about with plastic are its effect on the environment and that it might contain bisphenol A (BPA). So when I was shopping for baby products when I was pregnant with my daughter, I made sure to check that everything I bought for her was BPA-free. I didn't know why BPA was bad, but I knew I should avoid it. So I did. But, just last week a link to a 2014 Mother Jones article called, "The Scary New Evidence on BPA-Free Plastics," came up in my Facebook feed. The article outlines why BPA is bad for your health — it mimics estrogen, which is a vital hormone in the right amounts, but in too big or too small of a dose can negatively effect development of the brain and other organs. Babies (including those in utero) and young children are especially susceptible to the problems of BPA because they're still developing. So, whew! Good t...

I don't have a programmable thermostat in my home, but I know the benefits of turning down the temperature when your home is empty. It can mean more money in your bank account and is kinder to the environment. I can get behind that. The challenge for me is remembering to make that adjustment each day before I head out the door to work. And when I do remember, quite often, my husband and I will walk around the house for days, bellyaching about how cold our house is, worrying that our heater has crapped out and wondering how we could afford to replace it. Then one of us will look at the thermostat and realize we never turned it back up. But I want to have a few more dollars in my pocket each month. I want to do a little more to reduce my carbon footprint. So I've set my phone to alert me each day at the same time that I need to turn the thermostat down. If I forget to turn it back up later, so be it. It's for the best in the long run. We are a particip...

Merelize / FreeRangeStock.com One of my favorite memories of childhood was going to the library with my mom. As soon as we walked in, I could smell the books. It wasn't something we got to do often, which made it even more special. I loved and still love being surrounded by books. In the first five years or so my husband and I were married, the two of us could easily drop $100 at Borders or Barnes and Noble or Books-a-Million in a single afternoon. There was nothing like roaming through the stacks and finding an author or title that you hadn't heard of before but still piques your interest. Online book retailers have never held the same magic for me. There is no equivalent for finding your next read by accident because the color or title or font on a dust jacket just happened to catch your eye. And then there's the joy of being able to flip through to see how many pages you have left in a chapter. Hitting the "Next" button on your e-reader just isn...

(Photo by Eduardo Bogosian / FreeRangeStock.com ) Where I work, we used to have good, quality paper towels in the restrooms to use after washing our hands, but as a cost-saving measure three or four years ago, someone higher up the chain than me decided that thinner towels were the way to go. The problem, though, is that they're so much thinner than instead of using one towel, I now need three to get my hands completely dry. I wash my hands, then wave one hand in front of the dispenser, which has a motion sensor, to get it to roll out a towel. I rip that towel off with one hand and right away wave the other hand to get a second towel to roll out while I dry my hands as well as I can with the first towel. Then I throw away the first towel, rip off the second and wave my hand again for towel No. 3. With that towel, I finish drying my hands then use it as a buffer between my hands and whatever germs might be lingering on the door handles as I exit. When management fir...

When I was a kid, each year for Halloween I wore whatever costume my older sister had chosen the year before. I have no idea what my mom did with them once I outgrew them, though I figure they probably wound up rotting in a landfill somewhere. But back then, costumes weren't made like they are today. The body of the costume was very flimsy material that frayed easily. Most had only a drawing of an outfit on the front and nothing on the back. So, for instance, the year I went trick-or-treating as Lucy from "Peanuts," my costume had a print of Lucy's blue dress on the front. The masks that accompanied the costume was made of plastic and had little eye holes, nostril holes and one mouth hole just big enough for kids to entertain themselves by sticking their tongue through it. An elastic cord stapled on each side of the mask helped secure it to the child's face. Even if I had a younger sister close enough to my age to pass the costume on down again, they weren...

(Photo by Ian L / FreeRangeStock.com ) Back in March, I wrote about a blog post I had come across titled " 8 bits of plastic you can quit right now ," and one of the "8 bits" was the drinking straw. Based on my Facebook feed over the past couple of weeks, I think going strawless might be catching on, as at least three of my friends have recently shared a link to another article talking about giving up straws. But for me at least, I've found going strawless isn't as easy as I thought it'd be. I didn't realize how attached I was to those silly bits of plastic. For instance, have you ever been drinking a glass of water and crushed ice without a straw and when you tipped cup up to take a drink, a whole mass of ice and liquid slammed against your upper lip and nose and spilled onto your shirt? That doesn't happen when you have a straw. Straw also mean you can take a coffee or tea or soda or whatever your favorite drink with you when...

Leafy spinach (Photo by Chance Agrella / FreeRangeStock.com ) A couple of days ago, my six-year-old asked if we could make our own garden in our backyard. "What would we grow?" I asked. She said she wants flowers she can pick anytime and to plant food "so we can save money." Though she doesn't have her eye on living as green as possible, I'm proud of her for considering the benefits of having our own garden. Starting my own home garden has been a goal each year for the last decade or so, and each year, I never get around to it. I get caught up trying to decide what to grow that won't go to waste (both my husband and daughter are picky eaters when it comes to vegetables), and how much of our yard should I use? Where would it get the best light? Where would wild critters be less likely to visit? This past spring was no different, so yet again, no garden. With a little encouragement from my daughter, though, I hope to break that c...

This is not my kitchen, but hey, it's clean. (Photo by Adamophoto / FreeRangeStock.com ) Going greener in my home cleaning routine hasn't been easy. During my most recent trip to the grocery store, I gave the pre-made cleaning wipes a longing look. They used to be my quick-clean tool of choice, but I've managed to stay away from them for several months now. I liked that I could just pull one, or two, or three, or four out to clean the bathroom or kitchen, and I didn't have to pour on any cleaner because its already soaked into each wipe. I didn't have to rinse it out later. I could just toss it into the trash can. Job done. These days, I'm cleaning house the way my mom taught me to do it, spraying on a little cleaner, scrubbing away the dirt and grime, rinsing out the sponge or rag, then hanging it up for future use. For now, I still have store-bought cleaners I use, but once they all run out, I will switch to vinegar and baking soda, each...

(Photo by Chance Agrella / FreeRangeStock.com ) How much food do you throw out between shopping trips? At our home, it's a half a bag of carrots or grapes or some other food we didn't quite make it through before it exceeded its shelf life. It used to be a lot more, as I stocked up on produce that I had every intention of eating, but repeatedly wound up bypassing in favor of some pre-packaged, not good for me stuff. But as I try to do better for our planet and for my own health, I've actually sat down and at those foods, and the amount I'm tossing out for the city garbage crew has declined dramatically. Small steps. But I'd like to get it down to zero, and one way to do that would mean making more than one trip to the grocery store between paychecks and learning to store the produce properly so that it will last longer.  That's a big one — taking the time to store food properly. I found a list of tips on the EPA website that I fou...

(Photo by Sarah Sturtevant / FreeRangeStock.com ) If you're like me, you average at least one piece of junk mail in a day. That means that in a year's time, at least 365 pieces of unwanted paper find their way into my home, your home, your neighbor's residence, and so on. While scrolling through my Google+ feed recently, I saw a basket someone had made using old magazines. The basket was gorgeous and full of colors from the hues of the pages of the magazines. I don't buy a whole lot of magazines, just a few here and there if something catches my eye as I stand in the checkout line. But seeing the basket got me thinking: Surely there are things I can do with the pile of junk mail I accumulate each week besides just tossing it all into the trash. Overall, I'd rather the mail just not come, but since I don't know of a way to stop it, perhaps I can put it to good use. So I spent a little time on Pinterest, searching for good ideas for giving n...

Do you ever feel proud of yourself for something, but feel guilty for patting yourself on the back because you know you should've been doing it all along? That's how my last month has been. Every two weeks when I go grocery shopping, I toss fresh vegetables into the cart with the intention of washing them, cutting them up, and then packing them for my lunch at work. More often than not, however, in the rush to get out the door on time, I forget my lunch or for a variety of reasons, I decide I want something else. I wind up either stopping by a store for convenience foods — frozen dinners and canned soups — or buzzing through a drive-through. But over the past few weeks. I spent more days dining on carrots, celery, tomatoes and almonds than I did Lean Cuisine or Burger King. I still have a ways to go before I can declare my old habit officially deceased, but I'm getting there. Its hard to measure what effect this small change will have on the planet, but it...

(Image by Stuart Miles / FreeRangeStock.com ) Recently, my daughter asked me where paper comes from. The question seemed out of the blue, so I figured she probably already knew the answer, probably something she learned while watching YouTube. "Trees," I said. "I don't know how they do it, but they make paper from trees." After a short pause, she told me that she didn't want to color anymore because coloring on paper would mean that trees would be cut down. But then she qualified it. "Well, I don't want to do a lot of coloring." Her concern for the trees made me smile. I don't think her motivation had anything to do with living greener, but rather was nothing more than a brief feeling of guilt about what happens to a tree in part because she enjoys drawing and coloring. But I like that she thought about it and felt the need to take action.* As I make changes for a greener lifestyle, I've toyed with the ide...

Six boxes of crayons, twelve glue sticks, two bottles of Elmer's school glue ... the school supply list for my daughter's first-grade class goes on and on. Before I became a parent, I had no idea how much stuff kids had to have each school year. Or how quickly it can all add up. With the school year looming, I bought her entire list without giving much thought to whether the supplies were eco-friendly. That occurred to me later, as the bags of supplies took over my dining room table awaiting the start of school. It's too late to go green for this school year, but I figured there is probably some website that sells greener versions of most items, so I went online and found Green Backpack , which states that everything on the site is made of recycled or sustainable materials. That's the good news: eco-friendly school supplies are out there! Yay! The bad news is how much more pricey they are. I expected them to cost more than regular supplies, but I had no ...

Baby clothes drying on the line. Back in May, I wrote about how my husband, who does the laundry in our house, has been using a clothesline for several years. When I had told him what my post was about that week, he confessed that he hadn't been hanging out as many clothes as he used to. Last year, he was hanging out everything except our unmentionables. This summer, only one load a week got hung out to dry, which made the umbrella-style pop-up clothesline in the background of the photo above unnecessary. He and I both vowed to do better, with me promising to help hang out clothes if he wants. So far, he hasn't asked for me to help, but because he's a man of his word, he took the pop-up clothesline out of the garage recently, stuck it in the ground and went back to hanging out everything but our underwear. Side note: Did you know that if you don't use a pop-up clothesline for a year or so, the ground builds up around the cement hole you made for it? It to...

( Geoffrey Whiteway / FreeRangeStock.com ) One day last week, I took a can of soup to work for my lunch. Once I emptied the can into a bowl, I threw the can into the trash then put the bowl of soup into the microwave. As the microwave roared and rotated, I stood in front of it mentally arguing with myself. Should I do the easy thing and leave the can in the trash, or should I get it out, rinse it off, take it home and put it with the others I have saved for recycling? I'd like to say I made the more eco-friendly choice, but I didn't. I kept thinking about how ineffective rinsing a can can be at removing the remnants of soup, and I couldn't help but think that the can would get soup all over the stuff in my "brief case," aka a cloth bag I tote around to carry extra stuff for work. And if I just carry it separately, everyone at work will think I'm some crazy person carrying around an empty soup can. So I left it in the trash. It was just one can, I rati...

(Jack Moreh/FreeRangeStock.com) Years ago, my husband and I belonged to a gym. It was a great gym. It had a pool and an indoor walking track, my favorite features. I've always loved swimming, and I like the idea of being able to walk without getting outside in the miserable heat this time of year is known for. But the best part was that it was on our way to and from work. We didn't have to go far out of our way to go there. I miss that gym, but it cost more than we can afford, especially now that we're parents. I've thought about moving to a cheaper gym, but I don't. The cheaper ones take longer to drive to, and in the few months I've been actively trying to minimize my carbon footprint, I've become more reluctant to drive more than necessary, especially to have to commit to doing it several days a week. I could walk outside at the gym or in my neighborhood, but it's darn hot out there, especially this time of year. So these days,...

My goal: To make as little trash as possible. Could you live a trash-free life? This past weekend, my husband, daughter, and I went on a day trip. Along the way, we listened to "Ask Me Another" on NPR , which featured a guest, Lauren Singer, who writes blog about her trash-free lifestyle called Trash is for Tossers . All of the trash Singer has generated over the four years she's been living a zero-waste lifestyle, she says on the blog, fits in a 16-ounce Mason jar. Everything else she buys is either biodegradable, recyclable, packaging-free, etc. I haven't done a whole lot of exploring on the blog yet, but I see it suggests alternatives for disposable products — bamboo instead of plastic toothbrushes, metal instead of plastic ice-cube trays, organic dryer balls instead of fabric softener, and so on. She also provides links or suggestions for where the products can be purchased. I'm all for giving this a try. My biggest hurdle, as I've mentioned...

Working in the cloud ( Jack Moreh / FreeRangeStock.com ) My boss wants us to work as much in the cloud as possible. The more we do virtually, as her thinking goes, the less we spend on paper products. So we don't have wall or desk calendars, and just about all inner-office document sharing is done in Google Docs. I agree with the premise. The more work we can do without wasting paper, the more trees we save, right? Call me old school, but for me, breaking the paper habit is easier said than done. I like being able to glance at my desk calendar as I settle in with  to see what I have scheduled for the day. I like having sticky notes handy for jotting down notes during a phone call. And last but not least, I can edit better on a sheet of paper than I can on a screen. But in the interest of living greener, I've decided to adapt. I've started keeping track of my personal appointments through the calendar function on my phone, and I've started keeping track of...

( Adamophoto / FreeRangeStock.com ) I wish my home community allowed for more walking. It would, of course, cut down on the amount of gas I use driving, but it would also be great for improving my fitness level. About eight years ago, my husband and I visited his sister in Rochester, N.Y. She used a mix of public transportation and her own two feet to get back and forth to work. She lived within walking distance of a convenience store, a restaurant, an arts festival, a farmers market, a bead shop, etc. Except for the occasional trip to Wegman's Grocery, she didn't need a vehicle. I remember feeling a little envious, wishing there was more to do within walking distance of my own front door. My job is eight miles away, the nearest store is a little over a mile, the only available public transportation is a taxi cab. As much as I love my home community, I do wish it was a little more walk-friendly.

Can we make the world cool back down? ( Geoffrey Whiteway / FreeRangeStock.com ) On Monday evening, my husband headed out for an exercise walk just as the sun was going down. When he came back home some 45 minutes later, I asked how his walk went. It was fine, he said, except for the damn heat and humidity. I started to tell him that it will get better once the majority of the planet gets on board with greener living, but then I wondered, is that true? If everyone on earth quit burning fossil fuels, began planting more trees than were cut down every year, and halted every other environmentally unfriendly practice, would Earth's temperature begin to cool back down, or would they just stop rising? A web search gave me some insight, but not a lot. According to an undated post on the MIT School of Engineering website, through which visitors are invited to "Ask an Engineer" states that studies have focused more on mitigating the problem than on reversing it. (Re...

Eating less meat can benefit the environment, according to U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization article. ( Chance Agrella / FreeRangeStock.com ) Ah, veggies. I love them. They're so tasty, crisp, nutritious and so colorful and pretty. Not to mention that eating them regularly would set an excellent example for my five-year-old. So why do I have such a hard time making them a part of my regular diet? For me, it's simple math. My desire to be a healthy role model was not greater than the scent of a grilled cheeseburger. It probably should be, but it wasn't. But an article I read recently may have finally made the first part of that equation bigger than the last: Eating less meat can help our environment. According to a 2006 article on the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization website, raising livestock creates "more greenhouse gas emissions ... than transport." First there's the methane emissions from the animals themselves. Then there's the cl...

For Mother's Day, I took my grandma out to eat at the restaurant of her choice. We talked about what family members we had seen lately, what new body aches we've each begun suffering from and her roommate's TV viewing habits, which drive my grandma nuts. "She has that TV on from the time she gets up until the time she goes to bed," Grandma said. "Sometimes, I just go sit on the porch so I can get some quiet." "Yeah," I said, "I can see how that can get on your nerves." And it's true. I really can see that. However, I am just as guilty of having the TV on more than I should. The only difference is that Grandma's roommate is actually watching it when she turns it on. I often have it on "for noise." No more TV "just for noise." ( Adamophoto / FreeRangeStock.com ) My grandma grew up without TV, and didn't have one in her home until after she and my grandpa married. In those early years, sta...

Our clothesline, circa fall 2011. For the fourteen years that we've been married, my husband has done the laundry, from sorting to folding and putting the clothes away. I don't mind other indoor chores — dishes, cleaning the bathroom, vacuuming, dusting, etc. — but I've never liked laundry. I'm thankful he has always been willing to do it. That's why I felt a little guilty suggesting we get a clothesline years ago. It's more work, for him . At the time, I wasn't thinking about reducing our carbon footprint. I'm not even sure I was aware of climate change at the time. My goal was simply to reduce our electricity bill, especially during the hot months when the air-conditioner is in constant use. But my husband was up for the challenge. We bought a pop-up clothesline, which can be seen in the background in the photo above, that he can haul out to the yard when needed and put away when the laundry is done. I don't know how long ago...

Going greener when grocery shopping. (Photo by Geoffrey Whiteway / FreeRangeStock.com ) I recently came across an article on OneGreenPlanet.org that outlines seven ways that we can be "greener" when shopping for groceries . Among the recommendations: Reusable shopping bags. This is something I've done for years ... but only when I shop at Aldi, which operates under the assumption that customers will bring their own bags. They have plastic bags (and paper, if you prefer) in stock, but they cost extra. That means my grocery bill goes up if I buy them. It's not much, but it feels like money I didn't need to spend. The story is different at other grocers near my home. They assume I want their bags. They never ask if I've brought my own; they just scan the item and drop it into a sack and move onto the next item on the conveyor belt. It's so convenient. And apparently practically every other shopper in the store feels the same way, because I rarel...

What do you do with plastic Easter eggs once Easter is over? Easter is over, but the 30 or so plastic eggs my daughter collected this year are still littering my kitchen table. Some are empty, others still contain prizes that my daughter didn't want. I don't like the clutter, but I've held on to them because I feel a little guilty when I think about tossing them all in the trash. I did a Google search to see if someone had come up with a practical use for them once Easter has passed, and I didn't have much luck. There were ideas, plenty of them, such as long filling them with necklaces to keep the chains from getting tangled . Or using them in crafts like adorable animals . Or using them to make learning games for your children . All excellent ideas, though none fit my lifestyle. I don't have many necklaces, and while the crafts and games are adorable, I'd rather just get the clutter out of my house. I was kind of hoping I could find an upcycle that w...

( FreeRangeStock.com ) When gas prices topped $1.75 a gallon for the first time ever, I lived about 30 miles from work and had to fill up every couple of days. Buying fuel at that price was painful, and apparently, I wasn't the only one who thought so, as articles outlining ways to save gas were commonplace. I tried several of the tips the articles offered, from making sure my tires were properly inflated to not speeding to letting my car coast whenever I was driving downhill. Of course, I had no idea just how high gas prices would get in a short amount of time. And that was either before I'd heard of climate change or before I was worried about it. I don't know which is true. Nowadays, $1.75 a gallon sounds wonderful, but even if prices were to dip that low again, I would not return to the late 1990s version of myself. That girl often went for long drives when she was feeling stressed, and she was stressed out a lot. She also rarely drove the speed limit, never ...

I cannot shake the hands of everyone who participated in the March for Science on Saturday, April 22, (Earth Day) but I am very heartened by the number who showed up. While the purpose of the march wasn't solely about climate change, it is the science issue that worries me most — and it seems to be the one most under attack. (Image by Stuart Miles/ FreeRangeStock.com) I've accepted that climate change was real from the moment I first heard of it, except for a brief moment at work one day when a co-worker who noticed a story about climate change in the newspaper commented about how stupid people were to concern themselves with it. "It's cyclical!" he added. "Huh," I thought, "how can climate change proponents be so certain it isn't just cyclical?" Though a decade or two had passed since I'd sat in an earth science class, I did recall learning something about natural temperature shifts. It seemed plausible. So I googled it. ...

Cutting back on plastic can mean back on conveniences. (Photo by Ian L / FreeRangeStock.com ) As I type this post, I see a plethora of plastic. It's a component of my phone case, the computer I'm typing on, the mouse at my right, the ink pen I used to write the check for my utility payment, a pencil sharpener, printer, Scotch tape holder, eyeglasses, a toy my daughter left on my desk, the insurance card I haven't filed away yet, even the chair I'm sitting on. And that's just what's in my field of view. The first time I went grocery shopping after writing the post last month on  forgoing plastic soda bottles , I found myself hyper aware of how many products I buy that rely on plastic in some form, including, but far from limited to, bread, cereal, milk, vegetables, frozen pizza, shredded and sliced cheese. I felt guilty buying them, like maybe the best thing for me to do was to quit plastic cold turkey, but then what would we have in our cupboards? ...

Computer keyboard (Photo by Chance Agrella / FreeRangeStock.com ) In January, I decided to get rid of some old computers and accessories the company my husband and I worked for had given to us and other employees following a major technology upgrade. I took our stuff and a computer my parents had been wanting to trash to a local e-recycling center and walked away with about $4 cash for all of it. I'd hoped for more than that, considering I'd given them three working (but terribly out-of-date) computers, but I was happy to get the $4 because it was a lot better deal than my husband and I got the first time we hauled away our e-waste. Back then, which was about 10 years ago, I had recently become aware of the dangers (leaking toxins) that come with leaving your e-waste at the curb along with the rest of your garbage, so I searched online to find a place within my hometown to take it. I came up with nothing. Not one business. Just as it was begi...

Keeping plastic out of landfills. (Photo by Geoffrey Whiteway, FreeRangeStock.com ) Recycling has been slow to settle in where I live. We have aluminum can recycling centers, but my neighbors and I would be hard pressed to find a recycler who would take our plastics and paper. That means that people like me, who prefer to drink soft drinks out of a bottle, wind up throwing a lot of non-biodegradable plastic bottles into the trash, and that's not good. According to a 2013 Huffington Post article , those bottles I've been putting into my local landfill have been absorbing "toxins that pollute our waterways, contaminate our soil, and sicken animals." And let's not forget the oil that goes into producing it. The same article urges consumers to envision a plastic bottle filled one-quarter with oil, which is about how much oil goes into producing each one. And the number of bottles I've been throwing away is not small. I am not a casual soda drinker. ...

Kitchen sink. (Photo: FreeRangeStock.com ) My grandma cooks a big family feast every year on New Year's Day. Usually, my mom helps her with the bulk of the cooking, and I contribute by bringing a raisin pie. But this year my mom was baby-sitting one of my sick nieces, so I helped Grandma instead. For the first time, I contrasted the way she does things with the way I do, and when I left that day, I had insight into a few ways in which I could be less wasteful. Here's what I learned: I fill up the sink unnecessarily . When I'm washing dishes, I fill up both my wash and rinse sinks within about three inches of overflowing. My grandma, on the other hand, fills the sinks only about one-fourth full, if even that much. I've seen Grandma do that thousands of times, but for some reason, this was the first time I had given it much thought. At first, I thought maybe it was deliberate because she's on a fixed income, but then I realized she has probably done dishes l...