Green Challenge #3: Say, why don't you do something useful with all this heat?

So, let's totally beat the dead horse and talk about how hot it is.

Holy cow, it's hot! And it appears as though it might be this hot for, oh, the rest of the summer. Mmm hmm. So, Greenologists. What're you gonna do with this heat? How will you harness all this free energy that's hanging around, making things generally gross and sweaty? Want a suggestion? Of course you do. That's why you're reading this. Here's one: Why don't you wash all those sweaty clothes, and then dry 'em. For free. No, we're not talking about jerry-rigging the dryers at the laundromat. Remember line drying? It's back, and it isn't better than ever, but it's still pretty good.

Why should you want to spend the extra effort line drying your shiz (other than the fact that it saves energy/fuel and is gentler on your clothes)? We crunched some numbers in order to increase the allure of hanging your unmentionables in the warm breeze. Here we go:

So. According to, like, every energy use source out there (we'll throw you this one in the interest of journalistic integrity, mostly because this guy's hair is awesome), clothes dryers account for around 12% of the average American family's household energy use. The average American family does approximately 400 loads of laundry per year at $0.15 per kWh, which averages out to around $156 in household energy costs per year, once you factor in the difference between gas and electric power/average drying times/yada yada. If your average American family is relegated to paying the ol' landlord/laundromat for your clean threads (like us), that expenditure rockets up to around $900 per year, at around $2.25 per load. NINE HUNDRED DOLLARS. That's three tickets to Guatemala, folks. Or a crazy-awesome new bike. Or a really nice charitable donation to a non-profit in need. It's a lot of money, OK? A lot of money, of which you could be saving 100% by simply stringing up your goods.

Don't have the time, you say? Let us point out that research (i.e.: our laundry day) shows it takes an average of four minutes to hang a load. It also only takes an extra forty-five minutes for our stuff to dry on the line versus in the dryer. Don't have the space, you say? Let us also point out that we live in an approximately 450 sq. ft. apartment, and we manage just fine. But, we know it's not easy to make the adjustment. That's why we're going to point you to TipThePlanet, and their sort of insanely comprehensive review of every imaginable drying rack -- indoor and outdoor -- in existence, so you can MacGyver your way into energy savings. We're also going to point out that you can buy whatever you may require to transition into clothesline country at these independently-owned businesses:

Back Bay Hardware
233 Newbury St., Boston
(617) 536-0193

Charles Street Supply
54-56 Charles St., Boston
(617) 367-9046

TAGS Hardware
Porter Shopping Exchange, Somerville
(617) 868-7711

Pills Hardware
743 Massachusetts Ave, Central Square, Cambridge
(617) 876-8310

As per usual, we are offering a reward for participating in this little challenge. Send us photos of your clothes on the line, post a comment here telling us how you line dry, tweet us about it at @gogreenologist, or post about it on our Facebook page, and you'll be entered to win some incredible-smelling, all-natural, totally biodegradable, super-concentrated Zum Clean lavender laundry soap. Huzzah! 


So harness that heat, Greenologists! And remember: Clothespins are not for clipping to your roommate/partner while they're sleeping. Seriously.

Green Challenge #2: Water, Water Everywhere...

First of all, let’s just talk about what an awesome time we had at the D2E green living festival this weekend. Oh, wow. It was awesome. We met so many green business owners, so many folks trying to live a little more sustainably, so many adorable, cloth diaper-wearing babies.  We also met a bunch of you, dear readers! And we want to thank you for your words of encouragement, your high-fives, and your interest in what we’re trying to do to help this little city live a little greener! You are the earthworms in our compost, the breezes on our wind farm, the responsible politician voting in favor of our green legislation (basically, you’re helping us make it happen). We love you. A lot.

And on that note, we bring you: Green Challenge #2! Hooray!

Let's review what these Green Challenges are all about. Once a month, we’ll present you with a small, simple change you can make in your life to help you decrease your impact on the world around you. We’ll provide you with the tools and information you need to make the change easy, and we’ll even give you a little extra incentive in the form of a prize to recognize your efforts. The more people we get to participate, the more these small changes will add up to make a big difference. Why wouldn’t you want to join us?

This month, we’re focusing on something super basic: water. We all need it, we all love it, we all want to keep it clean for future generations. Funnily enough, one of the primary ways in which us city dwellers access water is helping to pollute the very thing we love so much. That’s right, folks. We’re talking about bottled water. We know a lot of you are already aware of the ickiness associated with purchasing bottled water, but there are still those of us who find our typically obsessively responsible selves out every so often, parched and desperate, caving to the quenching power of Poland Springs or Evian or Pellegrino or whoever. It happens, and that’s OK! But it’d be better if it didn’t happen at all, right? Enter the Green Challenge du jour (ou mois).

This April, as we move into summer and the season of thirst, we challenge you to rid your life of bottled water. Completely. Forever. Why? Here are some freaky facts from our friends (ah, alliteration) over at TreeHugger.com:

        Around 1.5 million barrels (barrels, folks) of oil are used in the production of disposable plastic water bottles every

        year. That’s enough to run 100,000 cars for a whole year. Not to mention all the oil used up in shipping these suckers 

        all over the country.

        An increase in water extraction near bottling facilities has lead to shortages for nearby residents and farmers.

        For every gallon of water bottled, two more are wasted in the purification process.

        90% of plastic bottles used for bottled water ends up in landfills, where it takes thousands of years to decompose.

        Bottled water can cost 10,000 more per gallon than the free-flowing tap kind.

Here’s the worst part about all of this: Even though bottled water companies go to absurd lengths to convince us their water is cleaner than the stuff we get in our own houses (for free), municipal water is actually held to higher standards than the bottled stuff. So basically, when we purchase bottled water, we’re paying to pollute our community and put questionable junk in our bodies. Gross.

But wait, there’s a solution! And it’s super simple. You’ve already got the stuff readily available in your house. Just… drink that. Nervous about what’s in it? There are a few things you can do: First, check out the water quality in your area at the EPA’s website, here. Got clean municipal water but old, questionably safe pipes? Get yourself a home filtration system (help finding the best one for you here). Need to take your water with you? Get yourself some reusable, BPA-free water bottles. (BPA is an organic compound found in plastics that’s been linked to some pretty unfortunate side effects.) Put them everywhere; keep one at work, one in your car (or messenger bag), one at your partner’s house, a small one in your purse (ladies/metrosexual dudes). This all seems pretty obvious, huh? It is. But we know that even the most ecologically diligent of you has found yourself at 7-11, thirsty and hanging your head in shame, at one point or another. Don’t let it happen again!

Need to hook yourself up with a filtration system? How about a slew of BPA-free bottles to stash around your life? Get them at these independently owned businesses, and support your local economy while you save the planet:

Boston:

Water bottles:

Bob’s Wilderness House

1048 Commonwealth Ave, Boston

(617) 277-5858

Hilton’s Tent City

272 Friend St., Boston

(617) 227-9242

Water purifiers:

Charles Street Supply Company

54 Charles St., Suite A, Boston

(617) 367-9046

Cambridge:

Water bottles:

Greenward Shop

1764 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge

(617) 395-1338

Water purifiers:

Inman Square Hardware

1337 Cambridge St., Cambridge

(617)  491-3405

TAGS Hardware

Porter Square Shopping Center

29 White St., Cambridge

(617) 868-7711

Bam! Easy peasy. Now for the incentive: Enter the Green Challenge by either tweeting about it (@gogreenologist), emailing us about it, commenting here, or otherwise letting us know you're on board. We'll randomly select a winner at the end of the month, and that person will receive either free ad space on our site for their local business (or the local business of their choice) for one month, OR a guest-blogging gig RIGHT HERE! Woo hoo!

Ready to go? Questions? Comments? Concerns? Get in touch!

P.S. Did we miss any independently owned shops where you can buy the aforementioned items? Let us know!

            

spring cleaning, zero waste. sneeze count: 7

Heyo! So, here we are, getting ready to launch our new website, putting all the final pieces together so we can bring even more people in the Boston area local food, and we're STILL up to our elbows in all of this junk. Still. We can start a new business, we can build relationships with farms from all over New England, we can get people excited about a new opportunity to live locally, but we can't keep our teeny tiny apartment reasonably clean and organized. Our mothers are so disappointed in us.

But wait! We are making progress. We've found a slew of terrific and sustainable ways to get rid of our clothing (check back for that post tomorrow), our pals over at YCB are working on that whole CD repurposing extravaganza, aaaand... We have a solution for all those wire clothes hangers that were taking up more space in our closets than actual clothes. Hooray! High fives all around.

As it turns out, wire hangers are a bigger boon to our environment than we ever thought possible. According to NBC News, 3.5 billion wire hangers are sent to the landfill EVERY YEAR. Say what? 3.5 billion? Ah, yup. Absurd. Luckily, recycling these things is pretty easy and doesn't require any more effort than you'd already be making. Wanna know what we mean? Read on, fellow Greenologist!

Our first plan of action was to call our dry cleaners and ask their advice. They are, after all, in the business of hanging clothes on wire clothes hangers. Well. Partly, anyway. We use Clevergreen Cleaners, not only because the solvents they use to clean are biodegradable, but because they use less water in the cleaning process AND they design their work spaces to be as energy efficient as possible. Awesome. Anyway, we called these folks up. We said, "Hey, Clevergreen Cleaners, what should we do with all of these wire hangers?" And they said, "Hey, Greenologist lady, why don't you just bring them back to us?" And we said, "Oh. That's really easy. 'Cause we'll be over there to drop stuff off again soon anyway." And they said, "Yup." BAM. Problem solved.

So here's the deal. Just bring the hangers back to your cleaners. Recycling them the conventional way (in that blue bucket on your sidewalk) might work. But it might not. Not all cities will recycle those hangers, and by bringing them back to the cleaners, you're keeping more NEW hangers from having to be made, which keeps manufacturing and shipping waste down, too. Which is kind of the point.

This whole thing took five minutes for us to resolve. If everyone took two minutes to just throw their hangers into their dry cleaning bags with their clothes on the way out the door, we could keep 3.5 billion pieces of metal out of landfills. Seven minutes for a cleaner, greener planet? Yes, please.

Also, if you aren't already using Clevergreen, you probably should. Our clothes smell WAY better than they did after hanging out at those other places, AND they're holding their color and shape longer. They're not giving us anything to say that, by the way. It's just the truth.

first Green Challenge! win stuff! hooray!

Ok. So, sometimes we get busy and we can't cook for ourselves. We're blogging, we're writing content, we're working out our credit card processing (most annoying thing ever?), we're Facebook stalking our college crush (what?), we're Twittering... Throw in all the procrastination that has to happen before any of that gets done, and that's our whole day. Poof! Gone. So yeah. Sometimes we need a little assistance with the whole nourishment thing. Most recently, our appetites took us to a local falafel joint, which will remain nameless so as to discourage people to swarm their wee storefront and say mean things to them about their wastefulness. Why would anyone want to do that? Because we're about to write a blog post about how wasteful their takeout packaging was.

OH MY GOSH. This takeout packaging was so wasteful! It's rare that we actually get takeout, since it does tend to mean lots of bags and the possibility of styrofoam, which might be the only inanimate object we have a sincerely toxic relationship with (ha... ha?), so we didn't even think to ask about packaging. LESSON LEARNED. Check out what our falafel, hummus and tabbouleh got us -->

OH MY GOSH. That's so much trash. So much non-recyclable, non-renewable, landfill-filling trash. Part of us is flabbergasted that anyone would think it necessary to wrap a plastic container of hummus in a paper bag and then put that paper bag in a plastic bag. Part of us is upset that people still use styrofoam and that styrofoam is still being produced at all. But mostly, we're mad at ourselves for not thinking ahead on this one and helping to encourage this kind of waste. We really hate being unexpected accessories to the proliferation of environmental consumerism. Grrr.

As we have learned, however, simply being outraged solves nothing. Instead, it's time to learn from our mistakes and be proactive about keeping this from happening again. So. Here it comes... Our very first Green Challenge!

What's a Green Challenge? So glad you asked! A Green Challenge is Greenologist's way of keeping living green fun. Once a month, we'll be suggesting a Green Challenge to our fellow Greenologists; a task that's simple to do but that, done together, can make a big difference in the way we affect our environment and our community. Sometimes there will be prizes involved (oooo!), sometimes there will be discounts involved (ahh!) to help us do what we're doing on the cheap. No matter what, the challenge will be an easy step toward greening our lives while supporting the local economy. Once our "real" website is up, there'll even be a place for all you Greenologists to share your ideas and strategies for taking on the Challenge.

Sound fun? Here we go!

In light of what will heretofore be known as the Falafel Fiasco, this month's Green Challenge is all about a Takeout Takedown. (That's it for alliteration. Promise.) We propose that you and your families/roommates/cats take a look at the way those on-the-go, I-don't-feel-like-cooking meals affect the landfill. And do something about it. Here's how:

1. Accept that there might be plastic involved. Most of the plastics used in takeout containers can't be recycled by municipal plants, so have a plan for how to reuse them. We take those pint containers and save them to use for freezing summer soups and starting tomato plants on our windowsill. The lids usually lock tighter than Tupperware, too. Our friend uses them to organize her small craft supplies (buttons, pins, ribbon, etc).

2. Let them know you don't need all that extra shiz. Plastic cutlery, plastic bags, 27 ketchup packets, 349 napkins... If you use one of those online ordering systems, put a note in the delivery comments area. If you're speaking with a human when you order, tell them instead.

3. Pick it up yourself. Take a little jaunt, get the blood flowing, work off some of the calories you're about to consume, and cut the car out of the equation. Save a few bucks on tipping the delivery dude, too.

4. If there is Styrofoam on the premises, leave and never look back. Styrofoam is NOT recyclable, it NEVER decomposes and it turns to toxic gas as its molecular structure breaks down over time. Ew. If you're feeling ballsy, tell the folks there (nicely, of course) that there are other, less horrible packaging products out there, and that you won't be back until they start using them.

5. Eat out! No packaging involved! Besides, it's way classier than hovering over your laptop with a slice of pizza, typing one-handed and dripping sauce all over your pants. Not that we would know what that's like...

6. Bring your own containers. There are a bazillion sustainable packages out there just begging to be filled with country style pad thai. If they balk at filling up your Thermos, tell them (nicely, again), that you're sorry, but you and your Thermos have a very close relationship, and you can't go anywhere without it. Including their establishment.

There you have it. You do a few of those six simple things, we all get a greener planet.

Need some incentive to hop on the Green Challenge train? We've got you covered. How does a spankin' new To-Go Ware Three-tier Tiffin Action Pack ($43.95) sound? Pretty awesome? Uh, yeah. This thing is the bees knees. It's 3 interlocking reusable containers in a recycled cotton bag with a utensil pouch and two condiment caddies. And it's from an outrageously ethical company. Pretty. Awesome.

Want to win it? Email us (greenologistboston@gmail.com) a photo of you doing any one of those 6 Green Challenge tasks, and we'll throw your name in the hat! The winner will be selected at random on Wednesday, March 31st and announced here on our blog. Remember to include your name and contact info in the body of the email so we know who you are when you win. And if you're a Twitterererer, follow us and let us know you're up for the Green Challenge at @gogreenologist by retweeting any of our Green Challenge tweets, and you'll be entered to win a little something extra. Ooooo, we love surprises!

Questions, comments, concerns? Let us know! Otherwise...

Let the Green Challenge begin!