Saving our Planet

Subject: Re: Saving our Planet Tue Jul 15, 2008 9:27 am

Double paned or even triple paned windows.

Storm doors instead of simple screen doors.

Send 'grey water' into the garden, or store to water the lawn, wash the car, etc.

Do your grocery shopping on your way home from work. Going to the store? See if your neighbor needs anything or wants to go with you--one car instead of two.

Make sure you have adequate insulation in your walls. They can now 'blow' insulation into the airspace between the inner and outer walls.

Hot water heaters can be put on a timer, set to when you normally need it.

Shade trees and bushes strategically planted can help cool the house in the hot summer months. We have conifers to the north and desiduous to the south so that when the leaves are off in the winter, the sun can still help heat the house, and the evergreens shield us from the cold winter winds.

Wash only large loads of laundry. Saves on water and power at the same time.

Just have to have a certain blouse/shirt etc. for that important date? Wash out in the sink and line dry.

Use mulch in the garden and on the lawn. Grass clippings are great and so are leaves - keeps moisture in the soil.
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Zada Connaway
Mother's Journals: parts 1, 2 and 3 ISBN # 1-4241-6969-0

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Subject: Re: Saving our Planet Tue Jul 15, 2008 12:41 pm

Sometimes it is just letting things happen. Over a century ago, the woods in Northern Wisconsin were completely clear cut. Lumber was the resource and would be floated down the rivers in the spring, being cut and stored on the ice in the winter.

But the clear cut land was left, not cleaned up, not replanted. And today, a century later there are trillions of giant 150 foot trees. The seeds and seedlings were there. And today the ground cover of the woods is little maple trees. Someone told me these little trees are decades old, and when a tree goes down, one of these little trees takes advantage of the sunshine available and begins to grow.

And they still lumber here, but only small parcels at the time. And they leave it a mess, and within years it is beginning to grow once again.

Love,

Carol

Subject: Re: Saving our Planet Tue Jul 15, 2008 3:33 pm

In some newer homes, built for style, the kitchen is in the middle of the room with no window. That means that while cooking or washing dishes – or whatever, the light must be on. Older homes were built with a window over the kitchen sink. It was practical.

When we had the power outage while I was in Virginia, we had a tough time seeing in the kitchen since it was in the middle of the room. We used candles, etc., to see. Perhaps with the energy crisis, builders will start again to build in a more practical and energy conserving manner.
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Subject: Re: Saving our Planet Tue Jul 15, 2008 6:48 pm

I love my kitchen sink window; it makes doing dishes more pleasant because I can look outside and lose myself in the view. Who wants to stare at a blank wall while doing dishes? Or cooking? Or pretty much anything? I'm with you Abe. Gimme a window.

We take a much more aggressive stance on reforestation around here, and plant the same kinds of trees that are cut down to speed things along. It makes sense to me, in part just because of the dirt that the trees hold down. Some areas are more sensitive to flooding because of the trees that have been stripped out (Thailand as a more recent and startling example), and in our area there is a lot of wind and a thin later of dirt before you hit bedrock below. Once the dirt blows the rock bare nothing will grow, so replanting is an important way to hang onto the dirt, and provide landing spaces for the thousands of birds that visit every summer.
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Pam Robertson

http://andthebandplayedonmylawn.blogspot.com

Subject: Re: Saving our Planet Tue Jul 15, 2008 9:16 pm

Up north I have a window across the wall by my kitchen sink. It looks out on a porch with woods beyond. We have bird feeders frequented by birds, squirrels, chipmunks. Hummingbirds are there also. And last night when my husband went to turn the light out in the kitchen, he looked into the eyes of a deer at the feeder.

Life just doesn't get any better than all of that.

Love, Carol

Subject: Re: Saving our Planet Tue Jul 15, 2008 11:24 pm

Sounds lovely Carol, although I try not to encourage deer at my feeder. They tend to get run over on the trip across the highway.
Very Happy

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Pam Robertson

http://andthebandplayedonmylawn.blogspot.com

Subject: Re: Saving our Planet Wed Jul 16, 2008 1:03 am

My driveway is 900 feet long through the woods and ends on a back road.

Deer live in our woods, one recently with two fawns. I think I am the only person who has not seen them.

That piece of woods is paradise to me.

Carol

Subject: Re: Saving our Planet Wed Jul 16, 2008 2:19 am

Yet more possibilities for saving the planet:
-build smaller houses (takes less fuel to heat and cool)
-use the fan instead of the air conditioning (it uses far less energy)
-get a small screen TV (they use less energy than big screen TVs)
-if you can afford it, buy an alternative fuels compatable vehicle or a hybred
-if possible, eat more fruits and vegitables and less meat (it takes many times more land and energy to produce a pound of meat than to produce a pound of fruits and vegitables)
-build new homes to utilize passive solar heating
-if you can afford it, buy a solar water heater (heating water is the biggest use of energy in most homes)
-if you can afford it, install a solar and/or wind electrical system

Subject: Re: Saving our Planet Thu Jul 31, 2008 8:34 am

Are you aware of the latest in having an auto with zero emissions? Check out the following website. It is not a lot of hot air either.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4217016.html
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Subject: Re: Saving our Planet Fri Aug 01, 2008 12:28 am

That's a fascinating article Abe! It would be cool to see something like that over here, although the last paragraph didn't offer too much hope for that. Still, I live in hope and look forward to vehicles like it coming here, and getting myself off of the grid. pirate

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Pam Robertson

http://andthebandplayedonmylawn.blogspot.com

Subject: Re: Saving our Planet Fri Aug 01, 2008 1:30 pm

Since the inventor/invention is outside America, perhaps the reception will be slow in coming.
There were numerous inventions in the past that were bought by the auto makers to keep them off the market. That is not so easy anymore, however introduction of a new invention can be delayed, and I believe that will happen.
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Subject: Re: Saving our Planet Fri Aug 01, 2008 2:30 pm

Pam,
my entrepreneurial instincts tells me that getting information about having an "air station" may be wise. If I were only younger......hmmmm. scratch

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Subject: Re: Saving our Planet Fri Aug 01, 2008 11:13 pm

Abe given the increases in longevity, you may want to be checking it out anyway! Very Happy

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Pam Robertson

http://andthebandplayedonmylawn.blogspot.com

Subject: Re: Saving our Planet Sat Aug 02, 2008 4:38 am

Pam,
my gevity is not as long as it once was.
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Three Star Member Joined : 11 Jan 2008 Posts : 184

We just published a book that deals with this issue, but from the inside out. That is, dealing with creating a sustainable person before trying to fix external things. I personally agree with the authors ideas - we need to fix our own ego-based desires before we can begin to fix larger issues that our ego causes, such as poor environmental policy.

It might be of interest: I Am Sustainability: How The Human Body Can Save The Planet.
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Editor: Indigenous People's Issues Today
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