The Frito-Lay Company

I have realized that trying to be "green" is about more than just saving resources and protecting the evironment. If we are ever to make progress as a society, we must inspire change in industry. Many companies have jumped on the bandwangon to produce their version of greener products: Clorox has their Green Works line, many vehicle companies have their own hybrids such as the Toyota Prius and Ford Escape, etc. One of the green products that has taken off is the Sun Chip. Frito-Lay has several things going for them here. From a health perspective, Sun Chips are made from whole grain, have less fat and salt, and no trans-fats. From an environmental stand point, they use solar power in one of their plants and today use packaging that contains 33% of renweable, plant-based material. In 2010 they plan to introduce a package that is fully biodegradable. According to their website, the bag will decompse in 14 weeks time in a hot, active compost pile. The following link contains a video clip of their accomplishments. http://www.sunchips.com/healthier_planet.shtml?s=content_compostable_packaging

Seeing as to how I am currently studying nutrition, I can appreciate the health benefits of this potato chip replacement; however, I think the statement Frito-Lay is making about the environment is just as important. Sure they get good publicity and have an advertising edge, but all the hype also contributes to the green movement. Consumers want to buy their products and other companies strive to replicate their success. Supporting products like this is important because it helps us, as consumers, make a statement about the kinds of changes we want to see. I'm making the promise that I will try to be more conscieous of the purchases I make. Becoming informed of the practices of different brands will be the biggest obstatcle in this strategy, but more than likely, if a company is doing better by the environment, they will let the public know about it. And so I encourage you to also take a step toward becoming an informed consumer. Support industry that is attempting to make a difference.

Spring Cleaning

In light of earth day, on the 22nd of this month, I decided to find alternative ways to do my spring cleaning this year. Instead of loading up on Lysol and Windex to clean up the apartment, my roommates and I plan to use only simple, non-toxic agents to clean. The website from which I gathered this information on cleaning is:
http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/green-cleaning-spring-cleaning-460303.
-One of the best tips, in my opinion, is using tea tree oil in place of antibacterial cleaners. I have heard several times that the use of chemical antibacterial products is increasing the resistance of certain bacteria populations. Adding this oil to cleaning solutions is a great idea for toilets and kitchen counters and cutting boards.
-Why vacuum if you don't have to? Beating rug outside with a broom doesn't use any electricity or require emptying a dust collector into a trash can which can waft the dust back into the air in the home. And with the same note, sweeping floors with a broom is also more energy efficient. And plus, brooms can reach places that a vacuum cannot.
-The website includes several recipes for cleaners specific to different parts of your home. Many of them include water and baking soda, vinegar, or lemon juice. All seem like simple, inexpensive agents that I am willing to try out.
-For more difficult stains that require something more abrasive, the author suggests trying kosher salt. The rough granules should help to loosen debris on hard surfaces.
-We like to open and close the windows often in our apartment according to the weather, and so the glass now has plenty of smudges and fingerprints. Their suggestion: use vinegar diluted with water and newspaper to wipe the glass clean. In our case, we will end up using old class notes to be discarded. (They claim that the newspaper will minimize streaks caused by paper towels.)
-The tip I found most interesting includes a use for ketchup. This semester we have been using some hand-me-down pots from my aunt. It is a pretty nice set that I plan to keep for a while. I noticed when we first got them that they were slightly tarnished on their copper bottoms. I am hoping that with their recommendation, I can lift the stains by rubbing the ketchup on the bottoms of the pots.
So instead of using harsh chemicals and supporting the businesses that make them, try some of these new approaches to cleaning. I plan to report back with the results of my spring cleaning efforts.

Compact Florescent Light Bulbs

When my family moved into a new house my senior year of high school, my mom allowed us to each have one single compact florescent light bulb in our bedrooms. Each bulb was costing us around six dollars a piece, and so she was slowly buying a few each pay check. At the time, as a rebellious teenager, I thought I had too much homework to be working with just one light bulb, and so I bought a couple cheap bulbs and screwed them into the light fixture. Now that I am paying for my own electricity, I make sure to use compact florescents in all light fixtures. In fact, instead of using three bulbs, the fixture's capacity, I use only two without even missing the extra light.

While on the National Geographic website this evening, I found a video featuring Natalie Portman, Kyra Sedgwick, and Cloe Sevigny called "This Bulb." According to the video, if each person in the United States replaced one regular bulb with a compact florescent, it would be equivalent to taking one million cars off the roads over the course of one year. They make the statement that each bulb saves one thousand pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere. This is pretty impressive if you think about it! Who would have thought that these devices could make such a large impact. I encourage you to take a look at this video. Send it to your friends.
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/environment/going-green-environment/conservation-in-action/this-bulb-ngv.html

Ceiling Fans

At my apartment, my roommates and I try to avoid the use of the heater and AC since it has such a huge impact on the electricity bill. Because the weather has been fluctuating greatly the past couple weeks as we creep into Spring, the apartment has been slightly chilly at night and toasty during the day. The warm days aren't a problem because we have cooled rooms down with ceiling fans, but the evening pose more of a problem. Our choices seem to be either bundle up, or give in and turn up the thermostat. What I didn't know until a conversation with a friend is that the ceiling fans can also be used to warm a room up. So I went searching for some more information and found an article called "Ceiling Fan Hacks: Save Big on Energy Use" on the website The Simple Dollar: http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2008/06/24/ceiling-fan-hacks-save-big-on-energy-use/. According to the article, the typical ceiling fan uses 60 watts of energy, whereas an AC unit uses somewhere in the neighborhood of 3500 watts. It explains the breeze effect that is created in the summer, and then goes on to discuss how to make it work to your advantage in the winter. Apparently, flipping the switch at the base of the fan, so that the blades are rotating in a clockwise manner, will push the rising, warm air back down the walls of a room. (I assume this will only work if the heater is at least on low to create a source of warm air.) If the temperatures permit tonight, I plan to try this out for myself. Hopefully I will have something to report soon!

Every so often my roommate’s boyfriend eats dinner with us at our apartment. After we eat he usually helps out with the clean-up by washing the dishes by hand. I have always been told that the dishwasher is more efficient at getting the job done, but I was thankful to be getting help, so I never complain. While researching to find out how much energy and water are saved by using the dishwasher I found this website: http://environment.about.com/od/greenlivingdesign/a/dishwashers.htm . I realize that this may or may not be a credible website, but I found the information to be very interesting. According to the article, a representative from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy states that as long as the dishwasher is only run when full and the dishes are not rinsed before being placed in the appliance, dishwashers are more efficient. The University of Bonn claims that dishwashers use half the energy, one-sixth of the water, and less soap than hand-washing. The study also showed that the dishes washed by the appliance are more sanitary.

The EPA also recommends turning off the dry-heat, pre-rinse, and rinse-hold features of the appliance to save energy. Also dishwashers manufactured after 1994 are supposed to use only 7-10 gallons, whereas older machines could use 8-15 gallons per cycle. Living in an apartment, I don't have much of a choice about the dishwasher; but I could see where spending money on an Energy Star rated dishwasher could save you money in the long run, as well as make you feel good about saving energy and water. With those tips in mind, I plan to rely more on the convenient, and often undervalued dishwasher.