Living Under My Roof

Composting update

admin — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 13:36:38 +0000

We’ve been composting here at the World Headquarters of Living Under My Roof. We’re about 6 weeks into the project. So far, we’ve got lots of stuff piling up in the black plastic composter (is the composter leaching chemicals into my compost that will be out into the garden that grows our veggies?!).

Current challenges are:

- not enough ‘browns’ - we don’t have grass clippings and are hesitant to put the multitude of weeds into the composter to limit the weeds in our garden
- not enough warm, sunny days - I fear that the fruit/veggie waste isn’t breaking down fast enough and next spring we may see banana peels, apple cores etc. in their whole umcomposted state. We need warm sunny days, and not just for the sake of the compost!

Today’s link - Composting Tools Buying Guide from The Green Guide.

Uggh. More plastic problems.

admin — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 14:11:10 +0000

Just when you thought it was safe to serve your kids food on picnic plates this summer… along comes this news….. melamine may not be safe either!! The Green Guide has more information but here’s a tasty (?!) snippet:

Aside from sippy cups, most kidware isn’t made of polycarbonate but of durable, colorful melamine. Melamine is a questionable choice for food because it’s made with formaldehyde, which has been linked to allergies, asthma and cancer. There’s no evidence that formaldehyde leaches out of melamine every single time it’s used, but some studies, including one by the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration, have shown that the chemical can migrate out of melamine and into food under certain circumstances, such as heat and when serving highly acidic foods.

Junk Mail Remover!

admin — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 14:44:01 +0000

Luckily, I don’t get a lot of junk snail mail. I’ve moved a lot and don’t sign up for a lot of lists, I don’t make political contributions and I don’t get catalogs. (Junk EMAIL, now that’s a different story.) So for now, my mailbox is pretty empty. And that’s a good thing.

But if I DID get a lot of junk mail, I’d be very interested in ProQuo. This service allwos you to get yourself off of dozens of lists (credit card ,catalog, coupons) with a single click. Or, where getting yourself de-listed is slightly more complicated, ProQuo can walk you through the process.

My mum was right

admin — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 14:31:16 +0000

When I was little, no one had air conditioning. And we survived. I can remember my mum telling us to run our wrists under cold cold water to cool ourselves down. Yesterday I told my daughter to do the same. Here are more advice on how to cool yourself without air conditioning - check out the #1 tip! Turns out mum was onto something.

Also useful on hot days and nights like we are having now - How to sleep comfortably on a hot night. I like the idea of a frozen sock filled with rice!

Obama’s environment and energy policy

admin — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:16:18 +0000

“Well, I don’t believe that climate change is just an issue that’s convenient to bring up during a campaign. I believe it’s one of the greatest moral challenges of our generation. That’s why I’ve fought successfully in the Senate to increase our investment in renewable fuels. That’s why I reached across the aisle to come up with a plan to raise our fuel standards… And I didn’t just give a speech about it in front of some environmental audience in California. I went to Detroit, I stood in front of a group of automakers, and I told them that when I am president, there will be no more excuses — we will help them retool their factories, but they will have to make cars that use less oil.”

Is this change you can believe in?

Father’s Day eco / green books

admin — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:02:09 +0000

Father’s Day is approaching. Here is a great guide to 10 of the best eco-books for Dad. Benefit both your dad and the environment.

While we are at it, here are a few more sites with good eco books:

Greenopia

admin — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 14:57:47 +0000

It’s travel season, and although the cost of gas is changing the way we travel, many of us still want to get away. Greenopia is a new site that allows visitors to learn about local ‘green’ services and resources. Currently, guides have been developed for Los Angeles, New York City and San Francisco. Other city guides are in development. Guides are available in print or online.

What seems to be different about Greenopia is the way that the site is put together - no one can pay to be included in the guide and no one can advertise in exchange for a listing. So the results should be unbiased and independently researched.

Nice.

More eco dog stuff!

admin — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 14:49:37 +0000

I’ve come across another nice looking website catering to eco-friendly dog stuff:
Olive Green Dog. I did laugh a bit about the section called ‘Interactive Dog Toys’. What dog toy isn’t ‘interactive’?

Care 2 find a job with a socially responsible company?

admin — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:50:55 +0000

We all want meaning in our lives. And given that we spend MOST of our lives working, it only makes sense to be a little picky about where we work. The Internet makes this easier - we now have resources available to help us sort our the socially responsible companies from those that are… less so.

CARE2 makes it easier to find available jobs with companies that are trying to do the right thing. Their job postings pages even sort out which firms are socially responsible and those which are environmentally responsible.

Nice work. If you can get it.

It’s Slug Season!

admin — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 13:53:39 +0000

Gardening time has begun again. And if YOUR tomato plants weren’t killed last week by some late frost (ahem), your next battle will be with garden pests, like aphids and slugs. Green Living Online has an article about safely dealing with these critters.