Whether you live in the county or just suburbia, the lifestyle leads to some very unhealthy, polluting living. From cutting the grass to trimming trees or just blowing leaves you are more likely going to be using both four cycle and two cycle engines. We can use four cycle engines more efficiently and two cycle engine are as dirty as it gets. We need to turn that around and clean up our act. Due to the fact that two cycle engines mix oil and gas prior to burning, the use of these engines lead to both a waste of fuel (almost 40% of the fuel is not burned) as well as as much pollution per hour of usage as the largest gas guzzling SUV’s. The good news is that most of this pollution is controllable.
To start with, we can use environmentally safe engine oil in our four cycle engines (like lawn mowers or lawn tractors). Developed by Green Earth Technologies® we now can switch from petroleum based motor oil to G-Oil® an environmentally safe non-petroleum substitute. As is the case with most energy savings issues, we can reduce both pollution and fuel savings by making two lifestyle changes. The first is mowing less often and/or mowing less areas around our homes. I have a 5 acre yard but for years I only mow 1 of the 5 acres when necessary, not regularly (just because it’s Sunday doesn’t mean I have to cut the grass.) Due to the deer tick problem up here in Greene county I do cut the other 4 acres once a month. If you really want to help, switch to G-Oil® for your lawn mower and/or lawn tractor as well as your car’s oil changes. Follow this link to see all of the oil change locations in both upstate New York as well as the entire New York Metropolitan area. These locations also sell G-Oil® for the do-it-yourselfer's.
Even more polluting than mowers and tractors are the dirty two cycle engine string trimmers, leaf blowers and chainsaws that have become part of our life. For this problem I have two solutions. The first is switching from standard two cycle engine oil to 2 Cycle G-Oil, also manufactured by Green Earth Technologies®. If you are handy, in addition to switching oils you can save huge amounts of fuel by making your regular 2 cycle engine into a Direct Injection engine. (A retrofit kit can be purchased at Envirfit.org.)
Like all families, some of us are a bit more environmentally aware than our partners or family members. In my family I have to deal with a wonderful wife who is also a bit OCD. (The kids and I used to torture her by just moving things in the house by a few inches and sitting back to watch her.) Well one of “her things” is a certain look of our front yard. I must string trim weekly and include killing all weeds growing on our driveway and pathways. I’ve already switched to 2 Cycle G-Oil in my string trimmer. As is typical to most environmental challenges the solution is both less expensive and very easy. There are few products worse than the most popular herbicide RoundOut®. The good news is that I can both save you money and make your home environment less toxic. For the past 15 years I have been using a home brew of 1 gallon white vinegar and a cap-full of any citrus based degreaser (which is non-toxic and biodegradable) in a pump sprayer to kill any of the weeds that grow along my driveway and other yard paths. It works within a day and does just as good a job as toxic chemicals in a non-toxic biodegradable way.
While you are changing the way you treat your yard, why not make as many indoor changes as you have made outdoors. While most of the typical cleaning products manufacturers now have “green” products, why not buy wholesale from a NYC company American Cleaning Solutions which is local (Brooklyn, NY), doesn’t sell the bad stuff as well as green products (like the Clorox company) and sells concentrates that are both economical and environmentally safe. Over 10 years ago I purchased a gallon each of GC 55 GLASS & WINDOW CLEANER,MP 11 MULTI-PURPOSE CLEANER (which cleans floors, walls, chrome, stainless steel, table tops, vinyl, sealed wood and many other surfaces not harmed by water) and SAFE 2 CLEAN PEROXIDE CLEANER(for cleaning toilets). I have yet to use more than ½ of any of them as they each make between 32 and 64 gallons of products. Let me repeat, it has been 10 years since I have been using these products and assume they will last another 10 years. The only unfortunate thing is that as the company sells wholesale directly to janitorial supply companies so if you want their products you must call them at 888-929-7587 to order them. They also make a number of other green products so it is definitely worth checking out their website.
Lastly, with the winter coming on we can all do the earth a favor by not using non-environmental salt melting agents. While there is no perfect melting solution, the best choices are any of the acetates. These can be purchased at any good hardware stores. If you can’t find it nearby, it can be purchased in bulk at Meltsnow.com.. That’s it for now. Have a green winter.
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