Berkey Water Filtration Systems

Getting rid of bottled water is probably the first step anyone going green takes.  There is little as destructive to the environment as the flood of plastic our recent fascination with spring water has caused.  There are a lot of ways to still get clean water, and many people opt for a water filtration system.  We recently bought a Berkey system, and I wanted to write about our experience.

I have wanted a Berkey for a couple of years, but haven’t been able to justify the price tag, which is currently about $235 for a basic four-filter system.  Last week though, our well flooded and the water was tainted.  It was sewer brown and not safe to drink, so we needed something we could count on to get it clean.

The Berkey filter filters out just about everything, except for heavy metals.  We put that brown water into the Berkey, and while I knew it would come out safe to drink, I expected it to still be brown.  Wrong!  The water that came out after it filtered was crystal clear, like you would expect from bottled water.

The filter rate is slow and we are having trouble with the spout leaking, but I love the way the water tastes and the fact that I can feel completely confident when I drink the water or give it to my kids.  We are using it for everything and replenishing our supply of stored water.

Overall, I like the Berkey but wish it was a little faster.  The price seems steep for the quality of the housing, but I am glad we bought one and I look forward to many years of clean water with it.

Almost Time for Line Drying Clothes

This time of year is just too exciting for words.  Although we are in the coldest month of the year for our region, I can’t help but think ahead to spring.  Next month, the snow should start to thaw and the temperatures increase, and that means warm weather is just around the corner.  Along with the warmer temperatures comes the opportunity to line dry our clothes again.  Line drying clothes in winter is possible, but it is such a hassle that we just use the dryer during the cold months.

Dryers are a pretty sizable source of pollution, though, so we try to avoid it as much as possible.  That means as soon as the spring rain stops falling, we are stringing up clothes pretty much every day.  We are a family of five with two in diapers, and we use cloth diapers, so we have a lot of laundry.

Putting clothes out on the line is such a peaceful, meditative experience for me.  I love the sounds of nature and the warm summer sun as I hang all of our clothes on our makeshift lines.  Sure, it gets tedious toward the end of the season, but it is a nice opportunity to get some quiet time and do something productive.

Clothes seem to last longer when they are line dried, too.  The fresh smell of line dried clothes just can’t be beat, and makes every minute spent hanging them well worth the effort.

What about you?  Do you line dry your clothes?  If so, do you take a break for the winter or do it year round?

Have a Pet Door? It Could Cost You

We heat with wood heat, and get our wood from fallen, dead trees.  It is a very inexpensive way to heat and doesn’t require the harvesting of valuable resources.  Because of that, we don’t worry as much about having an airtight home.  If you have ever been in a home heated with wood, you know just how cozy it can be – sometimes too cozy.  So we have a pet door that inserts into the patio door frame, and never noticed just how much cold it let in, until we took it out the other day.

The first night after removing the pet door, we couldn’t sleep because it was so hot in the house.  The next day, we burned way less wood.  As it turns out, that little pet door was letting a lot of cold air in the house, and now that it’s out, we are staying warmer with much less wood.

I couldn’t find specific information about how much it costs in terms of energy to have a pet door, but judging by the staggering difference – about 10 degrees for us – in temperature by removing a pet door, I would say it could add up to a substantial amount of money in extra heating bills.

So if you have a pet door or are considering installing one, think carefully about whether or not the benefits are worth the extra expense.  Our dogs are just fine being let in and out, and we don’t mind the extra effort, because the house is less drafty and we have less hassle with policing what goes in and out.
 

Preheat the Car or Not?

When it starts getting cold out, there is nothing quite like hopping in a car that has been preheated to be all cozy and warm.  For some reason, warm in a car seems to get into you more than warm in a house, so I love jumping in after preheating.  When you are trying to conserve energy and be more environmentally conscious, however, preheating your car seems like it would be a bad idea.

It is easy to find reasons to preheat a car, too.  When you have little ones, especially babies, you want to make sure they stay snug and warm, so of course it is natural to preheat.  And with remote start systems for many cars, starting the car ahead of time is even easier than ever.

As it turns out, preheating your car may lead to reduced emissions.  According to General Motors, “a warm engine emits significantly fewer unburned hydrocarbons during the first accelerations.”  That is one side of the debate, but the Environmental Protection Agency does not seem as convinced about the benefits of preheating, “Idling will not help emission-control systems reach operating temperatures.”

So preheating your car still seems to be a matter of personal preference.  If you have kids or prefer the cozy heat of a car, give it a little time before you jump in.  Make sure preheating your car is legal where you live.  In a nearby city, car theft became so rampant that leaving a running car unattended is now a crime, which rules out preheating.

Making Food from Scratch Saves Packaging

Making your own food always makes good sense, but from an environmental perspective, it makes even more sense.  Not only will you not be supporting mass production and factory emissions, but you will also save a lot of packaging that would otherwise head to the landfill.

Homemade food tastes better, is healthier, and is almost always much less expensive to make.  Sure, it takes more time to make, but the benefits far outweigh the time spent, in my opinion.

Take a look at some of the packaged foods you eat on a regular basis.  If it can be mass produced, it can be made at home.  Even specialty recipes can be recreated at home – just Google the food you want and you will probably find a recipe that tastes very close to the real thing.

Crackers, bread, cereal and other baked items are perfect examples of food you can make from home to save a ton of packaging. 

Another good idea is to opt for frozen juice concentrates instead of bottled juices – concentrates of any kind will use less packaging and still give the same results.

When you can, choose cardboard packaging over plastic, such as in milk, and buy what you can in bulk.  Buying from the bulk bins will also help keep some packaging out of the landfill, but remember that those items in bulk bins had to be packaged at some point too.

As you walk around your pantry, take note of things you can create on your own and start to eliminate packaged foods one by one.

New Planets Discovered

NASA has discovered even more planets that resemble Earth, it announced on Thursday.  The Kepler space telescope, which has been responsible for many of the recent planet discoveries, picked up these three planets in addition to thousands of other possible planets.  Scientists are still confirming the other possible planets, but these three have been studied and appear to be similar to Earth though not habitable.

This discovery is part of a greater effort to discover planets that may hold the potential to be habitable.  The Kepler telescope is focused on an area of the Milky Way galaxy that is within the habitable zone, and has already discovered planets thought to be habitable.

Discoveries like these are exciting, because they hint at the possibility of some day being able to sustain life on another planet.  I have mixed feelings about this, however.  Like the government raising taxes when they cannot manage the money they already get, we shouldn’t be able to move into another planet when we haven’t learned how to care for the one we have now.

Space exploration is necessary and good, but while our scientists are working to find us a new home, we should be working to learn proper stewardship of this one, so when we do move on we will be better able to maintain the new planet.

What do you think?  If a habitable planet was discovered today, along with the means to get us there, should we just jump ship and start over?  What happens when our new planet starts falling apart too?

Why Did You Go Green?

All of us have our own reasons for living a more sustainable lifestyle.  For some, it is serious concern over the fate of our planet.  For others, it is part of the overall back to the land movement, and for still others, it is because of the cost savings that can be realized by going green.

In our family, it began with the birth of our first child.  I was horrified at the thought of throwing away all of those disposable diapers, and thus began our quest toward a greener lifestyle.  It was no large feat to expand our cloth diapers to cloth wipes, and then cloth rags, etc.  Four years later, we have very few disposable items in our home, and have been working to reduce our energy usage both in the car and in the home.  Before we had so many kids, we would even ride our bikes five miles into town to go grocery shopping, but it has become too dangerous to travel our country roads on bike these days.

Going green is not just a series of individual choices; it is a lifestyle change.  I never imagined how far it would go from just wanting to avoid putting diapers in a landfill.  Now, my whole life revolves around making better choices for my children, my planet and my wallet.  We no longer buy new clothes, and I have learned to sew in order to make many of our own items or repair the ones that need it.

What about you?  What prompted you to take that first step toward living green?  Are you glad you did?

All That Wrapping Paper…

Now that Christmas is over, we are left with the aftermath – a horrendous heap of trash that sums up what is wrong with this country by way of brilliant colors, glittering bows and an astounding number of cardboard boxes that used to hold fancy new items.

Now I admit, I am guilty of using wrapping paper too, but every time I wrap a present, I am so consumed with guilt that I believe I will probably be cured of my disease by the time my current batch of wrapping paper runs out.  It is hard to deny my kids their Dora and Disney papers, but at least we wrapped a majority of their presents in reusable gift bags and other items that don’t head straight to the trash.

This year, we did something different for the family gift baskets and placed the goodies in Envirosax reusable shopping bags instead.  The family loved it and we felt better for not being so wasteful.

Can you imagine if everyone switched to reusable wrapping papers, or at least recycled ones such as newspaper pages?  What a difference that would make in the environment.  And what if they did it for birthday gifts and every other type of gift too?  I’m sure the wrapping paper industry would be devastated, but they would find new ways to make money.

What about you?  Have you made the switch to all reusable or recycled wrapping paper?  How has it gone for you?  If you haven’t yet, what is holding you back?

How About a Little Moonshine on New Year’s Eve?

Okay, let me preface this post by saying it is purely in jest.  I spend a lot of time thinking of ways to cut back on waste by making my own or opting for reusable.  Since the big party day of the year is just around the corner, I got to thinking about the staggering number of bottles and cans that will be thrown away this year.

The other night, my husband found a show on TV about moonshiners.  In addition to wondering why they are willing to be filmed doing something illegal, I thought about how they save lots of bottles and cans by using mason jars and other reusable containers.  Seriously, my conservation brain never seems to shut off.

So naturally, the two thoughts collided sometime in the middle of the night, and here I am thinking how moonshine could be very beneficial to the planet.  Just imagine, if we all visited the local moonshiner’s for our alcohol, we could save millions of bottles and cans each and every year!

The arguments that apply to making your own other foods and drinks could apply to moonshine as well.  Locally grown, small-scale moonshine is less likely to have harmful chemicals and things you really don’t want to drink, and it does not have to be transported great distances for you to enjoy.

So how about it?  Should we legalize moonshine in order to save the planet?   I’ve never tasted the stuff myself, but I can just imagine that it would taste better than the mass produced stuff you can buy at the liquor store.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Change Your Shower Habits

If you take a look at the personal care products in your shower, chances are you will see a lot of plastic.  Some of it is recyclable, some not, but no matter what, almost every shampoo, conditioner and soap we use will come in some form of plastic.  When I was going through the house, trying to reduce waste, the shower was one area we were able to make a lot of progress.

When it comes to shampoo and conditioner, it is very difficult to replace the plastics.  You can, however, find a co-op store or natural foods store that has bulk shampoo and conditioners available.  You bring your own bottle and refill it from theirs, which is of course made of plastic.  It doesn’t entirely solve the problem, but can help.  We still use the shampoo and conditioner from the store, but the bottles we buy are huge, so presumably we are saving some waste.

The biggest and most immediate change you can make is to rid yourself of those disgusting plastic poufs.  They have been popular for so long that you may not realize just how good a job a regular washcloth will do.  We have eliminated the poufs and the liquid shower soap altogether in favor of inexpensive, plastic-free bar soap and washcloths.  A washcloth for your face works just as well as expensive exfoliators too, without all the chemicals.

You can replace razors with old-fashioned straight razors with removable blades, or buy an electric razor that will long outlast a comparable amount of plastic in disposable razors.

Once you start looking around, you may find even more ways to reduce waste, and your impact on the environment, by taking a few simple steps.  Most of the time, those steps cost less too, which is an extra bonus anyone can love.

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