What You Can Do for Door County's Environment at DCEC

You can also do theses things at home as suggested by
DCEC president Eileen Anderas' regular column in our newsletter.
Here's her last three columns:

Fall 2008 Newsletter

In the spring newsletter I asked readers of this column to share their tips and ideas on things they do to make a difference protecting our planet. Thank you to all the respondents and here are their suggestions:

Nancy M. said that she saves paper towel cardboard rolls and slits them down the long way to open them up. Then she wraps her holiday lights or extension cords around the core to keep them organized and tangle-free.
David J. uses pipe insulation to wrap his hot water pipes. It keeps the water warmer and you don’t have to run the faucet very long to get hot water.
Charles A. suggested turning down the temperature on your water heater to 120°. That’s hot enough for all your needs with the exception of a dishwasher that doesn’t have a booster heater. He suggested getting a dishwasher with a booster heater because it will heat only the dishwater’s water to the proper temperature for sanitizing. In the long run, this saves energy.
Janet K. always turns off her water heater when going away for a few days and also turns off the water heater between visits to her summer cottage. It only takes about 30 minutes to warm up the water when the heater’s switched back on.
Jane F. vacuums the coils on the back of her refrigerator twice a year for better efficiency. She also keeps her freezer at least half-full because it runs more efficiently than an empty one. If she doesn’t have enough food to keep the freezer half-full she makes extra ice cubes and stores them in bags to fill up the space.
Andrea E. always makes up her waterbed in the morning because the covers act as an insulator and reduces the energy needed to heat the bed.
Margaret M. tries to buy all the kids cereal in the bulk pack but sometimes buys the boxes so she compensates by reusing the wax bag inside for store vegetables or packing the kids lunches. She’ll then cut the box in half the long way and uses the halves to store the kids school papers of magazines on a shelf.

I’d like to thank everybody for sharing these great ideas that we can put into practice in our own lives as well
If you would like to share your tips, e-mail them to me at: eileen@dcec-wi.org or write to: Make a Difference, DCEC P.O. Box 114, Fish Creek WI 54212.

Summer 2008 Newsletter

A few weeks ago, I took an early morning walk on “garbage day” in my neighborhood and was surprised at how many good or useful items were being thrown out instead of being donated to local groups like Clothe My People or The Sunshine House.
All those items were headed to a landfill rather than to someone who could use them—and in these hard times it could be someone who really needs them—if only the owner had taken the time to drop them off at a donation site.

I found this list of sample times for biodegradability for items in a landfill from the U.K. Department of the Environment:

Banana Peel    2 to 10 days
Orange Peel    6 months
Cotton Rags    1 to 5 months
Paper    2 to 5 months
Wool Socks    1 to 5 years
Cigarette Filter    3 to 12 years
Plastic Bags    10 to 20 years
Leather Shoes    25 to 40 years
Nylon Fabric    30 to 40 year
Styrofoam Cups    100 years
Plastic 6-pack Holder Rings    450 years

Imagine the time it would take to biodegrade the perfectly good garden hoe, winter coat or the Playskool baby toys that I saw that morning. We should all try and avoid buying things that take so long to decay.
You can make a difference by recycling your clothes and household items at your local charity or resale shop or, if you prefer, here’s a list of online sites (click on site name to link to that site):

Freecycle.com    4,000 cities worldwide
Neighborrow.com:    trade, borrow or gift for “neighborhood bucks”
Craigslist.org:     “Free Section”
ReCellular.com:     donate old cell phones
MyBoneYard.com or GreenPhone.com: electronics forcash or reward                                                                                 points
MakingMemories.org:    wedding and bridesmaids’ dresses to
                                      benefit breast cancer research
Glassslipperproject.org:    formals and prom dresses for low-income
                                        high school students

Spring 2008 Newsletter

This column is a collection of bits and pieces with no central theme other than reducing your waste and saving energy.

Bring your own coffee cup in for a refill—Fill your travel mug or ceramic cup with coffee so you don’t was a disposable paper/styro cup.
Cover pots when cooking—A covered pot will cook the contents faster when covered thus saving energy. Even if you are boiling water for pasta, cover the pot to bring the water to a boil before adding the pasta. Then, keep it partially covered.
Buy quality products—Avoid buying products that are made cheaply: to be used once— only to be thrown away. It’s wasteful and costly.
Store a pitcher of water in the fridge—This will eliminate running your tap water until it gets cold enough for you to drink.
Use leftover water to water plants—Save the water you use when soaking beans, rinsing produce, steaming vegetables, cooking pasta, boiling eggs, etc…. Pour it into your watering can after it’s cooled and water your plants.
Donate stuff—Used clothing or household items in good condition can be donated to local charities. Used art supplies can be donated to schools or day care centers.

I’ve been giving you ideas for a couple of years now, but I’m sure you have things that you do to make a difference in your lives that you might share with our readers.

So now it’s your turn to pass advice alon: Send me your ideas via e-mail at eileen@dcec-wi.org or write to: Make a Difference, DCEC, PO Box 114, Fish Creek, WI 544212.