Month: April 2009

Green Painting with Milk Paint

- Adam Clare 4 Comments

You learn something new everyday, and today I learned that you can paint with milk! I found out from this handy green painting guide from National Geographic.

Milk paints are virtually odorless and are made using the milk protein casein and lime. They contain no solvents, preservatives or biocides, though some do have synthetic ingredients like acrylic and vinyl. They come in powdered form and once opened or mixed with water, they should be used quickly, as they can mold if left to stand for a few weeks.

So I did some research on milk paint and found a company that is dedicated to reproducing old fashioned milk paint. From their about us:

In 1974, after much experimentation, we recreated an old Milk Paint formula to provide an authentic finish for our primary business of building reproduction furniture. Since then we have sold our paint to professionals who are either restoring original Colonial or Shaker furniture, making reproductions, or striving for an interior design look that is both authentic and beautiful. Milk Paint is now gaining an even wider usage because it contains only ingredients that are all-natural and will not harm the environment. Our authentic real milk paint is truely a “green paint” that comes in 20 colors.

I also found elsewhere a gallery of milk paint.
milk paint

And here’s a video explaining how to use milk paint:

How have we missed out on milk paint on Things Are Good for so long? Anybody out there now anything more about this painting style?

Earth Day Idea for Canadians

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

First of all, happy Earth Day!

Here’s a neat idea for Canadians: have manufactures pay for waste management of their products. To our European (and some other) readers, this is not a new or crazy idea, but here in Canada this concept is revolutionary. For Earth day The Toronto Star has examined how Ontario can get manufactures to make more environmentally friendly products through legislation – and things are looking good.

One of the most obvious steps is Extended Producer Responsibility, the European concept that the manufacturer must cover the full cost of properly recycling or disposing of a product at the end of its life cycle.

The merits of EPR are simple: It entices companies strictly for cost reasons to redesign their products so they are easier and cheaper to recycle.

European rules, for example, forced Apple to create a computer without lead – leading to lower costs at the end of its life.

In its purest sense, EPR challenges companies to make product lines that lead to zero waste, because no waste would mean no charges at the end of the day.

The requirement may sound radical in Canada, but elsewhere, especially throughout the European Union, EPR is a familiar feature on the regulatory landscape.

Sustainable Energy – without the hot air

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

There is a lot of information out there on how we’re destroying our planet and there’s tons of information about how we can save it (this site looks at saving it). David J.C. MacKay has written a book Sustainable Energy – without the hot air that takes all the climate change information and creates an analysis that is much easier to understand than most writing on the subject. The best part is that you can read the entire book for free.

From the introduction to the synopsis:

We have an addiction to fossil fuels, and it’s not sustainable. The devel-
oped world gets 80% of its energy from fossil fuels; Britain, 90%. And
this is unsustainable for three reasons. First, easily-accessible fossil fu-
els will at some point run out, so we’ll eventually have to get our energy
from someplace else. Second, burning fossil fuels is having a measurable
and very-probably dangerous effect on the climate. Avoiding dangerous
climate change motivates an immediate change from our current use of
fossil fuels. Third, even if we don’t care about climate change, a drastic
reduction in Britain’s fossil fuel consumption would seem a wise move if
we care about security of supply: continued rapid use of the North Sea Photo by Terry Cavner.
oil and gas reserves will otherwise soon force fossil-addicted Britain to de-
pend on imports from untrustworthy foreigners. (I hope you can hear my
tongue in my cheek.)

How can we get off our fossil fuel addiction?

There’s no shortage of advice on how to “make a difference,” but the
public is confused, uncertain whether these schemes are fixes or figleaves.
People are rightly suspicious when companies tell us that buying their
“green” product means we’ve “done our bit.” They are equally uneasy
about national energy strategy. Are “decentralization” and “combined
heat and power,” green enough, for example? The government would have
us think so. But would these technologies really discharge Britain’s duties
regarding climate change? Are windfarms “merely a gesture to prove our
leaders’ environmental credentials”? Is nuclear power essential?
We need a plan that adds up. The good news is that such plans can be
made. The bad news is that implementing them will not be easy.

Six Good Things That Pay for Themselves

- Adam Clare

Being a little greener and a little richer is really easy with these six items that pay for themselves within a year by helping the environment.

5. Programmable Thermostat
Having a programmable thermostat is the easiest way to lower your heating and cooling costs. And having the house temperature right where you want it every hour of the day isn’t bad either. You can find programmable thermostats as cheap as $20 – at that price, it would probably pay for itself many times over in a year.

Taxes Are Good

- Adam Clare 3 Comments

I don’t know anybody enjoys paying taxes but I know of a lot people who enjoy using what our taxes pay for. Roads, drinkable water, and many other things we use everyday are provided to us from the government (at least in Canada) and these services cost money. A recent Canadian study has done the math and found that in 2006 the average per capita benefit from public services was about $16,952!

Believe it or not taxes are good for you.

The majority of Canadian households enjoy a higher quality of life because of the public services their taxes fund, the study argues.

According to the report, Canada’s Quiet Bargain: The Benefits of Public Spending, the cost of the public services that a typical Canadian household uses annually is the equivalent of about 50 per cent of its annual income.

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