Neither paper nor plastic: cute t-shirt grocery bag

To avoid using disposable bags that are thrown away after one or two uses, many eco-conscious consumers have started bringing their own reusable bags grocery shopping. Several stores, such as Kroger, Publix and Earth Fare sell sturdy reusable bags for a nominal price.

However, you don't need cash to bring your own bag. With an old t-shirt, some scissors, a needle and some thread, you can make your own reusable grocery bag. Not only is this bag sustainable because it's used over and over, but it saves a t-shirt from going in the trash!

This week at Tate Plaza, an Environmental Health Sciences class distributed t-shirt grocery bags that they had made. They gave me a pink one that says, "It's not easy being a princess." With each bag they included instructions on how to make your own, which I'm including below.

1) Turn t-shirt inside out.

2) Sew bottom together 12" below bottom of sleeves.

3) Sew a second seam close to the first one to reinforce the bottom of the bag.

4) Cut excess t-shirt off.

5) Turn t-shirt right side out.

6) Cut sleeves off just outside of seam (to prevent fraying)

7) Cut neck out in a square shape large enough to fit items in but be sure to leave enough fabric for handles.

8) Use and enjoy!

Save a Tree, Clean Out Your Files!

Tomorrow, March 28, is RecycleMania's "Clean Out Your Files Day!" Don't forget to bring your old papers, notes, newspapers and any other recyclable materials to a recycling bin on campus! This will help give UGA a final push on the recycling count for RecycleMania. The last day of the competition is April 5 and we want UGA to win the contest! (And, well let's be honest, it will also help you clean up the clutter in your dorm room or apartment.) To learn more about recycling, stop by RecycleMania’s “Clean Out Your Files Day” booth at Memorial Plaza from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. There will be live music and lots of fun facts about recycling that I'll bet you didn't know!

Earth Hour 2008

I stopped at the gas station to fill up on my way home this weekend and the label on the nozzle was for Earth Hour and said "Fill up and shut down." The message was to encourage everyone in Atlanta to get gas early on Saturday, March 29 and to also partake in Earth Hour, which is a great movement.

Earth Hour is a new social movement that was actually started by Australia last year. The country wanted to make a political statement to show the world that we can stop global warming and other environmental problems by simply cutting down on the amount of energy we use. The entire country of Australia, that is over 2 million people, took part in this movement last year by turning out all nonessential lights and appliances for one hour. The impact was seen from space, actually is wasn't because all of Australia went dark. But the impact was made.

This year the movement has gone global and over 2o cities around the world have endorsed the idea that everyone should turn off as much electricity as possible on Saturday, March 29 from 8 to 9 p.m. local time. The goal of this effort is to show the entire globe how wasteful we are being and to lower our emissions by five percent. America alone can do that by simply turning off all computers at night, only using one television per house to watch the same show, or just turning off the lights when they are not being used. All of these things will help to lower the emissions the U.S. emits (which is the most of any country in the world) and it will save on the energy bill.

So this Saturday night, we encourage everyone to turn off the lights for one hour and see how much you can do. It will save the planet one day. This Saturday, let's make the power of one be the power of the globe!

The World is Not Disposable.

We have become so accustomed to living in a seemingly disposable world that the thought of actually reusing products seems foreign to most people. But you wouldn't throw everything away after just one use...



The Power of ONE.

If it rips, it recycles...

Who knew? All this time arguing about which paper can and cannot be recycled, and it's that simple: if it rips, it recycles. Is conserving really that easy? Well yeah, actually it is. A week ago, nearly 150 UGA students gathered for an open discussion of today's hottest topics concerning the environment and sustainable practices. Instead of looking at the big picture, The Power of One forum offered tips directed at college individuals to reduce consumption and reuse materials when possible.



Three panelists expressed the urgency for us all to wake up to the reality of the state of our Earth. Fortunately, the gloom and doom statistics were left out of the conversation as we focused on the positives. The advice, though some of it shocking, was not meant to scare students into being more sustainable, but rather to excite them that they can have such a profound impact! We were reminded that we are fortunate enough to be active participants in UGA's footprint on the environment. UGA can become a national leader in sustainability, but students must lead the way in this transformation. Our small, everyday actions speak volumes.

Jim Hackler, UGA alum and freelance writer on green living, was a featured speaker that evening. He participates in outreach programs promoting effortless, sustainable behaviors that everyone can adopt. An article of his is highlighted in the current issue of Delta Sky magazine. To read more about what you can do, check it out at http://www.deltasky.com/2008_03/greennumbers/.

Go Green Alliance

The theme of last week's forum, The Power of One, touched on different ways that individuals can practice sustainable living. Just as all our individual efforts combined can make a difference to the environment so to can our voices in lobbying for important environmental policies and in coordinating activities and awareness campaigns. While there are so many wonderful and passionate groups on campus whose missions support all aspects of the environment and sustainability, there was no unifying front to coordinate projects or activities...until the GO GREEN ALLIANCE was formed.

The GO GREEN ALLIANCE is a council where representatives from all environmental groups at UGA can establish a unifying voice for the environmental cause.

The complete GO GREEN ALLIANCE fact sheet/mission is posted on the facebook group. Please check it out:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10570536034

As always your comments and questions are welcome to the blog or facebook group. Part of Go Green Alliance's goal is to provide open forums for discussion like this.

Reduce Consumption (and Embarrassment).

The first step towards sustainability is reducing our consumption. Continuing our Power of One campaign, we are proud to debut our first public service announcement focusing on the impact a single individual can have when it comes to conserving valuable resources.

By turning a computer off or placing it in "sleep mode" instead of using a screensaver, an individual can reduce carbon emissions by more than 80%.

Don't Forget: "The Power of One" Sustainability Forum

Come out to the SLC Wednesday, March 19 at 6:00 p.m. in Room 171 to learn more about how you can help the environment and the small efforts that each of us can make to impact our environment. Here's a brief look at each of the three panelists:

Christina Faust
University of Georgia Student and Ecology Club President
During her sophomore year, Christina organized an entire recycling initiative on her own in a campus residence hall, Soule Hall. She mobilized residents to incorporate recycling into their daily routines, and spawned attention from other residence halls and various campus organizations. Her efforts continue to influence programs and policies at UGA. She was active in the Tate II LEED Certification initiative back as plans were being drawn up for the building, and continues to promote environmental sustainability on campus.


Richard C. Field
Athens-Clarke County Environmental Coordinator
Richard C. (Dick) Field's position was created in 2003 to tackle a lack of consistency and completeness in addressing local environmental issues. Dick came to this position after a 30-year professional career split between forestry research and continuing education with the USDA Forest Service and the University of Georgia. He has a B.S. degree in forestry from the University of Michigan and a Master of Forest Resources and Ph.D. from the University of Georgia. He is a registered forester in Georgia and has served on numerous local committees and boards related to planning and natural resources. Dick is a LEED Accredited Professional and served on the Board of the US Green Building Council’s Atlanta Chapter. He initiated the LEED program in Athens-Clarke County, which has two Certified buildings and seven more registered projects. He also serves on ACC’s Energy Conservation and Water Conservation Committees.


Jim Hackler
Freelance Writer on Green Living
Jim Hackler is a nationally recognized expert in communicating the benefits of green living and home construction in an accessible and understandable way. As the former head of two of the country’s leading green building initiatives, U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED for Homes and the Southeast’s EarthCraft House program, Jim had a first hand experience on what it means to live and go green to help the environment. Not only does Jim have experience with green building projects, but he also has spent time working for CNN, as well as a featured contributor to Green Builder, Delta Sky and Natural Home magazines, where he has written stories about corporations becoming green entities. He’s been called on to help communicate the “green” message in hundreds of other publications, television programs, national conferences and workshops.

Going Green is Just a Click Away

Procrastinating on facebook is a favorite midterm antidote, but sometimes, when I get tired of reading the same wall post again, or laboring over what a friend's status could mean, I like to look at other Internet sites. There are thousands of sites out there to explore when you are desperate to ignore your mounting pile of homework, and what better way to ease the guilt than surfing sites that are beneficial to your life? I'm talking about green sites of course, and my good friend Oprah has helped us out by compiling a list of some of the best ones in her February magazine. Check out some of these links on your next study break, and you might be inspired to do something good- rather than wanting to kill your friend for tagging that compromising picture of you.

Where to recycle:
Appliances- recycle-steel.org
Business Clothing- dressforsuccess.org
Carpets- carpetrecovery.org
Cellphones/Batteries- rbrc.org
Computers- sharetechnology.org
Electronics- mygreenelectronics.org
Eyeglasses- neweyesfortheneedy.org
Floppy disks and videotapes- greendisk.com
Formal Dresses www.operationfairydust.org
Packing Peanuts- loosefillpackaging.com
Paint- earth911.org
Tires- epa.gov/garbage/tires/live.htm

Tired of paper junk mail in your tiny apartment or dorm mailbox? Stop receiving junk mail at dmachoice.org/mps

Other sites to check out:
-greenercars.org
-40mpg.org
-greenhotels.com
-greenearthcleaning.com
-greenfeet.com
-greenhomeguide.com
-saveourenvironment.org
-green-e.org
-dsireusa.org
-preventcigarettelitter.org
-carsharing.net
-csacenter.org

Upcoming Event

With Spring Break currently going on, many of us are not thinking about the best ways to save the Earth and what needs to be done to help the environment. Instead most of us are sitting on a beach or somewhere that is not in Athens and having fun with friends having fun and enjoying the warmer weather.

But think about what the world will be like 50 years from now when a new generation is trying to go on Spring Break and enjoy Daytona or Panama City Beach. Will the beach still be there as we see it now? I would like to think so. However, if we do not learn how to help the environment now, those future college students will not have the opportunity to sit on that same beach.

That is why we are having a sustainability forum next week. The Power of One will be townhall forum-type meeting where three people who are very interested and concerned with the environment will be on hand to answer questions and help point people in a direction that can help the environment. This forum is for the benefit of everyone in the Athens and UGA community, so that we can help save the world and how eacho one of us can make an impact each day.

Come out to the SLC next Wednesday, March 19 at 6:00 p.m. in Room 171 to learn more about how you can help the environment and the small efforts taht each of us can make that will make a big impact.