Words from the WIse

Put that Green thumb to good use!

Do you know where your ‘fresh’ fruit and vegies come from? Chances are it has travelled a long way to get to your plate, so aside from a question mark around the term fresh, you have to worry about the unsustainability of transporting food. I have already discussed one solution, checking out your local farmers market, but how about turning your hand at growing your own food?

I have to admit, I have not got a green thumb, and I will be moving within the next 6 – 8 months (fingers crossed), so I need to start small. I have decided to start with herbs! Herbs are very expensive for what they are, and I never use the whole portion before they go off, so it’s a lot of wastage that I can reduce. Plus I love cooking and lots of flavour, so when I have them, I put herbs in pretty much everything!

Herbs require less soil than a lot of other edible plants (along with lettuce and strawberries) so are ideal for those with little space and/or a need to move their garden in a few months! Perfect also for apartment living! The best part is, there is an endless possibility for creative recycling to create your herb garden, old pallets, and old wheelbarrow. I plan on rescuing a few old pots and giving them a makeover before planting my brand new herb garden!   And if the herbs survive being under my care, I’ll start studying up for the perfect veggie patch.

 

Reconsider the way you use your car

 

Personal transport accounts for a significant portion of carbon emissions. Cars release pollutants and gases into the atmosphere, polluting the air and contributing to climate change. As well as this, the fuel we are using is a finite resource, not to mention the environmental damage that comes with extracting oil (and, the catastrophic impact of a potential spill).

 

Fuel consumption increases when the engine is cold, so avoiding short trips is a simple measure to help reduce your emissions (and save some money). This can be done by planning you errands to make one car trip instead of multiple, walking or cycling to shops, work etc. (which of course has added health and summer body benefits), or car pooling!

 

Car pooling is my favourite method. You know that beer ad about how to turn a father in law into a mate? Well, car pooling is my method of turning a work colleague into the best mate ever! Several years ago, I worked with a great girl called Jayde. We got along really well and after discovering we lived close to each other, decided to car pool to save money on parking. What followed was the funnest work experience of my life, we spent every car ride laughing and joking, had many amazing moments and what developed was one of the greatest friendships ever. Our car pooling ended when she moved all the way to sunny Queensland, but the bond that formed spending that time together has been unbreakable, and I’m proud to call her one of my closest friends. She gets married next year, and I’ll be beside her in my bridesmaid dress! See? Car pooling is the greatest!

 

When considering the environmental impacts of car use, the obvious solution is to use your car less, which I admit is hard to do, where this is not possible, you could consider offsetting your carbon emissions.  Check out my post about that here: Consider offsettign your carbon emissions

 

National Recycling Week Inspiration

Recycle your Nespresso capsules

A couple of weeks ago I came home and found a brand new Nespresso coffee machine on the kitchen bench, courtesy of my little brother! 

Now I have been making use of this machine, serving up delicious coffees for myself and my families, and thoroughly enjoying the frothy deliciousness of these coffees - and today, they taste even better, as I just discovered that Nespresso has a capsule recycling program!

Nespresso has tried to establish itself as a 'green' brand, and greenie (and hottie!) George Clooney is on the  Nespresso Sustainability Board (I'm actually impressed they even have a sustainability board) who aims to improve farmer welfare and environmental sustainability. 

Now to you, fellow Nespressians, or whatever we are called, recycling is easy! Just place your coffee capsules in the Recycling Canister, on sale from Nespresso for $29.00, or the empty cake mix box found for free in my recycling bin, take them to your local Nespresso boutique (where you go to buy new capsules anyway) and dispose of them at the collection point. Smile, feel green, buy new coffee, and go home and treat yourself. 

While you are enjoying your coffee, those recycled pods are being separated  the coffee grounds are used as fertiliser, and the aluminium is melted down and recycled - even used in some Nespresso machines. 

Pretty neat and pretty easy!

Nespresso has developed a video that shows the process of recycling pods here: http://www.nespresso.com/ecolaboration/au/en/article/2/2910/introducing-nespresso-s-capsule-recycling-program-in-australia.html

Coffee time!

Nude Food Week

Warning - Kind long back story

So Wednesday is Hungry Wednesday as I am at work all day and then back to back uni classes from 4:30 - 8:30, so usually I go home and have dinner late and whinge a lot.  Today I decided I wanted Goodberries straight after uni, so I ducked home in my lunch break (bad for using my car for a short trip) for a couple of things, and made myself a sandwich to eat at uni. Un-sustainably - I wrapped it in cling wrap, and because i cut the cling wrap off too short, it was wrapped in two pieces and jammed it in my bag as I ran out the door. 

Anyway, I got to uni and it was presentation day (not for me, thank goodness - mine was last week) and a lady in my class spoke about the sustainability practices at the early childhood centre and spoke about 'Nude Food Week' - which is an initiative to encourage kids to pack their lunches without packaging - drink bottles, lunch box, reusable containers, etc. I thought about my far too cling wrapped sandwich and felt guilty. Here I am trying to be more sustainable - and completely forgot about cling wrap! Oops!

So - it's Nude Food Week which will lead to Nude Food Life - because this blog is about a change of lifestyle! I already have reusable bags and containers and an awesome basket for markets and heaps of bottles so I have absolutely no excuses! It;s not just lunch packaging - supermarkets are full of packaging, bags for your apples, bags for your mandarins, then bags for your shopping - too much and it stops now!!!!

Ps. Sorry for the boring picture - I made the mistake of typing Nude Food into google images and very quickly changed my search to 'Lunchbox'. That's karma getting me back for using too much cling wrap!

Stop Wasting Paper

I recently posted about not wasting staples, instead of the planned post on not wasting paper. 

However, I then got thinking about all the little ways we could reduce our paper usage, so I thought I would share some simple small ideas for reducing paper wastage

Stop getting paper statements - Most banks now offer electronic statements, usually through online banking. I switched to electronic statements awhile ago, and with all the separate accounts and interest free cards I have, I reckon I would have saved a couple trees already. I also called my superannuation funds and made the switch to electronic mailings, which generally means I also get my statement early (Wooo!)

My insurance company sends me a letter every time I call them, so I have started requesting that they do not send me a letter, which they are more than happy to oblige. My new plan is to start calling all the companies that send me mail and see if they can take me off their mailing list as well, I have received about 10 offers for personal loans in the last month!

Stop Using Post it Notes - It's not possible to get rid of all mail, so put the envelopes to good use, use the backs or shopping lists and notes. If throwing out paper at work, use the back (if you were naughty and forgot to print double sided) of unclassified materials as scrap paper, cut the bottom off half pages for the same purpose, or use email!

Invest in a No Junk Mail sign - Unless you are a avid collector of junk mail. I used to love the cheap pizza vouchers, but you can generally subscribe online for e vouchers, so junk mail is now unneccessary! Plus, I am trying very hard to save money and not buy things I don't need (for budget and sustainability reasons), so it helps not receiving temptation in the post.

Get creative with your wrapping paper - Wrapping paper is expensive! and if you are like me, you will generally buy more than you need, especially at Christmas time. If you have kids this is super easy, kids always bring home heaps of 'art', and most people don't have walls big enough to display it all - using their artwork as gift wrap is an excellent personal touch! Otherwise newspaper (particularly for birthdays and special occasions - if possible, use the paper from the special date and it looks like thoughtful recycling, or pick the section that fits, cooking section for chefs and baking lovers, sports section for sports nuts etc.), posters, etc. My nana used to be the best at carefully peeling off wrapping paper from her gifts so it was kept nice for her to wrap other gifts! My best wrapping idea (and planned Christmas wrap) - is to purchase some re useable carry bags - its a gift bag and a present in one! and hopefully encourages minimising plastic bag use!

Do you really need that much paper towel? - Paper towel is everywhere and it is wasteful - in my office there are no teatowels, so everybody uses paper towels to do their drying! Argh! I wash mine and leave it on the side of the sink to dry - and invested in kids bowls and cutlery so it would stop going missing! Public restrooms are also bad for it, and I'll bet most people take way more than they need. On this topic, I am definitely going to speak to my work about greening our office - starting with tea towels!

If you have other ideas - please share below !

Gandhi - So Wise

Consider Adoption ...

Meet Slinky,  a 2 year old boy whose life has been saved today by my friend, Mel. Both of them were winners today. 

In the last 6 weeks, two of my friends have adopted new additions to their families from the local RSPCA.. Now I am not in a position to add any other pets to my brood of animals, however I got on the RSPCA website and my heart nearly broke looking at the adorable animals without homes. and it wasn't just cats and dogs, there were birds, fish and even a little ferret called Banana!
So you pay a small price for the animal, and it comes de sexed, vaccinated and with a clean bill of health! The money goes straight back into the RSPCA to continue the good work they are doing, and you give a good home to someone who needs it. Plus, you aren't supporting some terrible puppy farm!

I am definitely an animal person and would be lost and lonely without my dogs and kitty (none of whom are rescue animals, I do admit). If you are in the market for a brand new friend, why not check out the local RSPCA or animal shelter?

Plant a Tree

Trees are amazing! 

Trees feed through a process called photosynthesis. They take in carbon dioxide from the air, they use the light from the sun to process the chemicals, taking the carbon to feed themselves and releasing oxygen into the air. Oxygen is, of course, what humans and animals breathe!

Anyone following the environment would know that one of the issues we are currently facing is greenhouse gases and carbon dioxide is the primary greenhouse gas emitted through human activity. Now, I'm no scientist, but if trees naturally process carbon dioxide into oxygen, it stands to reason that planting more trees has to help!!!

Trees, in addition to the essential benefit of helping us survive, have many many benefits. Planted properly they can cool your home by providing shade, trees increase the market value of your property, and researchers have even proven that they help reduce crime rates! So - get planting!!!

While you are tree planting, why not make it a fruit tree? 

Nothing better than picking a apple off a tree, or a plum, a pear, an orange. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it! Fruits even better when you grow it yourself, and it doesn't need to travel across the world to get to your plate! That's a lot of energy and emissions being saved!

Now, of course, food is a benefit in itself, but if your fruit tree grows too much fruit, you can share it with neighbour! That's a great way to increase the community spirit, and if you are lucky enough to have a number that makes a mean cherry pie, I'd consider that a double win!

Put Down that Stapler!!!!!

Crazy stat alert! If every officer worker in Australia saved one staple per day, that would be 88.3 tonnes of steel saved a year... 

I am careful to print double sided, or avoid printing if I can read on the screen, because pretty much everyone should have the message by now that you shouldn't waste paper. When I print though, I defaulted my settings to put a staple in my prints that are more than a page (Lazy, i know). Most of the time i could do without that staple, with just a reusable paperclip, or not stapling at all! I guess staples are so small and common, it's easy not to think about where they come from or how many we would use.

I googled how much elephants weigh, and it seems it's an average of 7 tonnes... so if every officer worker saved one staple a year, that would be the weight of12.6 (or 12 and a baby) elephants worth of steel saved each year!      WOW!

I can assure you that with my new found knowledge I have updated my printing settings and got those old paperclips out of my office drawer!