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With a surface area http://bit.ly/VSPVln

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Create an Energy Efficient Garden

Outdoor spaces, like grassy yards or cultivated gardens, are by definition “green.” Having a green landscape at your house or office building is a small step towards being more sustainable and supporting the environmental conservation movement. While you may not consider your outdoor space in this light, you do, hopefully, enjoy it for what it is - a simple green space that is your own.

However, when you realize its greater potential, you can see what else your yard has to offer. Your yard and gardens can be landscaped into an energy efficient space. When designed well, your yard actually has the capability to improve your home’s use of energy , as well as, be a space you enjoy.

Plant Deciduous Shade Trees

It is a simple, common knowledge concept: a shady spot is cooler than a spot in the sun. If you want a more energy efficient home, make the house be in “a shady spot.” Planting shade trees on the side of the house that gets the most sun easily does this. This can lower your power bill by multiple percentiles because less sunlight will enter, therefore ensuring your air conditioner does not have to work as hard to cool down the space. To be truly energy efficient, opt for deciduous shade trees. In the winter, the trees will be bare of leaves and the winter sun will come inside; your heater will not have to work as hard.

Utilize Wind Blocking Trees

If your home bares the brunt of a decent amount of wind, you are losing energy. Modern homes are much more resistant to outside temperature’s effects than older homes, but wind can still push cold air into both. Identifying the typical direction of wind and design your landscape accordingly. Large trees planted to block the wind will keep the cold chills from reaching your home.

Mulch Your Flower Beds

Watering flowerbeds is a necessity - all plants need water, even if they are hearty. However, there are steps you can take to increase plants’ abilities to go longer without water and be resistant to heat. Natural organic mulches, like wood chips, are one of the best ways to go about this. Place mulch around the roots of your trees and flowers in beds. Mulch lowers the ground temperature and holds water in.

Cultivate Drought-Resistant Plants

Another way to save water, simply, is to plant drought-resistant plants. These plants are not just a plus when you head on a week long summer vacation; they will save you money year round, especially if you live in a drought prone area. A garden planted with drought-resistant plants is a truly eco-friendly landscape.

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Act like you live he http://bit.ly/S6edUT

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Did you know: Mount http://bit.ly/VBM7VI

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Did you know: The wo http://bit.ly/QyENGV

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Greening the Office

There are a number of ways to cut back on waste at the office. Here are a few ideas:

                                  

Save Energy and Water
• Use the stairs instead of the elevator for short trips to save electricity
• Turn off lights and computer equipment at the end of the day to save energy
• Turn off taps completely to avoid wasting water from dripping taps

Save Paper (saving paper saves energy too)
• Set your printer and photocopier to double-sided to save paper
• Edit documents on your computer to save paper
• Always recycle used paper

Produce Less Waste
• Take your lunch to work in reusable containers and a reusable lunch bag
• Use your own mug for your coffee or tea instead of disposable ones
• Get your co-workers to adopt the same environmentally-friendly office habits as you.

Approximately 80% of office waste is paper, and of that, 70% is not recycled. Much more of that paper should be recycled. Green Seal reports that a ton of paper made from 100 percent recycled paper, as compared to virgin paper, saves the equivalent of 4,100 kilowatt-hours of energy, 26,498 litres of water, 27 kilograms of air emissions, and 2.29 cubic metres of landfill space.

A better alternative to recycling is not to print in the first place, unless you have to.

Don’t stop with your office. Many of the eco-ideas you can implement at work can also be applied to your home.

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Can you see the diff http://bit.ly/OYXvHi

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Did you know: The Sa http://bit.ly/QypcHt

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The Green Way to Organize Your Home

You might think that organizing a house is not really a big deal, that is just common sense. If you have a lot of stuff, you simply reduce the amount, use what you have and stop shopping. But many of us are aware that organizing is a big business especially in the case of container companies. All of sudden, having a tidy house is becoming very expensive and it’s not helping those that are struggling with disorganization. A growing number of professional organizers are passionately promoting reusing, reducing and recycling. The word GREEN is becoming very popular.

                                     

Before you go on your shopping spree, walk through your home or office and find out what you already have to contain your stuff. A word of caution, if you skipped the process of purging and sorting, there are not enough containers in the world that will help you to get organized. So let’s Go Green and get organized.

Re-use your stuff

• Reuse plastic coffee lids or any other lids under cooking oils or any other messy containers.
• Use old dresser drawers as under the bed storage.Casters will allow you to easily slide them in and out
• Baby jars are ideal to contain your small houshold items such as buttons, paper clips, and push pins. Ideal for craft material. Let you kids decorate and label them.

• Use small, plastic, square or rectangle containers, those that you are planning to recycle and use them to store all the items in your junk drawer, hopefuly you have one. Organize and contain your batteries,paper clips, envelopes pens etc.

Reduce Your Stuff

Living green doesn’t mean living below the poverty line. It simly means being conscious about  your shopping habits and the negative affect it will have on your finances and your family. If you shop till you drop, the clutter is the price you pay. Shopping addiction is just like any other addiction, it feels good for a while and then reality checks in.

Recycling Tips

• Purchase quality brand name, durable goods rather than cheap and disposable.
• Buy good quality and long-lasting clothing. When the time comes to part with your clothes, you could always resell or donate.
• Whenever possible buy products made of recycled material.
• Rent or borrow seldom used tools and equipment.
• Swap your children’s clothes and toys with your neighbors, family and friends.
• Donate your gently used items to charity to reuse or resell.

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We the people vs We http://bit.ly/QT3MH8

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Did you know: The wo http://bit.ly/Sje6VN

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Scoresby Sund is the http://bit.ly/S6Ienb

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“Coming together is http://bit.ly/RwnfPN

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Rainwater Harvesting

Rainwater Harvesting

The Rainwater harvesting is the simple collection or storing of water through scientific techniques from the areas where the rain falls. It involves utilization of rain water for the domestic or the agricultural purpose. The method of rain water harvesting has been into practice since ancient times. It is as far the best possible way to conserve water and awaken the society towards the importance of water. The method is simple and cost effective too. It is especially beneficial in the areas, which faces the scarcity of water. 

                                                                                    

People usually make complaints about the lack of water. During the monsoons lots of water goes waste into the gutters. And this is when Rain water Harvesting proves to be the most effective way to conserve water. We can collect the rain water into the tanks and prevent it from flowing into drains and being wasted. It is practiced on the large scale in the metropolitan cities. Rain water harvesting comprises of storage of water and water recharging through the technical process.

Methods of Rainwater Harvesting : 

Catchment : 
Any surface or the paved areas can be treated as catchment. Even the footpaths and roads can act as the catchment, as these areas too receive the direct rainfall. Rooftops are the best among them because of the large coefficient of run off generated from them and there are less chances of contamination of water.

Conveyance : 
Conveyance system basically includes rain gutters and down pipes which collects the rain water from catchment to the storage tank. These rain gutters are usually built during the time of construction. They need to be designed appropriately as to avoid the loss of water during the conveyance process.

Storage : 
The most important part of the rain water harvesting is the storage system. The storage system is designed according to the amount of water that is to be stored. The design and site (location) of the storage or the recharge system should be properly chosen. The areas which receives the rainfall frequently, there a simple storage system could be constructed, to meet the daily water requirements. Otherwise the areas which receive the lesser rainfall, there the storage systems are quite essential. Rain barrels, underground or open slumps are mostly used to collect rain water. Make sure that the storage system is properly sealed and does nor leak. Use Chlorine from time to time to keep the water clean. 

Benefits of Rainwater Harvesting : Rainwater harvesting first of all increases water security. It is the perfect solution to meet water requirements especially in the areas which do not have sufficient water resources. It helps in improving the quality of the ground water and increasing the level of the ground level. It also helps in improving the overall floral system. It reduces the loss of top layer of the soil. If we capture the water directly we need not to depend much on the water storage dams. It is the good solution to the increasing water crises. Rain water harvesting reduces the flooding on roads and further prevents it from contamination. And in the last it decreases the menace of floods on regional scale.

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The clock is ticking http://bit.ly/RSe2Mt

The clock is ticking http://bit.ly/RSe2Mt

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Its time to thank all our mentors for all the valuable lessons…

Its time to thank all our mentors for all the valuable lessons learnt!

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How to make gift bags from newspapers

Did you buy something from a store recently, the clerk hand over your purchase in a bag made from a newspaper? Did you like it very much and want to make some more out of it? So recycling newspaper is the new project. You can vary the dimensions, of course, but here’s what  we used to create a bag that’s 5” tall, 4.5” wide, and 3” deep.



Stack two sheets of newspaper on top of each other. This will be a two-ply bag for extra sturdiness.

Cut out a rectangle that’s 15.5” wide and 8.25” tall. If your paper already has a fold in it, align the existing fold with one of the fold lines in the diagram below, unless you don’t mind an extra fold appearing somewhere on your bag. We cut out this rectangle, then flipped the paper over so the blue area would be on the outside of the bag.




Fold a flap 1.25” down from the top. Fold a flap 2” up from the bottom. Then measure off and make vertical folds in the places shown in the diagram above. The front and back panels are 4.5” wide, the side gussets are 3” wide, and you’ll need a 0.5” flap for gluing the bag together.

Cut two pieces of cardstock or chipboard to 4.25” x 1”, then glue them on the widest two panels just under the top fold. These will reinforce the rim of the bag. Glue the top flap down along the length of the bag, covering the cardstock. Since the bag is two-ply, you’ll need to glue both flap pieces down one at a time.




Put glue on the outside of the 0.5” tab and bring the left-most panel over to form the body of the bag, aligning the cut edge of the panel with the folded edge of the flap. Add a little more glue to make sure the outermost sheet of newsprint gets tacked down, too.

Upend the bag so the 2” flap is now up. Fold the short sides inward as if you were wrapping a present. If it seems easier, you could also lay the bag on its side and crease those folds against the table.

Put glue on both flaps and fold them inward to form the bottom of the bag. Standing the bag upright and pressing down from the inside will help to secure them.

Cut a piece of chipboard to 4” x 2.5” and glue it to the bottom of the bag to reinforce it and hide the flaps if you want to be an overachiever.

Punch holes in the rim of the bag, adding eyelets if you like, and string some cord through the holes to form handles. Knot each end of the cord so it won’t pull out through the holes.

If you want to store your bag flat, pinch the top together, fold in the sides, and bring the bottom up so that it lies flat.

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When you conserve wa http://bit.ly/TQtfQ2

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