http://www.greenlivingtips.com en-us http://www.greenlivingtips.com N/A michael@greenlivingtips.com Sat, 19 Jul 2008 07:32:46 MDT 20 http://www.greenlivingtips.com/blogs/273/Energy-efficient-hair-dryer.html Energy efficient hair dryer Long gone are the days when I used to tip, streak and blow dry my hair (hey, it was the 80's), but a hair dryer is still a critical piece of equipment in our household for my partner and daughters. Unfortunately hair dryers can be real energy suckers and something I didn't consider is EMF radiation which is a bit of a concern considering how close you have these thin... Green Living Tips Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.greenlivingtips.com/blogs/272/Recyclables-theft-increases.html In another indication that we're hitting tough economic times, and facing not only peak oil, but "peak everything" - the age of scarcity as it's being called, the Salt Lake Tribune has reported on an increase in the theft of recyclables. It's not just aluminum and cash deposit bottles being snaffled now - glass jars, paper, in fact just about anything that can go out ... Green Living Tips Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.greenlivingtips.com/blogs/271/Cell-phone-recycling-survey-results.html Nokia's recent survey of 6,500 people in 13 countries has found that only 3% of people recycle their mobile phones. I can't really tch tch about this as I have at least 4 in a box in my office drawer, dating back to 2000. What makes it worse is that I *know* I can recycle these phones - I wrote a darned article on the topic :). I walk past a store once a month where I could just drop them in a ... Green Living Tips Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.greenlivingtips.com/blogs/270/Greener-computer-printing.html Ever wanted to print out info from a web page and found that it sucked up half your ink cartridge and you wound up with pages you didn't need? It's not only wasteful of resources, but costly too. GreenPrint is a free application that's easy to install and use which will help save you cash and your printing environmental footprint. Before printing GreenPrint analyzes the page/s you want to print... Green Living Tips Sun, 13 Jul 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.greenlivingtips.com/blogs/269/Dell-recycles-dude.html I recently purchased a notebook from Dell and was very pleased to see their progress in regards to recycling and packaging. When I was running through the ordering process, the last option on the form was for free recycling. I could call Dell Recycling to arrange a pick-up within 4 weeks of the invoice date and they would recycle my old PC in what they stated would be an environmentally friendl... Green Living Tips Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.greenlivingtips.com/blogs/268/Oil-billionaire-touts-wind-power.html When the oil moguls start talking seriously about getting away from oil in favor of wind power, even the most hardened cynic might consider reassessing their views on issues such as Peak Oil and global warming. Earlier this year, The CEO of Royal Dutch Shell; circulated a memo recognizing peak oil is upon us; but more recently, T. Boone Pickens; who made his billions fr... Green Living Tips Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.greenlivingtips.com/blogs/267/Mexico-plants-9-million-trees.html Often criticized for its lax approach to deforestation, Mexico's Day of National Reforestation saw Mexican citizens plant an incredible 9 million, 345 thousand 984 trees in a single day according to  Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources, Juan Rafael Elvira Quesada. Over half a million people participated in the effort, which contributed significantly to Mexico's goal of planting ... Green Living Tips Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.greenlivingtips.com/blogs/266/Biofuels-dramatically-increase-food-prices.html According to a recent article on The Guardian, the biofuel industry has been responsible for increasing global food prices by a staggering 75%. The figure has been taken from a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian. While the report was completed in April, The Guardian's sources say it has not been published to avoid embarrassing US President George Bush. I've been squ... Green Living Tips Sun, 06 Jul 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.greenlivingtips.com/blogs/265/Garnaut-Climate-Change-Review.html The Garnaut Climate Change Review has been commissioned by Australia's Commonwealth, state and territory governments to examine the impacts of climate change for Australia and strategies for dealing with the issue. The Draft Report was released yesterday in Canberra. Economist Professor Ross Garnaut, author of the report, has stated that by 2050, the effects of climate change in Australia based... Green Living Tips Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.greenlivingtips.com/blogs/264/Solar-panel-rebate-petition.html A few years ago in Australia, the Howard Federal Government were considering scrapping the solar power rebate. This caused an uproar in the community and local TV station Channel 7 launched a petition to lobby against the rebate loss as part of its "Cool the Globe" initiative. Within just 3 weeks, that solar panel rebate petition had attracted over 175,000 signatures. The result? Howard ... Green Living Tips Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.greenlivingtips.com/blogs/263/37-billion-for-Murray-Darling-River-basin.html The Australian government has coughed up, or rather pledged, $3.7 billion into projects to save the Murray-Darling Basin. This river system is an incredibly important source of water in Australia. It's thousands of kilometers long; runs through several states, irrigates Australia's food bowl, supplies cities with drinking water and sustains a variety of ecosystems. Many parts of it are now... Green Living Tips Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.greenlivingtips.com/blogs/262/Oil-price-silver-lining.html It's a touchy subject as some people are *really* hurting due to high gas prices and the oil barons are making more from less, but there have been quite a few benefits environmentally speaking from increased prices of fuel. Whether it's speculators, political unrest, peak oil or a combination of all those factors; people are certainly feeling the pinch and in countries such as the USA, Canada,... Green Living Tips Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.greenlivingtips.com/blogs/261/Chinas-plastic-bag-ban.html It's always nice to report on something positive on the environmental front when it comes to China. I know I must seem pro-China at times, but it's just that there's way too much anti-China stuff out on the web and I find it rather hypocritical given we've outsourced so much of our own pollution to that country in exchange for cheap products Anyhow, it seems that back on June 1, China's governm... Green Living Tips Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.greenlivingtips.com/blogs/260/State-of-the-ecosystem-report.html The comprehensive and recently released "State of the Nation's Ecosystems" (USA) offers a mixed bag of news on environmental issues. The good news is many forests have remained intact thans to conservation efforts and sustainable forestry management. Aside from providing habitat, forests play a major role in sequestering carbon dioxide. From 1995-2005, forests gained 150 million metric ... Green Living Tips Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.greenlivingtips.com/blogs/259/Insect-identification-experts-please.html I came across this largish, weird looking insect last night in a chunk of mallee while rummaging around in my wood bin. I've seen one like it once before in an old mallee tree in a different part of South Australia. It's quite a solidly built little beastie, around 3 inches long. It throws its two front legs(?) up quite rapidly when it feels threatened (reminds me of a Mexican wave) and protrud... Green Living Tips Sun, 29 Jun 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.greenlivingtips.com/blogs/258/The-age-of-scarcity.html The price of food is well up, with some staples becoming scarce and increasingly controlled by a handful of companies. The continual oil price rises of late hardly even register with many folks now; there's just grim acceptance. Crude prices are linked to price rises in just about everything, from food, to plastics and many other common chemicals. Access to fresh water is becoming an in... Green Living Tips Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.greenlivingtips.com/blogs/257/Natural-dog-arthritis-treatment.html If you've been reading Green Living Tips for a while, you've probably seen mention of Niki The Wonder Dog, Guardian of the Blessed Solar Panel. Niki's around 7 years old now - and like many of her breed (fox terrier) she loves to run. She'd break into what we call the "crazy run" regularly, running around in a large circle as fast as she could for no apparent reason, just for the joy o... Green Living Tips Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.greenlivingtips.com/blogs/256/Winter-solstice-and-solar-power.html In this society where everything is available to us at the flick of a switch, we become disconnected from the marvels of nature, but since setting up my first solar power rig, I'm starting to identify a little more with paganistic worship ;). Each day when the sun is shining, it's not just a case of "hmm, nice day" for me, it's "hooray, good battery charging day - thank you sun!"... Green Living Tips Sat, 21 Jun 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.greenlivingtips.com/blogs/255/Standby-Saturday.html I received a note a couple of hours ago from Marcel of Green Innovations Australia who let me know about a really interesting  non-profit campaign his company is running called Standby Saturday. Standby Saturday  is the first  Australian  nationwide “All the time – every time” switch-off of non-essential electrical appliances and equipment such as TVs,... Green Living Tips Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.greenlivingtips.com/blogs/254/6000-trees-sponsored.html  Last year, I kicked off the Green Living Tips tree planting initiative. It\'s a pretty simple setup; I pledge to sponsor a tree on behalf of each person who signs up for my free newsletter and through Trees For The Future, I buy "bundles" of 1000 trees to be propagated/planted in developing countries. It\'s one of those win/win/win/win situations whereby the offer encourages p... Green Living Tips Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:00:00 MDT