Thomas Kostigen, Character Road Trip on USA
On November 6th at 8/7c on USA, there's a special green edition of "Character Road Trip" featuring Thomas M. Kostigen, co-author of New York Times bestseller "The Green Book: The Everyday Guide to Saving the Planet, One Small Step at a Time."
Here are a few simple green tips from Thomas' book. Enjoy!
UNPLUG YOUR POWER: 10% of the electricity used in your home is burned by communication devices and appliances when they are turned off! If every US household just unplugged their computers and cell phone chargers when they were not being used, collectively we'd save over $100million- enough to provide free healthcare to every low-income child under the age of 5 in the state of CA.USE FEWER NAPKINS EVERYWHERE:
There's no need to grab a huge stack of napkins from the concession stand when you know you'll use only a couple. Each American consumes an average of 2200 standard 2-ply per year (or just over 6 per day). If everyone in the US used an average of 1 fewer napkin per day, more than a billion pounds of napkins could be saved from landfills each year. A stack of napkins this size could fill the entire Empire State Building.RUN FULL LOADS IN YOUR DISHWASHER & LAUNDRY:
You'll save energy. And don't pre-rinse your dishes before putting them in. You can save up to 20 gallons of water per dish load, or 7300 gallons over a year. That's as much water as the avg person drinks in a lifetime!
RID YOURSELF OF JUNK MAIL:
The average US household receives 1.5 trees worth of junk mail each year, and many of these trees are thrown right into the trash. If you wan to reduce the amt of junk mail you receive, you'll need to register with the mail preference service. It costs a buck, but you can do it easily online at dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offmailinglist. For the junk mail you continue to receive, remember to toss it in the recycling bin instead of throwing it out with the garbage. You can even recycle plastic window envelopes. If all Americans recycled their junk mail, $370 million in landfill dumping fees could be saved each year.ELIMINATE PLASTIC WASTE:
Plastic bags, plastic utensils, disposable containers, paper napkins, and those brown paper bags. Instead use a reusable lunchbox, reusable drink containers, cloth napkins, and silverware. You could save $250 a year and as much weight in waste as the average 9 year-old.SHARE YOU POPCORN AT THE MOVIES:
You'll save $ and packaging. Americans today consume 17 billion quarts of popcorn each year (54 quarts per person), 30 % of which are eaten at movie theaters, sports events, entertainment arenas, amusement parks. If half the people shared their popcorn, we could save the paper packaging for more than 2.5 billion quart-size servings.
Thomas Kostigen
USA, Character Road Trip
http://usanetwork.com/movies/characterroadtrip/
I like these tips..though I have been on the treehugger trail for years (would that it was express, but we are learning as we go).
We try to remember to unplug, or use plug strips for phantom loads, but we have several cordless phones, and I am a heart and HIV. I need a phone near by in case of medical emergency.
We use canvas bags, and an ice chest or two for shopping.
We have bought (with the bank that is) part of an old tobacco farm to turn into an ecofarm.
Overall goals are to get as close to 0% fossil fuel use as possible. It was a standing modular home, larger than we really need, but we have older family that will likely need in home care. We cannot afford nursing facility.
It is on 8.78 ac abt 7 ac wooded hillside and almost 2 as yard, we are converting to edible landscape using organic practices.
We are planting Moso bamboo, co2 sink/incect and fire resistant, edible shoots, 60 feet tall by 7-10 inches across when mature for timber/ flooring.
Pomegranates for juice or wine,
Kiwi for local sales (unusual for the area,
but will grow well here in Northern North Carolina).
The usual local veggies for our own canning or freezing, Cherries, Peaches, Blackberries, Raspberries,
Giant Sequoia (large co2 sink, insect and fire resistant, good shade for the house)
We shred take our junk mail after getting off as many lists as we can, for garden mulch, we are on red clay that is sticky and alkaline, the paper shred add acidity and help to keep the soil loose, we also add fireplace wood ash, old hay, grass clippings.
We use neem for insect control, will not persist or harm ladybugs, honey bees, or birds it interrupts incect hormons so they don't mature or reproduce, some granular nitro-urea no occasion.
We have done many things tp the house to reduce and have plans for other things.
All lights are CFL and will be LED as the CFLs die off(and we can afford it.
All appliances we will swap out as they die off and we can afford to replace them with EnergyStar or better. Front load washer uses 50% engergy and 60% less water and cloths come out almost dry and very clean, also clothes last longer in a front loader.
We have already added gaskets to switch and outlet covers, expanding foam insulation in the cracks, and weatherstripping doors , we found them by using the video camera on Night Vision wil show bright spots where heat is leaking, Low flow faucets and shower heads. Double insulation on the water heater( to be replaced with solar unit we have, but need new water tank. I am scrounging parts to make a solar oven (ducted to the crawl space under house when not cooking).
I use the smallest burner with covered pots when I cook.
Use a toaster oven instead of the full size one when I can. Coverd pans here too.
We have Nissan Versa 37 mpg, and 10 year old Dakota pickup that is ony used when needed and I combine trips in either one.
The Dakota I put a cold air intake and low restriction air filter, keep both tuned, and use a Dupont car polish that has Teflon in, the truck gets 22 now , 15 before alterations, and low resistance Michelin tires on both. The tonneau cover was another 1.5 mpg, but it has expired and I need to replace it.
None of this is overnight, but over the last several years.
I have always recycled anything that could be and reuse or repurpose others , from having grown up around Depression Era Grandparents.
We also can or freeze food from our garden, trade garden produce.
Our motto here is , It is all and experimnet!