Stop Drinking Bottled Water
Posted on | January 6, 2010 | 2 Comments
The facts about bottled water presented by Online Education.
While a large portion of the world desperately seeks clean drinking water, the United States and other countries spend billions on bottled water when perfectly clean drinking water is readily available. Not only are we needlessly spending money on water with lower standards than those of tap water, we are also filling our landfills with billions of pounds of oil-based plastics that take thousands of years to degrade.
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Repurposed Clothing: Oven Mitt
Posted on | September 29, 2009 | 1 Comment
My family takes recycling seriously. Every week, during trash day, we’re proud to see that we have more in our recycling bin than in our trash can.
We usually donate old clothes to the Salvation Army, but recently, I’ve decided to set some old clothes aside and think of ways to repurpose them. This is my first repurposed clothing project.
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I think this dress has lived a good life. It used to be Mica’s and (like all of Mica’s clothes) it got handed down to Rinoa. Now it’s too small for Rinoa to wear. I like the colors a lot so I decided to make an oven mitt out of it.
I had Mica help me with this project. (I’m trying to get my kids involved in different creative endeavors.) Using a sewing machine, I quilted one side of the oven mitt while she did the other side. We used one of her old shirts (again, which got handed down to Rinoa) for the inside lining. In between the two fabrics, we sandwiched an insulated and cotton batting. For the pattern, I just traced my old oven mitt on paper and cut the shape out.
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Here’s how it turned out. Not bad I think. Although it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. (According to Troy, “It didn’t look easy at all.”) Mica was proud to have helped – now she can say she made an oven mitt.
Don’t think I threw away the scraps that were left. I’m going to give new life to every bit of that fabric, and for the scraps, I’m planning on creating some cute, small, fun appliques that I can use in either my paper projects or other sewing projects. We’ll see how that turns out.
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I’ve read that old clothes are fast becoming a major household waste. They fill up our landfills, and most fabrics take hundreds of years to break down. What can we do to help?
- Buy good quality clothes made with eco-friendly fabrics instead of trying to save money on cheap clothes that wear out fast and harm the environment.
- Buy less clothes. When you go out shopping, think twice before you buy more clothes you don’t need.
- Donate your old clothes instead of throwing them in the trash. Of course, you first have to take good care of your clothes so you can hand them down to someone else.
- If your feeling crafty, try to give your old clothes new life by repurposing them – big daddy pants can be turned into small kiddie pants, fabrics from different clothes can be patched together and made into a quilt or something, small scraps of fabrics can be used for appliques, etc.
Let’s do our part in helping save the earth.
Earth Hour
Posted on | March 31, 2009 | 1 Comment
Last Saturday, March 28, at 8:30 p.m. was Earth Hour where you turn off all your lights to show support for the fight against global warming.
I actually took a long nap that evening and almost forgot about it. Thanks to Twitter for reminding me – so glad we were able to participate.
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So what did we do during that one candlelit hour?
- Mica and Rinoa had a blast playing Monopoly with my sister.
- Troy managed to cook pancakes and sausages for dinner with light from just one candle.
- I tried to clean up in the kitchen and made sure Troy didn’t create a disaster zone – exciting, I know!
It was actually fun. Reminded me of those blackout days we used to have in Manila when I was in high school – well, which wasn’t as fun because those blackouts took hours and it was hard to finish my homework in the dark or sleep in hot humid weather.
When the hour was over, Mica was begging for us to do Earth Hour more often. I’m actually liking the idea.
It’s also heartwarming to see such wonderful global participation. Here are some awesome before and after pictures of Earth Hour in different major cities around the world. How was your Earth Hour experience?
Saving the earth, one step at a time.
Posted on | March 16, 2009 | 1 Comment
I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned before in my blog that I’m a big supporter of environmental causes. I believe the climate crisis is real and I believe that all of us can help solve this problem, starting in our own homes.
Here are some of the simple things my family does to reduce our carbon footprint:
- We’ve replaced most (if not all) of our bulbs with compact flourescent bulbs.
- We make sure the dishwasher is full before running it.
- We use cloth bags when buying groceries. We do use plastic bags from the store to line our trash cans – so we made a compromise that we’ll only use “plastic” when our plastic bag supply is running low.
- When we go out, we bring our Klean Canteen – a reusable, eco-friendly, stainless steel hydration bottle – instead of buying plastic bottled water.
- We recycle big time. I even get mad at the garbage man when he dumps the recyclables together with the trash!
- I receive e-bills (where applicable) and pay all my bills online to help reduce paper consumption.
- We make sure all unused electronics are unplugged – because even when they are turned off, they still use energy. And we turn off the lights when no one is in the room.
- We always turn off computer monitors when we’re not using our computers.
- We usually just open our windows in the summer instead of using the AC (unless it’s unbearably hot).
- We refrain from idling the car (except when in traffic) – the rule is if you must wait more than 30 seconds, shut off your engine.
- We do keep our tires adequately inflated.
As an add-on, Troy used to carpool with a co-worker – hopefully he’ll have someone to carpool with again. And we’re planning on buying a hybrid car – helps the environment and we get a tax break.
We’ve also joined the Stop Global Warming Virtual March and signed the Petition to Repower America. I encourage you to sign up as well to show your support for a really good cause. You can also get more information about the climate crisis on these two great sites.
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Please leave a comment to share your efforts in reducing your own carbon footprint. Let us help heal the earth and make sure that our children and children’s children have a healthy world to live in.
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© 2006-2010 Johwey Redington.
Please don't steal my text or images, it's disrespectful and you'll be subjet to karma! If you want to use any of the images, please email me for a written permission. Thank you.
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