Green Options

Yet again, a LinkedIn question (asking for top 10 greening tips) got me thinking.  Is there really a thing such as a generic list of top 10 tips for greening? I don’t think so.

As a start, the foundation of a green program lies in what a business is already doing. Do you recycle? Do you use CFLs? Do you have a programmable thermostats? Do you leave their PCs on all night? How much water do you use? What are your transportation needs? Depending on the answers to these and other questions, you will be able to identify the areas where the top green opportunities lie.  Even if you business practices are not very green now, you will probably find that you’ve adopted a green business practices already, and that you can implement others with no cost or change in business performance.  As an example, for most small businesses, changing to high efficiency lights or using recycled copy paper will have no direct impact on your core business operations.

So how do you know what the top 10 things you can be doing to green yourself are? One way to determine which greening practices will yield the most bang for the buck (a.k.a. be a top 10 tip) is to focus on the largest expense areas. There is often a correlation between expenses and volume of use. If you cut back on what you spend, you will likely reduce what you use.

So, whether reducing paper use or switching to high efficiency lights is a top 10 tip depends, well, on how much paper and electricity you’re using.  A business may want to target all expense areas over a certain threshold amount. You can measure this in dollars or as a percentage of overall expenses, such as any expense on which you spend over $500 a month, or that represent 10% or more of total expenses. A list of business expenses can guide the planning process. Start with the areas of the business that will have the greatest financial impact. You may not be able to change things as dramatically as you’d like, especially at first. Look for actions that are achievable and cost effective to implement. If staff leave lights on in unoccupied rooms (bathrooms, storage sheds), you may want to make turning off the lights in unused areas a priority. That step may be as simple as posting signs on light switches. If, on the other hand the lights are generating significant added costs, they may want to install motion sensors or bi-level light switches.

I thought this was a neat idea and if the manufacturer’s claims are true, it could be the first step towards individual energy independance for a lot of people. Honeywell, the same people who made my safe, teamed up with Earthtronics to produce a home wind turbine that lacks many of the drawbacks of larger wind turbines. Namely, all it takes is a gentle breeze to turn the blades, providing up to 2,000 kWh of energy annually.

It is a compact and neat idea. My only question is, does it actually work?

Most people who are interested in going green know that it’s better to eat local foods and grow your own fruits and vegetables. You probably already have reusable bags and you may even have a compost pile. There are other ways to go green, though. Check out these seven little-known ways to go organic in the kitchen:

1. Use smaller pots and pans.

Whenever you heat up water in a pot or fry food in a pan, it uses power to distribute the heat. If you use a smaller container, you won’t have use as much heat to cook your food. As an added bonus, smaller pots and pans also take less water to wash when dinner is over.

2. Choose organic drinks.

You may have already cut bottled water out of life, but what about beverages for special occasions? There are actually a number of wineries and beer manufacturers that make organic alcoholic drinks. They’re better for the environment, and you’ll be supporting a smaller business. If you can find a local bottler, even better.

It can be challenging going paperless at home or work, right?

One Jackson Hole, Wyoming business, WordenGroup Strategic Public Relations, has announced a “Go Paperless” initiative for Arbor Day, April 24, 2009.

The company wants to reduce office paper flow and save trees in honor of the national tree planting holiday.

Clip coupons.  Shop sales.  Stock up.  While everyone seeks ways to save on food costs in today’s economy, most of the “tips” offered are sounding like a stale rerun, repeating the same conventional basics over and over.

Maybe what we really need is a time of crisis is to rewrite some of the old rulebook.  Maybe we need a dose of frugality innovation.
With that in mind, here are some fresh perspectives on saving a dime while saving the planet.  For those in the Madison, Wisconsin area, come join me for my workshop on this topic of cutting costs while eating well at the upcoming Isthmus Green Day on April 25 at the Monona Terrace.

1.  Use it Up
Every year around early spring, my family and I go on our annual “food buying detox diet” where we literally go cold turkey as best we can on buying food.  This isn’t as depriving as it sounds as we focus on eating through the pantry, using up all those items we already invested in that are often lingering near expiration dates.

Studies have shown that many illnesses (including several types of cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and heart disease) are largely influenced by chronic inflammation in the body.

Prolonged inflammation causes the immune system to become off balance, and can result in damage to healthy tissue.

Poor diet is a main contributor to chronic inflammation, but several lifestyle factors such as lack of exercise, and excessive stress can promote inflammation as well.

Many health and nutrition experts are now starting to emphasize the importance of following an anti-inflammatory diet.

Here are a few tips to get you started on your way to less inflammation and better health:

Editor’s Note: This is a contribution from one our content partners, Divine Caroline.

By Ransom Riggs of Mental Floss for DivineCaroline.com

Birds do it, bees do it (we think), even educated monkeys do it. So let’s do it, people. Let’s fall asleep. We’ve talked about the whys of taking naps before—they improve mood, creativity, memory function, heart health, and so much else—but never, to my knowledge, have we discussed how to take a nap. In fact, whenever we write about naps, we always get a few comments from people claiming they’re unable to nap during the day; they just can’t fall asleep, or when they do nap, they wake up groggy and unable to work. In that case, read on, my sleepy friends.

1. The first thing you should know is, feeling sleepy in the afternoon is normal.

It doesn’t mean you had a big lunch, or that you’re depressed, or you’re not getting enough exercise. That’s just how animals’ cycles work—every 24 hours, we have two periods of intense sleepiness. One is typically in the wee hours of the night, from about 2 a.m. to 4 a.m., and the other is around 10 hours later, between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. If you’re a night owl and wake up later in the morning, that afternoon sleepiness may come later; if you’re an early bird, it may come earlier. But it happens to everyone; we’re physiologically hardwired to nap.

Why do athletes train in conditions that are harder than game conditions? Because it makes them better at what they do. Likewise, environmentalists could learn a thing or two from successful activists in countries where the going is harder. In this sense, China makes a great environmentalist training ground. Here, you’ll find both daunting challenges and inspirational environmental activists.

Protip #5: How to create win-win situations and gain popular support

Pan Wenshi was recently featured by the International Herald Tribune for his success working with locals in a small Chinese village to protect the white-headed langur. But it wasn’t until Pan lent a hand to help locals that he began to realize success. After Pan helped a villager to get clean drinking water, the villager freed a langur from a trap and brought the animal to Pan, who learned from the experience. Now, Pan advocates for new schools and health clinics in the area where the langurs live. In return, he gets local support. “When you help the villagers, they would like to help you back,” says Pan. “Now, when outsiders try to trap langurs the locals stop them from coming in.”

Pan’s success grew when he won an environmental award that allowed him to install biogas collectors. The villagers could now cook without the toil of chopping firewood and the langurs benefited by slowed deforestation. Serving the needs of others has allowed the langur population in Pan’s nature reserve to expand from 96 to over 500. “This [serving the human community] is the most important thing we can do,” says Pan. “If the villagers can’t feed themselves, the langurs don’t stand a chance.”

Many parents and caregivers are uninformed that routine practices like providing healthy snacks and sharing utensils may increase their child’s risk of developing cavities, according to a new survey.

The survey was conducted by Harris Interactive for the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD), a leader in children’s oral health.

It found U.S. parents and caregivers are uninformed about cavity-causing bacteria and teeth-friendly snacks.   One result showed 96% of U.S. adults with children under 12 years old in their household thought a cracker was better for children’s teeth than a piece of caramel.  Starches, however, can also cause cavities like sugars, and caramels dissolve more quickly from the mouth than crackers.

Stress… it’s something we deal with on a daily basis.  Some of us take it all in stride, others let it build up to the breaking point.

When we experience stress too often, our autonomic nervous system rarely has a chance to activate the relaxation response.  This can eventually lead to physical or emotional illnesses such as high blood pressure, irritable bowel syndrome, insomnia, and depression to name just a few.

Making simple diet changes can help reduce stress, here are a few tips to get you started:

(Remember to always use organically grown foods when possible, it’s healthier for you and for the planet.)

With the holidays — or is it the holidaze!?! — all around us, plenty of parents are looking for excuses to get their kids out of the house. Why not take a family hike? While many associate hiking with summer or early fall, the winter can be a terrific time to hit the trails. Cooler months often mean far fewer crowds and present different viewing opportunities for young eyes. So with that in mind, here are seven tips for a more enjoyable hike (these work, of course, regardless of season). I won’t add it to the list, but clearly, if your climate calls for it, dress in layers — ideally non-cotton layers — appropriate for where you live. Now, the list: