What’s It Like, Living Green? Kids Teaching Kids, by the Way They Live. In this non-fiction book for ages 9 and up, you’ll read about a teenage girl who began a recycling business, with 100 clients, when she was five. Learn about a boy who started a foundation to bring fresh water to an entire village, at age seven. You will see how kids, like you can make a difference for the environment, help others and even earn some money.

IMG: Jill Vanderwood

Jill Ammon Vanderwood is the author of four childrens books. She is a mother and grandmother who wants to make a difference for the next generation. She makes her home in the state of Utah with her husband, Bill.

Prize: 2 lucky winners will receive “What’s It Like, Living Green? Kids Teaching Kids, by the Way They Live.”

GIVEAWAY TIME:

Rules: Answer the following: What is one thing you can do to make a difference for the planet?

Extra entries for those that stumble, twitter or blog this post.

Deadline:  May 23, 2009.

GOOD LUCK!!

So I’m going to take the lazy route and repost an article I posted last year for Earth Day. Why Post the same post? Frankly because I couldn’t really write anything to top this one. Enjoy.

Image: sxc.hu

Unless you were born yesterday you know that the earth and our ecological balance of nature is being disturbed by our lack of caring. By technological advances in mankind we have discovered and created many great things to the benefit of human kind. However with every great thing we do there are consequences and repercussions. The great Isaac Newton said for every action there is an equal or opposite reaction in his third law of physics . I didn’t really think about that very much the first time I heard it in 3rd grade science class, but it just goes to prove how brilliant of a man he was even if it is such a common sense type statement. Unfortunately 99% of the time we discover things by accident that advance us, we take a giant step forward… but something else has to suffer in our wake.

We are so dependent on oil in this world that we drill and drill away for more fuel. This same fuel that gets us where we need to go, heats our homes and is used for the production of plastics and such, has a great effect on our environment. The exhaust from automobiles to include airplanes pollutes the air we breathe. We use and use without a second thought. Plastics that are used everywhere today are not biodegradable and are almost always made from a petroleum based product. Some cd manufacturers are going to a less plastic media where the cases are made mostly of cardboard. Where we save on plastic, we use more papers from what? Trees. While the papers are biodegradable in the end, more trees are cut down in the process, so where we save a little bit of petroleum on the non-biodegradable plastics something else suffers. You would think that with music downloads becoming more popular the production of “Hard” media would lessen and in some ways it has. But the use of petroleum products on packing materials has increased greatly. Ever try opening a package to a toy or electronic device these days? It’s extremely difficult and it goes to waste as soon as it’s opened and not enough recycling programs are available. Plastics from disposable drink bottles are filling up landfills instead of being recycled or refilled. The governments should invest more money into recycling programs instead of weapons, but no matter how much presidential candidates talk about environmentalism, sadly action is rarely taken. Read more

Easter is upon us and soon we’ll be wondering what to do with all those Easter Baskets the bunny left behind for our children. I was brainstorming a bit earlier to try to figure out exactly what we would do with all of ours, keep in mind I have four children.

IMG: Sxc.hu

Bathroom Basket- With a basket in the bathroom you can now minimize the mess and make the bathroom look a bit more organized. I placed one on top of the toilet (small sink) and added a small hand towel to line the bottom, toothpaste, extra roll of toilet paper. I could’ve added this off to the side of the bathtub and filled it up with the bath toys to make it a little easier to dump the toys for bathtime in the tub. One may also want to add some rose petals to make a bathroom smell a little better.

Crayon holder- My kids always lose the crayon boxes but have tons of crayons laying around in different spots of the house, plus the designated drawer. Tomorrow they’ll be placed inside the basket so I have an easy way of finding them for arts and crafts time.

Hair Accessory Basket- I’ve bought the girls over 300 hair ties/clips/brushes/etc however once they’ve been placed in their hair they disappear and never are seen again. By placing them in the basket on their dressers, hopefully they’ll be found again in a week.

Mail holder- Baskets without the big hoop would work great to place in a certain area of the house to place the bills/mail/package/etc. Plus it makes your mail pile look that much nicer.

Dining Room Centerpiece A basket in the center of the dining room table is perfect for this time, plus a few desserts in it wouldn’t hurt. My kids always want to place one of my wicker baskets in the center of the table and put things in them, so now they can add their own creativity.

What are some ways you’ll recyle the Easter Baskets? Happy Easter everyone I hope ya’ll are having a ton of fun!

A good general rule of thumb for folks interested in green living, is if you’re not sure that it can be recycled, don’t buy it. There are so many options for product packaging nowadays that it’s silly to buy stuff you have to toss - i.e. cellophane wrapped noodles over boxed noodles.

When shopping, look for the following materials which can be recycled in most areas…

• Paper and cardboard.
• Aluminum and steel, both in can form and other products.
• Most plastic bottles IF you remove the lids.
• Glass of any type so long as it’s clean.
• Batteries.
• Computers and other appliances. Sometimes you can’t recycle whole appliances, but you can usually find a recycling center that will take care of the entire appliance for you (they’ll save the usable and recyclable parts).
• Clothing and shoes (that aren’t beyond repair). Give used items to non-profits or thrift stores. If clothing is beyond repair or too dingy for words, cut up those shirts and use them to clean with. Score two for you because you get to ditch paper towels.
• CDs, DVDs, and computer discs.
• Paint.
• Your whole darn car - seriously.
• Some juice boxes (look for the recycle symbol before you buy).
• Sometimes you can even recycle aerosol products.
• Hangers - of the wire variety.
• Cell phones.
• Eye glasses.
• Prescription bottles

What you often CANNOT recycle:

• Dirty, greasy paper and cardboard (pizza boxes).
• Many aerosol cans.
• Squeezable plastics like ketchup bottles have not been deemed totally recyclable, so buy glass if you have a choice.
• Paper or cardboard with lots of glue or adhesive stuck on.
• Styrofoam - it’s rare to find a recycling center that takes Styrofoam or foam, but that doesn’t mean you can recycle it - use it for mailing packages - but don’t buy it unless absolutely necessary.

Not sure how to get started? If you’ve got products and packaging to recycle, first learn about the local recycling center in your area. Figure out what they take, and how they like it (for example, some centers hate dirty boxes while others don’t care.) After navigating your local recycling center, find places to recycle those harder to recycle items. You can check Earth 911 for a center that takes specific items.

[image via stock.xchng]

It is now time to recycle. That is what the Best Buy Company is telling you. After all, it has now joined the world of recycling just recently.

So what happens? Well, see, starting on the 15th next month, those customers of Best Buy who would like to do some recycling can actually do so. And that means anybody who is a customer of any Best Buy store anywhere in the country. It is best to keep in mind though that what Best Buy will be accepting will be those electronic items which you want to dispose of already.

Peter Muscanelli is the head of Waste Management and Recycling Products Inc. which is based in Scotia. On the new recycling competition which is Best Buy, he said, “If they would like to go into this, that’s OK. We have a pretty loyal clientele.” Yes. Even in recycling, competition is certainly getting tough.

Source: TimesUnion.com
Image source: FreeFotos.com

Christmas is now over and it is perhaps time now to start cleaning up our homes of all the glitter and the lights that come with Christmas. Some may have started cleaning already and some may just be waiting for the New Year to come before they start on that task.

Now one of the biggest things that a person has got to deal with when it comes to Christmas decorations is the Christmas tree. Because it is something that needs to be disposed, just how to dispose of it is the problem. All those other Christmas decors can be kept in a box and stored until next year. It is only the tree that has to go.

Anyway, I do suggest that you can go through the Internet and find out places near your area where you can dispose of your trees. There are drop off locations around the country and these are sponsored by companies who would like to help recycle the trees and make them into something else.

Source: jacksonsun.com

Did you know that in the United States alone, there is 25% more trash during the Christmas season? Yes. That is technically between Thanksgiving and the color New Year’s Day. That may look like much to you but it is the truth.

With that in mind, what should you actually do? There are things that you can focus on and one is reducing or recycling stuff. Leah Ingram is one of those who have decided that going green is still applicable despite the holidays. She says, “I’m trying to reduce what I’m throwing out, I am recycling, I am reusing. One of the things that we did last year was to use re-usable bags to wrap the gifts.”

What can be recycle and what can you reuse? There are lots of materials going around during Christmas and if you really take a good look at them, you can actually see what else you can do with them.

Source: TMJ4.com

News shows are filled with a lot of stories on Christmas and on Christmas decorations which have been put out for all the world to see. There have been feature stories on people who love collecting anything connected to Christmas. And there have been a lot of stories on Christmas trees.

Now, if you have not yet heard, the Vatican has certainly got one of the largest Christmas trees this year. Its tree is a Norway spruce and it is said that it stands at around 109 feet in height. It is said to be around 120 years old already. Information on this Christmas tree in Vatican says that it came from the southern part of Austria.

Now what is important for all people to know is that this Christmas tree in Vatican is not about showing off just what it can afford knowing what the Vatican symbolizes. The fact is, this old Christmas tree is not only going to provide happiness and cheer and hope this season but it is also going to bring lots of smiles to kids. See, the tree is going to be recycled after the season into toys that needy kids would be receiving.

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

You did not know that, did you?

Well, now you know. Grease could be turned into biodiesel. And that would be far better - recycling grease we have used for cooking and turning them into biodiesel than just throwing them away through your drain. Just imagine where all that grease goes and what it does later on.

Anyway, the grease recycling activity is actually part of the grease recycling activity which happens this Friday in Pima County. The county’s department on Environmental Quality is hosting the mentioned event and there would be six places to drop off any grease that you would want to get recycled. And yeah, it doesn’t matter how messy or greasy or dirty your grease is.

Anyway, here are the locations. Just in case you may wanna drop off those tubs of grease from that Thanksgiving dinner.

• O’Rielly Chevrolet, 6160 E. Broadway
• Pima County Industrial Waste Control, 5025 E. Ina Road
• El Hogar de la Paz Alternative Learning Center, 450 E. Wetmore Road
• Pima County Conveyance Division, 3390 N. Richey Road
• City of Tucson Water Plant No. 2, 1102 E. Irvington Road
• Shell Super Stop, 795 W. Via Rancho Sahuarita

Source: Tucson Citizen

Many people would surely be recycling a lot of things if they got something in return. Now, I think that a good amount of people would become recycling converts with this new program that would give people incentives each time they recycled.In Wichita, two companies, Waste Connections and RecycleBank, have been cooking up a scheme and they are hoping that this would make people recycle even more. Starting February next year, this program would already be on the go.

When you are in the program, you would be given a special container which would be for recycling. Inside is a computer chip. It would measure how much you have been recycling. Then, each week, a truck would come and take away whatever is inside that recycling bin. You get points for the amount of recycling that you do and those points you can convert into free somethings at participating stores like Kraft and Target.

Source: Eyewitness News 12
Image source: FreeFoto.com