green
dear jim,
i asked my sister why she prefers to use cloth diapers for her baby, mah nephew, samuel. she replied, "we do it for the stupid environment."
she went on to explain that disposable diapers don't biodegrade in landfills. and that they take up a lot of room in landfills. then i started wondering about the net environmental impact.
i did a little bit of reading on teh intertoobz and found that it's kind of a give'n'take when it comes to disposable vs. cloth diapers. the situation is neatly summarized in this handy pdf fact-postcard by the Institute for Lifecycle Environmental Assessment.
disposables produce a lot more landfill waste, but cloth diapers use up more energy due to laundering. cloth diapers also have a much higher water usage and thereby produce a lot of sewage. however, even tho disposables have a lower energy demand, most of that comes in the form of petroleum.
in other personal environmental news, i have replaced 7 light bulbs in mah haus w/ compact flourescent lamps. 5 of the incandescents were 60-watt bulbs and the other 2 were 100-watt bulbs. four of the CFL's are 18-watt models, and the other 3 are 15-watt. this lowers the power demand at mah house by 383 watts - a little over half a horsepower.
i'm trying to think of other ways to lower my carbon footprint. the biggest way i could do that would involve holly. unfortunately, i am neither financially nor sentimentally capable to make such a change at this time.
fuel in the tank*,
evd.
* regardless of the implied petroleum usage, the net environmental impact of my preferred closing to missives ("fuel in the tank") is no greater than traditional methods which include but are not limited to: love, sincerely, and yours truly.
i asked my sister why she prefers to use cloth diapers for her baby, mah nephew, samuel. she replied, "we do it for the stupid environment."
she went on to explain that disposable diapers don't biodegrade in landfills. and that they take up a lot of room in landfills. then i started wondering about the net environmental impact.
i did a little bit of reading on teh intertoobz and found that it's kind of a give'n'take when it comes to disposable vs. cloth diapers. the situation is neatly summarized in this handy pdf fact-postcard by the Institute for Lifecycle Environmental Assessment.
disposables produce a lot more landfill waste, but cloth diapers use up more energy due to laundering. cloth diapers also have a much higher water usage and thereby produce a lot of sewage. however, even tho disposables have a lower energy demand, most of that comes in the form of petroleum.
in other personal environmental news, i have replaced 7 light bulbs in mah haus w/ compact flourescent lamps. 5 of the incandescents were 60-watt bulbs and the other 2 were 100-watt bulbs. four of the CFL's are 18-watt models, and the other 3 are 15-watt. this lowers the power demand at mah house by 383 watts - a little over half a horsepower.
i'm trying to think of other ways to lower my carbon footprint. the biggest way i could do that would involve holly. unfortunately, i am neither financially nor sentimentally capable to make such a change at this time.
fuel in the tank*,
evd.
* regardless of the implied petroleum usage, the net environmental impact of my preferred closing to missives ("fuel in the tank") is no greater than traditional methods which include but are not limited to: love, sincerely, and yours truly.