Sustainable September 2016 - Day Sixteen

Hi everyone, 

So I thought I had successfully posted yesterday's blog at 9 last night but it turns out it didn't post properly. I am so sorry. 

I've been working hard to make sure all of the posts are written, finished off and posted before midnight. Usually earlier if possible. But I am using a new app so sometimes things haven't been going quite to plan. I am getting used to it though. 

Today was all about drying your washing outside. 

 

But it also had the side note of looking after birds. 

The weirdest thing today was that I was in a shopping centre and a pigeon had got itself suck inside. It was super distressed so I did my best to help calm it down and catch it. Even if the last bit failed, when I left the bird was calmer and not flying into Windows. He had found a perch where I couldn't reach even if I wanted to. And nothing I did could have got it down to get it outside. I ended up having to leave it. 

Today is an idea that actually came in the mail today. 

Sustainable Septmeber Day Sixteen: go paperless for bills and statements. 

After receiving a whole bunch of stuff in the mail today I was thinking how silly it was that we are using paper when we can deal with these things online. 

"Paper production is a process that has not changed in over 2000 years. In today’s measures it takes 24 trees to produce one tonne of virgin printer paper but only 25% of each tree is used to produce the paper product. The paper industry is a greedy resource consumer that uses more water to produce a tonne of its product than any other industry. It uses a staggering 90,000 litres of water per tonne of virgin paper." Australian Science 2016 

Each year companies spend billions of dollars sending out bills, newsletters and special offers to its customers on paper. Not only are trees cut down to help make enough paper but there is so much money spent on postage and travel for that letter to end up in your letter box. 

"Everyone must play their part in creating sustainable futures for the world’s commodities. Paper is a huge commodity and is consumed at exorbitant rates as outlined by Forest Ethics‘ recent research. They reported that across the world North America used on average 229kg of paper per capita annually, Western Europe got through 178.7 kilograms, Latin America 43.02, Asia 41 and Africa 7.51 kilograms per person. In Australia we use on average 230kg per person per year. It is clear that the paper industry demands exponential resources to continue to fulfill the demand and if Australia would like to achieve sustainability we must rethink our consumerist ways." Australian Science 2016 

If we can reduce the amount of paper we consume we give our forests and trees a break 

Front Lines: this is a video by the website PayItGreen.org. The video helps to illistrate exactly why you should change to using electronic instead of paper bills, newsletters and statements. 

Kindness idea: place some money in or near a book for them to buy it, take it home and read it. 

 

I love this idea because it's about books and also about paper. To be more environmentally friendly you could do this at a second hand book store or even at an opshop. 

I hope this finds you all well. 

Love Daena X

Sustainable September 2016 - Day Two

Hello lovely people,
So today was the first day that we did Sustainable September. And it was all about using reusable cups and cutting down on disposable ones. So today I did it.
I took my sister, who is recovering from eye surgery, out for the first time in a few days as she can go into the sunlight today. We had out coffees at the shop so didn't need to have them "take away".



I also used my Keep Cups today, but not to get coffee/chai take away. More to be able to give mum a cup of tea on her way to the doctors. So not only was it handy for mum to use a keep cup as she went out, it also saved money because she didnt need to buy a cup of tea whilst out. Money saving and environmentally friendly = WINNING!!!

  

Todays idea is along a similar theme.

Sustainable September Day 2: Use (or buy and Use) a Reusable Water bottle.

Plastic water bottles are rather popular here in Australia. I know these single use bottles are popular all around the world. But single use plastic water bottles account for one in ten piece of rubbish collected during "Clean Up Australia Day" (according to the website). Basically they account for an ENORMOUS amount of waste that ends up in our landfil, our environement and on our roadsides.

THe impact of plastic Water Bottles on our environment is huge. For example:
"In production: Most bottled water is packaged in PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic bottles which are derived from crude oil. It can take up to 3L of water to produce 1L of water.

In transportation: Transportation of bottled water around the world requires burning of fossil fuels  

In landfill and the litter stream: Although plastic bottles are recyclable, many end up in landfill and take up to 1000 years to break down. When littered they often end up in the sea where they break up in small pieces, killing marine life that mistake them for food...

...By avoiding bottled water and refilling your own bottle you can help conserve virgin resources and protect our pristine nature. Another great side effect is saving money. One bottle of water can cost you around $2.50 versus only a few cents per litre for tap water. So start refilling your water bottle today." (Clean Up Australia Website http://www.cleanup.org.au/au/Whatelsewesupport/avoid-bottled-water.html).

If we can just reduce our need and use of single use plastic water bottles, or avoid them completely, we can make a HUGE difference to our environement.

Kindness idea: Purchase a reusable water bottle for someone in need. Or buy a water refill card for water stations so people can fill up their reusable water bottles.

In and around Perth, Western Australia, there are new water refilling stations that charge about AUD 50c per litre for oprdinary water or about AUD $1.00 per litre of sparkling water. I have used these myself and i think they are a pretty clever idea. Considering if i buy sparkling water it can cost about AUD$4.50 on average. Its a financial saving as well as an environmental saving. One of these prepaid cards could fill several water bottles for several days. For more information about the Perth based water refill stations check out http://www.proacquaaustralia.com.au/shop/

Front Lines: Here are a couple of TED talks to help you get a better idea of the affect plastic is having in our environment.

The first Video is by the discovere of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, Cpt. Charles Moore. It is quite a shocking and compelling piece.

This second video is what is being researched to fix the problem of plastic in our ocean. I just dont want you all to think being Sustainable is a hopeless venture.

Hopefully plastic being removed from our oceans can be a huge game changer. However, we need to be concious about NOT making the situation worse. So lets only use reusable water bottles from now on. Maybe even choose something like glass, or aluminium, which are longer lasting, reusable alternatives to plastic.

Let me know what is your favourite reusable water bottle is. I have two metal ones and a reusable plastic one. 

I hope you have a wonderful day and I will post a new blog tomorrow. 

I am catching a plane tomorrow to see my friend in Canberra, Australia. I will be there for 9 days, so i am hoping to check out what awesome environmental ideas the countries Capital has to offer. :) 

I hope this finds you all well. 

Love Daena xx