Sustainable Saturdays

While this is appearing on a Thursday, my hope is to publish it on Saturday's from now on but other obligations will prevent that this week. In this segment I will give out a tip each week that covers something or someway too be Sustainable. Since my last post was on rain barrels, it only makes sense to follow that up with some tips on water conversation.

One of the easiest ways we can conserve our precious fresh water is by brushing our teeth. Many of us leave the water run while we brush and you don't have to. just by turning it on when you need to rinse and off while you are brushing will save about 2 gallons of water. This depends on if you use the happy birthday method of singing this song twice while you brush, which should be approximately two minutes of brushing. This is how we taught our daughters that brushing can be fun. The amount of water save also depends on whether the little attachment on the end of your faucet, called an aerator, is a low flow type. If anyone else has any great ideas on how to get your kids to brush or how to save water feel free to let me know.

I would also like to give a shout out to Tree Hugger, which also has many ways that you can learn to be sustainable with very interesting topics. You can link to it here or from my blog list. Until next Saturday, be wise be sustainable.



Death Valley

When you see a picture such as this one of Death Valley, what is the first thing to pop into your mind? 

Photo Credit: Ozyman  

 

 

I am sure it is not a rain barrel. When thinking about the conditions in the picture, we think about a desert devoid of any water, but what we should really be thinking is how can I save water so that the rest of our planet doesn't start looking like this. In the US we are wasting water at an unbelievable pace, in watering our lawns, washing cars and in industries such as "fracking" where they can use millions of gallons of water a day. So maybe the next time you see a picture such as this you will think about what a rain barrel is and how it can be of use.

 

Those of us who are interested in Sustainability are working to get the word out on what everyday people can do to preserve our resources. A rain barrel is an excellent way to capture water that can be used in a variety of ways. A few ways that one can use a rain barrel to be sustainable are to water your garden with it, with a little work it can also be connected into a house's water system to use for laundry or to flush your toilets.

 

Our fresh water supplies are dwindling every day and if we don't start thinking about being sustainable we may some day run out. While there are too numerous of ways to use a rain barrel and how they can be constructed and connected to mention in this post, if you follow the link you will be able to learn all you want to know. What is important to know now is that we don't all want to live somewhere that looks like Death Valley.

 

 





This picture was provided by Rain Barrel Guide, where you can go to learn all about how rain barrels work. You can also find out the many uses of rain barrels in the fight to conserve one of our most precious resources, water.

As I sit here wondering about how I can promote sustainability, all of the sudden it hits me, teach families what they can do to be sustainable and show them how it will save them money at the same time. While this concept may be new to many, it is what love to do.

Let's see just how easy this is to accomplish. I am going to start with the most basic ways a family can make changes. The easiest thing you can do is to remember to turn off the lights when you leave a room, to add to this if you change those old incandescent light bulbs to CFL bulbs you will save even more money on your electric bill, but wait change to the newest LED bulbs and save even more.
I understand that these bulbs may seem expensive but the savings over the long run, both on energy consumption and you electric bill make them worth while.

Another easy tip you can do, and this one may not cost you anything, is to put many of your TV's and electronic items on plug strips, and when not in use turn off the strip. Most people don't realize that all their electronic things are constantly drawing power and running up their bill. Even some household kitchen gadgets that are left plugged in draw power. like coffee makers, microwaves, and even some toasters. Check yours and see what you can unplug to save power and reduce energy use.

I think one of the easiest ways to save money in your house is to reduce the amount of paper products that you use. This could start easy enough just by using real plates and cloth napkins when you eat dinner. Quit throwing your money in the trash every time you eat. While many don't like washing dishes it is far cheaper and if you get in the habit after every meal it doesn't seem like so much of a chore. As for those cloth napkins, if you're thrifty you can find them at the dollar store, and you have to do laundry anyway, right.

Now you can see just how easy it is to reduce the amount of energy you use and save money in the process. Let's all try and do our part to promote sustainability and save our planet.