30 Days to a Greener Lifestyle

For anyone else who's looking for the Happiness Calendar it's here:

http://www.spar
kpeople.com/r
esource/calen
dar_2007-11.pdf - 9/1/2012 3:15:47 AM

Where's the 30 days to Greater Happiness Calendar? - 9/1/2012 3:10:33 AM

An alternative to recycling ink cartridges at an office supply store is to recycle them through Petsmart. You pick up a mailer in the store, put 4-6 cartridges in it, and mail it back. For every cartridge you send, $3 goes to feeding, caring for, and rehoming homeless pets. You can help the environment and homeless pets at the same time. - 4/4/2011 4:32:47 PM

Lots of comments here. Regarding using leather - when i was in high school (many years ago) we had zippered notebooks made from leather. And, they lasted the 4 years we were in hight school. No need to buy a new one every year - they lasted!! - 4/2/2011 12:05:32 PM

Rather than print this out, I set it up as an icon monthly and look at it daily - good for the environment and trees not using the paper. - 3/31/2011 2:47:14 PM

I usually don't comment on articles but I was disappointed to see that leather was listed as a better fabric to use to save resources. It seems contradictory to list going meatless as a bonus for the environment and then promote the use of the leather which still requires the animal to be raised. It takes 16 pounds of grains to make one pound of meat, where do you think the leather comes from? - 3/29/2011 1:03:23 PM

This would not open/download using Firefox, I had to use Internet Explorer. So if anyone else is having trouble, try doing that! - 4/3/2010 3:59:30 AM

Some of these tips are very helpful. Some less so.

As an author, I really hate to see people being discouraged to own books and other media. :) I love the library, but, hey, there is certainly a place for owning and cherishing books and movies and CDs.

And I always shake my head at the "eat local, eat seasonal" advice. I'd have beriberi and scurvy if I only ate what grows in Minnesota in the winter! Certainly I am not going to buy asparagus in September or sweet corn in February. But I refuse to give up citrus fruit forever (ever see a grapefruit tree on the Great Plains?), and I'm not going without fresh broccoli or green beans all winter! My local farmers' market is open from early June to mid October. What am I supposed to eat the rest of the year? Eat local and seasonal is good advice as far as it goes ... but I'm afraid that is not very far! - 3/31/2010 9:13:43 PM

I loved this. I am emailing it to the parents at my school. The children tend to be quite passionate about living a greener life and this will give them support. In our community we have no recycling (it is considered too expensive, as we live on an island) but newspapers can be given to the Animal Shelter. Do you have suggestions on where we could get reusable bottles for our school? - 4/5/2009 9:16:39 AM

Ok people quite nit picking the calander. Everyone of these options has its ups and downs. Even recyling produces bad chemicals into the enviroment. As for the reason leather was suggested, because it lasts a long time. You don't need to by a new leather jacket every year, same with leather shoes. Anyways they are just suggestions for helping the planet not commands, do them or don't, it is up to you. - 4/2/2009 2:54:29 PM

I liked this, but I too found it odd that leather was suggested as a natural product that should be purchased. I would think that Spark would be more concerned about killing animals for material needs? I also agree with others that if you want to be environmentally friendly don't print this out. If you really want to, use the backside of an already used (and unneeded) paper. I also agree that Earth Day definitely should have been mentioned! - 4/2/2009 9:45:47 AM

Awesome... you could also mention that Earth Day is April 22.

Also, I think it would be nice if it was laid out like a calendar with days of the week. - 4/1/2009 1:36:00 PM

This is great, apart from one word in the tip for the 18th - leather. From the Guardian, 15 February 2009, 'In any case, the byproduct argument loses its punch when you consider the environmental impact of conventional leather production, which involves a mind-boggling mix of acids, salts, fungicides and bactericides - as well as chromium, sulphides and sulphates. The result is a huge amount of water use, chromium sludge, and solid and airborne chemical waste.' Not to mention, cows raised for leather have the same environmental impact as those raised for meat. So I would hardly call conventional leather (which is what the majority of people buy) either natural or good for the environment. - 3/31/2009 12:41:54 PM

These are great.. but don't print the calendar... instead save to documents and read every day !!! Save PAPER - 3/31/2009 8:29:31 AM

I had the same thought as Jessica_Sue, would love these calendars to be sized as screen wallpapers, so as soon as I turn my computer on, they would be the first thing I see. They are great. - 4/1/2008 7:59:02 PM