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We are officially knee-deep into 2009, and while you might still be having trouble remembering to actually write the correct dates on your checks, letters and emails, a simple glance at your new calendar should remind you that it is not, in fact, 2008 any longer.  That said, what do you do with all those old 2008 calendars you’ve got lying around?

You know the ones, the “Golden Retriever” calendar, the Outdoor Photography calendar, the golfing, knitting, cars, women, men or heck, even your old “Far Side” calendars are probably lying all around doing nothing but waiting for the trash or recycle bin.  The fact is, there IS something else you can do with them to help recycle and reuse them…for starters, you don’t have to throw them away!

I just found an article that had 5 great ways to reuse those calendars of yours, doing nothing but taking up space.  Every single little bit helps, I’ve said that time and time again, and in a world where we need as much alternative energy and recycling as possible, lets start here, and continue to do so every year!  Here, according to the article, are 5 great ways to reuse them:

1. Place mats: Throw a dinner party for 12. Place a month beneath each place setting for a great conversation starter.
2. Framed art: Update your home decor with framed calendar images. Make unique art by collaging several months together or by incorporating your own drawing.
3. Packing material: Wrap fragile holiday ornaments in calendar pages for storage.
4. Envelopes: Turn colorful calendar art into distinctive envelopes and notecards. Find a tutorial here.
5. 2036 calendar: Save a 2008 calendar until 2036, when the dates will match up. Find out how what year old calendars can be used again by checking a repeating calendar calculator.

There you have it!  Once you’ve done some, send us in some photos and we’ll put them up here.  Any other creative ideas?  Sound off…

(image via earthday.ca)

Let’s face it, we’re all doing much better than we used to do on really trying to be as Green as possible.  We’re drinking less out of plastic bottles (hopefully), we’re turning off lights when we leave a room (right?), we’re recycling anything and everything that is recyclable in our homes (aren’t we?), and we’re doing our best to cut back on how much gas we need to buy for our vehicles.  If you’re not doing these things, well, you should be, because I’ve been trying my best to get each and every one of you involved, but if not, now is the perfect time to start.

For all of you that think you’re Green, and that think you know all you could know about being Green, I have a challenge for you!  I just found, on the Sierra Club’s website, a “Green IQ” Test that will show you just how Green your mind really thinks!  There are 10 fun questions that can help show you just how green minded you really are.  The quiz wraps up the entire year, a year in which “Green” was a keyword that everyone said, everyone understood and everyone tried to learn a great deal more about.

So, what do you have to lose?  The Sierra Club “Year in Green” Quiz might just open your eyes a bit to the state of things on this beautiful planet of ours.  I’m pleased to say that I got 9 out of the 10 questions correct.  I wish I would have aced it, but alas, it was not meant to be.

Nevertheless, head over, check it out, see how you score.  We’re only 12 days into this new year, what better time to jump head first into making 2009 the Greenest Year yet for you!  Sound off in the comments as to your scores!

Got $4 that is burning a hole in your pocket?  I’m sure you do, Christmas was just here after all!  Nevertheless, if you can scrounge up $4, there are few better ways to spend it this fine Friday than by purchasing the official plans on how to build your very own, Do-It-Yourself Plastic Bottle Greenhouse.  With the plans in hand, basically all you’ll need is a TON of plastic bottles, some time, energy and a desire to do some great recycling good.

Who hasn’t wanted a greenhouse in their backyard?  I know I want one, but can’t really afford to shell out for the real deal, so for me this New Year, I’m going to build my very own out of all of the old plastic bottles myself and my neighbors have been recycling for months.  The ability to grow my own veggies in a greenhouse whilst doing it out of nothing but “trash?”  Awesome, the perfect start to our New Year’s Resolutions!

Head over, check out the idea, and throw down your $4 for the electronic plans to build your very own, DIY Plastic Bottle Greenhouse.  Once you get it made, send us some photos, we’d love to check out your handywork!!  Heck, we’ll even feature you on the website!

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

Hello and HAPPY NEW YEAR!  This is a short post from all of us here at Northern Tool to let you know we hope you all have an amazing, safe, happy and healthy New Year!  It’s the time of resolutions, and so we’re all pledging to do even more towards being a more energy conscious group, recycle more, use less, and be ever-mindful of the way we treat this beautiful planet of ours.

All we’re asking of you this New Year’s Day, is that you do the same!  If we all do a little, we can all do a lot!  In short:

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Image via Wikipedia

Well, Christmas Day has come and gone.  Here’s hoping that you gave, and received all the gifts you wanted, that you spent quality time with your friends and family, and last but certainly not least, that you did your best to make this the Greenest Christmas yet.

Now it’s the Day AFTER Christmas, which technically is the busiest shopping day as far as “returns” go.  That makes me remember a very important, very timely message I want to get across to all of you…Do not forget to recycle your Christmas Tree!  That’s right, that beautiful evergreen sitting in your living room can be recycled and turned into a very productive, very efficient means of fertilizing your lawn, helping restore fish habitats, helping sand dunes, and you know, probably a million other ideas.  If you’re not sure, check out this site that will help you find a Christmas Tree Recycling Center near you!

Here are some Christmas Tree Facts you might not have known:

“# There are approximately 30-35 million real Christmas trees sold in North America every year.
# Approximately 175,000 real Christmas trees are sold via e-commerce or catalog and shipped mail-order.
# North-American real Christmas trees are grown in all 50 states and Canada. Eighty-five percent of artificial trees are manufactured in China.
# Real Christmas trees are a renewable, recyclable resource. Artificial trees contain non-biodegradable plastics.
# For every real Christmas tree harvested, up to three seedlings are planted in its place the following spring.
# There are about 500,000 acres in production for growing Christmas trees. Each acre provides the daily oxygen requirements of 18 people.
# There are about 21,000 Christmas Tree growers in North America, and over 100,000 people employed full or part-time in the industry.
# It can take as many as 15 years to grow a tree of average retail sale height (six feet), but the average growing time is seven years.
# The top Christmas tree producing states are Oregon, North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Washington.
# The top selling Christmas trees are: balsam fir, Douglas-fir, Fraser fir, noble fir, Scotch pine, Virginia pine, and white pine.“

Image by wallyg via Flickr

Hello and Happy Monday once again my green loving friends.  A bit unconventional of a start to the week this frosty December Monday, as I’m kicking things off with a rather disgusting, but entirely exciting article.  The title says it all, almost, and I couldn’t be happier about it.  Here’s the short end of a long story:  Farmers in Michigan have figured out a way, and are actually implementing it, to turn all of the manure their livestock produces into useable energy.  Yeah, poop to power, believe it.

According to the article, almost NOTHING goes to waste, and yes, that includes the waste itself.  Basically, they have a giant building where all of the manure from 3,500 cows and 9,400 pigs is stored, transformed into electricity, and then further recycled.  The article mentions:

“…stinky manure from 3,500 cows and 9,400 pigs is being fermented and turned into electricity. What’s left afterward is a rich, dark pile of soft biofiber that looks like mulch and smells only faintly of its origins. It goes back into the barns as bedding for the cows. Liquid that is leftover is sprayed as fertilizer onto nearby corn, soy, alfalfa and wheat crops.”

Literally, nothing goes to waste.  Even the leftover waste and liquid is reused to better the whole farm.  The best part, the actual manure, almost 60,000 gallons of it a day, is enough to power an 800-kilowatt generator all through the entire day.  Impressive, imagine how many farms around the United States and the rest of the world could actually power their entire operation using nothing more than the waste their livestock automatically produce.  I love this.

What is equally exciting, is that if you’re a farmer looking to get into something like this, government grants are helping pay for and fund a great deal of these digester plants.  If you’ve got the stock, you might get some help as the benefit to the environment is too large to argue.  Check out the article, it’s worth it.

Image by law_keven via Flickr

I’m going to just go out on a limb and say it…if they can do it, why the heck can’t we?  If prison systems in this fine country, filled with some of the hardest, meanest and plain craziest people ever born can get involved with and embrace recycling programs, grow-your-own food systems and composting, then why can’t all the rest of us, who actually still Have our freedoms?!  The simple answer is, we can!

I just read a pretty inspiring and awesome article about how certain prisons, namely the one from the article in Olympia, Washington, are doing more than their part in trying to “green” up the prison systems.  Apparently, “Inmates of the minimum-security facility, 25 miles from Olympia, the state capital, raise bees, grow organic tomatoes and lettuce, compost 100 percent of food waste and even recycle shoe scraps that are made into playground turf.” How insanely awesome is that?!

Because prisons are 24 hours a day, 7 days a week buildings and must always be “on” it is no secret that they are Massive energy “hogs” as it were, and use a great deal of energy, resources, food and electricity to keep up.  Doing this helps “give back” and reduce the already massive carbon footprint that most prisons have become.  The secretary of the Washington State Department of Corrections was quoted as saying, ““It reduces cost, reduces our damaging impact on the environment, engages inmates as students…”  What’s more, a prison in California that is doing similar things, uses solar panels to actually give BACK enough energy to the grid to power over 4,000 local homes.  Wow.

The bottom line is, if prisons can take steps like this to help green up the environment, why can’t the rest of us?  It is far easier for us to start composting, recycling and even starting some amazing gardens in our back yard.  Every tiny step helps, so why don’t we All start taking a few giant leaps?

(Image via Wikipedia)

Well, It is officially November 10th and the elections are Over!  We’ll have a new President in the White House come January and there are changes being made all over the country.  Drive down any residential street, however, and there’s one change that still needs to be made:  What to do with all of those Obama/McCain, Governor, Senator and Local Office signs and placards up in all of our yards?!

The truth is, on my street at least, there are Hundreds of them left, and there is nothing being done with them yet.  Why throw them away?  Why send them to take up further space in our already over-burdened landfills, why not do something else, why not Recycle?  Some people campaigning might have used paper-placards, those are easy enough to deal with and recycle, but what about the plastic ones?  According to an article I just read, the first step, and probably easiest, would be to call the local office of whomever the sign is for…many of them have staffers on hand that are already out collecting and recycling them.  If not, you could reuse the sign, simply turn the plastic sleeve inside out and use it for your next garage sale or event you need to advertise for.

The article also mentioned, you could reuse the wire as rebar in your next concrete project, turn the sign into an oil drip catcher to put underneath your car.  The bottom line is, there are an Infinite number of ways to make sure that the plastic sign you believed so much in, doesn’t end up as extra waste in our landfills.  Get creative, after all, wouldn’t your candidate have wanted that?!

(Image via Wikipedia)