Monday Madness - A Bit of Fun

We are going to join in on the Monday Madness meme every Monday just to add a bit of fun to our blog. Feel free to leave comments and to join in on the fun at Monday Madness. While you're here at Be Green and Save, be sure to check out some of our other posts where you can learn some great ways to be green and save natural resources and some money!

Here are this week's questions:

1. Currently, what television commercial is your least favorite?
The Orkin Man-He's really quite annoying.

2. And which commercial is your most favorite?
I like the Target commercials (most of them). I think they are really well produced and interesting to watch.

3. Of the sitcoms that are on during "prime time" how many do you watch on a regular basis? Please share.
Are there sitcoms on primetime anymore?

4. Is there a television series that you enjoy watching that is ending this season?
Not really

5. Is there any type of program you'd like to see more of on television?
Something truly funny that I could feel comfortable watching with my kids. Also more science shows like Nova.

6. Is there any type of program you'd like to see less of on television?
Violent crime and police dramas. Yuck!

7. Is there a series that is no longer aired that you wish would come back?
I really liked Everybody Loves Raymond.

8. Do you watch re-runs of anything on television?
Sometimes I watch Everybody Loves Raymond re-runs and also shows on HGTV.

Be sure to check out our posts on Recycling Cell Phones and Reusable Shopping Bags.

Have a great week everyone.

Karen

Environment Friendly Hotels

Environment Friendly Hotels. That phrase conjures up all kinds of ideas in peoples’ minds – everything from recycling to giving the option of not changing the sheets each day. Many hotels and motels have put some effort into doing basic efforts, such as giving you the option whether you want your sheets changed each day. We applaud the industry for those efforts. Some hotels even go a bit further and promote being “Green.” Here are some of the ways we found hotels, motels, inns and bed and breakfasts can be environmentally friendly.

• Alternative Energy – Use renewable energy sources, such as biomass, small hydro, solar, wind, geothermal and tidal energy systems for all or part of their energy sources.


• Bulk Containers – For amenities such as shampoo, conditioner, and lotion that are available in the rooms and bathrooms bulk containers are used rather than small individual containers.


• Organic Cotton towels and linens – Cotton products do not add VOC’s to the air, which in turn, improves guest room air.


• Recycling furniture and soft goods that they are replacing – Hotels are often replacing sheets, towels, bedspreads, furniture, etc. Many hotels donate these to charity or sell them to be used again rather than dumping them in the trash.


• Durable Service Items - Dishes, cups, glasses, mugs, tableware, and serving pieces that are long-lasting, not disposable make the hotel atmosphere a bit more elegant, reduce landfill and save the hotel money in the long run!


• Organic and locally grown foods – make for a much healthier, fresher meal.


• Water conservation – Some hotels utilize water efficiently by installing low flow toilets, shower heads and faucets and using smart landscaping techniques.

These are just a few of the ideas to practices to look for when selecting an eco-friendly hotel. If you can’t tell from a hotels website or ad, be sure to ask when you call. You may be just the encouragement they need to continue to pursue environmentally friendly practices.

Debbie

Paper or Plastic Bags - What is Better to Use?

Here is an excerpt from our Squidoo Lens "Reusable Bags - You Don't Need Paper or Plastic"

It's the age old shopping question: "Paper or Plastic?"

What is the answer? "Neither!"

Did you know that up to one trillion, that's 1,000,000,000,000, plastic bags are consumed every year worldwide.

So what? Well, consider this. Each year plastic shopping bags kill thousands of wild animals each year. Sea birds, sea turtles, whales, and seals often mistake the bags for jellyfish. They ingest the bags and then die of intestinal blockage.

Additional problems occur as many plastic bags clog drainage systems and sewer lines. This leads to increased flooding in many areas. Of further concern is the sheer cost of clean-up of the pollution from the bags alone.

You can read the rest at http://www.squidoo.com/reusablebags/

Karen

What is the Greenhouse Effect?

Many people are talking about the Greenhouse Effect and Global Warming, yet not everyone understands the dynamics of the cycle of changes. Over several posts and with some help from our friends at NOAA and the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research we will try to explain some of the foundations and concerns regarding Global Warming.

The following is excerpted from “Our Changing Climate”


The Greenhouse Effect
Carbon dioxide gas constitutes a tiny fraction of
the atmosphere. Only about one air molecule in
three thousand is CO2. Yet despite their small
numbers, CO2 molecules can have a big effect on
the climate. To understand why they are so
important, we need to know about the greenhouse
effect of the atmosphere. Earth’s atmosphere
lets in rays of sunshine and they warm the
surface. The planet keeps cool by emitting heat
back into space in the form of infrared radiation—
the same radiation that warms us when we
sit near a campfire or stove. But while the
atmosphere is fairly transparent to sunshine, it is
almost opaque to infrared radiation. Much like a
garden greenhouse, it traps the heat inside.

About half of the solar energy that reaches
Earth passes through the atmosphere and is
absorbed at the surface. In contrast, about 90%
of the infrared radiation emitted by the surface
is absorbed by the atmosphere before it can
escape to space. In addition, greenhouse gases
like CO2 as well as clouds can re-emit this radiation,
sending it back toward the ground. The fact
is, Earth’s surface receives almost twice as much
energy from infrared radiation coming down
from the atmosphere as it receives from sunshine.
If all greenhouse gases were removed
from the atmosphere, the average surface temperature
of Earth would drop from its current
value of 59°F (15°C) to about 0°F (-18°C). Without
the atmosphere’s greenhouse effect, Earth
would be a frozen and nearly lifeless planet.


As you can see the greenhouse effect is a necessary element of our planet’s survival. It is our effect on the greenhouse effect that is the cause for concern.

More in our next post…

Karen

Earth Day - A Little History

Earth Day! What is it? Do we only celebrate it in the U.S? When did we begin celebrating this day?

What is it?

According to Gaylord Nelson, the Senator from Wisconsin that is attributed to starting Earth Day, - "It was on that day that Americans made it clear that they understood and were deeply concerned over the deterioration of our environment and the mindless dissipation of our resources." (ref. EPA History). Earth Day is a day to take a look around you and see what you as an individual or family can do to improve the environment and reduce waste. It is a day to celebrate the environment and assess what still needs to be done.

Do we only celebrate it in the U.S?

Earth Day is now recognized across the globe as a day to celebrate the environment.

When did we begin celebrating this day?

The first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970. Senator Gaylord Nelson, a conservationist began discussing environmental issues with President Kennedy in 1962. Senator Nelson hoped that President Kennedy would speak on environmental issues facing the nation and bring the environment to the forefront of politics. So began a long process. In 1969 Senator Nelson announced that a grassroots demonstration would be held in the spring of 1970. Millions of people across the nation turned out for the demonstration. Thus began Earth Day.

Though Earth Day is a one day celebration of the environment, we encourage you to consider every day what you can do to impact the environment in a positive way.

Some Family Friendly Ideas for Earth Day (and everyday)!

With Earth Day just around the corner, we know there are lots of things planned in schools and communities. We thought we would share a few "family friendly" ideas.

1. Take a walk through your neighborhood, a park or forest preserve and talk about the importance of taking care of the environment.
2. Turn off lights, radios, and TVs when leaving the room (except of course, if little brother or sister are still in the room!)
3. Pick up trash in a neighborhood park.
4. Organize a clean up day at your school or church.
5. Plant bushes or trees at your house, church or park.
6. Check the house for leaky faucets and toilets and work together to replace or fix them. A great place to find new fixtures is at Find More Facts.
7. Have a cell phone recycle campaign in your neighborhood. Collect old cell phones and ship them to a phone recycler. Our friends at FreeRecycling.com will purchase your cell phones and ink cartridges from you and recycle them.

What fun activities are you doing this Earth Day? Comment back and let us know.

Earth Day Becomes Earth Year - Recycle, Reuse, Reduce, and Save Money

This Sunday, April 22nd, is Earth Day. There are many things you as an individual can do to reuse items, reduce the use of energy and resources, recycle goods, and repurpose items. We’ll give you a few examples in this post, but we would also like you to think about Earth Day as another type of New Year’s Day. Make some ecologically based resolutions to follow for the next “Earth Year.” Leave us a comment to let us know what resolutions you have come up with.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

1. Use reusable cloth sacks when you go shopping instead of plastic shopping bags.
Here are a couple of great sources we found for totes:


Foldable Wheeled Tote

This foldable wheeled tote is constructed of durable rip stop nylon polyester. Durable inline ball bearing roller skate wheels fold for convenient storage. Features a front net pocket and side net pocket for additional storage. Detachable coin pocket, as well as rear zipper pocket for personal items. Heavy duty nickel plated zipper, and convenient adjustable handle straps. A great way to get everything home easily!

Organize.com offers a variety 13 1/2"tall (without straps) x 17 1/2"wide fabric totes at great prices. Here are a couple of examples:




2. Recycle your unused cell phones.
You can recycle your old cell phone and possibly even make some cash. You can check out the details here. You can also read more about this topic in our previous post Recycling Cell Phones.

3. Reset all of your light timers.
With the time change and the seasons changing, you may not need automatic timers to be set to turn on as early.

4. Turn off the water when you brush your teeth.
Sounds simple but it can save quite a bit of water over time.

5. Replace some of your incandescent lightbulbs with low mercury, compact fluorescent bulbs.
They use about two-thirds less energy and last from 5-7 years. You will save energy and money. You can't beat that!

Happy Earth Year! Check back with us soon for more great earth friendly ideas. You may want to sign up for our RSS feed so you won't miss a single post.

Another Green Minded Blogger

We have met another Green Minded blogger we would like to give a shout out to at Change Climate Back. Leddie is providing some excellent and insightful information on Global Warming. Check him out when you get a chance. His info is well worth the read.

Geen Team Review: Aquaculture, Aquaponics and Sustainability: Aquaculture in Manitoba - Where to Start

Aquaculture, Aquaponics and Sustainability: Aquaculture in Manitoba - Where to Start

This is a really interesting post by Robert Freeman, an aquaculture consultant. He discusses the viability and usefulness of fish farming or aquaculture, a method of fish production which is slowly growing. This can lead to larger production of fish for the food market without the depletion of natural fish stocks.

About the Be Green Team

The Be Green Team consists of Karen, Debbie, and Rick. We are a group of entrepreneurs who have a strong interest in environmental issues. Our company, AquaNova Designs, Inc. is focused on providing useful, informative, interesting, and sometimes entertaining information on conservation, reusing resources, recycling, and other ways that everyone can help protect and preserve our environment. We hope this blog, Be Green and Save will do just that.

But that’s not all we do. We also are very interested in helping children learn more about reading, math, science, and geography. We especially want kids to learn to participate in activities in a positive way with great levels of self-esteem. That is why we publish the online children’s magazine WOW! eKids. It is a FREE, interactive fun and educational ezine primarily for children ages 7-11, but we think kids and adults of all ages will find something to enjoy in every issue. In fact we have an entire Parent’s Pages section in the magazine. You can check it out at http://www.wowekdismag.com/.

Thanks for reading our blog and we hope you will join with us on our exciting journeys!

Recycling Cell Phones

If you are like most people, you upgrade your cell phone relatively often. This means you probably have a bunch of old cell phones sitting around in a drawer and you don't know what to do with them. There are definite recycling options for cell phones and one of our favorites is Cell for Cash. With their program you send in your old working cell phone and they will pay you a specified amount of cash based on the model of phone you are submitting. They will recycle your phone and you get paid. Now that is a way to Be Green and Save!

Check out the value of your current phone model here and see how you can recycle while making some extra cash for yourself in the process.

Even if your phone does not have cash value, the company will either repurpose your phone for an emergency 911 cellphone bank or it will recycle your non-working cell phones. Either way, you can't lose and you will prevent some damage to the environment by keeping the battery and electronic components out of a landfill.

For those of you who choose to participate - AWESOME JOB!

Keep checking our latest posts for more ways you can Be Green and Save!

Welcome to Be Green and Save

Welcome to Be Green and Save. We will be talking about ways to find, purchase, and use environmentally friendly products and services (Be Green) and at the same time help save resources, time, money, and the planet (and Save). It’s a win-win proposition for everyone.

Check back with our site often for loads of great information and please leave your comments and questions. We want to hear what you have to say!

Once again, welcome and we hope you enjoy the site!