Green Hurricane Preparations

With the height of hurricane season upon us, I just wanted to point out that there are ways to be green during the storm preparations.

We all know that you're supposed to be prepared for the storms. If you live in Florida, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas and other states that are hit with hurricanes you usually get a hurricane preparation guide at the beginning of the season. It contains important phone numbers, evacuation routes, but it doesn't contain information on how you can prepare for storm and remain eco friendly in the process. This is only going to touch on the things you should have on hand, not the yard and house preparations; otherwise, it could be book length.

Food: When most people prepare for their food needs, they think "junk food" and "processed foods" since they have to have nonperishable items to eat...but it doesn't have to be junk. There are many options available that are not nutritional garbage. You can get organic fruit snacks, nuts, seeds, granola bars, nutrition bars, etc. You could also purchase canned goods, just make sure to have a manual can opener. You can eat most canned goods at room temperature or see the following paragraph on how to heat your canned items.

Cooling & Heating Food: If you want a green way of cooking, you should have or make a solar oven. If you have a solar oven, it'll reduce your need for using a propane or charcoal grill to heat any food items you want. If you experience power loss, leave items in refrigerator and refrain from opening door unless you must do so. If a power loss is lengthy, you'll need to keep drinks, food items cool so make sure to have insulated coolers on hand and reusable ice packs and move items from refrigerator to insulated coolers.

Power: You may want to get a Power Pocket so you'll be able to charge cell phones (though they may or may not work, depending on the phone service), radio, other small electronics including rechargeable batteries. A Power Pocket is great solar charger to have on hand. You can now get indoor power systems for use when power outages occur. PowerReady™ is one of the systems that's available on the market. The PowerReady™ IPS™ is a silent, indoor, gas and emissions free, maintenance and installation free, portable emergency backup Indoor Power System suitable for residential or commercial purposes. The cost may be more than what people are ready to deal with initially but in the long run, the cost would be returned if you experienced a power outage.

Radio & Flashlights: Wind up radios and flashlights are good to have on hand. Now a large variety of solar powered flashlights, LED lanterns and wind up radios and flashlights are easily available for you to purchase. If you can't bring yourself to use the wind up flashlight, at least prepare ahead with rechargeable batteries for your flashlights. Make sure to have plenty of spares already charged as well. Solar charged flashlights, wind up flashlights and LED lanterns are much safer than candles, so opt for other options rather than using candles. Wind up radio's will keep you abreast of any updates, information regarding the storm, outages, etc.

Solar landscaping lights: Not only are solar lawn lights an attractive addition to your landscaping they can come in handy during power loss.

Water: The "authorities" say that people should plan on one gallon of water per person per day (though nobody can predict how long an area will be out of water). This doesn't mean to run out and buy all the bottled water you can, thus eventually adding to the plastic bottle problem that is rampant in the U.S

You can contain tap water in buckets, jars, bottles you have on hand to use for washing, consumption and don't forget to have drinking water for your pets as well. If you do purchase water in bottles, please make sure to recycle when done.

Just a few quick tips for you to be able to remain green during hurricane season.