Living Green Made Simpler

Here is an article from ReDirect Guide on Living Green. By changing even one thing on this list, the collective impact is huge. It is a fun challenge to see how you can change your life in even a small way. Enjoy!



Whether you are newly interested in green living or are a sustainability guru, our green living checklist will give you ideas for contributing to a healthier environment and a greener life for yourself, your family, and your community. Once you get started, you'll be amazed at how many simple changes you can make to live a greener life.

ENERGY

Change all your light bulbs to CFLs or LEDs

Lower your thermostat and water heater a few degrees

Sign up for green power through your local power provider

Insulate your walls and ceilings



WASTE

Implement a recycling and composting program at home and work

Educate yourself, your family and your employees about recycling, composting and waste reduction

Implement a sustainable purchasing policy and practice conscientious consumerism, considering how far things travel and what they're made of before you buy

Buy products with recyclable or minimal packaging, or better yet, no packaging

Think about buying used before buying new, seeking out gently used alternatives

Think about reusing, repurposing or donating something before you recycle or throw it away




WATER

Reduce your water usage by installing low flow toilets, faucets, and showerheads




BUILDING

Use local green builders who focus on reducing waste, using non-toxic materials, and energy efficiency

Get an energy audit for your home or business

Invest in energy efficient upgrades on existing buildings to save energy




FOOD

Purchase from local and organic sources

Support area agriculture by signing up for a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) or shopping at farmers' markets




TRANSPORTATION

Walk, bike, carpool or take public transit to work whenever possible

Encourage your employer to offer alternative transportation incentives or telecommuting options, when possible

Drive a fuel efficient or hybrid car or scooter

Consolidate travel by planning outings for maximum efficiency

Purchase carbon offsets for any necessary travel outside your local area


TOXINS/POLLUTION

Switch to eco-friendly cleaning, personal and home products

Check with your local government about properly disposing of toxins and chemicals such as motor oil, conventional household cleaners, paints, batteries, etc.




SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Switch your banking and investments to socially responsible institutions

Support local credit unions or banks




COMMUNITY

Volunteer and donate to environmental and social causes

Choose to support green businesses whenever possible

Seek out the advice of environmental experts and leaders in your community

Join environmentally focused councils, groups and associations in your area

Chick-A-Doodle-Do

Somewhere in the midst of all of our downsizing and doing more with less, I decided that we needed to have chickens. How in the world having 14 chickens is having less is a question that I can't answer. It is definitely more, but in a good way. Fresh, beautiful eggs and constant two-legged, beady-eyed entertainment are some of the ways that having chickens has added more to our lives.

I knew absolutely nothing about having chickens when I started out. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Not a thing. But that didn't stop me from coming home with 10 baby chicks one day. It started out innocently enough. I had been toying with the idea of having chickens and then I had to go by the feed store to pick up some feed for our horses and low and behold it was chick season and the store was full of the sound of one-week-old baby chicks chirping away. I asked a few questions about how to start out baby chicks and learned that they needed a heated spot called a brooder where they could keep warm until their feathers grew in. I figured I could make one of these out of an old 150 gallon water tank that I had found behind one of the old barns on our property. I bought a book on raising chickens, a heat lamp, feed trough, water container, feed, and bedding, and put 10 chicks 'on hold' while I hurried home to prepare the brooder. I then zoomed back and came home with 10 peeping chicks in a tiny box seated in the passengers seat of my car. There is nothing as cute as a newborn chick!

Now that we had these delightful little creatures, I had to figure out what I was going to do with them when they outgrew their brooder. From the books I had purchased, I learned that we had about a month to get something built for them. I had decided that the perfect place for a chicken coop would be in the back corner of an old outbuilding that was on our property. It had been used as a horse barn, sheep barn, cowshed, and for grain storage from what I could tell. We could build a chicken coop in the back corner and a covered run out from that. My dad lives on our property with us and is a retired builder, so I enlisted his help in converting this space into a safe, warm space for our flock.

Here is the chicken run the gives them a completely covered space that protects them from the many hawks and owls that we have here.

Here they are checking out the new nesting boxes that we just installed. They weren't sure what to do with them quite at first, but they have it figured out now. I've since switched to using shavings in the boxes as they are much neater and the hay doesn't clog up the screen on the droppings pit below their perch. Live and learn!

And here they are shortly after they were introduced to their new chicken run. They were very pleased and so was I. Needless to say, there is not longer grass in there. They have eaten every single piece of green, so we let them out in the garden under supervision whenever possible and supplement their diet with fresh green stuff from the kitchen or pasture.

All-in-all they have been very easy to take care of and give back so much more in terms of just the sheer fun of watching them and collecting the beautiful, multi-colored eggs. By Fall, we were collecting many beautiful eggs.