To make your coffee sponges here are 5 simple steps.
By the way SUDS/BUBBLES DOES NOT EQUAL CLEAN!
We are also going to make coffee sponges!!
If you would like the powerpoint we are showing the children, feel free to e-mail me at
-Seaonnah
In order to clean your dishes effectively, AND preserve the environment AND feel good about doing it, all you have to do is follow 4 simple steps.
Firstly
Clean the dishes, cups or utensils of any excess foods or grease with a tissue.
Secondly
Rinse the dishes with water BEFORE cleaning with the coffee sponge.
Thirdly
Clean with the coffee sponge as you would with any other sponge only MINUS the harmful chemicals!
Fourthly
Recycle any items used to cook or bake: sort papers, plastics and aluminum cans etc.
YOU MUST REPLACE THE COFFEE EXCESS INSIDE THE SPONGE EVERY 3 DAYS.
AFTER USING THE SPONGES EACH TIME MAKE SURE YOU JUST SQUEEZE IT SO THAT IT DOESN’T STAY SOAKING WET.
We’re doing it at home, every extra effort makes a HUGE difference!
-Seaonnah
WHO’D OF THUNK IT?
DId you know that there are hundreds of toxic chemicals in your commerically purchased shampoo and conditioner?
You can mix up your own recipes at home which will not only save you money, make your hair healthier but also be very environmentally friendly!
Shampoo:
- mix 1 tablespoon of baking soda per 1 cup of hot hot water
- stir, let cool, apply to hair
- then rinse it out with dilute lemon water
( http://www.hipforums.com/newforums/archive/index.php/t-174039.html )
Conditioner
-simple mayonnaise from your cupboard by itself
or
-mix mashed avocados and coconut milk!
( http://www.healthrecipes.com/homemade_beauty_recipes.htm [ hair conditioner one recipe ] )
ALSO, “COFFEE SPONGE”
dish washing detergent can be substituted with excess coffee grounds left after you’ve drank your coffee or from coffee shops near you.
we’ve tried itL simply wrap a good fistfull of used coffee grounds in pure bleached linen, and tie it off with a rubber band.
use at will!! use it as a coffee sponge. It really works. remember:
SUDS / BUBBLES DOES NOT EQUAL CLEAN!!
Try them out, and pass these ideas to you friends! Its a healthier and more environmentally friendly alternative!!
Communities are incredibly important. They’re where you assemble to meet new people, enjoy the company of neighbors and engage in learning and fun.
Our clubhouse (al areesh) is such a community shared by all the residences of Al Badia. Our goal is to set up recycling bins and posters everywhere to increase awareness as well as set up a mini-ecubed club for children and parents in which we meet 2 or 4 times a week. This club will work to making our community a environmentally friendlier place, where we can join arms and fight for what we know is right: our Earth.
We are having a meeting with just the staff of Al Areesh today (10th July) so they can assist in facilitating the group as well as maintaining the recycling bins and facilities. By making them aware first, they will become key players in the community greening movement.
Our first goal is to establish recycling bins everywhere and secondly to get rid of plastic bags completley from spinneys. We wanted to do this in all the markets in Dubai and you have to start somewhere, start small. So we will be starting with our own small market: Festival City Spinneys, by having a petition signed and concerned parents and children involved. Then we will move onto Hyperpanda. 
Everyone should try to focus on getting rid of plastic bags and the installation of reycling bins in your own communities, compounds or apartments. It’s not difficult–the financial issue may be a slight obstacle but recruiting funds from neighbors isn’t as hard as it sounds. By expanding your horizons you’d be suprised how many concerned people there acutally are. We are not alone in this although that may seem the case at times.
We can do this .
- Seaonnah
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The presentation was an enormous success. The children learned about the environnment and ways to recycle and made coffee sponges all together. They had a lot of fun and we’ve been asked to do another presentation, but I’m not sure exactly when!
There were about 30 children ages 4-12 and they all really enjoyed it. Including us!
________________________________________________________________________________
31. Dec. 2008
I wrote a letter to the manager of DFC requesting bins to be put all over our compounds. My jr. youth class and I put together a petition and got just under 100 signatures. There hasn’t been any response yet but I am early awaiting the termination of the holidays to recieve a reply.
30.Dec.2008
Hi Samta,
We spoke briefly before quite a while back regarding recycling in Al Badia.
The issue.
I am currently running a Junior Youth group, the United Badians, and myself and the jr. youth put together a petition to try and get larger and more conveniently allocated recycling bins into Al Badia. We have just under 100 signatures from Al Badia residents requesting that large recycling bins be put next to EACH building in Al Badia (including Hillside condos).
Why?
I am proposing a systematic method of making Al Badia more eco-friendly and active and this will not only show tenants that you are pro-active and green, it will also prove to the rest of Dubai that you are also one of the leading communities in green movement. All other major compounds offer recycling, such as Silicon Oasis and Arabian ranches. It would be a shame for our blossoming community to fall short in counteracting one of the most important issues the entire world faces as a whole.
Here’s how we suggest we do it.
Our group is willing to go around to all buildings (starting with Bldg. 3 and 
and ask if each flat is willing to purchase 2 small recycling bins for every home. These will then be bought from IKEA depending on how many people are willing to pay. The cost for each small recycling bin (with a lid) is approx 50 DHS which we use at home ourselves.
The issue at hand is once people start collecting their recycling, where will they put them? We are proposing two options
a) Al Badia keeps the medium sized outdoor recycling bins next to Bldg 10 and then organize cleaners to collect the recycling from each and every house weekly (the tenants could then be requested to place their recycled trash outside their flat weekly so the cleaners would collect only what is placed outside people’s homes). The cleaners could carry around large trolleys and collect the recycled rubbish into them so they would not have to carry the small recycling bins back and forth.
OR
b) Al Badia could purchase large outdoor bins for each building (building 10’s bins however could be shared by all the buildings next to it for example) and then tenants would be requested to take their recycled goods to the bins themselves whenever is comfortable for them. This would eliminate the extra costs and training needed for cleaners to collect rubbish weekly. A big issue is that tenants are not willing (say from bldg to walk all the way to building 10 to recycle their trash.Convenience is a must!
Note: Union Paper Mills is an excellent company for recycling bins. They offer very large and attractive ‘recycling centers’ and they are also the company I worked with to set up recycling within my school—Deira International School (Festival City).
If Al Badia does decide to set up recycling centers next to each compound, they HAVE TO HAVE PLASTIC AS AN OPTION!
Plastic (#1) Paper (#2) Aluminium (#3) and Glass (#4) in that order of necessity.
If DFC Management can see the positive outcomes from the direction we are headed and the movement we are trying to start then all your assistance would be greatly appreciated.
We are supporting a cause—not because we are environmentalists or tree huggers—but simply because we need to, and taking time and waiting around is no longer an option. Also, experience has proved that immeasurable numbers of tenants are incredibly supportive of our cause and are unhappy with the lack of recycling facilities available in Al Badia.
Dubai is an exemplary city to the rest of the world with it’s blooming infrastructure, attractive tourism and extraordinary initiatives. Why not also lead the Green way?
This is what we are requesting and suggesting for our wonderful compound, where we are trying to build a close knit community, because that’s what we are.
The petitions are attached. My mobile number is 050 735 9575. Please consider what we have planned, and please do not permit our efforts to go to waste.
Happy New Year and may 2009 be full of new and wonderful surprises.
I am eagerly waiting a positive response.
Regards,
Seaonnah
Did you know that banana peels can be used as fertilizer?
http://www.ehow.com/how_2126328_use-bananas-as-fertilizer.html
As some of you should know, the Terry Fox Run takes place every year. But have any of you witnessed or paid attention to the amount of waste produced by these events? Especially the boxes and boxes and boxes and boxes of banana peels?!
I wrote to the Terry Fox Run organizer to see if we can help fix this problem. Since banana peels can be used as fertilizer, perhaps a fertilizer company would be willing to take them and use them for themselves instead of them just going to landfills!
There are so many possibilities around you–all it takes is a little mind-mapping, some brain storming and a little observation and you’ll be on your way!
-Seaon
A company called Eco-Polymers recently joined up with Symphony to manufacture and distribute BIODEGRADABLE plastic bags all over the UAE.
You can read more about D2W biodegradable bags here: http://www.degradable.net/index.shtml.
Also, you can read more about the joining of the two companies: http://archive.gulfnews.com/indepth/notoplastic/more_stories/10221646.html
There are so many initiatives going on in the world and in the UAE. We simply want to be an active part of that change.
Plastic bags are a huge threat to our environment and should be banned. Cloth && Jute bags should replace them COMPLETLEY in supermarkets (making people pay for them isn’t enough–we need a complete makeover overhaul!) and sell the biodegradable bags as trash bags. My family personally use the plastic bags from supermarkets as our trashbags, and therefore previously found it hard to use material bags when shopping due to the need of trash bags. But now, we can use the biodegradable bags as trash bags and the cloth bags as shopping bags.
There are not only practical, but also much more fashionable and durable!!
We need to change our outlooks and lifestyles drastically, and the first step is to start at home! Let’s be the change we see in our lives.
Ecubed, Seaon Shin and Ania Tarazi were mentioned in the Gulf News Paper, Notes (gulf news) as well as in the Tabloid.
We were mentioned in the Gulf News June 22, 2008 issue: http://archive.gulfnews.com/indepth/notoplastic/more_stories/10222948.html
As well as in the Notes May 31, 2008 issue:
http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/08/05/31/10217507.html
This is very exciting news as we want our ecubed organization to grow and flourish!
Congratulations ecubed!!
-Seaon
THANK GOODNESS IT’S THURSDAY!
We had a non-uniform day where the students had to wear at least one recycled item. It could be jewelry or shoelaces made out of newspaper: anything. Some children came to school wearing plastic bags decorated with plastic bottle caps etc. over their own clothes. One student decided to come as ‘recycle man.’
We didn’t have a huge range of participation, but quite a few students did make an effort. Ania and I came to school with newspaper bows on our shoes and newspaper bracelets!
Because quite a few students were away for the spring break, we were not able to raise as much money as last time. We did get participation from primary school however and raised a total of about 3000 dhs.
Not bad for a half full school!
-Seaonnah
This was organized completely by Alice and I have to say props to her! It went incredibly smoothly, and we also got some of the years in Primary to get involved.
We had two winners and we are working on getting a mural made with the winning 6 pictures. Most were very creative, and some were the usual cliche. nonetheless, it was an amazing turnout and the kids enjoyed it very much!
Paint it green day was basically when we get children to paint their idea of anything environmental: trees, saying ‘no’ to littering or pollution etc. I think this would be a great activity to do in other schools, although it takes a heck of a lot of planning!
-Seaonnah
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