Clothesline Zen

One of the best things we ever did was to put up a clothesline in our backyard.  I don't see many in our neighborhood and I can't understand why.  We bought ours from The Clothesline Shop and it has saved us thousands of dollars in utility bills since we rarely use our drier any more.

The clothesline actually has many other benefits.  I find it relaxing to hang the clothes, being in the fresh air, looking at the trees, the garden, watching birds and the sky at the same time.  It keeps me in touch with nature on a daily basis. It is ironic and odd that many of the older, analog devices and technologies many of us have abandoned, are actually more relaxing and physically beneficial than our new, advanced, digital competitors.

Turn hassles into opportunities

When we go shopping at our local Trader Joe's supermarket there is always a battle for parking spaces.  Cars will be hovering waiting to get the closest spot to the store while other honk angrily and jockey for position.  Why not turn this into a positive?  Just drive away and park far from the store.  Why would anyone do this?

1)  You will get an opportunity to walk and burn some calories.
2)  You will save gas, which comes from fossil fuels our country wastes flagrantly.
3)  You will calm yourself and reduce stress.

Here's another example.  Penn Station is a giant subway station in New York City.  The entrance has long escalators that are inevitably packed with commuters.  There are perfectly good stairs that are hardly used.  Why not just take the stairs instead of the escalator?  Stair climbs are a great exercise and if you do this regularly you will definitely increase the strength of your legs and probably reduce potential joint problems with your knees.

The bottom line is, be on the lookout for ways you can turn obstacles or hassles into opportunities to save energy and to get exercise.

Hypermiling - DWB - Driving without brakes

You can contribute to preventing global warming and you can also reduce dependence on fossil fuels in a very simple way, by "driving without brakes".  All this takes is some conscious thought on your part, along with a little bit of patience.  Instead of tailgating and slamming on your brakes, learn how to time your approach to lights and other traffic.  You can regard it as a game or challenge to see how few times you actually need to use your brakes.  A great website with tips on driving without brakes can be found here:

http://hypermiling.net63.net/2008/09/03/dwb-driving-without-brakes/

Saving energy during cold weather

This is a topic relevant to many of us.  The cost to heat a home during a Winter in the Northeast is rising inexorably.  There are some simple steps that anyone can take to stay warm and save energy.  First of all, instead of worrying about heating your house by burning gas or oil in your furnace, think about how you can reduce heat loss from your house.

How heat is lost:

Heat travels in three main ways:  conduction (best through solids), convection (in liquids and gases, hot convection currents are less dense and thus they rise, give off heat, and then fall back down), and radiation (solids, liquids and gases can lose heat by radiation).  Air is a very poor conductor of heat, so trapping air is always a great way to reduce heat loss by conduction.  Examples of trapped air that insulate are fiberglass insulation or wool sweaters.  Insulating the attic can help reduce heat loss from hot air that rises through the house while shiny reflective surfaces can reduce heat loss by radiation.  Dark, matte surfaces tend to absorb heat.

Ways to reduce heat loss and save energy:

First of all, make sure you have sufficient insulation in your attic.  There are free inspections that will examine your house for heat leaks but it really isn't rocket science to find major sources of heat loss.  One great way to see if your house is properly insulated is to examine your roof after it has been covered in snow.  If the snow melts immediately in certain areas of the roof, then you may be losing serious amounts of heat from those spots.  Compare your roof to your neighbors' and see if the snow stays intact on your roof for a longer or shorter time.  Check for gaps or spaces around window air conditioners and under doors.  You can tape plastic over air conditioners and you can get a stuffed cloth "snake" that will fit snugly under the gap between the door and floor.  Cover large open windows with heavy drapes on very cold days.

Ways to generate heat without fossil fuels:

Probably the most important thing is to get control of your thermostat.  We leave ours off for most of the time, except early in the morning and during very cold Winter days.  Instead of keeping your home at a constant 72 degrees Fahrenheit, why not use a bathrobe, sweater, sweatshirt or sweatpants when you are chilly?  Wearing an extra layer of clothing costs nothing in fossil fuels.  Another tactic is to drink warm liquids such as green tea or soup.  This warms your body core and helps you be comfortable at a lower room temperature.  A third tactic is physical activity.  Take walks, do light exercise while you are watching television or listening to the radio.  This will also raise your body temperature without using fossil fuels.

How to remove leaves in the "greenest" way

Green things to do as Winter approaches -  In the Northeast, it's that time of year again, time to deal with gigantic mounds of leaves.  Our yard is covered in maple leaves, with a few Japanese maple leaves sprinkled in the backyard.

Leaf removal calls for major decisions.  The easy way out is also the worst for the environment.  We could pay some day laborers approximately $400 of our hard-earned money and they would come in with an army of gas-powered leaf blowers.  These things seem as loud as jet engines but they do get the job done.  In the end, they still have to rake the leaves into bags for pickup by the town.

The second choice is to try to use the electric leaf blower/vacuum combination.  Of course the electricity has to come from somewhere so it is not a green solution either.  Plus, the vacuum never works properly and if the leaves are the least bit wet, they clog the vacuum.  I end up emptying the bag from the vacuum into a garbage can lined with a plastic leaf bag and then leave the bags out for disposal.

Another possibility is to use the lawn mower to mulch the leaves.  In theory this should work, but in practice the volume of leaves is just too much.

You might suggest just leaving the leaves on the lawn.  I did do that one year and it was a horrible mess, it killed the grass underneath and instead of a lawn we had a yard with pools of mud after every rain.  By the way, we did stop using any fertilizers or pesticides on our lawn and it has adapted.  It is now the mutt or mongrel of lawns with all kinds of green plants that do manage to cover the soil quite nicely.  After the motley mix of the plants has been mown, it looks like a normal green lawn.

Back to the leaf removal choices.  I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that the old-fashioned rake is actually the best choice.  It costs nothing, and does not use an fossil fuels and it doesn't pollute the air.  It also provides a sedentary, overweight American (me) with valuable physical exercise.  I did do some research to find an ergonomic rake that does not clog with leaves.  After raking leaves into several piles, I use an old plastic snow shovel to shovel the leaves into a plastic garbage can lined with a plastic leaf bag.  This solution works well but it does take time.   I find it is a nice time to just relax and watch the world go by.

I do wish there was an alternative to plastic leaf bags.  Those big plastic bags are a tremendous waste of petrochemicals and energy and they foul the environment to boot. 

Not using modern technology is a small sacrifice but if more people went back to simple solutions like the rake, it would be a great benefit to the environment and human health.  I wonder if the day laborers who do leaf removal would use rakes instead of their gas engine leaf blowers?  It might be worth asking if you can't do the job yourself.

Plastic water bottles used to build a school in the Philippines

I came across this video and it is an excellent example of how an intractable problem can be turned into a great resource.  In the Philippines, an ingenious group of people has built a school using disposable plastic water bottles as the building material.  Take a look at this great video:

Philippine School Made Out of Bottles

If you know of any other good uses for plastic bottles, please post a comment.

Bareburgers - Good, healthier food

I recently found an interesting place to eat in New York City called "Bareburgers".  You can visit their website here:

http://www.bareburger.com/

According to the website, everything served is organic and the owners seem to have made a sincere effort to use local and organic ingredients.