Environmentally-Friendly

Vinegar

Is a natural, mild disinfectant that is so safe! Vinegar can kill 99% of bacteria, 82% of mould and 80% of viruses. It is particularly useful for

. Cleaning stained stainless steel cookware - add a few tablespoons of white vinegar to a few tablespoons of salt

. Cleaning windows -four parts water to one of white vinegar: also cleans some timber floor surfaces (test on small area first) and ceramic tiles

. Add 100ml to rinse cycle as a softener

. Cleaning dishwashers - 200ml in an empty dishwasher and put through a wash cycle

. As a mould agent

Sunday March 2 is Clean Up Australia Day - are you getting involved?

Many local groups are cleaning up in their community, but if you can’t join a group, just picking up some rubbish as you walk around the block will help.

And now days, there are additional clean up days - schools will clean up on Friday (29th Feb) and businesses may choose their own clean up day or sponsor the main day. 

There is nothing like walking into your own garden, picking a tomato or piece of fruit and eating it right there and then. The flavours are strong, the texture is lovely and you know it is safe from pesticides and chemicals.

Of course, growing your own fruit and veggies is cheaper than buying them in the shops so finances make it a good idea, too.

Further, have you ever thought about the environmental cost of buying food from the shops? It takes water and energy to grow, store and transport the food - especially when out of season food is transported from a long way away. The more food you grow at home, the smaller your environmental footprint.

This section of our blog will continue to give you tips on how to grow foods at home, but let me just say that growing organically isn’t that hard and is worth a go.

My post last week about shopping bags made me consider the question of paying for shopping bags.

Do you think supermarkets in particular should be openly charging us for plastic bags to carry home our shopping? Of course, they already charge us for them in the price of the goods, but I’m talking about a fee per bag charged to those who use a plastic bag.

Some places, Aldi comes to mind, already have a policy of not providing bags automatically as part of their pricing structure.

So what would be the advantages of charging us for bags?

• we would have a financial reason to remember to bring bags with us
• we would get reminders about the bigger price of plastic bags to the environment
• the price of reusable bags would suddenly seem greater value
• theoretically, supermarket prices would have to come down as they couldn’t hide bag costs in the product prices
• there would be fewer plastic bags flying around carparks and streets, and less landfill
• we would have fewer plastic bags cluttering up our houses

On the down side, it would feel like an extra expense when out shopping - but it is of course an avoidable expense if you bring your own bags! ANd some of us would have to find alternative bin liners!

Just as an interesting aside, did you know that China uses as many plastic bags in a week as Australia does in a year? That is a LOT of bags! Yet, the Chinese Government is working to have plastic bags banned within 6 months - that is, from June this year, Chinese shops will not be allowed to hand out free plastic shopping bags.

Australia is heading for a similar ban in 2009, but maybe we should bring it in sooner, too. Or maybe phase it on with supermarkets charging first and smaller retailers following a few months later.

It will be very interesting to see how charging for bags will impact on the number of bags used.

But I go back to my original question - do you think we should be charged for plastic bags at the shops, or not? And what do you think is a reasonable price per bag to pay?

What do you use to carry your shopping?

The odds are most of us end up collecting plastic shopping bags occasionally when we forget to carry our reusable bags or buy more than our own bags can hold. But generally speaking, what do you use?

Personally, I use a motley collection of reusable bags - the ones you get from some stores now are great - that I keep in the car so I can’t forget to take them to the shops (as long as I take the car!)

The plastic bags we do get at home - and it amazes me how they seem to multiply even when I avoid using getting them from the school) - we use as bin liners. Yes, they still end up in landfill, but at least we aren’t also using commercially produced bin liners as well!

What do you do with plastic bags that get into your home?

The term essential oil is used a lot more these days, but not everyone really knows what an essential oil is.

And let me start by saying that perfume oils and scented oils and other similar terms are NOT the same as an essential oil.

An essential oil is the natural oil derived form a plant - leaves, stem, roots, flowers, etc can be used in different types of plants.

The oils may be collected in a number of different ways and some oils are easier to produce than others. Note that this difference is why genuine essential oils vary in price between oils, which is one useful way to pick the less-than-pure oils available.

Essential oils are concentrated and usually too strong to put directly onto your skin. Their beneficial properties are not just the belief of some aromatherapists and the like - research has shown they have qualities that can be of use to humans. For example, eucalyptus and tea tree oils are well known for their antiseptic properties.

You can buy essential oils and products containing these oils for use in the home and for your family’s health.

How do you spend you Wednesday nights? Did you know that the first Wednesday of each month is officially “Lights Off Australia” night?

To participate, all you have to do is turn off your lights at home, and all unnecessary lights at work, too. That is, turn off any lights you aren’t using - but I’d like to set the challenge to find ways to reduce how may lights you need to use as well.

Maybe that’s the night to make sure the kids do their homework in the same room as Mum and dad are sitting in so only one light is needed in the entire house. Or a good night to have a candlelight dinner, pull out the camping lantern, sit and talk around a fire or candle instead of read under lights - what other ways can we cut back on our light use?

Let’s face it, for one night a month we should be able to manage! Of course, you can do a Tuesday or Friday night if that suits better, and you can do it more often than once a month, too! But even once a month will help reduce our electricity use and develop better habits.

You can learn more about Lights Off Australia at the Cool the globe website.

Anybody who enjoys their garden wants to get rid of the weeds that always pop up - and getting rid of weeds also means more water and nutrients are available for the plants you want, too.

Here are some environmentally friendly ways to reduce weeds in your garden so you don’t have to grab the chemical weed killers:

• pour boiling water over the weeds
• manually pull the weeds out! If you pull out a weed or two every time you walk past the garden, this isn’t even a big job
• keep garden beds mulched - it won’t stop weeds but it does make it harder for them to grow so there are fewer to pull out!
• grow ground covers between your larger plants - again, it hinders weed growth and also acts as a living mulch
• try some companion gardening - certain plants encourage each other and discourage pests including weeds