Make your resolutions tonight green! I’ve listed some one-time projects to go green, like lowering your water heater temperature, changing bulbs to CFLs, swapping out for low water plants, planting a front yard garden, buying carbon offsets, or changing out your top loading washing machine. But, this is the day to make changes in the way you live, everyday, to really make a difference against global warming.

This first suggestion will help you on a few of those other resolutions:

1. Walk more. I don’t mean walk to 10 miles in the woods, just swap out some of those local drives for walks.

a. First off, walk your kids to school. The time spent with them in the morning will pay off in many ways – only fifteen minutes a few times a week. You’ll both get better exercise, you’ll use less gas, and most of all, you’ll talk – about anything. It’s time they will remember for their entire lives. Of all the years in your kids lives, you can probably only walk with them for about five, don’t miss it.
b. Walk to that tennis game, book group, or playdate drop-off.
c. Walk to the bank.
d. Take the family to the farmer’s market on foot – the time spent walking will probably be equal to the time spent trying to park.

2. Use your greens bin for food scraps. Think of all those turkey carcasses that could become compost instead of landfill. Just change the bin the food scraps go in. Yes, it’s a change in the way we do things, but that’s what makes it a resolution. It’s what most of society did before we all started throwing everything away. As a child, my town had food garbage collection picked up by a local pig farmer. My grandparents’ houses all had food waste pails in the ground outside the back kitchen door with heavy steel lids you’d step on to open.

Happy New Green Year

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I’ve heard people talking about green guilt in regard to their daily habits – knowing they need to change, but not quite having the time.  Guilt has been a valuable motivational tool for centuries, so embrace it.  Yes, there are many things you should do to change your impact on the environment – many have appeared on this blog.  Here are a couple simple things you can do easily to get a leg up on your green guilt.

1. Planter boxes and pots on your deck or porch – swap out these plants to succulents and grasses.  Pots dry out fast and you’re probably used to watering these often, or having the plants dry up and die quickly.  Switching these to ornamental low water grasses will give you a large, willowy plant that will only need water about once a week.  Succulents need even less, and you’ll find a great variety.  For both of these plant types, add some mulch on top (medium bark works well) and you’ll keep the soil moist even longer.  This is a great guilt remover – less water, better looking plants (ie. not dead), and less work!  And no one needs to come water while you’re gone for a week.

2. Shower water.  An outdoor shower that flows into the lawn – yeah, that would be nice.  Instead, here’s a simple way to water those outdoor planters, or even bald spots on the lawn.  Keep a 5 gallon bucket (like the kind for cleaning) under the faucet in the shower.  When you turn on the shower to let it heat up, fill up the bucket.  You’ll save the otherwise wasted gallons of water.  If you’ve switched your planters and pots to low water varieties, this daily ration will be enough to water even a plethora of pots.  No waste.  

OK, not everyone’s bathroom is an easy walk out to the deck or garden.  You can still use this wasted shower water – keep the bucket in the tub and use it to flush.  Just dump a bunch in the toilet bowl – once enough goes in, the toilet will flush without using water from it’s basin.  Clean flush, no water used, no guilt – alright maybe just less guilt.

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I’ll start with 2, you can send me the other 99.

Compost brown matter – You can put the leaves in your green bin (they will actually help neutralize green bin odors), but they are even more useful in your own compost pile.  Remember, to create rich compost (for all that stuff to break down into dirt) you need both green matter and brown matter.  The green stuff is the food scraps and the fresh cut grass or flowers.  Brown, on the other hand, comes from dry leaves, dried grass clippings, mulched branches, even shredded paper or cardboard.  With too much green matter, your compost pile (or your green bin) will start to smell, attract flies, and begin to get wet and clumpy.  If you balance the green with enough brown (fallen leaves) the pile will dry, stop smelling, and the fruit flies will disappear.  You’d be amazed at the amount of leaves you can add – last week I dumped a garbage pail full of leaves into my spinning compost tumbler, completely filling it.  In a week, it has shrunk to half the volume.

Crushed leaf mulch – This is a cool tip I just learned yesterday: Fill up a garbage pail with dried leaves, stick your electric weed trimmer in the pail, and blend it like a Cuisinart.  In a few minutes you’ll have shredded leaf mulch (like dry pesto) ready to put back on your garden or flower beds.  It will break down quickly while feeding your plants – serving as an attractive ground cover at the same time.  And, you didn’t have to haul away the leaves or buy any mulch!

Yes, you can put your leaves in the green bin, and yes, the content from the street sweepers does get hauled to the same green waste collection, so it is being diverted from the landfill.  But, if you can make your own compost, or mulch in your own yard, you’ll cut out the green house gases from all that transport.  And, you won’t have to spend money to buy back your own leaves and banana peels when you need soil or fertilizer.

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Last week I listed a bunch of green gift ideas, so for this week here are some ideas on how to package up those gifts.  

Wrapping paper – if you haven’t already bought this year’s supply of wrapping paper, try to avoid buying any.  Instead, try these options: wrap your gifts in old maps, Sunday comics, your kids’ artwork from school, or homemade on rolls of newsprint.  Grandparents would love to get gifts with painted hand prints all over them.

Presents in bags – paper gift bags are nice [and reusable], but you can also buy reusable, and more durable, cloth gift bags.  These look like fancy wine satchels, but the idea is that you give it to someone one year, then they will give a present in it to someone else [type in wrapsacks at greenfeet.com].  Or, why not buy some colorful reusable shopping bags from Trader Joes, Safeway or Whole Foods [get the big square ones that are much more useful for shopping than the thin canvas tote bag shape] add a couple sheets of colored tissue paper and you’ll have two gifts in one.

Gift cards – avoid buying the wrong thing and making your recipient waste gas to return it.  You can even have them sent by email – no packaging required.

Electronic cards – there are a lot of websites you can use to send cards, though personally I like the idea of a physical holiday card [for price, ease and green, I love greenerprinter.com].  However, I’ve switched to electronic cards for thank-you notes.  I find if I do them online, they get done faster, and therefore received faster – which ideally is the point.  And, if you send them from the same site each year, your address book will be saved online. 

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 - green gift ideas
 

1. Designer kitchen compost bins: cooking.com, gardeners.com, greenfeet.com
2. Carbon offset credits: terrapass.com, carboncounter.org, carbonfund.org
3. Landscape architect services – to change your yard to Bay friendly, low water landscaping this Spring
4. Reuseable bags, or steel water bottles – but be careful on this one – many folks already have a lot of these: Ace Hardware, reusablebags.com
5. Front loading washing machines – approximately $200 or rebates through utlities
6. Home energy monitor – see what each gadget in your house is costing you:  P4460 Kill a Watt EZ
7. Shower time – it’s a simple hourglass of sand that will count out the minutes
8. Re-chargeable batteries or solar powered chargers for cell phones and ipods
9. Self Adjusting Irrigation controllers – smart controllers that monitor weather and adjust your sprinklers for you 
10. Home sparkling water / soda maker [this is my personal favorite!]: sodaclubusa.com
11. Donate to charities like Seva Foundation, Red Cross, or Heifer: seva.org, redcross.org, heifer.org
12. Make art projects or food gifts – jams, juices, home-brewed beer: familycrafts.about.com, www.homebrewers.com
13. Buy less stuff – watch this with your kids right around now: storyofstuff.com

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