Thursday, April 22, 2010

Happy Earth Day!


Original Artwork by Alexandra Fomicheva

Honor our Planet and Your Craft Today!

~ REDUCE ~

In Your Home:  Here are small changes you can begin TODAY

1. Turn off lights when you leave the room.
2. Close drapes, blinds or shutters on the side of the house where the sun is shining.
3. Buy an aluminum water bottle and refill it from your water filtering system (on the fridge front, Britta system, etc.)  Don't buy bottled water anymore!
4. Pack your child's lunch in plastic containers.  They come in all sizes now, for sandwiches, the size and shape of juice boxes, small enough for one serving of crackers or cookies, etc.  Include a fabric napkin, too!
5. If your child drinks from a straw, buy her a stainless steel straw!  (Available HERE)
6. Use fabric napkins at mealtime.
7. Use fabric rags when wiping down counter tops or cleaning windows.

Your Writing:

1. Print out your drafts less often.  When you do, reduce the font size, fitting more text on each page.
2. Change the color of your font each time you print, using up colored ink cartridges at the same rate as the black.
3. Shut down your computer at night.

~ REUSE ~

In Your Home:

1. Wipe off barely used aluminum foil, fold it when good and dry, and use it again.
2. Buy the reusable grocery bags and keep them in your car.  Use them EVERY time you shop.
3. Save yogurt and sour cream containers to store your child's small toys and game pieces.
4. Buy molds to make your own Popsicles using organic fruit juices.  You save money, there's less sugar, there's no supermarket packaging to throw away, and the kids will LOVE them!
5. Buy giant gallon sized boxes of hand soap and refill the pump-style containers.
6. Store food in the fridge and freezer in plastic or glass containers, not disposable bags. 

In Your Writing:

1. Save your rough drafts and print newer drafts on the backs.  (Draw a cross with a highlighter on the old side!)
2. Save the colored paper announcements from your child's school and print rough drafts on the blank sides.
3. Don't throw away deleted excerpts from your MS, or examples of practice writing, etc.  You may be inspired to use it in another project!
4. Use a secondary character from one story as the protagonist in another.
5. Expand a short story into a novel.
6. Use a scene from a less successful novel and write a short story or poem.

~ RECYCLE ~

In Your Home:

1. Put everything with the recycle triangle on it in your recycle bin.  Things you can recycle are: plastic, glass, and aluminum, of course, but also empty cereal boxes, aluminum foil, take-out cartons, plastic SOLO cups and plates, disposable silverware, magazines and newspapers, plastic trays that store bought cookies sit in, cardboard pasta boxes, pizza delivery boxes, plastic bottles for shampoo, hand soap, dishwasher and clothes detergents, etc.
2. Save gift bags from birthdays and Christmas for the next event.
3. Donate outgrown clothes to charity organizations in your community.
4. Donate books to your local library or school.

In Your Writing:

1. Refill used printer ink cartridges or recycle them at office supply stores.
2. Shred rough drafts when both sides of the paper have been printed on, and use them when stuffing packages for fragile objects to be shipped by mail.
3. Donate old laptops and other computer hardware to recycle centers.


Mother Earth and your Muse thank you!
Celebrate Earth Day by implementing these small changes!

What other ideas can you share for reducing, reusing and recycling?


[Arg! Blogger won't let me post comments on anyone's blogs today!  I'm frustrated!!!!]

30 comments:

Sarah Ahiers said...

We replaced water bottles with re-useable rubbermade water bottles. They hold more and are easy to wash.
Also, now i want a stainless steel straw...

i would like to add that a lot of animal shelters accept shredded paper as donations. That's what i do with all of mine.

but we actually can't recycle cardboard pizza boxes here :-(

Talli Roland said...

Happy Earth Day, Nicole! Thanks for all the great tips. I'm not sure I can add anything to your comprehensive list!

Jessica Bell said...

What else could I possibly add? I think you've got a very comprehensive list here. I wish people here in Athens were as environmentally conscious as you (actually even a tiny bit would be good).

I've posted a short story today. Would really really love your feedback seeing as it's your area of expertise. I'm not a frequent writer of short stories. Would LOVE to have your thoughts, and I've very good with constructive criticism! :)

Tricia J. O'Brien said...

Nicole: This is a fantastic list of things we can do. I had never thought of using shreddded paper as packaging filler. Excellent ideas. (I like them so much, I'm going to put a P.S. on my current post to link to your blog) Thanks and Happy Earth Day to you!

Stina said...

Great post! I'm getting better at editing directly on the computer screen instead of printing off the draft with each edit. My writing's actually getting much stronger for it, and I'm saving a fortune on paper and ink. Plus it helps out the environment big time. :)

Jaydee Morgan said...

What a great list!

I love my paper but I'm actually trying to cut back on how much I use. Every little bit helps.

Matthew MacNish said...

Bottled water is one the most evil and wasteful things in the universe - don't buy it!

Man/Woman question for your readers:

My girlfriend likes to leave ceiling fans on 24/7 in each room of our house. I installed them myself so I'm glad to see them get put to use but personally I think it's wasteful to have them on when we are not in the room. She says the air needs to be kept circulating.

Is this a man woman thing?

Thanks for sharing all of this Nicole, and for helping me get my carbon neutral button to work.

Today's guest blogger is Michelle McLean!

Tracy said...

You know what's sad? Some of those are the simplest, easiest ways to do things... and I never would have thought about them.

Thanks!

Wendy Ramer, Author said...

All great ideas, some of which I already use. My favorite writing tip was to turn a secondary character into the protagonist of her own story. I'm brewing over that right now.

Anonymous said...

Reusable sandwich bags are great. We've got 'em for the kids, and I use them too.

You can also wash out your Ziploc freezer bags and reuse them.

Also, switch to hard liquor instead of beer. Less aluminum to recycle. *cough*

Aubrie said...

That's great advice!

The problem with the plastic containers is that my husband has trouble remembering to rbing them back from work, and then he brings them all back at once. Sheesh! I'm still trying, though.

Unknown said...

Aubrie~ Yes, that's a problem in our house too! And, I don't wash plastic containers in the dishwasher or put them in the microwave -- the extreme heat makes the plastic gases leech into the rinse water/food. I handwash our plastic, and try to use glass for reheating food. :)

Summer Frey said...

Nicole: I don't know if you'd be willing to go that far, but the Hall County animal shelter (where I work, now called The Humane Society of Northeast Georgia) accepts regular newspapers AND shredded papers; however, the shredded paper must be long shreds (at least 4-5 inches), not the tiny short pieces that most home shredders make. Also, they accept any old towels and rags, blankets, etc.

Southpaw said...

Happy Earth Day.

Jai Joshi said...

Happy Earth Day!

As I was going through your list I was incredibly proud to find out that I did almost ALL the things on your list!

The only things I haven't done is:
Buy a reusable grocery bag and Make my own popsicles. But we rarely eat popsicles in our house.

Jai

Phoenix said...

Fantastic post! I use my reusable grocery bags all the time and have gotten in the habit of unplugging my cell phone chargers and lights from their sockets at night and when I'm away all day. Our city sorts through our trash to find recyclables so I'm sort of spoiled that way. ;)

Wonderful ideas!

Elana Johnson said...

I do a lot of this, except for the straw thing. I did buy my kids plastic ones that are shaped like Treble clefs...


Great tips! Happy Earth Day!

Lola Sharp said...

Happy Earth Day!! :o)

Theresa Milstein said...

While I do many of these, I got some more ideas. Ink is a big waster, which is why I try to do most of my edits on the computer. But when I do, I'll change the font to save ink. Thanks!

Paul C said...

This is a pertinent list. I just read that in my area 34% of our garbage is recycled. We can do better.

Terry Stonecrop said...

Great list! Thanks for the tips.

The only thing I would add is that when it's hot, sure, keep your windows shuttered as it helps block the radiant heat and keep ac bills down. But when it's cold, open them up, and let the radiant heat help heat your home.

Unknown said...

Stupid blogger! I wondered about you, I always see your lovely comments!!! I hope they work soon!!!

I love how you incorporated both the writing and the home! You are so clever :)

Happy Earth Day!

sarahjayne smythe said...

Happy Earth Day to you. :) Great tips, great post.

Laura S. said...

This post is fantastic!!! I love the suggestions for using tupperware containers instead of baggies and reusing foil. It's those little things I hadn't thought about that make a big difference!

You're really popular in my blog post today. I think I linked to your blog about 3 times!

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

That's a great list of tips! I've recycled for years.

VR Barkowski said...

What a fantastic post, Nicole! Since moving from California to Georgia, recycling has required a more conscious effort, and sometimes I get lazy. Thanks for reminding me how very important these seemingly "little" things are.

Susan Fields said...

Thanks for the great suggestions, Nicole! There are some wonderful reminders and some great new tips in here, too. Happy Earth Day!

Laurel Garver said...

Awesome ideas, Nicole.
Clothes that are too worn or damaged to donate can be cut up for cleaning rags or kids' craft projects. My daughter likes making Barbie blankets and rugs with scraps from the rag bag.

Another easy energy saver--solar clothes drying (aka hang out your laundry to dry).

And another great "resue" idea is to frequent yard sales. You're helping the whole community waste less if you can use something a neighbor can't.

Hannah said...

I'm doing pretty well on recycling on the home front but I do love the writerly tips...those I have not thought of. I'm a huge paper waster there.

Anonymous said...

very interesting topic