Guests

John Jaimez and Meredith Fox are here to talk about the great sustainable initiatives that are taking place in the Minneapolis public school system.  Here's a snippit from their new MPS Goes Green Website:

Environmental sustainability is a commitment we must make as a district to improve the health of our students, maximize the use of our resources, and act as a responsible partner in our community and planet. District students, teachers, parents, staff, and community volunteers have made great strides in the past few years towards “greening” our schools. Schools have formed green committees to promote environmentally-friendly programming, recycling has become an increasing priority, investments have been made to ensure the efficiency of our facilities, and bus emissions have been reduced. The Division of Policy & Operations began an effort in the fall of 2008 to leverage and coordinate this energy to build a District-wide Sustainability Agenda. This included the creation of a Green Accomplishments Report and the ‘MPS Goes Green’ website. On February 10, 2009, the MPS Board of Education formalized this direction by passing a resolution expressing environmental sustainability as a value of the Minneapolis Public Schools.

Matt Danielson is here from the Green Home Doctors to talk to us about home energy audits and weatherization.  Whether your home is old or new, it can most likely benefit from a whole home energy audit.  Matt and his team use diagnostic tools such as a blower door test and an infrared heat monitor to detect leaks in your home.  They can identify areas where you may need additional weatherstripping, insulation or energy efficient light bulbs.  Not only will Matt's team help you to identify these areas, they will also help you fix them.  You can save yourself hundreds of dollars on energy costs with these improvements.

Green Tips and Ideas

Light Green Tip #1962 -Recycle Your Inkjet Cartridges

Over 13 cartridges are discarded in the U.S. every second, according to CartridgeFundraising.com.  That's hundreds of millions of cartridges that end up in landfills every year, made with plastics that can take at least 1,000 years to decompose. Not a good thing.

Stop wasting!  Many inkjet cartridges can be used more than once by buying a refill kit.  If refilling isn't your thing visit  Earth911.org to find your nearest collection place.  Many companies, such as Hewlett-Packard, take them back for free. They provide mailers or labels for you to ship them back to be recycled or refurbished.

It takes about 80% less energy to remanufacture plastic than to produce it new. And remanufactured laser cartridges use about half the amount of oil (a nonrenewable fossil fuel) needed to make brand new ones. So buy recycled cartridges to begin with. You'll save them from entering the waste stream.

Dark Green Tip #7453 - my tip for the day is some information on an all natural, chemical free way to reduce the mosquito and bug bites you might suffer this summer. No it's not something you spray or rub on your skin... I want you to build... ready... a bat house.  Yes, anyone with a little handiness, can build their yard a bat house that will give bats a place to live.  And if the bat's stomping ground is your yard, they will fly around at dusk and thru the night eating the mosquitos that would potentially eat you. (You know what I mean.) Bats are great neighbors to have around. A single brown bat can eat up to 1,000 mosquitoes in one hour.

HERE IS A LINK TO A FEW DIFFERENT WEBSITES WITH DIRECTIONS TO BUILD YOUR OWN BAT HOUSE!