Change The World Wednesday (#CTWW)

Welcome to Change The World Wednesday (#CTWW)! If this is your first visit, please click HERE for information and a complete list of all the challenges we’ve taken on so far.

There’s a lot of great information in this post and I encourage you to read through it … however, if you don’t have the time right now, you might find the following quick links helpful:

• The #CTWW Gang
• The Honor Society
• Today’s Challenge

We have completed another week of the Ecumenical Lenten Carbon Fast. Once again, we saw a variety of activities … some were easy and some took a little more thought and effort. Here’s how the week went:

• Day 15 – Consider setting your hot water thermostat to 120°F
• Day 16 – Dry your clothes on a clothes line
• Day 17 – Clean or replace air filters
• Day 18 – Reduce your use of household cleaning products, soaps, shampoos, hair care products and other items which contain chemicals
• Day 19 – Fireplaces – we love them and we want to use them but …
• Day 20 – Find out who your elected representatives are and tell them what you’re doing through the Carbon Fast
• Day 21 – Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline

The Honor Society are those people who help us spread the “green” word by writing an article about our challenges and/or leaving pertinent comments. Let’s see what they had to say this week:

From Alicia:

• This is a great tip! We love doing this because you can really see the savings. A few years back we actually would turn off our hot water heater every night and then turn it back on in the mornings. It only takes about forty five minutes for the water to heat back up. We saw a lot of savings doing this. Just think how many hours that was that the water wasn’t having to be continually heated.It was working out good until we forgot to turn it back on a few mornings in a row! This has gotten me thinking about using a timer to turn it on and off. I think I will have my husband check into this.

From EcoGrrl:

• My handyman can’t tell the temperature on my water heater but I don’t really worry – at $40-50/mo, my electric utility bill (which includes water heater) is teensy. FYI – if your water heater is in an insulated location, you don’t need to add extra insulation – this came straight from my energy auditor.
• Body sprays – never understood! I buy my shampoo, conditioner & body lotion in the bulk aisle, refilling the same bottles for a couple years now. My next step is to move from plastic to glass but the shower makes me a bit paranoid as I’m klutzy
• NRDC member since 1992- in my opinion the single most effective enviro nonprofit out there.

From Jen:

• We have a tankless water heater which is awesome. It saves us on having to heat water over and over again in a tank and gives us pretty much on demand hot water.

From Elizabeth Barrette:

• We already have an energy-efficient water heater. The water company provides it free, and will replace it if necessary, in exchange for being able to shut it off during peak demand hours as part of their power-saving program.

From Julie Magers Soulen:

• And there is nothing like sheets line dried. The scent is amazing!

From Teresa Rusk:

• I have been using locally made wool dryer balls in my dryer. No fabric softner necessary and they add loft, thus reducing the time the dryer has to run. I LOVE THEM!

From Kelly:

• Beautiful warm, breezy day!

From Ann:

• a friend said, everyday is children’s day, everyday is men’s day. BUT everyday is a women’s working day
• in New Zealand, people grow Swan plants just for the Monarch butterflies. this is excellent to teach the children.

From Argentum Vulgaris:

• Change the World Wednesday – Special IV

From Kristina:

• EcoGrrl – I am so envious that you can buy shampoo, conditioner and lotion in bulk! I have never seen that MA.
  I switched to homemade cleaners a few years ago – so easy and cheap! This is what I use in the kitchen and bathroom: Homemade Green Cleaners made easy. I have been using GoodGuide.com a lot lately. They have an app that lets you scan the bar code and instantly see its rating 9if in the database). Very handy since I often have a hard time actually finding in stores what I have looked up as safe. Still working on finding a deodorant that works. Any suggestions?

From Katie:

• I have not bought anything toxic for almost one year. It was hard to get my husband to switch to all natural shaving cream, but we tried a few until he found one he liked. I buy all natural soap and have even started using it on my hair (I also use baking soda and ACV).
  @EcoGrrl – Installed GoodGuide. Thank you!!!
  @EcoGrrl – I have been using Bubble and Bee Super Pit Putty and it works pretty well. I do find that at work, I have to reapply several times, but it does cover up the smell. I also use Moody Sisters Powder Deodorant.

From Jacqueline:

• Day 15
• Day 16
• Day 17
• Day 18
• Day 19
• Day 20 (I absolutely loved this challenge. I think many don’t understand that their voices CAN and SHOULD be heard and that, in numbers, we can change energy policy, or, at worst, vote in NEW people who will!)
• Day 21

Some of our Twitter friends shared their thoughts:

From @givetreegifts
-I’m going to make a meal with whatever is in the fridge that needs to get used up. Could be soup, could be stir fry. Who knows?
-tip: Plan meals in order to avoid wasting food. Tonight’s stir fry was a big hit & I was able to use up produce, rather than waste it.
-Lined dried laundry is the best! I get the best night’s sleep with line dried sheets. So fresh! Fresh air is nature’s air freshener.
-I find the sheets are even fresher when you hang them out in winter…the trick for me is dealing with the snow! lol.
- In winter, I partially air dry in the house, to help restore much needed humidity in the air. Then to the line. Total 1 day
-I don’t mind having laundry spread out to dry for a day. Jeans need to go in the dryer for awhile or they get stiff.

From @liliacangel
-I don’t have a tumble drier and have always dried my washing on a line. A tidy dry over the bath for the wintertime.
-Yes. Tidy-dry has 5 lines in rectangular container which hangs on wall. Handle pulls lines across to opposite wall to hooks.
-yes it’s fab. Only cost me £20 to buy & running it is v cheap. Try not to use tumble drier unless I have to

From @pinkladyapril
-laundry out on the line as we speak! Lovely drying day here in the UK & clothes are much fresher when dried outside!
-Love it – when I have to dry indoors have drying racks inc a heated 1 which costs less than light bulb to run per day
-we blocked up our fireplace because we don’t use it.

From @nonmom
-Since my car accident at lunch in Feb I have not gone out 4 lunch, saves gas & emissions & healthier choices. Win win win

From @gwened02
-hang washing out or on a maiden inside. I do struggle when it’s raining outside but not cold enough to have heating on
-always line dry outside or on a Maiden inside. I do struggle when it’s raining but not cold enough to have heating on
-Washing out on the line and meals planned for the week
-I use Eco cover products for cleaning. I know I need to use less cleaning wipes, so I’ll aim to reduce it!
-I find it hard for deodorants and body lotions I find them very expensive
-we don’t have a chimney just an electric fire that we don’t use
-it puts out heat, but my son fiddled with the coals so we can’t use it until we find out how the coals go in case it leaks gas

From @almosttruth
-@GiveTreeGifts Isn’t it? I can’t wait for the sun to start shining more so we can put out more to dry!

From @valueled
-Under a sky like this today? Skip the dryer and put your clothes on the line. Save energy and enjoy the sun! tinyurl.com/6n8fc6c

From @laalicia
-I have a set of towels that I use like paper towels and just wash and reuse. @PeopleTowels are a great choice too!

The #CTWW Gang are those folks who share our challenges on twitter using the hashtag #CTWW. If you’re a Twitter member, I highly recommend following them … they have a lot of great things to say. Let’s meet them:

Today’s Challenge:

Are you ready for another week of daily challenges? Let’s start with this one …

Until tomorrow …

WE’RE CHANGING THE WORLD … ONE CHALLENGE AT A TIME!

For additional green living tips and ideas, please visit Reduce Footprints at
reducefootprints.blogspot.com

Read more at Reduce Footprints