Replacing our LAST two incadescent lights with LEDs

Lighting technology has come a long way in the past ten years and I can now proudly say we are beyond incandescent lights in our home.  Today, I swapped out the last two incandescents with LED bulbs that Alicia won in an Earth Hour Facebook giveaway from Philips - EnduraLED 12W 2700K A19 Dimmable lamp .


Wait! the Hunts still used incandescent lights? That's correct.  We had two light bulbs left that we had not replaced with compact fluorescent lights (CFL) or light emitting diodes (LED). Both were in our toddler's room.

Accident prone table lamp

One was in a table lamp we used less than an hour a day for reading bedtime stories.  Because CFLs contain a trace amount of mercury and this is a very energetic toddler's room, the energy savings was not worth the risk of the toddler breaking the CFL.

Don't try this with CFL or incandescent light bulb!
LED bulb not hot to the touch after being on 5 minutes.

The second incandescent bulb was in his overhead light. This location wasn't a concern for breakage, but rather we need this fixture to be dimmable as part of his bedtime routine.  A good dimmable CFL only dims to about 40% of full brightness, where an incandescent or LED can get down to under 10% which is key for keeping enough light to change cloth diapers, etc.while being dim enough to create a calming atmosphere.  Also, when we tried putting a dimmable CFL into this fixture last year, the hum  from the old style magnetic ballasted dimmer switch was very annoying.

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Being Part of a Guinness World Record™! Great Cloth Diaper Change!

Today I helped out at the Great Cloth Diaper Change event hosted by the Diaper Lab in Somerville, MA.  Salina and her staff at the Diaper Lab were GREAT hosts and ran a great event!  They have a great store and if you ever need advice on cloth diapers, I HIGHLY recommend it!

Gathering for the Great Cloth Diaper Change

All 41 participating pairs arrived by noon, in plenty of time to get everyone signed in and ready to go.   We had moms, dads and at least one grandma participating in the change.  Salina did a wonderful job entertaining all the attendees for half an hour before the official diaper change!  They played games and sang songs, all while staying in their grid for the change.   I was really impressed by her ability to entertain the group for that long!

As the time for the great change approached we made some announcements - "Remember, although we will blow a whistle to start, this is not actually a race!  You do not have to complete the change in a certain amount of time."  "In addition to entering the raffle here, you can enter a second time at the store - they have over $1000 worth of giveaways including diapers, a 1 hour massage and an UPPA BABY STROLLER!"  We were pleased to have Cloth Diapers and cloth diapering accessories generously donated by Knickernappies, Happy Heinys, Bummis, Swaddlebees, Rumparooz, Lansinoh, Crow Mountain Crafts and more!

41 Simultaneous Cloth Diaper Changes as part of 10,000

Then we announced the time and Salina blew a train whistle to start the Great Cloth Diaper Change!  We didn't have any escapees, and my own son, who I expected to be trouble, was so stunned by everything going on that he laid still and was the first one done (courtesy of Jon)!  The photographers, both the professional photographer, Isabel Furie, and the one from the Boston Herald snapped photos.  (How great is it that even the professional photographer is a cloth diaper fan!)

We then had one final line, as we asked everyone to line up to get a swag bag full of giveaways from the Diaper Lab and other companies and an All-In-One (AIO) free diaper from Swaddlebees!  What an awesome surprise!

One of the most thrilling things for me was to see the level of excitement around cloth diapers.  These were all people who were not just using cloth diapers, but who were excited enough about them and their benefits to come out on a rainy, cold, Easter & Passover weekend to show their support and help us set a Guinness World Record™ for the most 100% reusable cloth diapers changed at once!  There were even some expecting moms their to watch and learn.

My friend Carole said "It was so fun to have that many cloth bums in one spot."

Why cloth diaper?   I talked about it last week but here's a summary:

• Cloth Diapers are Better for the Environment
  
• Cloth Diapers are Better for Your Baby and You
  
• Cloth Diapers Cost Less
  

If you have, or will have a baby in diapers, then I strongly recommend you check out cloth diapers.  Don't forget, cloth diapers don't have to be fancy and expensive.  There are plenty of less expensive cloth diapers, WAHM (Work at Home Mom) cloth diapers on Etsy, cloth diaper giveaways, people willing to lend or donate cloth diapers and instructions for making your own out of old clothing out there to help even the most cash-strapped parents use and reuse cloth diapers!


Happy Greening!
Alicia

Super-Healthy Yummy Vegan-or-Not Pancakes (or Waffles)

Part of being "green" is being healthy - or so I think.  Many years ago I started making large batches of pancakes and waffles for my family and freezing them.   Then each morning we'd bring a few out and toast or microwave them and have a healthy, homemade breakfast as fast as a processed, frozen breakfast.  Over the years I have varied up the recipe and added or removed ingredients based on current tastes and what was in the house.

This is a great project to do with the whole family.  I have twins,  so when they were younger (about 3) I started having them both help.  They would each get their own bowl and each get to add all the ingredients and take turns mixing (I helped them with the electric mixer).  Children always seem to be more interested in eating something that they help make.   This was also an easy way to make a double batch.  I find that mixing and cooking a double batch of these generally takes me about two hours, with a griddle and 2 waffle irons going.

You could make the whole thing organic by just buying organic versions of the ingredients!

Pancakes or Waffles
large batch (Use an extra large bowl)

2 c. white flour or bisquick
2 c. whole wheat flour
2 c. wheat germ
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1-3 bananas, a little old is better,  can't be too old
1/2 can pumpkin (or 1 whole can and less bananas, optional)
3 eggs  (can substitute 3/4 c. applesauce for the eggs)
4 c. milk, rice milk or soy milk
dollop of canola oil if making waffles (maybe 2 Tbs?)
chocolate chips (For vegan pancakes make sure chips don't have milk as an ingredient, usually Bakers or Whole Foods semi-sweet are good)


other ingredients if desired:
applesauce or diced apples or pears can replace other fruits
even water can replace milk (e.g. for babies too young for milk)

 Directions:

1. Stir dry ingredients together
2. Mush and add bananas  (knead them in the skin or crush on a plate with a fork)
3. Add pumpkin
4. Add eggs (or applesauce)
5. Add milk & oil
6. Mix (I use an electric hand mixer)
7. Add chocolate chips, stir
8. Cook! 

Pancakes:
I usually make small pancakes on the griddle, cooking about 3 minutes on the first side and 1 minute on the second side. 

Waffles:
I put them in the waffle iron for about 3-5 minutes, depending on how crunchy you like them. 

Storage:
I pile them on a plate as they finish cooking and the ones that don't get eaten immediately, I let cool.  Then I put them into plastic bags and freeze them.   (I write on the bags, and when I empty a bag I have a corner of the freezer I tuck them into.  Then the next time I cook I shake out the crumbs and re-use the plastic bags

Re-heating:
I usually have to pry waffles apart with a knife.  Then I toast them.  We usually microwave the pancakes, but if you take a minute to re-fry them on the stove they're much better.

I also used this to teach them how to count.  They always wanted chocolate chips to eat and I would ask them "How many do you want?"  and then I would give them the number they each asked for!  It took quite a while for them to figure out to ask for "lots" rather than "2" or "5".  It was fun watching them figure it out over several months.

Let me know how these turn out for you and how you alter them! 

Happy Eating!
Alicia

B Kind 2 Earth Day

What do you have planned for Earth Day?  Will you be doing something special on Earth Day?  or over the weekend?   Do you celebrate Earth Day everyday?

We'll be going to the dentist for Earth Day!  No,  I'm not kidding...   This year Earth Day seems to have really spread itself out.  Officially, Earth Day is April 22nd every year.  I'll be helping to organize a location for the Great Cloth Diaper Change on Saturday the 23rd.   This is an international event to raise awareness about the benefits of cloth diapers.  You can hear me evangelize on cloth diapers on the blog post we wrote for that last week. 

Next week I'm organizing a tree planting for my city for Earth Day & Arbor Day.   Our city is a member of Tree City USA, and among other things, we have a commitment to be intentional about our trees and invest in their growth and care.  As part of our educational outreach we will be planting two trees next to a middle school.  The tree on the east side will be an evergreen, and serve as a windbreak.  The tree on the south side will be deciduous.  In the summer it will shade the building and in the winter it will allow the sun to warm the classrooms.

Something we are doing as a family is promoting the B Kind 2 Earth Day page on Facebook.   The Motherhood, Nickelodeon and the National Wildlife Federation have banded together to raise awareness for Earth Day.   A like for their Facebook page equals a promise to B Kind 2 the Earth on 4/22/11.  They have a bunch of suggestions for things you could do that are as simple as taking a reusable bag to the grocery store or taking the kids for a walk.  Consider reading young children an environmentally friendly book.  I accidentally stumbled across One Less Fish by Kim Michelle Toft and Allan Sheather a few years ago - here's my review and recommendation. 

Another idea for Earth Day is to plant a few flowers, either outside or in a pot.  Then when you want to give someone flowers, you can give them some you grew yourself.  Check out the evils of cut flowers from our blog post Evils of Cut Flowers Revisited for Mothers Day.

Whatever you do, do something for Earth Day and consider making it something you can keep on doing every day.

Happy Greening!
Alicia

Great Cloth Diaper Change!

Do you cloth diaper?
Have you THOUGHT about cloth diapering?
Would you like to meet other moms in the area that cloth diaper?
Do you know that using cloth diapers is CHEAPER than disposables? And better for your babies!
Have you ever wanted to help set a Guinness™ World Record?

For Earth Day, the International Cloth Diapering Community is going to be having over 400 events around the world to set the Guinness™ World Record for the most number of cloth diapers ever changed at once.

Green Lifestyle Consulting will be hosting a location at the Medford City Hall, here in Medford Massachusetts, with support from co-hosting a location with the Diaper Lab of Somerville, MA

Join us on Saturday, April 23rd at Noon EDT to set the World Record, meet other cloth diapering moms, learn about cloth diapering and be entered into the raffle to for the Grand Prizes at the Diaper Lab. The first 25 registered participants All attendees will receive freebies/swag and coupons courtesy of the Diaper Lab and many supporting companies.

Please register as soon as possible as we need to have at least 25 eligible participants for our location to count towards the record and the number of official, independent witnesses we need to arrange for depend on the number of participants. out location will only hold 50 adult-child pairs.

Registration and complete details are available at http://www.diaperlab.com/events/cloth-diaper-change.php

(Eligible participants must have 1 adult per child being changed, adult must be over 18 and child must be under 39 inches in length. Cloth diapers are available to borrow with sufficient advance notice.)

So why am I crazy enough to host such an event with an already full plate?

Recently I've been describing myself as a cloth diaper evangelist.  I feel strongly that cloth diapers are better for the environment, better for your baby and you, and cheaper overall.  If you know a few tricks, you can get started with cloth diapers for next to nothing.  Sure you have to wash them, but that's a small sacrifice to make for all the benefits and diaper laundry is easy enough, besides Jon did it all for the first few months.

Cloth Diapers are Better for the Environment

In general, reusing something versus disposing of it after only one use is better for the environment.  By reusing cloth diapers time and time again, we avoid the added waste being sent to the landfills as well as the consumption of plastics and other raw materials that go into making disposable diapers.  Some facts about disposable diapers that may shock you:

• From birth-to-potty training, each baby will need about 6,000 diapers changes
• Disposable diapers take 250-500 years to decompose.

Cloth Diapers are Better for Your Baby and You

Most disposable diapers contain strong chemicals that absorb the urine and swell to many times their original size.  Some disposable diapers have caused chemicals burns on babies.  There was a recent push for Pampers to continue carrying the previous generation of diapers after numerous babies experienced the burns from the ultra thin diapers last year.  Even though all disposable diapers say to dump and flush the feces down the toilet, practically no one does causing a health hazard.  Here are a few facts we got from the Great Cloth Diaper Change materials that you should know:

• Once they are used, roughly 90 percent to 95 percent of the 18 billion feces-and urine-filled disposable diapers enter the household trash stream and ultimately end up in landfills, creating an immediate public health hazard. Leachate containing viruses from human feces (including live vaccines from routine childhood immunizations) can leak into the Earth and pollute underground water supplies. In addition to the potential of groundwater contamination, air-borne viruses carried by flies and other insects contribute to an unhealthy and unsanitary situation. 
• Disposable diapers expose babies to harmful toxins including dioxin, TBT and sodium polyacrilite and are linked to increases in skin sensitivities, respiratory illnesses and even declining fertility rates in males!

Cloth Diapers Cost Less

While you need to invest in cloth diapers upfront, in the long run you can save $1,000 or more dollars per child if you choose to use cloth diapers instead of disposables.  Average prices for disposable diapers run between 20-40 cents per diaper.  Over the typical baby's progress from birth to potty training, he or she will need roughly 6,000 diaper changes.  If you go the disposable route that works out to $1,200-2,400 just for the diapers.  You can comfortably cloth diapers for under $500 covering the same period from birth to potty training.  Over that period you will need several sets of cloth diapers as your baby grows, but that is included in the $500 cost.

Recently a news report started circulating about how some people are so strapped for money that they are re-using disposable diapers because they can't afford diapers for their children.  That really horrified me, in addition to the rest of the cloth diaper community, and I was really glad when Cotton Babies posted about how to make cloth diapers out of old clothes and blankets.

So, how could this cloth diaper evangelist turn down the opportunity to spread the word about cloth diapering and set a world record with fellow moms (and dads) around the world when we change the most cloth diapers at one time.

Join Us on Saturday, April 23 for the Great Cloth Diaper Change

Happy Greening,
Alicia

Support GLC in Three Eco Inspired Contests

Something is in the air, because we came across three exciting green-themed contests to enter that are going simultaneously and involve voting.  We'd appreciate your vote in these contests.  Given the complexity of entering some of the contests, I thought it might be helpful to outline the steps below.

EcoMom Healthy Home Makeover Contest

• Starts: March 28, 2011
• Ends: April 24, 2011 
• Grand Prize: $75,000 custom Health Home Makeover created by ecomom's team of experts
• How it works?
  Top 10 semi-finalists determined by public voting.  Grand Prize Winner selected by panel of judges
• How often can you vote?
  You can vote for up to 3 entries per day (24 hours after your last vote), so if you enter let us know and we can support you too.  Voting requires adding the ecomom facebook app.

Instructions for signing up and voting
1. Allow access to the ecomom facebook app in facebook.
2. Go to our Protecting My Family Entry (or click the image above)
3. Click on the Vote button (you can vote for up to 3 entries per day)
4. Share on facebook if you are willing
5. Come back tomorrow and vote again.  If you vote at 10am, you cannot vote for this entry again until tomorrow at 10:01am.

If we win, which is a long shot as there are some amazing entries in the contest, we promise to blog about what we learn and share our experience with everyone.  At the writing of this we were 12th of over 650 entries.

The Art of Reuse Contest by Green is Universal and Esty

• Starts: April 9, 2011
• Ends: April 15, 2011 
• Grand Prize: Family Vacation for 4 to Universal Studios, Orlando, FL
• How it works?
  Top semi-finalists determined by public voting in each category.  Grand Prize Winner selected by panel of celebrity judges including Tori Spelling, Lauren Bush, Martha Steward, Kathie Lee, Hoda Kotb, Angela Matusik and Andy Cohen.
• How often can you vote?
  You can vote for 1 entry per category of
• Fashion
• Home Decor
• Jewelry <- Jon's Solar Panel Necklace
  
• Pets
• Toys, Games & Gadget
• Sweepstakes
  By signing up and voting you are entered into a drawing for a $500 shopping spree, where you could if you wanted to buy some solar panel jewelry or lots of other handmade and vintage items from small independent crafters.

Instructions for signing up and voting (sorry this is a bit cumbersome)
1. Visit the ReUser's Guide to Green Living Art of Reuse Contest page
2. Click Login
3. Click Register Now button
4. Register and sign up.
5. Check your email for your password.  Several people have reported it going into their spam folders.
6. Visit my Solar Panel Necklace entry.
7. Click Login
8. Enter your username and password.
9. Scroll down to below the pictures and click Cast Vote in this Category
10. Check out some of the great projects listed and cast your votes in the other categories.

p.s. don't be tricked by the Contest page saying the contest is over, that is for submitting entries

Given the other amazing creations in the jewelry category, I'd be thrilled just to make it to the final round.  Each entry features a description of how it is made including either a video or before, during and after photos.

Top 25 Eco-Friend Moms by Circle of Moms

This is by far the easiest contest to enter, no sign ups, no limit to the number of entries you can vote for and best of all this is a great list of EcoMom Blogs out there.  Many of our friends and fellow green mom bloggers are on the list like Practically Green, Groovy Green Livin', and Alexandra Zissu to name just a few.  We've been voting for them too.  The voting runs through April 17, 2011.

You can find us about 22nd on the list currently to vote.

We appreciate your support and encouragement through these contests, your comments on our blog and messages on facebook.

Happy Green Voting!
Jon

p.s. The really important green voting will come election time, this is all just for fun compared to that.

Greening Your Camping - Mosquito Bite Relief

During our camping trip last summer I got an excessive number of mosquito bites on my legs, upwards of 25 on each leg. My biggest learning from that was that it's important to use a reasonable amount of bug spray, especially when it's hot out and you're wearing shorts. Around here we have mosquitoes that carry diseases, so insect repellant isn't really something to mess with.

However, once I had the bites, I decided that this was a great opportunity to try a variety of natural mosquito bite treatments and see what worked best. I've started to pay attention to what's in the topical products we put on ourselves and our children, because you absorb chemicals through your skin and beauty products are not regulated the way food is.  I poked around on the web to get ideas of natural remedies that I could try.

I found that vinegar provided instant relief - I dabbed it on with a cotton ball. Baking soda in a paste with water worked for a little while, but left white patches on my skin that brushed off easily - and when they brushed off, the itching returned. To sleep I took benedryl and my usual loratadine in addition to my natural remedies.

I took baking soda paste with me to work and reapplied it throughout the day, but by about 3 o'clock I was ready to go out to the store to buy something else to try. That prompted another google search which came up with many ideas, including putting scotch tape on them. Since I had scotch tape in my desk drawer, I tried it. The tape worked surprisingly well. When I got home that evening my 1 year old was picking at my leg and I finally realized he was pulling the little pieces of tape off the bites. I had forgotten all about them! When the tape came off, the itching came back.

By this point I was getting fairly frustrated by the bites so I started putting hydrocortisone cream on the bites, a prescription, 3% tube that I had. This helped, but did not provide any instant relief, so it needed to be paired with something else.

A few people told me that toothpaste - the paste, not the gel kind - worked for them. This is now my favorite remedy for bites, and is easy to come by and even carry a little tube in your purse. I tried Aquafresh, Crest and Tom's of Maine. Unfortunately the Aquafresh and Crest both worked significantly better than the Tom's of Maine. (We're trying new toothpastes that are more environmentally friendly - watch for a post on that.)

The toothpaste worked right away, it worked for a long time and it's easy to come by or carry around with you. The only drawback was that it leaves a spot of white or green that others can see.

Other things I tried included:

• tea tree oil - I didn't notice it working
• "after bite" - mostly ammonia - didn't work much
• putting a cross with your finger nail in the bite - the pain makes it itch less, but it doesn't work for long

Something that I always did for my children, but didn't try myself, was to put a bandaid over it. I thought this would keep the children from scratching as much and getting it infected. If it works at all like the scotch tape, I bet the bandaid also helped the itching.

My main suggestion is to try not to get bitten, but if you do, I recommend toothpaste on the bite.

Happy Camping!
Alicia

Other articles in our Greening Your Camping Series:
Greening your Camping - Reusable Utensils
Greening your Camping - Cloth Diapers

Going for Solar: Your First Electric Bill (Step 12)

I cannot believe how excited I was about getting an electric bill.  I was eagerly anticipating our first electric bill after we turned on our Solar Awning.  Yeah, I'm probably a little crazy, but I was excited to see how low our net-usage was, that is, how little electricity we used from the grid. Here is how we did for December:

Because our electric bill doesn't match with the calendar months, for the remainder of this post, when I refer to December, I mean the period from November 20 to December 21 that corresponds to our first full month's electric bill with solar.

Our electricity net-usage for 2010

Our electric bill for December was only $38.73 with a net-usage of 214 kWh.  By reading our solar meter, we determined that we produced 245 kWh from our solar awning for a total consumption of 459 kWh.  The total usage  is down by 100 kWh (18%) from our consumption last December of 559 kWh, so we can see our efficiency practices paying off as well as the impact of the solar awning.

Given that in December our solar awning was producing over half of our electricity, I was very excited to see this bill! 

I now eagerly anticipate the bill each month.  I can't wait to see what the longer days of spring and summer do to our solar production.  I'm hoping that for some months we will be net producers of electricity. 

Happy Greening!
Jon

Going for Solar Series

Check out the other steps in Green Lifestyle Consulting's Going for Solar Series including photos throughout the construction.