Eco Friendly House And Garden

Reusable bags are all around us these days – but what are the pro’s and cons?

I myself use several types of different bags for different occasions – but my friend thinks that they are the worst thing ever! Why are there so many types and why wouldn’t you like them?

Their Purpose In Life:
After listening to my friend discussing why he didn’t like my reusable bags – I asked him why they were invented in the first place. He went for the eco friendly angle – but in reality, they are just a replacement for a plastic carrier bag.

photo credit: Rachel Medina

Now I really don’t like plastic bags from supermarkets as they have no real shape, they are noisy, they tear easily, they are painful to carry if heavy and you can’t put them over your shoulder to carry. However, my reusable bags are the opposite to all this.

Bulky Jute Bag:
My bulky jute bag has great shape to it, even when set on the floor. The handles are soft and wide and just long enough to sit over my shoulder if I want to shift the weight.

It is larger than A4 so I can keep books and notes in it, and being open-topped I can easily get things out and find things as and when needed.

It does have its downsides though; firstly this open-topped feature means that security is low when I am in a crowd or when I take a rest and place my bag on the floor, and if I don’t have anything in the bag (like on the way to the library) you can’t fold it up and it tends to flap about in the wind.

Flimsy Cotton Bag:
I have several flimsy white cotton bags with various different companies advertising on the side – but all are basically the same shape and size. They are very easy to shove into my rucksac or other bags so that when finding something extra to carry they can flap open and be filled with goodies.

They are a light as a feather and so I can take all 4 out with me without them becoming a nuisance – and I am not too bothered if I carry them around all day and don’t use them.

And they can be washed.

Their downside is that they have no structure whatsoever and loading them up 1-handed can be a bit of a pain sometimes. With the extra long and thin handles (perfect for over the shoulder action) they can get all tangled up when trying to unfold and carrying them by your side is impossible – as they drag along the floor.

The Result?
Well, I just love my reusable bags (including the fact that nearly all of them were free with a promotion) and although they each have their uses – they are a zillion times better than plastic carriers – and much easier to use than a bulky rucsack with zips (and the fact that it is on your back!).

I mean, if you get them any bigger, they would just be holdalls – which are of course – reusable bags too!

I think that small reusable bags have filled a niche that needed filling – with or without their perfect eco credentials – and I would be just as happy to use a non-organic material reusable bag over a carrier anyday.

photo credit: New Internationalist

I have been sitting in traffic lately – and have found out why there are always big queues!

People seem to have trouble accelerating away from their standstill when the lights go green; I’m not sure why but there is always a massive delay with people pulling away at the lights when they change.

Seemingly, people forget that they have just been sat in traffic for ages and so pootle about themselves when they get to the front of the queue – creating even more of a queue behind them.

It is the same as the people who queue up for ages in a fast food restaurant, swapping from leg to leg while they wait for the orders up ahead to clear – yet when they get to the front, they have no idea what they want to order – and stand there ‘umming’ and ‘ahhing’.

People don’t seem to connect their actions with cause of the problem – and have just come to accept queuing as a part of life rather than think about how they could make everything that little bit nicer if they just thought about others rather than themselves all the time.

The Traffic Lights:
I always wondered why the traffic all didn’t move forward together when the green light finally appeared.  The whole of a train can move forward at the same time – so why can’t a train of cars all go forward on green.

I thought that having sat in traffic for a while, they would all have their foot on the pedal waiting to take off again as soon as they could – but it seems as though people don’t do this.

photo credit: oksidor

I have recently watched people at the front of the lights sorting through their bag and not spotting the green light appear until someone honks at them.  I have also watched people not know whether to pass on the nearside or far side of a car at a junction when they have clearly had ages to think about it at the front of the queue (especially when passing on the passenger side means more cars can pass through at a time).

People pull away slowly, take extra wide corners, don’t accelerate at a normal speed and basically ‘dolly daydream’ a bit about the whole thing.

Yet we all need to get to work – and noone likes sitting in traffic!

Why Does It Matter?
Well being a slow driver doesn’t really matter in itself – but queues of traffic are no good for anyone.

Yes, we have all heard the stories about avoiding the busiest times on the road unless it is absolutely essential travel – and I am a true believer in this – but sometimes you just have to sit in it.

Now surely, if everyone sped up their actions a little bit around traffic lights and round-a-bouts etc, there would be less queues on the road – and less queues mean less sitting traffic; less pollution; less angry divers; less of a rush hour and faster moving traffic. 

All adding up to a healthier traffic network, less stressed people and means that the morning or evening commute will take less time and so more time can be spent at home with the family and less time is spent in your car polluting.

So next time you are sat in traffic wondering why the traffic isn’t moving up ahead even though you can see a green traffic light – think of the mantra: You aren’t stuck in traffic – you ARE the traffic!

There are no excuses at all for not creating a haven for wildlife where you live – even if you are high rise!

Every spare flower can help species to feed and survive – as you are helping to create ‘wildlife corridors’ between parks and gardens along the way. Helping our wildlife to get around and multiply!

And by creating this safe haven – you could actually get a certificate to prove you are playing your part in helping garden wildlife.

How To Get Involved:
Ideally you will find a way to feed, water and protect any birds, reptiles or mammals that you can as well as offering then a place to raise their young – depending on your circumstances.

Not everyone needs to find a home for brown bears or wetland birds – even a tiny home for a sparrow or overwintering butterflies can be a perfect wildlife ‘garden’.

Obviously – the more land you have – the more you can offer to help; but every live creature needs a home – and you can offer that wherever you live.

I have feeders hanging outside my apartment window where I regularly see blue tits, great tits, sparrows and squirrels, as well as collared doves and wood pidgeons on the ground eating the fallen crumbs – I’ve even had sparrowhawks here because of this – but they weren’t here for the peanuts!

Visit Garden for Wildlife with Scotts to get some great information to help you get started – as well as information on native plants that will encourage and benefit local species to your garden, yard or window box!

Get Certified!
Scotts are hoping to get 150,000 wildlife habitats created in a massive drive to improve the choices that animals have to move around our urban areas and open spaces.

There are so many roads and buildings in some places that wildlife just can’t get established, Also migrating animals find it hard to pass through some areas due to the lack of essential foods or safe places to rest or sleep.

So why not find out how you could create a feeding station for migrating insects and birds; or how you could create a breeding pond for amphibians; a winter sleepover for cold mammals; or a one night stop-over spot for a wandering anything!

Even if you can only offer 1 of the required actions – you can still apply and recieve great tips about progressing on to full certification – as well as a free magazine subscription!

Or – why not work with a friend who has more space to get certified together – maybe even your whole class – or school!

The more people and places that get involved – the better the results will be in your town and in your state – as well as the whole country.

Animals don’t always just live in one place the whole year – they travel. So if people in the place where these animals live in the summer, people in the places they pass through and people in the place where they spend winter all put in a little effort – we can start to make a real difference.

Join In:

Could your local shops be suffering due to your bad parking?

If you think about it honestly – do you regularly visit shops that don’t have easy parking close by when you are driving home from work or when dropping off the kids at school?

Would you really say to me that you would be happy to park 15 minutes walk away from a shop to just grab some milk?  Or would you infact make sure you drove to a shop that you knew had spaces right outside – even if it was a bit further away.

Especially if it was raining…..

Or you were in a hurry……

So now, let’s look at this the other way around, and think about why you avoid certain stores due to bad parking and how this can be improved.

Parking Bays:
Many stores have head on parking bays drawn on the road outside the shopfront – mainly because they want all their customers to have a space without a fuss.

However, some people who are ‘in a hurry’ or just a bit lazy – park across more than 1 bay limiting the number of other customers who can visit the store.

Other people might see that space as a good place to park while they go visit their friends – and have no intention of using the store at all.  This is even worse than the first example – as at least they were only blocking 2 spaces while they were grabbing some bread or whatever – but these people could block up that space for hours!

Now if you were on your way home and this store rarely ever had a spaces outside – you aren’t going to shop there are you?  You will plan to visit another store, as no doubt will plenty of other commuters who that store depends on for trade.

photo credit: the spectre los

Your Local Stores:
Now this might not be a local store to you – but consider how you can prevent your local stores from suffering the same fate by planning your parking in advance!

For example – not parking in a busy spot outside stores to go visit your friends or go shopping elsewhere for hours would be a good start!

And if you live in the area – you will know when it’s busy – so avoid those times if you can.  Not only will it mean that you won’t get stuck in a crowd and have to queue for things – it also frees up that busy time for the commuters who don’t have much time to do their business.

It’s exactly the same principle as not going to the bank during other people’s lunch hour if you don’t work yourself!  They only have a hour to get things done – so the last thing they need in front of them are 5 people who could have come here at any time they wanted – but are now making them miss their entire lunch break standing in a queue!

And when parking in unmarked bays, make sure that you park up to the edges so that the most number of cars can fit in around you.  You must have seen cars parked about a metre away from the edge of the bay – wasting that space completely for other drivers!

There are a myriad of ways that your parking habits could prevent other people from doing their day to day activities – or their one-off trip to town.  And if they can never find a parking space when they come to visit your local area – they may well go find somewhere else to spend their money instead.

And your local stores will find it harder and harder to turn a profit.

With the recent bad weather across most of the northern hemisphere – should we stay home?

I haven’t left my place apart from to go for a great walk through the woods and a walk to the local store – so what did you do – and could it have caused problems for others?

There is an argument for both sides really, but which is more eco friendly?

The Case For Staying Home:
For a start, you will be one less car on the road in the way of other important people or vehicles that need to use the roads.  Many people like doctors, vets, firemen, police, grit lorry drivers, petrol tankers, grocery vans and ambulances that need to use the roads all day and at any time. 

So what would you do if you had got stuck on ice on a slip road and were now holding up one or more of the above people?  Stopping valuable staff from doing their job when you were only off out to do a bit of shopping or to visit a friend?

You would also be one more person that local services would have to worry about.  For example on 1 road in the UK earlier this week, there was a reported 25 mile tailback in the snow.  All those people were stranded in the freezing cold and the emergency services, local hotels and recovery drivers were now having to work overtime and through the night to help them all – and I bet all 25 miles wasn’t filled with doctors and food supplies?

And talking of medical care – if you went out and injured yourself on ice or through a car accident – you are adding to the pressures that emergency services are already facing.  If you can’t get to town in the bad conditions – what makes you think that nurses can either?  So more injuries and less nurses is really only going to mean longer waits and over-worked staff. 

The same goes for any other business as well.  Just because you managed to get yourself to a store, it doesn’t mean they will be able to offer you their best service, as they may also be short-staffed or have deliveries that cannot make it to the store due to accidents etc.

The Case For Going Out:
If you are one of the services that keep everyone else going then yes, you should try to get to work.  Hopefully all the non-essential journeys have ceased and so the roads should be clearer and safer for people like yourself to get through.

Also, many small businesses couldn’t function without their staff, and so struggling in to work could be the only option for some people. 

Imagine if everyone stopped going to work on the same day – countries would come to a standstill as no energy would be available, no need food would arrive in stores - and if it did, there would be noone there to sell it.  No gas, no gritters, no ambulances……….

People need to go to work in these terrible conditions – but think about who you are before deciding, as it’s not about how important you think your journey is, it’s about how important you know your job is.

Many eco friendly people will live near to where they work anyway – so a walk to work in the cold is going to be a million times better than a drive anywhere – and less of a drain on society during these hard times!

The Answer:
Stretched resources or reduced services? Neither is better than the other if you have to get to work – but there is a clear winner if you are not needed anywhere.

People not working, on a day off or who can work from home are the ones that can make a real difference in this whole thing.  By limiting their impact on the outside world during this stressful and very cold time, they can make all the difference to those who don’t have a choice.

So wrap up warm and go visit your elderly neighbours today – or snuggle up in front of the TV and watch a good movie instead.