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How to Pack Eco-Friendly Baggage

                               

Step 1: Pack as little as you can. Extra weight in your luggage requires extra fuel to transport.

Step 2:

Bring along reusable travel-size toiletries and don’t throw them out when you’re done with them. Instead, bring back the little bottles and refill them with your own shampoo, conditioners and lotions to reduce waste.

Step 3:

Borrow a big piece of luggage instead of buying one. If you don’t use luggage routinely, its cheaper and more eco-friendly to borrow a bag instead of buying a new one.

Step 4:

Pack clothing that can be used for a variety of activities, such as sandals that you can wear in the shower or on the beach or convertible pants that can be used as trousers. Take quick-drying, wrinkle-resistant clothing for easy laundering.

Step 5:

Bring reusable items to create less waste in your destination, recommends the online site Green-Travel: a water bottle, rechargeable batteries and a charger and a reusable shopping bag.

Step 6:

Put your travel guides and trip reading on an e-book reader. Add newspapers and magazine subscriptions. Carbon emissions from e-books are offset within the first year of use, notes Irene Lane of the green travel site Greenloons, and they decrease your use of paper and baggage weight.

Step 7:

Take pictures of everyday items such as ATMs, bathroom signs, cabs, food, train stations and the like on your phone or digital camera, and use these as a means around the language barrier if you are traveling internationally. Point to what you need, meanwhile saving weight and paper compared to a large language book. 

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Did you know: Old Ma http://bit.ly/XfWGg5

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The 7 Hallmarks of a Green Building

Green buildings are designed, built and managed in a way that makes them as sustainable as possible, with minimal impact on the environment. There are hundreds of ways of making a house, a school or a commercial building green, but the best green building will include the following:

1. The Right Site   

Before a single shovelful of dirt is moved, a green building should be properly sited. Ideally, the building will not be constructed in any sensitive habitats like wetlands, groundwater recharge zones or old growth forests. Many new green buildings are purposely built over former brownfields (polluted industrial areas) that have been reclaimed.

Buildings that are sited near major bus, train and subway lines encourage use of public transit. And buildings with smaller building and parking lot footprints tend to be more energy-efficient while leaving more room for landscaping — ideally, landscaping that uses non-invasive native plants, some of which produce food for humans and wildlife alike.

2. Minimal Energy Use 

Energy efficiency is a key component of any green building, making energy sources like solar, wind and geothermal increasingly important. Heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) are usually a building’s biggest energy costs, so simple practices like moderating summer and winter thermostat settings makes a real difference — as do efficient appliances like those with Energy Star certification.

Using good-quality, insulating windows is as important as window placement; windows in the right places allow daylight to reduce lighting use while providing solar warmth in cool weather. Newer technologies like ICF construction and SIPS panels greatly enhance energy efficiency. And landscaping can also save energy through smart placement of shade trees and green roofs, where plant beds provide insulation and reduce storm runoff.

3. Material Wealth in a Green Building 

It seems that every other day, some innovative, new green building material is introduced. Some are recycled, recyclable, or brought back into use from architectural salvage companies. Others are local materials — including those, like adobe, rock and gravel, that can be harvested from the building site itself. Most of these contain few or no toxic substances or finishes, and many, such as bamboo, straw bales, cork, and recycled denim insulation, come from sustainable or low-impact sources.

4. Breathing Easy

Most of us can identify the smell of fresh paint, but there are many other indoor air pollutants that can be even more harmful. The EPA estimates that indoor air can be up to 100 times more polluted than outdoor air. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from some paints, carpets, synthetic fabrics and adhesives are a known health hazard, contributing to the malaise known as sick building syndrome, Proper use of HVAC can help, as can one obvious but hard-to-find office technology — windows that open to let fresh air in and bad air out.

5. The Water-Wise Green Building 

Some smart uses of water in a green building are obvious — low-flow toilets, sinks and showers — but others are still being introduced in some municipalities, like the reuse of graywater (non-septic water from sinks and showers) to flush toilets and irrigate landscaping. Some green buildings even take advantage of rainwater, collecting it to cool the building and incorporating it into natural water features on the site.

6. Waste Not

Some of the greenest buildings aren’t new at all — they’re older buildings that have been adapted for reuse. Adaptive building reuse, like turning an old warehouse into housing, is just one example of how smart design can reduce the waste stream from construction, as well as the waste generated during building occupancy. More efficient building processes, like prefab buildings, also reduce the amount of waste generated by building demolition, construction and renovation.

7. Amenities and Management

The very best green design and construction ideas don’t mean much if the occupants of a green building turn a blind eye to sustainable practices. For example, recycling and turning off lights when not in use requires ongoing participation from a building’s occupants and management. And the amenities that are incorporated into sustainable buildings, like showers and bike racks, can help to make a good building great.

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Ways to Reuse Packing Materials

There are many materials contributing to municipal solid waste that could readily be repurposed or reused by consumers and businesses. One large category is packing materials; that brief description covers everything from commercial foam peanuts to the box from your new cellular phone. Many items can be diverted from landfill with a modest amount of ingenuity.

Composting

Several compostable materials are used as packing materials. For example, shredded paper and coconut fibers are often used for shock absorption in place of manufactured foam. These can go into your compost as carbon-rich “brown” ingredients, to balance your grass clippings and food wastes. Fragile items are often packed in paper, which can be shredded or torn and used in the same way. Some appliances and computer equipment are packaged in molded sections of recycled fiberboard, rather than foam; these can also be torn apart and added to compost. However, materials with chemical inks should be recycled rather than composted.

Repurposing

There are several ways to repurpose packaging materials for other roles. Save paper for wrapping fragile items, either for seasonal storage or for moving. Boxes of convenient size and shape are excellent for storing items in the garage or attic, or for wrapping gifts. Use foam peanuts, or broken sections of larger foam packaging, to insulate the walls in your garage, shed or dog house. Cut high-density foam into sections as use it as cleaning sponges for your car or garage.

Re-Packing

Reusing packing material for its original purpose is one of the simplest ways to extend its life and keep it out of landfill. Whenever possible, store boxes, bubble wrap and foam peanuts and reuse them for outbound packaging; at home, set aside a space in your garage or basement, and at the office, allocate a corner of your lunchroom or stationery storage area.

Pass It On

Often, you’ll receive more packing materials than you can reasonably reuse. In those circumstances, look for opportunities to pass it along to someone else. Many shipping companies gratefully accept clean, used packing materials for their own use. In some areas, there are formal exchange programs or information hotlines you can call to find a home for your surplus packing materials.

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