Groovy Green

I found a really great blog called Groovy Green. Check out this blog. It's got some really good stuff on it including a posting on the 4 day work week. The 5 day work week is only 70 years old! Anyway, not only would this be great in terms quality of life but it could help save the environment as well! Sounds good to me!

It's got great articles, but more importantly, it aims helps gives book reviews, product review, product suggestions along with great education.

Interesting with effortless ideas for saving the planet! I like it!

http://groovygreen.com/

Energy Saving Trust - Not as Boring as it Sounds

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/

This is a great site with all kinds of practical and easy to implement suggestions. The site is obviously British but the energy tips are applicable to all. Great site.

Click on the "What can I do Today?" tab for a great list of tips and easy interactive demonstrations. Check the links on the left for:
*I love the "How Effecient is Your Home?" link. It pulls up a graphic of a house that you click on and it shows you areas where you lose heat, energy and tells you how much money and CO2 you would save by making a change.
*The REALLY simple stuff is under "Cheap and Simple Tips."
*There's a list of the "Top Energy Saving Measures."

Check out all the great information on your impact on climate, environmental products, home improvements, and even how to generate your own renewable energy (and get grants for it!).

Have I mentioned that most of these measures will SAVE you money. Once again...with sustainability everyone's a winner.

Transisition Towns

I just realized this doesn't fall under the label "effortless" but it's a fantastic initiative. If it doesn't fall under "effortless environmentalism" then it surely falls under "Good News for a Change" Transition Towns is a charity that assists towns in transforming into sustainable communities.

Here's their explanation from their website:

What is a Transition Town (or village / city / forest / island)?

A Transition Initiative is a community that is unleashing its own latent collective genius to look Peak Oil and Climate Change squarely in the eye and to discover and implement ways to address this BIG question:

"for all those aspects of life that this community needs in order to sustain

itself and thrive, how do we significantly increase resilience (to mitigate

the effects of Peak Oil) and drastically reduce carbon emissions (to

mitigate the effects of Climate Change)?"

The resulting coordinated range of projects across all these areas of life leads to a collectively designed energy descent pathway.

The community also recognises two crucial points:

• that we used immense amounts of creativity, ingenuity and adaptability on the way up the energy upslope, and that there's no reason for us not to do the same on the downslope
• if we collectively plan and act early enough there's every likelihood that we can create a way of living that's significantly more connected, more vibrant and more in touch with our environment than the oil-addicted treadmill that we find ourselves on today.

They've created 20 towns in the UK, Ireland and Australia. Great resource and support for towns that want to change.

USwitch

Another price comparison site that's fantastic. The difference with this one is you can actually sort products by their "green" factor. I'm currently using it to switch my electricity and gas to the best and most economical green energy.

David Suzuki.com

David Suzuki is Canada's foremost Environmentalist.

His site offers 10 easy things you can do to help fix the environment and they're all easy, practical, and beneficial to your pocket book as well as the environment. One of the suggestions was go one day a week without eating meat. I read this several years ago and did it off and on. This tiny first step lead to me becoming a Vegetarian about 7 weeks ago.

Anyway check out the 10 things you can do list. Forget going veggie. The rest of the stuff is easy man and I mean EASY!

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/Climate_Change/What_You_Can_Do/at_home.asp

These steps can be taken in any country - not just Canada.

Freecycle

site: www.freecycle.org

I'm sorry...did you say free?

I've just discovered there's a huge network called "Freecycle" which, ostensibly, was set up to reduce the amount of waste that goes into landfills. It was started in Tuscon Arizona and has spread all across the world. It's simply a yahoo group in which people post messages with items they are giving away for free.

How it works:

1. Go to: www.freecycle.org
2. Type in your city or area.
3. Go to that areas group and join. (If you have a Yahoo account already then you can just log in)
4. Read messages, contact community members, pick up stuff.

There's no cost for the site.

I know what you're thinking! "Well obviously it's all junk that know one wants, it's old, it's broken, or something is wrong with it." You'd be amazed actually. We got a REFRIGERATOR that is not very old and in perfect condition!

Pros
1. Tons of free products!
2. It feels good. I swear!
3. Reduces landfill waste.
4. Saves resources. Did you know we're currently consuming at the rate of 4 planets? That's not good.
4. Find affordable goods.
5. Move unwanted goods with little to no hassle.

Cons:
1. It is obviously quite random so you may have to be patient if you're looking for something specific.
2. If you don't have a car it can be difficult to pick things up.
3. You're not sure what you're getting until you actually see it. It's free though so what's the real risk?
4. Areas with higher density populations will have more goods available.

The motivations for people's generosity are probably pretty complex but a lot of people probably do it for the environmental reasons. Others may just want to move things. Say you have a desk - as I did when I was moving from Toronto and you can't get rid of it. Put it on Freecycle and someone will come take it away. There's all kinds of stuff in your house I'm sure you'd be happy just to get rid of.

The only rule is your first post must be an offer. This doesn't mean you can't get stuff it just means you can't post a "Wanted" ad to request items until you offer something.


Let's stop this:








and get free stuff along the way!