Ecobags: Buy produce without plastic (and guilt)

Here's a great way reduce plastic in your life: produce bags from Ecobags. They're lightweight but durable, fairly inexpensive, and save you the guilt of yanking out yet another disposable plastic bag in the produce section.

These Ecobags are 100% cotton, which means one less petroleum by-product. I've seen some great reusable produce bags from other companies, yet they're made out of plastic. Kind of defeats the purpose. I've been using and washing them for quite some time with no signs of wear and tear.

They also come with their tare weight written on a tag, but they're so light it almost doesn't matter if you or your cashier forgets to take it off. This also makes them great for buying in bulk, and it's one more reason to keep them in your car for any trip to the grocery store.

If all that doesn't convince you to make these a household staple, consider this: In 2011, according to the EPA, the United States generated 32 million tons of plastic waste, with only 8 percent of the total amount of plastic being recovered for recycling. With cheap options like this, there's no good reason to stupidly generate this much waste, or we'll be paying for it later on.

You can pick up a set of 3 medium bags for about 7 bucks, or a set of three large bags for just over 13 dollars. And remember, you can find tons of uses for these bags other than just produce. For everything else, Ecobags has a huge variety of other reusable products to help reduce waste (and guilt) in your life.

>>>Click here for a set of 3 medium bags
>>>Click here for a set of 3 large bags
>>>Check out Ecobags.com

How To: Turn a beer can into the only camping stove you'll ever need

Out in the wilderness, settling into camp, you unpack your gear ready to make a hot meal..... Only to discover that you forgot the damn stove! Fear not, I KNOW you didn't forget the beer, and as long as you've got your pocketknife (which should be in your pocket at all times) you've got everything you need to make the only stove you'll need.

Now the only thing you'll have to remember is fuel, which is cheap as it comes: rubbing alcohol. You should already have some in your first aid kit, which means you've got a nice emergency/backup supply.

After watching the video and learning an invaluable survival skill, be sure to check out Tom's Bike Trip for other cool stuff like this.



How To Turn A Beer Can Into The Only Camping Stove You'll Ever Need from Tom Allen on Vimeo.

Wastecog.com : Turning trash into treasure

Wastecog is neat little blog created by Tyler Howorth. It's a showcase for a variety of crafty modern living solutions, like furniture and clothing, with an environmental focus in mind. While you won't find plans for every DIY project here, his works are incredibly inspiring for turning trash and junk into something useful and creative. I highly recommend you check it out!


>>>Wastecog.com

Smartphone charger powered by fire

Smartphone Charger Powered by Fire

Here's a cool instructable from Joohansson on how to build a smartphone charger that's powered by fire. That's right. Embrace your inner caveman and combine it with your love of technology. And your addiction to your cellphone.

 Now when you're lost in the wilderness and stranded from civilization, the fire you build will keep away predators, cook your food, and keep you updated on Facebook......

Hopefully you're using your smartphone for more than just endlessly checking updates on social networks, and figuring out how the f*** you're gonna get out of the forest. But either way, this instructable is guaranteed to keep your phone powered, with fire, for whatever you need it for.


>>Smartphone charger powered by fire

Eco-Tec: Building homes from plastic bottles

Of all the materials that you could possibly use to build a house, plastic bottles are the last thing you would expect to actually work. They do, and surprisingly well. A group called Eco-Tec, based in Honduras, has proven that with some sand, a lot of ingenuity, and a desire to give people affordable housing it's very possible.

You can go to their website here and learn all about their projects and priorities. Their biggest mission: training people how to use waste materials (like bottles) with whatever else is available (like sand or soil) to build effective, practical structures. This goes hand-in-hand with their community recycling/reusing pickups, where they get everyone to contribute even if it's as simple as finding plastic bottles.  Over the past 7 years they've done a number of incredible projects, from aqueducts and water tanks to full fledged houses. You can check out a ton of really cool pictures from their projects, and other incredible plastic bottle works from around the world at Inspiration Green.

According to their website Eco-Tec also specializes in composting and vermiculture. Their main english website is here, upon entering you can watch a video that gives a great overview of what they're about. These things go hand-in-hand with educating people in impoverished areas of the world to build effective structures from materials that would otherwise be inefficiently recycled, sitting in a landfill, or simply littered across the land. Altogether this makes Eco-Tec an incredibly important organization that deserves to thrive.

The Humanure Handbook

The Humanure Handbook:
A Guide to Composting Human Manure,
Third Edition

The Humanure Handbook: A Guide to Composting Human Manure
by Joseph C. Jenkins is an amazing book for anyone interested in composting their own human waste (which you all should be!) As gross is it may sound, it isn't, if you do it correctly. This book gives tons and tons of background info for composting all around, and will easily show you how to build a cheap but effective sawdust toilet. Almost all reviewers have stated that it has practically no smell, at least no more than any other bathroom.

You may be asking yourself why in the hell should you compost your human waste? If you enjoy flushing about 6 gallons of clean drinking water down the drain every time you use your porcelain piece-of-shit, please, stick your head in it next time. Maybe it will swirl some sense into you. I'm sure at one point the modern toilet was an amazing technological advancement, but continuing to use it on a wide-scale basis is absurd. And if you think 6 gallons is a lot, read my post on 30 minute showers.

If that's not enough convincing, did I mention you're getting FREE amazing compost out of the deal? You might think it's gross to picture a cycle of eating, excreting, and growing, but it makes perfect sense. And when done correctly, you won't be able to tell your finished humanure from overpriced bags of compost at a garden center.

Even if you don't think you're ready to undertake that task quite yet, I strongly recommend you read this book just because of it's wealth of information and ecological viewpoint of the author. If you're at all interested in improving the quality of life on this planet, I guarantee you will find something useful and motivating in this book. Click here to get the Humanure Handbook

I promise it won't smell.

Weekly Waste War: Newspaper

Come on, you DO know that your never going to read that 1983 issue of the Wall Street Journal, the one that has a guy on the front that looks like you? I mean, yes, it's memorable, perhaps not as memorable as that potato chip that looked like Jesus (or was it a cheeto?), but still something you feel you should hang on to. And then the week after that was printed on the same day as your mother's birthday, and she demanded you keep that one. And then you kept the next one, and the next one, and the next one.....

If you haven't been swallowed up the cascading waves of newspapers, it's time to swallow your hoarder's pride and do something useful with all that paper.

Buycott: Buy from companies you love, boycott those you don't

Buycott is a new, and so far unique smartphone app that let's you scan products in a store and see exactly what company it comes from, and what they stand for. Basically, you scan a jar of pasta sauce, made by company A. Well in reality company A is owned by company C whose parent company is D, and they're a bunch of f***ing A**holes that you don't want to support. That's right, put it back on the shelf. You can create campaigns, for example, "against GMO's," and it'll instantly tell you if the food your buying conflicts with those interests, without actually having to do research on any of those companies. It's not perfect yet, but it's definitely a step in a great direction. And the biggest thing it needs is users supporting it. It's available for Android and iOS, and is free. Click on the link to learn more or download it.

Buycott App

Charity: Water

Charity: water is a 100% nonprofit organization that has helped give thousands of people access to clean drinking water. They even prove that every penny of your donation goes to help developing countries gain access to water through photos and GPS coordinates. Click on the map to see all the projects they have completed so far. As of writing this they have funded 8,661 projects in 20 different countries, and they've only been around since 2006.

How to: Rain barrel

Rain barrels are a great way to utilize water that is otherwise running rampant across your lawn. While it can be even more effective to landscape your yard and rain gutters to naturally water your garden and lawn, doing so can be much more expensive, and usually permanent.

Rain barrels are cheap, easy to make, and much more customizable with many more uses.In addition to watering, you can generally use them in place of your hose, like washing your car, rinsing off that patio furniture, or giving the dog a bath.

You can purchase rain barrels from various places, but it's monumentally cheaper and more rewarding to build your own. Here's the best way I found to make a rain barrel from instructables.com, by stylnpzzalvr

Weekly waste war: Turn Dryer Lint into waterproof fire starter

This is the first post in what I hope to be a weekly series based on combating (that's right, ass kicking!) waste in your daily life. Even the smallest and easiest things you can do to waste less can have the biggest impact, because everyone can do it, whether you're rich, poor, a moron or a rocket scientist. And it's much more important to look at what we can do and just do it instead of looking at what we can't change or thinking we can't make a difference.

After that incredibly motivating speech, you're probably ready to live 100% sustainable and never waste an ounce of anything in your life, but let's start out small, with dryer Lint. Probably the easiest and most common thing to reuse in your house. It probably has one of the smallest impacts on landfills and such, but it's not just about the waste. It's about turning something that you normally would have no use for into something useful. Whatever it is, this offsets energy and money being spent through what you've created or partially created from reusing something that you thought was useless.

Exxon Pipeline Breaks in Arkansas

This is just a short video of a HUGE amount of oil, spilled right into the backyards of people in Mayflower, Arkansas. It's bubbling through the streets of suburbia and cascading across Mrs. Field's garden flowers.

Can we stop using the word "spilled" when it comes to oil? Spilled implies Exxon was having a tea party and got a little sloppy with the china set and "spilled" some oil. Just a little bit. 189,000 gallons of oil just "spilled" across the backyards and streets of Mayflower, Arkansas. A spill. How about, "another s***ton of oil was carelessly allowed to rupture through a pipeline by another ass backwards corporate conglomerate and once again, they're going to get away with it?" Does that fit the description? I think so.

$3 Emergency Solar Radio

Another DIY from Instructables by Joshua Zimmerman, a $3 emergency solar radio. This is one of a zillion altoid tin DIY projects that's easy to make yet functional. It's portable, cheap, and solar powered. Everything you want your emergency radio to be and more. Plus, you can buy the solar cells and other parts straight from Joshua Zimmerman's site, BrownDogGadgets.com for super cheap. 

>>$3 Emergency Solar Radio

How to: Turn a playing card into a solar charger

Here's another sweet little project from Instructables by sfrayne, a solar powered charger for AA batteries using a playing card. I'm guessing you have at least one device in your house that's draining your wallet from using batteries, so this is a perfect project that allows you to recharge and reuse those suckers and save some money. In addition to being one less thing you have to plug into your wall and jack up your electric bill, it's probably cheaper to make 5 of these solar powered chargers than the crappiest outlet charger.

>>Turn a playing card into a solar charger for AA batteries

How to: Emergency butter candle

This is a really cool, easy project that only requires a stick of butter, toilet paper, and a toothpick. Chances are you have all of these materials in your house, which also makes it the perfect emergency "how to." It doesn't require stocking up on random materials that can only be used in a real emergency situation, and it's super simple and easy to remember. Which isn't to say you shouldn't stock up on emergency supplies, but how cool is it to have an almost ready to go candle from the butter in your fridge? And if your completely out of toilet paper, you might have a more serious emergency than the power being out.

Shocking investigation from PETA: Chinese fur farms

While this video doesn't exactly fall into the category of sustainable, organic living, (or the opposite) it sure as hell ain't pretty. This appalling video exposes the horrendous acts committed by the fur trade in China, and it's absolutely sick. Although I don't believe there's anything quite this bad in the United States, this probably compares to what livestock farms and slaughter houses do to animals every day, which definitely is not sustainable, organic or just plain humane . In either case, this is animal cruelty at it's worst and if you have any moral decency in your body, you will not be buying any fur product whatsoever after watching this video.

America's First Zero Waste Zone

In February of 2009 Atlanta, more specifically it's downtown district, began the nations first Zero Waste Zone, an ambitious but amazing idea if I've ever heard one. An in-depth article from SmartPlanet explains how successful this project has been, which should be a huge motivational factor for other businesses and cities to follow suit.

One highlight from the article breaking down the project as follows:

"The goal is to eliminate every scrap of food waste. Spent grease is turning into biofuel. Excess food is now donated to shelters and soup kitchens. Used food is diverted to feedstock. And food deemed inedible is now turned to compost for new urban gardens around the city."

It almost sounds too good to be true. And if that's not enough, here's another one that explains how this is beneficial to companies:

"Atlanta food companies are managing to save thousands of dollars a month in hauling and disposal fees, all while creating new revenue streams — from selling compost and used grease to drawing in new customers who favor their social responsibility. The effort has also stimulated a micro-economy of biofuel makers, compost haulers, urban farmers and recycling outfits."

If that's not enough reason for companies and cities to begin implementing this type of thing immediately, I don't think it belongs on this Earth. It's proof that helping the environment and your community doesn't have to damage your pocketbook, and it can even give you access to some untapped revenue streams. 

Read the entire article, written by Kevin Gray here:

For business, food waste a ripe opportunity for savings

You can also check out some facts straight from the EPA on this Zero Waste Zone here:

Atlanta Launches Southeast's First Zero Waste Zone

How To: Make your own Survival Bracelet

You've probably seen these survival bracelets in your local sporting goods stores, or many other places. If you haven't, they're bracelets made from 550 para cord (or at least they should be, if they're the real deal.) If you've seen the price tag on them, and your like me, you haven't bought one yet. So here's a great way to make your own and not only are they stylish, they have a million different applications in a real life survival situation. And you could probably make a dozen yourself for the cost of one from a store. This a great tutorial from Instructables by tevers94 on how to make your very own survival bracelet, or key chain, or knife sheath, etc. with many variations.

>>How to make your own survival bracelet

2 liter soda bottle self watering plant container

This has got to be the cheapest, easiest, and coolest way to build a self watering container for plants, and start your own indoor garden. There are a million different ways to do this project, the important thing is that your re-using plastic bottles and building effective containers to grow your plants. 2 liter soda bottles, milk jugs, and large juice containers can all work for this project.

Since there are so many ways to do this project (it's pretty hard to do it wrong), I'm gonna show you the three best methods I found. Try what's best for you with the materials you have on hand.


Materials

• 2 liter soda bottle
• Scissors
• Drill or sharp object to poke holes in cap and/or bottle
• Soil
• Plant or seeds

Optional materials (depending on method)

• String of some kind (shoelace, t-shirt strips, candle wick, etc. Even polyester will work.)
• Paper towels
• Straw
• Funnel

How to build an indoor (or outdoor) compost bin

Here's an easy and cheap way to start composting your household waste and turn it into black gold. I literally didn't spend a dime on this project, I found everything lying around my house. Altogether it probably would've cost around $25.00. I'm doing this project in my basement, but this can be applied to a much smaller space, or even outdoors. Whether you live in a house, apartment, RV, dungeon, YOU can compost easily and effectively. Contrary to popular belief, composting (when done correctly) should give off little to no odor, so using the excuse that you don't want your house to smell like rotting garbage goes out the window.

Large Composting bins. Can be smaller or bigger.

I could go on and on about why everyone should compost and the benefits of it (and I probably will at some point), but for now I'll just give you the How-To.

Materials for bin:

• Container with lid
• Drill or sharp object to make holes
• Tray for excess water
• Stilts or supports (nothing fancy)
• Stirring tool (must be long and sturdy)

Basic materials for composting:

• Soil to start off, layering throughout as your compost grows.
• Dry, paper-like ingredients ( newspaper, leaves, yard trimmings, sawdust, printer paper, cardboard, wood shavings, etc. Anything chemical free is generally ok.) 
• Wet materials (These are things like your kitchen scraps, veggies, fruits, eggshells, coffee grounds, etc.)

NOTE: The list above for acceptable materials is very conservative. Almost ANYTHING can be composted. Those people who say that meat, bones and oils can not be composted are FULL OF IT. However, composting these materials can complicate matters, and require a more tentative approach. For example, composting meat can attract bugs and smells, IF you don't bury it in your compost and layer your materials effectively. For this project I'm gonna focus on keeping it simple, just know that you can compost those supposed "taboo" compost items, it just requires more work and thought.

In.gredients: Americas first Zero-waste, Zero packaging grocery store.

Man, I wish I lived in Austin, Texas right about now. They have the United States first grocery store with all completely organic, completely local, bare ingredients with no crap and better yet? Zero packaging. You bring your containers in, you fill them with what you need, you weigh it all, pay for it, and your good to go with zero waste. You can also purchase their compostable containers if you don't bring your own.

In.gredients, famous for being Americas brightest idea in a long friggin' time (oh wait, that's my opinion) opened in 2011. My only question, where the hell are the other grocery stores doing the same thing?? As far as I know In.gredients has been a great success, but I have yet to hear of any other stores following their lead. Don't get me wrong, there are some good options out there, but nowhere near as good as In.gredients. Perfectly wrapped, bright and colorful, fun and silly packaging has got to be one of the dumbest things that intelligent people all over the world let corporations get away with. Bastards.

Let's all give three cheers for In.gredients. If you wanna check out their website, click here.
If you wanna read more about them from a local Austin resident and an amazing blogger,  click here.

25 gallons of water: 10 minutes, or 40 days

That's about how much water is used on average every time you take a shower with a newer shower head installed in your home, with a limit of 2.5 gallons per minute. Twenty-five gallons of water, gone in ten minutes. At 2.5 quarts of water per day (the required amount of water to live) this would sustain a person for FORTY days. And I hate to say it, but when I manage a shower in 10 minutes, I'm feeling pretty proud. Or I'm extremely late for work. But this means that taking showers that last 30 minutes or more is an incredibly stupid and wasteful practice, and I'm sure we all have those days.

But it's not easy right? Who doesn't love a nice long, hot shower to wake you up in the morning, or to sanitize your body after a long day of work?

Think of it this way: if you had to choose between clean drinking water for the day or taking a long shower, the choice would be pretty obvious right? We might be far off from reaching that point, but the fact is our supply of clean water is not sustainable (at least at the current rates of our consumption), and at some point we will all have to make hard sacrifices if want water to live. Personally, I'd rather already be accustomed to using an appropriate amount of water instead of getting forced into using an insanely low amount, but that's just me.

Checkout this article from SmartPlanet and see how the Department of Energy Regulators are cracking down on home owners that have shower heads exceeding 2.5 gallons of water per minute. It's a start, but in no way a long term solution.

Instructables: The ultimate guide to DIY

The infamous Instructable robot

Instructables is the coolest resource for everything DIY (Do It Yourself). They have projects for everything you can think of, from creative recipes to awesome furniture to really cool tech gadgets and everything in between.

The best part about Instructables (and everything DIY)? It's usually great from a sustainable standpoint, and easy on your wallet. Want an amazing entertainment center but don't have a lot of cash? Build it yourself! Not only does it cost less, but you can make it to perfectly suit your needs instead of shopping for hours trying to find an overpriced piece of crap that isn't what you want.


And speaking from personal experience, you can make a lot of cool and useful stuff from broken junk or scrap lying around your house. Reusing materials you already have, and turning worthless garbage into something cool, is not only FREE, but great for the environment. I highly recommend you checkout their site. Oh, and you know what else is free? Instructables.com

Click here to checkout instructables