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Do you think Live Earth will make a difference?

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There’s an interesting conversation going on about the Live Earth concert at Go Smell the Flowers.

The blog author asks the question:

Live earth is kicking off around the world today with performance in all 7 continents with over 10,000 events promised globally. Will it really help? Are we too late or no need for concern?

There’s been quite a few replies to that post. Some people are being quite pessimistic stating that whatever we do now won’t make a difference and that the message of the concert won’t really get through to many people. Others are more optimistic stating the changes they’ve made in their own lives towards becoming more green and how every little bit will help.

What do you think?

Do you believe global warming exists?

Whether you believe in global warming or not, do you think that if we all made a few changes in our lives it might help the environment or that it might really be a better way to live?

Chris and I aren’t totally green, but we’ve made a lot of changes in our lives over the years toward living green.

Here’s just a few of the things that we do:

  1. Almost all of our lights are energy efficient, as are our appliances.
  2. We turn the heat down in the winter
  3. We live a few blocks from work so we walk to work
  4. Our car is a 4 cyl and because we live so close to work and many small shops we really only use our car once a week or so for short trips to get groceries etc.
  5. We have a few small trees in our yard
  6. Not all of our plants are drought resistant but many are so I don’t have to water a lot
  7. We grow many of our own veggies and fruit
  8. Our garden is organic
  9. What we do purchase in the grocery store is local whenever possible
  10. We don’t eat much meat
  11. We rarely eat processed foods,
  12. We recycle and use recycled products if they are available
  13. We dry many of our clothes on the line instead of using the dryer
  14. We bring our own reusable bags to the grocery store.
  15. We try to use eco-friendly products whenever possible ie no harsh cleaning chemicals etc.

Do you do any of these things? Perhaps you have some more ideas on how to live green for those who read this site?






How Green Are You?

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As gardeners we have the ability to grow a good portion of our own food items. Just by growing our own food and or by eating locally grown unprocessed food items we can save 2,268 kg in CO2 emissions over the course of the year? Let me correct that … just by eating these types of foods once a week you can save that amount of C02 emissions. Just think of how much more you could do to help protect the planet if you ate home grown or locally produced food daily?

How did I come up with that figure? Well I was reading an article about reducing C02 emissions and it had 20 great tips that are easy to follow and that I’m sure many people would be able to follow. If you were able to do even some of the suggestions listed in the article you’d not only reduce a substantial amount of C02 emissions, but you’d also lower your energy consumption and save a lot of money. Perhaps savings in the $1000’s each year.

When you don’t eat food that you’ve grown in your own garden, or that’s unprocessed and locally grown, you have to add in the toll on the environment that processing food items, and then transporting them, sometimes as much as much as 2,500 km costs in C02 emissions, not to mention fuel and energy usage as well.

I know that not all of the gardeners who read this blog grow vegetables or fruit as well as their flowering plants and perennials, but if you don’t, please think about supporting your local agriculture. If you do have room, you can grow some veggies in containers, or in a small area of your flower beds. I grow strawberries, raspberries, tomatoes, peppers, carrots and some leafy greens between many of my flowering plants and you know what? They blend in just fine and oh … they are so tasty! I also grow beans, cucumbers and tiny tom tomatoes in containers on my patio, herbs and even more leafy greens, radishes, and peas in window box like containers on a platform outside my back porch.

I have purposely utilized my gardening space so that I can grow food and lovely, lovely flowers. You can too!

Now that it’s getting warmer in most areas there are other ways to reduce C02 emissions such as washing your clothing in cold water and putting them out on a clothes line to dry. Almost all of the appliances in our home are new and built to save energy, but we still need to get a new washer and dryer. We’ve still got the same ones that were here when we moved in and they were said to be 25 years old when we got the house so I guess our elderly appliances are going on 31 years of age! There’s no way that they are energy efficient. I know that. So I always wash in cold water and a good portion of our loads go out on the clothes line to dry. Not in the dead of winter, but we do have a clothes line set up in the basement so we still save some energy and C02 emissions in the winter that way too.

The clothes that I do hang out on the line always smell so nice and fresh when I bring them in. I don’t know why everyone doesn’t do this more often.

The dryer is apparently one of the worst household offenders as far as C02 emissions go, and ours being so old must be the worst of the worst. Just by hanging the clothes out on the line for 6 months of the year you can save 318 kg in C02 emissions, and at least €55 (£37 or $73 USD). By hanging our clothes outside and not using our ancient machine I probably save three times that!

Please do take a look at that article and see what you can do to cut the C02 emissions that you produce in your home. Remember, many of the suggestions will also lower your energy bill and save you money too. It’s worth taking a peak at.

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