Don’t Trash the Holidays!

Guest Post from Pinellas Partners in Recycling

Don’t trash the holidays! Gift wrap, packaging and party goods add up to truckloads of extra garbage. Let the holidays fill your heart and not your trash can with these tips to cut holiday waste.

Toss the tinsel, but not the tree. Make the season green by recycling your Christmas tree. Prepare your tree by removing all decorations including lights, ornaments and tinsel. Find out where to recycle your Christmas tree.

Slow Down for the Holidays!

By: Margaret Deller, Extension Specialist

During the holiday season many of us find there are not enough hours in the day. One of the ways we try to save time is by getting fast food instead of making dinner from scratch. And while this does add time to our days it is not the best thing for our bodies or the planet. So this holiday try pulling out of the Drive Thru lane and into the Slow Food lane.

Slow Food is a worldwide movement that started in Italy. It strives to preserve traditional and regional cuisine and encourages farming of plants, seeds and livestock characteristic of the local ecosystem. If possible they would like you to personally know the farmer that produces your food. This sounds like a tremendous undertaking and not something you want to add to the holiday season.

Like with any change to a greener behavior, start small. Choose one night of the week, grab your kids, your spouse, your friends, or that other co-worker staying late, stop by the store and get the ingredients for your favorite recipe and make dinner together. Don’t have a favorite recipe? Check the web for a dish you like to order in a restaurant and see if you can prepare it at home.

Then let everybody help prepare the meal. Don’t leave the little ones out! Children as young as 3 can help, give them a stool and let them wash the lettuce for the salad. Give the younger ones a seat close to the action so they feel a part of it and can be taste testers. Clean the dishes as you go so there is no daunting pile at the end of the meal. Then eat together and talk about your day, your favorite food memory, or what you did for the holidays as a kid.

However you choose to start, remember that good food nourishes our bodies and sitting down to a meal with family and friends nourishes our soul.

References:

http://www.slowfoodusa.org/index.php

http://www.slowfood.com

http://www.slowfoodtampabay.org/home

Treat Your Guests for Less this Holiday Season

Guest Blogger: Suzanne Grant, APR
Spokesperson/Lead Communications Specialist
Progress Energy

Holiday gatherings spark the potential for significant energy savings!

If your home is the home for family and friends this holiday season, chances are you’re looking for ways to keep everyone comfortable and content while sharing in the holiday cheer. Progress Energy offers a number of suggestions to help the hospitable host control energy costs without taking away from the holiday fun.

The quest to save energy and money this holiday season begins in the kitchen.

An oven costs 33 cents an hour to operate. Save time and money by baking holiday goodies together.

When reheating yesterday’s treats, opt for the toaster oven or microwave. A toaster oven costs just 7 cents per hour to operate, and a microwave typically uses about 75 percent less energy than an oven. When possible, consider using a slow cooker, which can cook an entire meal using only about 17 cents worth of electricity.

Chances are the flurry of excitement within your home will mean more people than usual are heading to the fridge. Minimize the impact of every trip by keeping your refrigerator well stocked. This will lessen the amount of time and energy it takes to cool back down after the door is opened. Better yet, put your guests’ drinks on ice to give your fridge a break while allowing yourself room to work in the kitchen.

If you’re entertaining guests with a passion for technology, there’s a good chance they could spend some time playing video games in front of the TV. Be sure they’re not running up your energy bill in the process. A plasma TV and a video game system can use as much energy as a refrigerator. Even when they’re turned off, these electronics and others often draw a charge. The best solution is to turn off the power strip connected to any unused electronics.

If there is a fireplace in your home, you can reduce the amount of energy used to keep your guests warm and cozy by lighting a fire instead of turning on the central heating system. Just remember to close the flue when the fireplace isn’t in use to prevent the loss of warm air.

For more energy-saving tips, visit http://www.savethewatts.com/.

Progress Energy Florida, a subsidiary of Progress Energy (NYSE: PGN), provides electricity and related services to more than 1.6 million customers in Florida. The company is headquartered in St. Petersburg, Fla., and serves a territory encompassing more than 20,000 square miles, including the cities of St. Petersburg and Clearwater, as well as the Central Florida area surrounding Orlando. Progress Energy Florida is pursuing a balanced approach to meeting the future energy needs of the region. That balance includes increased energy-efficiency programs, investments in renewable energy technologies and a state-of-the-art electricity system. For more information about Progress Energy, visit http://www.progress-energy.com/.

Ready, Set, SHOP! Buying Green for the Holidays

James Stevenson, Pinellas County Extension Specialist, Urban Sustainability

Green Shopping Tips

Before you head out to do the shopping this Holiday Season, don't forget the Big Three of Sustainability: Environment, Economy and Society.

We've endeavored to show that in every aspect of our lives, no matter how mundane, we can make choices that benefit the Big Three. Shopping, especially as it reaches a yearly peak this month, is a great place to stretch your green wings.

Environment

• Streamline shopping trips so you stay off the road as much as possible.


• When making any purchase, consider the packaging--if it comes down to a choice between two products, choose the one with the most easily-recycled/reused packaging.


• Buy whatever you can in bulk, especially items you and your family will be using a lot of this season.


• Don't forget to bring your reusable bags with you when you shop!

Economy

• Patronize local business for your shopping needs this year. Support for the "Little Guy" bolsters our local economy.


• Make a list and stick to it! Purchase only what you NEED.


• Shop on-line to avoid getting on the road and wasting gas.

Society

• Budget for a donation to a local charity.


• Take some time to visit/bring a gift to a shut-in.


• Before you bring a lot more "stuff" into your home, have a sort-through of what you've got and take any and all excess to a thrift shop (while you are there, you MIGHT just find that perfect something for that someone!!)