Tag Archives: environmentally friendly

Green Cupcakes

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I finally joined the Cupcake Club on Squidoo, publishing my first ever cupcake lens: Green Cupcakes. Not only will you find a yummy green cupcake recipe, with the best ever frosting, but there’s ideas for green baking equipment too.

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Green Cupcakes

Yes, some of it is green in colour but all the equipment featured on the lens is eco friendly baking equipment and made from recycled materials or sustainable resources.

Why use eco friendly catering equipment?

One very good reason to use recyled materials for eco friendly baking is that over 100 millions tonnes of plastic is discarded each year. Much of this ends up in landfill, in the countryside and in the sea, making plastic one of the most environmentally damaging materials on the planet.

Image credit: Green Tea (Matcha) Cupcakes by bossacafez on Flickr under Creative Commons 2.0

Removing leeches from a pond without chemicals

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Environmentally friendly pond 300x224 Removing leeches from a pond without chemicalsOne of the problems about trying to follow green gardening principles is that sometimes you have such a horrible pest to deal with that can have a devastating effect on your green environment and it looks like the only way to get rid of them is to use chemicals. Leeches in your pond is one such pest, particularly if you have fish.

Squidoo lensmaster Photosiamirabel was confronted with a leech infestation in her beautiful garden pond, which was so bad that they were killing her fish. But what to do?

All the solutions she researched involved using chemicals that could actually kill the smaller fish. Not only that, she also wanted to find an environmentally friendly solution.

And she did just that. It involved some thinking “outside the box” – or should I say can?

Photosiamirabel came up with an easily constructed device plus some easy to obtain bait. The resulting contraption was cheap AND environmentally friendly.

To discover what she did, visit her Squidoo lens How to remove leeches from your pond without chemicals. Not only will you find out how to get rid of the leeches in your pond in an environmentally friendly way, but there’s some beautiful photos, not just of leeches, but her beautiful pond as well.

Photo credit: Photosiamirabel and used with permission

Environmentally friendly Samsung 3D LED TV

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Samsung has released a new range of 3D TVs, including the Samsung UN55C8000 55-Inch 3D LED HDTV and I was very pleased to see that it qualifies for an energy star rating. This new eco friendly TV uses up to 50% less energy than earlier Samsung models.

In keeping with my niche: Going Green Ideas, I did some research about the Samsung 55 LED TV and found it to be the best selling 3D TV on Amazon.

Following on from the popularity of James Cameron’s 3D film Avatar, there’s certainly been a lot of interest in 3D TVs and the major electronics’ companies seem to be in a race to corner the market, not only for the TV sets, but also accessories such as the 3D glasses.

Sony announced in early 2010, that they have deleoped new technology that will simplify the process of filming in 3D. Currently, two cameras are required to shoot every frame from slightly different angles. However, Sony have unveiled a single lens 3D camera, which will be particularly useful for sporting events.

Continuing the green theme, I was very pleased to see some new themes released on Blogger and could not resist a new, fresh green theme for Always Juggling on blogger, where I discuss how my newest lens was put together in a post called Some background about my new lens about a Samsung 3D TV.

Why buy a Dyson Vacuum Cleaner?

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Why buy a Dyson Vacuum cleaner? Because it is environmentally friendly!

It’s interesting that as I have developed the topic Going Green Ideas on Squidoo, how much I already know and how much our home is already “environmentally friendly”.

To give an example. I was researching for an environmentally friendly vacuum cleaner and discovered that the brand that ranked highest is the Dyson.

Currently the Dyson DC25 Ball All-Floors Upright Vacuum Cleaner is rated as the most environmentally friendly and sustainable vacuum cleaner, according to the Green Guide for everday living.

I don’t have a DC24, I actually have the DC01, which is the first cyclone Vacuum Cleaner that Dyson put on the market. That was 13 years ago – which goes to prove how sustainable the Dysons are!

Dyson: the environmentally friendly vacuum

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Dyson DC01 Dyson: the environmentally friendly vacuum

Dyson makes environmentally friendly and sustainable vacuum cleaners

The Dyson DC25 Ball Upright Vacuum Cleaner is rated by the Green Guide for everyday living website as the “greenest vacuum” but the fact that the majority of the parts on any Dyson Vacuum are replaceable is what appeals to me the most.

So what makes an eco friendly vacuum cleaner that is also sustainable?

How many times has the repairman (or woman) come out to fix your washing machine, dish washer, vacuum or dryer and said: “You may as well buy a new one”?

And you did just that! The replacement goods were cheap enough to make it worth your while consigning your washing machine, dish washer or dryer to the waste dump, when 95% of the parts still worked.

Traditionally manufacturers of electronic goods made them cheap and disposable. In the UK it is estimated that we will each throw away an average of 3.3 tonnes of electrical goods over our lifetime. Fortunately, most people accept that to help preserve our environment we need to become more sustainable, which means that we have to reduce the impact that our actions have on the environment.

I have had my Dyson DC01 Vacuum Cleaner (illustrated) for over 12 years. Despite the fact that this model is no longer available, I can still get spare parts for it direct from Dyson. Most of the parts on a Dyson vacuum are replaceable, easy to fit and don’t cost a fortune.

Why buy a Dyson?

With Dyson, not only do you get an environmentally friendly vacuum cleaner, you also get a sustainable vacuum!

Dyson vacuums have no bags, no replacement filters – no unnecessary waste

Dyson Cleaners are packaged using recycled material, made from on average 90% recycled cardboard

Dyson is developing high-speed digital electric motors to make smaller, lighter, more energy efficient Machines

Dyson’s new hand held vacuum Dyson DC31, has a motor that is twice as energy efficient as its predecessor and is just a third of its size – saving electricity and materials

Motors in Dyson Vacuums never exceed 1400 watts

Dyson constantly works to reduce the size and weight of their vacuums without reducing their strength – slimmer components require fewer raw materials and consume less energy in the manufacturing process.

Dyson will recycle your old vacuum – when you order a new vacuum from the Dyson website, they will collect your old vacuum for free, regardless of make and recycle it.

HEPA Filters

Dyson Vacuum Cleaners have HEPA filters, which are proven to help allergy and asthma sufferers. The HEPA filter traps fine particles, such as pollen, dust and dust mite faeces (yuck!) which are known to trigger allergy and asthma symptoms in some people.

HEPA filters are composed of a mat of randomly arranged fibres and are washable, making them sustainable.

You can find a complete range of Dyson Vacuum Cleaners and Dyson spare parts at Amazon.com and Amazon UK

Looking for quality going green lenses on Squidoo

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In October I was reappointed as a Squidoo Angel and the categories I watch over, were changed. I was really pleased to be given the Green Living category, as my family and I are very environmentally aware. Even my Lovely Hubby works as an Environmental Consultant advising on the environmental impact of building and buildings.

However, I must admit that my pleasure at being one of the “Green Angels” has been tinged with disappointment. The Green Living Top 100 list is peppered with poor quality and spammy lenses, just like the rest of the categories on Squidoo.

The Green Living category is full of lenses linked to e-books about solar energy panels and building your own windmill. Some of the Lenses are very good but there’s others where it is obvious that the Lensmasters have simply researched “hot topics” and “hot keywords” or they have been given them on the lists that get mailed out as freebies when you sign up to certain online marketers’ email lists. They have jumped on the eco-friendly bandwagon. Their lenses have nothing to do with promoting going green ideas but everything to do with an aspect of online marketing that I loathe.

These lenses exist for the sole purpose of making sales – saving the planet is of secondary importance and the information on them is sparse and poor. Sales modules are OK, but in my view only if the lens still provides value if the sales modules are removed.

So, I am on a quest. I am looking for those environmentally friendly lenses that are quality, full of great information and links to even more great information about how to go green. They are lenses that don’t make it into the Top 100 in Green Living because other Lensmasters are better at SEO and getting traffic, not necessarily because they have made a good lens.

I am looking for environmentally aware lenses like these:

Simple Steps to prevent water pollution

Recycling sweaters into new accessories

Fight toxic mold by going green

Soapnuts – the natural and environmentally friendly cleaner

Just leave the links in the comments box here. Not only will I visit the lenses but they may then be included in Featured Lenses Modules on future Going Green lenses.

Going green on SquidLog

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This blog has been started as part of my commitment to support my friends Chef Keem and Squidster as they develop SquidLog for the benefit of the great community that is taking up residence on here.

It has taken me awhile to get this blog going as over the past few months I have had quite a lot to be getting on with on Squidoo in addition to the regular articles I write for SquidLog. I have also been thinking about developing more niches.

I have a variety of lenses on a variety of topics but one theme is starting to emerge as I find myself being naturally drawn towards finding green, eco-friendly and fairtrade alternatives to everyday purchases and the spending we do for holidays.

Last December my lens Twelve Days of a Green and Ethical Christmas was made Lens of the Day and to date I have published 10 lenses with a green tinge to them.

So it seems that this niche has evolved naturally and as it is a topic with which I am very comfortable, having been the Editor of Imperfectly Natural.com, it is about time I did more eco-friendly blogging and published more environmentally friendly lenses.

This blog will complement another blog I have on Crabby’s Beach, also called Going Green Ideas.

AJ is going green on Squidoo!

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Well here I are! A new blog and what on earth is AJ going to blog about on here, I hear you ask? What with writing articles for SquidLog and two other blogs….. To be honest when I signed up on here, I did not have the slightest clue what I would be blogging about, other than it had to be Squidoo related.

However, a conversation with my Hubby this evening decided it for me. I was telling him how my newest lens had shot up the Lens rankings to #1134 in only 48 hours. I remarked on how I ought to cover more environmentally friendly topics on Squidoo because it is something we both passionately believe in and yes, we actually do know a bit about it – after all my hubby does work in that field – pun intended, ha ha!

Since starting on Squidoo I have managed to publish a few “green” lenses and add a very eco-friendly slant  to some of my “holiday” lenses including: Valentine’s Day, Twelve Days of a Green and Ethical Christmas and my very latest offering Environmentally Friendly Halloween Lights so this Blog will focus on “Going Green on Squidoo”.

Sorted!