Change your online behavior to save the Earth! (2)

It seems strange that being online is causing pollution. We are using a computer, reducing the need for paper, not travelling distances to communicate, and we are using mostly energy efficient machines that have a low average electricity consumption. So why does being online cause pollution? And what can we do to reduce it?
In the previous part, we gave you tips on how to reduce your personal carbon footprint impact. In this part, we are giving you tips on how your company can act greener and reduce its Internet pollution impact!

Internet Pollution

Are you familiar with the term Internet pollution? It is a term that refers to the pollution caused by the data processing servers and data centers, since they consume a lot of energy. In fact, a data center on average consumes the same amount of energy as 30’000 European inhabitants DAILY! Energy is used to power and cool down servers, and ensures that they operate c continuously in case there’s a failure. Since the world still relies heavily on dirty energy, this energy is causing an additional release of CO2!

The Internet pollution, also known as Digital Pollution, originates mainly from activities that require a lot of resources, such as streaming videos, mining for bitcoins, and sending/storing emails.

What your company can do

Companies can adopt greener online behavior as well, and their contribution can reduce immensely their online activities’ carbon footprint by using really simple tips:

– Use the FAQ section to answer your customers’ most common questions on your website. Be clear and straight to the point. Customers will need less time to research and read, you’ll receive less clarification requests through emails and phone calls and you’ll gain a reputation for being a transparent and honest business.
– Optimize your intranet: reduce unnecessary files create and a systematic filing system. Prefer putting your news on the intranet instead of sending emails if you can.
– Encourage live communication, or even phone calls within the company instead of sending tons of emails. Make the emails a un-urgent issue so employees can work uninterrupted, without keeping their eye the whole time on the inbox.
– Use white boards within a department (with nontoxic whiteboard pens of course) for small news, it’ll do the same job as a forward to all email.
– Encourage employees to remove useless emails from their inboxes and to only keep what’s essential. Your company’s party invitation from 5 years ago is a nice memory, but it’s not necessary to keep it in the inbox.

– Remind your employees to send clear emails and include any necessary details to avoid follow-up emails.
– Prefer simple pages and designs to using extremely heavy online content on your website. Most companies do not need to load their websites, it will slow down the website launching and use up too much internet. I have tried to use the same tips on my startup’s website, and it did not affect the traffic nor the amount of information I wanted to share.

Companies, when working together, can achieve goals much faster than individuals. Consider these tips as a head start in your green behavior, they will not cost you money, but they will definitely save a lot for planet Earth

Change your online behavior to save the Earth! (1)

It seems strange that being online is causing pollution. We are using a computer, reducing the need for paper, not travelling distances to communicate, and we are using mostly energy efficient machines that have a low average electricity consumption. So why does being online cause pollution? And what can we do to reduce it?
In this part, we will be giving you tips on how to reduce your personal carbon footprint impact. In part 2, we will give you tips on how your company can act greener and reduce its Internet pollution impact!
I gathered the best advice from various sources, I hope you will enjoy the content!

Internet Pollution

Are you familiar with the term Internet pollution? It is a term that refers to the pollution caused by the data processing servers and data centers, since they consume a lot of energy. In fact, a data center on average consumes the same amount of energy as 30’000 European inhabitants DAILY! Energy is used to power and cool down servers, and ensures that they operate c continuously in case there’s a failure. Since the world still relies heavily on dirty energy, this energy is causing an additional release of CO2!

Retrieved from CCCB Lab, Source: Jon Koomey.

The Internet pollution, also known as Digital Pollution, originates mainly from activities that require a lot of resources, such as streaming videos, mining for bitcoins, and sending/storing emails.

How can I help?

You may think that as a user, you may not make a difference. It is true that the upgrade of data centers and servers is up to the companies. But you can reduce your own activities’ carbon footprint and energy requirements with a few steps:

Take care of your email

Clean your inbox regularly, and get rid of those thousands of emails that you stored a long time ago to read later on, but never did. If you are a nostalgic person and you saved every email your friends and family sent you, just save these letters on your computer and remove them from your inbox, you’ll be doing the Earth a favor.

Unsubscribe from the useless newsletters that you do not read, it will reduce the distraction created by recurrent incoming mail, reduce the number of emails uselessly stored, and help you find the important emails faster.

Send short, clear, and easy to read emails, with optimized attachements. It will require less energy to send and receive the content, and your recipient(s) will need less time to read the email, and understand your goals better. If the email is unclear, you will receive back another email demanding clarifications, which will cause an unnecessary amount of energy to be spent for additional emails.

Use compressed and light format files in your email attachements and when uploading files to an online drive. If you are sharing a photo with family, prefer JPEG format to Bitmap to reduce the size, and you can always resize it. Although a 10 megapixels photo is cool, unless you need professional work done on the photo, you can have a great photo quality for 5 megapixels as well. You can easily resize the photo using Paint or online tools.

Don’t check your email all the time. To avoid missing out on important emails, we advise you to have a personal email for all the personal emails, and a professional email for all education and work emails.
You can stop all the incoming email notifications during work hours from your personal email, and you can disconnect from work by turning off the notifications of your professional emails during your off-work time. Not only will you reduce the carbon footprint, you will also be able to work with much less interruptions and have a better performance during work hours, and be able to disconnect better from work and its stress in your off-duty hours.

Unless you REALLY NEED to, don’t use the “reply to all” option when sending back an email. Send the follow-up message only to the concerned people.

Make use of the subject line in emails to inform your recipient about the content, so they know whether it is urgent/important enough to read on the spot, or whether they can read it later.

Act more responsibly online

This part is really important. You need to reduce any unnecessary carbon emissions that your online presence may cause.

Choose a greener online cloud service, use lighter file formats, and reduce the unnecessary use of online space. We know it’s awesome to have a free cloud storage and put all our treasured memories, but it is also consuming too much energy, when you can keep an offline copy on an external storage and/or your computer. Make sure to back-up regularly your files and remove that 4 year old university project that you saved online when you feared you might lose it.

Reduce the number of photos you share on social media by removing unnecessary photos. These photos take a large space off servers, and with the increasing number of users, companies keep on adding data servers to cover the need. Your school photos are really cute, but do you really need an album of 100 photos to confirm it?

Delete your old accounts if you no longer use them, and don’t create unnecessary email addresses just for fun. Although it’s cool to have 1 extra free month from Netflix when using a new account, it’s doing a lot of harm when you consider the number of users doing it.

Bookmark the websites you always visit, instead of researching them every time you want to use them. It will save a whole lot of energy.

Reduce the time you spend online. Since pages usually keep on loading, if you have a long read, you can download the web page as offline copy, or simply disconnect yourself from the internet until you need to use it again.

Optimize your research by using specific keywords and favorite your frequent searches. Remember that each search is using more energy. Prefer using green search engines like Ecosia, as they use way less energy, and prefer clean energy to dirty one. In addition, many of them use the revenue to support an environmental cause!

Research the companies whose services you’re using. You will discover which ones are working towards greener services and which ones do not care about it at all. A good reference is RE100, a reference for companies that pledged to use 100% renewable energy. RE100 is a global corporate leadership initiative bringing together influential businesses committed to 100% renewable electricity. You can also check Clickclean, an initiative by Greenpeace. They do annual reports on the green performance of large corporations, and they do campaigns to influence companies to turn green through petitions.

The next time you think that you can be more eco-friendly when using online services, think twice! Sometimes, their environmental impact is worse than doing things the traditional way. If you can communicate it live, prefer it to sending emails or instant messages. If you feel safe to store a file on local drives, prefer it to cloud systems.

One person may have a small impact, but when a group of people do it, they can make a difference and inspire others to do so as well. So make sure to inform others on how to reduce their online carbon footprint as well!

FabricAid: reusing clothes for an amazing cause

We do not realize how lucky we are, to have the ability to enter a shop, check items, and buy the item, without overthinking of the cost. So many people have to choose between a loaf of bread and a shirt to put on their back. Although you may think that making free donations can help them, they easily hurt these people’s dignity and may not even be useful for them at all, since many NGOs cannot tailor clothes per group and end up sending the same package to all the people it’s taking care of.

Luckily, a team of Lebanese students in 2016 decided to change things. They created FabricAid, an initiative that gives second hand clothes a new life, and allows underprivileged individuals to enjoy a shopping experience without worrying about the costs.

Omar Itani, a founder at FabricAid and the man behind the idea

The team created a network of donation bins, and made a collaboration with businesses and NGOs to collect clothes. They check the items, select what’s in good condition to be reused, clean it up, iron it, tag it, and put it in their shops. They have pop-up markets called Souk El Khlanj and several permanent markets. Souk el Khlanj means the shop of like-new items.
The shops are located in areas where there is a high level of poverty, they are just like any other shop, with well organized merchandise and fitting rooms. The prices range between 0.3$ and 2$, so that people who have low income can shop and pay without having to worry about the bill being out of their purchasing power.

One of Home of Hope Lebanon NGO’s children choosing clothes at a shop that was set up by FabricAid as a collaboration

The items that are not fit for resale are sold in bulk to existing second-hand stores for much lower prices, or they can be used to create new items for RemAid, FabricAid’s own upcycled fashion brand. In 2018, a partnership between RemAid and ESMOD (one of the best fashion design school in Lebanon) was made, and 100 items were created by students and sold in a special event, where prices of unique clothing items made from the used fabric were between 50$ and 150$. The event was made to support FabricAid’s cause. The items were redesigned by ESMOD fashion students and sewed by Sawa for Development and Aid’s women refugee tailors.

2018’s event to exhibit the clothes made by ESMOD’s students for RemAid

This team has also been able to win multiple competitions, and is one of the few to reach over 200 000$ in funds through competitions. Their work has contributed to alleviating two major problems: clothes waste and poverty aid.

Through their amazing initiative, so far, FabricAid has been profitable, created jobs, and made great numbers:
– 55,000 Kgs of clothes collected
– 37 markets set up
– 7,000 beneficiaries
– 17 staff members
– 32,685 items sold
– 19 clothing collection bins distributed

One of the collection bins

The clothes donors are also benefiting, as every once in a while, a new partnership between FabricAid and businesses that support the cause is seeing the light. For example, Jaleesa, a babysitting business, offers discounts to its clients. All these collaborations can be found on their Facebook page, and they’re updated every once in a while.

If you are interested by their initiative, wish to make a contribution, get in contact with the team, or just wish to learn more, you can always check their website and their Facebook account. If you don’t live in Lebanon, make sure to search for similar initiatives or maybe to share the news about FabricAid to encourage others to make similar initiatives in their own communities!

Also, please don’t forget to follow my startup news on Facebook, Instagram and the Website.

Easter eggs decoration with natural ingredients

I hate complicated methods to color eggs, I always used the coloring kits available in stores. But I realized that I may be harming myself by choosing the easy packed way, especially that in Lebanon, I did not find a natural ingredients dye kit yet. This is why I decided to find the best natural methods to color them.

Although it takes more time than just popping a colors pill or using food coloring, the results are great, the ingredients are majorly cheap, and you have room to get creative and experiment

The coloring ingredients

There are hundreds of ideas out there, my favorite are onions and beetroots for the amazing colors they give. Both ingredients are also very widely used in Lebanon, and were used by families for decades. I retrieved a list of many easy to find color ingredients via Practicallyfunctional.com, shown below. They also included their recommended quantities, but you can add more or less depending on the color intensity you desire. Don’t forget that the original color of your eggs will affect the final result.

You can use many more ingredients, like:
– well brewed camomille tea for light yellow
– strongly brewed hibiscus tea for dark green
– blueberries for a marbled blue
– Hibiscus flowers for reddish blue to lavender
– sunflower petals for pale yellow
– curry powder for pale orange
– paprika for darker orange
– chili powder for red to brown
– cranberry juice for pink to red
– undiluted pomegranate juice for pink
– frozen cherries or raspberries for pink
– simmered orange peels for light yellow
– chopped carrots for red-orange
– Frozen blueberries for grey-blue
– Spinach or parsley for green

You can also mix between different colors and experiment to have more shades and colors.

The coloring methods

You also have either the cold dye method, which is suitable for the lighter colors and to have eggs that last longer, and you can use the hot dye method for richer deeper colors, but with over boiled eggs that last only until Easter is over.

Hot dye method:

Add water, your dye ingredient and white vinegar to a pot and let them boil. The quantity of vinegar recommended is 2 tbsp of vinegar per liter (or quarter in US) of water. In addition add some salt to the mixture to help retain the color. You can also have different color shades if you use baking soda in small quantities, as it affects the acidity of certain ingredients, like cabbage, which affects the resulting color.

Then add eggs, allow them to boil for a few minutes, then reduce the heat to allow the pot’s content to simmer for around 15 minutes. Avoid overcooking the eggs, don’t keep them on heat for more than 30 minutes as they will be overcooked, making them edible for a shorter period.
Remove the pot away from the stove, cover it and and let it rest for an additional 15 minutes or more, depending on the depth of the color you desire.
Remove the eggs, rinse them carefully in lukewarm water, and let them air dry.

Cold dye method:

Add water, your dye ingredient and white vinegar to a pot and let them boil. The quantity of vinegar recommended is 2 tbsp of vinegar per liter (or quarter in US) of water. In addition add some salt to the mixture to help retain the color. You can also have different color shades if you use baking soda in small quantities, as it affects the acidity of certain ingredients, like cabbage, which affects the resulting color.
Simmer the mixture, covered, until the water is well colored. It takes anywhere from 30 minutes to a few hours.

Strain the colored water from the remains of your ingredient, let it cool.
Add you hard-boiled eggs to the colored mixture, and let it soak for as long as you see it necessary to reach your desired color. You can even keep them in the fridge overnight.

Decoration ideas

An Easter egg needs some decoration, and by using natural coloring, it is a little tricky. But if you decorate BEFORE coloring, you can end up with really cool eggs.

For patterns, use stickers all over the egg to create patterns, let the egg color, then peel off the stickers, You can also use ropes and tape.

For natural decoration, ciaoflorentina.com recommends that you add a plant on the egg by using some water.

Then firmly enclose the egg in stockings and proceed with the coloring method of your choice.

  
Once you are done, you will have beautifully decorated eggs.

These are few ideas, there are so many more. If you have tried other methods and they worked, please share them with me as well. I hope you have a great Easter and you enjoy decorating your eggs without worrying about toxic components.

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#color #egg #decorate #decoration #eggs #easter #natural #coloring #vegetable #plant
#fruit #dye #idea #tip #linventif #lebanon #green #notoxins #clean #red #colour #colours #yellow #blue #brown #pink #orange

Food deliveries plastic-free?? Yes please!

Although I am usually a homemade food or restaurant-goer type of person, many times I cannot take my own food nor do I have time to visit a restaurant, which means I have to request a food delivery or takeaway. Both options mean that I am stuck with large quantities of single-use plastics and loads of non-recyclable cardboard due to food contamination. And this makes me feel extremely bad and guilty.

Luckily, a new company for packaging has launched in Lebanon: Convertec Packaging! Although they are mainly in the corrugated packaging, but these awesome people have found a way to separate the food from the cardboard in order to keep it recyclable, WITHOUT using plastic! In fact, they can offer you a pulp container that can biodegrade within 60 days in a landfill. And we all know that landfills are the most probable destination of our trash in Lebanon. But for once, this is not a bad thing! I was also very pleased to learn that they can also provide paper straws, which is amazing since so many businesses still rely on plastic straws due to the lack of Lebanese companies offering affordable and easily attained solutions.

Convertec Packaging can also offer you cool designs for your packaging, whether it is for catering, beverages, industrial, or protective needs, and they can print on them whatever you want.

If you are a business owner, not only will transitioning to a cleaner packaging help the environment, but it will also enhance your brand image and made it easier for you to reach the niche market of eco-aware individuals.

You can contact the company via their website or by directly contacting Wissam Bacha (T: +961 5 433 142 – +961 5 433 765 ; M: +961 3 904 813 ; info@bachaconvertec.com) or Mira Bacha (T: +961 5 433 142 – +961 5 433 765 ; M: +961 70 087 058; sales@bachaconvertec.com)

Dear reader, if you are not Lebanese, it still concerns you. You can find a similar business just around the corner if you are really willing to become friendlier to the environment, and that is becoming a necessity.Also, since the company is relatively new and needs to have more exposure so that more companies, especially food-related, can learn about it and consider more seriously to become eco-friendly with their packages, you can support it by sharing the news, liking their Facebook page and following their Instagram account.

Don’t forget to follow my own early stage startup news on Facebook, Instagram and the Website. Kindly consider helping me grow by liking my Facebook page, so I can reach more people!

#lebanon #green #alternative #saynotoplastic #clean #greenlife #idea #lebanese #industry #packaging #plasticalternative #company #linventif #food #biodegradable #paper #noplasticstraws 

Super easy DIY to get rid of bad smells in a room

Looking for an easy and natural way to make a room smell better?
Fill a small ceramic bowl with coffee beans, and add a small tea candle on top. Once you light up the candle, the metallic container will heat up and the smell of coffee will fill the room. What is better is that it’s safe and you can reuse the coffee beans as long as they are giving out a smell. You just need to store the beans in a dry place.

What is even better is that coffee smell disturbs flies, so you can use it outdoors and on hot days during meals to keep those pesters away.

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#idea #tip #house #home #natural #smell #organic #easy #bean #coffee#linventif
#lebanon #fresh #aroma

Green houses innovated à la Libanaise

Sustainable buildings that do not look like caravanes nor space ships? Yes please!

If you are looking to build a house, feel interested in the various construction options available in Lebanon, or just want to know what people are capable of creating to conserve the environment, you have to learn about the Lifehaus project.

The Lifehaus project was created by Nizar Haddad, a Lebanese architect and founder of NH Architectes, whose designs aim on reducing the pollution in construction by using Eco-friendly construction methods, sustainable materials and a lot of passion and creativity. he result? Houses that not only have a reduced carbon footprint, but also use energy very efficiently and are integrated in their surrounding environment.

The houses can withstand the harsh conditions of mountains, and they use renewable energy. They can be the Lebanese solution for a life off-grid without having to sacrifice the use of electric households (a big plus for me, I love my microwave). In addition, their costs are not exorbitant, which means they can be accessible to more people, and they do not cost much on maintenance, especially when we take into consideration the savings in utilities by going off-grid partially or totally.

You may think that creating an environment-friendly house would result in a miniature and strange design, just like the many concepts created nowadays. Surprisingly, Nizar Haddad was able to make the houses beautiful and easy on the eye. The exterior of the houses are beautiful, and their design has a little of a futuristic shape but seems to be inspired by the traditional Lebanese buildings.

It is very important to note that the currently used construction methods, especially the use of concrete, contribute largely in the pollution of the air, water and soil. Therefore the innovation in this essential yet dirty business is a very urgent necessity to save our planet.

In addition to architecture, Nizar Haddad takes the time to create workshops and participate in talks on sustainable solutions, all open for the public. His latest workshop was on how to build an Eco-friendly mass heater.

If you want to learn more about this awesome Lebanese architect and his passion for green buildings, you can check his Facebook page, his professional profile and his past, present and future projects

#greenlife #green #construction #lebanon #ecofriendly #clean #house #architecture

#innovation #passion #lebanese #creator #architect #solution #support

#housing #building #greensolution #linventif #offgrid #nature #environment #clean

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How to replace an old zipper

You may have a few clothes laying around, waiting for the tailor to fix their zips. If you can’t find a good tailor or you don’t have the time to drop them to one, you can mend them yourself. But make sure that you are comfortable with the basic sewing skills. This project doesn’t require a very high level of sewing knowledge, but it requires some time, patience and attention.

With the following few steps, you can change your old zipper:

1) Choose a zipper of the same color and length of the old zipper. If you end up with a longer zipper, you can cut it from the lower part using sturdy scissors, then close its ends using a plier to hold firmly the prongs (the metal part used to close the zipper). You can sew the lower part really firmly if you don’t have prongs (check the photo). Make sure that when you cut the zipper to shorten it, the zipper is closed.

2) Remove the old zipper, but still make sure that you know where it was sewn, so that the new zipper will work correctly. Note anything you notice, even the pattern, so you can sew the zipper the same way. Use a seam ripper (the item similar to a 2 toothed fork in sewing kits) to cut the stitches holding the zipper in place. Pull gently the zipper upon cutting the stitches while holding firmly your clothe item.

3) Clean the spot from any remaining stitches or threads.

4) Position the new zipper, using needles to hold it into place. make sure that the zipper and the fabric are well stretched. Use the old zipper’s sewing linings to mark where you will be sewing.

5) Sew the new zipper into its place using a sewing machine threaded by the colored thread of your choice, preferably the same color used for the old zipper. You can sew it by hand but it will take more time and you need to be careful with the distance between each two stitches. You can use the small holes of the old zipper’s sewing as reference, putting the needle in the small holes marked by the old sewing work.

And voila! Your clothes are now as good as new!

Don’t forget to follow my own early stage startup news on Facebook, Instagram and the Website

#sewing #tip #trick #zipper #zip #handmade #diy #lebanon #linventif #mend#dontthrow
#waste #reduction #doityourself #fashion #clothes

This content is based on wikiHow‘s tips and tricks. You can find illustrations to help you by following the link https://www.wikihow.com/Replace-a-Zipper

Eat your food… and its plate

What if you could use a plate and cutlery and then eat them? You can reduce your waste and have less cleaning to do.

This is what Charbella Hosry decided to bring to Lebanon. Her company Eataplatelb offers you platters and cutlery made of wheat bran. You can use them just like any normal tableware, even heat food in the plates up to 180 degrees celsius, all without having to worry about cleaning or adding to your trash. One you are done, you can either eat the plate or just add it to your compost. It only needs 30 days to compost.

Not only is it a green alternative to plastic plates for restaurants and individuals, and a solution for super busy individuals, it is also a better option for your overall health. Wheat bran is natural, while plastic is an industrial product, and if you heat up plastic you will contaminate your food, while wheat will not. Just make sure that you do not have an allergy to wheat before using it.

If you are interested in purchasing these awesome green product, you can contact Eat a Plate Lb on
03 551 025, and follow their news on their facebook page Eataplatelb.

If you are an international reader, you can find similar products, some made of wheat and some made of corn, or bioplastic. If you really want to make a difference, so many green solution creators need your support for their products!

Don’t forget to follow my own early stage startup news on Facebook, Instagram and the Website

#lebanon #green #startup #business #food #bio #biodegradable #clean#wheat #edible #linventif #compost #healthy #bran #eataplate #lb #buy#environment #friendly #ecology #natural

No need for paper or plastic, use a biscuit!

As we are developing L’Inventif’s concept, one of the most important aspects we want to work on is how to lower our carbon footprint by reducing our waste. Creating a learning center means many people will pass by and we need to offer them food and drinks. But most importantly the magic beverage: coffee. That means we need to find an alternative to plastic cups that would be able to serve a large number of people.

The answer is given by Ordini Trading, a Lebanese company that provides biscuits. This recently launched company introduced its products to the Lebanese market, including a biscuit cup, called biscup. Biscup is made of the same dough as the ice cream cones, it a biscuit shaped like a cup and reinforced from the inside with chocolate to prevent the liquids from crumbling the biscuit. No need to dip biscuits into your coffee when you can take a sip and a bite.

The product is great to use whether at work, at hope or while having an outdoor adventure. You can eat the biscuit or safely dispose of it without feeling guilty, as it composts naturally without any harmful residues. But as Ordini’s slogan says: Why throw it when you can enjoy it! In addition to this product, the company also provides biscuits for desserts and ice cream.

If you are interested in purchasing the product, contact Ordini Trading on 71 187 556 and get informed of their distributors and purchase points. As for international readers, make sure to check if similar products are available. If not, reusable cups (stainless, ceramic or thick glass) are always a good idea, and you would be saving money on the long run!

Living in a greener way is possible with such products, you just need the will to find them!

#LInventif #Lebanon #green #life #living #lifestyle #ecology #environment #low
#carbon #footprint #new #product #creativity #solution #biodegradable #safe
#waste #coffee #biscuit #dessert #food #chocolate

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