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Karen
Member
09-07-2004
| Friday, September 14, 2007 - 9:29 am
I know there's an "Environmental Issues" thread over in the *eek* News & Views area, but I don't want debate and politicking. I just wanted a thread where we can discuss the little things we can do to help clean up our planet. I'm no tree-hugging eco-warrior, but I'm trying to be conscious of the little things I can do to reduce my footprint. I live in an apartment in a very urban centre. I don't have a backyard, or a balcony for that matter. But I've been hearing lots about 'worm composting', which seems to be clean and easy to be done in a 700-sq. ft. place, and I'd like to try it. Does anyone have any experience with this?
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Serate
Member
08-21-2001
| Friday, September 14, 2007 - 9:46 am
I don't water my lawn [3 times a week when it rains, 7 days a week when it does't] much to the disdain of the neighbors across the street.
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Jagger
Member
08-07-2002
| Friday, September 14, 2007 - 9:52 am
Karen I have never tried worm composting, but I use to raise worms in the winter time in our basement for the local fishermen around town, we use to put a lot of table scraps in it and they seemed to disappear. From what I have heard though the worm composting can be fairly clean, but it does have an odor, not sure if a 700 sq ft place would be large enough to not smell it.
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Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Friday, September 14, 2007 - 11:33 am
Don't know anything about worms, but one thing I have been trying to be very conscious of is to run the water on low when washing my hands and turn it off while I am soaping up. It is not much, but I feel better about not wasting water. I normally turn the water on full blast but it really isn't necessary, so I am stopping that behaviour.
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Karen
Member
09-07-2004
| Friday, September 14, 2007 - 11:40 am
Thanks for the info, Jagger. There's been a lot on the local news here lately about worm composting, because Vancouver is so densely populated, they said it was a good option for us apartment dwellers. From what I've read, the composters are supposed to have a loose lid, and if there's any odor, I'm doing it wrong. I'll have to do more research. Dipo, water's a hard one for me, too. I wash my hands forty times a day it seems. And showers! Oh my, I know I don't need longer than five minutes to wash my hair and brush my teeth, but heavens, I love the hot, hot shower. So bad. I'm trying to cut back. BTW, brushing your teeth in the shower is a good way to eliminate excess water waste. And if you're in a home where it's possible to do (ie: here, it's just DH and me, so it's ok), you can employ an "If it's yellow, let it mellow" approach to toilet flushing, LOL.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Friday, September 14, 2007 - 12:06 pm
I take fewer showers (skip days when I haven't worked up a sweat or gotten dirty) but I do use the hot water as a way to loosen up tense muscles and I figure that is still cheaper than massages. I know my water usage is very low.. I don't do that many loads of wash, don't have a dishwasher. I also am very aware of not running water too long. I use liquid soap so I do the soaping first and then nudge on the water to rinse off. I never hose down my patio, but do water my plants, but not all that often. However I live in a complex with large exanses of grass and that is watered but they do use timers and maintain the system so for the most part there isn't massive runoff. Oh and I certainly do not run the water while I'm brushing my teeth! That always makes me crazy watching BB feeds. I try not to flush at times too And I've got some canvas bags now and try to remember to bring them INTO the grocery and not bring home more plastic bags. I learned about 13 years ago when I spent a summer digging out a huge root system for some giant trees in my yard at the last place I lived and the dig brought out a huge variety of items.. wood, metal, rock, concrete, plastic, paper.. that grocery bags and newspapers underground really hadn't degraded any more than plastic. Only the wood and iron had progressed, thanks to termites or dry rot and rust. I had read that in the past but this was a very clear illustration. I've read that the plastic bags that are made to degrade only do that if they are in sunlight or light but of course the vast majority of trash is buried in landfills. Karen I hadn't heard about worm composting for years but I've always thought it sounded interesting. I'm not sure I have enough organic waste to feed the worms, but people who actually cook and have peelings and such, seems like a great idea.
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Lumbele
Member
07-12-2002
| Friday, September 14, 2007 - 5:09 pm
Karen, as long as you only compost strictly organic material it will not stink,(i.e. no prepared veggies or leftover salad etc.) Don't add citrus peels either (can't remember why though), but coffee grounds are apparently quite helpful.
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