Delphos Herald, Nancy Briggs
Published August 12, 2007
No, I’m not talking about Kermit the Frog. I’m talking ‘going green’ and using recycled materials and being more conscious about the environment and its limited resources.
A woman in a town near Philadelphia has a garden that attracts butterflies, hummingbirds and other winged critters. It is one-eighth of an acre almost totally covered in sunflowers, honeysuckle, azaleas and more.
Her neighbors enjoy their closely cropped lawns and say hers sticks out, well, like a green thumb.
In the summer, she spends about 14 hours a week maintaining her backyard habitat and has received more than 60 citations for not keeping her property up to snuff.
Like I said, it ain’t easy bein’ green.
Experts say energy can be captured from just about anywhere: rivers, the sun, wind … and even people.
Club Double Dee scheduled to open in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, is a local dance club. Not only is Double Dee considering serving organic beer and using a rainwater collection system for toilets, but it may actually be powered by dancing: Springs beneath the floor would capture motion energy to be converted into electricity.
The EPA estimates that more than 10 million tons of textile waste went to U.S. landfills in 2003. Swaporamarama, the brainchild of Wendy Tremayne, is a series of events designed to bring people together and reuse unwanted clothing. People show up with a bag of old clothes and $10. Then they can roam around, pick as many items as they can carry, and take them to sewing stations, where designers and artists will customize or tailor them — or teach you to do it yourself.
I can’t even sew on a button. And besides, I have clothes from probably 10 years ago. They aren’t topping off any landfills, they’re probably creating a cave-in hazard on the second floor of my home.
It ain’t easy bein’ green.
No one wants what’s in the toilet to hang around for too long. Composting toilets, which trap waste to produce fertilizing mulch, suck waste into a sealed chamber where air circulates to turn the material into peat moss. The potties are frequently used in areas where water is at a premium.
Who, may I ask, is going to empty the chamber?
See, it ain’t easy bein’ green.
Those are just a few examples of ways to make the world a greener place. Here are a few more from the Environmental Working Group:
• Use cast iron pans instead of nonstick. Read about Teflon health concerns.
• To avoid chemicals leaching into food, go easy on processed, canned or fast foods and never microwave plastic.
• Buy organic, or eat vegetables and fruit from the “Cleanest 12” list.
• Use iodized salt to combat chemical interference from the thyroid.
• Seal outdoor wooden structures to prevent arsenic leaking.
• Leave your shoes at the door. This minimizes distribution of dust-bound pollutants.
• Avoid perfume, cologne and products with added fragrance. Search for personal care products that are fragrance-free, or check the products you’re already using.
• Buy products with natural fibers, like cotton and wool, that are naturally fire resistant.
• Eat low-mercury fish like tilapia and pollock, rather than high-mercury choices like tuna and swordfish.
• Filter your water for drinking and cooking.
Well, maybe it isn’t that hard to be a little green.
