I'm Back!

Wow, have I ever been a slacker!! I have no excuse for my absence from blogging except that I am fully immersed in motherhood. Our little guy is 9 months old, crawling, pulling up on things, clapping, and babbling away, and I don't want to miss a minute! But since I want my son to grow up in a socially responsible world, I'm summoned back to the blog.

With winter in full swing in Minnesota, this tip will be easier to implement than ever. Take your shoes off when you come inside. Shoes track in the chemicals you've sludged through all day. In addition, this will keep your floors cleaner, thus requiring less cleaning.

Image borrowed from Around Hawaii

Source: Safer Chemicals 

Fish

There are many foods that are no-no's when you are pregnant. Most people will tell you to avoid certain types of fish that are high in mercury. The challenge is that fish is a very good thing to eat when you are pregnant because it provides a lot of omega-3s, which are great for baby's developing brain. This, of course, led me to extensive research about which fish were low enough in mercury to eat while pregnant.
We continue to avoid high-mercury fish because it's still a risk for my breast-feeding baby, and I really don't see the point in eating mercury laden fish when there are many safer options. Below is the list of safe fish, fish to eat in moderation, and fish to avoid while pregnant. I have found Super Target to have a surprisingly wide selection of safe frozen fish. The Market Pantry Wild-caught Alaskan Salmon is great and relatively inexpensive.

Safe Fish-fish that are high in omega-3s and low in mercury. Doctors say up to 2 6 oz. servings a week are safe, and even recommended.
farmed abalone, farmed catfish, farmed clams, stone crab, king crab, flounder, haddock, atlantic mackerel, farmed mussels, wild Alaskan or pacific salmon (we eat a lot of this), canned wild pink or sockeye salmon, sardines, bay scallops, farmed scallops, northern shrimp, Oregon shrimp, spot prawns, farmed striped bass, farmed sturgeon, farmed trout, butterfish, calamari, Pollock, whitefish, ocean perch, flounder, hake, herring, spiny/rock lobster, shad, sole, crawfish/crayfish, clams, tilapia, freshwater trout

Eat in Moderation-no more than 6 6 oz servings per month.

• carp, mahi mahi, Dungeness crab, snapper, blue crab, atlantic herring, snow crab, monkfish, freshwater perch, skate, cod, Canned light chunk tuna, fresh Pacific Albacore tuna

Avoid-these are too high in mercury. This applies for everything baby eats until 1 year of age.

• king mackerel, Atlantic salmon, Chilean sea bass, shark, unidentified or farmed shrimp, swordfish, tilefish, canned albacore white tuna, orange roughy, grouper, marlin, bass saltwater, croaker, halibut, fresh bluefin tuna, ahi tuna, sea trout, bluefish, American/Maine lobster.

Cloud Computing

Nate insists that his eco-friendly activities get shared as well, so this week's post is about cloud computing. I guess it's something we both do, but he takes advantage of it much more as a tech junkie.

Cloud computing is essentially storing your data in a centralized location out of your computer. The hardware is not at your site. Because you don't have to pay for very expensive, top-of-the-line hardware yourself, you save money. In addition, because the information is stored off site, you can access your data from anywhere.

More importantly, but consolidating the energy that all of us use during computing to one central location, we reduce the energy used. "A recent report by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and Verdantix estimates that cloud computing has the potential to reduce global carbon emissions by millions of metric tons (Google Blog-Gmail: It's Cooler in the Cloud)."

Nearly everyone is already cloud computing without thinking of it-email, Google docs, Facebook, etc. We can make conscious choices to do even more. Dropbox is one free option. This program allows you to easily upload data from your computer and access it from anywhere.

Look for other ways to increase your cloud computing and decrease your carbon emissions even more. 

Composting-The Details

We've been composting for so long, I just assumed I had a lengthy post including all the details of how we do it, but Nate just pointed out that the blog is missing this key aspect of our green life. My very first real post  mentions that we compost, but that's it. So here's how it works.

All of our food scraps (fruits, veggies, egg shells, coffee grounds) go in a little compost bin under our sink. We were using a small garbage can with no lid, but as we got lazier about taking it out, it got stinkier, and we got fruit flies, so I invested in a bin with a lid and filter. We haven't had any problems with it since. Once every week or two, we take the kitchen bin out and dump it in our outdoor compost bin. We also throw our yard waste in the big bin outside. If it gets stinky (which happens once a year when everything thaws in the spring) I throw in some paper or cardboard to get rid of the wet. 

When I get the time (which happened once this spring before I planted the vegetable garden) I scoop out some of the rich black compost from the bottom of the bin and spread it over all the gardens.

That's it! It's that simple.

There are too many benefits of composting to count, but here are two of my favorites:

• Our garbage bin is the smallest option Veolia provides, and we could go smaller. (Although we probably could use a bigger recycling bin). This also means our garbage cost is the cheapest it can be.
• If I had time to garden more effectively, my gardens would look amazing because of the wonderful food compost is for plants.

A friend of mine composts banana peels, coffee grounds and egg shells. She keeps it simple, and these three items are garden's favorites! Maybe this is a place for you to start too! 

Air Freshener

A colleague recently came into my office and said, "you're green, right?" (I love that that's the image I portray!) And then he inquired about the Glade Plug-in I had, which sits on my floor, more so because it smells like Christmas than because it is not eco-friendly. He was looking for an air freshener that didn't negatively impact his health or the environment. After doing a little research, I couldn't find a simple option to replace the rather toxic plug-in variety.

The only green air freshener I found is this: http://www.sani-air.com/default.aspx. 

Most green people suggest a lot of do it yourself ideas. Some are fairly easy. Here are some I found:

• Burn 100 percent pure beeswax candles with 100 percent cotton wicks—they purify and clean the air
• Use green tea to refresh your home
•  Simmer cinnamon and cloves, fresh ginger, or herbs in water on the stovetop.
• Simmer water with a drop or two of your favorite pure essential oil.
• Use organic sachets and potpourris.
• Try these other homemade Home Sweeteners
• Combine 5-10 drops of an essential oil like lavender, lemon, peppermint, bergamot, balsam, eucalyptus, tea tree, or sweet orange in a spray bottle with two cups of water.
• Place a drop of your favorite essential oil on a light bulb prior to turning it on or add a dozen drops to a bowl of water placed on a radiator.
• Place a couple of drops of essential oil on your vacuum cleaner's exhaust filter to freshen exiting air. A few drops of lemon juice on your vacuum cleaner bag will do the same trick.
• Open windows.
• Clean the source of the odor with non-toxic products.
• Empty the garbage frequently.
• Use an open box of baking soda for smelly rooms. We keep baking soda near garbage and the dirty diaper bag. 
• Use indoor plants to clear carbon dioxide and other toxins.

I would say an essential oil would be a good way to go. You can buy a few varieties at Cub in the natural foods section, or there’s a bunch more at a food co-op or Whole Foods. I use essential oils for a few different things, and they really do a good job of naturally cleaning and smelling nice.