Don’t waste that water your fish have enriched with nutrients. When cleaning the fish tank, use the water on your plants and trees. You think it’s scummy; they think it’s yummy.
[For more easy, money-saving, Earth-friendly tips, download a FREE copy of Green Riches: Help the Earth & Your Budget. Go to www.Smashwords.com/books/view/7000 or your favorite e-book seller and download to your computer or e-book device. Totally free, with no strings attached.]
Which of your favorite produce is “dirty” (loaded with pesticides) and which “clean,” and how do those pesticides harm our bodies? Do you really want to eat those strawberries or raisins? Download the 2020 Environmental Working Group’s Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce to see what’s “clean” and what’s “dirty.” (Raisins not included because the list doesn’t include processed foods, but 99% have pesticide residue and up to 26 pesticides can be on them).
Where to drain your swimming pool, spa, or pond for cleaning or repairs? Not in the creek behind your house or into the street gutter, where it flows into the bay (both are illegal, harmful to the water supply, cause bank erosion). You can run it down the drain, to go through the sewage treatment process, but that wastes it. OR, instead, let the chlorine evaporate, then use the water to deep soak your lawns and plants.
[For more easy, money-saving, Earth-friendly tips, download a FREE copy of Green Riches: Help the Earth & Your Budget. Go to www.Smashwords.com/books/view/7000 or your favorite e-book seller and download to your computer or e-book device. Totally free, with no strings attached.]
Next Saturday (4/20) is National River Cleanup Day. Do your part locally. For details, go to
This morning I observed a holiday that occurs the second Monday in January. Okay, okay. So it isn’t official, but the fact that somebody obviously made it up is reason enough to observe National Clean Off Your Desk Day. And the treasures I found!!!!!
I discovered 14 paperclips, 2 dried-out pens, the Christmas cookie I hid from a visiting child, rusty scissors, an expired Lowe’s credit card, a note to myself about a person who hasn’t yet paid me for an editing job I did for him, 5 pictures I meant to put into the family album I’m creating for my son, several books I’ve been meaning to read (how could I NOT have read Don’t Think of an Elephant, by George Lakoff?), an actual cassette tape, and, of course, a batch of papers I need to file. Fascinating!
You may want to celebrate this day, too. No telling how much your life will be enriched (past the three pennies I found).
Sometimes Mondays put me in a weird mood. Today is a good example. That forces me to share an unusual product with you. Some cat lovers may really like it. As for me, well….
Anyway, it’s called Likibrush, and it allows you to lick your cat clean. If you don’t beleive it, check it out at http://www.lickibrush.com/#intro.
Meowwwww.
Clean up that mess! But not with paper towels. They get too gunky and degrade so much when wet that they can’t be recycled. If all Americans used one less per day of the 13 billion pounds we use annually, we’d save 571,230,000 pounds of paper a year. Use a rag instead, then toss it in with your wash and reused it for a later mess. That way, you clean up a mess without creating another one for our planet.
[For more easy, money-saving, earth-friendly tips, download a FREE copy of Green Riches: Help the Earth & Your Budget. Go to www.Smashwords.com/books/view/7000 or your favorite e-book seller and download to your computer or e-book device. Totally free, with no strings attached.]
I thought Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day (today) was funny, until I opened my fridge. What I saw reminded me that 1/3–½ of the food produced in the world goes to waste while starvation and food insecurity are widespread. We use a huge amount of water and polluting energy to make food that just ends up in the landfill. So I’ve turned over a new lettuce leaf. I’ll buy only what I need, buy locally grown produce whenever possible, and try growing some myself. I’ll be creative with leftovers and aging foods, eating them before they’re wasted (my freezer helps here). Maybe I’ll organize a potluck with friends so we can share. If I have too much fresh produce or non-perishable items, I’ll donate them to the local food bank. I know I’m not perfect and will have to dispose of some spoiled food. But it won’t be much, and I’ll compost it rather than tossing it into the garbage can or wasting water by using the disposal. The money I’ll save will go to organizations fighting hunger. It seems like the least I can do.