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Green is “in” at NYU

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A couple of weeks ago I went on
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college visits in NYC. After I had my tour and info session at NYU we walked over to the school store. Like anyone excited to head off to school I wanted a T-shirt from the schools liked. I headed to the register to purchase my bright purple shirt that said, “New York University” on it. The girl behind the counter asked me if I would like a bag I said no,
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because I had an almost empty backpack on my back. For this small act she gave me a wooden coin to put in a non-profit bin over by the door. Each coin represented a couple of dollars NYU would donate to the group of my choice. I thought that was awesome that people at this college were awarding their students and the public that save plastic and paper like this! It made me like that school even more.

I chose to put my coin in the Greenpeace bin.

Wasted School Supplies

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Finally school is out! Summer is here! Woot, woot!
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Last week I had the urge to clean all of my binders and folders. I had saved all of my work throughout the year (just in case), and complied a huge pile of paper in the corner of my room. As I dumped the rest of my papers on the pile I realized I could make a blog out of how much paper we get and use in school.

The sad part of it is, about half of the paper I got I didn’t even look at after it got passed around the room in school because it didn’t really help me learn or study. But of course I recycled everything I could. The folders and the binders that are trashed of still sitting in my room, maybe I’ll try to doctor them up for more use…?

For next year I’m going to try to get school supplies that are recycled or will be able to be recycled after use (binders). Here is a site to
check out some of the products out there, that was just the first site that came up when I googled.

NH Green Commute Week

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This week, May 11-15, is New Hampshire Green Commute week. In order to clean up the air quality, try to walk, ride, or carpool to work or school. In Concord, you can register in a contest at the Program of Alternative Transportation and Health’s table downtown to see how “green at commuting” you really are.

There are many prizes to be won if you are willing to pursue helping the environment in this way. Prizes and incentives include tickets to a Manchester Wolves game, to tickets on Amtrak. This week long event can also stimulate you to spend time riding with people you usually don’t. Try to work out your schedule to fit the needs of those that are heading in the same direction as you. If we all did that, we’d save gas!

To find out more about the special week and how you can get involved visit
PATH’s website. Hope to see you out there not driving alone!

Spring Break in Belize

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Alright, so I just went to the country of Belize. Where's that? you say. Well, Belize is a small country about the size of New Hampshire that is located in Central America. This country was the first place to have a jaguar reserve, it has a beautiful landscape with many Mayan temples and history, most of the citrus of Florida Orange Juice comes from here, there are islands all around its shoreline, and it has the second largest coral reef in the world. What does this have to do with reducing?  I guess I can tell you my story. 
      
The group I was with arrived later in the afternoon by boat on the island of South Water Caye. We were tired, sticky and encrusted with salt from the boat trip, and we wanted showers. We soon found out that this was not a luxury they had. This island gets all of its power through generators and solar panels. It gets its water from rainfall and a small well under the island. The dry season in this place lasts for almost five months, and we were in it. Our showers were military style; you get in, wet your hair and body, turn off the water, scrub, turn the shower back on, rinse, turn off the water and you’re done. These showers also had nobs that you had to hold in place if you wanted more water and if you let go the water would turn off. The reason for this is because they need to reserve water for the months to come. 

For energy they turn off all electricity at 10 o'clock sharp, so you have no lights and no water pressure (except the toilets and sink). The people on this island cut down on luxuries to elongate the amount of time they have water and power. Just think, if parts of the world started doing the same, how much energy and water could we save? This trip to the island taught me that not everyone is as fortunate as I and that cutting down on luxuries could help elongate our time on this planet.   

Blackle

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With new technology spreading rapidly everywhere, some people might think that it is impossible to save energy technology-wise. Well, I've found something that can help us to get greener with just the click of a mouse. It's called Blackle.com. You know how so many people use Google.com to search for pictures and information? Did you ever wonder how much engery that uses just to load the webpage? A lot.

Thats why they’ve invented Blackle. Blackle.com is a website that was created by the same people who came up with Google. It is pretty much the exact same system, it just uses less energy because it doesn’t fill your screen with white. Pretty cool right? It's really easy to use too. You just go to Blackle.com to access the website. It's that easy! So if you are looking for a way to save energy but don't really have time, then how about changing the way we use energy and check out Blackle.com.

Making all-purpose cleaner

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Why homemade you might ask? It is true that you can get every cleaner in existence at a local grocery store. Why should I take the time to make my own cleaner when it is already done for me? Well here are the answers I thought of off the top of my head: Many manufactured household cleaners iritate the earth and even you. In the long run making your own cleaners will save you cash. And what might surprise you, is making your own cleaners is very easy and doesn’t take much time at all.

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Alishia Alther and I made a whole bottle of all-purpose cleaner in ten minutes before we went out one night last week. We only had to heat water and combine the ingredients in a certain order. It was simple and didn’t take long at all. There are a few ingredients that you might not have heard of, such as borax and castile soap. I found all of my stuff at the Brattleboro Coop. We bought big jugs that cost about $80. These ingredients will probably last our family of six more than 2 years, so the cost isn’t that bad. You will probably be able to find borax at the grocery store, but castile soap you might have to search for a bit. The recipe we use states that you could also substitute liquid soap for the castile soap.

You might be thinking ‘How is making cleaners better than buying them at the store?’ Yes, store bought cleaners are easy to get. But are they really the better choice? Homemade cleaners have less impact on the earth. You have to remember that before the cleaners you buy get to your store they have to be made in a factory, put into those nifty spray bottles that usually only get used once, then they have to be shipped to your store. Having all the things you need to make your cleaner already at home would save all that energy that gets used to make package, and ship the cleaners. Cleaners you make at home (like mine) may not be a completely environmental. I’m not sure how you classify things as 100% environmental because usually any cleaning product has to have something in it like phosphate that will clean well (which usually hurt the earth). But homemade cleaners don’t have any chemicals that are made in a lab. You make them yourself. Also there isn’t a need to keep buying new bottles with the new cleaner in it. You can use the same bottle over and over again. Which saves plastic. Homemade cleaners are definitely better for the earth than store bought cleaners.

The recipe I have been using is Alice’s Wonder All-Purpose Cleaner. If you want to check it out
here is the link. Homemade cleaners work just as well as manufactured cleaners. You may have your doubts about them, but just because they don’t have that harsh chemical smell doesn’t mean they aren’t working. If you’re interested, but still not convinced, join us at a “cleaner-making party” sometime soon. Stay tuned for dates and times.