Goal For The Green

No, I don’t mean your computer.  There there’s a good website called -haveUrebooted.com, where you can get a free mail-in label or  find a drop- off location near you.

Did you know cell phones are one of the least recycled electronics in the world?  Over 100 million go out of use every year in the US alone.   They are horrible for the environment, if they get thrown away, and every part of them can be recycled.

Many of us reboot, when we upgrade or change carriers.  Most of the cell phone stores are drop-off locations, or are participating in the reboot program.  So, why reboot?  Well,  it’s free and easy, it’s green and good for the environment, and it saves energy.   When you recycle your cell phone, it helps recover valuable materials used in the manufacturing process.  It  also helps prevent unnecessary mining of these raw materials, that can be reused.

The EPA has targeted recycling cell phones, because as hard as it may be to believe, only 10% of all cell phones are recycled each year.  This is because most people don’t know where to recycle them.  By recycling cell phones, we are making a significant contribution to help save the environment.  It is also beneficial to those in need, even our soldiers overseas.  In fact, recycling just a million cell phones, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to taking 33 cars off the road for a year.  A “green” step in the right direction.

At haveurebooted.com, you can host a reboot fundraiser for your organization, or you can request to have a reboot drop-off box at your place of business.  You can even register to win reboot gift cards, valued at up to $500!  But, it doesn’t end there.   You can get your creative juices flowing, and create an original commercial about recycling cellphones.  Then, you post it in response to the HaveUrebooted video at You-tube.  If your video is chosen, you could win a Dell laptop!

So, clean out your junk drawer, recycle (reboot) that old cell phone, and get creative, and most of all have FUN!  Here’s to you and working toward a better tomorrow!

See where the cutest ladybugs live!

This is one of the coolest things I’ve gotten in my e-mail recently.  So, I know you are wondering who, or what is Guffly?

Guffly, is a one product per day online store and community, featuring eco- friendly products and fair trade lifestyle goods.  Guffly.com, just launched on Tuesday August 11, 2009. The products offered there, are for your home, pets, clothing,office and personal accessories.  At Guffley,they know that people aren’t interested in ugly stuff,  so you can bet Guffly’s™  “green products” are stylish, fun and attractive.  As the team says, “eco-stylish, if you will.”

The name Guffly, is a combination of the words good and stuff with an -ly added at the end, to make it sound catchy.  At any rate, it is good stuff for good living.  The products offered are aimed at the young professional, college, and empty- nester markets.  There is not much available for younger children.

When visiting Guffly.com , be sure to hover over the Guffly Labels such as Recycled, Reusable, Organic, FTR (Fair Trade) Natural Sustainable, Biodegradeable and Energy.  Each product offered must fall into one or several of the Guffly labels. They give a definition for each of these labels.

As an example, their Fair Trade  products are sweat shop free.  Producers of the fair trade products were paid a fair wage fort their work.  By offering the sale of fair trade products, helps move their producers from a state of vulnerability, to a state of becoming empowered and self sufficient.

This is Guffly’s promise to you.  ” The products we choose to feature on Guffly.com have a less negative effect on the environment, people, and animals.  We love men and womens products that are Fair Trade, Recycled, Reusable, Biodegradable, Organic, Sustainable, Energy Saving, and Natural. You can be sure that any product that you’ll see on Guffly.com will fall into any of these categories.  We’re all about Personal Accessories, Home Accessories, Gadgets, Office Accessories, and of course Pet accessories. And, you can trust that all of the products that we choose to feature on Guffly.com will be researched using the Federal Trade Commission’s environmental guides, as well as the standards set forth by the Fair Trade Foundation to be sure that all environmental and fair trade claims are legitimate.”

Bloggers  help draw attention to a newly launching business, or just about anything new or news worthy on the web. It is my hope that you will consider what Guffly has to offer, by either shopping there on occassion, or visiting their blog, or both .   At the very least, you will be working toward a better and “greener” tomorrow!

See where the cutest ladybugs live!

If humans and our dwellings, could be the solution to sustainable living, then dome homes should be at the top of everyone’s list.  I know, if I had it to do over, I would live in one again, in a heartbeat.  They are safe, easy to heat, and economical.  They use at least 6% less material, in their construction than a conventional home.  This very well could be the “green home” of the future.

Planet Green, considers them to be among the Worlds Greenest Homes, as you will see in the video. For those who are curious, or willing to pursue the idea of dome living, I came across this list of 24 different types of domes and their manufacturers.  Some offering plans for DIY construction.

This was the dome we had built in 1984.   It is much like number 5 on the list above.  It was 45 ft. in diameter with  3 large bedrooms (upstairs was a spacious master suite), and 2 full baths.  It was a very roomy  1,800+ sq. ft.   Changes that have been made, are a larger deck off the slider, a new entry porch, a very large approximately 36×48 ft. standard garage and mature landscaping.  I would move back in a minute!

Number 6 on the list, is the Monolithic Dome.  Interest in dome homes, skyrocketed after the 2004-2005 Hurricane season.  Cliff and patsy Monk, (she does not capitalize her first name), spent most of that time on the run from the storms in an RV.  The Monolithic Domes structure is a 60 ft. wide, single slab concrete structure, nearly 4 inches thick.  The Monks,  now  have absolutely NO fear, of riding out even a category 5 hurricane, from the comfort of there living room!   See why they feel that domes are the answer to Florida’s drastic weather problems.

Back in February of this year, I wrote “Dirt”- Cheap Eco-Domes!.  To me, there is no greater respect you can show for yourself and for nature, than by building a sustainable building with your own two hands.  While most of the Eco- domes are 400 or 800 square feet, they can be joined together for a larger dwelling.  They also have a 2,000 sq. ft. model that can be built for approximately $3,000 worth of  adobe filled bags and barbed-wire! I absolutely love it.  Cal-Earth is a non-profit organization that offers workshops teaching you how to build your  house, out of Super- Adobe with a team of 3-5 people in a week!  These domes and there durability and simple beauty are my current favorite.

With the main building material being earth, the simplicity of the Super-Adobe technique, allows for the possibility to quickly build emergency shelters, whenever and wherever they are needed, anywhere in the world. Most recently, a team from Cal-Earth has gone to Darfur, to help rebuild the damage and devastation to villages there.

Whatever building medium you choose for a dome home, you definetly will save energy and money, in the long run.   There spherical shape, allows them to equally carry the stress  of the structure, much like the unwavering durability of an arch.  With Mother Nature, not always being so nice, this solution to housing could well be the safest and greenest choice you could make.  Always working toward a better tomorrow!

See where the cutest ladybugs live!