Mrs. Green Gear and I enjoy Relaxing… This is an understatement. We do daily things to make our days less cluttered and more enjoyable such as turning off the TV after 8pm, taking the time to sit down and eat together, etc…. but sometimes that isn’t enough. Over the course of a year the residual balance of modern stress builds and the only way you can wipe the slate clean is by participating in extended relaxation, otherwise known as a vacation.
One of our favorite ways to do this is to drive about an hour outside of Columbus, Ohio to the Hocking Hills region and spend a few nights at a cabin away from Cable News, Cell phones, Cars, and well… people. It’s a “staycation” we look forward to with a lot of anticipation. This year we looked around the thousands of websites for cabins in Hocking Hills and found the Good Earth Cabins located outside Hocking in Vinton County (an area I had visited in my youth for deer hunting). Good Earth Cabins adds a little eco-friendliness to the standard cabin fare by using recycled materials (where possible), installing new energy efficient appliances, and cleaning the place with “green” cleaners.
Cabins in hocking hills vary in terms of quality, but every one of them includes the essentials: TV w/ DVD Player, Cookware, Modern Kitchen, Fire pit, Grill, and Hot-tub. So, from this list of amenities you might assume that people visiting here are only interested in eating food, watching movies, lighting things on fire, and having sex…. and you’d be 100% correct. Sure, there are all kinds of amazing things to do in beautiful hocking hills like play with hummingbirds, kayak, and go on a ropes course, but I’d estimate from the “guest book notes” that 99.9% of the people visiting are only interested in the food, sex, and serenity…. and if they’ve been married for more than 10 years, usually just the serenity.
Quality of these places vary, as I’ve mentioned. Sometimes they’re old and sometimes you feel like the first person staying there. Sometimes you’re literally 10 miles from anyone and other times there is a trailer full of neighbors 50 yards from your front porch. We’ve stayed at maybe 5 different cabins and this one is probably the best mix of all things. It’s new, with great modern (and green) appliances but has a lived in feel. It has a combination of open areas and woods so you can stroll around. It has a huge porch with views of the hills and hollers. It also happens to be the biggest we’ve stayed in and by far the highest quality.
We stayed at their cabin called “lazy dog” which I’m assuming is inspired by the fact that it is 100% pet friendly. This is important for the Mrs. and I because we have two dogs and putting them up at the kennel would have easily tacked on an additional 200 bucks for our 3 night stay. The lazy dog has room for six people, three bedrooms, 3 baths, and cost $150-175 during the week and $225-$250 on the weekends. We put in three nights, starting on a Sunday so we paid both rates. This place is on par with others in the area in terms of price for the weekend but a VAST savings over others during the week… and that is before you figure that this place was the best and biggest we’d been to.
The property included 11 acres with a nice field and pond… We let the dogs roam at will and other than a few ticks, they were about as happy as I’ve ever seen them. While we were there, we only left to make a beer run, other than that we grilled out every night, I finished three books, and caught some fish in the pond (one nice bass!). Every night we would watch one of their DVDs and then retire outside to sit near the campfire and chill out. We had a great time and plan on returning.
Okay… but what about the GREEN! how is this place “green.” The “green” cred for the Good Earth Cabins is an odd bird. Most of the green initiatives they have are ones that you or I would make in our house, and not the crazy ones… I mean the ones most people should do like, efficient appliances, recycled products, green cleaners, etc…. The funny thing is, this provides absolutely ZERO benefit to the consumer other than a warm fuzzy feeling. Still, when you consider that they do these things and others places don’t, this is an incrementally better option for the environment, even if you don’t directly benefit from it. The one thing I was aghast at was that they didn’t use CFLs or other low power light and didn’t have low flow showerheads…. Since it’s in the country they may not be able to do the showerheads because of water pressure, also there was no recycling because it’s in the hills, so bring your own back and put it in your own bin.
Video Below
RATING: 3 out of 5 Gears for Fixed Eco Benefit, Price / Value, and Quality.
Moons ago, I tuned my television to CNN to watch “Planet in Peril: Battle Lines.” Despite Anderson Cooper’s Jack Bauer-esque reporting and Soledad O’Brian’s sassy temperament I found myself quickly annoyed with the unending cry me a riverthesis that planet earth is under a direct threat. In a world with nearly unlimited problems I lament the fact that so much time, money, and concern are being wasted on a very old rock, floating weightlessly in an unfathomably large universe and not, instead, on this rocks inhabitants.
My frustration with the green community and it’s central mission, to “save the earth”, has been building for some time. I’m not sure when the purpose of being green shifted from preserving resources for further generations to treating the earth as a person, or dare I say deity, that we should make daily sacrifices for, but it seriously needs to stop for the sake of the green movement. We lose our ability to sell the notion of sustainability when we submit the earth as the sole benefactor. I cringe whenever I hear or read someone selling “green” products or activities by saying “we need to save the earth!” because the concept of saving (as in rescuing) our planet is so asinine it redefines absurdity.
Message to my fellow “greenies”: The Earth Does Not Need Saving
I sense that part of this compulsion to rescue the earth, from certain disaster no doubt, comes from a lack of perspective. The earth is 4.5 billion years old. The average human lives maybe seventy years… longer if they have a dog. Nothing that humans come into contact with on a daily basis is older or more resilient than the planet earth. Many years ago it was pummelled by an asteroid off the coast of Mexico, even that didn’t spell an end for our perilous planet. It survived and we came later. If we were to continue our non green ways and continue to use earth’s resources without regard for future generations, what would happen to planet earth? Would it cease to be the 3rd planet in the solar system? Would the activity at it’s core stop? From the earth’s point of view would anything notable happen to it that could compare to its violent past? No, No, and No. (For more info on this, check out the “life after people” shows on the history / discovery channels… our earth recovers from us in a mere 250 years!)
But, if our ways aren’t a threat to earth what are they a threat to? What will happen if we continue to use resources the way we do now? Imagining this scenario reveals the true reason to use earth’s resources wisely… to preserve and protect humans. Our unwise use of earth’s riches are not and never will be a threat to our planet, but they will assuredly, be a threat to our children and their children, and so on and so forth. If we continue to take and use more than we need, there will be less for future generations. This, coupled with increasing population, will cause famine, disease, drought, fire, and all sorts of human suffering.
The Planet is not in Peril, We are. This is the message that members of the green community should adopt and use to promote sustainability. People rightly have more compassion for other people than they do for the earth and if we make people the reason to recycle or waste less water, we will be much more successful. But if we continue to prioritize the earth before people, we will fail.
So lets all come together and redefine our mission and our cause.
Today is Memorial Day. I was going to write a long post on the importance of having respect, patience, understanding, and reverence for our veterans and their families, but the photo above communicates it better than I ever could. Below are sites that Hannah and I have used to do our small part. We can recommend them all.
Waste isn’t just what’s inside your waste basket, sometimes it IS your waste basket!Think about it, never fail, every time you throw out a bag of trash, you’re committing the trash bag to a very long, wasteful life in some crappy landfill.Wouldn’t it be nice if someone would take a stab at improving the trash bag and making it more green?
Well, PERF did just that with the biodegradable PERF Go Green trash bag.Made of 100% eco-friendly, non-toxic, biodegradable material, they are green and proud of it.
A month or so ago Mrs. Green Gear and I received a nice compliment of 13 gallon kitchen bags and dog waste bags.They were both in nice minimal packaging that had an adhesive on the bottom for attachment to a trash pail or wall.Pull one out, and another follows it up, Kleenex Style.I’ll focus on the trash bags in the review.They are green (duh) brand aware bags with large holes for handles.
I gave half of these to friends, and Mrs. Green Gear and I reviewed the others.The comments were basically the same, The two large handles were so big that when you tied them down you made the bag too small, or if you tied them loose stuff would fall out.I would much prefer the lined plastic tie strip.Also, both people reported ripping when throwing in objects with corners, this is unfortunate as one person said these were very durable and would hold up.On the plus side, they are very nice looking and the Kleenex dispenser is too cool.
But, these are a high class product and charge a high class price, 6.99 for a 12-pack.Still, if you buy in bulk they are less but it isn’t going to give you any cost savings value.
I commend PERF for taking the first steps in the green waste bags and look forward to product improvements in the future.
Video Review below.
RATING: 1 out of 5 Gears for Variable (though I said fixed in the video) Eco Benefit.
Leslie, the fine proprietor over at watercheck.biz (a water mega-resource), contacted me about a month ago wondering if i’d like to review one of his products. Of course, as I do to nearly everyone, I said “yes.” Shortly after that I received the Niagara Conservation 1.5GPM Low Flow Showerhead and began the testing.
I have spent a lot of time on this site talking about water savings and particularly showerheads, so the benefits shouldn’t be a mystery. Most showerheads use 2.5GPM, Which means that you can save (with a 1.5) a full gallon for every minute you wash. Add that up over the course of a year… that’s a LOT of water… Water that you don’t have to pay for, your municipality doesn’t have to treat, and no one needs to worry about. Low flow showerheads are green due the virtue of conservation.
Most quality low flow showerheads are north of $25. The most expensive I’ve reviewed (the bricor .55 Ultramax), was nearly $80. I don’t care WHO you are, that ain’t cheap. I mean, we’re hitting on tough times… I wish there was a showerhead that didn’t cost a fortune, but also saved water, and gave me a quality shower experience…
There is… it’s this one. Inexpensive, Quality, Miserly Water usage. The Niagara is made of the familiar chrome-ish plastic and gives the user the ability to have a “massage” flow, or a “gentle” spray. I liked both, Mrs. Green Gear thought the massage could use a little umphf, but we both came away impressed with it.
We were impressed with it BEFORE we knew the price. Turns out, you can buy it… right now… for under $17.00… before shipping. This is a great showerhead for people who haven’t taken the plunge and also what I consider to be the best value, in low-flow showerheads.
Great Product. Here is the video review.
RATING: 4 out of 5 Gears for Variable Eco Benefit, Price, Quality, and Being a GO TO product.
Monthly Contest… PUR Flavor Filter Pitcher. We reviewed this puppy a few weeks ago and now the people at PUR were kind enough to offer up TWO, not one, but TWO pitchers for our May contest. Check it out! You like water? You like Flavor? Well here it is. Leave a comment on this page and I will randomly select two people who will get some awesome PUR pitchers. One comment per household… Last day for entry is the end of May.
okay…. catchy opening line…. need one… ummmm….”April Showers Bring May Thai Chilli Peppers!”
Swing and a miss! This the season for planting. As I ride around the fair countryside of Central Ohio I see all the nurseries opening up and windows and lawns filling with plants. Each time this year I get the urge to plant… SOMETHING… ANYTHING….
Flowers? They’re very nice, but I can’t eat flowers (except for hops!) and enjoy it. So this year I decided to take a few steps off the grid and plant some veggies. Earlier last week Mrs. Green Gear and I went to lowes and found a very interesting product that is probably only new to us. Bonnie Biodegratable Peat Pots!
What are these? Well you’ve probably seen the ugly plastic clay colored pots that most of your plants come in… After planting each year these things stack up and are destined either for recycling or a very long life ina very full landfil. But Bonnie Pots are different. They’re made of natural material and are planted directly int he ground. They reduce the waste in your normal pot by 85%!
How do they work… Pretty easy. Take of the minimal wrapper label, cut or tear off the bottom and put in dirt. Then you just water. These puppies cost a little more, my plants were rougly $0.85 cents more than the non natural potted plants, but to me that is a minimal waste and time savings.
Check these out at your local store. Here is the video review.
3 out of 5 Gears for Fixed Eco Benefit, Quality, and Being something all planters would want to try!
Congrats to Lissa on winner our April contest!!!! She is the winner of a SodaStream Home Soda Maker Machine and various different flavor mixes. Keep on the lookout for our soon to be announced May product contest!
Hey everyone, quick break from the product reviews to talk shop. Green Gear has been all about product reviews for nearly a year and a half (first on wordpress.com, now on greengear.info) and we just hit our 70th review and are closing in on the 100 review goal I set a few months back. The site has been consistently gaining traffic and I find myself wanting to do more with the site in terms of being more useful to green shoppers and making it a successful business.
But, I would be breaking a cardinal rule of successful blogging: Picking a niche and staying in it. So before I go off all willy nilly and make changes I thought I’d throw a few ideas out to you guys and would allow you to comment.
Expanded Environmental Commentary: I like to bitch and moan as much as the next person, plus, a requirement of having a blog is having a vain desire to tell others your opinions. But, the green movement, especially with respect to consumerism is growing into a confusing mess. In light of that, would you guys like to see more business, retail, advertising related commentary? Or maybe even give a voice to the Mike Rowe-Style Brown before Green Eco-Philosophy.
Product Sales: Either normal everyday products or green gear branded items like water bottles and t-shirts (organic of course). Would you like to buy green products here? Does this site have sufficient trust with you to earn your business?
Product Consulting: This wouldn’t deal so much with the site, but, in your opinion, do I bring sufficient critical insight into products that you think manufacturers might find useful when developing products? Do some of the products you already buy need the Green Gear treatment.
More DIY (Do-It-Yourself) Features: Sometimes you don’t need products and it’s a better environmental decision to make / build / grow something yourself… This could be stuff like hunting your meat, planting a home garden to building your own rain collector.
Forums: Would you participate in a web forum and dish about all things green?
Advertising / More Ads: Simply, would your “green gear” experience be ruined by more advertisements? Would you pay a small fee to show ads on Green Gear?
Just MORE REVIEWS: Would you want simply MORE of what we’re already doing? Is there a class of products you haven’t seen yet that you want to?
Also, please give me any additional ideas you might have. I’m open to anything most things. You can either leave a comment here, or email me at ask@greengear.info.
One more thing, I’m not quite sure who my readers are. So, if you guys are comfortable, maybe post up saying how you found us, what if anything you like best, would want to see, and how long you’ve been visiting us.
Thanks, I look forward to hearing from our readers…. all 7 of them! WOOHOO!
greengear.info and its publications, graphics, opinions, charm, wit, character, and practices are the sole property of Green Gear LLC. No guarantee, offer, hint of wisdom, word of advice, opinion, assurance, or recommendation is expressed or implied.
The Planet Is Not In Peril
by mrgreengear on 2 June, 2009
Adding a bit more commentary to the site
Moons ago, I tuned my television to CNN to watch “Planet in Peril: Battle Lines.” Despite Anderson Cooper’s Jack Bauer-esque reporting and Soledad O’Brian’s sassy temperament I found myself quickly annoyed with the unending cry me a riverthesis that planet earth is under a direct threat. In a world with nearly unlimited problems I lament the fact that so much time, money, and concern are being wasted on a very old rock, floating weightlessly in an unfathomably large universe and not, instead, on this rocks inhabitants.
My frustration with the green community and it’s central mission, to “save the earth”, has been building for some time. I’m not sure when the purpose of being green shifted from preserving resources for further generations to treating the earth as a person, or dare I say deity, that we should make daily sacrifices for, but it seriously needs to stop for the sake of the green movement. We lose our ability to sell the notion of sustainability when we submit the earth as the sole benefactor. I cringe whenever I hear or read someone selling “green” products or activities by saying “we need to save the earth!” because the concept of saving (as in rescuing) our planet is so asinine it redefines absurdity.
Message to my fellow “greenies”: The Earth Does Not Need Saving
I sense that part of this compulsion to rescue the earth, from certain disaster no doubt, comes from a lack of perspective. The earth is 4.5 billion years old. The average human lives maybe seventy years… longer if they have a dog. Nothing that humans come into contact with on a daily basis is older or more resilient than the planet earth. Many years ago it was pummelled by an asteroid off the coast of Mexico, even that didn’t spell an end for our perilous planet. It survived and we came later. If we were to continue our non green ways and continue to use earth’s resources without regard for future generations, what would happen to planet earth? Would it cease to be the 3rd planet in the solar system? Would the activity at it’s core stop? From the earth’s point of view would anything notable happen to it that could compare to its violent past? No, No, and No. (For more info on this, check out the “life after people” shows on the history / discovery channels… our earth recovers from us in a mere 250 years!)
But, if our ways aren’t a threat to earth what are they a threat to? What will happen if we continue to use resources the way we do now? Imagining this scenario reveals the true reason to use earth’s resources wisely… to preserve and protect humans. Our unwise use of earth’s riches are not and never will be a threat to our planet, but they will assuredly, be a threat to our children and their children, and so on and so forth. If we continue to take and use more than we need, there will be less for future generations. This, coupled with increasing population, will cause famine, disease, drought, fire, and all sorts of human suffering.
The Planet is not in Peril, We are. This is the message that members of the green community should adopt and use to promote sustainability. People rightly have more compassion for other people than they do for the earth and if we make people the reason to recycle or waste less water, we will be much more successful. But if we continue to prioritize the earth before people, we will fail.
So lets all come together and redefine our mission and our cause.
We are not a threat to nature, but subject to it.
The Earth does not need saving, We do.
and…
The Planet is not in Peril, We are.
Sorry CNN.
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