Earth Day is just another day to anyone who cares about the environment the other 364 days of the year. The truth is, today should be no different. Here are 10 things you should be doing all the time to help your Mother Earth. They are so obvious that it’s nuts anyone needs to be reminded. Yeah, I mean you!
1. Turn off lights when not in the room
2. Shut off water while brushing your teeth. Water should be left on for rinsing only.
3. Same goes with washing dishes.
4. Laundry and dish washers should only be run with a full load.
5. Recycle! Recycle! Recycle!
6. Vintage clothing is way cooler than that new made-in-China crap. Second hand thrift shopping is the way to go.
7. Unplug electric “vampires” that suck power even when electronics are off. That means all battery chargers, TV’s, power strips and pretty much anything else that’s plugged in.
8. Take public transit instead of your car.
9. Stop overlooking the impact of your meat based diet. You don’t want to think about how animals are tortured and killed everyday? Do you realize the natural resources that go into producing that bloody hamburger? Grains and water for feed crops, land and deforestation, methane gas produced by animals and fuel for production and transport. Yes, all that is needed for vegetable crops too, but research how many people can be fed on the resources it takes to feed one single cow.
10. End the paper trail! Does anyone still get paper bills that they pay by check? If so, you’re a total dinosaur. It’s 2013. Everything is online, man.
New York City. A town where living quarters are as tight as those jeans from high school that you never threw away. You would think small appliances would be easy to buy, no? Not really.
It was only recently that I came across the Summit counter depth fridge. Yes, there are plenty of narrow refrigerators, but, ah, this one is tall as well, so it actually fits more than a day’s worth of groceries. At 79.5″, it’s got an extra foot on most of the others.
I had my hands on one at Build it Green. $275. I paid and said I’d pick it up in a few days as I couldn’t fit it in my van at the time. Should’ve just shoved it in there. Got a call from them to say it had actually been sold to someone else prior to moi and they neglected to put the “Sold” sticker on it. $275. 
So, I kept looking. Oh, I should mention that they sell for over $1000 new, which is why I was only looking at second hand. Over a thou was not in my budget for a modest 2 family in Rockaway.
Anyway, tried to get a few others on Craigslist, priced $375 and up. They were gone before I even emailed. Finally, I got my hands on the older, discontinued ConServ. Summit took over for ConServ some years ago. Ok, so I paid $450 for an old model. I did not wait nor try to bargain them down. They said they had 20 more people who wanted it and after shopping around, I believe them.
The Scandinavian appliance is designed by Bang & Olufsen artist David Lewis and it’s since it’s so extremely energy efficient, I figure that this old gal will be about as efficient as a brand new cheap-ass fridge.
Apart from Summit, there are some other tall and slim fridges out there. Fagor and Liebherr make similar models, priced close to or over $2000 new.
Curious about green building technology and home maintenance? Well, here’s your chance to learn more! City Tech is offering their “Anatomy of a Green Brownstone” course this Saturday. Four hours for sixty bucks. It covers green roofs, solar and more.
This is a few years old, but I’ve just discovered it so it’s new to me.
Hollywood is full of environmentalists. So you would think the movie industry should be green, right? Well, a film production company tried to shoot a movie that was entirely green and it didn’t go so well. Check out the trailer for “Greenlit“, a documentary on the eco-filming of “The River Why”.
Shipping Pallet Kitchen Island
Of course I don’t really believe that recycling old building materials can ever go out of style. It’s just that….I’m having difficulty finding my own materials this time around!
I’ve been hitting up the usual suspects religiously and have come up with bupkas. Build it Green’s inventory in both Brooklyn and Queens is low. Shite, in fact. Vaccaro’s has some decent stuff, but none of it worked for me in regards to this reno. I only found some louver doors at Eddie’s to make a wall out of. He told me that a lot of new restaurants and bars come by to shop.
Which brings me to the point that every new restaurant opening in Brooklyn is decorated with salvaged materials.
Enough already! Leave some for me.
Oh, even Upstate was a bust. Hoffman’s Barn was packed when I was there on Saturday. No lie. Totally Hipsterville. WTF?
I used to do well on Craigslist too. Now? Nah.
The good news is that I’ll be exploring new places to shop this week or next. I’ll head over to CT, NJ and PA.
So take that, people stealing my reclaimed thunder!
Sheetrocking too expensive and time consuming? Answer = Yes. One alternative is to build a wall with doors. Much more interesting than sheetrock and takes a minimal amount of skills.
Want to take a drive to the country for the weekend? Beach for the day? How about obtaining a van for renovations? Car rental companies can be pretty pricey in New York, so it’s no surprise that car sharing options such as ZipCar have gained in popularity.
Disclosure: I’m just doing some internet research because I’ll soon be needing a van for renovations. I’ve never actually tried a car sharing company. If you have, please comment with some feedback!
It would seem that the daily price of car sharing is comparable to rentals; however, gas and insurance are included in the share. We all know that insurance is what can double the price of that rental. Let’s also remember that location, location, location is everything. Looks like car sharing may be a tad more convenient than schlepping to a rental company to pick up a car. Also, if you only need it for an hour to two, that’s cool.
If you only intend to use the car once or twice a year, car sharing may not be worth it as there is a membership fee involved.
Let’s have a look at some local companies, shall we?
ZipCar is the best known. You’ll be spending $85 to participate. $60 for the annual fee and $25 application fee. Hourly weekend rates are $14 or $125 per day.
Hertz didn’t get to where they are by making bad business decisions. They’ve entered the game with Hertz on Demand and it’s pretty competitve. There are no membership or application fees. Insurance and gas are included and weekend rates run from $8 per hour or $108 per day.
Mint Cars on Demand waives the membership fee for the first year and charges $40 annually after that. Weekend rates for an economy car are $12 per hour and $107 per day with the first 180 miles free, then .45 cents per mile after that. As with the other companies, gas and insurance are included.
Carpingo just launched in Brooklyn. Like this month. Since they are quite new, the information isn’t really out there yet, but here’s what I came up with: The founders are Brooklynites whom have been in the NYC car rental industry for 30 years. They do have cargo vans as well as cute little cars like the Fiat 500. Don’t know if this is a start up offer or they are keeping these rates, but membership is free and the application fee is waived. Gas, insurance and 180 free miles included. I see $8 per hour on a postcard I received but I don’t know if that’s weekday or weekend. Also, the postcard announces $75 in free driving if you join now. Coupon code CPG100.
Then, for my purposes, there’s always UHaul or big box hardware store truck rentals starting at $19.95 per day plus expenses. Or….man with van including a helping hand. The problem with that is getting someone reliable enough.
There are also ways to earn money by sharing your own car and of course you can rent from the following places as well. Personally, I’d feel kind of awkward messing around with someone’s privately owned vehicle rather than a large faceless company.
From what I gather, the car providers must have OnStar and the rates vary according to owner. It’s the Air BnB of car sharing.
If you are interested in offering your own car or renting someone’s private vehicle, check out these companies:
Under Delancey Street sits an unused trolley terminal. The Delancey Underground project aims to create a subterranean public park called “The Lowline“. Get it? Because it’s the opposite of the High Line.
It could be the coolest thing in the world, but it may never see the light of day (Literally. There will be daylight streaming in.) if it doesn’t get the funding.
Watch the Kickstarter video to learn more about it.
Have you seen the powerful video from Greenpeace’s “Save the Arctic” campaign? Grab a tissue and your check book.
Source: apartmenttherapy.com via Mariana on Pinterest
A little outdoor space is better than nothing at all. The good news is that maintenance can’t be that difficult with a postage stamp sized yard.
Source: thenest.com via Karen on Pinterest
World Water Day is coming up. The annual event is held every March 22.
Much of the world faces a global water, sanitation and hygiene crisis. The UN and the global community participates in World Water Day to remind us that it is everyone’s obligation to pitch in. Let’s try to reduce poverty, disease and hunger by helping to improve sustainable access to safe drinking water and better sanitation for millions around the world.
How can you help? Here’s a list of events by region. You can also donate your voice by linking your Facebook or Twitter accounts to World Water Day.
Thanks to SuperVegan for filling us in on the recently opened vegan bakery at Greene and Classon on the Bed Stuy/Clinton Hill border.
Clementine Bakery will be serving up sweet pies and pastries, but they do have some savory treats as well. The dill and mozzarella biscuits sound delish. Yeah, that would be vegan cheese.
They use 100% fair trade and 90% organic ingredients. Drinks? Roasted Kitten Coffee using the Japanese Hario pour over method and also French press.
See ya there.
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Comment by Carol — April 22, 2013 @ 11:10 pm