Christmas--It's right up there with the Fourth of July in how green the holiday actually is. To help bring this point across, here is a little video about just Santa, and how green he really is. (I recommend watching it twice!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZGyEoqqEQQ
So, with this in mind....how exactly can we green our holiday season this year? Let's start with the presents...have you ever considered saving the wrapping paper, or the bow? try folding the paper in a way that makes it unnecessary to use tape, that way, the paper can be used for a couple more years! Or, if that is not feasible for your household, just make sure you recycle it!
Another way to be green is in the actual presents themselves. Is that toy you are buying for little Jimmy made locally, or in Malaysia, or China, or Taiwan? Try to find gifts that support local artists, crafters, and cooks; nothing says Merry Christmas like some handmade paper or jars of spiced peach preserves!
Also, it has been researched and the dilemma of Fake Tree vs. Real Tree has finally been resolved. The best solution is an organically grown, local tree. Fake trees have toxins in the PVC and other plastics that can fall down onto presents and cause problems, especially among the asthmatic community. And remember, take that tree to be mulched locally so that the carbon and other elements in the tree can be recycled back into the environment, not just thrown away in a landfill.
My last tip for tonight is to try and force yourself to have a local, organic Christmas dinner this year. Consider the turkey: Is it Free range or did it grow up within fractions of an inch of other turkeys? Try to buy products from within the USA; during the winter this is generally harder, but you can still find US cranberries, potatoes, and green beans most likely...you just have to put forth an effort to find them. If cost is an issue, do you really have to buy that $1.00 soda out of the vending machine, or could that dollar go towards supporting local organic growers? Happy Holidays!
Monday, November 30, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
The 5lb Chunk of Halite and Four Plates of Turkey
Well the weather up here in Boone has been pretty miserable lately, so detecting has been out of the question. However, we did have a couple of nice days, one of them being the last home game of the season. We played Western Carolina and beat them (Did I really just have to say we beat them? We have now for the past 8 years!) 19-14, and that stadium was full!
Earlier that day I went down King Street looking in shops for P-R-E-S-E-N-T-S...and I stumbled into The Looking Glass. This is a neat little shop with rocks from everywhere, and so I paroosed the shelves, marveling at all of the neat crystals, fossils, and minerals. One that especially caught my eye was what I believed to be Rose Quartz, with a lightbulb inside. As it turned out, it was Halite, or salt, and as the light heated it up, it purified the air! So, trying to rid my room of any VOCs, I decided to buy it. It was a very reasonable $18, so I didn't mind. It has a beautiful orange glow to it, and makes the room look really neat at night. Here is an okay shot of it, I will try to get another up of when it isn't lit up so that you can see more detail.
Then, Sunday, I participated in a sustainable and not so sustainable activity. We were green by carpooling to this event. It was a turkey dinner at a friend of mine's church. The deal was to bake something, and bring it to share, so basically the function was a massive pot luck Thanksgiving! Yum! While there I ate three plates of every part of a Thanksgiving meal you can imagine, and stuffed to the brim, came back to Frank. I don't consider this event sustainable because of eating lots of meat high up on the energy pyramid, but they were recycling, on a better note. Maybe for Christmas I can get my family to have a sustainable meal by buying all food locally, and supporting free range turkeys. (Happy Meat) So, after our massive dinner at the church, we came back to our turkey.
Now, you may be wondering why our turkey didn't make it to the function, and here's the tale: We went out and got a turkey earlier in the week and put it in the freezer downstairs. Then, a few days later, we checked and the turkey was gone! Who manages to steal a 13 lb turkey, in the middle of a college dorm?? So, we went back and got another turkey, and tried to defrost it in time to take it to the church. However, this was not feasible, so we cooked this turkey, and had our 2nd Thanksgiving at 11:00. Needless to say, I was completely stuffed...but waking up this morning I was ravenous! :^D Well, that's pretty much it from the land of rain and snow! Happy Thanksgiving!
Earlier that day I went down King Street looking in shops for P-R-E-S-E-N-T-S...and I stumbled into The Looking Glass. This is a neat little shop with rocks from everywhere, and so I paroosed the shelves, marveling at all of the neat crystals, fossils, and minerals. One that especially caught my eye was what I believed to be Rose Quartz, with a lightbulb inside. As it turned out, it was Halite, or salt, and as the light heated it up, it purified the air! So, trying to rid my room of any VOCs, I decided to buy it. It was a very reasonable $18, so I didn't mind. It has a beautiful orange glow to it, and makes the room look really neat at night. Here is an okay shot of it, I will try to get another up of when it isn't lit up so that you can see more detail.
Then, Sunday, I participated in a sustainable and not so sustainable activity. We were green by carpooling to this event. It was a turkey dinner at a friend of mine's church. The deal was to bake something, and bring it to share, so basically the function was a massive pot luck Thanksgiving! Yum! While there I ate three plates of every part of a Thanksgiving meal you can imagine, and stuffed to the brim, came back to Frank. I don't consider this event sustainable because of eating lots of meat high up on the energy pyramid, but they were recycling, on a better note. Maybe for Christmas I can get my family to have a sustainable meal by buying all food locally, and supporting free range turkeys. (Happy Meat) So, after our massive dinner at the church, we came back to our turkey.
Now, you may be wondering why our turkey didn't make it to the function, and here's the tale: We went out and got a turkey earlier in the week and put it in the freezer downstairs. Then, a few days later, we checked and the turkey was gone! Who manages to steal a 13 lb turkey, in the middle of a college dorm?? So, we went back and got another turkey, and tried to defrost it in time to take it to the church. However, this was not feasible, so we cooked this turkey, and had our 2nd Thanksgiving at 11:00. Needless to say, I was completely stuffed...but waking up this morning I was ravenous! :^D Well, that's pretty much it from the land of rain and snow! Happy Thanksgiving!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
How To Make Your Own Metal Detector/Stud Finder
I thought this was a neat thing I saw on another metal detectorist's blog: How to Make a Metal Detector Out of A Calculator and a Radio!
http://www.howcast.com/videos/25387-How-To-Make-a-Metal-Detector
As a side note, I just thoguht of how green this is! While not all entirely practical, this is a great way to demonstrate reuse of items and their creation into other functioning goods. Especially for Elementary School kids, this would be a very neat project. Not only will you be recycling and reusing, but once you go try it out, you'll be removing debris from the ground! Enjoy!
http://www.howcast.com/videos/25387-How-To-Make-a-Metal-Detector
As a side note, I just thoguht of how green this is! While not all entirely practical, this is a great way to demonstrate reuse of items and their creation into other functioning goods. Especially for Elementary School kids, this would be a very neat project. Not only will you be recycling and reusing, but once you go try it out, you'll be removing debris from the ground! Enjoy!
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Pulaski's, Roots, and an Encore!
Well this weekend I joined five other members of the Living Green Community to go out and re-route a leg of the Appalachian Trail. We went out at 8, armed with Pulaski's, Shovels, Fireman's Rakes, Hoes, Loppers, and determination; arriving at the site, the directors told us that the old leg of the trail was too s
teep and dangerous anymore for backpackers, so we were going to make another way around the mountain, following the contour of the topography a little more. At first, the going was slow and tough, but soon things picked up and by 12 we were all ready for a break! The side I was on was right in the middle of a Rhododendron Hell, and plenty of jokes were made...(This stuff guards the gates down there....and since everything is engulfed in flames, guess what the fumes are, toxic!) :^D The roots were a pain to dig through, but we just had to keep reminding ourselves that there were no rocks! 
teep and dangerous anymore for backpackers, so we were going to make another way around the mountain, following the contour of the topography a little more. At first, the going was slow and tough, but soon things picked up and by 12 we were all ready for a break! The side I was on was right in the middle of a Rhododendron Hell, and plenty of jokes were made...(This stuff guards the gates down there....and since everything is engulfed in flames, guess what the fumes are, toxic!) :^D The roots were a pain to dig through, but we just had to keep reminding ourselves that there were no rocks! 
By 3, our side had completed 100 something feet of the trail, with the other side completing 200+ fe
et, (They were on the flat side). All totaled we had 380ft of new AT! This part of the AT was very beautiful, following Watauga Lake for a little bit. I'm definitely considering going back, there are a couple of old homesteads in the woods, as well as campsites and shelters for a good backpacking trip!
et, (They were on the flat side). All totaled we had 380ft of new AT! This part of the AT was very beautiful, following Watauga Lake for a little bit. I'm definitely considering going back, there are a couple of old homesteads in the woods, as well as campsites and shelters for a good backpacking trip!Then, today, (A little tired) I set out in search of some arrowheads that a friend told me about. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find any; I really wish I lived out in Missouri or the Southwest! So I then ventured over to another lake that had a swimming area and sandy beach. In less than 2 hours, I pulled 104 coins for a total of $3.21. I consider this my encore for last week. Do I see another, next week......? We'll find out!
Monday, November 9, 2009
Latest Metal Detecting Trip tied in with Green Activity
Well, yesterday afternoon, I decided to take off for a little bit to go hunt a new park I've found that is HUGE! I mean, this place is everything from a greenway, to a sports complex, to a tot lot extravaganza! This place is literally teeming with people losing money/jewelry. So, I pulled out my 5.3" coil, thinking there would be quite a lot of trashy signals amongst the goodies, but I was pleasantly surprised. I actually ended up switching back to the stock coil to cover more ground.
So, my total take was $5.05, my new highest amount of money collected in one hunt, about 3 hours. My area is not very populated, so this is good for me! Then, contributing to this total, was my other first--a dollar coin! A 2000 D Sacajawea Dollar coin coming in at a solid +86 VDI on the trusty M6.
So, my total take was $5.05, my new highest amount of money collected in one hunt, about 3 hours. My area is not very populated, so this is good for me! Then, contributing to this total, was my other first--a dollar coin! A 2000 D Sacajawea Dollar coin coming in at a solid +86 VDI on the trusty M6.
Then, as I headed out of the park, I wanted one more good target, and Gollum nearly tackled me as I removed this from the ground:
You see, this was the one that was thrown into the volcano, but actually survived the magma, and ended up in my park! :^D
Well, determined to break my new record of $5.05 from Friday, I headed out this morning at 7:30 to the same park and hunted for two hours, getting just over $2.00. This is where I found the watch, button, and Civil War musket ball?...this is a pretty historic area, but seeing as the park itself is modern, I was pretty surprised to pull it out of the ground at only two inches! So, after taking a lunch break at Subway, I headed off to a nearby town that was established in 1889 and found their City Park, right smack in the middle of everything. (Definition of Everything: In 2008, The town's population was 1490) Since this park was amidst all the action, all the action enjoyed watching me and whispering...for those that were courageous enough to come up to talk to me, (I bite) I gladly showed them my finds and explained just what exactly a METAL Detector finds. There was the occasional nutjob, but for the most part, these folks were wonderful people. Anyway, blah, blah, blah, longer story somewhat shorter, I found 100 coins (My first 100 coin day!!) totaling $6.27! Thanks for looking!
So, my green tact on all of this was that I removed quite a bit of trash from the ground. I don't know what happens to the surrounding soil in an environment where there is quite a bit of metallic trash, but it can't be good!
The main, long term green activity I wanted to point out was my step towards saving cups at the local coffee shop, BeansTalk. In an effort to cut down on their "To Go" cups of coffee, this shop is encouraging customers to either use one of their regular mugs, or bring their own. So, washing out one of mine, I went over last night and gathered 'round the laptop with a nice mug of Colombian coffee for .40 cents less than what everyone else would have to pay. Winter here I come, I'm set!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Playing "Catch" with My Dear Friend "Up"
Please excuse my leave of absence, I was walking along one day and all of a sudden the Pig hit me. I came down with a nasty case of H1N1, and then it transitioned into Lower Left Lung Pneumonia. Needless to say, this left me out of action for a week, running my temperature up to 103 while I lay pitifully on the couch. However, before I knew that I had H1N1, I had an Eagle Ceremony to pull off; so, putting my best face forward, I went through the ceremony while trying to stand up. This was a great hit and everyone enjoyed it very much. Even though I attained my rank back in August, this was the final piece of the puzzle that had to be snapped in for it to fully register to me that I was indeed an Eagle Scout.
Green activities I inadvertently participated in during my ailment included saving water, electricity, and overall energy in general. I took a shower every other night, saving water, I wore only a couple pairs of clothes the entire time, and I didn't turn on very many lights as I was situated right next to a southeast window, I had plenty of it provided for me. Also, during my better days down in Asheville, I went to Earth Fare where I got a pair of Canvas Bags to take to the stores whenever I stock up on fruit and snacks.
Another way I displayed my "greenness" (Other than in my face) was through the purchase of a used coil for my metal detector. Rather than buying a brand new one for $119.99, I found a member on the Friendly Metal Detecting Forum that had one he was willing to sell for just shipping! Today I went and tried the coil out and it performs great! This small 5.3" Coil is great for trashy areas, and numerous times I was able to cherry pick a penny or dime from right beside a piece of trash, whereas on the 10" Stock Coil, the good target would most likely have been masked. All in all, I got .86 cents today, not bad for the combinations of coins that I found. So, other than making up all this work for my professors, my life has been getting better since last week! :^D Happy Hunting!
Green activities I inadvertently participated in during my ailment included saving water, electricity, and overall energy in general. I took a shower every other night, saving water, I wore only a couple pairs of clothes the entire time, and I didn't turn on very many lights as I was situated right next to a southeast window, I had plenty of it provided for me. Also, during my better days down in Asheville, I went to Earth Fare where I got a pair of Canvas Bags to take to the stores whenever I stock up on fruit and snacks.
Another way I displayed my "greenness" (Other than in my face) was through the purchase of a used coil for my metal detector. Rather than buying a brand new one for $119.99, I found a member on the Friendly Metal Detecting Forum that had one he was willing to sell for just shipping! Today I went and tried the coil out and it performs great! This small 5.3" Coil is great for trashy areas, and numerous times I was able to cherry pick a penny or dime from right beside a piece of trash, whereas on the 10" Stock Coil, the good target would most likely have been masked. All in all, I got .86 cents today, not bad for the combinations of coins that I found. So, other than making up all this work for my professors, my life has been getting better since last week! :^D Happy Hunting!
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