6 Upsides of the Down Economy

The recession may have a silver lining in the form of better quality of life. Learn how to save money and live well.

Read more: http://www.thedailygreen.com/living-green/blogs/save-money/how-to-save-money-recession-460609?src=nl&mag=tdg&list=dgr#ixzz0JMrrNePu&C

As summer here begins to bloom and spring draws to a close. It is really easy for one to make healthy green lifestyle changes. If you are a new reader, or someone who is new to changing the planet and wanting to make an impact here are some ideas.

1. Being it warmer and sunnier the obvious lifestyle one can do is not drive as much. This has been a lifestyle change that most people should know already, but seriously folks its a big one. Not only will it reduce your carbon foot print, but it will force you to get out and enjoy the sun which we all like to complain that we don't get enough of right? As well as being a tool for reducing the carbon it will also encourage exercise and a healthy living. Sitting in hours of traffic actually is said to be extremely unhealthy, as it promotes rage, lifelessness, stress and obviously polluting the air with carob. EcoSalon.com wrote an article about obesity and the environment and states that since the world in general (not just America as the world likes to assume) everyone has increased their food consumption. If we drop our food consumption, the food industry would stop increasing its production. What has this got to do with driving and the environment? If we all stopped driving, and started bicycling, walking, running, any other forms of transportation that uses less fuel, we might change our eating habits as well with the weight loss that one might achieve while becoming more active.

2. Along with the sunnier and drier weather that comes with summer, we are blessed with the earths' plants' fruits that are found naturally or are personally planted. Your challenge this season is to reduce as much food purchasing at the supermarket. Only buy things that you can't make yourself, or that are rather exotic. A challenge that comes builds off the previous tip is to adapt your diet to foods you would find that season. Typically if you would to find something that is off season it would A) Be highly expensive B) Come from a faraway land C) Probably be fresher as well. So for example, in the spring/summer time you would eat fruits and vegetables, that grow in the summer, fall utilize fruits and vegetables that grow in the fall, winter, etc. With the internet it is relatively easy to find websites where you could get potentially fresh foods year-'round. Check websites such as www.etsy.com, www.localharvest.org/ for foods that are of interest.
- Bake rather than buy processed food or buy from a bakery
- Buy an Aerogarden to grow fresh vegetables, herbs, and other plants year-'round it uses water, nutrients and air to grow, from the website, "NASA tested aeroponic technology grows plants in water, nutrients and air so simply and easily that anyone can succeed."
- Become vegetarian for environment reasons. A big factor in global warming is that our diets request a lot of processed meat. If we just take a step back and cut down our meat consumption, we won't need as many cows, and other meat-baring animals. As before, buy such things when they are in "season".
- Buy things when they are in season. They'll be more plentiful, fresher, cheaper, than when you buy anything 'off-season'. With this, buy organic as well. Things that are organic often taste better and provide us with less chemicals on our veggies and fruits. As well as other ingredients that go into our food.

3. Electricity is a big part of our society and we are consistently forgetting that it is a big part of our environment. A popular light reducing technique is the Phillips Compact Bulb From the "Green Home" website, "Philips lighting provide a much nicer light than other compact fluorescents. Based on a national average, you will save $50 on energy bills with these discount light bulbs and $20 more by not having to replace numerous incandescents. These full spectrum light bulbs are energy star compliant.

We've got the popular twister-shape CFL . It's a direct replacement for a 75-watt incandescent, offering energy savings, high-color rendering and super-long life. Lasts 5 years, based on 3-4 hours average usage, 7 days per week. "

There are many other ways to reduce electricity usage, but one way that I see the most beneficial is solar power. Some say that may be the less beneficial, but quite honestly, if there is no sun out, then do something else that requires no electricity! Cloudy but no rain? Still nice enough to go bicycling, hanging out with friends, doing something more productive than sitting on your computer chair on the internet. If you go solar power, plan your day. If you know that the sun isn't going to be out, or have not stored enough power, do something else.

The only thing that is needed for solar power are the panels. With the wind power the you have to have a lot of mills in order to have enough power from the wind stored, this creates a lot of money, material and power issues. Whereas, if the person bought solar power panels individually they wouldn't have to worry as much.
Also participate in the annual Earth Hour movement that encourages the individual, towns, and even large cities to turn off their lights for one hour. This also promotes healthy skies at night which is always a plus =)

4. Craft and create products for every day use from old materials. Recycle and Reuse are two of the three "R's" (recycle, reuse and reduce). If everyone were to take a day out of their lives to create some home product or decor from recycled and reused those materials to create something new. The whole purpose behind HugYourEarth is to do this. Find ways to completely transform your home into a place that supports itself from completely recycled and reused materials. Craft, recycle and reusing goes to the extent of the Earthship organization that builds an environmentally friendly earth house using materials based in that area. This helps the cost of things and the process as well. The company does not have to order supplies that take days to deliver. These 'ships' are built to be self efficient by recycling water, energy and other elements in order to operate, they use and reuse materials in that location and they are the ultimate environment craft that one can do to help. 

 I've been thinking about making HugYourEarth into a reality and the thing that is I see an opportunity for it. I joined Gamma Sigma Sigma which is a National open gender sorority devoted to doing service. I figured by making this into a service project it might be a way to branch out to the rest of the National chapters. 
I figured the only way to make this unique is to sell Earth friendly products to help raise money for a specific earth related cause.
It might actually work.

 

If you have old books that you don't mind using up here is a nice way or recycling them.
Turn them into nice festive decorations for each season. Here is an example from Craftster.org that a user posted.

v

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=268026.0

Delicate pink petals sprinkled in a field of violets. Soft. Young. Bright.

Our on-the-go hand cleanser is gentle on skin and convenient to carry, wherever you're headed
Kills germs without water
Usage:
Rub a dime-sized burst of foam onto dry hands.

More Foaming Sanitizer

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I don't know how Eco-Friendly this product is, but it's probably the most handy thing in the world. I don't know about you, but I like to feel clean and whenever my hands are not, I try to immediately wash them right away. In high school I was a tickler for clean hands. I would excuse myself often from class (not only to get a walk now-and-then but to wash my hands). I have also realized that I have gotten less sick after becoming a tickler for clean hands.

Now there's a cute little product that foams sanitizer for those cute smells from the bath and body work shop.  Def. recommended!

Not a Paper Cup Cup

We LOVE this cup - it beautifully tricks you into thinking it's paper when actually it's a sturdy double walled porcelain cup with silicone top. Couldn't be more eco-friendly - take it to your favorite coffee shop again and again. Cup measures 3 1/2" x 5".

Price: $22.50
 
sku: 439110

http://www.paper-source.com/cgi-bin/paper/439110.html?cm_id=3000.336

Earth Pony Bead Pattern You need: 25 Green Pony Beads 33 Blue Pony Beads 2 Yards Satin Cord 1 Lanyard Hook Basic Instructions: Fold your ribbon in half to find the center. Use a half hitch (see detail below) to secure it to lanyard hook. Lace beads using the pattern above right as a guide.

Blue   Green

http://www.makingfriends.com/ponybead/ponyearth.htm


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Here is a fun craft to show your love for the earth. Simple yet...point making. You do not have to just use pony beads, you can use seed beads or just any bead really.

So, I have found a way to make a profit for H.Y.E. We will sell environmentally friendly products but for a decent price. I have realized that in today's world, most environmentally friendly products are wayyyy too expensive for most people. We'll sell it at a discount. Members will have to pay a small fee and in return they get discounts at the store with our environmentally friendly products. Sounds good to me anyway.

But www.wists.com is a great way to store all of those products you drooled over online!! To view my wists you can go here.

You can add the wists bookmark to your tabs so when you do find a product you like, you just hit the wists button and choose the products image and add keywords and a comment and boom! it is added to your wists. Wists I believe stands for "Wish Lists". It is a very good way to keep track of those products you really want or those you just dream of having :-)

PS. If you ever buy my dream island or house I may have to come after you...

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Britain's Prince Charles has converted his 38-year-old Aston Martin to run on biofuel made from surplus wine, his office revealed Tuesday.

The car was a 21st birthday present from Queen Elizabeth, and the prince has converted it to run on 100 percent bioethanol as a way to reduce his carbon emissions, his office, Clarence House, said.

The prince has also converted his other cars -- several Jaguars, an Audi and a Range Rover -- to run on 100 percent biodiesel fuel made from used cooking oil, his office added.

Details of the prince's biofuel use were made public Monday in his household's 2008 Annual Review, which details the prince's income and activities over the past year.

The report says Charles and his household reduced their carbon footprint by 18 percent last year after switching to green electricity supplies and reducing their travel-related emissions.

Charles, 59, has a strong interest in environmental issues and rural affairs. He is active in environmental charities, and his food company, Duchy Originals, uses ingredients produced at his organic farm in Cornwall, southwestern England.

The biofuels are converted and provided by Green Fuels Limited, a British company that previously provided biodiesel to power the royal train, Clarence House said.

The wine used for the bioethanol comes from current vintage that remains after English wine producers reach the EU limit for annual wine production, a spokesman for Green Fuels said.

The prince uses wine from a vineyard close to his Highgrove Estate, the spokesman said.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/07/01/royal.wine/

Now. If there was only a way to run my 1996 red chevy cavalier on English wine, I would not have to pay for gas ever again.

I wonder if he just put it into the gas tank and starter 'er up. It does sound like that. See, there is some use for my 1996 red  chevy cavalier. Now, I just need to get it to Bethlehem, Pa from home. Hmm... I wonder if my aunt will purchase wine for me and send across to the US. She lives in London, so she'd be a great resource.

I should really look into it and buy some wine. That'd be super awesome if I can make it work with my 1996 red  chevy cavalier.

 

I saw an idea awhile ago on craftster that uses old greeting cards and you made boxes out of them. I thought I bookmarked them, but I couldn't it. So I'll post it when I run across it again, but thought I'd share this idea.

Product Detail - EARTHOPOLY

View Larger [+] Product Dimensions: 1.5" H x 10" W x 20" L

<input ... >

GREETINGS FELLOW EARTHLINGS!

Earthopoly is a game celebrating Earth, one turn at a time!

Players become the caretakers of wondrous locations around the planet,

then increase their property value by collecting

Carbon Credits and trading them in for Clean Air.

AAHHHH!

It’s all fun and games until someone gets sent to the Dump!

So choose your token, (all made by nature of course!), and

advance to Go Green.

EARTHOPOLY ROCKS!

WANNA PLAY?

FOR THOSE WHO ARE INTERESTED IN MORE SPECIFICS…

We have tried to make our game as Earth-friendly as possible. All the paper is recyclable. The ink is vegetable oil-based ink. The game pieces are either made by nature or completely recyclable. Our goal in making this game was to have as little impact as possible on the planet and at the same time create a game that shares helpful information. And of course we wanted to make the game fun! But at some point if you’ve had enough fun with your game, please either pass it on to a friend or just deposit the parts in the appropriate recycling bin and let your game become something new!

http://www.lateforthesky.com

If I were to run for President in my lifetime, it would focus around changing and reforming the environment. One of the things I wish to do would promote Earth Hour. Perhaps instead of doing so for one day, it would be pretty cool to do it for an hour a month, or so. Just stop the world completely for an hour and sit back and relax and watch the stars.

That would be pretty awesome I think.

If I were to run for president, what would you like to see me change regarding Environment wise?

DECOR / ECOSALON HOME
Here's a fun idea: for today’s trendiest décor look, shelve your books by spine color for a rainbow of reading. It's a free, easy way to freshen your style.

Why don't we make better use of our books, decoratively speaking? I am completely addicted to books and love having them in my home, but I've realized lately that some of them are more clutter than collection. I want my library to reflect who I am today.

Sarah Irani over at EcoSalon has directed her readers to an architectural site for Eco Homes. They are essentially called "EarthShips". The Earthship company is based in Taos, NM and builds homes that are entirely environmentally friendly. They use natural water, solar and wind electricity, and indigenous materials to build the homes. They also provide systems to make it more environmentally friendly to your region and climate.

I have been thinking about how I am going to go through with the Eastern Eco-Home Project. This will be the biggest project of them all, and I think I may have a solution. I thought about how, at least in my town, all the houses have become these big monstrousities, that take up large amounts of material each house, and the energy to construct each house, and then in some places, have the house become a foreclosure. What if, the HYE Foundation, buys these houses, takes them down, but uses the material from that house to build a new environmentally friendly house? A whole new architecture and styling...then perhaps sell it back to the family who lost it, for less, or something similar. Or perhaps build a community, so the homeless can test out the difference in living in the eco-homes.

The focus of these eco-homes is to use what you have instead of what you don't have. Also, placing the home in the corner of the lot, rather than the center, will give the feeling of having more space. I got to make a visual. It will be better to understand. The homes will also be focused on using solar power energy and will have to be forced to follow certain rules.

So, see, if we buy out neighborhoods that are foreclosed, then, we can completely reconstruct the neighborhood into a new environmentally friendly neighborhood. Sure it's a change, and sure it's a change people might not like, but it could be the future, of this world....

Comments, thoughts and questions are always welcomed. =)

California Wild Fire Water (CWFW)
I feel so bad for the people in Southern California and their Wild Fires and lack of water. Couldn't we make a system as to store water and transport it across the country into basins so those fields can have sprinklers and use it to hydrate the brush?

Hmm. Something to think about. It could be another project of ours. Place water collecting systems in areas of the country where there is bounty full amounts of water, and then disperse it in Southern California with the sprinkler system.

Too Unnatural?

Wouldn't people like to keep it natural? Yes, BUT wouldn't people also want to have their homes? Sprinklers could just be turned on during dry seasons and not turned on all year.

Your thoughts please. =)