In this third Green Living installment of Health & Wellness, the focus is on the air around us. This is fitting, since part one focused on water conservation and part two discussed ways to protect soil. The triple punch of conserving water, protecting soil and purifying air will yield the most effective reduction on your carbon footprint.
Carbon dioxide has earned its bad reputation for being a greenhouse gas that is running rampant. Excess CO2 creates an insulating blanket that prevents heat from the sun from bouncing off the surface of the planet back out into space, causing a cascading accumulation of side effects.
It is true that the composition of our atmosphere fluctuates over time, and in the distant past when there was more CO2 in the air, plants were more abundant and animals were bigger. This was part of a natural balance, however, and should not be used to argue that elevated carbon dioxide levels from the burning of petroleum is somehow good for us. Those huge jungles and dinosaurs evolved over millions of years, not a handful of decades.
The fact that plants need carbon dioxide provides a means of managing the gas, not an excuse for dumping more of it into the air. It is widely accepted that indoor air quality is generally much lower than external. An inside garden can greatly improve the air in your home by means of the natural process of the plants breathing. Outside, this is also a very good reason to have water efficient plants covering as much of your yard as possible.
Provided below are a handful of ideas you can use around your home, car and yard to improve air quality. If everyone implemented even a few of these ideas the combined results would be huge. Consider reviewing our green ideas for water and soil improvement (published in our 11/3/07 and 12/29/07 issues respectively), as you implement these tips.
Improving the quality of ambient air
The single best way to improve your carbon footprint while reducing your costs and improving your internal air quality is to regularly and properly change the air filters in your home. In addition to the standard filters in your central heat and air you can also purchase modular filters for a room. They range in cost from about $300 to $1,000. The replacement screens range from $15 to $30.
Amaircare Automobile Air Filters improve the air in your car, and cost about $25. See dgs.greenhome.com for a wide variety of products and appliances for your home. Also consider an inside garden.
Improving your car’s footprint
In addition to proper and consistent maintenance of your car, you can also incorporate parts that are green. The website www.greenfilterusa.com has a whole line of products that not only improve your car’s performance and the emissions from its exhaust, but which are also made of green materials. The online store offers environmentally friendly intake filters, cone filters, round filters, kart filters, crankcase filters, cleaner filters and many others for just about any make and model going back to 1962.
Green Filters are made of T-shirt grade cotton (rather than flimsy paper), cost only three times more than a standard filter, but last the entire life of your vehicle (covered by a lifetime warranty). They are cleaned with a biodegradable cleaning kit that keeps oily paper filters out of landfills and eliminates the use of trees. In addition, they can be installed and cleaned (every 30,000 miles) by anyone who’s ever changed a filter.
Over the life of your vehicle, green filters will save you a considerable sum on maintenance, parts and gas; reap multiple performance benefits; and, greatly reduce the impact your car makes on the environment.
For example: If I spent about $75 on a green filter and its installation for my Mazda Miata (yes, I’m happy to say that mine is the gayest car in the history of the world), I should not only expect to never buy another filter, but I will also get an extra mile per gallon in my gas usage (two-three extra miles per gallon on diesels).
Greener yards and gardens
Hydroponics is the process of growing plants without soil. The plants’ roots are immersed in a liquid solution containing all the nutrients they require, which makes food readily available to them. This in turn allows the plants to focus on creating greenery, fruits and blossoms rather than roots. The fruits and vegetables yielded through this process are more nutritious, have better flavors and maintain longer shelf and storage lives than their soil-grown equivalents.
Hydroponically grown plants generally have far more foliage, use up more carbon dioxide and do not require pesticides or acreage. They are automatically friendlier to the environment, more efficient providers of food and flowers and almost inherently USDA organic by their very nature. Visit www.gchydro.com for information about kits, systems and books that will help you transform your internal and external gardens into flourishing beds of carbon dioxide-devouring beauty.
info: Visit www.livinghomes.us for more information on green improvements in home design, especially floor radiation systems that eliminate forced air heating and air conditioning.
Jack Kirven holds an MFA in Dance from UCLA and a national certification in personal fitness training through NASM.
— Q-Notes’ “Health and Wellness” column rotates between physical fitness, spirituality, green living and medical wellness .
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