Green Gal

Did you know that for the many uses we have for freshwater, and for the billions of people living on Earth, that we can only use 0.01% of all the water on Earth? Are you aware that the leaky toilet in your bathroom might be wasting 200 gallons of water daily? How about this: Energy Star rated CFL lightbulbs (the curly ones) use 75% less energy than incandescent lightbulbs because rather than produce heat to make light, they rely on a chemical reaction that takes far less energy to create. No, I didn't look these startling facts up online. I learned them today, among dozens of others, during training as an Energy Specialist for California Youth Energy Services , a program of the non-profit organization Rising Sun Energy Center . CYES provides free home energy & water consultations (Green House Calls) to increase the energy and water efficiency of homes in the San Francisco Bay Area, thus saving residents money on their utility bills. Founded in 2000, California Youth Energy Serv...

I love reading the newspaper on Sunday mornings. I almost always find at least one article to cut out and save. This morning I came across a few: "Ore. town is poster child for geothermal energy, toasty sidewalks during winter and all" by Jeff Barnard - I learned what geothermal energy is and how it can be accessed. It looks like an interesting "green" energy source. "With Cheap Food Imports, Haiti Can't Feed Itself" by Jonathan M. Katz - Of the articles I read this morning, this was my favorite because it highlighted the issues involved with less developed countries importing cheaper food, reducing their independence and putting local farmers out of work. We learned about this issue in Human Geography recently. I'm going to send this article along to my teacher. "High tech multitasking slows you down" by Jessica Yadegaran - My English teacher was talking about this recently and it's made me more aware of how easy it can be to get ...

My Human Geography class this year has been a very useful source (no pun intended!) of education regarding environmental issues. It has, of course, taught me a lot about the world in general, such as different aspects of culture, religion, ethnicity, political geography, political conflict and many other things. But in regards to the environment, I've learned about agricultural practices and have become aware of terms like environmental determinism (how the environment can influence culture and human activities) and possibilism (the concept that the environment does create a limit on human actions, but that humans can overcome some limitations and change the physical environment to fit their needs). With the study of agriculture came a look at the issues of agribusiness, genetically-modified crops, feedlots, grain-fed cattle, etc. Right now, we're learning about industry, development and energy resources. Last week, we watched Morgan Spurlock's 30 Days episode on coa...

Happy Valentine's Day! May you enjoy a simple, resourceful and non-wasteful day of celebrating love and apprectiation for others. Pesticide-free flowers, organic free trade chocolate, soy candles and organic dinner? I would hope! We're going to my grandparent's house this evening to celebrate with them and my aunt and uncle. Not sure that every one of those ingredients will be involved in our Valentine's Day celebrations tonight, but at least my sister and I made recycled Valentine's Day cards with old magazines, tattered books and scratch paper :-) On an entirely different note, I've been thinking lately about the greenwashing that's made its way into our minds to think that using the computer is a green alternative to using paper. In some ways, it can be. For large corporations and companies who use up so much paper in documents and reports, using the computer for emails and virtual files rather than printing everything is "greener" than using an...