Goodies for Sale!!

Thank you for visiting our blog. I hope that you enjoyed it!

So here are some things that we can make out of recycling items, you are welcome to contact us and buy these beautiful hand-made crafts from us.

This is a working clock made out of a box and clock parts

$7.95 + shipping

 

These are vases made out of water bottles

$1.75 + shipping

 

These are decorations made out of empty toilet paper rolls

$2.50 + shipping

 

Hooks made out of ice cream sticks

$1.25 + shipping

This is a gorgeous decoration made of cardboards

$5.95 + shipping

Effects of Going Green

Today we are going to look at the effects of going green, along with their positives and negatives! While going green may be a nice sentiment as a "protect the future of our children" bias, actually going green is going to be difficult. Yet, the benefits of going green is also great so we as humans must be able to make some sacrifices to be able to go green.
One advantage of going green is you get to protect the environment!

A cleaner land gives us something better to look at. We can enjoy this on a daily basis at home and also when we travel to remote, scenic areas. If we take care of the soil through organic agriculture, it will continue to provide us with high quality food and if we take care of our landscape, it will continue to provide us with essentials such as clean air and potable water. Going green also benefits future generations, who will inherit the restorative effects of the positive changes we make as well as the damage we cause.

Going green even just at home is great because you teach your children to go green as well, and at that early age going green will definitely leave a large impression and keep their children to go green starting a chain reaction within your future generations.

A green world also produces health benefits. By changing the way we travel and reducing green house gases, we as a people can enjoy cleaner air and healthier bodies will come as a result.


Going green will also help you save money in the long run by plugging leaky faucets and taking advantage of programs set forth by the government in an effort to increase going green!

Although there are these great advantages to going green, there will also be disadvantages. 

The small inconveniences of going green can be a deterrent. Actions that almost anyone can do that include biking or walking instead of driving, using less water while showering, or using the air conditioner and heater less can make an impact on the environment. Many people think, however, that these small efforts are merely inconvenient and are of no help to the bigger issues in the environment. It is better to make small trade-offs for the environment now rather than dealing with the even larger inconvenient harm we are placing upon the planet later. If everyone were to just change their way of thinking and contributed to these small green actions then a huge impact will be seen!

The time commitment associated with green living is a major disadvantage for many. Most are unsure whether their efforts in going green are useful at all because effects of their attempts cannot be seen instantaneously. As a result, we believe that people should be educated more thoroughly about the massive advantages going green can have on our future generation and our planet because efforts do pay off in the long run. 

Another major disadvantage of of going green is the up front cost. As stated in our previous posts, solar panels and energy efficient light bulbs are a great way to go green and save money in the long run. The costs of installing these items, however, run quite high. While we can assess the cost benefits of using these items in the long run, there really is no way of assessing the cost of the damage we have the ability to cause to our planet if we keep going on with our harmful ways of living. 

Those who are intending on going green also have to be quite meticulous. Many products on the market that are advertised as "green" may actually end up doing more harm to the environment than good. In order to prevent great efforts from going to waste, it is advised to always do research and ask questions so efforts are used to their full advantages! 

It's All Our Fault

Have you ever had the experience of standing in the sun for so long that you feel like your are about to pass out any minute? According to statistics provided by the University of Memphis, approximately 300 people die each year on average from exposure to heat. This number of death due to heat may increase greatly each year due to global warming. This is an alarm for us to take the changes in our planet more seriously. In this post, we are going to inform you about the causes of the changes in the planet we depend on.

CO2 emissions due to fossil fuel burning (blue line and right axis) from 1800 to 2006 and atmospheric CO2 concentrations (red line and left axis) from 1847 to 2008.
Based on data from Boden et al. (2009), Keeling et al. (2009), and Neftel et al. (1994)

Global warming is the increase in earth’s average temperature over the entire earth surface.  The occurrence of global warming has gained the attention and concerns of many scientists all around the world today. The main cause of rise in the earth’s average temperature is the increase in large amount of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the earth’s atmosphere. This carbon dioxide is all from us, the humans. Since the industrial revolution in the nineteenth century, the humans have been emitting increasing amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere due to the burning of fossil fuels in numerous human activities, such as manufacturing factories.

http://on.natgeo.com/aQ75g9

According to the NASA Earth Observatory, the earth’s surface temperature has risen from 0.6 to 0.9°C, which is equivalent to 1.1 to 1.6°F, since the beginning of 20th century. The rate of temperature increase has nearly doubled in the last 50 years. (http://1.usa.gov/b0KDVn) . The increase in the earth’s temperature is not obvious, so many people overlook it. However, a slight increase in the earth’s temperature may cause many changes in the world we have today. These changes include the melting of polar ice caps, rise in sea levels, and severe weather patterns. The melting ice caps could create large amount of freshwater into the ocean and cause a rise in sea level. According to the National Academic Press, sea level could rise from 2.5 to 6.5 feet (0.8 to 2 meters) by the year of 2100.  Global warming also leads to climate change. There could be intense rainfall or drought in different regions across the world. Hot days and nights may become warmer and more frequently, which many cause destruction in the ecosystem and other environmental systems.

Worldwide projected changes in temperatures, relative to 1961-1990 averages, under three different emissions scenarios (rows) for three different time periods (columns). SOURCE: Meehl et al. (2007a)

    All in all, the accelerating global warming occurrence is mainly caused by most of human activities on the planet. In our next post, we are going to inform you about the effects of going green and how every action from you can make a difference for our planet.

Reuse

With the idea of going green, there are three steps. Reuse, reduce, recycle. We believe that out of these three steps reusing is the best option! The idea of reusing is minimizing costs by reusing items that you would normally only use once and throw away by using it more than once, or finding new uses for it. These uses can do anything, from being used as art, or more everyday use.

Reusing is the best way for going green because you save more money and have more fun by finding uses for everyday objects that you would not normally use them for. Below you will find many image macros where you can save money and have some neat and interesting ways to reuse some of your items!

First off, we see a man that reused many empty water bottles and filled them with food coloring and water to make a nice shadowy canopy for his car. (http://bit.ly/XkWyj8)

From (http://bit.ly/OP0TrK) we can see that people using great ingenuity find uses for items that are not conventional. 

These are only a few of the 99 life hacks you can find here (http://bit.ly/QQV0I0)

As you can see, people have found several great uses for items that cannot be recycled and can only be thrown away. Reusing items is the best option for going green as it saves you the most money! You should also post any life hacks you found yourself and share to the people another great way to reuse!

Go Green Food

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In previous posts we talked about easy and cheap ways to go green. Today we will talk about healthy food consumption and what you can do to make better choices in your eating habits. We as an American culture are becoming infamous for our dietary habits. Many Americans look to the many fast food chains available here in America to eat their meals. These choices affect the farms because the greater the demand for cheap ingredients causes them to look towards alternative and unethical business practice to supplement the needs of a growing demand. It is hard to trust farms that don't have an organic style of growing, and may have growth hormones that you do not want to put in your body.

Do you eat organically? Eating organic food can not only make you healthier but also help the environment. Growing food organically frees the environment from harmful chemicals and fertilizers, pollution in water, and soil contamination. The production of organic food is natural and strictly regulated by governmental laws.
However, producing organic food can prevent genetically modified foods from dominating the market. It can also help stop cross-pollination between organic crops and genetically modified crops.(http://bit.ly/w8s5bw)

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Is organic food too expensive? If you can't afford organic food, at least try to go local. Buying seasonal and local food can reduce the risk of running into genetically modified foods. And if you have any doubts you can ask the farmers directly how they grow the food and decide which method is to your liking. Going local can also cut down the cost and pollution of transporting the foods. It also saves the local farmers from shipping and packing related costs and pollution. You can go through the community supported agriculture (CSA) to consume local food. 

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Are you a vegan? Going completely vegan can be a difficult task for many, but shifting towards a vegan diet is a possible feat. It is important to begin shifting towards a vegan diet as studies show that the meat industry is responsible for 51% of the global greenhouse gas emissions. Studies also show that a meat eaters diet is responsible for 7 times the greenhouse gas emissions that a vegan diet is responsible for (PETA). A good way to begin this shift is to eat lower on the food chain, starting with veggies, fruits, and grains. Try to consume meat in smaller portions and opt for organic choices.

 

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According to Ecoist, the American dines out at least 4 times per week. Reducing the number of eating out not only helps you with spending less money on the food but also encourages you to think about cooking yourselves. There are many ways that can help you to eat out less. You can first try to reduce the number of eating out to one time per week. Also, sharing the meals with someone else or go kid - meals can be a good choice if you cannot finish the whole meal yourselves. (http://bit.ly/WS5GLG)

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Raw diet can also be a best decision for people who want to go green. The process of preparing the meals takes not only your time but also electricity or gas. Usually, raw and fresh food contains the most nutrients that good for your health. There are some nutrients that will disappear when your food is cooked or over-cooked. 

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 Food waste is a big problem in America. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, (http://1.usa.gov/XmIggr)  in 2010 alone, more than 34 million tons of food waste was generated, with only three percent diverted from landfills and incinerators for composting. Reducing this number has a wide variety of benefits

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Reduce Methane From Landfills - When food is thrown in a landfill, it rots and becomes a giantsource of methane - a greenhouse gas with 21 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide. Landfills are a major source of human-related methane in the United States, accounting for more than 20 percent of all methane emissions.

Use less resources that coincide with food production -We need to use many things to grow food, including water, fertilizers, pesticides, and energy. By wasting food, you are also wasting the resources  that were used to grow them.

Create better soil- by composting all the wasted food that was thrown away, we can get valuable soil to use as nutrients to grow more food. It can also be used as an energy source!

Improve Sanitation-food thrown away around dumpsters and other locations cause the food to rot, and the smell can get terrible. The smell can also travel very far, which will increase and attract many more rodents and insects to your location.

http://1.usa.gov/XmIggr

Do you like getting food from vending machines? Those snacks in the vending machines are not only unhealthy to you, but also destroy our planet. Yes, the candy bars and chip pakcs are tasty but they lack nutrition. The ingredients in processed snacks are often genetically and chemically modified. You do not get much out of eating those snacks, and you create trash when you throw away the wrappers. 

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Organic - Only 95%-100% organic can use the USDA organic label. Remember that unless the label states that the product is 100% organic, it isn't completely organic.

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Natural - In the US, this label means that no artificial ingredients such as preservatives or artificial flavors have been used. Antibiotics and growth enhancers can still be used however.

Grass Fed - This label refers to animals that have been living on a diet solely composed of grass and hay. Meat from cattle that have been grass fed tend to healthier and leaner.