I can’t believe it! I just can’t believe it! I was writing a note with a sharpie on my finished, wood desk and after completing my note realized “Oh my God, green sharpie all over!” It had bled right through the paper in a magnificent pattern that Michelangelo (not the turtle) would’ve been proud of. Did I mention it’s permanent?

Well, one of the easiest ways to reduce your envirohuman impact is finding new uses for items you already have around the house. So instead of driving to the store (burning gas), purchasing a harsh chemical treatment (increasing demand for such things which are bad for the environment), driving home (see earlier), and then using said treatment… you just use something already around the house. Did I mention you don’t have to buy anything new (and save a buck or two)? Plus, this item is actually so non-toxic you already use it in your mouth!

As the weather begins to heat up and you have the occasional humid day, don’t automatically go for the air conditioner. You have other options!

Yeah, you’ll read tips similar to this on just about any environmentally-focused website. But like any of our messages, repetition can be necessary for those who are recently converted to improving their EHI,
those who are unconvinced, and even those of us who are committed, but may need reminders and encouragement.

It can ruin the warm and coziest of early morning wake-ups, no it’s not the piercing buzz of the alarm clock, it’s the slush of water under your feet immediately after turning on the shower. The culprit: a completely or partially clogged bath tub, shower drain, typically caused by hair and other various nasties.

While you stand there, helpless and dreaming of life without an inch of sudsy bath water under foot, you’ve probably wondered, “What’s the easiest way to unclog a hair filled shower drain?” Well, the answer might surprise you, not just with how easy it actually is but that it can be done using zero harsh chemicals (like Draino, the Works, etc), cost less than one dollar, and have a minimal envirohuman impact.

Step 1: Unfortunately, there is no easy way to dissolve hair (the good Lord must have used some serious raw materials when He made that stuff!) so the first thing you must do is use a screw driver or your fingers to remove the drain cover. Usually the main clog will be just beneath this, if not a few inches down and can be easily removed using a straightened coat hanger. So bite the bullet, pull it–try, try not to look at the monster that’s been residing in your pipes–and throw that thing away!

Step 2: Now the fun part! Using a half cup or so of baking soda and a small bottle of plain white vinegar, pour in the baking soda followed by the vinegar. Once the combination has stopped foaming, you can flush the remaining clog out by pouring boiling water down the drain (a great place to use your tea kettle). Depending on the seriousness of your clog you can also use a small plunger to help pass the blockage.

Why buy a tea kettle? How often do you put water on the stove to boil for tea or coffee (I use a French press) and you walk out of the room while it gets to boiling point? And how often have you forgotten and had half of the pot of water boil away, wasting gas, and likely leading you to add more water which then needs to be boiled? Repeat. Repeat. Waste. Waste.

If you’re like me, you don’t have time to watch the water boil. And you may have forgotten the water for a while. If it takes about five minutes for a small pot of water to boil, but you have the stove on for ten minutes, you’ve used twice the electricity (or gas) that is needed for the task.

Two floors down or one floor up, use the elevators. That’s the rule. It used to go for reducing congestion at elevators. But now it also would mean reducing your negative envirohuman impact, because when an elevator has to move you from floor to floor, a motor is moving both your weight and that of the elevator car, cables, and other mechanisms.

I made this decision originally because I was making ten to twenty trips per day between the two different floors my company occupies in a high-rise. At the beginning of the year, I decided that in order to shed a few extra pounds, I would take the stairs a majority of the time.