Comments on: Going green

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 16:52:21 +0000

That never stopped her going out with you Craig.

You can get ones that look like ordinary bulbs on the outside, they have a globe over them so you don’t see the spiral bit. They just aren’t as cheap as the ones from Ikea that’s all.

They are still more cost effective over the long term than ordinary bulbs, plus with your high ceilings I’d be wanting to keep lightbulb changing down to a minimum.

By: Craig

Craig — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 16:43:02 +0000

Tell that to my missus who says they look “ugly.”

By: Holmes

Holmes — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 16:20:37 +0000

There’s one really simple thing you can do that’s actually much more effective than it sounds, which is to switch out standard incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents. They use less than a quarter of the energy of standard bulbs and don’t lose energy in the heat they give off. They’ve actually made a dent in our power bills. A quote from our city’s energy company said that if 100 million households switched out just one bulb, it would save enough energy to power a medium-sized city. Not sure how exact that is, but it seems worthwhile.

By: Lee

Lee — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 13:48:44 +0000

Of course I completely forgot about the pallet compost!!! I’ve got one in a metal bin with the base cut out but I still want to try the kitchen one for all that stuff you can’t put in there.

When you find the article pass it through!!!

By: Kristina

Kristina — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 23:44:09 +0000

“Did you have a central heating system that used baby seals as fuel?”

Yes, but they were organically grown so it’s all good. ;)

By: Craig

Craig — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 20:45:17 +0000

I’m up at 5 planets. Probably comes from having two people with two jobs that require driving and also eating lots of meat :)

Surely all my lovely trees count for something?

The recycle truck refuses (no pun intended) to come up our lane too. I’ll have to force myself to start recycling more, but storage is an issue especially since frogs have taken up residence in our cellar (stupid karma).

By: Tracey Smith

Tracey Smith — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 18:50:00 +0000

Hi all!

Many thanks for bringing up NDW! I am delighted to see it being debated here.

The Earth Day programme is a favourite of mine too and I think anything that encourages us to slow down and green up is a good thing.

As a parent of 3 twiggly nugs (who I’m just getting to bed) I feel even more strongly that it’s key we normalise eco. Composting, recycling are part of our everyday life here and I’m trying hard to get them on the right, green track.

Anyway, wittering on!

Just wanted to say a quick ‘Thank You’!

Wishing you all the best,
Tracey Smith
x

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 16:23:06 +0000

I think the questionare puts a bias in depending on which country you are living in, so I imagine you’d be disadvantaged living in the USA.

6.2 planets is quite impressive though. Did you have a central heating system that used baby seals as fuel?

By: Kristina

Kristina — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 15:56:39 +0000

I need 3 planets to sustain myself. Yikes! But as you know I am working on it. I took the quiz again from the standpoint of several months ago, and it came out to 6.2 planets, so at least I can feel good about having made progress.

I need to eat less meat and walk more. Public transportation is hard for me logistically at the moment - our small town does not have a great infrastructure and it would be impossible to take Connor to preschool, for example, which is the bulk of my driving. This spring we are looking forward to buying all local produce from the Farmer’s Market, but it only runs in the warmer months. We have started to buy more organic food as well. A long-term goal is to add solar to our house for hot water and possibly electricity. Not a cheap venture though.

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 15:03:58 +0000

(un)relaxed Dad - Both those URL’s worked for me here at work, but I’ve gone with yours just in case. Well done for not having a car! Kerry goes to work via public transport, and we have deliberately chosen vehicles with small engine sizes, but we still use cars far too much really.

Helen - Our council does collect recycling, just not from us as our lane is too narrow to get the truck down. This means we have to go out of our way to take rubbish to the rycycling point and we don’t do it half as much as we should.

Hygiene Dad - That’s a good idea, especially with the warmer weather coming.

Lee- I did see the composting article on your blog, but as I have my wonderful pallet compost bin I have no need of it :). I have a great link for you about how to make pots for seedlings out of newspaper, but I need to find it.