Green living tips - Blogs

Universal cell phone charger push

Green Living Tips — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 MDT

If you've been using cell phones for some years, you've probably amassed quite a pile of chargers as well. When the phone dies or you upgrade, the chargers are useless. It's more junk laying around and not only that, a ton of resources have gone into making those items.According to the European Commission, old chargers currently generate several thousands of tons of waste a year in Europe alone.Th...

Compulsory composting

Green Living Tips — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:00:00 MDT

While many places around the world have laws in place where businesses and householders must not place recyclable materials in regular trash, here's a first (I think) - a compulsory composting law.On Tuesday, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom implemented the USA's first mandatory composting law in order to meet a zero waste goal for the city by 2020.San Francisco also had an interim goal of keeping...

Would you buy this teddy bear?

Green Living Tips — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:00:00 MDT

Who doesn't love a teddy bear? I have the bear from my childhood up on the shelf beside me. Even as an adult if I'm ever stressed out, if I remember to take a look at "Little Ted", it relaxes me a little - probably due to the childhood associations of security.Teddy bears are big business and a favorite gift - but would you buy the one below? Before you click away after seeing it, please a...

Queen Liz Growing Veggies

Green Living Tips — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:00:00 MDT

I'm not much into the concept of monarchy, but I've always had a great deal of respect for Queen Elizabeth. She's probably the last of the truly "regal" British monarchs and England will be culturally poorer when her time comes.Unlike her son Prince Charles, Queen Elizabeth isn't what you'd call an environmental crusader, however tt seems that she has had an organic vegetable garden added ...

The Vegetarian Myth

Green Living Tips — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:00:00 MDT

I've been reading "The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainability" and I can highly recommend it to vegans, vegetarians and meat eaters alike - but it needs to be approached with an open mind. The controversial book was authored by Lierre Keith, a vegan for nearly 20 years who became disillusioned when discovering the true nature of her plant based diet.The whole meat vs. vegetaria...

Corn based cutting board

Green Living Tips — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:00:00 MDT

One of the great things about having a site like Green Living Tips is I get to try out all sorts of very interesting products - such as a corn chopping board.No, not a cutting board made for corn, although you can certainly use it for that - this board is *made* from corn and was kindly sent to me by Mr. DoJin Jung, Vice president of Eco Mass Korea; the company that produces them.The material used...

Help save Bob Brown

Green Living Tips — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 00:00:00 MDT

Bob Brown is the leader of the Australian Greens party and has been battling on behalf of the environment for years. I can't say I know Bob personally, but he seems to be a truly dedicated and very honest man - an uncommon trait among politicians. It's pretty hard to find any dirt on him - actually, I haven't been able to.Unfortunately, he could do with a little helping hand himself at the moment....

Carbon capture capers

Green Living Tips — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 00:00:00 MDT

Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) has been touted by advocates as a viable solution to mopping up carbon emissions from carbon intensive industries such as coal fired power generation.The theory is that you siphon off the emissions then pipe or otherwise transport them to a place where they are injected deep into the ground where they'll stay - we hope.I liken carbon capture to sweeping dirt ...

Brits reducing clothes dryer use

Green Living Tips — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 00:00:00 MDT

In a recent survey of over 2,000 Britons, shows the British public’s growing concern about climate change.The Christian Aid survey revealed a majority believe the government needs to show more leadership in tackling global warming.75% of those people said public money should be invested in renewable energy, 73% said it should go to cheaper and more effective public transport, 60% wanted to s...

Collapsible plastic crate : KlappBox

Green Living Tips — Sat, 30 May 2009 00:00:00 MDT

With thin plastic disposable shopping bags starting to be phased out in some places (South Australia started its bag ban at the beginning of this month), many more of us are looking to reusable bags for our shopping. But you don't necessarily need a bag - how about a box that you can also use for general storage purposes? Sure, boxes are generally bulky; but not this one - the KlappBox. It's a col...

Exxon Mobil steams ahead on tar sands

Green Living Tips — Fri, 29 May 2009 00:00:00 MDT

What is it with these oil companies? A few years ago they were jumping on the green bandwagon, rebranding themselves as energy companies, investing heavily in renewable energy and now.. it's oil, oil, oil. Shell, BP and now Exxon Mobil.According to Bloomberg, Exxon Mobil Corp. believes the transition away from oil-derived fuels is probably 100 years away because (they say) there are no viable alte...

9 billion people by 2050

Green Living Tips — Thu, 28 May 2009 00:00:00 MDT

I was born in the late 60's and at that point, there were around 11 million people in Australia. Today, that figure is nearly 21 million and by 2050, it will be around 28 million. The place feels too crowded as it is, yet we're one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world.Let's take a look at the USA. Back in the late 60's, the population was around 200 million. Today it's approaching...

Black market bees

Green Living Tips — Thu, 21 May 2009 00:00:00 MDT

The days when a bee used to fly by and I'd hardly give it a second thought except wanting to avoid being stung are long gone. It's taken a disaster for me to start to learn just how important these tiny critters are in the grand scale of things. Honey bees have been disappearing at an alarming rate in recent years. For example, after a couple of years of heavy losses, 29 percent of the remaining h...

Chernobyl legacy lingers in Britain

Green Living Tips — Sun, 17 May 2009 00:00:00 MDT

There wouldn't be too many people of my generation who would hear the term "Chernobyl" and not immediately think "nuclear disaster". The accident occurred on 26 April 1986 and an exclusion zone of 30km (around 20 miles) radius still exists today.While wildlife is flourishing in the exclusion zone, it's doing so in an area where radiation levels are anywhere from 10 to 100 times nor...

Oil's solar conspiracy?

Green Living Tips — Fri, 15 May 2009 00:00:00 MDT

So much for oil companies going green - their backflipping on renewable energy continues to the point some of its high-profile henchmen are actively talking down the green energy industry.As I've posted previously, Shell recently bailed on new renewable energy development; but BP has been pulling away from it for some time too - for example closing a solar panel manufacturing plant in Australia.BP...

Majority of Aussies overweight

Green Living Tips — Wed, 13 May 2009 00:00:00 MDT

It was sad to read that around 63% of Australians are now overweight or obese. A full quarter of our population are obese according to figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.Aside from the health implications of being overweight, there's some pretty severe environmental issues too - our expanding midriffs are another example of us consuming more than we need; and that consumption has to ...

Factory farm fiasco

Green Living Tips — Fri, 08 May 2009 00:00:00 MDT

I was reading a little bit about factory farms today and feeling the usual pangs of guilt. Then this afternoon, a story hit the headlines in Australia where a piggery operator who supplies one of Australia's largest supermarkets with pork has been charged with cruelty offences after animals were found in squalid conditions.According to the report, one poor sow had a wound infested with maggots. Th...

The Giving Tree Band

Green Living Tips — Thu, 07 May 2009 00:00:00 MDT

Quite a few names in the music industry have been making some attempts to make their craft more environmentally friendly in recent times which is great to see; but there's "green" bands and then there's the Giving Tree Band from Chicago. Described as creating progressive old time, eco-billy, and indie folk rock, the band is also considered one of the pioneering green artists. T...

Environment, insurance and climate change

Green Living Tips — Tue, 05 May 2009 00:00:00 MDT

Lots of us buy insurance for our homes, after all they are very expensive to replace. But what are the chances that during our lifetime our houses will burn down or be otherwise destroyed?Pretty slim.We pay quite stiff premiums to protect our homes from disasters even though the odds are stacked against them happening. If the odds were in favor that something *would* happen to our house; the premi...

Plastic Bag Ban Starts In South Australia

Green Living Tips — Mon, 04 May 2009 00:00:00 MDT

South Australia has become the first state in the country to ban lightweight plastic checkout bags and through doing so is expected to reduce the number of bags heading to landfill each year by around 400 million.As of today, retailers failing to observe the ban by retailers risk an on the spot fine of AUD $315, or a maximum penalty of $5,000.While some aren't happy with the ban, claiming convenie...