Author: Taylor Houghton

America's Effort

Green Roofs and Solar Roof Panels!!

Taylor Houghton

What is currently on your roof right now? Just simply a roof right? What if I told you there were two Eco-friendly roof ideas that could better the planet! Green roofs and solar roof panels! They are great ideas because if you think about it, we don’t really use our roofs for anything besides hanging Christmas lights. Let’s put our roofs into good environmental use!

First off, what is a green roof? A green roof system involves high quality water-proofing, root repellent system, drainage system, filter cloth, a lightweight growing medium, and plants. It’s basically a plant-based roof! It is pretty amazing because there are so many benefits to it! Michigan State University tells us that, “…they can improve storm-water management by reducing runoff and improving water quality, conserve energy, mitigate the urban heat island, increase longevity of roofing membranes, reduce noise and air pollution, sequester carbon, increase urban biodiversity by providing habitat for wildlife, provide space for urban agriculture, provide a more aesthetically pleasing and healthy environment to work and live, and improve return on investment compared to traditional roofs.” With all those benefits why wouldn’t you want to invest into getting a green roof!!

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Below is a video about why cities need more green roofs and they also look into the largest green roof in New York City!

If green roofs aren’t your forte, let me tell you about solar roof panels! They are also called ‘solar shingles.” They are photo-voltaic cells that are designed to like a normal roof so no one would really know the difference. For example, Tesla is a company that sells them. They are cheaper and more durable (3 times stronger) than the traditional roof. Tesla also gives a lifetime warranty. I don’t know about you but when sometime says lifetime warranty, I know it must be good and true. They also come with battery pack so you can still have power at night time. Not to mention, it saves you money on top of that!! It is worth the investment! I can’t wait until the entire world is cover in solar roof panels!!

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Below is a video about Tesla’s solar roof tiles! Take a look!

Tesla Is Now Selling These Solar Roof Tiles For Cheaper Than A…

Tesla Is Now Selling These Solar Roof Tiles For Cheaper Than A Regular Roof

Posted by David Wolfe on Saturday, May 13, 2017

Individual Change

Changing your Diet Could Help the Environment

Taylor Houghton

We have all heard of vegans and vegetarian, correct? Well their diet is actually really beneficial to the environment (along with pescetarian diet which I will get to later)! Let me tell you why…

One pound of beef requires 2,500 gallons of water, whereas one pound of soy requires only 250 gallons of water. Also a pound of wheat requires only 25 gallons. Cutting meat from your diet saves water. That’s not all… Image result for beef requires alot of water

Deforestation (cutting down trees) happens because of the need to create space to raise livestock. 1/3 of the planet’s land is used for livestock and the demand is only rising!

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Not only that, but you have to think of the food that these livestock eat! That means we need more food to feed these animals and more land to grow the food! An ecologist from Cornell says,”If all the grain currently fed to livestock in the United States were consumed directly by people, the number of people who could be fed would be nearly 800 million.” On top of that the grains and corn that are wastefully fed to the livestock in the United States, when it could instead be fed to the 60 million human beings who die of starvation every year all over the world.

Finally, the livestock in the Unites States also creates A LOT of waste and toxic emission! Livestock only raised for slaughter produce 130 times the excrement of the entire human population! That’s a lot of shi…poop!

Basically, it takes a lot of land and food to produce meat. Not only that but in the process, a lot of toxic emission is added to the environment! Plant based diets really do help. That’s I am going to try the diet pescetarian, which is basically a vegetarian expect you get to eat sea food. The reason for that is you need your omega 3 acids. This is a bigger change to my life but I can’t say no until I have tried it. I will make another post about how I felt about it and my thoughts. I challenge you to try one of these three diets, you might actually like it!

These are the foods that you can still eat on the pescatarion diet but can’t on the vegan or veggie!

 

Individual Change

Sustainably Living

Taylor Houghton

What does it mean to live a more ‘sustainable‘ life?

Sustainable living is a lifestyle that attempts to reduce an individual’s or society’s use of the earth’s natural resources and personal resources.

For my first official post, I am just going to give five general ideas to help you live more sustainable. These may be things you have heard of before or they might be completely new to you. This is just a starting place! What ever the fact, here a simple ways to live more sustainable in your everyday life!

  1. RIDE YOUR BIKE! Riding your bike is actually sometimes quicker than driving! Often times when I ride my bike, I pass a whole line of cars of people stuck in traffic. It of course depends on where your going and what you have to carry, but when you can I would advise you to try to ride your bike!

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2. CAR POOLING! This is another great alternative to helping reduce car emissions. Think about it… if for example, you and a co-worker are going to the same place anyways why not ride together? Not only are you helping the planet, but your also saving money in your own wallet. Image result for car pooling

3. REDUCE HOUSEHOLD ENERGY USE! This idea may seem kind of impossible but it’s not. A lot of the times people leave lights on in rooms their not in. Why? It takes two seconds to flip the switch back up. Try turning off the lights when you leave the room or when you leave your house! This will also save you money in your pocket!

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4. RESELL AND DONATE! When your going through your old stuff, why not make some money off it too? I like the saying, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” (or something like that). Goodwill is a awesome place to drop your unwanted things off if you just want to get rid of them. Back in the day, the only reason people would get rid of their clothes is because they didn’t work anymore or were too worn out. Now a days, people get rid of clothes because their out of style. Clothes is a luxury. We don’t need the newest stuff. If you aren’t willing to stop buying new clothes, at least donate them to someone who could use them! This doesn’t just apply to clothes, but also furniture, dishware, old toys, etc.

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5. PLANT SEEDS! People have ‘grown’ away from planting their own plants. Try setting aside a small area in your yard or window cell. You don’t need acres of land. It’s really a simple process. Also planting trees always helps the environment! If everyone in the world planted one tree, there would be roughly seven billion more trees tomorrow than there was yesterday! Think about the changes that could happen! Those trees would remove over 27 Million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually! Start planting! Image result for plant a tree

With that said, here is a video of little boy who has the mindset that we all should have! Enjoy!