FRENCH WORD-A-DAY

Chère Kristin,

Voici les petits gestes que je fait à la maison:

- Je reutilise l'eau de lavage de salade et legumes pour arroser mes plantes vertes. Prochainement, je vais acheter un tonneau pour récuperer l'eau de pluie.
- Ca fait plus de trois ans, je n'utilise plus le seche linge.
- Je ne laisse pas les appareils en veille.

Malheuresement, je suis loin quelqu'un de très ecolo. Quand je suis seule à la maison, parfois je laisse la télé allumer pour faire de bruit de fond, juste me tenir compagnie. C'est nul, hein?
Ouf, en tout cas, j'essaye...

Je t'embrasse très très fort.

P.S.
Un jour, je vais t'ecrire mes joies et mes peines de vivre ici en France.

I use compact fluorescent light bulbs or Light Emitting Diodes (LED) light bulbs to save electricity. The city where I last lived also allowed me to purchase wind generated electricity from the city owned utility company. This allowed me to recharge my battery powered lawn mower with alternative energy. Alas, my new city is not advanced and does not have green energy choices. However I still try my best to conserve energy whenever possible.
Also not only should we take showers as your child suggested, but we should use low-flow shower heads.
Many people do not realize how much money they can save when they take these conservative measures.
Thanks for making more people aware of green issues.

merci beaucoup!
Rex

Hi Kristi,
Loved your message, you are so cool, great
way to turn a message that has been around for awhile into something fresh and new. Think of all the French words I could learn and pronounce if i could rap that song. Also, Your photo is beautiful and now I must
paint this for you.
XOXO - MOMAJULES

The strapline for the recycling company where we are is 'Dans la pays de Descartes, je trie donc je suis' (In the land of Descartes, I sort therefore I am). Made me chuckle. It is really very clever on several levels.

Things that we do to be more "green"

1. Programmable thermostat - the termperature is brought down at night while we sleep, brought up just a few degrees for the morning time where we are getting ready, goes even lower during the day, is at its warmest in the evening.
2. Turn off electrical appliances not in use.
3. I try to use my heated oven to the max. If I plan on baking dinner and know I will make a pie/cookies or other baked good later, I do them one right after the other so the oven doesn't have to cool down to just to heat up again.
4. Same as number 3 but for the dryer. I run the loads one right after the other to make the most of the heat already generated.

My half French daughter sent me this "green" French sentence word play:
Vers le vert verre ver. Which is funnier said outloud, and translates as "Towards the green glass worm"

Hi Kristin,

Lovely photo, as usual, very well spotted! The green paint and green shrubs make a wonderful contrast with the gorgeous grey stones!

No time to translate the song now, so I thought I would have a go at some WORDS & EXPRESSIONS with the word "vert".

1)
Un CHÊNE VERT. The “chêne vert” I planted in my front garden (holm oak) is called “Quercus ilex”. We call it “Evergreen oak”. It is perfectly adapted to coastal areas, so it's fine for where we live. What I like about it is that it grows easily, responds well to a bit of clipping (once a year) and can be grown as a tall hedge -- just the sort of "green screen" we were looking for, and such a perfect blend with evergreen Viburnum Tinus... variegated Eleagnus, a large and pretty Pittosporum, and some simple acid-green griselinias (latest additions planted 5 years ago and doing very well). Blessed “evergreens”!

2)
LES PRODUITS VERTS = Eco products, respecting the environment.

3)
THE GREENS = Les députés verts, les militants écologistes.

4)
THE VILLAGE GREEN = Terrain communal. In England, it is an area of green grass right in the middle of a village, often going back to the Middle Ages.

5)
-> to give (someone) THE GREEN LIGHT --> donner le feu vert / la permission (à quelqu'un)
-> to be GREEN (BEHIND THE EARS) --> être naif / être novice / être sans expérience
-> the GREEN-EYED MONSTER = la jalousie
-> to be GREEN WITH ENVY --> être jaloux
-> to have GREEN FINGERS (UK) --> avoir la main verte, être “bon jardinier”. I think in the US, the equivalent is “GREEN THUMB”.
-> the GREEN CARD --> la Carte de séjour permettant aux étrangers de vivre & travailler aux Etats-Unis

I'm sure there are other words and expressions to add up.
Must go, so I'll stop here but I promise to send you another post about what we do at home to be more “green”.

Le Vert Galant (in Paris)

Close up your entire house and move to Paris for two years - live in a ground floor (rez de chaussez) apartment so you won't need AC in the summer!! The energy saved is phenomenal! And while in Paris use the Metro, the Bus, a Velo or your own bike. Also carry your .80 centime "Monoprix" nylon recylcing bag where ever you go. And don't forget to take the "empty" "Rouge-Bleu" wine bottles to the corner green-giant bin!

Bonjour,

I've started using white vinegar to clean all kinds of surfaces (even rugs!). I've made a real effort to go green since my French Fries were born!

La Mom
An American Mom in Paris

On a weekly basis, I receive produce that is organic and locally grown (with few exceptions). For those in the Portland, Ore. area, you can order it through organicstoyou.org. Not only does it cut down on transportation of the produce, it supports the local economy.

I walk every where I can, and the reusable grocery bags come in very handy when I have to walk 5 blocks home with a heavy load. Especially because it takes many, many years of use before they start to tear.

While I do drive a car to work most days, my car gets 40-45 mpg. Other days, I will sometimes ride my bike the 21 miles round trip to one of my work locations. If possible, I take light rail or the streetcar.

When I'm on the go, I use nalgene water bottles and travel coffee mugs. Yes, I've heard the dangers of using hard plastic water bottles, but I figure I'll take the risk until I get one of the metal water bottles.

The city helps by picking up recycling every week, as well as the electric company offering "green energy". The only sorting we have to do is glass from anything else that is recyclable.

I reuse the other side of paper from work for personal use (and recycle paper that has been used on both sides).

I live in an old apartment building that uses a boiler to heat the place. It is only turned on during the winter months (so there are blankets on every seat) and only for a few hours a day.

Also, rather than throw out things I don't need anymore, I find ways to allow others to use it. Put a "free" box in the laundry room, sell used books to Powell's, DVDs and CDs to Everyday music, donate used furniture to a charity that gives them to people furnishing their homes, or even the Goodwill. I also try to borrow things or buy them used when I can. It helps me save money as well!

Here in Phoenix, AZ water is always precious. Many years ago, my clever husband hooked up our washing machine with a large hose normally used for draining swimming pools (which we do not have) and we put this hose out near the big olive tree and flower bed and lawn and let all of that laundry water do our watering for us on wash days. This tree, which my father originally planted from a seed, is now tremendous and just loves that water which otherwise would have just gone down the drain.

I have done many of the things listed above.  I take the subway to work.Things we have to do can be done in a more ecological way.  For example, if you have lots of dishes and use a dishwasher, run full loads.  Otherwise, wash by hand - saves both water and electricity.  For clothes, run full loads, or if for some reason the amount of laundry is less, adjust the water quantity on the clothes washer so less is used.

We recycle as much as we can via town pickup. The town also collects leaves and turns them into mulch instead of burning them.

Turn thermostat WAY down at night, and keep it low all the time in winter; use warmer clothes or throws to keep warm. When weather isn't too hot or cold, open windows instead of using heat or AC.

I could go on. The main point is for us all to think about the effects of our actions, and find ways to use less, recycle more, and avoid waste of any kind.

As a country child during the Great Depression, recycling was a way of life, although we all burned too much. Food was of course "bottled", and jam jars reused. Canned goods were rare. i don't know what happened to cans before garbage pickup. Later I brought up my family in Tsawwassen BC where forward thinkers started a recycling programme about 25 years ago. Today in Vancouver there is a remarkable enviromental activist named David Susuki. He heads a foundation, and recently found that Europe is WAY ahead of North America in renewable resources, like wind power and methane use. Dorothy, Abbotsfoed, BC

P.S. a few more tips for those in the U.S. to cut down on your junk mail:
1.Go to Mail Preference Service of Direct Marketing Association (dmachoice.org) and click on "Remove my name from these lists". this should cut down on 80% of unsolicted mail in 4 months.
2. Don't fill out registrations for new products (unless you want recall alerts), also do not sign up for contests or sweepstakes.
3. Register at optoutprescreen.com or phone toll free 1-888-567-8688, to stop the pre-approved credit offers.
4. Remain anonymous when you sign up for grocery store loyalty programs.
5. Phone catalog companies and ask them to stop sending you unwanted catalogs. OR opt out at catalogchoices.org
6. when purchasing something online or on the phone,make sure they will not be selling your address to other catalogs.

I know this is a long list, but any of these actions will help cut down on junk mail( that WE are paying for with all these postage increases!!)

A simple way to conserve millions of gallons of gasoline. I call it BUBYS which stands for Buckle Up Before You Start. If more people became conscious of when they started their engines, they'd realize that fuel is wasted by an idling engine while 3-10 seconds are spent in the process of buckling up. N'est pas?

My whole college is very into "going green", to the point where some students have started making jokes about "Marlins Go Green", which is becoming our virtual motto. However, I think it's a wonderful idea.

One of the interesting ways we have "gone green" (sort of) is in Smithdeal, one of the dorm halls on campus: the roof has been replaced by a "green" roof or "living" roof. This would take too long to explain (and I don't fully understand it myself) but it seems to be a thick layer of sod and plants that insulates the building and saves heating and cooling costs.

All our dorm rooms (supposedly) have a recycling bin in them to encourage us to recycle, and there's a big recycling bin on the hall to empty them into when they get full. Each year, the freshmen are given a large reusable plastic travel mug, which they can fill with coffee or other hot drinks in the cafeteria and thus save paper cups. And this year, we started a "trayless initiative" in the cafeteria, which means that all of the plastic trays we used to use have been eliminated. This actually helps go green because a) the kitchen workers don't have to wash nearly as many things (those trays got REALLY dirty) and b) the lack of tray helps eliminate food waste, since students can only take as much as they can carry in two hands at any one time.

We started to get serious about Recycling at least 20 years ago, separating glass bottles, metal (mainly tins), plastic bottles, newspapers. There is a well established Council collection but limited to old newspapers, tins and glass. I tear cardboard packaging, tear or shred paper of all sorts, collect and tie together Tetra Pak boxes (aluminium foil lining), crush soft plastic containers & fill up separate sacks kept in the garage. I take them to recycling “Banks” in town or to the local pit where we also get rid of bulky general household, old goods of any sort ... What a fantastic place, well organised! (got recently a free garden fork someone threw away...)

Ten years ago, I bought a special compost bin for the kitchen peelings. We built a compost area at the back of the garden, using wooden pallets we got free from a brick merchant. We learned how to make compost properly. We bought a good garden shredder. Clippings, shredded foliage (except Phormium leaves -> they end up in garden waste at the local pit) and shredded thin branches get mixed into the compost. We add ashes from the woodburner. Mother Nature approves (!) and when the compost is ready, our garden gets all the benefit!

I taught the children how to brush their teeth without letting the tap running ... We stopped having baths in ... 1992! and completely switched on to “quick” showers. We didn't install a dishwasher in our refurbished kitchen. When I needed to buy a new washing machine, and new fridge-freezer, I selected items with A+ for Economical and Ecological Efficiency. I always washed clothes at low temperature, and I reached the next step a few months ago -> I reduced rinsing water and stopped using laundry detergent and conditioner, replacing them by a set of 3 “Original EcoBalls”. I buy Eco friendly products and recently bought a few Eco Friendly Cleaning Cloths as well – they need no creams or chemicals and work brilliantly, just with water.
Last Spring, we installed our first water butts ... a set of 3x 100L and a set of 2x200L and now we have plenty of rain water available, it's great! The plants are happy, and so are we.

I stopped using supermarket plastic bags years ago. I buy Energy Saving Light Bulbs, recycled Notepads (with covers that used to be juice cartons, or tyres, or plastic bags...). I burn logs in a woodburner. In my area, firewood is easily available and I get logs delivered in bulk. Heating with wood is environmentally friendly, economical and it reduces my use of our central heating. Old wood, non re-usable beams are sawn in suitable length and burnt in our woodburner. Recent addition: dry “paper logs” made with old newspapers + small size burnable waste. I make them with a wonderful “log maker” gadget that can also be used to make little paper pots for seedlings. Old clothes or curtains in good condition are given away to charity – if not in good condition, I cut out zips and buttons and drop the material in a recycling bank for that purpose. I buy local products organically grown. I am now using public transport as much as I can. For the second year running, all our Xmas gifts (and wrapping) will be “green”, all bought online.
All in all, for us and the generations to come, it's vital to change our behaviour, think twice, reduce waste, re-use, buy "green" products, find green alternatives, save energy as much as we can, respect nature!

Thank you, Newforest (see you Friday!), and to everyone for submitting the helpful tips. Please keep them coming!

I have just finished sorting the contents of my office trash can, separating the individual pieces and getting them for *proper* disposal. The box that I had used for the trash can (a former moving box, from our 07' move) was then recycled into a handy shoe stand! (As most of the garbage was dry, nothing stuck to the walls!). Now, my husband's rubber working boots, his slippers, and his dress shoes are organized onto two "shelves" of the sturdy box.

Thank you again for the tips, which we are already incorporating into our routine. And mille mercis to Leslie for translating that rap song!

PS: D'Neal: your freecycle story brought tears while picturing the man sitting out under the tattered umbrella, happy to have shade. Merci!

The US is finally waking up to going green. Almost every super market here in CT has green bags to buy (and they are green) for bringing home your purchases, but they should start charging for plastic bags as they do in many stores in France . The stores post signs near the entrances reminding you to bring in your green bags and some give you a 5 cents refund for each bag.
We have always recycled out newspapers, cardboard, glass and plastics, although it is amazing how much plastic still is not recyclable!
I read an article which said that there is a group of scientists who are researching the amount of tiny plastic pieces found in fish's stomachs. We know that plastic does not break down!
We also bought an European washer and dryer. The washer uses less water, spins the clothes drier and therefore the dryer needs less time.
There are many other ways I could go greener but haven't: rake the leaves instead of blowing them, unplug appliances, drive less, don't use the dry cycle on the dish washer, etc. But we have set up a home gym so that I can work out at home instead of traveling 8 miles each way to a gym.
We must also: support legislation and legislators who support going green, buy green cars, shop locally and buy local products.

Incredible video by Stress...where can I buy it? I searched Google, ebay and Amazon as well as Stress' website...any other ideas? Thanks-Lisa Colorado, USA