I spend so much time and energy each day searching for and posting information on the internet. Did you know that there are actually ways you can offset my carbon emissions from your website? Did you know that you can actually help save the rain forest with your search queries? Neither did I. For a fee, you can get your site Green Certified. By doing so, carbon offsets are purchased in an amount estimated to be equal to the carbon emitted by the hosting and viewing of your website! You can also save .1 square yards of rain forest each time you search through Forestle. Am totally making that my homepage (or really a “home tab”). Forestle uses its Yahoo ad revenue to donate to the Nature Conservancy’s adopt an acre program. See, wasting time on the internet can be turned into time well spent!
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I met Joan from SunNight Solar yesterday (she came to the Ladies Who Lunch weekly outing) and thought I had already posted about BOGO lights here on the site; I am always talking about them with friends and have even tweeted about them. I could not believe it when I came on here this morning and couldn’t find a post about them! That immediately prompted me to explore their site again and I am still mesmerized by all the good that SunNight Solar is doing with their BOGO product and programs. The light is a flashlight that runs on 100% solar power. You can charge it in the sun, even through a window, and they recommend discharging the battery by leaving it on for 15 hours at least once a month to preserve battery life. According to the FAQ, the battery will last between 3 and 5 years even with daily use. The best part is when you buy a light, SunNight Solar ships a light to one of a number of non-profit organizations in developing countries. In their own words:
Lighting is one of the easiest things in the world to take for granted, assuming you live in the developed parts of our planet and there is no interruption of the power flow from your electrical grid. And if you reside in most parts of Africa, much of Latin America, large sections of Southeast Asia – you are forced to rely on kerosene, candles and conventional flashlights when the sun sets – in fact, there are two billion people who still rely on these outdated and expensive options for illumination. Now, with our SunLight series of flashlights, we are changing the way light is provided and the impact on the world will be immense – with your help.
Right now they are challenging themselves to get one light in the hands of each soldier stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq through their WarLights program. So far, the results have been great; reading the accounts from the troops is truly heart-warming.
Also heart warming are the pictures of children in Africa holding up their BOGO lights; and reading Mark’s blog entry about people distributing lights in Kijabe Kenya. This is the type of company I want to support. They are giving the gift of light while diminishing the environmental impact. And you can too! Buy your BOGO light now; buy one for everyone on your Christmas or holiday list!
I was reading Mina’s blog entry last week and have been thinking of my own don’t need list. I am trying to conserve money and resources and I love the idea of determining what you need versus what you want. Though I do think that I do deserve some splurges, I think I can get too relaxed and go overboard sometimes. So… here goes.
1. I don’t need a $5 cup of coffee from Starbucks every weekday. That adds up to $100/month! Okay so it is actually a $3.62 venti iced coffee with an extra shot, skim milk and a splenda… AND I tip $1 b/c I believe in karma. I now make my own hot coffee in the French press when I wake up and do an extra pot of coffee and throw it in the fridge for my own diy iced coffees in the middle of the day. So far, so good. I compost the coffee grounds and with the coffee press this leaves no waste whatsoever.
2. I don’t need more than one lunch out per week. I have been eating lunch out a little too often and it is adding up. I spend an average of $13/lunch about twice a week. I am not cutting out my weekly Ladies Who Lunch. By cutting down to one a week I will save $52/month. Nice. I’ve also been trying to save really good leftovers so I can have good lunches.
3. We do not need a home phone line. I just bought us a Skype number and subscription which adds up to $60/year. We were spending around $90/month on our phone line with long distance. So trading it in for Skype will save us $85/month.
So with just those three things I will save about $237/month. Not bad for just a few adjusted habits and bills. Not to mention less waste from the Starbucks cups! Other things I am considering for my next round of “I don’t needs”: 20oz diet sodas in the checkout line; take-out on Wednesday nights; parts of our premium cable subscription; and our 3-movie subscription on Netflix.
Henry (my potty-training two-year-old) and I have just discovered Imse Vimse training pants. They are super cozy and made from organic cotton and PUL. They are also really cute. I do not know about their absorbency since they just came in the mail. Looks like the Imse Vimse store offers a lot of organic products for baby and mom. I will definitely be visiting and possibly buying more trainers. Treehugger has a great tutorial on the importance and benefits of purchasing products made from organic textiles.
Finally, someone has come up with instructions on how to conserve gas by merely changing the way you drive your car. I have already started trying to implement these changes. Hopefully I will be able to lighten my lead foot. The method is called hypermiling. According to the website:
What is hypermiling? According to a a fantastic August 2006 story in the Washington Post, it is a method of increasing your car’s gas mileage by making skillful changes in the way you drive, allowing you to save gas and thereby have an easier time withstanding the rising oil and gas prices.
So, I’m going to try it for 90 days and attempt to make it a habit. How about you? Can you drive in the slow lane? Can you lay off the breaks and leave a cushion between you and the next car so that you can coast more rather than brake? These are tall orders for an aggressive driver like myself, but I’m willing to try if it means saving gas.