Guy Goes Green

Wannabe green guy going green

Archive for the ‘water’ category

Cleaning up the beach in San Diego

February 25th, 2010

Soon, we will be on vacation and although I know that we will create some additional waste on the trip, I still want to make sure to continue on my green quest. This week’s green challenge is to find some green tasks to do while we are on vacation. I think I know at least one thing we will while we are in San Diego… pick up garbage off of the beach.

We have been going to San Diego for several years to visit my parents and go on at least one walk a day. I figured that we could take a bag on a few of our walks and pick up garbage to either put in the proper receptacle or recycle. Although the Mission Beach area is a nice beach, I am sure there will be plenty of garbage to pick up.

Garbage on the beach might end up in the ocean or vice versa. There is even a large area of garbage in the ocean that is called the great garbage patch. This pile of garbage is the size of Texas. Well, Ashley and I may not be able to clean up the entire ocean, but possibly we can take one small step to try and be part of the solution.

I am really looking forward to this trip and I hope that we can do a little to help with the environment also. If you have any green activities you could suggest or interesting things in the San Diego area, please let me know in the comments area below.

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Posted in Week 18 Research vacation green, water

Tags: eco vacation ocean waste

Household cleaners and the poisons among us – a week in review

December 21st, 2009

If there is one thing that I have learned about household cleaners this week that shocks me, it is how potentially dangerous they are. Most household cleaners are full of poisons that are toxic, potentially cancer causing and all around nasty stuff. It has become difficult for me to understand the logic in spreading a thin layer of poison over everything in the name of supposed cleanliness. We have made some changes and will hopefully explore this topic even more in the weeks to come.

We took the remaining “bad” cleaners we have and gave them to people who may be able to use these items. I don’t really like the thought of passing poisons on to others, but since these families will use the cleaners anyways, I would rather it go to use rather than be wasted. So, we have given away most of our traditional cleaners.

We have begun using cleaners that are supposed to be green alternatives. Ashley has been using cleaners that are green and has experimented with homemade cleaners prior to this blog. I have stopped using the other cleaners and will try to work with what we have. Also, I would like to try to make more of our own cleaners since that seems to be the healthiest and most environmentally friendly option.

Beyond the potential health issues, there is also an environmental impact to using these cleaners. Poisons end up going into the garbage and down the drain. This stuff ends up in our landfills and the ground. The containers are also wasteful and end up wasting space in the landfills. If we can start using more homemade concoctions, this will help reduce our waste.

It has been a good week once again and I have learned quite a bit. Please let me know your stories or tips on household cleaners below AND stay tuned for next week’s task.

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Posted in Week 9 Green Cleaners, water

Tags: cleaners toxins water

Laundry and Water Waste

December 16th, 2009

This post is going back to an earlier task, water waste, because I notice we are indirectly wasting water without even thinking about it. This comes from this weekend from when I was doing laundry. I do notice how Ben and I both often times leave clothes on the floor because we are really tired and decide to do it the next day; typically we don’t even pick up the clothing then then. After a few days of this and tons of animal hair later the clothes end up down the laundry chute to get washed. I feel like if we can keep our clothes off the floor we will cut down our laundry by a load or a half per week.

This has been a pet-peeve of mine for a while with Ben, but I noticed that I sometimes leave clothes on the floor too. I figure if we work together on this issue we can save each other the frustration and also some water from being wasted. This will also reduce our need to use additional laundry soap so we will also save money on that. I stopped using fabric softener and dryer sheets because of artificial fragrances. This ties into this week’s task because we eventually want to cut out all products that use chemicals. If you have any tips on keeping laundry clean longer, please leave a comment in a comment section below.