TOMS Shoes began in May 2006 and since then they have given thousands of pairs of shoes to children in need. Their mission is simple, for every pair of shoes that they sell, they give a pair away to a child somewhere in the world that needs them – especially in places like Ethiopia and South Africa.
Children in these areas have daily chores that require them to walk long distances to get fresh water for their families. Along the rocky way, their feet get cut and infected. There are also other areas of the world where there are horrible foot diseases that are completely preventable with shoes. One of them is called Podoconiosis. Podoconiosis destroys the lymphatic system and causes inflammation of the feet. The feet will inflame to the size of an elephant all of which is completely preventable simply by wearing shoes.
It’s a great cause, check out TOMS Shoes and while you are there, buy a pair.
While you might enjoy staying cool and comfortable in your home during the warmer months of the year, you may also be concerned about cooling your home in a way that’s sustainable and friendly for the environment. Explore a few tips for making your cooling experience eco-friendly and just as effective as traditional methods.
Invest in Quality Insulation and Sealing
Some of the best and most effective cooling methods don’t even involve your air conditioner. Take out some time to have a professional technician who specializes in air conditioning repairs inspect your current insulation to see if it’s doing its job and whether you need to consider investing in an upgrade. Different types of insulation and sealing include thermal envelopes and heat shields.
Boost Your Home’s Ventilation
Making sure air can easily flow through your home is also essential to keeping cool and overall energy efficiency. Specifically, you’ll want to keep your home’s windows, shades and doors closed up until it’s cool out, otherwise, you’ll only have hot air blowing through your home’s interior. Additionally, bear in mind that ceiling fans cool people, not rooms, which means you should only have your fans on when someone is in the room. On a related note, when your fans are on, they should spin counter-clockwise to draw hot air up into the ceiling.
Close Your Shades and Blinds
No matter how great the inside of your home looks while drenched in sunlight, it comes at the cost of heating up your interior, which means your air conditioner is working harder than necessary. To help combat feeling as if you’re living in a sauna, close up your blinds and shades against direct sunlight and the heat waves that come with it. If you’re someone who thrives on sunshine, you can leave your blinds and shades partially closed to direct sunlight.
Cook at Night or in the Early Morning
Operating your oven or stove during the day cranks up the heat in your home, which makes your air conditioner crank up its efforts to keep your home at the same temperature. Rather than feel as if you’re making a sacrifice by not using the oven, you can instead start eating more raw vegetables and fruits, which your body is sure to thank you for. Opt for fruits like a watermelon that contain a lot of water to help you keep cool.
Lower Your Overall Cooling Load
Ways to make the most of passive cooling include:
Add or upgrade the sealing around your home’s windows and doors.
Use low-E glazing to your windows.
Make sure you have proper and sufficient insulation in your attic.
Invest in a whole-house fan, which can decrease your use of your air conditioner as well as your overall energy consumption.
Consider installing a radiant barrier in your attic ducts.
These methods are sure to pay off in the long run.
Sleep With a Buckwheat Pillow
If you’re like most people, you probably like sleeping in a cool room. Blankets and sheets are comfortable while sleeping, but they can raise your body temperature. Rather than crank up the air conditioner, invest in a buckwheat pillow, which is naturally cooler than standard pillows and won’t keep you tossing and turning during the night, which impacts the overall quality of your sleep.
Turn Up Your Unit Temperature
You can still remain comfortable even if your unit is set at a higher temperature. For every degree you set your unit above 72 degrees, you can save anywhere from one to three percent energy. Try it and see if you notice a difference in your comfort levels.
With the right information, you can do your part to save the environment through more efficient cooling methods. Put these tips to good use and see what a difference they make and how good it feels to practice sustainability.
Young or older, you might be looking at home care if you suffer from an illness or injury that makes maintaining independence in your own home difficult.
For the older person struggling to cope with living alone, home care is a common choice. This is because moving into a care home is often a stressful experience, and many people avoid the option because they are eager to maintain as much independence as possible.
It is important to consider what elderly care services can do for you, and how to choose the right option. Read on for some crucial advice.
There are many great options to choose from when it comes to care at home, and it might seem difficult to distinguish and choose between the companies out there. If you think that you or a loved one could benefit from care services, the question then becomes one of how to choose the right home care for you.
As care staff might be working with particularly vulnerable people, it is important than they are fully checked and trustworthy. It is up to the care agency to carry out these checks for you.
The next thing is to understand whether a homecare company’s employees are fully trained, and whether they have any qualifications to prove the quality of their care. Are they fully equipped to handle the needs of you or your loved one? For example, does the company provide care staff that has experience in catheter care or diabetes? The carers themselves are surely the most important element of any care package, and you must make sure standards are high when looking for home care services.
Other Factors to Consider When Looking for Care at Home
The quality of staff is paramount, but when looking for care at home, there are other important things to consider. Whether you want assisted living or respite care, it is important that the home care service is tailored to your specific needs.
Beyond the direct care provided, ensuring continuous safety and peace of mind is crucial, especially for those living alone or with limited mobility. Technology can play a vital role in this, offering immediate assistance when caregivers are not present. For instance, a reliable medical alert system can provide a critical layer of protection, allowing individuals to call for help instantly in an emergency, even if they cannot reach a phone. These systems often feature two-way voice communication, long-lasting battery life, and water-resistant pendants, empowering users to maintain their independence with confidence. To enhance safety and ensure prompt assistance, many families choose to order medical alert devices as part of a comprehensive home care plan.
Not only this but that the home care company provides specific guidelines and a framework for its care staff to operate under. You want to make sure that home care staff will arrive on time and in appropriate uniforms. It is important that they are informed of all specific support needs, and it is the home care service’s job to do this.
To make your decision, it is always worth looking at reviews and testimonials of the people who have used the care service before. Though we would all like the highest quality of care, cost is always a factor, and you need to make sure that prices are fair and cost-effective.
You should also make sure the company is ethical and that they are committed to helping the community and the planet.
So there you have it: an insight into some of the different factors that you need to consider when you are looking for home care services for your loved one. We know that this can be a difficult period in anyone’s life, and so we hope that the information that has been provided will be helpful for you.
More than 100,000,000,000 pieces of junk mail are received by Americans each year. 1/3 of all the mail delivered in the world is U.S. junk mail. Can you believe it? 44% of junk mail is never opened and devastatingly, only 22% of that is recycled. Junk mail alone uses 100 million trees, wastes 28 billion gallons of water and pumps 2.8 million cars worth of C02 into our atmosphere annually. And on average Americans spend 8 months of our lives opening junk mail. What? Let’s stop the craziness, here are 4 ways to stop the junk mail:
Sign an online petition supporting a national registry to stop junk mail at donotmail.org.
Go to OptOutPrescreen.com to opt-out of Credit Bureaus sharing your information with junk mail distributors.
Try a service like Tonic Mailstopper that will stop 90% of your junk mail in only 90 days or 41pounds.org which will stop most junk mail for 5 years.
Or if you are really talented like Sandy Schimmel Gold, you can turn your junk mail into beautiful mosaic portraits. My absolute favorite is “Natasha’s New Pajamas.” It would look fabulous in my Asian themed living room.
What steps have you taken to stop junk mail? Or do you recycle it into fantastic art?
Outdoor living spaces are becoming more and more popular. But despite the fact that they’re outside, many outdoor living spaces are not very eco-friendly. While it’s true that plants can reduce stress and negative feelings by up to 60%, planting a few flowers isn’t going to make a space very eco-friendly. So if you’re looking to turn your green space into something truly eco-friendly, here are a few tips to keep in mind.
Use Green Materials
When you’re building your outdoor space, it’s important to start with using eco-friendly materials. Whether you’re building a patio or creating walkways, using the right materials is important. You should consider materials like rubber paving stones, permeable concrete, and reclaimed wood. If you’re extending your roof over your outdoor space, choosing the right roofing material can even reduce energy use by up to 30%. Think about using materials that are recycled, have a low impact on the environment when they’re made, and options that will last a long time so you don’t have to replace them. Starting with the right materials is key to building a great green space.
Choose Eco-Friendly Furniture
Another great way to go green with your outdoor area is by choosing eco-friendly furniture. Most furniture is not made with eco-friendly materials, but you can make the decision to ensure the furniture you’re buying is as sustainable as possible. Cushions filled with organic cotton, end tables made from recycled wood, and other sustainable furnishing options are not too difficult to find. Additionally, you can consider making your own furniture. You can use something like stainless steel pipes, which can last longer than 100 years, to create table legs and use other refurbished materials as well. Going green with your furniture is easy to do and you can still have aesthetically pleasing options. Even though furniture is the third most expensive item a person will buy during their lifetime, after a house and a car, spending a little more on eco-friendly materials is worth the investment.
Use Sustainable Lighting
Lighting is an important element for outdoor areas, especially if you’re looking to host parties and gatherings after dark. Unfortunately, using the wrong lighting can simply increase your energy bills and further harm the environment. But there is a wide variety of options for sustainable lighting — solar-powered outdoor lights are becoming increasingly common. You can use solar lights to illuminate pathways, your deck, and even throughout your garden. Solar lights are great because they look good and don’t use any energy. To go along with some solar lights, consider getting some outdoor candles, just make sure they’re all-natural to stick with your green theme.
Creating a great outdoor living space is easy, especially if you already have the perfect area picked out. And while choosing sustainable options may take a little more time and effort, it’s definitely worth it. So keep these simple tips in mind to help you get started on going green at home and you’ll have a great sustainable outdoor area to enjoy in no time.
