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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candles and conventional flashlights when the sun sets – in fact, there are two billion people who still rely on these outdated and expensive options for illumination.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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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1. Save water in your bathroom. If its yellow, let it mellow. If its brown flush it down! Save 3 gallons!
2. Paper nor plastic, what you read before leaving your market bag at home.
3. Have a nice bottle collection? Make drinking glasses!
4. Bring your own refillable water bottles.  True cost of bottled water on treehugger.

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1. Take public transit two days a week. This can cut your gas consumption pretty quickly. Need to pick your kids up from school? Make public transit an adventure and instill in them the value of making some sacrifices to use less energy. If public transit is not available try a carpool.
2. If you are a two car family and your other vehicle is more fuel efficient, try using it for the majority of your trips. If you have two different commutes, use the more fuel efficient car for the longer commute.
3. Try and plan your errands during a less congested time of the day when you won’t be sitting in traffic idling your gas away. On that note, try commuting to work an hour earlier or leaving an hour later to skip the traffic; inquire about flex time with your company, this can help you avoid traffic as well.
4. Go the speed limit. It is hard to follow this one but accelerating more and going faster burns more fuel.
5. Use the vehicle you were born with, you legs. Do a few errands a week by walking to the store or even walk to a friends house for a get together instead of driving.
6. If you have multiple errands to do in a day try and plan to go to a store or shopping center where you can get the majority of your errands done. The more you can do in one place the less you will be driving around.
7. Sock away some cash and make a promise to yourself that your next car will be green.

These tips can lower your emissions and help you save cash which, by the way, can be put toward your new energy efficient vehicle you’ll be buying when your pocketbook catches up with your conscience.

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• Have friends or family members who refuse to recycle because it isn’t convenient or they claim there is not a center near their area? Send them to earth911.org. There they can search for the nearest recycling center based on zip code. Better yet, go there yourself and draw them a map.

• Kicking yourself at the checkout stand because you left your bulky canvas totes at home and you have to bring back yet another dozen plastic grocery bags? Next time bring your own bags that fold up very tiny so you can keep them with you at all times. You can probably fit five in your purse. Oh, and they are really cute too.

• Barbara Kingsolver’s latest non-fiction, Animal Vegetable Miracle: A Year of Food Life, tracks her family’s culinary adventures over a one-year period. The family of four attempt to sustain themselves through local sources including their own hillside farm. Kingsolver’s usual frankness makes it personal.

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