Tag Archives: decor

Study: Pride Motivates Better Than Guilt for Green Choices

by RosalinPigott Posted on March 6, 2018

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A little shaming might seem like a good idea when you see someone skip the recycle bin and head straight for the trash, but you might want to reconsider that approach. A recent study from Princeton University finds that highlighting the pride people will feel if they take environmentally friendly actions may be a better way to change behavior.

Published in the journal PLOS ONE, “The Influence of Anticipated Pride and Guilt on Pro-Environmental Decision Making” asked people from a sample of nearly 1,000 diverse participants to think about either the pride they would feel after taking pro-environmental actions or the guilt they would feel for not doing so, just before making a series of decisions related to the environment. There were various ways to remind them of the pride or guilt they might feel, including a one-sentence reminder that remained at the top of the screen for some participants.

To look at what’s a better motivator, the respondents were asked to make five sets of choices, each with “green” (environmentally friendly) or “brown” (environmentally unfriendly) options. In one scenario, they could choose a sofa made from eco-friendly fabric but available only in outdated styles, or they could pick a more modern style of sofa made from fabric produced with harsh chemicals. In another example, they could pick any or all of 14 green amenities for an apartment, with the caveat that each one added $3 per month to the rent.

Across all the groups — those being reminded to feel pride for making eco-choices, those being reminded to feel guilt for non-eco-choices, and a control group — a pattern emerged. “Overall, participants who were exposed to anticipation of pride consistently reported higher pro-environmental intentions than those exposed to anticipated guilt,” said study author Elke U. Weber.

Why? Some people get defensive when they’re told they should feel guilty about something, which makes them less likely to want to comply with the requested course of action. Those well-intentioned but guilt-based environmental appeals may very well backfire.

So instead of warning people that they’re hastening climate change that will ruin the earth for generations to come, try patting them on the back when you see them make a good decision. Mother Earth will thank you for your kinder, gentler approach.

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Study: Pride Motivates Better Than Guilt for Green Choices

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6 Tips for Spending Less Money When Taking Care of Your Home

by MiguelWNIxp Posted on September 29, 2016

Whether you are a homeowner or a renter, the natural tendency is to make the place you call home an attractive and cozy spot to live in. But as you have no doubt discovered, this can become a very pricey proposition. If you continually find yourself with more month than money when it comes to looking after your home, try these simple tips and save.

DIY within reason.

Small household fixes, like caulking cracks, are simple and cheap to do yourself. (They will also save you money on your home heating bills.) Be sure tospend smart on supplies. For example, high quality paintbrushes will give you better coverage with fewer ugly streaks, and good, low- to no-VOC paint not only lasts longer — meaning an extended period before you need to invest time and money on your next touchup — it also results in better indoor air quality. Know your limit, though; for larger projects like painting the whole house, it may actually make better financial sense to shop for areasonably priced pro.

Stay warm (or cool) and spend less.

Weve said it before but its well worth repeating: insulate, insulate, insulate. You pay good money to run your HVAC system, so keep the heat (or cool) inside where you want it. Insulate and seal the areas of your home that allow warmed air to escape, such as your crawl space, attic, and ductwork for your heating and cooling system. The cost in materials will be modest, and the potential energy (and cash) savings substantial.

Related:14 Ways to Keep Cool Without Using Air Conditioning

Shop with a list or at least a mental game plan.

Random impulse purchases for your house including everything from grocery items to home decoration — frequently end up in the compost bin or giveaway pile. When you head out to the supermarket, home improvement warehouse, or even the corner dollar store, decide on your shopping guidelines ahead of time, whether these may be menus for the upcoming week or a color scheme for your decor. Set yourself a spending limit too, while youre at it. Whenever feasible, shop your closet and garage — or neighborhoodyard sales– for accessories and furniture.

Remember “more is more” when it comes to kitchen appliances.

Your trusty refrigerator will actually function more efficiently when it is full. If you dont keep a lot of perishables on hand, fill up your fridge and freezer shelves with containers of water to optimize effectiveness. By the same token, avoid running partial loads in your dishwasher. Most models use the same quantity of water whether theyre fully loaded or contain just a couple of plates and a handful of forks. Maximize your oven by planning ahead; for example, when youre about to bake a casserole for dinner tonight, add a pan of bell pepper slices to roast for tomorrow’s lunchbox salad.

Related:30 Make-Ahead Recipesfor Quick Weeknight Meals

Ventilate.

Run your bathroom exhaust fan every time you shower. (Best practice: turn it on before you step under the spray and keep it going for a few minutes after youre done.) Ditto for your range hood. Ventilating your bath and kitchen will get rid of excessive moisture in the air, which is otherwise very likely to damage key components such as your tile grout, cabinets, walls, and flooring, and also encourage the growth ofmold and mildew all costly problems to remedy.

Get a little help from your utility company.

You are probably used to a one-way relationship with your local electricity or gas company, where you are the one writing the checks (or these days, making the bank transfers) to them. However, many utility providers offer a money-saving basket of goodies to their customers such as free home energy audits andincentives or rebateson your purchase of energy-efficient appliances. Check it out.

By Laura Firszt,Networx.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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6 Tips for Spending Less Money When Taking Care of Your Home

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This Company Turns Recycled Plastic Bags into Something Pretty

by WallyFair135676 Posted on June 17, 2016

Plastic shopping bags, as useful as they are for the 12 minutes when they’re in use, are a curse on our planet. While it can be simple enough to avoid them by bringing our own reusable shopping bags with us, the fact that millions of them are made each day, to be used only briefly and to then spend years afterward contaminating our shared resources, is enough to make even the staunchest treehugger throw their hands up in defeat.

Of course, we’re not all so easily swayed into giving up on finding alternatives and solutions for this plastic menace, and some innovative designers are coming up with ways to upcycle plastic bags into products that not only make us feel good about them, but that also look good as well.

One such initiative comes from Reform Studio, which has developed a rather ingenious solution to our plastic bag epidemic, in which the bags become the feedstock for a traditional, yet disappearing, industry in Egypt – handweaving.

Reform Studio is the brainchild of two designers, Mariam Hazem and Hend Riad, who came up with the original concept as their project for the Faculty of Applied Arts at the German University in Cairo two years ago, in which they followed their belief that “design can solve stubborn problems.”

“It all started with a plastic bag. We believe that design can solve stubborn problems and thus we started from a major issue in Egypt: waste. One experiment after another, and after many design proposals, we came up with our first product Plastex. Plastex is a new eco-friendly material made by weaving discarded plastic bags.” – Reform Studio

Plastexstarts with used plastic bags collected by friends, family, and the public, as well as with flawed bags that can’t be sold or used as-is, which are then converted into long plastic strips. These strips, or ‘threads’ are strung on a handloom and manually woven into a fabric that retains the original colors of the threads, which adds to the unique look of the upcycled material. The company claims that the material has proven to be “durable, strong, washable and tolerant to sand and dust.”

By turning what was once waste into a valuable resource, this process can help reduce the negative impacts of single-use plastic bags, as the material is not only a colorful and useful material, but one that can also spur further conversations about waste and plastic and reuse.

Reform Studio

“Plastex is designed to raise awareness about how we define waste and the possibilities behind reusing what was once destined to become trash.”

Currently, Reform Studio offers two types of chairs, theAhwa(coffee) collection, and the Grammys collection(named after grandma, not the music award), both upholstered with Plastex, along with a variety of other goods made with the material, at six stores in Cairo and one in London.

According toFuturePerfect, Reform Studio employs mostly women (70%) in its upcycling workshop, and the company offers job opportunities for untrained workers, either at the facility or working from home, through referrals from charitable organizations.

Find out more atReform Studio’s website.

Written by Derek Markham. Reposted with permission from TreeHugger.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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This Company Turns Recycled Plastic Bags into Something Pretty

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12 Reclaimed Wood Problems & How to Fix Them

by aniaxff2 Posted on May 23, 2014

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12 Reclaimed Wood Problems & How to Fix Them

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