Archive for the ‘Everything Environmental’ Category
Thursday, September 9th, 2010
Why You Should Never Trash Any of Your Work
One thing my college professors always told me was to never throw away any of my work, even if I ended up hating the end result. This is because it can be reused later on down the line. This tip is especially useful for you painters and screen printers. In screen printing, things don’t always turn out as you had hoped or imagined. Sometimes you use too much ink, sometimes not enough, often things don’t line up when you are using more than one color, etc. When this happens, you should save your prints anyway. Later down the line you may be working on another project and realize you can print right over your old one which saves paper and could add an interesting twist to your project. This goes for painting as well. Canvases can be reused, especially with oil painting. Just paint your light shades on first and build from there. Both of these tips can save time and money, and also prevent wastefulness. Share your thoughts and ideas about reusing old pieces.
Written By: Jen Ebenrick
Tags: canvas, painting, prints, reuse, Screen printing, tips
Posted in Art & Trash, Everything Environmental | No Comments »
Thursday, September 9th, 2010
Have a lights out party
Electricity is by far one of your biggest usages of energy. Some cities have “Lights Out” parties such as London, which saved 750 megawatts when 2 million light bulbs went dark in 2007. That is enough energy to power 3,000 TV’s for a year. That’s a lot of TV’s and a lot of shows. If you did this within your church or school, just think how much electricity could be saved. Even if only half of the people did it, I bet it’s still a lot more savings than you would think. You could try greening your “family night” next time by getting some candles out and playing some games by candlelight.
Written By: Kim Woods
Tags: ideas, lights, out, party, ways to
Posted in Everything Environmental, Leafy Discussions | No Comments »
Thursday, September 9th, 2010
“Photography, Nature, and Going Green”
While searching for photography books at the library the other day, I found this book called “365 Ways to Save the Earth” by Philippe Bourseiller. For each day it has a beautiful and breathtaking image on the right with a great tip for the day on the left.
There are tips for the office, home, health, leisure, gardening, transportation, and even shopping. I love this book and I am actually thinking about buying it. Being an avid nature photographer on the side, this book is quite awe inspiring and makes me want to do as much as I can for our environment. The layout of the tips are also great because you learn something new each day and it’s like a little calendar for you.
So be sure to check it out the next time you’re at the book store or library and don’t forget to let us know your thoughts.
Written By; Kim Woods
Posted in Everything Environmental, Leafy Discussions | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 8th, 2010
What to do With Those Extra Paper Plates
After having many family get togethers, BBQs, birthday parties & so on, I’ve come to notice that there are always tons of plastic cups and paper plates, used and unused, that are thrown away. Well I have a suggestion for those of you that have recognized this as a wasteful problem as well. Paper plates that are used can easily be washed and dried off, and those that remain in the wrapper, even better. They make for great arts & craft tools when hanging out with kids. One of my favorites has always been the paper plate masks, but I stumbled upon some even cooler ideas at daniellesplace.com. If you haven’t tried paper plate arts & crafts before, I suggest you do. Directions on how to make masks with your kids can be found at enchantedlearning.com. Let us know how yours turns out!
Written By: Jen Ebenrick
Tags: Arts & Crafts, kids, Masks, Paper Plates, project
Posted in Art & Trash, Everything Environmental | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 8th, 2010
Check for the Leaping Bunny Logo
Did you know that companies can say that they are cruelty free to animals but don’t have to prove it? I had no clue I just assumed when it says that it is the product must not. But if you see a leaping bunny logo like the one below you can be certain that it is cruelty free. They get around this information by contracting out the animal testing so they are not the actual ones doing it or they can test each product out separately on animals.
Be sure to look for this logo.
Written By: Kim Woods
Tags: animal, bunny, cruelty, free, how they get around it, leaping, logo, products
Posted in Everything Environmental, Leafy Discussions | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 7th, 2010
Know Your H20
According to filterforgood.com, the United States is the world’s largest bottled water consumer. In 2008, the U.S. used enough plastic water bottles to stretch around the Earth more than 190 times. I don’t know about you, but I find that to be a problem all of us can easily fix with little to no effort. All you have to do is stop spending so much money on bottled water and purchase a water filter instead. For those of you that believe drinking bottled water is better for you, you should know that Dasani and Aquafina are nothing but bottled, purified water. If you don’t believe me, then visit www.filterforgood.com, where I learned of this useful information. If you’re not quite convinced, their information is sure to enlighten you. Visit their site, soak up the knowledge, and let us know if you come up with a good reason not to ditch the bottled water.
Written By: Jen Ebenrick
Tags: bottle, drink, filter, waste, water
Posted in Everything Environmental, TriLeaf's Eco Tips | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 7th, 2010
A Way to Give Back
According to savatree.com, the average tree in an urban/city area has a life expectancy of only 8 years. One of these reasons is because people have trees removed from their yards for reasons that may include danger or inconvenience. You probably already know that trees are good for the environment because they help purify the air that we breathe, so it is important that we keep them around as long as possible. If you do find yourself in a situation where you need to cut down a tree on your property, I have a simple suggestion on how to give back to the environment what you take away, and that is to plant another tree. You can even make it beneficial to you, because you are then able to pick the type of tree you plant, which could be an apple tree for example which will provide you with fresh apples. You are also then able to pick where it grows so it is not in a dangerous or inconvenient spot, and it is also a thoughtful and creative gift which symbolizes growth, life and eternity. Thanks for reading and please share any similar situations you or someone you know has been in.
Written By: Jen Ebenrick
Tags: air, environment, give back, plant, trees
Posted in Everything Environmental, Leafy Discussions | No Comments »
Monday, September 6th, 2010
A Way of Travel That’s Better for Everyone
For this next blog, I’d like to promote an old idea instead of suggesting a new one; one you probably come across every other day when you find yourself driving to work at 15 miles an hour behind a particular eco-friendly traveler. Yes, I’m talking about riding a bicycle. Although it seems to be growing increasingly in popularity, I still have yet to see more than one person riding their bikes on the streets at a time. Riding a bike from location to location has many more advantages than disadvantages. You save on gas money, you help prevent air pollution, you get great exercise and your conscience can rest easy because you know you’ve done so much good for yourself and others just in one trip. So I challenge you to be ambitious and choose to ride your bike when you’re heading somewhere that doesn’t require an automobile.
Written By: Jen Ebenrick
Tags: automobile, bicycle, bike, car, ride, save
Posted in Everything Environmental, TriLeaf's Eco Tips | No Comments »
Monday, September 6th, 2010
A Positive Turn for a Difficult Subject
Losing loved ones is perhaps the hardest thing we have to deal with during our lifetime. Nothing can turn that type of situation into a happy moment, but there is a way you can give back even after death. It is called an eco-burial. The way this process works is a company called Eternal Reefs Inc. uses the cremated remains of individuals and mixes it with cement. The cement mixture is then used to create artificial reefs. This type of reef can help with the recovery of reefs that have been decimated by pollution. It’s a hard subject to think about, but I think it’s great that people are doing things like this for themselves and the environment even after they pass away. What do you think? Tell us your thoughts about this new type of eco-burial. For more information, you can visit eternalreefs.com.
Written By: Jen Ebenrick
Tags: burial, death, funeral, life, ocean, reef
Posted in Everything Environmental, Leafy Discussions | 1 Comment »
Sunday, September 5th, 2010
A Great Effect That is Good for the Environment Too
An experienced screen printer will tell you that the paper you use to screen print on is very important when trying to reach a specific result. One thing to experiment with is to use old newspapers as the paper you screen print on. It not only prevents wastefulness, but also can give your project a twist if you pick pages with interesting stories. Plus, each piece can be unique if you decide to use different pages for each print. We can thank our friends from Dress Code for introducing this tip which I find to be great and useful. Make sure to show us your results after trying this useful technique.
Written By: Jen Ebenrick
Tags: Dress Code, effect, newspaper, prints, Screen printing
Posted in Art & Trash, Everything Environmental | No Comments »
