Education

The Green Thing

...your guide to a healthy Earth

Welcome to GBF's Green Thing page. The Green Thing provides weekly tips that you can use to protect Galveston Bay - at your home, in your office, or when you are out and about. Not only can you protect our local environment by using the Green Thing tips, many can save you money! For more information about the Green Thing tips, please contact Scott Jones at (281) 332-3381 x 209 or e-mail sjones@galvbay.org.

GBF would like to thank wiredin.cc for helping bring you the Green Thing! Note: you can sign up at the bottom of wiredin.cc's home page to receive their free eTalk of the Bay electronic newsletter that includes the weekly Green Thing tip as well as bay area community news and events.


Green Tip for the Week of August 30, 2010
Free Water for Your Garden!

Collect the condensate draining from your home air conditioner. You may be surprised how much water is produced – anywhere from a gallon or so to tens of gallons a day. Use it to water your plants! Note: This water is not potable and is not for human or pet drinking purposes! For more information, click on the following links:


Green Tip for the Week of August 23, 2010
Only Water Should Go Down Storm Drains

Did you know that water that flows down our storm drains is not cleaned at a treatment plant? Litter and granular fertilizers and pesticides can run off with rainwater and pollute our area ditches, bayous and streams, and ultimately Galveston Bay. Even grass clippings and leaves can cause problems and clog drains and cause localized flooding. Please help prevent this from happening. See Clean Water Clear Choice’s Garbage In Garbage Out brochure (PDF) for more information. And take a look at Clean Water Clear Choice’s other downloads for other great tips.


Green Tip for the Week of August 16, 2010
Where to Recycle Glass

Many cities no longer recycle glass at curbside pickup, citing safety issues. But buying drinks and other items in glass containers is still an environmentally-wise choice - if you can recycle the containers after use. Another benefit is that the lids on glass containers are often recyclable metal. You can recycle both! Click on http://earth911.com/ and enter “glass” and your zip code to find recycling locations. You can do the same for metal lids and other materials. JUST BE SURE to contact the facility and confirm they take these materials before you drive out there.


Green Tip for the Week of August 9, 2010
Home Cooling Tips (continued): Insulate

To help you keep your cool, lower your energy bills, and help the environment by reducing the burning of fossil fuels, be sure that you have enough insulation in your attic. What kind do you need? How much do you need?

Find out more by clicking on Energy Star - Air Seal and Insulate.


Green Tip for the Week of August 2, 2010
Another Tip to Help You Keep Your Cool and Help the Earth

As the hot dog days of summer continue, you may have noticed that parts of your home are much warmer than other areas. West- or south-facing rooms are exposed to much more solar heating than other parts of your home. And rooms over garages can also heat up more than other rooms. You can take some steps to permanently reduce this problem, and help the environment, if you do it right.

For rooms disproportionately heated by the sun, consider adding solar screens and plant shade trees that will provide habitat and help improve our air quality. For rooms above garages, it gets trickier. You can possibly add foam sheet insulation on the inside of the garage door, insulate the space between garage ceiling and room floor, or even add an exhaust fan in the garage. You should to consider contacting a contractor for the latter two garage solutions.

Find out more by clicking on Energy Star - Hot or Cold Room.


Green Tip for the Week of July 26, 2010
Maintain Your A/C and Don't Break a Sweat

One simple thing you can do to keep cool this summer, and help the environment at the same time, is to maintain your home cooling system by changing the air filter on a regular basis. A dirty air filter reduces air flow and makes your A/C work harder than necessary - wasting energy and costing you more in higher bills. Find out more by clicking on Energy Star - Heat and Cool Efficiently.


Green Tip for the Week of July 19, 2010
Set the Example by Cleaning a Little Piece of Shoreline...

Don't you hate seeing litter on our bay shores, beach, and jetties? It can ruin an outing. While it is certainly not your responsibility to pick up someone else's litter, it is a good thing to do for our feathered friends and other aquatic creatures.

Why should you do it? Some litter like plastic bottles and bags and styrofoam cups and containers lasts virtually forever - at least 500 years! Other examples: cigarette butts last about 12 years, disposable diapers last 75-80 years, and tin cans last about 100-500 years. Besides ruining a nice beach or shoreline view, some of these items are mistaken by sea turtles, dolphins, and whales for food. After ingesting the litter, these wonderful creatures can die from the obstruction in their digestive system. Marine mammals, reptiles, birds, and fish can all become entangled in discarded fishing line and six-pack rings and die.

By simply taking a trash bag and filling it up before you hit the water, you make that small stretch of your shoreline a litte more beautiful and you can set a great example to others. If you think your impact will be small, then think of your cleaning a little strip of shoreline as a way to keep one less sea turtle or other creature from dying. And who knows... maybe people that see your good work will think before they throw their trash. Better yet, maybe they'll help clean up next time. Bonus tip: Take 2 trash bags with you on your next outing - one for recyclable items and one for non-recyclables.

Remember: All we can do is all we can do!


Green Tip for the Week of July 12, 2010
Use Less Toxic Materials Around Your Home...

Use less toxic materials around the house, such as cleansers and laundry items, to better protect your health and the health of Galveston Bay. By switching to less toxic alternatives, you will reduce the amount of household hazardous wastes going to our landfills, groundwater, and streams. Find the easy recipes at CleanWaterways.org (PDF).


Green Tip for the Week of July 5, 2010
Adopt a Waterway, or a Park, or a Street...

Do you want to help Galveston Bay and its tributary waterways, have fun, make new friends, and feel good that you are helping the environment? Then adopt a waterway, a stream, a park, etc. You can help clean these critical waterways that provide habitat and local beauty! Or, you can choose to be a volunteer water quality monitor. Here are some volunteer opportunities. If you do not see your city or county listed, then please ask your elected officials to take a look at these neighboring programs and consider developing similar programs for their own citizens!

Green Tip for the Week of June 28, 2010
Have a Greener 4th of July

We hope you have a fun and safe 4th of July. And we hope you can take some simple steps to make this 4th and other holidays easier on Galveston Bay and our little planet. You can use many of these holiday tips everyday, such as using less disposable dinnerware and packaging or cleaning and reusing plasticware, to help the environment! Find out more at Earth 911.com's 8 Ways to Green 4th of July.


Green Tip for the Week of June 21, 2010
Feeling Frustrated and Helpless Over the Gulf Spill? Then Read Part 2 of How You Can Help.

Many of us feel frustration and a sense of helplessness over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Two weeks ago on June 7th, we posted a tip on what you can do to help fight the spill's impacts directly. But you can also help in an indirect ways by changing personal habits that reduce your fossil-fuel derived energy consumption.

If you look through our 70 Green Tips posted since February 2009, you'll discover a couple of common themes. First, if we all act as individuals to lessen our environmental impacts then we have each done all we can and, taken all together, our individual actions can add up to big, positive changes for Galveston Bay, the Gulf of Mexico, and the world beyond. Second, if implemented, many of our tips would reduce fossil fuel demand and the need to extract fossil fuels in increasingly riskier areas.

All of the following examples will result in your using less non-renewable energy: using native plants that do not require so much water, fertilizers, and pesticides; going organic; substituting reusable bags and containers for disposable plastic items; using less water (it takes a lot of energy to produce potable water); driving less; switching to more fuel-efficient vehicles, adjusting the thermostat, etc. The list goes on and on.

We all depend on fossil-fuels and they are crucial to our quality of life in the near term.  But we can use less and help bridge the gap to more renewable sources and at the same time, help clean the air, land, and water of other forms of pollution that result from the refining and use of petroleum products.


Green Tip for the Week of June 14, 2010
Go Green This Father's Day

Go green this Father's Day with Earth-friendly gifts for dad. Whether it's a gift membership to the Galveston Bay Foundation or a donation in his name, you can help fathers become protectors of our fragile planet by giving them something green. Here are some other gift ideas:

And see our April 12th tip on rechargeable and electric lawn and garden equipment!


Green Tip for the Week of June 7, 2010
How You Can Help with the BP Oil Spill

Green Tip for the Week of May 31, 2010

Harvest Rainwater!

 

We are heading into the hot, dry days of summer.  But we still have heavy downpours from time to time.  Capture that rainwater in a home rain barrel and use it to water your lawn and garden.  You will save money in the long run while you help protect the environment!  Find out more by clicking on the links below:


Green Tip for the Week of May 24, 2010

Please Attend the 2010 Coastal Resiliency Symposium on May 26th!

 

When it comes to planning for future hurricane storm surges, the environmental future is ours to shape right now!   Experts and decision-makers are starting to set in motion ways to protect man-made infrastructure from storms like Hurricane Ike.  Will these solutions take the form of structural options such as the Ike Dike proposal or non-structural options like planning and insurance reform, or a combination of both?

 

Please attend the 2010 Coastal Resiliency Symposium on May 26th at Rice University so you can learn about the threats, our vulnerabilities, and what the experts are considering for our Upper Texas Coast area so you can have a voice in the direction taken!

 

Find out more at http://www.rpts.tamu.edu/CoastalResilience/.

Green Tip for the Week of May 10, 2010

If You Fish, Try Using Circle Hooks!

 

If you want to catch fish and also safely release the ones that are not legal size, use circle hooks.  They work well and result in fewer fish being hooked in the gills or gut.  J-shaped hooks and treble hooks cause more injury and mortality to fish.  Whether you catch fish to eat or to release, circle hooks are a good choice!   Find out more:


Green Tip for the Week of May 3, 2010

Help Protect Wetlands!

 

May is American Wetlands Month, so please help protect these valuable resources!  Wetlands provide critical habitat for over 95% of the recreationally- and commercially- important fish and shellfish species seeking food and shelter in our bays and estuaries after they are born in the Gulf of Mexico.  Wetlands also cleanse the water naturally, trapping and absorbing pollutants.  Finally, wetlands protect us by dampening storm surges and storing floodwaters.

 

How can you help?  Please become a member of the Galveston Bay Foundation and/or make a donation online.  The Foundation actively advocates for wetland protection and offers volunteer wetland restoration events like Marsh Mania.  In partnership with federal, state, local and non-profit partners, we have protected and restored about 15,000 acres of wetlands in the Galveston Bay area since the year 2000!

 

Learn more about wetlands by clicking on these links:

Green Tip for the Week of April 26, 2010

Be an Energy Star!

 

Help Galveston Bay and your wallet by looking for ENERGY STAR qualified products for your home and business.  ENERGY STAR products - appliances, building products, computers and electronics, home heating and cooling units, water heaters, and lighting and fans - use less energy and therefore result in less air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from our power plants.  So when it's time to replace these items, please do your part and save some money at the same time.  See the ENERGY STAR website for more information.

Green Tip for the Week of April 19, 2010

Water Smartly - A Smart Way to Celebrate Earth Day All Year Long!

 

You can help the environment by being efficient with your water use.  The less water you use, the less valuable bottomland habitat must be destroyed to create new reservoirs and the more water that can remain in our rivers and flowing to Galveston Bay.  One of the biggest sources of waste is inefficient watering outdoors.  Learn the better ways to water:

Green Tip for the Week of April 12, 2010

Go Rechargeable or Electric Outdoors
 

Small gasoline engines in outdoor power equipment such as lawn mowers, edgers, weed eaters, hedge trimmers, and blowers emit a disproportionately large amount of air pollution compared to the horsepower that they provide.   Today, there are cleaner alternatives to equipment powered by small internal combustion engines.  Consider rechargeable or electric power corded equipment for your yard work.  Find out more:

Green Tip for the Week of April 5, 2010

Create a Butterfly Garden at Your Home
 

You can create a colorful garden in your yard, or even in containers, that provides nectar for adult butterflies and host plants for their babies (i.e. caterpillars)!  Butterfly gardens provide beauty and entertainment for kids of all ages.  As habitat is lost due to development, pockets of created habitat in our cities are critical to the butterflies' survival.  The use of native plants, especially for the caterpillars, will ensure that we will have butterflies for our children and their children.  Since butterflies help all of us by pollinating plants, we should try to help them.  Click on the links to learn how to create a butterfly garden:

  • Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center's Butterfly Gardening
  • The Houston Museum of Natural Science's Cockrell Butterfly Center (be sure to scroll down to find out about their April 10th Spring Plant Sale)
  • Native Plant Society of Texas - Houston Chapter Information Pages (scroll down to Native Host Plants for Southeast Texas Butterflies and NICE Bird and Butterfly Habitat Plants)
  • Texas Agricultural Extension Service's Butterfly Gardening in Texas

Green Tip for the Week of March 29, 2010

What You Can Do to Reduce the Blight of Plastic and Styrofoam!
 

We have a pressing problem of plastic and Styrofoam blighting our waterways and landscapes, harming fish and wildlife, and filling our landfills.  This is not a legacy we should pass on to future generations.  Last Saturday, tons of plastic and Styrofoam were picked up at Trash Bash 2010 events across the greater Houston-Galveston area, much of it was single-use food and drink containers and plastic bags.  Trash Bash is a great effort, but it only scratches the surface.  We all need to help reduce this pollution at the source.  Here are some tips to help you get started:

  • Eat at home more often.  Not only do you reduce the use of disposable food and drink containers and cutlery, it's healthy.
  • Try to patronize sit-down restaurants that limit the use of disposable plates, cups, and cutlery and instead utilize reusable materials.  At the restaurant, say no to the doggie bag.
  • When you go to a fast food restaurant, consider eating inside rather than going through the drive-through.  This gives you the option of skipping the lid, straw, etc. (and also provides the added benefit of reducing vehicle emissions).
  • Try to avoid buying disposal plastic and Styrofoam items for picnics, parties, etc.  If you must buy disposable items, consider materials that have a better chance of breaking such as those made from paper or corn-starch. 
  • Check out our related tips of January 18, 2010; April 6, 2009; March 23, 2009; and March 9, 2009. 

For more information and what you can do to help, visit the Plastic Pollution Texas website and plasticpollutioncoalition.org.

Green Tip for the Week of March 22, 2010

Bash Some Trash this Coming Saturday!

 

Please take part in Trash Bash 2010 this Saturday, March 27th!  Trash Bash is a volunteer litter clean up event held at seventeen locations across the greater Houston-Galveston area.  You can help beautify a part of Galveston Bay or the waterway of your choice while having fun!

 

After the clean up, lunch will be served.  Entertainment and door prizes are provided at some locations.  T-shirts will be handed out to volunteers on a first-come, first-serve basis.  Check with each site for specific details.  The Galveston Bay Foundation is hosting the cleanup on the Sims Bayou site, so please come join us or be part of a team at one of the other locations.

 

Links:


Green Tip for the Week of March 15, 2010
Fix a Leak This Week!

It's so important that we are efficient with our water use!   Why?  Our Green Thing Tip on June 22nd let you know that Galveston Bay is an estuary that depends on fresh water, so we need to keep the water flowing down our rivers rather than it being diverted for human uses as much as possible, especially if we are not being efficient with its use!   Also, if we are more efficient with our water use, we would not need to build as many reservoirs that destroy extremely valuable river and bottomland habitat.

 

You can do something easy to help keep the water flowing in our rivers, and not down the drain.  Take part in the WaterSense Program's 'Fix a Leak Week' during March 15-21.  It's easy to practice water efficiency; instructions are included! Click on the WaterSense website to find out how!

Also, please take a look at a National Wildlife Federation paper on how water efficiency can prevent river and bottomland habitat destruction and their report on what will happen to our bays if we do not keep the rivers flowing.

 

Green Tip for the Week of March 8, 2010
Plan a Green Spring Break!

Are you making plans for the kids' coming spring break?  Are you staying close to home?  Perfect.  Take them to one or more of our many wonderful local nature centers, preserves, state and local parks, or wildlife refuges.  When's the last time you took the kids fishing?  We know some spots.  By the way, these tips are good for us big kids, too.  So even if you aren't planning for a child's long day out of school, get out there yourself and enjoy the bay and local nature all year long!

Places to go and things you can do close to home:

Find more events on the Citizens' Environmental Coalition calendar.

 


Green Tip for the Week of March 1, 2010 Don't Rush to Dispose of Your Brush!

It's tempting to place yard materials such as tree limbs, brush, cuttings from shrubs, leaves and grass clippings at the curbside for your trash pickup. But please consider turning what would be a waste into a natural resource! You have an alternative to placing these materials into the trash: recycle them! Granted this is not as easy as placing items in your curbside recycling bin, but with a little effort you can do something good with it. It's not as difficult as you may think.

What you can do if you need to get the materials off of your property:

-See if your local municipality has separate curbside collection for these materials and if so, hold the brush until then. Or, if you or a neighbor can haul the materials, see if they have a brush collection facility for residents. You can usually call the municipality's public works or solid waste department to find out.

-Go to Earth 911.com and type in a key word of what you would like to recycle ("yard waste", "brush", "glass clippings", etc.) and your zip code or city to find locations that take yard materials. Please keep in mind there may be a nominal charge, so call the facility before you go.

-Or you can use these materials directly in your yard and maintain a more natural cycle:

  • If you have a chipper, chop up the materials and place in a compost bin or rot pile.
  • Keep the grass clippings on your yard; a mulching mower works best for this practice!
  • Use leaves as natural mulch on your shrub and flower beds.
  • Use tree limbs as part of your landscape as natural edging for walkways and flower beds.

Green Tip for the Week of February 22, 2010
Learn Organic Lawn Care from an Expert!

The Green Thing has brought you numerous tips on environmentally-friendly gardening and landscaping over the past year, and for good reason.  According to The Galveston Bay Plan, one of the major threats to Galveston Bay is polluted storm water runoff coming from diffuse sources, including our yards.

Contaminated runoff from lawns, laden with toxic pesticides and excess nutrients from fertilizers can harm our local waterways and the bay, the plants and animals that live there, and hurt recreational and commercial fishing.  Toxic compounds can even pose a threat to human health.  By practicing organic lawn care not only can you do your part to reduce runoff pollution, but you will build healthy soil and beautiful grass that can withstand the looming summer heat.

Learn about organic lawn care from a nationally renowned expert, Paul Tukey, on Monday, March 8 from 6:30-9pm at the University of Houston.  The cost is $20.

And on Tuesday, March 9 from 6:00-8pm, see the first Texas screening of Tukey's new documentary, A Chemical Reaction, at the United Way, 50 Waugh Drive, Houston.  The cost is $10.


Green Tip for the Week of February 15, 2010
This President's Day, Plan to Grow an Edible Landscape!

Legend has it that George Washington chopped down a cherry tree.  Well, we can't tell a lie... You probably shouldn't plant a traditional cherry tree in the Galveston Bay area.  But you can plant suitable citrus and other fruit trees!  In fact, the bay area has long produced citrus.

Want to find fruit trees to plant in our area?  Then you should attend one of the workshops and plant sales that are happening this month.  Click on the following links to find out when and where:


Green Tip for the Week of February 8, 2010
Buy Environmentally-Friendly Flowers for Your Sweetheart, and Other Green Valentine's Day Tips

This Valentine's Day you can help the environment by buying environmentally-friendly flowers for your sweetheart.  Flowers that are grown locally and/or grown organically are your best bet if you want to help protect the environment.

 

Many smaller, local farms practice sustainable agricultural practices that lessen impacts to our land, water, and air resources.  Buying local means also that the amount of fossil fuel that is burned in transporting products such as flowers to the market is reduced, resulting in less air and water pollution.  Buying from local producers has the added benefit of supporting our area businesses!

 

Click on the following links to find local farmers markets:

Find other green Valentine's Day tips at Eco-Coach and Green Living Tips.

Green Tip for the Week of February 1, 2010
Celebrate World Wetlands Day 2010

World Wetlands Day  will be observed on February 2nd.  WWD is a celebration of the beauty and value of our wetlands.  Wetlands provide habitat for fish and shellfish as well as home for birds.  They also stabilize shorelines; help reduce flood damages; and improve stream, lake, and bay water quality by acting as a natural filter.

 

Our local wetlands deserve a celebration every day, through our awareness of their value and through our protection.  In the Galveston Bay area, there has been a loss of about 40,000 acres of wetlands - about the same as 40,000 football fields - since the 1950s due to subsidence, development, and erosion.  Thankfully, we now have programs in place to help combat these losses, but there is a long way to go to repair the damage that has been done and to minimize new losses.


YOU can do to help protect wetlands by volunteering to restore or create wetlands.  The Galveston Bay Foundation has two terrific programs in which you can take part:

You can also help protect wetlands by becoming a volunteer with Galveston BayKeeper's Wetland Watch. 


Green Tip for the Week of January 25, 2010
Pencil It In

There are so many important environmental meetings, events, and volunteer activities in which you can take part.   But all too often you find out about them after they are over.  It would be great if there were a place where you could find out what's coming up so you could place it on your calendar.  Well, thankfully there are some great environmental calendar resources.

Our own home page, events page, and volunteer page lists happenings on a periodic basis.  But one of the best resources anywhere is the Citizens' Environmental Coalition calendar.  Give it a look!

Green Tip for the Week of January 18, 2010
Put a Lid on It  ...Not

Do you really need a disposable plastic lid for that cup of coffee or soft drink you get at the coffee house or convenience store?  Skip the lid and lessen the demand for its manufacture and the potential resulting air and water pollution.  How about that plastic stirrer or spoon?  You can place your cream and sugar in the cup first and swirl it as you fill up the cup to mix.   Do you even need a disposable Styrofoam or plastic cup?  Buy a refillable travel mug or bring a cup from home and help lessen the amount of trash that goes in our landfills, or even worse, ends up in our waterways and the bay.

Little things do add up.  You can help Galveston Bay and the environment as whole if you just do the "little things" on a consistent basis.  99.9% of us do not intend to harm the environment in our daily routine, but even the most well-meaning among us harm the environment unintentionally, so please think of the little things. Find some easy, everyday tips at the EverydayActivist.com.



Green Tip for the Week of January 11, 2010
Are Freezes Zapping Your Landscape and Gardens? Give Native Plants a Try!

If you have been following our weekly tips, no doubt you've seen the reasons we advocate the use of native plants in your landscapes and gardens: beauty, low maintenance, less need for watering, fertilizers, and pesticides. And they provide food and shelter for our resident species of birds, furry creatures, and beneficial insects. One other thing they can do very well is withstand our freezes!

Unlike many of the exotic and tropical plants typically available in the retail trade native plants are suited to our climate, including extremely cold weather like we are having now. You can find native plants! More and more retailers offer and even specialize in them.

While natives and non-natives may not look great after a freeze, established natives will spring back much better than tropicals. In fact, many natives do just fine, and some like native yaupon holly even provide more palatable food to birds and other animals after a freeze. With natives, you do not need to spend hours covering and uncovering them when the temperatures drop. With most, you can cut back the dead plant material at the right time and watch it come back in the spring!

Click the following links to learn more about native plants and where to find them:


Green Tip for the Week of January 4, 2010
Attend the Houston Regional Water Conference on January 16th - Water for People and the Environment!

One of the best things you can do to help protect Galveston Bay is to become aware of its needs for freshwater! Over the next 40 years a continued supply of freshwater to the bay, as well as to our local rivers and streams, will be critical. In fact, as our population grows, a continued supply of water for people and the environment is likely to become THE environmental issue in the future.

There are things we can do now to ensure we have both... including conserving water and letting our elected leaders and government agencies know that we do not have to choose between water for human needs and water for our environment.

You can help by learning about the issues and how to make your voices heard. This full-day conference, to be held just west of downtown Houston, will feature the experts on the water issues and includes lunch for only $30. So please make plans to attend! Click here to learn more and to register.

Click here to view previous Green Thing weekly tips.