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We’re well into August, but summer’s not done yet! Depending on where you live, high temperatures and hot weather can still stick around for quite some time. For many people, taking in a dip in a swimming pool is a favorite way to beat the heat and cool down. But have you ever considered the environmental impact of swimming pools? Obviously, they require lots of water, as well as chemicals and energy to run the pumps and filters that keep them clean. The following tips can help you reduce water loss, minimize the use of potentially-harmful chemicals and lower the energy needed to maintain your pool.

Choose Eco-Friendly Materials to Build Your Pool

If you’re building a new pool, opt for recycled, re-purposed materials. Doing so will keep these materials from winding up in a landfill and can also slash your energy output. An eco-friendly option for a pool foundation is ICF (Insulating Concrete Foam), which is “made of concrete mixed with other materials,” such as “Styrofoam coffee cups, wood waste, shavings and chips,” to help minimize heat loss, explains the Web site, GreenYour.com (1). Old recycled glass can be formed into new pool tiles, creating mosaics or patterns on the pool floor or around the pool. Water-based, low-VOC paints are great choices, too (1). (continue reading…)

Photo Credit: US Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of Public Affairs

No matter where you are, you can help the efforts to clean up the Gulf oil spill, and recycle at the same time. Matter of Trust is collecting donations of hair, fur and pantyhose to help with spill containment and remediation. Oily hair on your head may be bad, but hair’s affinity for oil also makes it a great tool for getting oil out of water and away from where it can damage ecosystems. The hair gets stuffed into the nylons to create booms that, when attached end-to-end, contain the oil and stop the spread. Hair is also made into oil-absorbing hair mats that can be used to remove the oil from the water and to line the enclosures of oil-soaked wildlife while the animals wait to be scrubbed and cleaned.

To help the cause, sign up for Matter of Trust’s Excess Access database. Because of limited warehouse resources, the organization is directing individual donations to separate locations where they can be used most efficiently. Once you’ve signed up for Excess Access, you’ll receive instructions and a shipping address for your donations. Anyone can donate clean hair. To keep the processing times down, the group prefers larger donations of bulk hair and fur from barber shops and pet groomers; if you’re not a salon owner, consider talking to your stylist or groomer about arranging to donate clippings from all customers. (continue reading…)