Just How Green Are You?

I've been thinking about how I can become more responsible in my personal life as well as through work, and realized I was already headed down the Green path without realizing the decisions I was making would have a positive impact on the earth.

No doubt you are greener than you thought as well. Below are some things I've been doing for years, if you can think of something you didn't realize, originally, that was green, please add to the list!

  • Recycling old clothes through donations, as well as using old clothes and t-shirts for cleaning around the house.
  • Buying clothes from consignment shops (the tank top in my picture is one!)
  • Old toothbrushes are kept to scrub baseboards, seams between sinks and counter-tops, etc.
  • Donating old furniture or sending it to the cottage, reupholstering old furniture
  • restoring original hardwood flooring and and baseboards, etc. rather than buying new
  • shopping at Habitat For Humanity's ReStore (Cobourg & Scarborough)
  • shopping at salvage sellers (for old flooring, windows, sinks, tubs, fixtures, etc)
  • diverting old cast iron fencing to salvage sellers rather than sending to the dump
  • using vinegar as a cleaner around the house
  • shopping at auctions
  • moving furniture around in the house to use in different ways rather than discarding it when it no longer serves it's original purpose

I probably do more, and just haven't realised they are Green decisions I've made, but that's what I've come up with for now.

Of course, we consciously made Green choices such as changed all our light bulbs, keep the heat lower and wear more layers in the winter and higher in the summer to limit use of the air-conditioner, turn off lights leaving a room, recycle organic food waste, plastic, glass, and paper.

My goal now is to recognize when I have a choice of going Green or leaving a bigger imprint on the environment and to make the Green choice.

Dane Caldwell, Home Staging - Lead Design Consultant

www.2-hounds.com

 

 

 

 

6 Comments on Just How Green Are You?

You know, we are in one of the industries that depends partially on ruining habitat to make a living.  In the last 50+ years I've seen towns grow from a few thousand people to cities of a few hundred thousand people.  I've seen large tracts of forest cut down to make room for development.  The little two-lane road that I used to be one of the few to use fifteen years ago, is now crowded during morning and evening rush hour because of all the communities that have been developed in the once forested country side. I am a naturalist, not a greener.  I would like to see the development better planned to have minimal impact on the native wild life.  

Like a lot of us in the AR community, I depend upon demand for housing for my lively hood, I do things that might make you think that I'm a greener and I am truly a naturalist and care about the wildlife.

04/19/2007 10:20 AM by Roger Stensland (Brio Realty)


I don't think I am green at all......hmmmm.....LOL

Seriously, I would put myself at a medium green.

04/19/2007 10:21 AM by Christy Powers - Pooler, Savannah Real Estate Agent (Keller Williams Coastal Area Partners)


LOL, Christy, I thought I was more of a Putty than Green, seems I've got more green undertones than I thought!

Roger, I hear you! There are some amazing 'urban' designers, not sure what they are called professionally, who respect the land and design to reduce roads, protect nature, etc. unfortunately, Municipalities and Provincial/Federal governments don't invest in their skills.

One of the most famous of these designers is a Canadian woman too! Can anyone think of her name?

04/19/2007 10:29 AM by Dane Caldwell - Downtown Toronto Decorator Home Stager (2 Hounds Design + Home Staging)


We can all be a little more green I think.  Thanks for the reminder. 

04/19/2007 10:49 AM by Michael Hutchins - Consumer Advocate, Chicago (Michael Hutchins Ent.)


Dane,

Those are all great ideas. I have a friend that recycled old pallets for his floors. Lots of work pulling nails and planing but the results looked great. All scraps were sent to create pellets for stoves.

04/19/2007 06:34 PM by Gary Smith, RealtorĀ® (The Michigan Group - Livingston)


Use "FreeCycle.com" for unwanted stuff ... it's one of the Yahoo groups.

http://www.freecycle.org/

 

05/06/2007 07:32 AM by Sandi Gerrard, CRSS (Feel at Home * redesign * staging * training)


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Home Stager: Dane Caldwell - Downtown Toronto Decorator Home Stager (2 Hounds Design + Home Staging)
Dane Caldwell - Downtown Toronto Decorator Home Stager
Toronto, ON
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2 Hounds Design + Home Staging

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