Green Thought Thursdays: Bulk Foods

Once a week, I am offering up a tip or action or idea that we can all engage with to work towards living in ways that allow for more health and wellbeing for all aspects of the planet.

This week the green thought is about buying bulk foods.

Food often comes in various amounts of packaging. This packaging takes resources to make, especially if it involves plastics. Then, once the food has been consumed, that packaging often ends up in landfills where it can persist for a very long time, especially if it involves plastics. Producing the packaging, transporting the packaging, disposing of the packaging. All these steps contribute to carbon emissions and increase the daunting problem of how to handle garbage.

Bulk foods are available in many grocery stores. Photo: Food Network.

One solution is to buy bulk foods. Buying foods in bulk uses less packaging. This means that foods purchased this way contribute less carbon to the atmosphere and less material to landfills. Buying food in bulk also saves money. Bulk foods are generally between 30% and 50% cheaper than their more heavily packaged counterparts. So, buy bulk foods and save your money and your planet at the same time!

What do you think of these ideas? Do you have any other solution ideas?

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Green Thought Thursdays: Refrigerators and Freezers

Once a week, I am offering up a tip or action or idea that we can all engage with to work towards living in ways that allow for more health and wellbeing for all aspects of the planet.

This week the green thought is about refrigerators and freezers.

We can all take steps to make our refrigerators and freezers more efficient. Photo: House Integrals

Our refrigerators and freezers are on all the time and they use a lot of energy. In fact, since these appliances are some of the few household items that truly never turn off, they can account for as much as 7% of a households energy bill! And in many cases, these appliances are not running as efficiently as they can. Of course, to produce the energy to keep our foods cold requires the burning of fossil fuels which contributes to climate change.

The solution is to take care of our refrigerators and freezers. Here are a few suggestions. 1) Replacing older appliances with modern, energy-efficient models will quickly pay for themselves with lower energy bills. 2) Keeping about 4 inches between the back of the fridge and the wall means that air can circulate and dissipate the heat these units produce allowing them to run more efficiently. 3) Letting hot food cool down to room temperature before putting it in the refrigerator means that the fridge does not have to use the extra energy to cool warm food. 4) Defrosting freezers once a year will help them run more smoothly and also allow the space inside them to be used to maximum effect. 5) And, of course, keeping the fridge and freezer doors closed keeps the temperature inside cold, again prevents the appliances from using extra energy to re-cool after warm air slip in through open doors.

What do you think of these ideas? Do you have any other solution ideas?

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Green Thought Thursdays: Cold Water Washing

Once a week, I am offering up a tip or action or idea that we can all engage with to work towards living in ways that allow for more health and wellbeing for all aspects of the planet. Last week we talked about reusable coffee cups.

This week the green thought is about washing with cold water.

Washing dishes with cold water can save a lot of energy. Photo: reviewed.com

We all wash clothes. We all wash dishes. All this washing uses water, soaps, and energy. The energy is used to pump water, to run dish washers and washing machines, and to heat the water. And that last part is where we can all easily do a lot better! About 90% of energy used in washing cloths and dishes is used to heat the water. Just to heat the water! Using energy means burning fossil fuels which releases carbon dioxide which contributes to climate change.

An easy solution is to simply wash with cold water! I will admit that washing dishes by hand with cold water is not as comfortable as with warm water. But washing clothes and dishes with cold water works as well as with hot water. And it saves energy which reduces releases of carbon dioxide which avoids climate change.

What do you think of these ideas? Do you have any other solution ideas?

Thank you for visiting my blog! Please check back next week for another Green Thought Thursday!

If you are interested in other ways to connect with me, here are a few options:

Follow this blog!

View and subscribe to my YouTube channel – A Birding Naturalist

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