To idle or not to idle? When you are stuck at the train tracks, in the line at the bank, or waiting for a bridge to go up/down (okay that was in Seattle but it’s an everyday thing there, and if you live in a town where you have to wait for trains…) do you leave the car running, or turn it off?

Do we burn more gas re-starting the engine than if we just let it run?

What if I drive a diesel? Those are supposed to be left running, right? Well that’s today’s question.

True or False: It is better to leave my car running than to turn it on and off.

The correct answer?

FALSE, it is NOT better to leave your car running.

Want more information? Download the PDF report “Idle Impacts”

Amanda K Forman
Vice President, Sustainable Green Country
Director, Green Drinks
www.sustainablegreencountry.org

Whether you’re a hippy from way back, or just riding the trend of the times, Green is definitely in. Savvy moms win cool points and save cash by being eco-conscious and teach kids important life lessons about caring for the planet.

Go Green for Lunch – Ditch boring brown bags and send your kids off to school with a lunchtime statement. When you pack your kids’ lunch in eco-friendly food containers, like those made of cloth or stainless steel, you ease your deliveries to the landfill. As a bonus you might also save you a pretty penny when you stop buying those disposable containers. There are many chic steel latch tins available that come in an assortment of colors, and the hand latch even transforms the tins into the cutest lunch pail. Not only are these reusable containers a style statement, they’ll keep your perfect PB&Js from getting smooshed. Your child will appreciate not having to eat mush for lunch and you can be satisfied in reducing your child’s exposure to harmful chemicals found in plastic containers.

Give Rewards for Recycling – When in doubt, money talks. Encourage your kids to earn their allowances by participating in green chores like recycling. They’ll find out early that being green can be easy on the wallet! Home recycling services are still picking up speed in some parts on the country, so you might not know what your local municipality offers. And if you are really a penny pincher, you might even get a couple bucks out of your recycling habit. Some recycling centers will give you cold hard cash for turning in clean cans or bottles. Contact your local recycling centers to find out their policies.

Donate & Buy Second Hand – When you and your family are done with items, like clothing, toys, or furniture, donate the items to an organization of your choice. Check out many national organizations that take donations, and give back job-training opportunities. There might also be a local cause that could benefit from your lightly used items. Let your kids in on why donating is a good thing and tell them how people will benefit from their generosity. But there’s a flip side to the secondhand scene. Also teach your kid early not to be ashamed of owning secondhand items. Thrift and vintage shops are a fun way to get something unique. Take advantage of the fact that many retro styles are in fashion right now. And the bonus: Your dollar will go a lot farther than at the mall!

Secondhand shopping is great for furniture, too. Do you really want to drop $200 on that Pepto-pink dresser your 5-year wants? There are plenty of ways to indulge her creative spark without breaking the bank on furniture you probably won’t use for many years. Skip the department store and purchase a sturdy piece of used furniture at your local thrift store or antique shop. Customize the piece with a new paint job or a change of hardware. The time you spend on the project together will good ol’ bonding time away from the TV.

Make Quality a Priority – Being green doesn’t have to mean giving up glamour (thank goodness). A hip, eco-conscious mom knows that quality over quantity means you get to treat yourself and your children to high-end, well-made items. Instead of getting a lot of cheap or trendy things that will have to be replaced often, go for the good stuff in classic, durable styles. Add spice and personal flair with a few choice items from inexpensive sources like the aforementioned thrift or consignment shops. When you buy luxe, you might have to spend a bit more upfront, but you’ll see the savings over time, as you’ll have to buy less often. It’s also great opportunity to show your children the importance of taking good care of their belongings so that they can be used and loved for years. But buyer, beware! There’s a fine line between paying for quality and paying for label names. Browse various online forums to read up on products and find out what other customer’s think.

I’m Fia Caballero. I have a life long love affair with tiffins. I have collected numerous examples of the “tiffin” from a multitude of countries. Each and every one is functional and beautiful and a unique example from the country they came from.

Every day, the world’s many landfills become the resting place of tons of waste, many of which are not biodegradable, and are harmful to the environment. Many hazardous chemicals can mix in these dumping grounds and possibly leech into our water systems or into the soil, and into our food and drink. So any effort to lessen the consumption of goods that end up in these landfills is a must.

One of the major contributors to the mountains of waste in the landfills are diapers. Although these plastic and cloth wonders of technology are very convenient in terms of managing your baby’s bodily wastes, diapers can also cause diaper rash and is filled with chemicals to better contain urine or stool. Disposable diapers are also expensive in the the long-run. As a baby can go through a number of these items in a day, you can do the math.

But taking care of your baby doesn’t have to mean breaking the bank. You can still give the best to your child without sacrificing environmental responsibility. In line with this, many parents are now exploring old but tried-and-tested ways of managing the baby’s waste. Here are some ideas you may want to check out:

Elimination Communication
- More often than not shortened to ECing, elimination communication is certainly not a new concept. In fact, it is estimated that at least half of the world’s babies are toilet trained in this manner. With ECing, the use of diapers is replaced by a potty (or any similar container) as early as possible, and involves teaching the baby to communicate when he or she needs to use it. To get started, you can emit a subtle verbal cue to your baby, typically timed after feeding. This takes some practice and keen observation on your part, but if you are successful then your baby will be fully toilet trained well before babies who use a diaper. However, if you use this particular technique, then you will know that accidents are inevitable, and for special occasions you can still use a diaper as a back-up.

Cloth Diapers
- Again, like elimination communication, the use of cloth diapers has been around for a long time. Today’s parents choose cloth diapers because they are cost-effective and environmentally friendly, but many more are turned off by the amount of laundry one needs to do. Make clean-up easy by keeping a pail of water with borax or mild laundry soap beside your changing station. Once the diaper pail is full, wash them all in hot soapy water and then dry. Because cloth diapers are made up of cotton, these are less likely to cause diaper rash on your baby, as the fabric allows the skin to breathe.

Eco-disposable Diapers
- These eco-disposable products are much like the typical disposable diapers we are used to seeing, and these are touted as chemical-free and made up of wood pulp from sustainable sources. However, despite the name, many of these diapers are not totally biodegradable, as it still comes with the normal plastic outer covering. (One product claims to be entirely compostable, as it supposedly has an outer covering made up of corn products.) Another thing is that these products are not as widely available (although they can be found online and can be shipped directly to your home) and are typically a little more expensive than regular diapers. Many detractors of these supposedly eco-friendly diapers say that using these is more like paying lip-service to being environmentally friendly.

The truth is, it is still up to you to choose which product or technique to use to toilet train your baby. Do your research and decide which works for you and your lifestyle.

“From the get-go, systems furniture manufacturers should employ eco-friendly processes that address carbon footprint concerns,” Bassil says. “For example, we use recycled materials wherever possible in our steel structural elements and panels. Rather than pad panels with fiberglass – which does not break down in landfills and is a long term source of airborne glass particles – we use post-consumer PET made from ground up soda bottles. We also use Guilford of Maine fabrics for panels because of their EPA-recognized sustainability program.”

Systems furniture, unlike conventional office construction, is designed to adapt to changing business conditions. “Stackable panel and movable full-wall systems offered by MAiSPACE are designed and built to easily withstand the stresses of Moves, Adds and Changes (MACs) characteristic of today`s business environment,” Bassil points out. “Cubicles from 6 x 6 feet in size to full-walled private offices and conference rooms of any size can be constructed, revised or removed virtually overnight.”

Unused panel elements can be stored for future use or sold for use by others. The noise, dirt and confusion associated with drywall construction – along with disposing of construction debris in landfills – does not apply to systems furniture. “When components have outlived their useful life they are 100% recyclable, including the steel frames, Bassil says, adding that that even the plug and play voice, power and data cabling in modular offices can be reused rather than discarded.

While not generally thought of when considering vendors, packaging and shipping practices add other opportunities for environmental stewardship and reducing carbon footprints. “In our case we offer bulk packaging and other alternatives to traditional corrugated and Styrofoam materials,” Bassil says. “These include eliminating where possible the use of cartons and the introduction of minimal packaging for truckload orders. Moreover we ask our own suppliers to adopt reusable packaging in shipping product. These steps lower the cost of cleaning up the job site, facilitate installation by cutting back on clutter and are among the reasons why installations are ready for occupancy within 4 to 6 weeks of an order.”

Doing the Same with Less

According to Bassil, changes in how people work is causing organizations to rethink their workplace floor plans and operate equally efficient but in less space. “If a certain percentage of staff is regularly telecommuting from home or on business travel there is no need to prove a workspace for everyone on the payroll,” he says. “Touch-down spaces assigned on an ad-hoc basis and fitted with plug-in data ports yield a smaller floor plan, lower HVAC and electrical requirements, lower investment in office furniture systems, lower rent and as an added benefit, reduce the organization`s carbon footprint.”

Beyond furniture systems selection, companies can reduce their carbon footprint by promoting a corporate culture aimed at reducing emissions across the board. A good example is encouraging car pooling and incentivizing public transportation. “Firms should look at life cycle impact assessments of all products purchased, purchasing recycled paper wherever possible, and question any purchase as to its necessity,” Bassil suggests. Other green-friendly practices are posting electronic forms rather than using paper, reading documents on line rather than printing them, using smaller fonts and margins and reusing paper as memo or draft paper when it is printed only on one side.

Other opportunities include establishing procedures to handle the collection and proper disposal of electronic waste and batteries, using motion sensitive light switches wherever practical and fitting rest rooms with low flow plumbing devices.

Go Green at $12 – $15 per Square Foot Installed

We always look to improve purchasing, design, production, shipping and installation activities with the aim of further reducing the carbon footprint associated with systems furniture, Bassil says. “But our environmental stewardship does not impact the cost of our products to our customers, and indeed in some instances contributes to reduced costs,” he says. “Along with our approach to designing and manufacturing modular office furniture systems it enables us to offer our products at price points average 40% below some of the best known names in the industry. This means our environmentally friendly solutions are available and ready to move in starting at $12 to $15 per square foot independent of the number of units ordered.”

Helping business owners and operators make smart choices in Systems Furniture and Office Cubicles for their offices and selecting the right Office Furniture. Systems Furniture and the Carbon Footprint.