I am not the girliest girl out there, but every so often I like to treat myself to a facial mask. But, I always feel bad because the kind I usually get is a single serving in a foil/ plastic pouch that goes directly in the trash after my 15 minutes of pampering.
So, today I decided I was going to try a DIY homemade facial. I googled a few different recipes and ended up going for the following one:
2 tsp plain yogurt
1/2 tsp honey
1/2 tsp lemon juice
3 Vitamin E capsules
Mix honey, yogurt and lemon juice together. Fold in the the contents of the vitamin E capsules. Apply evenly to face, leave for 15 mins and rinse off.
While I felt a bit odd wearing what seemed more like a snack gone awry on my face, I think the facial did help moisturize and replenish my skin, and I could feel a little better about it knowing that it produced no waste packaging!
Do you have any eco-friendly do it yourself skin-care items?
Don't cart around a bunch of extra stuff, the extra weight hurts your mileage -unless they are sandbags to help you get traction on icy roads!. Otherwise, try to get rid of as much extra weight as you can because the more weight you carry, the harder your engine has to work unnecessarily!
Tomorrow, Saturday March 26th, is the day that Earth Hour will take place over the globe at 8:30 p.m. EST. Individuals, organizations and governments will power down for one hour.
Earth Hour started in 2007 by about 2 million people in Australia and has now reached over 1.3 billion people in 130 countries around the world. Last year Canada was one of the leading countries, with participants in more than 280 cities. This year there are more than 400 municipalities involved and more than 195 000 Canadians have pledged their participation.
66% of greenhouse gas emissions come from the global energy sector, so by pledging to participate in Earth Hour you are recognizing the impacts that your energy consumption has on the environment. Some studies have shown that there needs to be an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2050 in order to avoid catastrophic climate change.
Some Canadian Landmarks that are powering down for Earth Hour are: the CN Tower, Parliament Hill, Edmonton City Hall, Canada Place and the Calgary Tower among others. Some global landmarks include the Sydney Harbor Bridge in Australia, the Eiffel Tower in France, the Gateway of India in India, the Brandenburg Gate in Germany and the Christ the Redeemer Statue in Brazil.
So, check out the Earth Hour website to find out what time your area is participating and pledge your participation, and for an hour tomorrow power everything down and enjoy life the old fashioned way! I will be doing it - will you?
Here's another driving tip that I came across that I found interesting and surprising:
In the wintertime, keep your gas tank full! It is better for the environment and will save you money. When your tank isn't full, the moist air in the gas tank condenses against the inside walls of the tank. The water then collects in the tank and mixes with the fuel, affecting the quality of the fuel. This starts a variety of problems with cylinders misfiring, fuel not being burnt efficiently and adding extra strain to the engine.
There is a lot of conflicting information on the internet about this topic, but it seems to be worth looking into. Is anybody particularly car-savvy and know more about this?
My mom and I had this problem once with a vehicle, and it definitely affected the efficiency of the vehicle and I imagine put extra strain on the engine.
Recently we have spotted a few roaches lurking around our apartment -yuck! Cockroaches have been fabled to be the only creature capable of surviving a nuclear blast, which the above mythbusters video disproves. However, they are still pretty hardy creatures and a common problem in older urban homes.
Cockroaches can spread diseases, and, well, are pretty gross! They eat practically anything, including particle board which is often treated with formaldehyde, attesting to their hardy nature. It is best to deal with them right away if you sight them, which lead me to research some green tips for dealing with roaches.
Some of the more traditional methods for dealing with cockroaches include:
Indoxocarb - developed by Dupont, indoxocarb is toxic to mammals, birds, fish, and aquatic invertebrates. It has a half life ranging from 3 to 693 days.
Hydramethylnon - highly to very highly toxic to fish in laboratory studies and has a half-life of 10 to 11 days in an aquatic environment
Fipronil - highly toxic to fish and aquatic invertebrates. Toxic to bees. Half-life of 20 to 200+ days.
Well, what are the green alternatives?
First off, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Here are some things you can do to avoid roaches in the first place:
- Clean up thoroughly after food preparation and don't leave used dishes out overnight
- Wash your pet's food bowl as soon as possible after feeding
- Reduce shelter for cockroaches
- Plug up points of entry from outside using sealants or mesh
- Get rid of materials brought in from outside that may harbor cockroach eggs as soon as possible; particularly where those items have come from food sources; e.g. supermarkets
- Dry out damp areas inside your house such as under sinks - something as simple as baking soda can assist with this.
Have 'em? Well here are some things you can do:
-Combine 1 part borax, 2 parts flour and 1/2 part icing sugar, then add water and mix into a dough. Place in areas where cockroaches frequent, but out of reach of pets and children.
- A small container of water with a teaspoon of oil can attract cockroaches. They'll climb in and be unable to get out and will drown (eventually)
- A variation on the above - take a small jar and spread oil around the inside of it, place bait in the jar such as a small piece of sweet fruit; set it upright in roach territory - again, they'll be able to get in, but not out.
- Sprinkle borax powder where roaches are active. It will collect on their bodies, be licked off and then kill them. Again, keep out of reach of pets and children.
- Fill shallow trays of icing sugar mixed with plaster of paris - they eat it and it sets in their stomachs
- Sticky flypaper type traps can be a good non-toxic alternative to any chemicals
Hopefully this is the last we will see of our uninvited guests!
Sorry folks, I have another big midterm tomorrow, so here is a quick and dirty one ;P
Going to a car wash is a lot more water efficient than washing your car at home! If you do wash your car at home, be aware of the soaps and waxes that you may be flushing down storm drain. (Commercial car-washes must treat their water first).
This post is in response to Lisa's questions on my Day 77 post, asking about what stove top (gas, electric, etc...) is most environmentally friendly.
Well, I did a bit of digging and here is what I found out:
Electro-magnetic stoves/cookers are the most environmentally friendly. These induction stoves use electricity to generate a rapidly changing electromagnetic field. This in turn interacts with nearby ferrous items (think iron and steel) and heats them up -it won't work with aluminum (you can use a fridge magnet to test if it will work). The benefits of an electromagnetic range are that less energy is required since the stove top does not heat up and less heat is wasted. Furthermore, because the stove isn't actually heated up any spill-over won't burn on and the pot reacts instantly to changes in power (like a gas range). However, there are also some downfalls to electromagnetic stoves (google it to find out more about it).
For more conventional ranges, like gas or electric, gas seems to be the winner, although it is highly dependent on where your electricity comes from (renewable energy vs. oil/coal). Gas burners are more efficient, as they provide instant heat, unlike electric burners which need to warm up, and cooks have greater control over the temperature. However, it is natural gas that is being burnt, so there is still that to take into consideration.
So, it seems that there is no clear-cut answer and what type of range you should use depends on cooking techniques and where your energy comes from! However, there are some clear advantaged to electromagnetic and gas ranges.
