Off the Urban Grid

Pesticide Free Ways to Deal with Bloodsuckers

Bloodsuckers — the mosquitoes, ticks and fleas that lurk right in the backyard. You’re probably familiar with them, and you might have even had to deal with infestations. These insects can carry a variety of diseases, but the most common we have dealt with are the West Nile Virus and Lyme disease. According to the Center for Disease Control in 2001, out of the 2,470 human cases of West Nile, there were 88 individuals who died. Although more people die from the flu every year, it’s still important to protect yourself and family from these bloodsuckers, but it doesn’t mean you have to resort to harmful pesticides.

Keeping Away Mosquitoes

For mosquitoes, it’s best to control the environment around you by eradicating breeding areas. Any sitting water is ideal for mosquito’s larvae, so you should empty pet water dishes, plant saucers, birdbaths, etc. If you have rain barrels, you definitely want to put a cover or screen over them, and it’s important to clear your roof gutters to stop mosquitoes from laying eggs there.

Instead of investing in an electronic bug zapper DEET or sound wave repellants, try plant-based insect repellents and catnip.

Warding Off Ticks & Fleas

One preventative measure you can take is to keep your landscaping kept up. If you have dogs or cats, they can easily become hosts for fleas and ticks that hang out in high grass.

In the case that you do have to pull a tick from your animal or family member, always remember to pull it straight out with a pair of blunt tweezers, because embedded body parts or innards of the insect can cause infection. Plus, you can always take it as specimen to your doctor or veterinarian and find out whether it was carrying Lyme disease.

For fleas, essential oils and herbs such as lavender, rosemary, yarrow and bay work well as repellants. You can spray essential oil mixtures on your soft fabrics or stuff your pet’s bed with the herbs. Another trick for pets is to add brewer’s yeast to your dog or cat’s food or even easier is adding apple cider vinegar to your pet’s water dish.

These pesky insects are challenging to keep out of your home when you have indoor/outdoor pets, but by keeping at it and protecting yourself while outdoors, you will have less personal counters with these bloodsuckers.

Tags: dealing with bloodsuckers, pest control, pesticide free home

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Green Ways to Deal with Water Runoff

Rainwater runoff can cause a couple issues: contamination and flooding. When the water is unable to percolate slowly into the earth, it doesn’t have a chance to be absorbed or to be filtered naturally. When have you impermeable surfaces around your home such as a paved driveway, you increase runoff into the street or sidewalk. However, there are green solutions to more effectively deal with rainwater.

Build a Rain Garden

Rain gardens are similar to wetlands. Basically, they are a shallow depression in the earth that collects rainwater from your roof, lawn or driveway. By redirecting your drain pipes to the rain garden, you can create a beautiful garden with native flowering plants and shrubs that tolerate damp climates. You might want to try cranberries, bog rosemary, wild rice or papyrus.

Once your rain garden is established, you will also be supporting local wildlife such as birds, insects and other wildlife. In addition, the earth will have a chance to slowly absorb the rainwater.

Choose Permeable Pavements

A cement driveway only adds to the problem of rainwater collecting in the street or sidewalk. But driveways, walkways and patios made from permeable materials such as gravel, wood chips, bricks and paving stones reduce runoff. With these materials, you can create green parking areas and outdoor spaces for enjoyment.

Along with allowing rainwater to percolate down into the soil, these permeable options also reduce the heat that builds up from the sun and increase the air’s oxygen.

Adding a rain garden or permeable pavement to your residence will reduce runoff and improve water quality in nearby bodies of water since the storm water has a chance to filter through the underground stone and soil. You can prevent water contamination by taking another step and avoiding pesticides, herbicides and other toxic products on the ground.

Tags: building a rain garden, permeable pavement, water runoff solutions

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Rest in a Nontoxic Bedroom

There are many health dangers lurking in your house, which makes sense since our homes are closed up for the most part. Dust and bacteria gets caught up in our soft fabrics such as carpets, drapes, rugs and pillows, and these particulates can wreak havoc on our lungs and allergies. The most serene room might be the bedroom, but it also can be a breeding ground for toxins.

Before you sleep another night in your bed, you need to assess the room and accessories in a step-by-step fashion.

Clean Air

Sure, your air conditioner or heater blows into the bedroom, but it really just cycles the air throughout the house. By opening the windows at least once a week, you improve the air quality and reduce toxic vapors. As long as the weather permits, you can add freshness to your space in a few minutes. You can also say goodbye to stale air with an air purifier, which is an option if your room lacks windows.

Dust Reduction

Dusting your house every day is an admirable effort, but unfortunately, the dust will always win. Without a doubt, those fine particulates are going to find their way back onto your table and bed. If you have pets, the battle will be even rougher. However, using feather- or down-filled pillows and comforters as well as tightly woven cotton covers can help reduce the dust.

Eliminate Fumes

Some fabrics and wooden furniture have finishing resins, which emit formaldehyde fumes. By purchasing cotton flannel and knit cotton sheets and other products, you won’t have to worry about this issue. For the mattress, it’s best to have one filled with cotton, wool or 100 percent latex foam. These beds are nontoxic and aren’t treated with the usual flame retardants.

Once you have reduce the toxins, dust and fumes in your bedroom, it’s times to revamp the children’s beds and guest room.

Tags: American-made mattresses, clean air, cotton bed sheets, nontoxic bedroom

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Bathroom Tip: Make Use of What You Have

How many cakes of soap, bottles of perfume or cologne, bath fizzes and containers of lotion do you own? Until you organize them and arrange like items together, you probably have no idea what luxurious fragrances and body cleansers are waiting to be used in the cabinet. Consumerism is what drives our society, and families often buy more of the products they already have or they buy in bulk. In both cases, you can end up with too much.

Toiletries can add up quickly without you realizing, and if you like to switch and use different products, you probably have a bunch of half empty jars and bottles. The unfortunate thing is that these items do have an expiration date, so it’s in your best interest to finish using these products before purchasing more. If you don’t care for a product, give it to a family member or friend who doesn’t mind receiving a half used container of lotion.

Making due with the lotions, soaps and perfumes already on your bathroom cart can save you money too. By going to the store blind, you’re probably going to buy items you don’t need or multiples of the same items.

So how can you efficiently make use of what you have? Well, it definitely helps to organize your products. Arrange all of the lotions and perfumes or colognes on a bathroom cart or put them in baskets under the sink. Not only will this display the products nicely, but it will give you easy access to items you need to focus on using. It’s also a great idea to stock your guest bathroom with some of your excess toiletries, because guests will enjoy using your luxurious hand lotions and body soaps.

Although bathroom toiletries do add up quickly, you can apply this “using what you have” to everything in your household (e.g. clothing, food, laundry supplies, etc.). Making due with what you have reduces your waste and those unnecessary shopping trips.

Tags: consumerism, reduce your shopping, sustainable consumerism

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Back to School: Permitting Your Kids to Walk

Should you let your child walk to school or not? For some parents, this is a hot debate, especially depending on the age of their child as well as the neighborhood environment. If your child is mature enough and aware of strangers and other dangers, allowing him/her to walk to school might encourage the entire neighborhood to walk, which would help decrease harmful emissions.

Taking the bus might be the only option, especially if you live several miles away from the school. In this case, taking the bus is definitely a better choice than driving your son or daughter to school in your car. However, the more sustainable and healthy choice is to have your child rely on his/her legs and feet as long as your home is within walking distance.

Here are some tips to make the transition to walking:

• Before school starts, walk the distance with your child to ensure that they can handle it. This will also give you a chance to assess any dangers.

• Discuss strangers and street dangers with your child, regardless of how old they are. This just helps reinforce the knowledge.

• Develop a buddy system with neighbors. Try to have all of the kids on the block meet up at the same time so they can walk together. This will give all of the parents peace of mind, and the kids will have strength in numbers.

• Provide your child with an emergency only cell phone. This way they can always contact you if they would need a ride for some reason.

• Find out if there is a crosswalk volunteer near the major intersections your child will be crossing.

Allowing your child to walk to school is a lot easier when you live down the street from the school, especially if you can watch them. But when you live further away, it can be a difficult decision that the family as a whole should make, but just keep in mind that there are always ways to make the journey safer.

Tags: eco-friendly transportation, walking to school

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A Place for Everything and Everything in Its Place

How many hours do you think you spend looking for misplaced items? Even when age is on your side, according to the American Demographics Society, Americans waste a whopping 9 million hours per day (collectively) searching for misplaced belongings!

There are a dozen other ways to spend that chunk of time, but unless you have a household indexing system, you’re never going to get that time back.

A household indexing system might seem like another drain on your time here on earth. However, it can save you in the long run, because if you can’t find your possessions, you might as well not own them, right? In honor of the back to school theme that August seems to invoke, it’s time to clear the clutter and retrieve items that you forgot you owned.

Here are some tips for setting up a functional household indexing system:

• Gather supplies to create an alphabetized Rolodex (dividers, blank cards, marker, etc.). Or those computer savvy individuals out there can create a database via Microsoft Excel.

• Develop a labeling system. You might want to use numbers and letters for your drawers and cabinets (e.g. 1/A, 1B).

• Label your cabinets and drawers appropriately with tab or a label maker. If you want the labels out of sight, paste the tags inside the drawers.

• Clear out one storage area at a time so you can clean and reassess the things you own. Figure out what you want to keep, sell or give away. Then you can determine a method to your storage madness.

• Then create a Rolodex card for each item, which provides the items name and location.

• Continue this process until every drawer, closet, nook and cranny are accounted for.

This might seem like a large scale, tedious task, but the next time you’re looking for the seed sprouter, you, your kid or even house sitter will be able to find it within seconds. Along with convenience, an indexing system will prevent you from buying new and replacing items too.

Tags: household index file, household organization

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Seeking Green Refuge in a High Tech World

We live in such a technological world. Televisions, cell phones and computers make us more aware of what is going on outside of our own lives, and in a sense these devices enable us to be more conscious individuals…or do they? Although multimedia formats offline and online as well as texting has given people an opportunity to connect in an on-the-go manner, it often makes us more closed off to the world as a whole.

So here’s a challenge…

For one day, could you refrain from using your cell phone, television and computer? It’s definitely a challenge that some may reject immediately, because for some technology has become a necessity and even an addiction, especially for teenagers. However, think of the benefits and the opportunities that would open up if you didn’t rely on these devices as much.

Limiting your cell phone, television and computer time will make more time for activities that you would like to do and tasks you need to accomplish. Summer is nearing an end — what fun outdoor activity did you do this season?

Another plus is that you would reduce your energy consumption and even your monthly bills. For example, cable television is a good chunk of money, but if you choose to do away with it and catch up on local, national and international news via the Internet, you will save time and cash. Just think of all those moments you spend in front of your television — you could be taking a walk outside or playing a game with your kids.

Letting go of your technological devices for one day or a few hours can bring peace back into your life, and it will encourage you to get outside and do more.

Tags: green refuge, high tech world, technological world

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Fear Power Outages? Invest in Solar Energy

A power outage can hit your home, neighborhood and town any second. You could experience a loss of electricity for a few minutes, a few hours or even a few days depending on what caused the issue. Between human error and overloaded transformers, the odds of power loss increases, and when it happens, you lose out on so much (microwave, refrigerator/freezer, possibly water, air conditioning, heat, etc.). Unless you’re already acquiring energy off of the grid, solar panel investments should be a future goal.

One downside about solar panels is the cost. Installation can be a $20,00 to $30,000 expense, and even with tax credits, you’re looking at a hefty investment. If solar energy equipment and installation were not so pricey, more homeowners and businesses would be reaping the energy efficiency. But how about purchasing a DIY solar panel system for $800?

Clarian and Sunfish are two companies who may be working together to bring solar energy to all through a simple plug ‘n play installation. Sunfish’s solar panel kit includes the panels, mounting system and circuit monitor, and Clarian hopes to capitalize on the idea and retail it for under a grand. Although this system can’t supply energy to your entire home, it at least can provide power to the refrigerator. This partnership is still in progress, and Clarian is in the market for UL certification for Sunfish.

It’s DIY solar panel kits such as this that will enable homeowners of varying economic status save money on utilities and be less affected by power outages.

Tags: electricity usage, installing solar panels, power outage, solar panel investment

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Sustainable Back to School Tips

By the end of August or beginning of September, you will be back in the school swing, which means that you have limited time to get you and your child’s act together. Not only do you have to start retiring to bed earlier, you also have to gather school supplies. Although your child might have certain brands or types of pens, pencils, notebooks, etc. in mind, you can find more sustainable and wallet friendly alternatives.

The Backpack

Reusing the backpack from last year is a money saver. However, if your child can’t continue the following year with the same bag because it’s destroyed or too juvenile, there are solutions other than buying new. First, search your house for alternative bags. Even a messenger bag will do. Then you can ask neighbors or friends for backpacks they no longer need.

Notebooks & Paper

There are various brands of notebooks made from recycled materials such as Sustainable Earth and Sasquatch. Check flyers for sales and discounts so you can buy these items in bulk and have some for next year too. Sometimes buying them closer to the school year ensures you’ll get them for a better price, but there is no guarantee that any will be leftover.

Pens & Pencils

For pens and pencils, look for biodegradable and reusable products. Encourage your child to reuse the pen by purchasing at least one ink refill. Often these items are best bought in bulk at a cheaper price.

Along with writing utensils, your child will probably also need crayons, markers and colored pencils. Buying new sets every year is a waste, so make sure the packs from previous years are all used up first.

Clothing

Many children get excited to go back to school, because it means they get to go shopping for supplies and clothing. Hand-me-down clothes are always great when you have several children or family members close in age, but another option is shopping at a consignment store like Plato’s Closet or another local one. Your child will be surprised to find so many brand name clothing designers at such low prices.

Tags: back to school, eco-friendly school supplies, green school supplies

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Fast Food Dining: Healthy, Plant-based Options Do Exist

Planning savory and balanced meals takes time and effort, which are two things that are sometimes hard to come by. When you’re desperate for tasty, plant-based foods, convenient peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are not your only option. There are some incredibly passionate and dedicated restaurants out there, especially in California, that can meet your fast food needs in a healthier way.

The Veggie Grill

According to the OC Register, The Veggie Grill was voted the number one restaurants in Orange County. It specializes in savory plant-based meals, and it has four locations in the Los Angeles and Orange counties. For starters, you can try to Sweetheart Fries (sweet potato fries) or the Steamin’ Kale. Then you can enjoy their unique sandwiches like the Santa Fe Crispy Chickin’ and All-American Stack—free of animal products, of course.

Nature’s Express

This restaurant also has heart healthy and zero cholesterol meals. It has locations in Yuma, Arizona and Berkeley, California. You can still devour the burger and fries that you long for, except with a spin. For example, the Avocado Sandwich is packed with phytonutrients and healthy fats.

Rawsheed’s

Chef Rawsheed Patton focuses on raw, organic and vegan whole foods. From his location in Sherman Oaks, California, he has a variety of events going on including raw food classes and Latin lover’s dinners.

Just because a restaurant is labeled has healthy doesn’t mean that it has dry, granola tasting foods. Before you stick your nose up, you definitely have to try the food out for yourself at these places, but you will come to find that the food is not only convenient and healthy, it’s also packed full of fresh, flavorful taste.

Tags: healthy fast food, vegan fast food, vegan food

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