Freecycle It!

We can recycle most plastics and papers, glass and cans, but what about those big items you have starting to collect in closets or the garage? How do you get rid of those in a “green” way? One solution is to Freecycle it! Most cities these days have a Yahoo Group set up for Freecycle. You can usually Google search your town’s name and the word Freecycle and find it. Joining the group is free and puts you in contact with many other people in your local community who care about the earth just as much as you do and don’t want to see it getting junked up.

The idea behind Freecycle is that you post your unwanted material and others who want it will be able to come pick it up – freely. It is a way to recycle or repurpose goods that you no longer want.

My family has been using Freecycle for over two years now and we have been able to give away everything from stacks of scrap paper to plastic baby food containers, to a lawn edger – all to people who then took the materials and used them for different purposes (the baby food containers were used for crafting, the paper went to an elementary school teacher for her students to write on, and the edger was fixed up by a guy who desperately needed one for his lawn). Not having to just dump these items in a landfill made us not only feel good inside but it also made us feel better about helping the immediate environment in which we live.

Freecycle is a great resource to use for both giving and receiving – I’m certain you will love it!

Copyright ©  2009, Becki, Green Christian Network, All Rights Reserved

               

More on Back to School Green

Across the country kids are flocking back to school and many of us are wondering how to start the year off while encouraging a greener way in our youth. It can sometimes be hard to get kids to think about “being green” when all they really want to do is look cool and hang out with their friends, but by our example they will learn and a great example can be set just in back to school preparation.

It starts with school supplies. While many of those flashy and bright notebooks can be eye catching, why not help our environment a little and purchase recycled paper instead? Many manufacturers are now offering this option. Also, rather than spiral notebooks go for the refillable binder. While some places will allow for recycling paper on a spiral bind, many still do not and this means a lot of paper waste simply because people don’t want to spend the time tearing paper off. When purchasing the refillable binder try to find one made of canvas or cardboard. Plastic may feel durable, but it is also, well, plastic. And if you still have a binder from last year that is in good shape why not just reuse it?

Backpacks are big business during the back to school shopping, but with a quick wash most old backpacks are just like new – use a gentle cycle and air dry.

If your school requires books to be covered you can stay green by recycling paper bags rather than buying fancy book covers. Give your kids some crayons or markers and stickers and they can decorate the books to their liking.

Pens and pencils are imperative for school and you can make sure to buy refillable pens and refillable pencils (if you use mechanical pencils). Also, if buying regular pencils there are some brands that actually do use recycled materials.

Clothes for back to school can hit the budget hard, but what’s worse is that so much of last year’s fashion goes to waste. This year before you throw out the old stuff check to be sure it doesn’t still fit or that it can’t be made into something else great for the year. If it is a “must go” then give it to a local charity rather than just throwing it in the garbage.

Back to school supplies aren’t the only area where were can help our kids stay green - there is also the issue of back to school transportation. If you live within walking or biking distance go ahead and have your kids walk or bike. You can walk or bike with them to show that it isn’t so bad. I live right across an open field from the schools in my town and it amazes me how many parents will hop in a car, drive for three minutes (literally), drop their kids off and then drive home. Walking is not only exercise, but it saves on fuel consumption and it teaches kids that they can move without the world coming to an end. If it’s raining out give your kid an umbrella – it won’t hurt them and you will be teaching them a natural mode of transportation in the process. If you live too far for walking or biking then get involved in a local carpool – you can take turns driving your kids to and from school.

And finally, when that first day (or maybe I should say the entire first week) arrives and the mounds of paper work start coming in make sure to sign what you have to sign and return it, but for the rest don’t just throw it in the trash – have your kids walk it to the recycle bin thus instilling in them once again that recycling is good for us all. Remember, back to school is a great time to lead by example and teach your kids the importance of a greener way of life. Have a great school year!

Copyright ©  2009, Becki, Green Christian Network, All Rights Reserved

Click Here for More Tips for Going Back to School Green

               

Green Tip – (08/25/09) – More Tips for those Paper Tube Rolls

We did a great article awhile back with tips to reuse cardboard tubes from toilet paper and paper towels. You can read it here. Well, good news…we have a few MORE ideas!!!

More Tips to Green those Tubes

Seedling pots – Cut a few of the cardboard paper towel rolls into four pieces OR toilet ones into two, then fold the bottom part to hold the soil. Add the soil and plant your seeds. Once your seedlings are ready to go into the ground simply plant the whole paper roll and it will biodegrade right into the ground where it is planted. This is also a GREAT way to have a mini herb garden for your daily kitchen use that is not only eco friendly, but made from recycled materials!

Maracas: Fold the bottom of a cardboard paper roll over and staple it closed. Fill with dry beans or rice. Fold top of roll and staple closed. Decorate. Enjoy.

Puppets: Glue a Popsicle sickle stick (two recycling items in one fun craft! LOL!) to the bottom of the toilet paper or paper towel roll to make a handle. Now, decorate the roll with funny faces. Use yarn or colored feathers to make hair. Those little fun eyes and whatever else you have in your art box can add to your funny faced puppet people. Let the kids put on a recycling puppet show for you when they are done! Making it fun will help your kids WANT to recycle and be better stewards ofg God’s planet!

Wildlife Yard pots – If you’d like to attract wildlife into your garden paper rolls are a great biodegradable option. Fill with nuts and seeds and place amongst a pile of leaves to bring hedgehogs and lots of bugs and insects into the garden. You can also insert a string from the top of it and hang it hidden in a tree. Fill it with bird seeds to attract the birds.

Get creative with your old cardboard paper rolls. You will be surprised at the many things you and your kids can use them for!!!

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Stay Green!

               

Send Your Kids Back to School Green!

Our youth are the future. If we train them to do the right thing while they are young they will continue in it. We are told in Proverbs 22:6; “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” This is true for every aspect of our jobs as parents…from how to behave, who God is and even being better stewards of God’s planet!

If we send them back to school green minded and looking green, their friends will notice. We should be raising leaders that want to impact our planet for God’s glory! What better way to bring God glory then by honoring Him and being good stewards with what He loaned to us??

Tips to go Back to School Green

Go with as many recycled materials as you can!

• paper would be the biggest. Unfortunately, schools have not come up with a better way to have our children do their school work. So, if they must use paper, make sure it is recycled paper!
• forget the wood pencils that kill trees! Go for reusable plastic pencils…or better yet keep using the wood ones, but, try PaperMate’s “Earth Write” line. Yes they are wood, but, they are recycled!
• eco Binders are a must as well.
• backpacks can be green too. go for a recycled material instead of the norm.

Pack Green Lunches.

• go for organic choices.
• no plastic baggies. period.
• use reusable containers.’
• give them recycled napkins.

Clothes.

Looking cool is important for most kids, especially as they get older. What is cooler than recycled clothing??

• go for organic cotton.
• let them wear green proud. get them shirts that TELL the WORLD to be green.

Getting to School.

This can be tough depending on how far you live from the school. However, even getting to school each day can be green!

• have them walk.
• ride a bike.
• car pool.

As you can see, being a better steward of God’s planet is not as difficult as one might think. The simple task of sending our kids back to school can be a way to be greener and become better parents by training our children to appreciate what God has given them…including the planet!

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Stay Green!

               

Green those Tubes!

I am happy to announce that I use only recyclable toilet paper and paper towels. However, I was having a hard time figuring out what to do with the cardboard tubes they are wrapped around…even the foil and wax paper. The cardboard tubes befuddled me.

Not anymore!

Tips to Green those Tubes

Straighten up! You can use the toilet paper tubes to straighten flower stems and plants when they are droopy.

Kid Crafts. The sky is the limit with this one. You can make all sorts of crafts with your kids. Use your imagination.

Paper Towel Holder. One of my kids made me a paper towel holder with the left over tube from wax paper. She glued it to a circle she cut out of cardboard and stuck it to my counter. It has been working for over a year now. How creative and recycle guru is she??

Easter Egg Holder. You can cut rings from tubes and sit the Easter eggs in them. It is a great and reusable way to hold them for drying. Decorate them and you may even be able to use them for displaying them.

Packing Material. The cardboard tubes are also a great packing material to keep your breakables safe. Love this idea. Thank you to my sweet child for this one.

Napkin Rings. Cut rings from the tubes and decorate them. You can use contact paper, beads, jewels whatever tickles your fancy. This is a great way to reuse these tubes over and over.

As you can see, there are many ways to reuse things and make the most of what we have. Being green is being a good steward of God’s planet and the money He gives us.

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Stay Green!

               

Eating Green

Yes, we can even go green with our eating! Eating green is a lot more than just buying organic foods. It is knowing where your food comes from, packaging information,  etc.

Below are several ways that people can make better choices for the environment when it comes to eating.

Tips for Eating Green

Go Local. Look for local farms that provide organic produce and only feed their animals organic foods. Not only are you helping the little guys, you are also, in many cases, making a greener choice.

Find Fairtrade Foods. When you are not going with local choices, this is a relevant alternative. The “Fairtrade” label means that the products meet the Fairtrade standards. This means that the goods usually priced fairly and producers are being treated fairly.

Go Organic. Make sire that what you buy has been made organically and in an eco friendly manner. Avoid chemicals and other harmful things that hurt the environment.

Recyclable Materials. Pay attention to packaging. Is it made from recyclable materials…or can it be recycled? This should be a major part of your decision making when choosing what to buy.

Just Say NO….to genetic modification. These are living things that have had their genetic make up changed and mixed with another living thing. Yuck. Plus, we do not know the long term negative affects of this ungodly way of doing things. There is only One God.

Free Range and Kindness are the only ways to go. Who wants to eat something that has been abused or mistreated? Not me. God never intended for us to mistreat animals. I do believe we can eat meat. However, I do not think that means be inhumane and cruel to them. Let the chicken run free, I say! LOL!

Seriously, this is a lot more than eating green. It is making choices that are not only good for the environment, but also ones that are pleasing to the Creator of the environment. God wants us to do what is right. It’s as simple as that, people!

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Cheesecake Factory Making Green Choices

I am a huge fan of the Cheesecake factory. They make some of the yummiest food. Recently, I went there for lunch and could not finish my food (go figure…lol). So, I asked for a doggie bag. When I came home I discovered that the container had  recycle symbol on it and the words “earth choice.”

I looked it up Online and found that there are several suppliers for green friendly containers! Awesome! I was very excited. I am not sure where the Cheesecake Factory gets their take home containers from, but I am very happy to know that a restaurant as popular as they are, and who most certainly has many people take home food (since their portions are so huge), has gone green in this area!

Needless to say, I am now going to ask the restaurants I visit if they use recyclable containers for the leftovers. I want to be prepared now. Honestly, I never even thought about it til now. Once I know who does and who does not, then I can come prepared with my own container if needed!

Just another simple way we can make a difference. Just another simple way we can be better stewards of the wonderful planet that God loaned to us.

Kudos to the Cheesecake Factory!!

By the way, they look like these, but dark gray.

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Stay Green!

               

Reduce Your Trash

Trash is a huge issue for the environment. Dumps are overflowing and there are not enough landfills to keep all of the trash we make. It does not have to be that way. We can reduce the amount of trash we create by changing a few things we do.

Tips to reduce trash

• Buy Less. Only get what you need.
• Pay attention to Packaging. Go for minimal packaged products.
• Reuse paper. If only one side or half of it has been used. Use the rest. Make sure it is well used before throwing away.
• Baggies. Reuse plastic sandwich baggies. All sizes. Wash. Rinse. Use. Repeat.
• Glass Jars. Reuse them as pen holders, for food leftovers, storing buttons and such or anything else you can think to use a jar for.
• Cards. Birthday and holiday cards can be reused as well. Simply cut them into small tags to reuse on future gifts.
• Gift Bags. When you get a gift bag. Reuse it.
• Newspapers and Magazines. Use old issues to line drawers, litter boxes, etc.
• Clothes. Donate them to homeless shelters or resell them at second hand shops. If they are too old and worn, make rags out of them.
• Try and Fix it. If something breaks, see if it is salvage before you toss it. It may just need a minor fix.
• Have a Yard Sale. Your trash may be someone else’s treasure. Plus you can make a few bucks while helping the environment.
• Freecycle. Give it a way. Someone may need or want what you would like to toss.
• Recycle. Get on your towns recycling pick up list. If you cannot figure out a way to reuse some stuff at least recycle it.

These ideas are only meant to get your mind working and thinking. We need to be aware of the trash we create. Landfills are growing and we are running out of space for all the trash that we create. We need to start making a difference now, before our kids and grandchildren are left with a trash infested planet!

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Get your kids involved!

If you are living a green life, your kids will eventually learn green ways and become better stewards of God’s planet. However, there is a way that you can not only get them involved, but they will be passionate about it! LOL!

How?

Making the green stuff…MONEY!

One of my kids decided they wanted to find ways to earn some money to go on a missions trip. Save soda cans and recycle them to earn cash. Sure, it’s not a ton of money, however, it helps the environment, teaches responsibility to earn own money, and the cans are reused for other purposes instead of helping overflow another landfill!

If you have preteens or teenagers, this is a sure fire way to get them active in the recycling movement. Nothing says “worth my time” to a teenager more than money…at least mine!

If they decide to do this, set up an area where they can store their cans. Then, let them loose. Soon they will be telling their friends and family members not to throw away the cans. Before you know it people who are not even greenies will be helping the environment!

You can help too, by saving the cans your coworkers use and helping them “spread the word” for their new “job.”

Seriously, it is a total win win green idea!

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Stay Green!

               

Reusing and Recycling is Good and Green

You can help reduce post consumer waste by choosing to buy recyclable items. When you buy more recyclable products, you are letting big business know that we are serious about the going green thing. They may want to reconsider how they do business and choose a greener alternative.

By using our purchase power to buy more green products, we help protect our natural resources which are wasted by non-green companies. Going green is your way of telling companies that you no longer want to waste God’s planet’s resources.

When shopping, make an effort to purchase products that are  using recycled materials. Check the labels to find out if the material is recyclable or not.

The best way to reduce your contribution to post consumer waste is by making sure no natural resources have been used in as many of the products you purchase as possible.

Becoming more aware of your ability to grow as a green shopper is the best way to reduce your carbon footprint immediately. Plus, many times, green choices are cost effective as well as environmentally friendly. Going green has never been so easy.

Training up up our children now, with green habits, will help ensure good habits and stewardship  of God’s planet for generations to come.

The more resources we have in the recyclable circulation the better!

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Stay Green!

               

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