Trees: They do more than keep us breathing...

I had the good fortune of spending a day over spring break on Mt. Lemmon, doing a little bit of camping with the future in-laws. I've never been the camping type but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Being around tree is such a rare occurance in Tucson that when a native Tucsonian is near one or more of these green and woody monstrosities, they feel the need to tell others. It felt great to be around trees again, as I spent a few years lof my life growing up with a forest in my backyard in North Carolina, and just being around trees made me feel a lot closer to nature than the dry wasteland that is the desert. Dirt, rock, and cacti just fall short of what I would truely consider nature. So being around trees was having a positive affect on my mood, and I began to wonder what elese trees are doing for me? I know they give off oxygen, which I suppose is somewhat important, but what other benefits do they provide?



Treesaregood.org answered some of those questions for me. They say trees can actually offer social benefits like improving people's morale and helping sick hospital patients recover faster. I would certainly agree with trees improving morale because I slept in the front seat of a truck and I was still having a good time.

Trees also provide countless environmental benefits like improved air quality, water conservation, climate control, and bringing wildlife to your door. Trees can shelter your home from wind, and keep the surrounding area cooler in the summer. Having birds and insects around restore a natural wildlife setting to your home and can be fun to watch as well. Hey if you get enough trees maybe you can have a bear! Ok, not likely, but it's fun to think about.



So you want to plant a tree now? Here's some websites with tips and suggestions for how to do things right.

Picking and Planting a Tree
Planting and Locations for Fruit Trees
Avoiding Problems When Picking A Tree
Tree Selector for Your Area

Riding The Bus

I've been what's referred to as a commuter student at the University of Arizona for all four years of my college career. For four years now, I've gone to school each morning, and returned home on a city bus, which in Tucson means riding the Sun Tran buses. Many of the bus stereotypes are true...buses can be dirty and smelly, bums often ride them and may even try to talk to you or will at least sit uncomfortably close to you, the buses usually run a couple minutes late, and good luck trying to get any homework done with all the nasty roads we have in Tucson. But the one thing I've always told myself when riding the bus is at least I'm doing the environment a favor. I may much prefer the privacy of my car, where the Barenaked Ladies are always on the radio and the AC is always full blast. but when I'm riding the bus, I doing something small but significant for the environment. Doing my part, if you will. I sat down for this blog knowing that riding the bus helps the environment, but I actually have no idea how much I'm really helping, so I'm going to attempt to find out.

According to The Twin Cities Green Guide, riding the bus reduces overall air emissions, emits less carbon dioxide, and reduces traffic congestion. According to the American Public Transportation Association, taking public transport, like buses, reduces energy bills. It also saves the U.S. 45 million barrels of oil each year from Saudi Arabia, contributing to our decreasing dependency on foreign oil. And public transportation releases 95% less carbon monoxide and about 50% less carbon dioxide per mile traveled than taking your car. Also, just being located near a bus route makes a huge difference, as people who live between 0.25 and 0.1 miles from a bus stop drive an average of 4,400 less miles each year.

According to Mapquest.com, I live about 12 miles from the University of Arizona. Using the APTA's statistics, a person making two trips a day for a ten mile commute year round covers 4,720 miles in a year. That person would save around 236 gallons of fuel each year if they drive my rundown Toyota Tercel, which gets about 20 miles to the gallon. That means I'm saving a great deal as well, because while my trip is a couple miles longer each day, I also don't take that trip for three months out of the year, each year, but even if I did take the bus to the U of A each day for four years, and rounded off to a ten mile trip, I'd still be saving 944 gallons of fuel in my college career. That's a huge dent in energy conservation, by one poor college kid no less!

Also, looking into Tucson's Sun Tran system itself, the buses use compressed natural gas and biodiesel, which are environmentally-friendly fuel alternatives. Also, the bus stops themselves use solar power for lighting, taking full advantage of Tucson's year-round sun. So the transit system itself is also taking an active role in being green.

Batteries

Everyone uses batteries in some way pretty much every day of our lives. Batteries are used for the TV remote, the CD player, maybe a Nintendo DS, or a wrist watch. Your laptop, car, the flashlight, and that dancing hamster you have on your shelf also use batteries. I've always been told that batteries are bad for the environment, so i thought I'd look further into issue..

According to Environement, Health and Saftey Online, the average person buys ten batteries per year, and throws out eight. Three billion batteries are sold every year in the United States. Most of these batteries wind up in a dump, where the toxic chemicals inside them can pose a danger to the environment. The battery metals like mercury, lead, and nickle can wind up in the soil, they can find their way to underground water supplies, and they can burn of in trash fires and enter our air. In any of these cases, the battery contents become harmful to plants and people alike. The EHSO says batteries contribnuted to 88% of all mercury found in a solid waste dump site. So if everyong stopped using batteries, mercury levels would plummet, but more realistically, if everyone switched to reusable batteries or simply reduced the number of batteries they consume each year, battery pollution would decline sharply.

So how to you dispose of batteries? Well the government and retailers have yet to provide an answer for the disposal of regular batteries like the ones in your TV remote. The Environmental Protection Agency says those batteries are safe for landfills, despite their contents and known potential hazards, so keeping them out of the environment is in our own hands. However recycling of rechargeable batteries is possible, and many corporations are a part of the efforts. Cell phone retailers like Alltel, electronics stores like Radio Shack, and even giants like Wal-Mart and Target often have batteries recycling programs, so call a local store near you when disposing of rechargable batteries, watch batteries, or your cell phone battery. These recycyling efforts allow the major battery producers to recycle battery contents and also dispose of battery contents in safe and non-hazardous ways. Even though that battery may seem small and recycling one battery may not make much of a noticable impact, if everyone recycled just a battery or two a year, there would be a huge impact in pollution levels at dumps and things like underground water supplies would be safer from toxification.

For more info also check out the Rechargable Battery Recycling Commission website at rbrc.org.

Eco-sitting: Doing Your Part While Doing Nothing!

People sitting in my apartment. Credit: Alex Norris

I'm always inspired for these blogs by anything I've done in the ten minutes before I sit down to type. I know, it sure seems like I plan ahead and do piles on top of piles of pre-reporting and research, but writing these blogs has really come down to a one-time, sit-down, hashing-out, hyphen-free battle. So with that said, what have I done in the last ten minutes? Tonight the answer is sit. I've been sitting for quite some time now. So my thought process has turned to how I could maybe do my part while sitting, so I can lay claim to that eco-friendly badge while literally doing nothing. This blog's topic...can I buy eco-friendly sitting apparatuses?

Introducing...the Leap chair, by Steelcase. Steelcase, an office supply company, has built a desk chair with Earth in mind. According to their website, the chair was built with recycled material, Earth-friendly paints, and gets shipped in blankets, rather than boxes. This chair and the company behind it have gone the extra mile to insure the planet-friendly consumer can get a comfy office chair that is safe to leave in the middle of the woods without fear of hurting squirrels or big redwoods.

Want to sit comfortably outdoors? Why not safe all the heavy lifting and color matching by just growing your chair! Purves & Purves, a British furnature store, produces the grass armchair, which is similar to a Chia Pet, but you can sit in it! Yeah it might by a little itchy, but it just doesn't get more Earth-conscious than that.


Sitting on the world's most famous sofa. Credit: Larz Silcott

And if you're more partial to sitting inside, you can be green while playing video games or while watching the Wildcats men's basketball team blow second-half leads! Zola Furnishings produces an entire line of sofas, arm chairs, bedding and more that is certafiably eco-friendly. They use low-toxin paints, fabrics, and glues, and they use a type of cushion known as Kapok. This cushion is made of fibers, called Kapok, that come from the ceiba tree in rainforests. I don't know how this is more environmentally friendly, but it sounds amazing! They build their products by hand in Oregon, and in the furnature industry, where wood is a necessity, Zola is still doing their part in the green movement.

Cleaning Goes Organic

I'm rarely in my own apartment, and when I am I feel like I'm doing a bunch of cleaning. I bought a bunch of cleaning supplies when I first moved in...dish washing soap, toilet cleaner, wood polish, stain remover, hand soap, tile cleaner, and the list goes on and on. These are all products that I've never used myself before moving out on my own, so I knew little about them other than they made yucky bad stain thingys go away. Then I was doing an interview with the principal of Catalina Foothills High School and on a completely unrelated topic, he mentioned to me that the district had decided in an effort to go green, the schools were seeking more environmentally friendly products to use for cleaning the facilities in their district. This had me intrigued. I was wondering what kind of products are out there on the market right now that would qualify as environmentally friendly cleaning supplies.

Seventh Generation is a company based in Vermont that specializes in organic and environmentally safe cleaning products. They stress products that are chlorine free and free of harmful chemicals often found in cleaners. Many cleaners contain chemicals that add a fresh scent, but these chemicals can be dangerous in larger quantities, and harmful to air quality and to pet. Also, some products contain oils that as opposed to renewable resources. Seventh Generation makes products that are largely recycled, like their toilet paper and paper towels, and cleaning products based in vegetable oil as opposed to chemicals or oils. The offer a line of products for your dishes, your laundry, your carpet and tile, and even some products that our safe for you baby. The one downside I found is that their product is not carried nationwide like other major brands, so finding it nearby can be a problem. They do however offer online ordering, and their website is full of information on their products and green tips as well.

An interesting discovery I made while looking into this issue is that dish washing detergent can be very dangerous. According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, dish washing detergent causes more poisoning than any other home cleaning product. And some striking facts I found at healthrecipes.com include...Airborne pollutants in your home are 25 to 200 times higher in the home than they are outside. Also, you're more like to get cancer from in home care products than from outside air pollutants. Also dish washing detergents contain nervous system depressants and potential liver poisons. And we wash our dishes with these products! Healthrecipes.com suggests using natural lemon oils as a safe and effective alternative to common home care products.

So all in all, there are many ways you can clean using organic materials, and as I learned, you might even be adding years to your life if you do so!