Author Archives: cgonza32

Eco-friendly Tips For The Summer

Posted on by

With summer approaching that means long days outside, and hotter than normal temperatures. Staying cool and having fun is what most of us plan to do. Though this should be a time to try and conserve energy while we do this. Here are some easy ways that you can save energy this summer. 

Don’t Waste Water 

Saving water doesn’t just mean saving money, but using it resourcefully can diminish the amount of water being taken out of aquifers and rivers. There are several ways that you can save water at home this summer.

  • Shorten your shower: Trimming just two minutes off your shower can save up to 1,700 gallons of water per person in your household.  Another trick to conserve water is to turn it off while you soap and/or shave. Doesn’t seem like it would make an impact, but trust me the little things always do. 
  •  Water your yard in the morning or evening: Water evaporates quickly when the sun is high, so water when it’s more likely to stay in the soil. Make sure you’re watering your yard, not the sidewalk or driveway
  • Go to the car wash: Washing a car at home can use up to 100 gallons of water, commercial car washes often use only 40 gallons or less of freshwater. Making a trip to the car wash this summer would be a lot better for the earth and you.

Use Fans Instead of Air conditioners

A fan moves air around, using 90% less energy than central air conditioning units, while still keeping your house cool for summer. Implementing this change or rather sometimes the use of a fan when you might find yourself lowering the temperature for the air conditioner could save a lot of energy in the long run.  Keep yourself hydrated

During the summer months, we sometimes forget how much water our bodies need. Being out in the sun for long periods can easily cause dehydration. One way to combat this would be to always have a reusable water bottle with you. Reduces the amount of plastic and can be easily filled up. 

These are just a few tips and tricks to help you have an eco-friendly and safe summer. 

How to Recycle Common Items Around Your House

Posted on by

If school is coming to an end like it is for me, then I’m sure you have a lot of items lying around that you don’t use anymore. Those barely working highlighters, pens with no ink, light bulbs, almost any item you might not know what do to with is recyclable and can be achieved with the help of Terracycle. 

Terracycle 

Terracycle is a social enterprise whose mission is to eliminate the idea of waste. To achieve this, they collaborate with local communities to offer innovative collection and recycling platforms for waste. Merely everything we touch can be recycled and collected, and get done with the help of TerraCycle’s programs. If there an item that we don’t know what to do with, or don’t know if it’s recyclable, there is most likely a program that can help with that. 

 

How you can participate

All you have to do is select the program you wish to send items to. Gather at least three pounds of said item(s), print a label from the website, and ship it. Once shipped and received TerraCycle does the rest in recycling your unwanted items, striving for zero waste. Once they receive your items, they add points to your account that can be redeemable for a cash payment to the non-profit organizations or school of your choice. You can join as many programs to help reduce your impact on our planet.

 

 

 

Ways to get involved: Keep Austin Beautiful

Posted on by

Start somewhere 

Whether you’ve gone on a run, taken your dog to the park, or met friends for a picnic, you’ve seen that Austin is filled with beautiful parks and trails that anyone can enjoy. One way we can help our community keep it green and clean is by getting involved with those who have the same vision in mind. Keep Austin Beautiful is an organization that empowers Austinites to volunteer together, beautify green spaces, clean waterways, and reduce waste every day. 

What they offer 

If you’re looking to get dive in and get involved or want to educate yourself on taking care of the environment, Keep Austin Beautiful has five areas of focus. 

  • Clean – removing litter from neighborhoods, creeks, and public spaces in collaboration with the community 
  • Beautify – building vibrant sustainable communities by empowering neighbors to beautify and restore public spaces.
  • Recycle – cultivating waste reduction practices to divert waste from landfills and transition to a zero-waste culture.
  • Educate – leading presentations, service-learning projects, and awareness campaigns to nurture environmental consciousness.
  • Recognize – the most outstanding environmental efforts of individuals, schools, and organizations.

Volunteer 

Keep Austin Beautiful has a multitude of volunteer opportunities in a schedule on their website that anyone can register for. Additionally, they have community programs such as adopting a creek, community clean-ups and help keep Austin lakes clean. Their next big volunteer opportunity would be Keep Austin Beautiful Day. It’s an event that occurs every April to mobilizes hundreds of volunteers for an incredible day of community service throughout the Greater Austin Area. If this is something that interests you, be on the lookout for more info regarding the activities for this day on their website. 

Ways to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

Posted on by
What is it

Whether you heard about it before or you’re not too familiar, your carbon footprint is the amount of carbon emissions that go into the atmosphere due to everyday activities. This can promote unhealthy climate change resulting in global warming, something we have been seeing more and more frequently. 

Human activities are responsible for almost all of the increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere over the last 150 years. The largest source of emissions from human activities in the United States is from burning fossil fuels for electricity, heat, and transportation.

Why does it matter

When more and more gasses get trapped in the atmosphere, they begin to trap in the sun’s radiation which consequently contributes to a warmer earth. This like mentioned before contributes to problems such as global warming and climate change where we can experience extreme patterns of cold followed by warm weather in just a short turnaround. This can cause lifelong effects on the earth and its environment if we don’t make a strive for change.

Ways to reduce 

Though there are plenty of ways that you can start reducing your own carbon footprint with small things that you do daily.

Food
  1. Choosing to go organic and to buy local can significantly reduce the number of emissions emitted by cutting travel time for food items.
  2. Reduce your food waste by planning meals ahead or properly reuse leftover food.
  3. Composting your food waste.
Clothing
  1. Don’t buy from fast fashion places.
  2. Try to buy clothing items from thrift stores.
  3. Washing your clothes in cold water can reduce the amount of carbon dioxide by 500 pounds in a year.
Transportation
  1. Ditch your ride and try to bike to places more.
  2. Fly more nonstop.
  3. Avoid unnecessary braking and acceleration.

These are just a few ways that you can reduce your own carbon footprint while working towards maintaining a healthy environment.