What kind of Green Gifts are you giving this festive season?

Christmas and New Year are here again and one of the main feature of any festival is the giving of gifts. It is difficult to decide what to get for your loved ones. But have you considered whether the gifts you are getting are eco-friendly. Will it add on to the world pollution? I came across this topic on The Green group on Linkedin. Some of the suggestions this far include: Solar LED Christmas lights,   recycled greeting cards, recycled rubber tires turned into toys and play things etc.

If you have some ideas about green gifts why not share it with others here. I would love to hear from you.

How green is my ….?

Have you ever wondered how green are you? Sierra Club, a website dedicated to protecting and saving the planet, has put together a series of quiz that will help you gauge your level of greenest. Click here and choose the quiz you are interested in and see how you fair. Best of luck.

How to save paper in your work place?

As a teacher I see a lot of paper being wasted almost everyday. There is some effort from some teachers to try and save paper but I think more can be done.

Most offices have photocopying machines and it cannot be denied that a lot paper is wasted through photocopying. Using both sides of paper is good way to save paper. A lot of office stuff can be reused including envelopes, folders, paper clips etc. Used papers can be used for drafts and as rough paper.

Using e-mail is a great way to save paper. Only print out letters or documents that need to be signed or posted. The school sends a termly newsletter to parents and this is about 3 or 4 pages long. Most often these newsletters end up in the bin as students don’t bother to take them home. I don’t see why schools don’t e-mail newsletters to parents either to their home or office email. Then the school only needs to send these newsletters by post to parents who don’t have email access. It will certainly save money and paper.

Bulletine boards placed at startegic points in the work place is a good way to dessiminate information rather then sending memos to each and every employee.

The use of LED projectors has cut down the amount of paper i use in the classroom. Any worksheet or notes i need to show my pupils is just projected on to the screen. And if my pupils need to refer to them again they can go to my blog specially set up for my classroom.

There are many little ways the use of paper in the work place can be reduced. If you have any ideas or suggestions then you most welcomed to submit them here.

Energy saving projects

While browsing the onetoremember blog, I came across a few interesting energy saving projects. One project that attracted my attention was project S.P.R.E.E. (Solar Photovoltaic Renewable Electron Encapsulator) by Charlitron. Project: S.P.R.E.E. is an experiment in alternative energy and solar generated electricty. Watch the video clip below to see an innovative way of generating electricity that can be used to charge electrical devices around the home.

Another interesting project is the Solar powered Trike by dpearce1.

by dpearce1

A great idea!

Researchers are finding ways to turn our roads into energy collectors. What a brilliant idea? Imagine the amount of energy that can be collected if every road is turned into solar energy collectors. Another area to research as energy collectors are roof tops. Click here to read more about this great idea.

Are hybrid cars really green?

Hybrid car

Cars, as we know are one of the major contributors to environmental pollution. The advent of hybrid cars (part fuel, part electricity) has given hope to many people  as a solution to reducing pollution from cars. However, there has been doubts that hybrid cars are actually helping the environment. Recent studies show that hybrid cars are not doing any better than diesel cars. Click here to read more about this study.

Computers and saving energy

“More than 30 billion kilowatt-hours of energy is wasted because many of us simply forget to shut down our computers when we aren’t using them. If we could just improve the efficiency of how we use our PCs, the savings in energy costs would be over $3 billion! The CO2 emissions from just 15 computers are equivalent in energy terms to the gas consumption used by one car.” (Localcooling.com)

The article above clearly demonstartes that a lot of energy is wasted through computers by leaving it on stand by. The same website is now providing computer users an applicatin that will keep track of the amount energy your computer is sucking up. Download the application  and see for yourself how much energyis wasted.

 

Positive Green news

Positive Green news is part of the online newspaper offered on Freshties – a online community networking site. i think it is a really good idea to promote positive and creative thinking. there is too much negative news that it can dampen the spirits. Well done Fresties.

Bio-degradable and reusable energy source legume

In an effort to save the environment, bio-degradables are becoming very popular. Some supermarkets in the UK are now supplying bio-degradable carrier bags. This is a positive step in the right direction towards improving the environment. Among the more popular sources of bio-degradable raw materials is the humble soya bean (somtimes simply known as soy). In China, the soya bean has been cultivated and used in different ways for thousands of years. Soy was considered as one of the 5 holy crops, besides rice, wheat, barley and millet.

Soya beans are very versatile: soya beans can be used as whole soya beans, soya sprouts, or processed as soya milk, tofu, tempeh, soya sauce or miso. Soya is also used as ingredient for non-food products, such as candle wax and biodiesel. Soy candles are becoming more popular because they burn longer and healthier and are environmentally friendly. Since the soy can be cultivated it is thus a renewable energy source. If you are thinking of purchasing soy candles then visit. Click here to become a soy candle wholesaler and optimise your earnings.

100 and 200 ways to save the planet

You might think that I have picked an odd title for this post. However I was trying to highlight two separate things in one heading. The first is about ‘100 ways you can help save the planet’. This is a video clip and shows very quickly the simple things we can do around our home and work place to save the environment. Click here to view the video clip.

The second one is a book written about Global warming and the 200 ways we as individuals can help combat global warming and save the environment from further deteriorating. Click here to get more details.

Now do you see the reason for the odd title!

Portable Solar Panels

Ever experienced a situation where your electronic device like your mobile phone or mp3 player ran out of battery just when you needed to make an important call? Well, here is a device that will help you in case your mobile phone or Mp3 player battery runs out. Watch the video to see how this green device can save you.

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World Conference on Environment

In December the UN will meet in Bali to discuss ways in saving the environment. My question is: Hasn’t this been done already?  The conference will discuss ways to levels of greenhouse gases and to formulate policies to to fight the problem. This sounds familiar and has been done many times over.  What we actually need is immediate action to save the environment, not just one round of talks followed by another with no real committment and action from governments around the world. lets hope this conference will come up something concrete and useful and that we will see real action on saving the environment.

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Martin Luther King Jr. celebration

You might wonder what Martin Luther King Jr. has to do with the environment. Well, next year will mark his 39th death anniversary and the organsiers of the celebration have decided to make ‘Enviroment’ as the theme for the celebration. The January 2008celebration will include an array of educational, entertainment and inspirational programs.

This is the right way forward in making more people become aware of environmental issues. I hope more celebrations of similar kind is orgnised all over the world.

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Solar powered Chariot

What a way to save energy?

Global warming

A simple video about global warming. Worth watching.