Filed under: Green Life, Green Products | Tags: biodegradable, College, detergent, laundry, school, seventh generation, summer, vegetarian
So, I’m headed off to college in a week. I am trying to be the greenest college student I can be (I haven’t used air conditioning all summer!) I’m going to keep updating this blog through out college, hopefully to find a new target audience of college students just trying to be green! I did my college shopping and was seriously upset with how many plastic bags they wanted to use. The tote I brought was not nearly enough. One thing I bought was biodegradable and organic laundry detergent, made my Seventh Generation. They’re a great company; my family has used there products for many years. Now as I begin the journey of living alone, I will continue to live a green life. One big change I made in my life is that I recently became a vegetarian.
I’ll be posting more, and will be looking for more things to post about. Please, if you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Filed under: Green Life, Green Tip, Green Websites | Tags: donate, everything, how to, lime.com, packing peanuts, prom dresses, recycle
I stumbled across an article on lime.com. This article explains how to recycle everything you never know you could recycle, from makeup to toothbrushes. Want to recycle your packing peanuts? Just take them down to your local UPS and they will take them from you. How about a formal dress that you will never wear again? Well, those you can donate to the Salvation Army, or to the Glass Slipper Project. You can even get rid of furniture effectively, by either selling it on craigslist or a number of other ways to recycle.
Go to the article for the complete list on how to recycle everything everynting.
Filed under: Green Food, Green Life, Green Tip | Tags: agriculture, community supported agriculture, CSA, environment, farms, food, fruit, harvest, organic, vegetables
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is becoming more and more popular each day. CSA is new socio-economic model of food production, sales, and distribution. Its goal is to increase the quality of food coming in and the quality of the land its grown on. CSA farms are small. A community can pledge to recieve a share of its food each week. Starting in June, my family joined a CSA farm on the North Fork of Long Island. Every Thursday, we go to the community center in our neighborhood and pick up a box of freshly grown organic vegetables. Its pretty fantastic. The contents of the box vary from week to week, depending on what is in season. Every thing is organic and pestiside free. An example of what we’ve gotten from our CSA farm so far: arugela, romaine, peaches, apples, raspberries, zuccini, cucumber, kale, and many many others. To find a CSA near you, visit localharvest. You can search farms, markets, restaurants, grocery stores, or farm shares. Just fill in your zip code.
Most CSA shares are closed now, but I encourage you to look into the 2009 season.
Happy Harvesting
Filed under: Green Life | Tags: amazon, cds, digital, environment, itunes, music, packaging
I recently came across a blog with the argument that old school CDs were the way to go. It said that there was nothing better than holding a physical CD in ones hand, which to some extent I agree with. But what about from the point of view of the environment? Look at a CD’s packaging. The plastic case, the CD it self, the paper to make the sleeve. And one you obtain the CD, it is loaded right into iTunes, and then never really pay much mind to the CD again. So instead, buy your music on iTunes or another legal internet music database. So why not put your own 5 seconds of enjoyment aside, and just go digital!
Filed under: Green Life | Tags: bake sales, brats, buddies, eco-school, green roofs, Kids, pre teens, recycle, school
This morning was very unusual at my school. The first two periods where used for something called “Buddy Activities”. Normally, these activities include drawing pictures with the 2nd and 3rd graders, or playing games like tag and knockout with the 6th graders. The Juniors always have the 7th grade, something I was not looking forward to. I thought they would be too cool for us, and not participate. I thought we would be doing some kind of activity like “board games” but this morning was different. It was a conversation about how we could make our school a more sustainable place. I was so happy that this was what this morning was devoted to, but I was still worried that these 7th graders would not be interested in it. We split into a small group, there were four Juniors and four 7th graders at my table. It took the kids a couple of minutes to warm up, but soon they were contributing to the conversation. I (of course) had a lot to say, and I noticed that these kids had as much to say as I did.
They came up with great ideas, and they agreed that our school needs a green roof. They said that we needed more recycling bins, and the ones that are already there need to be more visable. They said we should have a “green sale” once a month, where we raise money either for green organizations or for our schools own “green funds”.
I must say I was very impressed with the conversation. I can’t say I was passionate about anything when I was 7th grade. The only thing I cared about was boys and what I was wearing. It definitely set a very good tone for my day.
One thing bothered me, and it wasn’t the juvenile comments or horny middle school boys. It was the snack. We had a snack after the discussion, and I ate a very good brownie. But the had HUGE paper plates AND napkins! I saw both 7th graders and 11th graders walking by with a huge napkin, a huge plate, and on that plate one little donut hole. This bothered me, and I actually said something about it. It seemed a little hypocritical to me.
Other than that, it was a great morning that made me have a really good day. I think that more kids (or are they pre-teens?) should be enviornmentally involved. I am really happy with the steps my school is taking to be green.
This weekend, I went on a trip to Ohio to look at colleges. Friday was spent at Kenyon College, and Saturday I went to Oberlin. When I got to Oberlin, I felt as if I were right at home. I was amazed that there was a college devoted to the environment. While eating lunch on campus, I saw a pick up truck filled with compost drive by. I decided that a school’s contribution to the environment is essential for me, and I don’t want to go somewhere that doesn’t care about being sustainable. A sustainable college is where I want to go, and right now, Oberlin is at the top of my list.
