Green Leaf

Sustainable living requires forethought and reflection on the impact of a product or service on the planet. Learning to stop, review the facts, and make a smart choice for the environment will also give you power to influence corporate decisions with your spending. Each dollar you spend can reinforce your sustainability values if you consistently withhold revenue from Earth-damaging companies. In this Earth911 Quiz, you’ll test your basic knowledge of product and service industries that, with a smart choice, can swing the carbon pendulum toward neutrality. Earth911 Quiz #55: Shopping Smart For the Environment   Making a difference in your carbon impact and the load you place on the environment starts long before you have the chance to recycle. Precycling, the right-sizing of your purchases for sustainability, can change your lifestyle for the better. It takes awareness and a willingness to speak up when you find products that don’t support a healthy environment. In this Ear...

I always liked veggies, even as a child. Mom often served them with pasta, such as pasta with cauliflower or peas. Or she breaded and fried eggplant or zucchini. We also enjoyed them in omelets , especially peppers and onions. The vegetables never came with a sustainability lesson but they should be served with that insight today. One thing that I did not enjoy when I was little was broccoli. Mom served it “Italian style.” That means large, crunchy pieces including the stem dressed with olive oil, salt, and lemon juice. I thought they looked like large crunchy trees. Blech! I think the big pieces of broccoli along with its crunchy texture and the lemony tang made the dish unappealing for a small child. There has to be a better way to get children to eat veggies. This reminded me of a conversation that I had with my supervisor and walking partner, Sister Noreen. She didn’t like vegetables when she was a child, so her mom had to be creative to entice her and her siblings to eat them. ...

Ah, fall. Back to school, sweater weather, and warm drinks. Those brightly colored leaves are beautiful on the trees, but they lose their appeal when they start falling to the ground. Now, last week’s kaleidoscope of natural color become this week’s tedious yard work. But even fallen leaves have value. Here are five do’s and a don’t for dealing with autumn leaves. Don’t Blow It Off Don’t use a leaf blower. Simply blowing the leaves off your property into someone else’s is just rude. Blowing them into the street will clog storm drains and cause flooding when it rains. But even if you blow your leaves into neat piles, you’re still creating a lot of unneighborly noise and pollution . Curbside Yard Waste Leaves are not garbage. If your city offers yard waste collection service, use it. It’s the same amount of work to rake your leaves and bag them (or scoop them into a bin) for yard waste pickup as it is for garbage. Leaves thrown in the garbage usually go to a landfill, where organic m...

Sadly, the food we all desire so much, i.e., tasty cheeseburgers and crispy French fries, aren’t exactly the eco-friendly food that we should be consuming. However, there are many useful… The post Twelve Effective Tips for Starting Eco-Friendly Dieting appeared first on Ecofriend . from Ecofriend https://ift.tt/2EGJrre https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

You probably feel a little guilty about tossing leftovers. Throwing out uneaten food is a waste of the money you spent to buy it and the resources it took to grow and prepare it. But did you know that wasted food is so harmful that the United Nations has a campaign against it? Last year, the UN designated September 29 as the International Day of Awareness on Food Loss and Waste Reduction . The name is a mouthful, but dealing with food waste is fundamental to the UN’s sustainability goal “ Responsible Consumption and Production .” This goal directly supports two others: “Zero Hunger” and “Climate Action.” Food loss is one of the root causes of hunger worldwide and accounts for 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Pandemic Problem Although the UN had already identified food loss and waste as an issue to address in 2020, the coronavirus pandemic has added new urgency to the problem. At a time when food banks in the developed world are facing unprecedented demand, physical distan...

The average American discards 17.7 pounds of PET (also known as PETE ) plastic bottles each year. By eliminating your share of PET bottles, you can prevent 108.9 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, reduce ocean plastic pollution that kills 1 million seabirds and 100,000 ocean mammals a year, and reduce your oil use by 4.9 gallons. Let’s get the plastic out! Print or share We Earthling posters to inspire others with your stories. You Might Also Like… Your Food Waste Has Global Impact September 29, 2020 We Earthlings: Get the Plastic Out! September 29, 2020 5 Energy-Saving Tips for Colder Weather September 29, 2020 The post We Earthlings: Get the Plastic Out! appeared first on Earth 911 . from Earth 911 https://ift.tt/2GdlFnb https://ift.tt/2G10R2J

The days are getting shorter and winter will be here before you know it, so it’s a good time to prepare your home for the colder weather. Tempting though it may be to crank up the central heating as soon as you feel a chill, you’d be wise to give some thought to energy efficiency first. Fortunately, you don’t have to choose between warmth and energy efficiency. If you combine smart habits and systems, it’s possible to have both. Take a look: 1. Schedule a Home Energy Audit Did you know you can cut your energy bill by as much as $600 a year by taking simple steps to improve your home’s energy efficiency? Simply by eliminating drafts, you may save up to 30% of your home’s heat loss! The best way to know if and where your home is losing heat to drafts is to schedule a home energy audit with a professional in your area. Your local utility may offer free audits, and private contractors can charge between $200 and $650, according to Angie’s List . “A home energy audit, also known as a ...

Earth911 talks with Adam Met, bassist of the multi-platinum indie-pop group AJR and advocate for the United Nations Sustainable Development Program, about his new podcast, Planet Reimagined and how to start a lasting sustainability transition. Adam and his brothers Jack and Ryan launched AJR as teens. They produced numerous hits, including their current release Bummerland , while Adam continued his studies in philosophy and international law. He is completing a Ph.D. in International Human Rights Law and is the executive director of Sustainable Partners, Inc. , a “thought and action think tank” that creates sustainability initiatives around the world. He recently began working with the UN’s Sustainable Development program to raise awareness about the many paths to a humane and prosperous green economy. Adam Met, right, and his brothers Jack and Ryan, are AJR. Adam shares his thoughts about the role of celebrity and protest in a modern connected society , and how each person’s dec...

Demand for furniture is rising in the United States and is expected to reach $68.8 billion in 2022 . Although it’s convenient to purchase a brand new furniture item online, buying new furniture is detrimental to the environment. Although some companies are committing to more sustainable practices, the most environmentally friendly thing you can do when it comes to furniture is to purchase a used item or repurpose an item you already own. Here are the eco-friendly benefits of buying or repurposing used furniture and highlight a few tips for restoring items. Eco-Friendly Benefits Image: ApartmentGuide.com The furniture industry is one of the most polluting, least sustainable industries on the planet. By avoiding purchasing new items, you can reduce your ecological footprint significantly. Buying or repurposing used furniture offers the following benefits: Less wasteful: Americans discard more than 12 million tons of furniture and furnishings each year, 80% of which ends up in ...

In part one, Conducting a Home Waste Audit , you learned to audit your household waste for a week. Now it’s time to analyze the waste and make changes. In my waste audit example, I categorized 150 items for disposal. Of those items, I could put 77 items in the recycling bin and drop off an additional three items for recycling. While this ratio is better than average (the U.S. recycling rate is 35% and my household is over 50%), we could take a few additional steps to divert even more waste from the landfill. 1. Precycling If you aren’t already precycling , it’s a huge missed opportunity. Precycling involves shopping with waste output in mind. When you shop, seek out products that are packaged in material that you can recycle curbside, bring your own shopping bags, and buy in bulk to limit packaging in the first place. In my household’s example waste audit, there were 16 candy wrappers. I could make the effort to buy candy in paper boxes (like movie theater candy), or visit a zero-...

There’s no denying that pickups are the most versatile road vehicles. When you get right down to it, trucks are not only great for getting from point A to B,… The post An Eco-Friendly Product Guide for Truck Maintenance appeared first on Ecofriend . from Ecofriend https://ift.tt/368nbSt https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Every week, the Earth911 team combs news and research for interesting ideas and stories about the challenges of creating a sustainable world. We pick a few science, sustainability, recycling, and business stories, along with ideas you can act on to support the environment and Earth-friendly initiatives. Sometimes it is good news we can all celebrate, sometimes it is bad news or a seemingly intractable challenge that should make us double-down on finding new solutions. We call it the Earth911 Reader and we hope you find it useful. In Sustainability California To Ban Gas and Diesel Car Sales By 2035 The sixth-largest market for cars in the world, California, will ban the sale of gasoline and diesel cars by 2035, CleanTechnica reports . Governor Gavin Newsome, who has battled pandemic and wildfire all year, signed an executive order to stop the sale, but not an outright ban on internal combustion vehicles. California’s big challenge is rethinking its infrastructure. It must change ho...

Today’s Earth911 inspiration is from Pope Francis, who delivered a somber message about the state of our climate for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. He wrote: “Today we hear the voice of creation admonishing us to return to our rightful place in the natural created order – to remember that we are part of this interconnected web of life, not its masters.” Earth911 inspirations. Post them, share your desire to help people think of the planet first, every day. Click the poster to get a larger image. You Might Also Like… Earth911 Inspiration: We Are Part of This Web of Life, Not Its Masters September 25, 2020 What NOT to Put in the Bin September 25, 2020 Good, Better, Best: Seafood September 24, 2020 The post Earth911 Inspiration: We Are Part of This Web of Life, Not Its Masters appeared first on Earth 911 . from Earth 911 https://ift.tt/3kLkTwx https://ift.tt/2HwEPoM