This weekend my family and I cleaned out our closets. We removed all the clothes that were torn, damaged, didn't fit, or that we didn't want any more. It was amazing how much I found that I'd forgotten I owned! So after finding long-lost loved items and deciding what I was ready to get rid of, I had to figure out what to do with it all. I started by reorganising all of my closet space to accommodate the clothing I wanted to keep.
Next I had to look at the pile of clothing I didn't want any more. Wow, that one was big! I had a lot of old shirts that I put on my top shelf a while ago and haven't taken down, a lot of which are now too small. Some of these were in decent shape, so I put them in a pile to give to younger kids I know. Others had small holes, but were otherwise in decent shape, and I put those in the pile of fabric I have been collecting to reuse. There were also a few pieces that were not in decent shape to be worn, which will go in clothes recycling.
Thinking back to the clothes I put in the pile of fabric to reuse, I have so many options! Some of you will remember that I have previously made a pencil pouch, a flower hairband, a couple of kids' toys, and a quilt out of old jeans as well as a reusable toys out of an old cotton t shirt. I have huge amount of fabric to reuse, old jeans, bed sheets, t shirts... all to be cut up and turned into something new!
So I'm looking for suggestions! What could I make? Or even what you're making out of your old stuff! I'd love to know :).You could email me (beth@whymewhynot.org) or post a comment.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
Pester Power
I already know that you read the title of this post and were confused and hopefully intrigued. When I was in the 4th grade, my teacher told us we should use Pester Power to make our families go green. What is Pester Power? Its when you bug people, usually your parents, to do something, which in this case was to recycle, compost, reuse, and the like. We were taught to bug our parents about being more eco-friendly every minute of every day so we could be more eco-friendly.
Pester Power is fine for 8-year-old kids, but as we grow up we can't be relying on our parents to make our whole families be green. We have to start taking responsibility, because how much of it do our parents really control? We have to do our part, not just leave it to our parents.
Going green isn't someone else's problem, its our problem. So tell me, what can you do? Not your parents, YOU. I'd be interested to know what you think.
Pester Power is fine for 8-year-old kids, but as we grow up we can't be relying on our parents to make our whole families be green. We have to start taking responsibility, because how much of it do our parents really control? We have to do our part, not just leave it to our parents.
Going green isn't someone else's problem, its our problem. So tell me, what can you do? Not your parents, YOU. I'd be interested to know what you think.
Monday, October 11, 2010
The Enemy of Our Oceans
We use it every day in multiple forms. Bags, containers, bottles, packaging, pens, toothbrushes. Plastic. Eventually it ends up in landfill or in an animal's home, whether that home is the ocean or a creek or a forest. Although it could end up in many different locations, I'm going to focus on what happens when it ends up in the oceans.
Starting with the facts, plastic in out oceans kill over a million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals such as turtles every year. 20% of plastic in the ocean is there because its been dumped off a boat of some sort. The other 80% is there because it started on land and made its way to the ocean one way or another. Most of the plastic in the ocean ends up in the North Pacific Gyre, known to many as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is an area of the ocean of the size of Texas that is literally covered with plastic. Thinking about the animals that die from consumption of plastic, there are so many! Turtles mistake floating plastic bags for jellyfish, and when they eat them, their digestive tracks are blocked and they can't eat, so they die. As for seabirds, they see they plastic from in the air, and they dive for it, and when they realize what they're eating, its too late! The plastic fills their stomachs and will eventually kill them. Some small fish may see tiny pieces of plastic bags and mistake them for plankton, and eat them. The plastic in the ocean kills them too.
But what can we do? We can start by using less plastic in general. My family has a lot of reusable bags that we take shopping with us, but sometimes we bring them in to unload the shopping from them and sometimes forget to put them back in the car, so regrettably have to get bags from the store. If possible, we always try and use paper bags, and either way we try and reuse them at least once before we throw them out. The thing with plastic is that no matter what, it won't biodegrade, the pieces just get smaller. So a reusable water bottle is a good start! If you follow the advice given in the Lunch! post, the trash-free lunches you make are helping out too! So much of what we can do to help save the earth in one area have a snowball effect that can be effective in other areas of eco-friendliness.
So what other things can you do to prevent plastic reaching the ocean or other natural habitats? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
**facts for this post taken from the Project Green Bag website. To learn more about plastic getting to the ocean, watch The Majestic Plastic Bag, a video brought to my attention by my brother, who was shown it by the Monterey Bay Aquarium education department**
Starting with the facts, plastic in out oceans kill over a million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals such as turtles every year. 20% of plastic in the ocean is there because its been dumped off a boat of some sort. The other 80% is there because it started on land and made its way to the ocean one way or another. Most of the plastic in the ocean ends up in the North Pacific Gyre, known to many as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is an area of the ocean of the size of Texas that is literally covered with plastic. Thinking about the animals that die from consumption of plastic, there are so many! Turtles mistake floating plastic bags for jellyfish, and when they eat them, their digestive tracks are blocked and they can't eat, so they die. As for seabirds, they see they plastic from in the air, and they dive for it, and when they realize what they're eating, its too late! The plastic fills their stomachs and will eventually kill them. Some small fish may see tiny pieces of plastic bags and mistake them for plankton, and eat them. The plastic in the ocean kills them too.
But what can we do? We can start by using less plastic in general. My family has a lot of reusable bags that we take shopping with us, but sometimes we bring them in to unload the shopping from them and sometimes forget to put them back in the car, so regrettably have to get bags from the store. If possible, we always try and use paper bags, and either way we try and reuse them at least once before we throw them out. The thing with plastic is that no matter what, it won't biodegrade, the pieces just get smaller. So a reusable water bottle is a good start! If you follow the advice given in the Lunch! post, the trash-free lunches you make are helping out too! So much of what we can do to help save the earth in one area have a snowball effect that can be effective in other areas of eco-friendliness.
So what other things can you do to prevent plastic reaching the ocean or other natural habitats? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Lunch!
Time to think about how our lunches are affecting the environment. My friends and I often pack our own lunches and bring them to school. My lunch goes in a reusable plastic box and if I wrap the individual items I use paper towels that I can compost when I get home. I tend not to have individually wrapped items. My brother and I usually choose what we want in our lunches on the weekends and pick up a box of brownies or cookies while grocery shopping or make something (my brother made snickerdoodles today). We also both have reusable water bottles that we use every day, so our lunches are generally trash-free.
Think about it. What do you pack in your lunch every day? Could you be any less wasteful? Do you use a new paper or plastic bag everyday, and throw everything away? If you do, it could be worth investing in a decent lunch bag or even just a sturdy reusable plastic box. I try my best to be trash free every day, but sometimes I walk past something in a store that I have a weakness for and will buy and individually wrapped something as a treat. I know I do it, and I try really hard to be waste free as much of the time as possible. It's really easy to do, and I bet it wouldn't be hard to try it.
Have fun with your trash free lunches!
Think about it. What do you pack in your lunch every day? Could you be any less wasteful? Do you use a new paper or plastic bag everyday, and throw everything away? If you do, it could be worth investing in a decent lunch bag or even just a sturdy reusable plastic box. I try my best to be trash free every day, but sometimes I walk past something in a store that I have a weakness for and will buy and individually wrapped something as a treat. I know I do it, and I try really hard to be waste free as much of the time as possible. It's really easy to do, and I bet it wouldn't be hard to try it.
Have fun with your trash free lunches!
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Showers
Right now I'm going to start simple, with showers. Yes, I did just say showers. I'll admit, I am absolutely terrible at taking short showers. I'm one of those people who just can't take 5 minute showers. Not easily. Some people can do that easily, and I think it's amazing. I have many different methods of conserving water though. Sometimes its as simple as turning the water off while I condition my hair, other times I just have to make myself hurry up! Showers can waste a whole load of water every day, you probably use between two and a half to five gallons of water per minute of your shower, depending on the strength of your shower head. If you can shorten your shower by one or two minutes, then you'll be saving up to 150 gallons per month.
There are some ways we can help ourselves decrease the lengths our our showers. I've recently heard about shower timers, which are basically hourglasses set for five minutes so we're reminded of how long we're taking. If you're really bad at short showers like me, how about using a stopwatch to time the length of your shower and seeing if you can improve? Its simple and easy, and if we keep trying then shorter showers will become habits.
There are some ways we can help ourselves decrease the lengths our our showers. I've recently heard about shower timers, which are basically hourglasses set for five minutes so we're reminded of how long we're taking. If you're really bad at short showers like me, how about using a stopwatch to time the length of your shower and seeing if you can improve? Its simple and easy, and if we keep trying then shorter showers will become habits.
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