Practical information for consumers on going green.
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Tuesday, June 24, 2003
Reduce Your Monitor's Energy Use
Energy Star has come up with a way for you to increase the energy efficiency of your computer monitor. Go to http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=home.index and locate the Products heading. Click on "Appliances, Lighting, Heating and Cooling and More." Scroll down to find Office Equipment, and click on Computers. In a sidebar on the right side of the screen, you will see a bullet that says "Activate Monitor Power Management." It takes you to a screen about power management. The address for that page is http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=power_mgt.pr_power_management.
You can also check out the Million Monitor Drive to encourage energy conservation at work.
For more information on the history of Energy Star, go to http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=about.ab_history.
posted by Beth at 10:17 AM
bapartin@yahoo.com
Monday, June 16, 2003
Update on My Gourd
I hung my EarthLinks gourd birdhouse in the maple two weeks ago, and one day it mysteriously disappeared. Finally I discovered that a squirrel had chewed through the leather hanger and had tried to eat the gourd! I have hung it again, this time with wire, so we'll see if it's now squirrel-proof.
posted by Beth at 3:25 PM
bapartin@yahoo.com
Vitamin Cottage: Cheaper than Your Local Grocery Store
Your local grocery store, big as it is and with all the economies of scale one would expect it to have, may not be the cheapest place to buy organic produce.
I have discovered Vitamin Cottage, a Denver-based chain of small grocery stores that sells organic produce and brand names, as well as things like essential oils and a gazillion vitamins and supplements. The store that is closest to my house is in Indian Tree Shopping Center, at 78th and Wadsworth in Arvada. There are stores in Denver and one store in Boulder as well.
I first heard of Vitamin Cottage from teachers at the Botanic Gardens, who recommended it for buying ingredients for making your own skin care products. But one of them claimed that VC charged less than the big chain grocery stores for many items. I decided to check it out.
Last Saturday, I went to Boulder to shop at the Boulder Co-op Market, a newly opened co-op located in Business Express's old building (sadly, it is no longer purple). Then I shopped at Vitamin Cottage.
As I expected, prices at the co-op were fairly high and the selection was small. However, for Bunny-Luv organic baby carrots, even the co-op charged less ($1.79) than King Soopers ($1.99). VC had the best price on baby carrots, at $1.49. VC charged more for green peppers than King Soopers, at $3.19 per pound at VC versus $2.99 at KS, and VC charges 50 cents per pound more for celery, though the King Soopers celery I bought was not organic, so it's not a completely fair comparison.
I buy a type of frozen waffles that contains flax, which helps to regulate my husband's high cholesterol. I believe it's called LifeStream. KS charges $2.59 for a box of 8 waffles; VC charges $2.35.
My favorite discovery, however, was that Religious Experience salsa costs 60 cents less at VC than at KS. Hurray!
Check out VItamin Cottage's website. They have a number of stores in the Denver metro area and one in Walla Walla, Washington: www.vitamincottage.com.
posted by Beth at 3:21 PM
bapartin@yahoo.com
Monday, June 02, 2003
Artful ReCreations #2 continued
Check out these businesses that were featured at Artful ReCreations Street Fair.
Juvel International
This company is an importer that hires villagers in Thailand to make chopsticks, teabag holders, small bowls, cooking utensils, and so on. The villagers set their own prices and make the products from recycled or scrap wood. www.juvelinternational.com
The GreenFingers Project, Earthlinks
GreenFingers is a micro-economic development project in which homeless and low-income people grow plants and then create and sell products created from the garden's abundance. I bought one of their birdhouses, made from a small yellow gourd that had been grown in a GreenFingers garden. A homeless person had drilled holes in the bottom of the gourd for draining and then drilled an entry hole. www.EarthLinks-Colorado.org
posted by Beth at 9:02 PM
bapartin@yahoo.com
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