Good2Know

December 13, 2008

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

Filed under: Opinions, Tips and Advice — Tags: , , , — pittan @ 2:07 pm

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.

November 22, 2008

How green is my ….?

Filed under: Tips and Advice, Website reviews — Tags: , — pittan @ 12:16 am

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.

November 12, 2008

How to save paper in your work place?

Filed under: Opinions, Tips and Advice — Tags: , — pittan @ 10:44 pm

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.

May 19, 2008

Computers and saving energy

Filed under: Technology, Tips and Advice — pittan @ 9:09 am

“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.

 localcooling application

December 27, 2007

100 and 200 ways to save the planet

Filed under: Tips and Advice — pittan @ 12:15 am

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!

April 19, 2007

Water shortage

Filed under: Opinions, Tips and Advice — pittan @ 3:09 pm

Summer is upon us here in the UKand I wonder if we will face another water shortage like last here. It would be wise for the water authorities to start campaigning for saving water now rather than in the middle of summer when it is already too dry. Cutting down water usage now will help to slow down water shortage and people will have enogh time to get used to the idea of using less water.

Blog at WordPress.com.