I just saw the movie 'Away We Go' with John Krasinski (of "The Office") and Maya Rudolph (of "Saturday Night Live") are expectant parents who go in search of the perfect place to start their family in this low-key comedy from director/producer Sam Mendes ("American Beauty" & "Road to Perdition)". I thought it was a really good movie and I would recommend to every adult. It is rated R for a reason; especially the opening scene. You'll see what I mean. The cast also includes Catherine O'Hara, Jeff Daniels, Allison Janney, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Josh Hamilton. The story and the actors caught my eye, but also the Special Features of the DVD. It mentioned the eco-friendly things that Sam Mendes did on the set of the film.
From the FilmInFocus website:
Away We Go’s achievements can be broken down into four main areas: energy, transportation, catering/craft/water, and waste. Specific achievements include:
* For energy, biodiesel fuel was integrated into generators, using blends ranging from B-5 to B-99, resulting in substantial emissions reductions at point of combustion as well as through life-cycle analysis.
* For transportation, hybrid vehicles were driven 45% of the total miles driven during the production, and also reduced carbon emissions through their reduced idling policy and charter flight avoidance policy.
* For catering/craft/water, the production shifted its sourcing to local and organic sources for more than 50% of their meals and craft services, and eliminated plastic water bottles from their set.
* For waste, the production redirected 49% of its waste from landfills into recycling and composting.
Other achievements included consolidating shooting locations so as to reduce travel miles, adopting sustainable habits in the production office, and eliminating all those wasteful little plastic water bottles. The production switched to branded reusable bottles and, when it came to dinnerware, served with corn and sugar-based utensils.
Filmmaking while being eco-friendly is possible. Let's hope that other directors and producers get onboard and become more eco-friendly. With all of the movies that are made these days, that could make a huge impact. If you don't see this movie, I urge you to see a movie soon. Movies are a great 2 hour escape. And don't we all need escapes?
Many people have closets similar to the one above. No, you may not have a robe with duckies on them, but you probably have at least one closet that needs to be decluttered. Don't just dump all of your unwanted clothing into the trash, however. You have the opportunity of doing something green, get yourself a little more organized and receive a tax deduction. How cool is that?
You can combat a messy closet by going through your used clothing and put them into four piles.
1. Clothing you still wear and that you will keep - this will be clothing that you have worn in the past 12 months or you know you will wear in the next 12 months
2. Clothing you don't wear, but is in good condition which you can donate - there are many great choices when it comes to donating your clothing. Just a few are:
3. Clothing you don't wear, but may be cleverly reused - find out some ways to reuse used clothing here
4. Clothing that is falling apart, which can't be worn or reused and needs to be thrown away
Clothing donations are needed by many of the 600,000 homeless families in the United States. But the need doesn't end there: more than 28 million children living in low-income families and their parents could also benefit from donated clothes.
Clothing donations should be clean, undamaged, and reasonably wrinkle-free. Clothing can be folded and packed in sturdy boxes or bags; avoid hangers. Items that come in pairs (shoes, gloves, socks) should be kept together (shoe laces can be tied together, gloves and socks can be stuffed inside each other). Pockets should be emptied and any belts should be securely fastened to their appropriate items.
For tax purposes, you should keep a list of the clothing you donate. Donation centers usually give you a tax receipt, but if you mail your clothing or shoe donation to a charity, also send a self-addressed, stamped envelope so it can send you a receipt. Shipping costs are tax deductible as well.
Take all the time you need: whether it be two hours or two weeks. You'll be doing something great and eco-friendly for yourself, your spouse and possibly your local community.
Wikipedia defines litter as "waste that people unlawfully dispose of out of doors. It can be packaging or other unwanted items. Litter can be vandalism, carelessness, or inadvertence. Litter is a form of visual pollution. It can harm health, safety, and welfare. It adversely affects wildlife and environmental quality." That’s a pretty darn good definition.
A couple of times on the Ways2GoGreen twitter account I have posted this little phrase about littering:
Don't litter. Ever. I mean it. I will find you and rub your nose in it. Seriously.
Note: In the above quote, I’m only half kidding.
I usually get a lot of re-tweets from this post which tells me there are many others who feel like I feel about littering. I think that littering is the ultimate in laziness and is such as selfish act. However, some people seem to feel that everywhere is their personal wastebasket. I can't tell you how many times I've found trash in my front yard from passer-bys who throw what they just finished eating or drinking from their vehicles.
Not littering is about as easy of a green activity to get in the habit of doing as there is in this world. If you are a habitual litterer: Stop littering! Put your trash in the proper trash receptacle. If you do litter, remember the above quote. We are watching.
I recently went to my local Half Price Books and sold some of my old books and bought a couple of recent novels for half price. I was new to the store and wasn’t informed on the eco-friendliness of the store. For instance, Half Price Books was named in the EPA’s Top 10 Green Power Retailers. I did a little research and I thought I would share.
Half Price Books began in 1972 and now has many locations in 16 states across the Unites States. For the nearest store near you, go here. If you like to own books, not just borrow from a library, this is the place. They carry best sellers, used books as well as classics. And that is just the books. They also have CDs, LPs, text books, DVDs and more. Most of these sell for half price or less. If there is a location near you, I urge you to visit a store and see for yourself. I will definitely be returning soon.
From the Half Price Books website:
Things we believe no one should waste: paper, knowledge, trees, words, time, and money. Half Price Books is the book recycler. We buy books you've already enjoyed. So if you have more books than shelves, bring yours to us today. We pay the most for recent best sellers and collectibles. But we're also interested in your children's books, mysteries, music, movies and games. We donate all our overstock inventory to nonprofit agencies around the world.
So let's work together and help save our Mother Earth. When you visit Half Price Books, you'll save trees, books, and of course, money. We are committed to the community and preserving our environment. We operate every day based on the convictions of our founders to waste not and read a lot. Every day is earth day at Half Price Books.
Half Price Books has a website called b(eco)me, which details their green effort, has green tips as well as b(eco)ming bagless.
I recently went to the Mega cavern in Louisville, Kentucky. As the sign on the right states, which is just inside the entrance of the cavern, the mega cavern is dubbed as a large and green ‘building’. So what exactly is a cavern? A cavern is simply a man-made cavern.
So what makes this such a green place? From the official Louisville Mega Cavern website:
It was created by a massive limestone quarry—with miners blasting out a mind-boggling amount of rock for over 42 years during the middle of the 20th century. It was acquired in 1989 by private investors who saw the potential to develop a portion of the cavern into an environmentally-conscious high security commercial storage facility. For the past 17 years, a massive amount of recycled concrete, brick, block, rock and dirt were (and continue to be) off-loaded at the cavern to fill in the holes and create floors and internal roads. Construction to carve out offices and storage spaces is ongoing, making just a dent in the more than 4,000,000 square feet of space. Even though it’s underground, the Louisville MEGA Cavern is actually the largest building in the state of Kentucky—and by tonnage is the largest recycling center in the state. Now you can experience all the wonder and adventure of this unique attraction.
In addition to that is the worm recycling which occurs deep inside the cavern. The photo below shows this. On a simple bed of shredded paper, paper towels and other miscellaneous other goodies for a multitude of worms to feast on. The worms loves this stuff. They eat their own weight every day resulting in a lot of waste. Well, their waste makes great organic fertilizer.
There are numerous interesting facts about this cavern. One of the most interesting is the fact that MGM has a storage room. Among its many items in storage is the original film of The Wizard of Oz. One of the other more interesting factoids is it was designed to be a bomb shelter during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The below photo showing the replica that was made showing the many people who could have lived down there until it was safe to get back out. It was kind of creepy to me. Mannequins and dummies bother me. Am I alone in that?
Most of the cavern in directly under the Louisville Zoo. Anyway, it was a pretty cool experience and if you are ever in the Louisville area a visit to the Louisville Mega Cavern should be discussed.
The Louisville Mega Cavern preview
For more information or to visit, go to the Louisville Mega Cavern website
I’ve watched a couple of episodes of a new show on the Sundance Channel called ‘The Lazy Environmentalist’. It looks at being Green through the eyes of the average person. A lazy and impatient person, that is. A vast majority of people fit in that category.
The show, which is hosted by Josh Dorfman, contains very helpful eco suggestions which are trying to save you time and money. On the show I’ve seen eco sky-lights, smart power strips and even organic cocktails. I find the show to be very helpful, but it makes me jealous. If I had a show, it would be this show just like this. I recommend that everyone watch this show. You’ll learn something about helping the environment without feeling overwhelmed over what he suggests.
‘The Lazy Environmentalist’ hosted by Josh Dorfman airs on the Sundance Channel on Tuesdays at 9PM EST.
Josh Dorfman talks about his show "The Lazy Environmentalist" on the Sundance Channel
Recently I've needed to look into the possible replacement of one of my smoke alarms and of a fire
extinguisher. I quickly found very helpful information on the proper disposal of both of these. I'm
sharing what I found below. If you find yourself in the same situation as myself, please properly
dispose of your smoke alarms and fire extinguishers.
From Earth911.com:
Tips for Properly Disposing of Smoke Detectors
According to the U.S. EPA, both photoelectric and ionization smoke alarms contain plastic, electronic
circuit boards and in some cases, batteries. When it comes time to dispose of your device, it’s
important to know that ICSDs cannot be recycled, due to their radioactive content. For this reason, it
is extremely important to properly dispose of the unit. Do this by:
1. Removing the battery and recycling it
2. Safely removing the plastic cover, and recycling it with your other plastic casing.
3. Sending it back to the manufacturer, who will properly dispose of it. The address of the supplier is usually listed in the product warranty or user’s manual.
4. Finding a drop off location or HHW event in your area if the manufacturer will not accept the unit.
Tips on the Disposal of Fire Extinguishers
You likely have two reasons for disposing of a fire extinguisher: it is too old or the contents have
been discharged. Disposal options depend on whether or not the extinguisher is empty.
If it’s not empty:
1. Check the Pressure Gauge: Your extinguisher should have a gauge saying whether it is overcharged, if it’s at the correct pressure or in need of a recharge. This is your first clue as to whether the unit is operating correctly.
2. Call Your Fire Department: You might be able to exchange your extinguisher or get it recharged.
3. Take it to a Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) event: Extinguishers with contents remaining are considered hazardous, so find your nearest HHW collection event or program using Earth911.
If it’s empty:
1. Squeeze the Lever Above the Handle: This will ensure that all contents are discharged.
2. Remove the Head: This will let whoever disposes of the extinguisher know that all contents have been removed.
3. Recycle the Steel Body: Once the head is removed, your community should accept fire extinguishers with the rest of your ferrous metal.
In both cases, make sure to follow any instructions on the fire extinguisher. Once your old extinguisher is disposed, make sure you replace it with a new fire extinguisher immediately.
