Eco friendly solutions in St Maarten / Sint Martin
One of the most frequent questions we get is “My apartment block has a small shared space and we would like to set up community composting, what do you suggest?”
One of the first steps is to get an idea of how many of your neighbors would like to contribute, as the solution for 4-5 households is quite different to the setup and management required for 20! Many systems are scaleable; you simply add more tumblers!
Continue reading “Community Composting for Apartments”
Many of us spend just over a third of our adult life at work; about 90,000 hours by the time we reach retirement. With all that time spent indoors, it makes sense for our offices to be as environmentally friendly as possible. Here are 5 tips for a greener office!
Have you ever thought about what you throw out every day? What makes up the bulk (by weight) of our trash? Food waste? Plastic? Glass? Perhaps by paying careful attention to a week’s worth of trash, we can better understand where we can make improvements in our lives. Continue reading “A Week’s Worth of Trash”
St Maarten, like many other small islands, relies on desalinated water. This is not only expensive, but requires extensive use of energy (and fossil fuels) to produce. We should reuse as much water as possible, and DIY gray water irrigation is a fantastic and easy way to establish new fruit trees. Continue reading “Easy DIY Gray Water Irrigation”
Every family, business, and individual should have a hurricane preparation plan. This can be broken down into things to do now, once under a hurricane watch, once under a hurricane warning, during the storm, and immediately after. This advice is not extensive – remember to take your own unique situation into account.
Continue reading “Hurricane Preparation Plan”
Every home and business should have a basic emergency kit year round. This includes drinking water, food, first aid, and communication.  In our opinion, this is not enough for hurricane season, but hurricanes are not the only disaster we should be preparing for. We live in a region where earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, flash floods, fuel shortages, and communications issues are possible at any moment.
Being prepared in an emergency, and knowing how to respond, is invaluable. It can help reduce the fear, anxiety, and losses that accompany disasters. Write up your Hurricane Preparation Plan and Hurricane Preparation Kit list NOW, before a storm threatens.
Continue reading “Basic Emergency Kit for Caribbean Living”
Every home and business needs a hurricane preparation plan, a basic emergency kit, and a hurricane preparation kit. The needs will vary from household to household, so start thinking NOW about what you might need.
While the forecast tracks were reasonably accurate during the 2017 season, the intensity forecasts were not. A minor storm can become a major hurricane much faster than expected. Don’t count on a small storm staying small. It is better to be over prepared than under prepared.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD PRINTABLE PDF
Continue reading “Hurricane Preparation Kit”
Did you know that your kitchen sink is a warm wet breading ground for bacteria?  An average kitchen sponge can house E. coli, salmonella, and a whole host of bacteria that we don’t really want to keep around in abundance.  Here are a few kitchen sponge alternatives, and some reasons why you may want to consider using them Continue reading “Kitchen Sponge Alternatives”
Monop’ (Monoprix) Saint Martin is open! The Bellevue store is now open again, after being closed since Hurricane Irma.
Continue reading “Monop’ St Martin is Open!”
All of the makers of commercial cleaners like to convince us that we need 20 different products to keep our houses clean. Many of those products are bad for our bodies, children, pets, the environment, and even our septic tank! In the spirit of minimalism, using less plastic, saving money, and using fewer chemicals, lets take a look at two alternatives; vinegar and castile soap spray.
Continue reading “A Greener Clean – Vinegar & Castile soap”
