Archive for September, 2011
Happy Eco-News Friday!
Friday, September 30th, 2011U.S. demand for gasoline hits a 10 year low! it’s due to the bad economy, however, not conservation measures. As skeptical as she is about facebook, Karina does appreciate that Mark Zuckerberg is only eating animals that he has killed himself. The latest iteration of the Toyota Prius will be cheaper AND way more fuel [...]
Used Goods: A Sound Business Decision
Wednesday, September 28th, 2011Being the Tiny Choosers we are, many of us already borrow instead of buy, repair what’s broken, buy used items, and then limit our purchases to what we feel we really need or want. This isn’t a “poverty mentality” or one of deprivation, but instead takes into account the realities of manufacturing and transportation and [...]
Why do we live where we do?
Monday, September 26th, 2011I’ve been thinking a lot lately about why we live (and work) where we do. Partly it’s because we have been really slapped in the face that our location is really not conducive to a smooth environmental lifestyle – in the recent hurricane/tropical storm, there was a period of 36 hours where we couldn’t leave [...]
Easy Peasy Tip: Carpool!
Saturday, September 24th, 2011Let’s face it: when you’re most busy, adding inflexibility into your schedule can seem like the worst thing in the world. And for many of us carpooling really does seem to be the area of environmental change that is the most difficult to wrangle, because it adds another (or several others) equally-as-busy schedules into the [...]
Happy Eco-News Fridays!
Friday, September 23rd, 2011Going Vegan with Ellen NYC’s bikeshare will have 10,000 bikes (Editor’s Note: Yayyyyyy!) Orange Gold: Citrus Peels Move from the Landfill to the Engine Guatemalan Schools Built from Bottles, Not Bricks Over 100,000 Americans work in solar industry Simple And Cute Vertical Garden With PET Bottle Tops Idea From Brazil Energy genius wins MacArthur grant [...]
Wednesday, September 21st, 2011
I was recently given an early birthday present of a Kindle e-Reader, after a lot of hemming about whether I was ready to join the e-reader revolution. My hesitation hinged around the fact that I love books– not just reading, but also the books themselves. The feeling of seeing a book lying on a table, [...]
Recycling fail?
Monday, September 19th, 2011So, I was happy to take my family to the Maker Faire in Queens this weekend – it has so many of our common values – making and fixing things, avoiding lots of buying, and building a community of people who *do things* together – I mean, did you see the awesome sculpture used from [...]
Easy Peasy Tip: Make Something New!
Saturday, September 17th, 2011This weekend Maker Faire hits NYC, so we wanted to remind you to take a wild stab at something, jump outside of your comfort level, and make something new. We aren’t all experts at everything but we can generally figure something out – be it sewing, canning, electronics, or general repair and fix-it. So the [...]
A Note from Team Tiny Choices
Friday, September 16th, 2011This has been a trying summer for Team Tiny Choices; between kids football practices, international travel, day jobs, and keeping up with a bountiful CSA share, our free time has shrunk and our attention been distracted. Given that we’ve been writing daily — daily! — posts here for over four years now, some might say [...]
Free Bikeshare For Fashion Week
Wednesday, September 14th, 2011Apparently, this is Fashion Week here in NYC, which I didn’t know until I was out and about and running into what were apparently fashion shows on practically every corner. And, normally, Fashion Week wouldn’t excite me in the least. But then I passed the absolute coolest thing down in the Meatpacking District, and I knew I [...]
Packing Waste-Free Lunches
Monday, September 12th, 2011I recently read this really interesting article in the NYTimes about schools that require kids to pack their lunches in reusable or compostable materials. Wow! I have no idea how prevalent this is – and the article doesn’t have much in hard facts – but it does have neat quotes like these: In school years [...]
Easy Peasy Tip: Sleep on it!
Saturday, September 10th, 2011It’s another time of year when seasons are changing – for some you may be transitioning from the summer recess to the school year again, for others, you are dealing with a winter-to-spring transition. You know, we’ve talked about picking something new for the new season before – but we also advise you to Sleep [...]
Happy Eco-News Fridays!
Friday, September 9th, 2011Behold the Toilet-Sharing App California passes bill to ban shark fin soup Ultra-Rare African Golden Cat Caught on Video for the First Time (Slideshow) Aussie Police Refuse to Execute Dive-Bombing Bird Weekday Vegetarian: Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes and Breadcrumb Gremolata Dolphins ‘talk’ like humans, scientists say Get Interest Paid in Cheese and Cider: The Surprising [...]
Helping Local Farmers
Monday, September 5th, 2011Last weekend when Tropical Storm (nee Hurricane) Irene swept through the northeast, she dumped lots of rain in short short time, and – well. there was flooding, lots of it. Some of the roads around my house were closed for most of the week, and I got a short note from my CSA farmer saying [...]
Easy Peasy Tip: Squeeze It Out
Saturday, September 3rd, 2011When you get to the bottom of a tube of toothpaste or face cream, or a bottle of conditioner or lotion, cut off the bottom of the container and scoop out the remaining product. You’ll be surprised at how much is left in there– often enough for a few more full applications! Why send it [...]
Happy Eco-News Friday!
Friday, September 2nd, 2011New EPA rules will shut down lots of dirty polluting coal fired power plants! (Thanks Alyssa for submitting this!) Did you know that the military is a hotbed for green technology innovation? Oh hey look! a $15 LED bulb? The USDOT is testing a smart transportation system – while it’s geared towards crash warning now, [...]