Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Saving the environment

The other day, Gene posted some tips on keeping the environment clean and minimizing waste. She mentioned about making your own mesh bags to use instead of plastic bags, when shopping. It was a coincidence I was currently working on some mesh bags, I haven't finished it though...So I thought about expounding on the topic of saving the environment.
I did some research and found that Time has published 51 tips for those of us who want to do our share.
No. 24 is Just say no to plastic bags
Maybe crocheting can help save the environment...we create useful stuff, and we even use up scraps of yarn, some of us even make yarn out of plastic bags! On the other hand, I don't even know the whole process of manufacturing threads or yarns, if it produces a lot of waste or if it pollutes the environment...I will have to find out.
No. 30 is Shut off your computer...oops, I'm guilty on that one, crocheting in front of the computer and keeping it on, while checking in from time to time...

Here's another tip I got interested in: Ditch the Mansion. According to the article, families are getting smaller, while houses are getting bigger. One guy, Jay Shafer a former art professor, took this too seriously. He dwells alone in a home fit for a hobbit, 100 sq. ft. in northern California that he designed and built himself in 1999. Shafer now runs Tumbleweed Tiny House and sells custom designs for miniature dwellings that range from 70 sq. ft. to 350 sq. ft. He made his move because he felt guilty about the size of his residential carbon footprint, and now prefers life tiny and tidy.

Then also, I chanced upon an informative and interesting blog, detailing adventures in getting rid of plastic waste in normal everyday life - Fake Plastic Fish.

4 comments:

  1. Great point. I have 2 bags that I crocheted and use. I need to work on remembering to keep them in the car and taking them into the store more often though :(

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  2. Oops, I'm guilty as well in the computer stuff! Bad Gene!

    But I love the say no to plastic bags. I just did that a while ago when I went to buy office supplies. The link in Time magazine is very informative. Thanks for putting that up.

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  3. I just took three bags (full of other plastic bags) in to recycle at WalMart today. Someone told me that WalMart is 'going green'. I do need to make my own bags to take with me to the store. I don't know what we will do when we get a lot of stuff... But, I also crochet purses out of plastic bags, too. I would totally hang my clothes out to dry if I had a yard and a clothes line. And when we lived in Michigan, I used to walk my son to school every day. I wish I could do that here but it is 17 blocks to his school. It would not only save gas/money/the environment, but I would get exercise, too. Thanks for posting those links!

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  4. Very interesting, Mimi. I don´t buy lightbulbs anymore, but the energy savers bulbs. They are more expensive, but on the other hand they last years longer and save energy.

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