Queercents

Or rather does your life revolve around recharging… batteries that is.

It’s one of the hassles of modern life that people are always looking for an outlet to plug into… for the cell phone, the computer, the portable DVD player. Just about anything made today has a battery powered alternate… Black and Decker even makes a rechargeable blender so there is no excuse for not having a margarita after a 20 mile hike into the woods. (Puuuhhh…..llleease!!!)

A lot of things though take the ubiquitous AA or AAA batteries. Most of the things I carry use them… from a small Short Wave Radio (5 AA) to an LED flashlight (3 AAA). And I’m old enough to remember when there was no such thing as rechargeable batteries and how everyone griped about the cost of buying new ones.

I gripe about the cost of the rechargeables too… they average about $2.50 apiece at the warehouse club… and I seem to have a single outlet in the house dedicated to their chargers… between the remotes and keyboards and other items I think I have a good 50 batteries (about $125 worth) to keep charged and I think I’m on the low side compared to most people. Read the rest of this entry »

This past weekend we watched the film The Eleventh Hour. It’s a documentary about the crisis facing our planet which accomplished, at least with us, its goal to both frighten and inspire. Throughout the movie, the phrase “First, do no harm” kept running through my head. You may recognize it as part of the Hippocratic Oath, traditionally taken by newly minted physicians. It comes from the Latin primum non nocere and

It reminds the physician and other health care providers that they must consider the possible harm that any intervention might do. It is invoked when debating the use of an intervention that carries an obvious risk of harm but a less certain chance of benefit. Since at least 1860, the phrase has been for physicians a hallowed expression of hope, intention, humility, and recognition that human acts with good intentions may have unwanted consequences.

It strikes me as a worthwhile mantra for each of us as we approach our daily lives as ____________________(whatever else we are) and health care providers for ourselves and our families, for our planet and for our personal finances. Most of us, I’d argue, have good intentions. We want a safe and comfortable place to live, healthy food to eat, time to spend with friends and family and beautiful places to visit and recreate. In modern times, the pursuit of these worthy goals has resulted in “unwanted consequences” financially, physically and ecologically. Our definitions of comfortable, healthy and beautiful have been shaped by media which is in service to our culture which is characterized by the pursuit of money. Read the rest of this entry »

Today is the first in a series of posts that I plan to write on sustainable energy. What, you may ask, does finding a sustainable source of energy have to do with financial planning?

I believe there is no greater threat to our long-term planning — both individually and as a nation — than finding a solution to the energy problem.

By “long-term” I mean my lifetime and that of my child’s. True financial planning considers not only how to fund your life and your lifestyle but what you are going to pass on to the next generation. I started thinking about what a financial plan for Uncle Sam would look like. Of course it’s a bit contrived, but it’s perhaps interesting to take a minute to think about what are his goals, his financial status, and his risk exposures.

What is the timeframe for your financial plan?

I’d like to think that Uncle Sam could take the long-term view to provide for me, my child, his children, and so on, for many generations. Can we assume that this plan is for 50 years? 100? 500? Perpetuity? The forces working against Uncle Sam’s long-term view is the, relatively, frequent turnover of his advisory team. Our representatives in Congress and the Executive branch undergo a popularity contest every two, four, or six years. Like corporate CEOs focused on quarterly profits, our representatives tend to seek short-term results, despite any good intentions. Read the rest of this entry »

Not to be confused with my earlier post about the Really Really Free Market… A Farmer’s Market usually involves monetary transactions. Sorry, no free food here folks. BUT, you can find better deals than the chain grocery stores that pop up on every busy intersection.

My friends live and work on a farm and needed help this past weekend at their booth at the Farmer’s Market so my partner and I went down to help out. All of their vegetables are organically grown (and I’m sure there are organic farmers in your town too). Not only did I learn a lot about vegetables I’d never seen before, but I was able to interact with members of my community who I wouldn’t normally interact with. It’s a friendlier environment than waiting at a check out line and hearing the scanner beep after each barcode is processed.

While I was working the booth, I overheard so many people commenting about how cheap the produce is compared to the grocery store. Not only that, but it’s all organic too! Another great thing is that, unlike the grocery store, you can actually talk to the person who grew your food and ask questions like “What can I cook/make with this?”Everything is local, so that means cheaper transportation costs which makes the food cheaper for you. We all know about the benefits of eating local, right?

The Farmer’s Market in my town has live music and art vendors also. Depending on your area, your Farmer’s Market might be open everyday. Unfortunately in my town, it is only a weekly occurance happening each Saturday morning from 8am – 1pm.

If your schedule prevents you from attending the Farmer’s Market or if one doesn’t exist near you, many farms also have Community Supported Agriculture (CSA’s) that you can subscribe too. Think of it this way, you pay a certain amount of money up front to help fund supplies and then as the plants grow, you get a “share” of the harvest. So it’s kind of like a magazine subscription, except its healthy food! You also may have remembered Jan’s experience in working on a CSA farm. You can find a CSA near you on Local Harvest.

I’m talking about my bicycle. It’s a simple technology that deserves much more attention than it gets in North America. Anywhere else in the world, bicycles are a major form of transportation. Our cities were built at the height of the car manufacturers’ political power, however, and so are car-dependent in many ways. Still, there are wonderful reasons to use a bike:

1. It’s cheap

My transportation budget is $300 a year, and that includes $150 in bus tickets for days when I don’t want to or can’t bike. Theoretically, I even have a few taxi rides accounted for in case I need them. The remainder I use to accumulate bicycle gear that makes riding more comfortable each year. Often, though, I don’t even use my full budget amount. Compare that $25 per month with $100 for transit and $300 for a car.

2. Pollution free.

Not only is there no tail pipe emissions, it takes up very little steel to manufacture a bicycle and they can last for decades. Bikes also take up less space on the road and don’t require highways to be built and farmland to be paved over. Bikes reduce traffic congestion too, so you not only save on the emissions that you’d produce, you help reduce the pollution generated from other people too. By burning calories instead of oil, you will become the most efficient transportation machine ever invented – even more efficient than walking!

3. Get fit

I often stop riding for a few weeks in winter when snow is on the ground. When I start again, I can feel the drag in my legs, my lungs and heart rate. Biking as a form of transportation keeps you fit in a very fundamental way. If you bike 20 minutes to work each way, every day, you are probably burning an extra 300 calories each workday. That will trim off 15 pounds a year, and/or allow a lot more room for cupcakes and chips that your current level of activity will sustain. Have you ever read those studies about people who stay fit throughout their lives and they always say they exercise 40 minutes a day – and you’re left wondering “how on earth do they DO that?” This is how. Integrating activity into your daily routine is how you keep fit year after year. Even if it takes you an extra 10 minutes to bike to work instead of driving or transit, you’ve inserted a full cardiovascular workout into your daily life for an extra 20 minutes a day. Trust me, you will see the results. Read the rest of this entry »

Reducing the amount of materials and energy required to build or maintain a home can help to substantially reduce your carbon footprint. At the same time, a green approach to home ownership ensures greater peace of mind, physical comfort, and preservation of a sustainable investment over the lifetime of the home.

Save money while living a more responsible green lifestyle – whether buying a condo, remodeling a home, planning new construction, or just wanting to take simple environmentally conscious steps forward. Here are some of the many interesting paths to a greener home:

Construction Methods
The use of recycled materials; formaldehyde-free insulation, nontoxic paint, and intelligent energy-aware construction methods are just a few of the ways to create a more Earth-friendly home.

1. Optimum Value Engineering (OVE) techniques are those design and framing strategies for wood or “stick-built” construction that were developed by the Forest Products Laboratory in collaboration with the National Association of Home Builders. Buildings employing OVE practices use less lumber and achieve higher insulation values without compromising structural integrity. Read the rest of this entry »

Have you ever wondered how much energy you use on a day to day basis? I have. And lucky for me, my power company offers a little monitor that I can plug into the wall to monitor exactly how much energy I’m using every day. Since it’s green week, I thought I would share a few simple ways that I’ve been able to reduce my electric bill.

1. Unplug electronics that aren’t in use. This is especially true for cell phone chargers, which are consuming electricity, even when your phone isn’t being charged. I unplug the coffee maker and toaster every morning, and I shut down and unplug my laptop every night. Even when your computer is in sleep mode, it’s still consuming about 85% of the electricity it would if it was being used. By unplugging my appliances, I’ve seen my power bill drop from $3 a day to under $1 a day.

2. Replace your old light bulbs with CFL bulbs. According to MSN Money, CFL’s use up to 75% less energy than standard incandescent bulbs and last up to 10 times longer. Although these bulbs are more expensive than old school light bulbs, you can get them in bulk at Costco to save money. And since you won’t be replacing them as often, you end up saving money in the long run. Read the rest of this entry »

If you are going for a frugal or greener drying experience and are using dryer balls, laundry softener or a dry towel to help with your drying needs in the machine. You may find that you now have an abundance of dryer sheets that you don’t know what to do with.

I have found (and tried) a few ideas that may help you use them up without throwing them out. Dryer sheets have a similar absorbing power as newspapers when it comes to odors, so you can clean and deodorize among other things:

• Push them into your sweaty, smelly shoes and let them sit overnight to reduce the offending odor
• Lay them out in dresser drawers to replace an old sachet and make clothing smell nice
• Place a few in suitcases or gym bags before you re-use them again
• Place them in between books when storing to reduce the musty smell
• Wipe the surface of your electronics to remove static and dust Read the rest of this entry »

It’s only early August, and yet you’re already probably inundated with back-to-school advertising! My advice is to enjoy the ever-shrinking summer while it lasts, but here are some tips for going green while saving the greenbacks once you do start getting ready to send your kids back to school.

One caveat: my daughter, despite her ability to ‘go get the y’ from the alphabet magnets on the fridge, is only a year old and hence not in school yet, so these are ideas gleaned from others. Do you have some tips that have worked for your kids? Add them in the comments. And enjoy the fleeting sweetness of summer, while it lasts. (In that spirit, there’s an ice cream recipe in a link at the end of this article, proving that pink and green parenting can be fun!)

1) Brown bag it. And reuse the brown bag. A homemade, brown-bagged lunch is a yummy, healthy, and green alternative to the junk in the school cafeteria. And it’s cheaper, too. Avoid prepared foods, especially those that claim to be something known as ‘lunchable’, and use as little packaging as possible. Get your kids on board with this by letting them help choose what’s in their lunches. Read the rest of this entry »

With the cost of gas prices sky high and random contaminated food scares making the rounds regularly, it just might pay to buy local now more than it ever has. When you buy from local farmers and merchants your dollar stretches farther, you reduce your carbon footprint, and you keep your neighbors (relatively speaking) in business. Now, to me, that is ROI. And, the fact that it is summer for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere it is the easiest time of the year to do so.

My entire view of the food system shifted when I read Michael Pollan’s “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” a year or so again. It continues to shift as I read “In Defense of Food” and starting watching some quality documentaries and talking to local growers.

That is why I just have to laugh when last year’s spinach crisis resulted in colleagues saying at lunch “You’re not eating spinach are you???” as if I were eating something from a Survivor challenge. I could confidently look them in the eye and say, “Of course! I bought it from the organic farmer down the street and am confident it does not suffer from these huge unknowns as the industrial sold version.

Heidi Tunnell states the case well in her post (with the big honking picture of a tomato) “Now Will You Eat Local Food?”: Read the rest of this entry »