If the thought of cleaning really fills you with horror, just think of all those polar bears you’ll be helping . . . (Why – don’t they like cleaning? – Izzie.)
Here are some home-made cleaning solutions:
To polish furniture, mix together some beeswax, turpentine and your favourite essential oil. (That would be neroli/orange blossom for me – Izzie.)
To disinfect surfaces, infuse leaves of rosemary, eucalyptus, lavender, sage and thyme in water. (They smell really fresh and herby – Izzie.)
To get rid of kitchen grease, scrub with a mixture of salt and bicarbonate of soda (be careful on delicate surfaces, though, as it could leave scratches).
To make windows and glassware gleam, wash with a solution of one part vinegar to four parts water.
To clean your toilet, pour cheap malt vinegar down the pan – it’s excellent for removing limescale and marks.
To shine hardwood floors, brew two teabags in hot water and cool to room temperature, then apply with a mop or cloth (no need to rinse).
To relax, have a nice cup of herbal tea and a big chunk of organic chocolate . . . Mmm – Izzie.
Don’t use disposable cloths for dusting or cleaning – this means unnecessary manufacturing and waste. Use washable cloths instead, or, even better, make them yourself from old T-shirts.
Here are some ideas for keeping your house smelling lovely without using loads of chemicals and unnecessary packaging.
Plants act as natural air filters, so invest in a few houseplants and make it your job to keep them watered and dusted (so they can breathe!).
To get rid of pongy niffs in your home (Do you know my brothers? – Lucy), put a mixture of lemon juice and water into a plastic pump (like the ones you get to spray plants) and get spraying. Or put a few slices of lemon or orange with some cloves and water into a saucepan and simmer for an hour or so.
To freshen up carpets, vacuum, then sprinkle on baking soda, leave it for an hour, then vacuum again.
Natural aromatherapy candles make anywhere smell gorgeous.
Take on the job of dusting all the electrical equipment in your home. This will keep the air vents from getting blocked, which would mean they’d use more electricity.
For a gigantic step nearer Green Queen status, cook eco-friendly meals for your family now and again – but not you, Nesta – we all know about your cooking. (Cheek – Nesta.) The secret is to keep it simple. You don’t have to fry one thing, grill another and roast two more, all for one meal. You can think much greener than that.
If you use a steamer, you can boil potatoes, steam veggies and heat a sauce all on one gas or electric ring.
You can also use all sorts of manual gadgets instead of electrical ones to save on energy – for instance, don’t use a blender to mince food up, just put it through a hand grinder; and don’t use an electric can opener – a manual one will do the job just as well.
These may seem like little things, but if you and your mates all make a pact to cook one meal a week for your families, and cook it using green produce and methods, the energy and pollution savings really will mount up.
Our fave easy-peasy green sort of meals are:
1
Salads – it’s impossible to burn a salad, so anyone can make one (Yes, even you, Nesta.) Make sure your salad is eco-friendly by using locally-grown ingredients, organic if possible.
2
Stir-fries – a stir-fry is cooked very quickly over just one burner, so you’re using minimum fuel. Use lots of locally-grown veg, organic if possible.
3
Omelettes – again, an omelette is cooked quickly over just one burner, so you’re using minimum fuel. Make sure your eggs are free-range (and preferably organic too), to make sure that your chickens have had an environmentally-friendly, happy life. Bulk up your omelette with tasty locally-grown veg (organic if poss) to make it into a filling meal.
4
Soups and stews – again, you can cook a big pot of health-giving soup or stew over just one burner, using lots of lovely locally-grown produce.
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Casseroles – another type of ‘one-pot’ dish, which cooks in the oven, so keeping fuel usage down again.
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Picnics – there’s no better way to eat ‘green’ food than to get out into nature with your mates and a great excuse to invite some buff boys. Make some sarnies and a tub of salad (which obviously involve little or no cooking at all, so low or no fuel usage), choose some fresh fruit and a big bar of organic chocolate and take some bottled tap water. Make sure you pack everything in reusable containers and don’t use plastic plates or cutlery – either take china, washable ones (wrap them up in tea towels so they don’t break) or use paper ones you can recycle afterwards. All healthy (so good for a beauty boost) and green at the same time – what more could you ask for!
See here for green food shopping tips.
TOP TIPS FOR GREEN QUEENS
Next time you crave a fast food fix, just think about all the packaging which comes along with your mega-burger and fries. What a waste! Resist the temptation, and you’ll be doing the planet a favour.
Have a look at our goals and then write your own!
Green things I am going to do TODAY:
Izzie:
Ask my mum if we can get a compost bin.
Lucy:
Turn down the thermostat on our central heating.
Nesta:
Talk to the girls about starting a magazine exchange.
TJ:
Find out where to recycle my old mobile phone.
Green things I am going to start doing THIS WEEK:
Izzie:
Check out second-hand clothes shops for vintage stuff.
Lucy:
Find out what we can recycle locally – what gets collected and where we can take the rest.
Nesta:
Organise a clothes-swapping party for all our mates.
TJ:
Start making our garden more wildlife-friendly.
Now it’s your turn!
Three green things I am going to do TODAY:
Five green things I am going to start doing THIS WEEK:
Once you’ve achieved the above, you’ll have earned the title of Green Queen for sure. Congratulations, Your Majesty!
A Note from Nesta
Howdy folks, it’s Nesta and I have read and listened and realised that it’s not as difficult or boring as I first imagined. Now if, like me, you’ve got this far with your planet-saving plans, you’ve done brilliantly. Just keep going and don’t look back. If you meet with resistance, don’t give up. Remember: when the going gets tough – the tough go shopping. Sorry, old habits die hard. I meant: when the going gets tough – the tough get going and shopping for free-range organic whatnots.
Every time you feel like not bothering to go any greener than you are, just think of all those giant pandas and great apes, tigers, elephants and rhinos, whales and dolphins and marine turtles you’ll be saving (TJ told me that they’re all under threat due to shrinking habitat and pollution). Think of how you’re not contributing to pumping poisons into the Earth, the seas, the skies. Think of how you’re helping to calm tidal waves, tame tornadoes and hold back the rising oceans (all pretty terrifying features of climate change). Feeling superhuman yet? You should be – just don’t go too extreme and start wearing your underwear over your jeans like Superman – it was never a cool look. Where was I? Oh yes, you and your mates have powers you never knew you possessed. So here’s how to go one stage further and be a Green Goddess . . .
Compost on, dudes.
Nesta
Being a Green Goddess means eating like a Green Goddess. And eating like a Green Goddess means eating organic whenever possible. It can be expensive, but if you grow your own organic fruit and veg, you’ll be able to eat it till it comes out of your ears, because it will be much cheaper than in the shops.
Unless you’re already into gardening, you might find growing your own
too much like hard work. So, instead of trying to hoe it alone, (arf arf, hoe it alone) get your mates to join you in rising to the challenge. Even if your own family don’t want to dedicate some garden space to a veggie patch, one of your mates’ families will probably be keen. Alternatively, you could suggest to a keen green parent that they rent an allotment and you and your mates could offer to help out. (Allotments are small plots of land rented out to people especially to grow fruit, vegetables and other plants.) Renting one won’t break the bank – many councils let them for as little as twenty pounds a year. Sometimes they can be rented privately too. As a bonus, any boys you meet down the local allotments should be a) thoughtful and caring (well, they obviously care about the environment and about food) and b) very fit (because of all that digging).
In planet-saving terms, you qualify for loads of greenie points (the eco-version of brownie points) if you grow your own because:
you’ll be helping the environment by cutting down the amount of pesticides and fertilisers being used on the land (not to mention entering your own body – which can only be a good thing).
you will be providing a home for many different types of wildlife (and I don’t just mean eco-friendly boys in the next allotment).
you will be cutting down on pollution from transport, because you aren’t buying veg from the shops.
you’ll be cutting down on the fuel and carbon emissions involved in making packaging and also cutting down on waste, because you won’t need any packaging.
you can grow food which tastes fantastic, unlike many commercial growers who focus on growing food which will last longer.
all that organic fruit and veg will do your appearance a favour – your eyes will be sparkling, your hair will be shining, your skin will be glowing – and you’ll be more toned and gorgeous because of all the exercise.
you can give some of what you grow as gifts and impress people with all your hard work. Most boys will be so impressed when you offer to show them your organic melons.
Ten per cent of the greenhouse gases emitted into our atmosphere are produced by livestock such as sheep and cattle (yes, from their bottoms – in manure and farting!).
(Ee-ew. Gross – Nesta, Lucy and Izzie. Hope no-one tries to light said sheep’s fart as they might blow the planet up. It’s the sort of thing my stupid brothers might do – Lucy.) Eating a diet low in meat but high in organic pulses, grains, fruit and veg is better for the environment.
Growing your own veggies can be much easier than you think. (Agreed– even I’ve managed to come up with a bumper crop of spuds. Now I just have to resist the urge to turn them all into chips – Izzie.) It doesn’t have to be time-consuming or expensive. A few packets of seeds and some basic tools – a spade, fork, hoe, rake, trowel and watering can and a fit boy to help you with the digging – are all you need to get started and fill a plot with tasty greens. Here are some tips:
1
Borrow some tools if you can, or buy them second-hand from a car boot sale. If you do buy them new, choose tools made from sustainable wood or recycled plastic and rubber, not PVC.
2
You don’t need to buy new plastic plant containers to grow seedlings – if you use biodegradable empty cardboard egg boxes, you don’t even have to remove them when you plant your seedlings out.
3
Plant wildlife-friendly flowers alongside your veg, to encourage an array of bugs to visit that will help to keep veg-loving pests under control.
4
Fresh herbs such as rosemary and thyme are easy to grow in a small space and will also help encourage bees, butterflies, hover flies and other useful garden insects.
5
You’ll want to stop slugs from nibbling your greens, but don’t kill them with slug pellets (birds and other wildlife eat slugs, so the toxins in the pellets might be harmful to them too). Salt pellets will do the job just as well. Even better, put a saucer of beer near to the plants you want to protect. The slugs will get drunk and stay away!
6
To deter hungry snails, sprinkle eggshells and lemon peel around susceptible plants – they are repelled by the smell of lemon and they can’t manoeuvre themselves over eggshells. (Poor little snails – Lucy.)
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If you drape fine netting like muslin over your seedlings it will protect them from insects chewing them or laying eggs, and will keep cats and birds away.
8
To keep away ground mammals like rabbits, try sprinkling dried holly leaves around your veg beds – the spikes will hurt their feet and discourage them from approaching, while the leaves will biodegrade over time. (Now I feel sorry for the bunnies too – Lucy.)
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Don’t forget to use the rich organic compost you’ll have made by now in your composter!
TOP TIPS FOR GREEN GODDESSES
If you and your mates can’t go in for a whole vegetable patch for any reason, then think small instead. As Lucy will tell you, just because things are small it doesn’t mean they can’t be fantastic. You can grow dwarf varieties of most veggies in containers just like the ones used for flowers on patios. You can grow salad leaves in window boxes. You can even grow Mediterranean herbs and peppers indoors, on a sunny windowsill.
If you can’t grow your own organic fruit and veg, there are many companies that deliver organic food in reusable boxes straight to your door. As well as organic food being better for the environment and your health, this cuts down on greenhouse gas emissions from manufacturing, packaging and transport too (just one vehicle is involved in delivering to many families, rather than all those families taking their own car to the supermarket). Start working on your parents . . .
Hug a tree today – it deserves it! (OK, now this has gone too far – Nesta.) A top way to save the planet is to plant a tree. A tree is beautiful to look at. It provides a habitat for all sorts of wildlife. A tree provides shade. And most important of all, a tree creates oxygen while absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – so the more trees there are on Planet Earth, the more this will help to cancel out the greenhouse effect, global warming and climate change. Just think: if you plant a tree native to your area somewhere local, you can really reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the air. Some environmental organisations run Tree Parties you and your mates can go along to. At these, you can help plant a tree or two, and also enjoy other events such as picnics and woodland walks. (How romantic! – Nesta.) If you and your mates can’t find local Tree Parties, have a go at holding them yourselves. Here’s how to do it:
1
Offer to plant trees for your families, other friends and neighbours, and invite everyone along to join in and help. The more people you get involved, the more trees you’ll be able to plant.
2
If people want trees planted but can’t afford to buy them for you to plant, try to raise the money yourself through things like organising a hand car wash on your street or a cake sale at school. Some organisations (such as The Woodland Trust, see www.woodlandtrust.org.uk) even offer grants of a hundred quid or so for tree planting events.
3
Think hard about what kind of tree will suit the chosen spot – hopefully it will be there a looooong time but first of all there are a few things you need to take into consideration:
Ask whoever you’re planting the tree for if they know what their soil is like, or buy a soil testing kit from a garden centre. (Isn’t soil just brown and muddy? – Nesta. No, oh non-green-fingered one. It can be acidic, alkali, clay or sandy – get the idea? – TJ.)
Find out whether the spot is sunny or shady, and whether it’s sheltered or exposed to the wind.
Check out the final size of the tree, to make sure it will fit in with the environment – it’s not a good idea to have a giant tree close to a house.
Ask a clued-up adult for advice about suitable trees, or check an online gardening site such as www.crocus.co.uk.
4
The best time to plant a tree is autumn, w
hen the tree isn’t having a growth spurt but the soil isn’t completely wintry cold. Here’s what to do when you’re ready to plant your tree:
Take the container off the young tree’s rootball and dig a hole that’s as deep as the rootball and twice as wide. (This is the perfect opportunity to play the weak and feeble girl and ask for help from an oh-so-strong boy or two – after all, all’s fair in the art of flirting.)
Mates, Dates and Saving the Planet Page 6