Frugal living « Transition Brockville

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Tag : Frugal living (132)

How to make natural cleaners

Mother Earth News / Alice Alvrez / February 2018

Keeping your home clean can actually be a pretty toxic experience if you use the typical chemical concoctions that are sold as cleaners these days.

Ingredients like ammonia and bleach are extremely harsh, and the fumes linger in your home long after you’ve done your cleaning. Many less pronounceable substances are mixed in for good measure (like maybe some dimethyl ethylbenzyl ammonium chloride or trisodium nitrilotriacetate), even though many have been linked to increased cancer rates. Not only do they affect the air quality in your home, these substances end up in the water supply. You can imagine what that will do to the environment.

All you really need around the house is vinegar, baking soda and salt. You can get vinegar at the grocery store in large jugs, and a bulk store should carry baking soda and salt in larger quantities. These three natural ingredients can create a variety of cleaning products that will keep your home clean without the noxious mess.

[ FULL ARTICLE ]

Backyard Food Day

Transition Cornwall+ / 04 August 2019

What we can do now

Toronto Star / Megan Ogilvie / 12 July 2019

It’s clear that Canada, like the rest of the world, is facing a climate crisis.

From melting permafrost in the north, to ninja rain storms in our cities, to the shifting shores on our coasts, we’ve seen the evidence: climate change is real.

We have the facts. So, what comes next?

With no single checklist to follow, no series of straightforward steps to take that will make it all go away, it’s hard to know what to do.

But there are some strategies that will help safeguard our homes, our communities and our country. People are working on them every day.

We hope this handbook will help you find your own path forward.

In it, you will meet people and community groups working to combat climate change — and finding comfort and purpose in their efforts.

[ HANDBOOK ]

Do you qualify for free insulation?

Enbridge Gas Inc.

Warm up to energy savings. Enbridge can help.

Wake up to a well-insulated home that feels warm and snug all the time.

If you qualify, you can receive:

New Insulation
Draft Proofing
Smart Thermostat

All installed by experienced professionals. Why? Because we want to make sure you save on energy costs and stay that much warmer during long winter months. Now that’s something to cozy up to.

[ MORE INFO ]

A zero waste guide for Toronto

The Sharing Depot / Emily / 11 July 2019

I couldn’t possibly talk about the problems with our consumer society and not make some effort to curb my reliance on single-use plastic (#PracticeWhatYouPreach). So I put together a Zero Waste Kit – my first step towards fending off disposable demons – and went from there. Soon after, I released a post called A Zero Waste Guide for Toronto to share the things that were working for me in my little war on waste.

Why am I telling you all this? Well because it’s #PlasticFreeJuly and I’ve updated my initial guide to include more useful tips and tools for those of you interested in waging your own war on waste.

[ FULL ARTICLE ]

The greens and browns of your compost

Mother Earth News / Rebecca Louie / March 2018

Compost City (Roost Books, 2015) by Rebecca Louie is a comprehensive and complete guide to creating and using your own compost in a small living space. Louie helps you find ways to work around a tiny space, a busy schedule, and hectic lifestyle to achieve your composting goals. In this excerpt, she discusses the green and browns materials that are good and bad for composting.

Get to know how different browns and greens behave in your system and curate compost ingredients to optimize moisture levels, troubleshoot problems, and affect the rate of decomposition.

Knowing the quirks of individual items is particularly helpful if your compost system has limited space or is in proximity of wary or sensitive neighbors.

[ FULL ARTICLE ]

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