Blog Archives

Scoop up dog poop

11/30/2017

Scooping up dog poop is good manners and good for our local watersheds..

The Philadelphia Water Department Office of Watersheds’ 2006 Homeowner's Guide to Stormwater Management sums it up this way: “When animal waste is left on the ground, rainwater or melting snow washes the pet waste into our storm drains or directly into our local creeks.

The disease-causing bacteria found in pet waste eventually flows from our local waterways into the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, our drinking water source. In addition to contaminating waterways with disease-carrying bacteria, animal waste acts like a fertilizer in the water, just as it does on land. This promotes excessive aquatic plant growth that can choke waterways and promote algae blooms, robbing the water of vital oxygen.”

Dog poo can be flushed down the toilet, to be processed in the sewage treatment system, disposed of in the trash, or buried in your yard. Never dispose of animal waste in storm drains!

Always recycle used motor oil.

11/23/2017

Always recycle used motor oil.

Many auto supply stores, car care centers, and gas stations accept used oil.

“Vehicle maintenance” is the first chapter in the Philadelphia Water Department
Office of Watersheds’ 2006 Homeowner’s Guide to Stormwater Management.
That’s because a single quart of oil can pollute 250,000 gallons of drinking water
(NDRC, 1994), and it’s estimated that each year over 180 million gallons of used
oil is disposed of improperly (Alameda CCWP, 1992).

Check your car or truck for drips and oil leaks regularly, and fix them promptly. In
case of a leak, or if you’re doing engine work, use a ground cloth or drip pan
under your vehicle. Never pour motor oil, antifreeze, transmission fluid or other
engine fluids into road gutters, down the storm drain or catch basin, onto the
ground, or into a ditch.

Make your Thanksgiving green

11/16/2017

Happy Thanksgiving from aFewSteps!

This past Saturday, aFewSteps asked shoppers at the Swarthmore Farmers’ Market to share their tips for making the Thanksgiving feast more sustainable. Here are their ideas.

We enjoyed a lot of great conversations, and many of you wrote down your ideas for us to share with the community. We summarize them here, and hope you’ll be as inspired as we are to enjoy a green Thanksgiving.

1. Buy local!
From cheese to honey to the apples for your pie, the farmers’ market is the place to find delicious local foods for your holiday meal. “Buy a local turkey” and “Shop at the Co-op” appeared on our message board, and one of you suggested, “Buy local beer and recycle the bottles.” Local foods are fresh, transported over the shortest possible distances; and, when you buy local, you support a balanced economy in our region.
2. Ride your bike
One Swarthmorean added an extra twist to buying local: “Shop only at places where you can ride your bike!”
3. Eat more veggies
“How about letting turkeys live and using an alternative?” asked one neighbor. Another pointed out that even shifting toward a higher proportion of vegetables and less meat would make for a more sustainable feast, since meat production is more energy- and resource-intensive than growing vegetables.
3. Use real dishes and cloth napkins
Many of you advised against disposable paper and plastic on the Thanksgiving table. Eliminating drinking straws is an easy way to reduce waste. And almost any meal – not just Thanksgiving dinner – tastes better eaten from “real” dishes, with “real” table linens. What about pesky grease stains on cloth napkins? Use patterned napkins, and no one will notice.
3. Choose natural or reusable decorations
In late autumn, gardens and woods provide natural beauty for your tabletop. Or save family favorite decorations to use again next year.
4. Serve filtered tap water
Most bottled water is actually just tap water from somewhere else. Because water is heavy, transporting it uses up lots of fossil fuels. Serving tap instead of bottled water is the sustainable choice.
5. Make stock
Most vegetable scraps and the turkey carcass can be used to make soup stock. Had enough cooking for one weekend? You can freeze vegetable and turkey scraps to use later.
6. Compost
Vegetable and fruit scraps that don’t make the grade for soup stock are ideal for composting. If you don’t have a compost bin, perhaps you have a neighbor who does.
7. BYOB – Bring your own bags
What’s Thanksgiving without leftovers? Several of you suggested taking your own bags and reusable plastic containers to Thanksgiving dinner, to bring home the food without a lot of wasteful packaging.
8. Travel smart
Thanksgiving weekend is the busiest travel time of the year. Some of you recommended reducing both stress and energy use by staying close to home or taking public transportation.
9. Give thanks
One neighbor said she’ll be giving thanks this year for the new rooftop solar system that has dramatically reduced her family’s electric bill. We at aFewSteps would like to thank all of YOU for taking an interest in our project and for sharing your terrific ideas. Happy Thanksgiving!

Substituting beans for beef

11/12/2017

Substituting beans for beef in the American diet could achieve most of the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions needed to meet the 2020 goal for the U.S.

Shifting to a plant-based diet has long been recognized as an effective way for individuals to reduce their own carbon footprints. Using a new approach, a study published in May 2017 calculated the possible impact of one very specific dietary change: substituting beans for beef in the diet of all Americans. The study concluded that this one change could free up 42% of U.S. cropland and achieve 46 to 74% of the reductions in greenhouse gas emissions needed to meet the 2020 goal for the United States.
Reporting on the study’s findings in theatlantic.com, James Hamblin suggested adjusting one’s diet as a remedy for “ecoanxiety” – the dread and helplessness brought on by climate change. He quotes the study’s lead author, Helen Harwatt of Loma Linda University: “The real beauty of this kind of thing is that climate impact doesn’t have to be policy-driven,” said Harwatt. “It can just be a positive, empowering thing for consumers to see that they can make a significant impact by doing something as simple as eating beans instead of beef.”

Sources:
Harwatt, H., J. Sabate, G. Eshel, S. Soret, and W. Ripple. 2017. Substituting beans for beef as a contribution toward US climate change targets. Climatic Change 143:261–270
Hamblin, J. August 2, 2017. "If Everyone Ate Beans Instead of Beef." TheAtlantic.com https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/08/if-everyone-ate-beans-instead-of-beef/535536/?utm_source=atlfb

Scoop up dog poop

Always recycle used motor oil.

Make your Thanksgiving green

Substituting beans for beef

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