This week I have been thinking a lot about Martin and I’s quest to be a green go to couple. I have to be honest that I’m not completely where I want to be yet, because making the transition to a cleaner, meaner, greener lifestyle is not easy. After all, the good things in life usually aren’t easy.

I think Martin is waaaay better than I am about thinking in a new way and making changes to his day to day life. I have a tendency to get stuck in ruts. I’m the type of gal that once I know the way to a certain place, even if I learn a shortcut; I’ll still go the long way because it’s what I’m used to. Having said that and owning up to my faults, I do want to make a change and a difference for good ole Mother Earth. She’s a lady and I want to treat her as such. I’ve noticed since we started blogging that I am so much more aware of my day to day impact. Instead of buying what we would normally go for at the grocery store, I have started to buy as organic and as natural as possible. I now turn off lights when I leave the room and the water when I’m brushing my teeth or washing my face. I carry a reusable water bottle to spin class instead of my normal two plastic water bottles. Trying organic face wash and make-up; breaking out of  the routine of buying products that I usually use, and trying to think of a more natural organic way. Small things that everyone should be doing, but I honestly wasn’t before. I think that is what Our Everyday Earth has given to me…awareness and a chance to change for the better.

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Evolve Ziploc sandwich bags

I don’t know about everybody else, but we use a lot of sandwich bags, plastic storage bags, etc. I know some people wash those out and use them two, three or four times. Sorry - that’s not me, however we ran across these New Ziploc evolve bags, that are better for the environment. They are Ultra Light Bags, use 25% less plastic, and are made with wind energy! The carton they come in, is made of 100% recycled paperboard. They use less energy to produce them, thus reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Granted we would be better off not using plastic storage bags at all, but in our house, that’s probably just not going to happen. So at least using this product I feel like we are doing a little bit more to reduce our carbon footprint and create a more beautiful earthprint, one tiny step at a time. To find out more about the evolve products, go to www.ziploc.com.

It’s time to get serious about 4th of July plans. For me at least, when I think back to waiting in long lines of traffic to get a prime blanket spot at the Mega Fireworks displays in Dallas and Ft Worth and then dealing with the heat,  I can’t help but contrast those to simple neighborhood celebrations of years past.

Our little neighborhood is called Hometown and last year was our first 4th. Everyone decorated the kids and the dogs and themselves and walked – not drove – from their homes to the parade gathering area by the lake. We laughed and congratulated each other on decorating genius and sense of humor.
Once most everyone had shown up, a very casual parade to the park began. Nothing too fancy, no fireworks, no crowd control, no jostling, no conspicuous beer bash, just families and neighbors celebrating freedom. Just enough of all of that sentiment to bring the goose bumps and ear-to-ear grins.
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Since we live and breath in our homes, I believe having eco-friendly “green” paints on the interior walls can really contribute to our health and that of our planet. What makes a paint “green”, other than color? Most interior paints contain harsh chemicals that make paint smell like “paint” and contribute to poor indoor air quality. These are called VOCs, volatile organic compounds.

VOC’s are chemicals low in water solubility but high in vapor pressure. Emitted as gases, VOC’s can trigger short-term adverse health reactions. Health consequences are greater for children and people with respiratory issues or compromised immune systems.

When selecting paints, look for low VOC content, lower gloss, and softer colors to reduce vapors and emissions.

The assumption that paints labeled as odor-free or containing no VOC’s are toxin-free is false. Although VOC percentages appear on labels for interior paints, primers, and chemical wallpaper strippers, federally mandated disclosure only refers to its impact as an outdoor pollutant. Although they may be harmful to humans, some ingredients are exempt from VOC labeling because they don’t negatively affect the ozone.

There are no federal regulations that detail the indoor safety of these products or identify their impact on humans. VOC concentrations can register ten times higher indoors than outdoors, but their impact on indoor air quality is not made clear from the label. However, labeling is still the only available gauge to homeowners seeking to reduce indoor toxins. Different states have different standards—California’s are the most rigorous. Major paint manufacturers are developing products to meet higher indoor-air-quality standards and respond to market demand, but many smaller manufacturers are not. The only solution is to become aware of acceptable levels and safe practices.

Always use adequate ventilation when painting indoors. Wait several days before occupying a freshly painted room. Never use exterior paints indoors, and stick with latex paint whenever possible. Buy only what you need, and safely discard the rest. VOC labeling is recent, so older cans may not list this info. Additionally, since gases continue to leak from closed paint cans, storing them for later use isn’t advisable.

Each year, cities are ranked by their outdoor pollution levels. As we become more environmentally aware, it’s important for homeowners to take a look inside as well. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the air inside a home is, on average, two to five times more polluted than the air outside. Because we spend the majority of our time indoors, we as homeowners must realize the urgency of keeping our interior space as clean and healthy as possible. Using low or no VOC interior paint will make a big difference in your home being green and clean!

Here is an indoor air pollution check list: Indoor Air Quality Checklist

Summer is in full swing here in Texas and our grass is growing at an incredible rate. We will soon be mowing every week and I have been looking for ways to make our yard work a little greener.

One area that has annoyed me for a long time is that I could not find any compostable biodegradable plastic bags for all of our grass clippings and yard waste. All that changed on a recent visit to a local Ace Hardware store.

I found a brand called “Bag-To-Nature” that produce fully biodegradable and compostable leaf and yard waste bags. I picked up the box and started reading… These bags are awesome, they have all the strength of regular yard waste bags, they won’t leak and are unaffected by moisture. The bags are made from a blend of biopolymers which allow them to totally biodegrade without leaving any residues.

They can be filled with leaves and grass and dumped straight into a backyard composter, they are also compatible with fast action commercial composters.

Lets get technical! These bags have been tested and meet the EN 13432 Standard and ASTM D6400, that’s smart language for “Yes, they do biodegrade!”.

I’m not going to lie, these bags are expensive! I paid about $8 for a box of 10, but they significantly reduce my environmental impact and make me feel good about doing yard work!

P.S. I looked on the Ace Hardware website and they did not have the yard waste bags, but they do have kitchen waste bags;

Bag-To-Nature  Kitchen Waste Bags

We just finished mowing our back yard and filled two of these large Bag To Nature bags, they were strong enough to take some abuse and tied off easily.

I ran across a energy saving tip the other day while I was scanning the INTERNET. The tip said if you put a dry bath towel in the dryer with wet clothes, it will cut your drying time by 1/3 to 1/2. I find that hard to believe so, I’m doing the test as we speak. I’ve loaded the washer with clothes and when they are done, I’ll put them in the dryer and set a timer to see how long it takes. Now I already have a dryer that has a sensor to detect when the clothes are dry. But it will not tell me the total time it took to dry because as it dries, it adjust the time automatically. So I’ll set a timer on my phone so that I can start it as soon as I start the drier and turn it off when the drier beeps to let me know it’s done. So here I go. I’ll get back to you shortly……..

image by Old Shoe Woman

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“So plant your own garden and decorate your own soul, instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.”

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It is a known biological fact that people breath about 20 times per minute, more than 10 million times per year, which equates to approximately 700 million breathes in a lifetime. Oxygen is a very necessary requirement of our lives, it enables us to live and if that’s not enough, while you are doing that little thing called breathing, your brainpower is being elevated with each of those breaths.  Breathing clean, pollution free air in those breaths can have a major impact on our overall health. When one considers that people spend approximately 92% of their time indoors, it becomes obvious that most of their breaths are taken indoors, it only makes sense that we would want those breaths to be as pollution free as possible. Our homes have pollutants around every corner, they are emitted from the materials on our furniture, the insulation in our homes, particle board used in the construction of our homes, pressed wood used in the making of furniture, carpet backings, plastics, detergents, dyes, dry cleaning chemicals, paints, varnishes, just to name a very few.

We should all become a lot smarter about what we put in our homes, read labels, buy natural cleaning products, request green building materials, the list goes on; but what can we do when those products are already in our homes? The answer my friend is found in plants. Plants filter indoor air pollution, they are very efficient at absorbing contaminates from the air that we breath. Surround yourself with plants. They are nature’s natural air filter. Put a couple of plants in a pot, choose shade lovers where you don’t get much light, part sun to sun plants for sunny windows. Water them, keep the dust off their leaves, play a little music for them and breath deep clean air, they are doing their job.

Part sun loving plants