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Intro: What is Environmental Awareness?

Environmental Awareness

Environmental Awareness

“Living Green”, “Eco-Friendly”, “Environmental Awareness” – all of these terms are frequently used to often describe the exact same thing, but are they all the same?  Environmental Awareness is work toward and advocacy for protecting the natural environment from pollution and destruction.

Over the last decade or so, more people are waking up to the needs of our planet. The environmentalism movement has played a large part in helping society understand our role as humans. Environmentalists are of the mentality that it is our responsibility to protect, respect and preserve the natural world from destructive forces. They are right.

Several high profile man-made natural disasters, like the BP oil spill, have contributed to the growth of the environmentalist movement. Unfortunately, most people don’t concern themselves with these problems because they aren’t directly affected.

Another component is the fact that it is easy to feel discouraged. We are doing so much damage to our planet that it often feels as though one person or one group of people could never make a difference. While it is true that it would be much harder to make any significant changes on a large scale with a small number of people, the harder we work to educate and spread awareness- the better odds we’ll have and doing our job.

Living Green is being Environmentally Aware

When you hear people say “Go Green!”, “I only buy organic” or even, “we are very eco-friendly”… those are people that acknowledge the small but powerful impact their choices have on our environment.

We often do (and will continue to) discuss simple ways to live green. There is so much hype around simple lifestyle changes, that I believe people think it is harder than it is. Remember that there large corporate powers that be who want you to feel like you could never make a difference.

Big companies have a lot at stake, after all. The more environmentally conscious we are the harder their jobs become. They don’t want to see large eco-friendly regulations to get in the way of their cheap and irresponsible manufacturing practices. Propaganda, misleading advertising, and denial are key tools to their world spinning round.

Those of us who are passionate about the environment are more than willing to offset their message and do so in a number of ways.

Raise Environmental Awareness With Us

You don’t need to be a large facility with tons of money to help spread the word of the environmentalist movement. We sure aren’t! You just need your beating heart and access to people you do and don’t know.

Whether you chose to write pieces online about the importance of conservation, preservation and environmental protection- or encourage your friends, family and coworkers to pay more attention to their use of electricity, water and creation of trash… Every little bit helps.

At Dalby Farm we have many programs designed to educate the youth of our community to respect nature. We give them sincere, positive experiences with nature at a young age so they will grow up wanting to take care of their environment. Just as we’ve carved out a specific target to focus our environmental efforts toward, you can do the same. Think about what is easiest to implement in the context of your life and go for it. The only way you could hurt the environmentalist movement is by not participating. Everybody can do something- just pick your place!

We are more than happy to help you get started, just reach out or sound off in the comments below. Stay tuned, we have a lot of educational material coming your way!

 

 

General Water Conservation Tips: To Get You Started

Water Conservation Tips

Water Conservation Tips
There are hundreds of ways to conserve water. As we’ve mentioned in other posts, every little thing you can do to conserve your natural resources will make a difference. It’s all about having a big picture mentality. When people envision themselves cutting back or changing their ways, they imagine it being more difficult than it will be. Consider the following water conservation tips to get you started on more eco-friendly routines:

In the Kitchen

Believe it or not, dishwashers are more efficient when it comes to washing dishes than the sink is. These days with Energy Star and the like- these machines are designed to use less water and energy. Nevertheless, avoid running it when it’s not filled.
If you don’t own a dishwasher, you can conserve water by not leaving the faucet running. Make use of both sides of the sink, filling one side with soap water and the other for rinsing.

Collect the water you use to rinse fruits and vegetables and use it to water your house plants!

Soak pots and pans instead of trying to scrub them with running water.

Even keeping a pitcher of drinking water in the fridge will help ensure every drop gets drunk!

For the Bathroom

Set a timer to 5 minutes for your showers- it may not sound like it but that’s plenty of time! Doing so will save 1,000 gallons of water per month.

Test your toilet once a year to see if there are leaks. Simply put food coloring in the tank and watch to see if it comes into the bowl. As soon as you fix it you’ll save gallons and gallons of water.

Avoid baths as possible- some tubs take up to 70 gallons of water when full! That’s a lot of water!

Not everyone enjoys this motto but it is effective- “If it’s yellow, let it mellow…”

Did you know one second of dripping water amounts to five gallons a day? Check faucets and showerheads for any leaks.

 

 Overall Lifestyle

Be observant! If you’re in a position where you cannot fix a leak you notice- reach out to someone who can- Whether it be at a friends house or in a school or business.

Play games and give rewards to your children/family as they learn and demonstrate their own water conservation efforts. Make it fun!

Monitor your water bill to make sure you are up to speed with your consumption trends. Make it a goal to see all the numbers go down while not compromising your wellbeing.

Consider speaking with the people you work with to see if you can put together company incentives to limit water waste.

Encourage your local community, schools and government to support, educate and practice water conscious routines.

We will have many more water conservation tips for you over the coming weeks, stay tuned! Do not let these changes intimidate you, they’re easier to implement than you think. Like anything worth doing, it just takes time to get adjusted. It’s amazing how a little goes such a long way when it comes to living more green. Soon you won’t remember it ever being any other way!

Winter Water Conservation Tips

Winter Water Conservation Tips

Winter Water Conservation Tips

Over the coming weeks we will have many tips and tricks to conserving water. We wanted to start the series by mentioning some important ways to save water specifically during the cold winter months. Below are a few assorted winter water conservation tips- in no order of importance!

  • If your home tends to run cold no matter how much you try to keep it warm, or you have outdoor buildings- you may want to drip your faucets where pipes may freeze. Doing so can help prevent a pipe from bursting. To get the most of your efforts stick a bucket underneath the pipe as to collect the water to use for house plants.
  • Do you notice your shower takes longer to heat up in the winter than other times of the year? That’s because the pipes are cold. Instead of running the water much longer than normal waiting for warm water- call a plumber to price out the cost of getting your pipes insulated. You can be saving gallons of water!
    Alternatively you could consider a new, more efficient water heater if yours has been around a long time.
  • A more general note toward shower water conservation, low-flow showerheads are ‘old school’, yes- but they’re the hero of this story. Save those 3,000 gallons by making the switch!
  • Keep up with the temperatures. As you likely already know, the changes in temperate from day to night can wreak havoc on your plumbing. The pipes will expand and contract depending on what temperatures they are exposed to. Leaks are far more likely to develop during the winter.
    Be sure to have a plumber inspect the lines as soon as you suspect a problem, or when the cold is coming to a close.
    You can purchase water leak detection systems if that’s your thing.
  • The winter season usually means a massive increase in dinner parties, get togethers and baking. Try to avoid the massive pile of dishes in the sink by utilizing dishwasher safe dishes, mixing bowls and cutlery.
  • Know where your water shut off is. In the event of any severe, catastrophic leaks you’ll want to be able to stop water flow immediately. Don’t be in a position where you waste tons of time (and water) while searching for it.

 

5 Myths About Living Green

Myths about Living Green

myths about living green

Whenever you see or hear something that discourages your desire to live more efficiently and with a mind to the environment, don’t listen. If you get the feeling that there’s nothing YOU can do to help take care of our planet, change your attitude! You have more power than you think! There are many myths about living green out there designed to make you believe you could never make a difference.

1. You could never make a difference

Don’t you love it when people say ‘their vote doesn’t matter’? I have the same reaction to that statement as I do to the claim that a single individual could never make a different when it comes to eco-friendly living.  I get frustrated. Something as simple as choosing to spend your money (which in this world, is your power) on products that were made with the planet’s interests in mind. Make an effort to look for products that use a high percentage of recycled materials. The more people who band together in movements like this the greater the chance we have against inconsiderate manufacturers and corporations.

2. Eco-friendly groceries are more expensive

Did you know most food travels anywhere between 1,500 and 2,500 miles to get to your grocery store? (*NRD Council) So when they say buying eco-friendly food is more expensive, they must not be factoring in the transportation and fuel costs alongside all that carbon! Shop for locally grown groceries, ideally from farms that grow on-site. Not only will you help stop enable these irresponsible cross-country transport methods but you won’t be supporting the commercial use of all the (or at least, as many) pesticides or artificial ripening agents. You’ll keep petrochemicals out of the ground, and further help reduce crude-oil usage.  Every little bit counts!

3. An appliance switched ‘off’ is not using any power

You are probably already aware of this but it’s always worth repeating. Your electronic devices, be it your computer or TV- are always costing you energy unless they are unplugged. This is because of something called vampire power, a function designed to assist electronics to turn on faster. Invest in a couple powerstrips (don’t overload them!) and click them off when you’re not utilizing any of the appliances. Remember, every little bit helps! It certainly doesn’t pay to buy into the myths about living green.

4. There is no eco-friendly way to bring your groceries home

This one cracks me up. There has long been a debate among environmental enthusiasts about whether paper or plastic is better for the planet. Here’s the thing, they’re both horrible. The production of them alone is questionable and harmful. While you could argue both can serve new purposes upon returning from the store- we can all agree in most cases they end up in the trash. Bring your own cloth bags each time you go to the store and help end the debate. Save the bags for a last minute resort if you undergo a big shopping trip.

5. The need to commute will always cost the planet something

I wouldn’t consider this entirely false- but it is definitely incredibly misleading. While it is true that we will always require some form of fuel or energy to get ourselves to work there are steps you can take to make sure you are reducing your carbon footprint. The most obvious (and most unrealistic) option is to adopt biking as your leading means of transport. Hey, if you’re eating local, shopping local, you can’t have too far to go right? More doable ways to be effective include keeping up with replacing your air filter (can get up to 10 more miles per gallon), get regular tuneups (to keep miles per gallon at its most efficient), and keeping an eye out on your tire air pressure. That’s just the beginning.

We will occasionally tackle more myths about living green because it’s important you know what’s what!

Eco-friendly Holiday Practices: Be More Green

Easy Eco-friendly Holiday Practices

A motto around this farm? Waste not, want not. There are so many easy eco-friendly holiday practices you can adopt this holiday season.  Taking care of our environment isn’t hard to do but every bit of effort can help make a difference on a massive scale!

Here are some of the ways we aspire to keep our Christmas as green as the tree in our living room!

Shop Locally-owned Businesses

There are almost too many reasons to shop local mom & pop stores to count. From one of a kind items to directly contributing to your community’s economy – nothing feels better than putting your money where your home is. Not only are you more likely to score unique, high quality gifts but you are also cutting out the need for expensive and wasteful shipping methods.
Eco-friendly Holiday Practices

Recycled wrapping paper

We’ve already outlined the many gift wrap alternatives to consider this year- but it’s worth re-enforcing. Whether you make use of old newspapers, calendars, maps or even fabric- avoiding traditional wrapping paper will bring more joy to the holidays (and the planet). There are many companies that now offer recycled gift paper but we’re partial to the concept of making use of materials you already have lying around. Take advantage of these easy eco-friendly holiday practices – especially when wrapping presents which is arguably the worst part!

Less will be more

How many years do you look at your living room after opening presents and realize you not only spent too much money, but you bought too much junk? Less really can be more- especially when every gift has a little more thought put into it. Consider cutting back on useless spending this year. A helpful tip? Ask yourself if the recipient of your gift will in fact, still be using or loving it in a year’s time before sealing the deal. Sometimes tiny useless trinkets help fill the space under the tree, but don’t last long before meeting the trash can.

Give money to charity or a good cause

A good rule of thumb for every Christmas is to set a budget. What if this year, you took a fraction of that amount and decided to donate it to a charity or organization that could really benefit from your support? Take a moment to consider what you value in life and see who is out there working for it. Whether it’s environmental conservation or sick & terminally ill children– people are out there every day trying to make a difference. Imagine how good you’ll feel when you’ve helped them continue their mission!

All-natural decorations

This one should be obvious but based on what I see everytime I go to the store I’m not sure most people think about this! There are so many ways to decorate your home for the holidays without buying that plastic crap! Wood, burlap, natural pine, poinsettas are just a few of the many natural options available to you.

 

Use Timers for your holiday lights  & decor

Light timers have to be one of my most favorite inventions of the last 10 years or so. Quite frankly I use these year-round, but they’re especially helpful during the winter seasons! This is such a smart way to ensure you still have your lights and decorations lit during the optimal times. No more will you forget to turn them off before bed- wasting all that energy! Set the timer to come on during the most popular hours of the evening so everyone can enjoy your displays and to shut off after a few hours. This will not only help the planet but it will keep your energy bill down 🙂 This is one of my favorite eco-friendly holiday practices because it only requires your attention for 5 minutes and then you’re set for a good month (or however long you’re set up for the season!)

Make the most of your shopping trips

I’m the first to admit I am not always the smartest when it comes to time management. A few years ago I finally made the most of every single time I got in my car to go somewhere. Christmas shopping is no longer an exception. If you are headed out in search of a single gift- perhaps you could take a moment to consider the other stops you could include on your way so you reduce the number of times you’re buzzing around town? It may add a few moments to the intial outing, but it will save you gas, energy and time down the line!

Recycle all your wrapping paper & filling

If you decide to go with traditional gift wrap, be it paper or plastic- please please please recycle it. Ideally you are actively recycling all of your trash one way or another. Even if you use the wrapping paper to help build fires in your fireplace- at least you’re getting more than one use out of it!

Eco-friendly Alternatives to Gift Paper

There are so many eco-friendly alternatives to gift paper!

If you’re anything like me, there’s a piece of you that hates to see all the gift paper in crushed up piles at the end of the Holidays. Sure, it has festive patterns and designs but at a high cost. Around Dalby Farm, we aren’t into wasting resources. As such, we have explored some of the many different eco-friendly alternatives to gift paper below.

Baskets or Re-usable Pine Crates

Around our farm we have all kinds of woven baskets hanging around (literally!)- including some we wouldn’t mind parting with. There are many ways to dress up a basket or crate – such as recycled fill and decorative ribbons. Don’t want to give away a basket? Save this option for someone you feel comfortable saying “Basket not included!” to as you hand them their prize. Alternatively, check out dollar stores and thrift shops for super cheap buying options.
There’s a reason why we offer gift crates- because we hope you will re-use the durable pine crate. They make for great storage or, as you’ll see, a great vessel for a thoughtful gift!

eco-friendly alternatives to gift paper

Newspapers, Calendars, Maps

Personally I believe that presents wrapped in newspaper are the coolest. Talk about flair! While it may not be “festive” or feature as many options in design- consider the option of using marker to decorate it yourself! It will add a unique and personal touch to it in ways traditional gift wrap never would!
Perhaps there is a certain time of year or month of value to the recipient- why not pull an old calendar apart and use the relevant months. Again, another opportunity to add personal flair.
Same concept with maps. No matter which of these you were to choose- you’re bound to hear an “oooh!” for the originality and environmentally friendly approach to gift giving.

 

Re-Usable Gift Bags

This isn’t my favorite option but that’s probably because I’m bitter toward the stack of gift bags in my closet that I keep for precisely this reason. Who throws out a gift bag? They’re usually so gorgeous and keeping every size proves to be worthwhile eventually. So the disclaimer is: Sorry, you will run out of space for these “obnoxious” bags someday, but maybe that’s your cue to give more presents. Anyway, in my opinion re-useable bags are the gifts that keep on giving to both the recipient and more importantly- our environment.

Fabric

I thought the idea of wrapping gifts in Fabric was brilliant. I haven’t tried it myself, so I do have a few questions. Do you tie a knot? Do you enclose the item with pins? I suppose it is all circumstantial.  One thing is for certain- you wouldn’t be using paper! The beauty of using fabric is that you have way more options as far as color, pattern and texture than any traditional paper- or most of these suggestions- would offer. If you happen to be giving a scarf as part of the present, consider wrapping the other items with it? Clean tablecloths, sheets, pillowcases, even socks could all come into play with this eco-friendly gift wrapping strategy.

And hey, if you really can’t stand the thought of being without your beautiful santa and snowman designs- perhaps you will consider purchasing recycled gift paper. Spread the word about the eco-friendly alternatives to gift paper this Holiday season to help raise awareness. Every little bit will help.