Green living tips - Blogs

Pet environmental impact

Green Living Tips — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:00 MST

I'm a pet owner and particularly love dogs - I tend to spend more time with Niki The Wonder Dog than I do with humans these days. As tragic as that may sound, it's fine by me. It would be hard to imagine life without her company. However, excerpts from a recently released book have again given me "paws" for thought regarding the environmental impact of owning a pet. Some of the information...

School cleaning supplies tested

Green Living Tips — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:00:00 MST

HTML clipboard While always reading the labels on cleaning products is a good idea, depending on what country you're in, they won't always reveal the full story. The Environmental Working Group recently tested many cleaning products used in schools in California, and found hundreds of air contaminants and toxins not listed as ingredients by manufacturers. One product tested emitted 143 co...

The 10 week oil spill

Green Living Tips — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00:00 MST

Usually oil spills and leaks are brought under control fairly quickly, but one off the coast of Australia has been going on for an astounding 10 weeks.The incident occurred at the West Atlas oil rig, located about 690 kilometres west of Darwin in the early hours of the morning on August 21. Of course, the company spin doctors and our government assured us it wasn't such a big deal - nothing to see...

Eucalyptus fiber bed sheets

Green Living Tips — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:00:00 MDT

Most of us would be familiar with the many uses of eucalyptus oil, but here's something new - sheets containing eucalyptus fiber.What a fantastic idea!According to the company selling these sheets to the hospitality industry, Valley Forge Fabrics, only non-toxic solvents are used when converting eucalyptus pulp to fiber for the sheets, and 99.6% of the solvent is recovered and reused.It's a water ...

Corella cull?

Green Living Tips — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:00:00 MDT

Here in Australia, we have a wonderful array of beautiful parrots, including a largish bird called a Corella; quite common in South Australia.These grow up to just over a foot to 18 inches in length and usually flock together in groups that may consist of thousands of birds. They are real characters and rather noisy critters; but I used to love seeing them around - a splash of nature in sloppy, st...

Bogong moths storm Australia's Parliament House

Green Living Tips — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:00:00 MDT

It's an annual event at Parliament House in Australia's capital city, Canberra - the bogong moth migration onslaught.According to the CSIRO, as the weather warms in south east Australia, bogong moths (Agrotis infusa) fly to the high country of the Snowy Mountains in southern New South Wales and the Victorian Alps. In winter they make the return journey. This is something they've been doing for tho...

Green living survey results

Green Living Tips — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:00:00 MDT

Two recent environmentally themed surveys grabbed my attention as examples of how much work is left to do in trying to make green living the norm rather than something that is a continual battle.The first was rather unsettling - a Pew survey of 1500 Americans found only 57 percent believe there is reliable proof that the atmosphere of the Earth is warming. This is a fall of 20% in just two years. ...

Ridiculous clothesline bans

Green Living Tips — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:00:00 MDT

I can't imagine not being able to have an outdoor clothes line and I'm constantly astounded that in some places they are not permitted; particularly in private communities in the USA.According to a recent article in the New York Times, outdoor clotheslines are banned as they considered by many as "a marker of poverty that lowers property values." That's frightening. While in some cases a c...

Furoshiki gift wrapping

Green Living Tips — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:00:00 MDT

I recently dusted off and updated my "Earth Friendly Holiday Season Tips" article and I mentioned greener gift wrapping. One of the suggestions was to use a scarf or similar item instead of paper - something that could be used again or for a different purpose.Lo and behold, the Japanese have been doing this for a very long time. In Japan, it's an art form called Furoshiki - an origami for ...

Insecticide insanity?

Green Living Tips — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 00:00:00 MDT

HTML clipboard When Mortein launched a more natural insecticide for use in the home, I thought it was a great thing. Mortein Naturgard is *based* on plant extracts called pyrethrins. Pyrethrins are biodegradable and break down on exposure to light or oxygen. Pyrethrins are derived from the perennial plants Pyrethrum; of which Chrysanthemums and daisies are a member. Other commercial fl...

Australia's brown coal shame

Green Living Tips — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:00:00 MDT

Here in Australia, we export hundreds of millions of tonnes of coal each year and now the state of Victoria wants to export even more of it.While most of us are aware the ramifications of burning coal in terms of carbon dioxide emissions, there's bad coal and then there's filthy coal.We have oodles of the filthy kind - brown coal; particularly in Victoria. Australians have the highest carbon impac...

My peanuts were made in China

Green Living Tips — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 00:00:00 MDT

So I'm snacking away on some peanuts the other day, congratulating myself on the choice of a more healthy and environmentally friendly alternative to some of the other crap I eat.I read the packet and nearly choked. I'm in Australia and my peanuts came from China!That means my snack traveled at least 7,500 kilometers or around 4,500 miles! How the hell is this possible I asked myself, don't we gro...

Genetically Modified Honey

Green Living Tips — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:00:00 MDT

Australia has been pretty much spared the introduction of genetically modified (GM) crops, aside from a few trials in a couple of states. Unfortunately for folks in the USA, you're likely consuming a lot of foods with GMO components already; particularly anything that uses soy or corn as an ingredient. Companies in the USA aren't obliged to flag this point in ingredients listings. However, eve...

Air pollution knows no boundaries

Green Living Tips — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 MDT

When I was younger and keenly aware that the planet was on the brink, I used to think the solution was easy. Simply get away from the mess. Find a place far away from the crush and the filth and just let it all go to hell. It (us) wasn't worth fighting for any more. That was not only selfish, but quite foolish too. While I'm still rather cynical about humanity, it was a few years back when cl...

Poo made shrimp species extinct?

Green Living Tips — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:00:00 MDT

There's a big debate going on in Australia at the moment over the future of Uluru (also known as Ayers Rock) and some interesting issues coming to light as a resultUluru is a sandstone formation standing 348 m (1,142 ft) high and measures 9.4 km (5.8 mi) in circumference. It's located pretty much smack bang in the middle of Australia in an area that is for the most part flat, making it an even mor...

California banning high VOC products

Green Living Tips — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:00:00 MDT

In a first for the USA, the California Air Resources Board yesterday put in place regulations that will eliminate the generation of over 14 tons of VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) a day by 2014. The new regulations apply to consumer products such as air fresheners, paints and solvents.It seems that in California, these products generate up to 255 tons of VOCs daily. That's a frightening amount. C...

New Australian solar power forums

Green Living Tips — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:00:00 MDT

Some of you would know I've been working with Energy Matters for quite a while - it's an Australian based renewable energy company specialising in solar power. We've just launched our new solar power forums - it's a place to discuss all things renewable energy related, including a section on rebates (as rebates and incentives in Australia can be a nightmare to navigate). W...

Tomatoes thrive on pee

Green Living Tips — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 00:00:00 MDT

My father told me a story when I was a kid of how prisoners in the WWII POW camp where my grandfather was held captive (Oflag II B, Arnswalde) used to grow their own veggies. Human urine was used as fertilizer to ensure a bumper tomato crop. In a way, these prisoners depended on pee to feed them as the diet provided by their captors was less than optimal.I remember screwing up my nose and thinking...

GMO crop failure

Green Living Tips — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 00:00:00 MDT

A report from the Union of Concerned Scientists on the value of GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) crops is the first to evaluate in detail the overall yield effect of these crops after more than 20 years of research and 13 years of commercialization in the United States. Based on all the information that's been gathered during that time, the report concludes that these frankencrops have done lit...

Making tires from trees

Green Living Tips — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:00:00 MDT

Gone are the days of the traditional rubber tire; that is with the rubber coming from a tree. Well over 90% of all tires are made from synthetic material - and they have certainly proved to be an environmental headache. For example, around 300 million tires are scrapped or dumped in the USA per year. Around 10 gallons of oil goes into making a single tire.In a back-to-the-future development, tires...