Green Paige

Summer is here along with the sunburns, mosquito bites and the “Mom, I’m bored!” blues.  Don’t get me wrong, I love summer as much as the next mom but it does come with it’s own unique challenges.  Here are a few solutions to help with those summertime challenges.

• Sunburns - I have a large aloe vera plant that grows next to my patio.  For rapid sunburn relief, I snap off a leaf and squeeze the gel over the sunburned area.  It’s a bit sticky but very soothing.   When I was a teenager, I believed the suburban legend that adding a cup of baking soda or apple cider vinegar to a warm bath would instantly turn my freckled, sunburn skin into the Bain de Soleil tan of my dreams.  Surprisingly, that never happened but after the initial sting, this sour smelling bath was quite soothing.  Look for burn creams made with aloe, calendula and comfrey.  Comfrey contains allantoin which is a skin cell regenerative and calendula has anti-inflammatory properties that help decrease redness. 

• Mosquito Bites - The best way to deal with mosquito bites is not to get bitten in the first place.  Our backyard and patio is surrounded with plants that repel mosquitoes including lemon thyme and geraniums.  Lemongrass and catnip are also good choices that can contain up to 60% of the repellent power of DEET without exposing your family to toxins or carcinogens.   We also spray ourselves with an herbal insect repelling spray that contains citronella, eucalyptus,  lavender, thyme, cedar and geranium.   If you do get bitten, try using my grandmother’s tried and true method to alleviate the itch:  

1. Clean the bites with witch hazel.
2. Make a paste of baking soda and water - I use a tbl sp. of baking soda to a tsp of water.
3. Put the paste on the bite and then bandage. 

This solution takes a while to work it’s magic and stop the itching but in the mean time, my daughter generally becomes so entranced by the whole procedure that she forgets to scratch her bites which might be the real magic of this cure. 

• Bee Stings -  In my entire life, I won’t tell you how long that’s been, I have only been stung by a bee once.  In my daughter’s first year of life, she was stung twice - once by a bee and once by a wasp.  These were horrible experiences for our entire family.  What we learned was that the first thing to do is make sure the stinger is out by scraping the bite with an object like a library card or piece of cardboard.  For the wasp sting:  we placed ice on the bite for no longer than 10 minutes.  At that point, our daughter’s arm continued to swell so we called a nurse who advised us.  For the bee sting:  we made a paste of baking soda and water and rubbed it on the bite.  The baking soda helped draw out the toxins which gave our daughter physical relief and the strawberry popsicle we stuck in her mouth gave her the emotional relief she needed.

• Removing Grass Stains - For all you moms and dads out there with kids on soccer and softball teams, removing grass stains from sports uniforms is a challenge.  When I was growing up, my mom pretreated grass stains on washable fabrics by sponging them first with warm water then dabbing rubbing alcohol or white vinegar on the stain.  After the item was laundered, she hung it outside to dry in the sun.  This process removed the grass stains every time.  My aunt’s favorite method was to rub Felsnaftha soap over the stain and then wash as usual.  Recently, a friend told me about her unusual method of  rubbing molasses or honey into the stained area and then laundering the item.  I have to say I haven’t tried the last suggestion but it would make for an interesting summertime experiment.

•  Cleaning the Grill - In our family, the thought of cleaning the bar-b-que grill is enough to make us eat out.  An easy solution that we came up with is to mix 1/2 cup washing soda with 1 gallon of warm water in a large tub.  Soak the grill in the soapy water for approximately 20 minutes while you are lighting the charcoal.  Take the grill out of the water and scrub lightly, rinse and dry.  The whole procedure takes about 25 minutes. 

If you have some cool solutions to summertime challenges, let me know.  Post a comment.

What are the most important changes we need to make to our house to make it more energy efficient and sustainable?  Where do we begin?  That’s what we had been asking ourselves until we discovered the  Green Guide’s Eco IQ Quizes.

Questions like Do you have recycling bins in your house? or Have you replaced at least one incandescent bulb in your house with a compact fluorescent light bulb?  might not seem like they can set you on the path to total home greenovation but as the Green Guide quiz explains, it can make a big difference.

What kinds of things did our family learn from our own eco I.Q. quiz? 

• Water - We learned that tap water meets stricter federal and local standards for chemical contaminants than bottled water does.  We also found that by installing aerators on all of our water faucets we could cut our water usage from 5 gallons per minute to 2.75 gallons or less - the most efficient models use only 1 gallon.
• Air - By sealing air leaks, we could reduce our energy bill by 10 percent and cut our carbon footprint by 865 pounds per year.
• Heat -Surprisingly, we discovered that our microwave uses 85 percent less energy than our conventional cooktop and almost a third of the energy used by our toaster oven.

Another great web-based resource to help launch you on the home improvement path to a more energy efficient home is the  The Home Energy Saver .  This do-it-yourself energy audit was developed by the Environmental Energy Technologies Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.  The audit helped us determine what we could do to make our home more energy efficient.

• Results - Out of the 17 recommendations made, we had already completed 11 which included:

1. Replacing our 1980s electric stove with a ceramic top range, our vintage refrigerator with an Energy Star, freezer-on-top model and recycling our old freezer which has saved us over $100 in energy costs so far this year (3 months.) 
2. Upgrading our washer and dryer with Energy Star front loading models for a savings of $110 in energy costs and 22 gallons of water per load.
3. Installing a programmable thermostat and setting it to 63 degrees saving us $170 last winter.
4. Replacing our old tank water heater with a tankless water-on-demand water heater set at 120 degrees saving us $112 a year in energy costs. 
5. Switching our incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescent light bulbs.
6. Replacing floors and adding insulation.
7. Being lucky to have purchased a house where the owners had already updated the old gas furnace with an energy efficient forced-air gas furnace, replaced the single-paned windows with doubled paned glass, maintained the whole-house fan and installed a new roof.

• Audit Recommendations: 

1. Replace our inefficient, 1990s dish washer.
2. Seal our ducts to prevent air leaks.
3. Increase insulation in our walls.
4. Replace the insulation in our attic.
5. Insulate our duct work.
6. Seal air leaks in our house including our unused fireplace.

Suggestions, ideas, recommendations?  Post a comment and let me hear from you.

Whether you are looking for a quiet get-away, a chance to commune with nature or a real adventure during your summer vacation, here are some tips to help you make it a green vacation to remember.

• Need a quiet get-away? - Look for accommodations with programs in place to conserve water, save energy and reduce solid waste.  That is what the Green Hotels Association  does. Their website directory lists environmentally-friendly lodging in all 50 states, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central and South America, Europe and Asia.

• Want to get closer to nature? - Consider camping.  Many national and state parks offer economically-priced lodges and recreational facilities for family fun.  Another perk is that your admission to a national or state park will go towards park upkeep and environmental programs.

• Looking for something different? - Stay at an organic farm or ranch.   AgriSupportOnline and Agritourism World connect families with farms, ranches and dairies. If you are venturing outside the US, Agriturismo USA lists a variety of farm stays and rural tourism sites throughout the world.

• Seeking adventure? -  Ecotourism will give you the adventure you are seeking while actively conserving and protecting the environment.  Organizations like Earthwatch match volunteers with scientific field research around the globe.  As ecotourists, your family could trace the life cycle of an endangered butterfly at the foot of Japan’s Mount Fuji, travel to Australia to collect data on endangered species in their temperate forest home or help researchers track Greek bottlenose dolphins in the Mediterranean. For ecotourism opportunities, visit  The International Ecotourism Society or check with local travel agencies to find out what eco-travel trips they offer.  

Whether you fly on a plane, drive a car or ride a bike to your vacation destination, make your first stop the Better World Club.  The BWC is an environmentally-friendly auto club that provides nationwide roadside assistance for cars and bikes, eco-travel services, discounts on hybrid cars, insurance, free maps and auto maintenance discounts. They donate one percent of their annual revenues toward environmental cleanup and advocacy.

If you must fly, offset your carbon emissions to reduce fossil fuel usage and eliminate the release of harmful greenhouse gases.  According to the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , 85,000 flights depart annually from airports around the world burning 130 million tons of fuel.  That figure is projected to rise to 300 million tons by 2015 which makes carbon offsetting programs like the BWC’s Travel Cool! not only a great idea but a necessity. 

Carbon offsetting allows passengers to pay a surcharge to help finance the planting of trees or other green projects in order to balance out the environmental damage caused by their journey.  Expedia provides travelers with the opportunity to offset flight emissions with TerraPass when they purchase a ticket.

For those of you who are hitting the road during your vacation, the BWC offers member discounts for hybrid and bio-diesel car rentals in limited locations.  Enterprise, National and Alamo car rental companies, in collaboration with TerraPass, give customers the chance to offset the carbon dioxide emissions from rental cars. When considering transportation options for your family vacation, don’t forget walking, biking and public transit systems. Many cities have excellent bus and light rail programs.

If you have ideas or suggestions that you would like to add, please post a comment.

With gas prices skyrocketing and our family trying to live a more environmentally aware lifestyle, we decided that taking a green approach to the summer vacation season makes good sense.  My husband and I want to teach our daughter how important it is to protect the places we love to visit by making sustainable choices.  This approach creates a rewarding vacation experience for the entire family.  Here are some green travel tips that are sure to make your own vacation planning easy and environmentally-friendly:

• Research - The most important step to planning a green vacation is research.

1. Choose a destination that is affordable, encourages environmentally-friendly practices and has age appropriate activities for the children in your family.
2. Support the local economy of the region or country that you will be traveling in by researching your food and entertainment choices through web directories.  Don’t be afraid to call and ask questions before you make a reservation.
3. Patronize businesses and organizations that respect the local environment and cultures. 

• Get Help! - Feeling a bit overwhelmed?  Let an Internet travel planning site like EcoBookers help you plan your trip.  They get paid via commission from hotels or retreats that are booked through them.  Rainforest-Alliance offers a variety of information to green travelers including an index of websites specializing in responsible travel and guidebook recommendations.  They also award tourism establishments a sustainable certification for reducing water and energy consumption and improving their methods for waste disposal.

• Beware of Greenwashing - Unfortunately, some businesses purposely mislead travelers by claiming to be an environmentally-friendly establishment when they are not.  To insure that a tour company or lodging facility is a sustainable business with environmentally-friendly practices, the Rainforest-Alliance suggests that you ask the following questions before you make a reservation:

1. What is your environmental policy?
2. What percentage of your employees are from the local community?
3. Do you support projects to benefit the local community?
4. Do you support conservation? How?
5. Is your business certified by the Rainforest Alliance?
6. Have you won eco-awards?
7. Are you recommended by reputable conservation groups?
8. What policies have you implemented to reduce water consumption, conserve energy or recycle wastes?
9. How do you educate visitors about local natural areas, wildlife, energy conservation and local culture?
10. How do you monitor these practices?

Whether your vacation plans take you to the Amazon River to help protect giant river otters or a local National Park, plan ahead and make your vacation a green one.

If you have ideas or suggestions for planning an environmentally-friendly and sustainable vacation, please share them by posting a comment.

I have to admit that I am not a regular television watcher but when I heard that Discovery Communications was launching Planet Green, the first and only 24-hour eco-lifestyle television network, I was excited.

Planet Green  promises to air the freshest and ecoist shows on TV with solutions-oriented tips and information that can help you make your life greener. Their programs feature eco-minded personalities including Sara Snow, Annabelle Gurwitch, Emeril Lagasse and Steve Thomas.

To find the Planet Green network in my area, I visited PlanetGreen.com and clicked on channel finder.  I was able to upgrade my DISH package immediately to include Planet Green. 

Our family recently came to a decision. 

Our 1970’s house, which we love, isn’t working for our growing family.  It seems to be shrinking, aging and falling apart before our eyes.  For the past three years, we have been repairing, replacing and remodeling it here and there with the dream that soon we would sell it and move into a green-built home with more space, radiant heat floors and recycled glass counter tops. 

Then my daughter asked the inevitable question, “Why?”  Why, indeed.  That simple question made us realize that no ecobroker in the world could help us find a greener home with as much love, sweat and memories as we have imbued this one with. 

Is it more environmentally friendly to buy a green-built home than to remodel using green materials?  I am afraid that experts in the field seem to differ on their conclusions.  For us, we have decided to stay and continue to repair, replace and remodel using green materials. 

To document our family’s efforts to make our home a more sustainable place to live, I am launching a new section of this blog called The Green House Chronicles or GHC.

In the meantime, we are doing a bit of research to help us plan future “green house” projects.   Here are some books and websites that we recommend:

• “The Not So Big House” by Sarah Susanka - This book sends a simple but vital message  - quality should come before quantity. My favorite chapter is Rethinking The House pg. 28 where she proposes the concept of rethinking our houses to let them become expressions of the way we really live. 
• “Good Green Homes” by Jennifer Roberts - The author says that “Good Green Homes” is for people who believe in the power of one person - or one home - to make a world of difference.  With resource information and green home profiles, this book can help us repurpose our home into a beautiful, livable, more environmentally space that makes a difference.
• GreenandSave.com - This informative site full of product reviews and money saving tips is the result of over three years of research by Charlies and Cynthia Szoradi who transformed their inefficient 1950’s house into a ground breaking eco-sustainable home. 
• ReGreenProgram.com - What makes the Regreen Program different from the LEED green building certification?  Regreen is a set of guidelines designed to help consumers and green building professionals evaluate green products and energy systems.  You can download their guidelines and 10 case studies that document various in-home remodeling projects at ReGreenProgram.com .

Have some resources that you would like to share?  Please leave a comment.

Did you know that you could earn money for your neighborhood school by recycling?  Here are a few organizations that  can help you save the planet and give back to your community.

• TerraCycle has teamed up with various companies including Stonyfield Farm and Nabisco to collect used yogurt containers, wrappers, drink pouches, corks and plastic bottles.  The collected materials are then recycled into planting pots.  Schools or your favorite charity can get as much as 5 cents per yogurt container depending on it’s size. 
• Cartridges for Kids is a recycling program that helps schools and non-profit organizations fund-raise cash for empty laser and inkjet cartridges, used cell phones, laptops, PDAs and iPods.  They claim to have helped organizations raise over $12 million.
• The Kids Recycle Challenge, sponsored by Wal-Mart, encourages kids to become responsible stewards of their environment while earning money for their schools by collecting plastic shopping bags.  Since this program began in 2004, nearly 2,800 schools have participated, 1,400 tons of plastic bags have been recycled and more than $1.2 million has been earned by students for their schools.

 Comments?  Suggestions?  Ideas?  Let me hear them!

We recycle, drive a Prius and use canvas bags when we do our shopping but to be honest, I was not sure where my family would stand on a world-wide “green” scale.   Thanks to the National Geographic Society’s Greendex, now we know.   

The National Geographic/GlobeScan “Consumer Greendex,” is a scientifically derived, sustainable consumption index of actual consumer behavior and material lifestyles across 14 countries.  National Geographic created the Greendex because they wanted to give people a better idea of how consumers in different countries are taking action to preserve our planet.

Visit the National Geographic site and click on the Greendex Calculator.  Answer the series of questions they ask and calculate your score.  You might be surprised.

When I took the Greendex survey, I scored 50 which put me in league with Spain who is ranked 10th out of 14 countries. Their positive transportation habits balanced by their less-sustainable high consumption of fish/seafood and meat landed them in the second to lowest spot on the scale. 

The sad news:  Consumers in the United States rank 14th out of 14 countries on the Greendex, scoring last on three out of four of its component measures: transportation, housing and consumption of goods - and near the bottom on food.  For more information on the US Consumers’ Greendex  and to calculate your own green score, visit the National Geographic Society’s  Greendex. 

Along with spring flowers and rain showers come the ants.  At least at my house, the ant armies already have us surrounded.  If you are fighting the same war, here are a few tips and concoctions to help you rid yourself of ants in a natural and healthy way.

• Boric Acid - Boric acid (Borax) is a low-toxicity mineral with natural insecticidal properties.  When 2 cups of boric acid are mixed with 1 cup of flour and sprinkled around the foundation of the house, it can repel ants.  It does not pose the same health risks associated with synthetic pesticides but it still should be handled with care.  It should be kept out of the reach of children and pets and you should always wear gloves when handling it. 

• Mint  - My mother’s solution is to plant mint plants all around the house.  Not only does it seem to deter the ants but your house will always smell minty fresh.

• Mint Squares - Mix 4 ounces of mint jelly with 2 tbl sp. of powdered boric acid.  Create small squares of masking tape.  Dab the mint mixture onto the tape squares.  Stick the squares onto floors behind cabinets and appliances where ants have been found.  Keep away from children and pets.  Make sure you wear gloves when handling the boric acid.

• Ant Perfume - Ants don’t like:  bone meal, cinnamon, cream of tartar, red chili pepper, salt, dried mint, dried bay leaves, dried sage, cucumber peelings, perfume, paprika or powdered charcoal.  If you take any one of these items and place it where the ants are entering the house, the ants will be repelled.  DO NOT mix these items together.  It might deter the ants but it will also create a stinky perfume that will drive your family and friends away as well. 

•  Sugar Syrup - Mix together 1 tbl sp. of sugar, 1 tbl sp. of Borax and 2 tbl sp. of water to make a thick syrup.  Soak cotton balls in the mixture.  Place the balls on jar lids in the middle of the ant infestation.  Keep away from children and pets.  Wear gloves when handling the Borax.  This method might take a while for the ants to be driven away.

• Sour Solutions - Mix equal parts of vinegar and water together.  Wash your counters tops with the mixture to discourage ant traffic.  Squeeze lemon juice in holes or cracks where ants are entering your house.  Place the lemon peels around the ant hill entrance.

If you have some natural solutions to ant control, please leave a comment.  I would love to hear from you.