Green Cottaging: How to preserve the cottage environment
Cottage Life
Language: English
Pages: 27
ISBN: 2:00218553
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Swimming in clean water, hiking in the woods, and just breathing the fresh air-- lakeside living gives cottagers a special appreciation for nature and a responsibility to maintain the cottage ecosystem for generations to come. Green Cottaging: How to preserve the cottage environment is a collection of our favourite environmental questions from Cottage Life magazine readers and answers from experts, with pragmatic solutions you can use at your cottage.
colouring may be harmful to the bird’s reproductive system. Is that true? —Ken and Cindy Watkins, Balsam Lake, Ont. No one knows for sure whether food colouring harms hummingbirds or, if it does, in what way, according to Dan Stuckey, a bird expert at the Kortright Centre for Conservation in Woodbridge, Ont. However, he notes that you don’t need to use colouring to attract hummingbirds; the red colour of the feeder alone will do the trick. “It’s not necessary and it may be harmful, so why
antifreeze harmful to the septic system? Does it kill the bacteria and disable the breakdown process? Which antifreeze would you suggest with specific regard to septic systems? —Terry Samuel, Etobicoke, Ont. Everybody we talked to—from experts at the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) to antifreeze manufacturers—agrees that if you’re going to use antifreeze in any part of your plumbing system, the best choice is propylene glycol, also known as plumbing or RV antifreeze. Propylene glycol is
lake foaming is caused by actual soap pollution. If you see an isolated trail of foam or a patch of foam on a calm day, it is likely soap pollution. —March 1992 Do tires have a negative environmental impact when used as dock bumpers? —Sandra Van Ymeren, via e-mail According to Scott Abernethy, a surface-water specialist with the Ministry of the Environment, typically “the chemical-release rate from the tires is too low to cause a problem.” Newly discarded tires—a set pulled straight off a
twice as high. “If all the items you listed were on at the same time, they could draw over 5,600 watts,” estimates Rob McMonagle, president of Prometheus Energy in Concord, Ont. “However, with a little load management—use the vacuum, hair dryer, or circular saw one at a time—the draw could be kept below 1,500 watts.” (We factored your composting toilet in at 3 watts an hour; however, if it has a heater and a fan, it could burn up to 500 watts in an hour.) Charge your cellphone before you go
Star-qualified appliances are tops when it comes to efficiency; these washing machines use 35 to 50 per cent less water than conventional models, according to the Office of Energy Efficiency at Natural Resources Canada. Dryers aren’t part of the program because their energy use doesn’t vary a lot between models, but you can look at each unit’s EnerGuide rating (a label that shows annual energy consumption) and compare models. (Do this for the washer too.) You’ll also want to look for a dryer with