Now that it’s August, those of you who are parents are thinking about the inevitable — it’s almost time for school to start.

August 4-8 is Back to School Week here at Eco Women: Protectors of the Planet. Tune in every day for information on greening your child’s lunch box, where to get affordable school supplies, and so much more!

Want to learn more about how you can shrink your carbon footprint just by having a different lunch today? Click here to learn about the PB&J Campaign.

Triclo-what?

Triclosan — an ingredient in anti-bacterial soaps, hand sanitizers, and other personal care products. It’s bad stuff. For more on the topic, check out this article at The Daily Green.

Green Mom Finds is giving away cloth produce bags!

Captain Compost thinks it is as important to be an Eco Warrior at work as it is to be at home. Perhaps even more important as you can help make a positive influence on your co~workers! Here are some easy ways to start:

* Use natural light as much as possible and leave those overhead lights turned off!

* Purchase recycled toilet paper and paper towels for bathrooms

* Turn bathroom lights off when exiting (yes, it sounds like common sense but Captain Compost is always walking into empty, well lit bathrooms!)

* Take your lunch to work and then bring back your compostables and recycleables

* If your office doesn’t participate in recycling, you can place empty, sturdy cardboard boxes around to collect office paper and other recycleables and bring them home once a week to add to your own stash

* Use both sides of paper for printing faxes or office documents

* Bring home used paper that you’d otherwise throw away and let the kids use it for coloring or art projects

* Use e~mail to correspond with clients and customers in lieu of faxes and print mail

* If possible, commute by bus or bike to work

What do you do to make your work environment greener?

Last Christmas Mr. D and Enviro-Girl gave Mr. D’s mom a healthy credit on her electric bill instead of another candle or Christmas sweater or cheesy framed picture of her grandchildren. Mr. D’s mom lives alone in an old farmhouse on a very fixed income so any way they can help gives her the freedom to golf a little in the summertime or buy an impulse item at the local supermarket. Enviro-Girl estimated that the credit with the electric company should last her MIL the entire year and next Christmas they’d repeat the deposit. She came up with her estimate based on her electric bill for her family of five living in a house about twice the size of her MIL’s. Imagine her shock when she learned recently that Mr. D’s mom would run out of electric company credit in September!

Enviro-Girl suggested that she get an energy evaluation — most utility companies will send someone out to audit a household or business at no cost. While in college, Enviro-Girl and her roommates did this and got loads of free stuff to winterize their slum — plastic for wrapping windows, caulk and tape to keep the drafts sealed. Mr. D’s mom had never heard of such a thing, which does not speak well of the electric company in Iowa. In Wisconsin, WE heavily promotes this service. By reducing customer use, utility companies keep their customers’ bills down and have an easier time meeting energy demands.

This past week on NPR, various state programs have been featured, including one in Vermont and another in Maryland. Oregon’s program will help customers save up to 30% on their bill. This link will help you calculate your household’s energy use and suggest ways to reduce it.

Assessing energy use and suggesting ways to reduce it is best handled at a state or local level — in Wisconsin we spend more keeping warm than folks in Florida — and they spend more keeping cool. Obviously some fixes like improved lightbulbs or Energy Star rated appliances will help lower your utility bill regardless of where you live. Nevertheless, both customers and utility companies win when less energy is used — call your utility company and schedule an evaluation TODAY!

In Shorewood, Wisconsin, that is.  The six member Sustainability subcommittee of the Shorewood Conservation Committee appointed by the Shorewood Village Board dropped a reusable shopping bag on the stoops of over 7,000 houses and apartments within the village limits (1 square mile for those of you interested).

Local businesses contributed toward the bag project–each bag cost 81 cents–a manager of a local grocery store estimates that the store uses almost 2 pallets of plastic bags a week.  Store owners should see a savings through the program.  Shorewood citizens look forward to seeing roadside shrubs and trees plastic-bag free this fall as they admire the brilliant foliage along Lake Michigan.

Shorewood’s program is an excellent example of how to bring sustainable change directly to people’s doorsteps.  New York City is working on something similar.
Readers–are any of your communities or local stores giving away reusable shopping bags?

My grocery store is selling a very nice bag at 99 cents and offers a 5 cent rebate for each time it’s used.  After 20 trips to the store, my bag is paid for.

Wondering what to do with that ratty old blanket, pillow, quilt, or comforter? Animal shelters and humane societies often use old bedding. Give your local shelter or humane society a call before tossing your old bedding in the trash.

One complaint Recycla hears regularly is that it is expensive to go green. Au contraire! Going green can actually save you money while also saving Earth. Check out this list:

1. Turn down your water heater — Lowering the temperature from 140 to 120 degrees will save you 6-10% on your water heater costs.
2. Unplug unused chargers — Even when they’re not in use, plugged-in cell phone, laptop, and other chargers continue to use electricity. This can account for as much as 8% of your electric bill.
3. Install fluorescent light bulbs — Yes, you’re probably tired of hearing this one, but that doesn’t matter because you can impact your electric bill immediately with such a simple step. CFL’s use a third of the energy of regular light bulbs and last ten times longer. And there are a variety of bulbs available that can give you different types of light without the harsh glare normally associated with fluorescent lighting.
4. Install low-floor fixtures — All of the sinks and showers in Recycla’s house have low-flow fixtures. They aren’t expensive and are easy install (or so Mr. Recycla has said). Best of all, you can lower your water consumption by a whopping 50-70%.
5. Upgrade to Energy Star appliances — If you’re in the market for a new fridge, stove, or other large appliance, buy one that is labeled with the Energy Star tag, which means that the appliance in question is 10-50% more efficient than standard models (depending on the class of product). And
6. Landscape your yard with low-water greenery — Plant drought-tolerant grasses, shrubs, flowers, and tress that won’t require much watering (if any).
7. Get smart about heating and cooling — Most households spend 50-70% of their energy budgets on heating and cooling, but there are ways to reduce this number. Just by installing a programmable thermostat will save you approximately $150 every year. During the warm months, set it for 78 degrees and reduce your cooling load by 10-20%. When you’re away, bump it up to 85 degrees for additional savings. During the cold months, for every degree you lower the thermostat, you’ll save 1-3% on your heating bill.

Tips courtesy of The Daily Green.

The rain barrel, that is!  To efficiently use water, a rain barrel can siphon water from drain pipes or sump pumps and save it for when you need it.  Enviro-Girl is getting this one for her garden.  The attached hose makes it easy to use and the dark green color makes it unobtrusive enough for the most fastidious gardener.  Sure, the price tag may seem a bit hefty, but if you live in an area with watering restrictions or you pay for city water, it’s a nominal price for the freedom to water your flowers and vegetables!  Plus, rain water and sump pump water is better for plants, giving your garden the best advantage possible.

Rain barrels require nominal maintenance, cleaning off the screen when it gets clogged with debris and scrubbing them out at the end of the season.  They’ve been used since ancient times in various ways to help irrigate crops–an old idea that is too good to leave on the shelf!

On second thought, Enviro-Girl might buy 2 of these 40-gallon barrels instead and position them strategically at both ends of her vegetable garden.  She can tote a watering can to the spigot when her flowers need a drink!

These barrels are from Gardeners Supply Company, but Fleet Farm and other garden supply companies also sell them.