Life Goggles Goes Global

Life Goggles already has writers in the UK and New Zealand, though from today it moves even more global!

I (Joel) am emigrating to America today(!), and via a 3 week holiday to New Zealand and Australia, will therefore be writing about green issues and the latest green news from the US. I hope to update you on my trip too

Simon, who is currently in the UK, will be returning to his native Melbourne, Australia and will continue writing about music and green issues from there.

Of course Adam (and Trish) will still be writing about global issues from a UK perspective, and Mark and Pete will be chipping in every so often. Last, but not least, Kev will still be in New Zealand and bringing his unique point of view to us.

Here’s to world domination!

Calculate Your Water Usage

There is a basic simple tool that can be used to calculate how much water you are using. The BBC Water Calculator allows you to do some simple calculations to work out how much water you’re using or wasting.

Firstly you enter how many people are living in your household. Then you can choose parts of your home to look at.

Garden/Garage - If you have a garden and/or garage you can enter how much watering you do, whether you use a pressure washer and how often you wash your car.

Bathroom - How often you have a bath or shower, and what type of shower is important. How you clean your teeth and the general usage of your toilet (about 4.5 litres per flush) also matters.

Kitchen - This includes dripping taps, washing up, the washing machine and dishwasher.

Once all done, you can calculate how many litres (and buckets) of water you use per day, how much is used per person (compared to the average of 155 litres per day) and a nice pie chart of how your water usage is split up. It’s definitely worth a look.

5 Simple Ways Your Business Can Go Green

Having an environmentally friendly business not only clearly helps the environment, but can also make your business more efficient and reduce its costs. So how easy is it for your business to go green?

1. Reduce waste and save money

Business waste, at least in the UK, carries a high premium. Latest research suggests it can cost as much as 4% of annual turnover. Using recycled and recyclable materials and biodegradable packaging can reduce waste costs dramatically, whilst not costing much more to purchase. A very small proportion of high-quality white printer paper is recycled, yet as this is much sought after so will cost you nothing or very little to recycle - see our how to recycle business paper article. Specialist recyclers can be found for hazardous waste, such as batteries and chemicals, and again certain types are sought after. Printing on both sides of paper obviously helps to save paper, and saves 1.2p (black and white) or 13p (colour) on ink costs.

Moving to “digital documents”, i.e. having the agenda and notes on your computer rather than paper, not only reduces waste but also provides an easily found record of the event.

Check for leaking taps and that all kitchen basins have plugs to use when washing up.

2. Reduce energy and save money

Switching off your computers, printers, other equipment and lights at night are easy ways not only to save energy but obviously save money. Even during the day, encouraging employees to turn off lights when they leave a room, switch off computers and unplug mobile phone chargers when not in use will save you money. Also, running cleaner vehicles and running them less often will reduce your bills. Rather than use a screensaver, set your monitor to power off after the same amount of time - it’s easy!

Checking heating and air conditioning are not on at the same time can help, and keeping doors closed when either of these are on will help their effectiveness. If rooms are empty, why not turn the heating or air con off (as well as turning off the lights)?

3. Change your products and make money

Introducing features that promote the reusability or recycled nature of your product(s) not only helps the environment but also helps sell your product. Can your business offer refills? Can they print on recycled paper? Can they send material out via email rather than print?

4. Buy plants and improve your environment

Plants not only make your office look nicer but as they absorb airborne pollutants and negative ions from computers, whilst emitting oxygen. Plant waste like bark and leaves can also be recycled and used as garden mulch.

5. Carpool

Encourage your employees to carpool and/or take public transport when possible.

Not all green initiatives will save you money or cost you nothing, but having a green business is not always about money. As much or as little as your business can afford will help, and you and your business can always check out our 100 easy ways to go green for a lot more ideas.

For easy help on your business going green, Envirowise, a government funded organisation, has a free advice line and offers one free site visit. Good luck!

Song of the Day - Minnie The Moocher By The Band From TV

The Band From TV comprises of Hugh Laurie of House fame (although Blackadder is his finest hour) on the keyboard, Desperate Housewives’ James Denton on guitar, Heroes‘ mind-reader Greg Grunberg on the sticks and various others.

They came together after Grunberg was asked to get some names together for a charity concert at The House of Blues and they kept going. Their version of Minnie the Moocher (which I can’t find on You Tube) is the most popular on iTunes - there are over 50 others. The video is just a slide show, but the song is cool.

If you want to know more, I’ve added this video as well:

Ewan McGregor travels the Long Way Down with Cafédirect

Cafédirect, the UK’s largest 100% Fairtrade hot drinks company sent us details of how they helped Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman have a regular caffeine fix as they travelled the Long Way Down through Europe and Africa.

They rode from Scotland to South Africa, through 20 countries. As part of their intrepid 15,000 mile motorcycle adventure, which started in May 2007 in John O’Groats and arrived in Cape Town early August, Ewan and Charley visited Uganda. There they met Cafédirect’s grower partners at the Gumutindo Coffee Cooperative – suppliers of Cafédirect Mount Elgon gourmet coffee beans. During their visit they mastered the art of coffee “cupping” (tasting) and learnt how to ‘shlurp and spit’ like professional tasters!

You can watch Ewan and Charley talking to Willington Wamameye, Manager of the Gumutindo Co-operative, on the BBC LWD website.

The adventure will be shown on BBC 2 and Fox TV, starting 28 October 2007. For more information visit: www.longwaydown.com.

The Fun Green Roundup #3

Some crazy stories this week. I’m really hoping the first one is a joke.

On the hoof
A Dubai comapny is planning to start making buses powered by horses. Yes, you read that right. Horses are put on a conveyor belt in the bus and blah blah. It can’t be real can it? Check out the photo below for yourself - Treehugger has more.

Onion goggles
I thought these were goggles made from onions to begin with which is why I included them here, but atually they’re goggles to stop your eyes watering when you’re cutting onions. I don’t think they’re even made from eco-friendly material so have a look here and then just be a man about it.

Carbon phone
The BBC reports that a British student has invented a way of tracking your carbon footprint using a mobile phone. The Carbon Hero uses a mobile phone to work out what method of transport you’re using and therefore how much carbon dioxide is produced.

Washing your hands in the toilet
Well, sort of. Check this video out which is doing the rounds at the moment. Well with my friends anyway. A nifty little system to help save water but not sure how much ’soaping’ up time there is!

What Is Greywater (Or Graywater)?

According to our Green Glossary, graywater/greywater is:

“waste water that does not contain sewage or fecal contamination (such as from the shower) and can be reused for irrigation after filtration.”

Graywater Central, from Oasis Design, defines it in a slightly different manner:

“Any water that has been used in the home, except water from toilets, is called graywater. Dish, shower, sink, and laundry water comprise 50-80% of residential waste water. This may be reused for other purposes, especially landscape irrigation.”

As part of our 100 ways to save the planet, we recommend the re-use of water, but what are the benefits of using graywater? Again, Graywater Central lists a few:

1. Lower fresh water use
2. Less strain on failing septic tank or treatment plant
3. Graywater treatment in topsoil is highly effective
4. Ability to build in areas unsuitable for conventional treatment
5. Less energy and chemical use
6. Groundwater recharge
7. Plant growth
8. Reclamation of otherwise wasted nutrients

Greywater.com is another great source of information that provides step-by-step information on how to set up an irrigation system, how much water you could save, what to do about pollutants and so on. Do you have a greywater system?

[Picture via Greywater.com]

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