Viridescence - be green!

Crater Lake National Park  © Amy Bradley 2019 “The unselfish effort to bring cheer to others will be the beginning of a happier life for ourselves.”  – Helen Keller Typically, during the holiday season, we consider and purchase gifts for our loved ones that are often not environmentally friendly. To be frank, the holiday season is filled with wasteful traditions. Consumerism is one of the top contributors to waste, environmental degradation, and climate change. One way to improve your carbon footprint while giving a gift to a loved one, is giving a gift that benefits the environment. Before purchasing material goods as a gift for your loved one, consider the following environmentally and socially kind gift ideas! Living Tributes The U.S. Forest Service and the Arbor Foundation sell living tributes, which are trees planted in the in honor of a named loved one. The honoree receives a customed greeting card in the mail detailing the type and location of the tree....

Be kind to the environment when you travel this holiday weekend. Are you traveling for the holiday weekend?  Read about how to reduce carbon emissions while traveling . Do you plan on flying to your destination?  Read about how to reduce your carbon footprint when flying . Will you be exploring the great outdoors?  Read about how to leave no trace and how to respect wildlife . Will you be exploring nature with your pet? Read about traveling with a pet .

Reduce Consumption – Reduce Waste -  Reduce Carbon Emissions A great way to reduce carbon emissions is to purchase fewer goods. In other words, buy less stuff . In 2017, U.S. consumers purchased $3,513 billion of retail goods. [ 1 ] That's a lot of stuff! Every part of a retail goods life-cycle produces carbon emissions. In that same year, the U.S. produced 6,456.7 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions of which 82% was carbon dioxide. [ 2 ] Nationally, the U.S. generated 262.4 million tons of household solid waste. [ 3 ]  On average, a person living in the U.S. generates 4.48 pounds of solid waste a day . [ 4 ] Source: EPA, n.d. The way to view our relationship with household goods that eventually become waste is: (1) reduce consumption; (2) prevent waste by reusing and composting at home; (3) recycle what cannot be reused; (4) sent to landfill. The Take Away:  By reducing our consumption of retail goods, we reduce...

One easy way to reduce your carbon footprint is to air dry laundry instead of using a clothes dryer. On average, a standard electric dryer uses 967 kilowatt hours / year (based on 416 cycles/year) and a gas clothes dryer uses 1,091 kilowatt hours /year. [ 1 ] 1 kilowatt hour of electricity = 1.6 pounds of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). [ 2 ] 1 load of laundry dried in electric dryer = 2.3 kWh 1 load of laundry dried in electric dryer = 3.68 lbs. of CO 2 Air drying one load of laundry prevents 3.68 lbs. of CO 2 from entering the atmosphere! When you can, air dry your laundry. You will save money and energy and reduce the amount of carbon emissions entering the atmosphere. References: [1] US Department of Energy. November 2011. ENERGY STAR Market & Industry Scoping Report Residential Clothes Dryers. US Department of Energy. Retrieved from https://www.energystar.gov/sites/default/files/asset/document/ENERGY_STAR_Scoping_Report_Residential_Clothes_Dry...

A Guide to Seasonal Produce Spring When you eat seasonal produce, you help reduce food waste, support local farmers, reduce carbon emissions and save money. Seasonal produce refers to fruits and vegetables grown in your local region during the current season. REDUCED FOOD WASTE Food waste is a worldwide problem. It is estimated that individually we waste over 209 lbs. of food each year. 1 One way to reduce food waste is to purchase local seasonal produce. Fresh produce has a short shelf life and needs to be eaten shortly after harvest. Most supermarkets and local co-op purchase and resale local seasonal produce. The local farmer’s market is another place to find seasonal produce and is a way to support your local farmers. REDUCED CARBON EMISSIONS By purchasing seasonal foods, you are, hopefully, not purchasing produce that traveled halfway around the globe to get to you. Purchasing season foods reducing carbon emissions for this reason. By purchasing seasonal ...

The beginning of the modern environmental movement began with on April 22, 1970 – the first Earth Day. Since then, the Earth Day Network (EDN) has worked to take the environmental movement worldwide through education and activism. April 22, 2019 is Earth Day and this year’s theme is Protect Our Species . The EDN has created a Fact Sheet on Global Species Decline . It highlights the severity of the mass extinction of species currently taking place across the globe. The EDN has developed fact sheets on how to help protect endangered and threatened species including: Bees , Coral reefs , Elephants , Giraffes , Insects , and Whales . Quiz yourself on topics such as climate change, plastic pollution and clean energy (to name a few) and earn a free downloadable poster! EARTH DAY TIPS 1. Replace disposable plastic products with durable and reusable products 2. Influence Environmental Policy - Write Your Representative 3. Reduce your carbon footprint ...

If you are a dog owner that loves to explore the great outdoors then you most likely take your pooch with you. Before heading out for your outdoor adventure with your furry four-legged friend, take note of the following guidelines and rules. Why does my dog have to stay on the leash? The most important reason is to protect wildlife and their habitat. Dogs are not known for staying on the trail when they are off leash. In some places it is of the utmost importance to stay on the trail in order to prevent erosion or to prevent disrupting wildlife breeding areas. 1. Check before you go! Some parks and hiking trails prohibit dogs. Also check the intensity of the trail to ensure your pup is up for the challenge.  US National Forests – Dogs are allowed off leash expect for developed areas, unless otherwise posted (campgrounds, picnic areas, visitor center, etc.). Some US National Forests have seasonal restrictions on pets. Check before you go!  2.   ...

This adaptation of the Boy Scout’s Buddy Burner is a great way to upcycle and empty cookie or coffee tin, old candles, newspaper, and cardboard. This Upcycled Emergency Stove is prefect for keeping in your car and backpack in case of an emergency that leaves you stranded overnight. It will keep you warm and can be used to boil water. This Upcycled Emergency Stove is also good for fun times like to warm up while playing in the snow. Materials: Empty cookie or coffee tin (the larger the tin, the longer the fire burns) Plain cardboard Newspaper or brown packing paper Candles (used, old, broken, any color) (of course new ones will work yet defeat the purpose of upcycling) Directions: 1. Clean cookie or coffee tin 2. Cut plain cardboard into strips that fit your tin. In this demonstration, we are using a short cookie tin, so we used 1 inch wide strips of cardboard. If you are using a 2-lb. coffee tin, you would use 6-1/2 inch wide strips of cardboard. 3....

Did you know that 2%  [ 1 ] of the total energy consumed in the U.S. is by data centers?  That’s right! In 2014 that equated to 70 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, which equals the same amount of energy used that year by 6.4 million American homes. [ 2 ] The expectation is that energy use will continue to raise at a rate of 4% per year between now and 2020. [ 3 ] That means by 2020 data centers will use 73 billion kWh . That is why before you upload that cute picture of your cat to Facebook or upload your photo album to “the cloud”, you should think twice about the importance of sharing and preserving your photographs compared to the vast quantity of resources used to preserve your memories. Do you know how much water is used by data centers? On average, for every kilowatt hour , a data center uses 1.8 liters of water , which in 2014 equaled 626 billion liters of water. [ 4 ] Most of the water used by data centers is from the generation of...