Maureen Wise
Green and parenting freelancer
Writer and higher ed sustainability coordinator. Expertise in water quality, green lifestyle and eco-parenting.
PROJECTS
whygoodnature.com
Starting Your Family's First Compost Project
If your family is looking to reduce the weight of the trash can you pull to the curb every week, composting your organic waste could cut your landfill trash by up to 30%, according to the US EPA. By composting your kitchen scraps and garden waste instead of landfilling, you’ll also help reduce greenhouse gases produced by landfills and end up with a locally made plant fertilizer (local, as in your own backyard!). We like natural fertilizer here at Good Nature Organic Lawn Care and are here to...
tomsofmaine.com
Ways to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint
Have you always wanted to adopt ways to reduce your carbon footprint? Are you stalling on how to get started? The internet and the wider world are full of ideas for eco-heroes, but your best option is to start small and focus on connecting with nature.
Do the Math
First of all, what IS a carbon footprint? It's a way of estimating the total impact you and your activities have on the environment. Businesses, schools, and entire countries all have their own carbon footprints that represent how m...
tomsofmaine.com
How to Conserve Energy at Home
If you're reading this article, you're using an electronic device. And since you're a user of electronic devices, it's likely that you use energy to light, heat, and cool your home using some sort of electricity. My family recently had a professional energy audit conducted on our house and I learned a lot of tips of how to conserve energy at home that we users of electricity can all take into account.
Plug Air Leaks
If you have the air conditioner or the heater running to adjust the temperatu...
tomsofmaine.com
What Is Greywater? Living Greener with Grey
Learning how to conserve water is an important step in your family's journey toward sustainable living. You probably have already started taking shorter showers, turning off the water while brushing your teeth, fixed any dripping faucets, installed a low-flow shower head or two, and are instilling water conservation habits in the little ones in your life. If you've already checked off all the easier boxes, using greywater in your home is a way to really up your water conservation game.
But wh...
tomsofmaine.com
Can I Save Money with Solar Panels? Solar Is within Your Reach!
This past spring, we had two solar arrays installed on the roof of our home and our garage. As the green geek that I am, having solar was always a dream of mine. I thought solar was beyond our financial reach and for the more hard-core environmentalists who are willing to pay a premium for sun-powered electricity versus coal-produced power. I was wrong! If you've ever wondered, "Can I save money with solar panels?" I'm here to tell you yes, you can!
How to Get Solar Panels for Your Home
My fa...
tokay.com
The Differences of Backflow Prevention Protection in Warm and Cold Climates
Backflow devices are found throughout the United States to protect our drinking water from contamination. They’re found in sunny Florida and frozen Alaska, arid Arizona and sandy Texas. The way that backflow devices work do not change in varying climates but there are differences of backflow prevention protection in warm and cold climates, how they are managed and what time of year.
Dewey Sorensen is currently serving as the Supervisor at the Marin Municipal Water District in California near ...
blog.tomsofmaine.com
3 Different Treadmill Workouts for Your Winter Workout
Certainly, running outside is always more exhilarating and fun but there are times when the weather, travel, kids, or time just don’t cooperate and using a treadmill is a must. Although great for your cardiac health, running on a treadmill can sometimes get old and boring quickly. Here are three different treadmill workouts to throw some fun back into your old, monotonous routine.
tokay.com
The Challenge of Residential Fire Sprinkler Systems
Today, many homes are equipped with residential fire sprinkler systems, especially in large housing blocks such as townhomes, condos or apartment buildings. These systems often require a backflow prevention device that must be inspected and tested annually. The backflow preventer keeps the home’s potable water unpolluted and safe for both the homeowners and their community while the fire sprinkler system keeps the home dwellers safe from fire damage.
Bob Boule’ is the Cross Connection Control...
blog.tomsofmaine.com
Tips for Easing Back into Exercise After an Injury or Surgery
Nothing kills your workout momentum like an injury. Your doctor may tell you the most important thing for recovery is rest, so you’ll often have to take a break from exercising altogether. But what happens when you’re healthy again? Once your doctor says it’s OK to begin easing back into exercise, you’ll still need to be careful and strategic about your workouts.
tokay.com
Don’t Let Your Municipality be the Next Corpus Christi Backflow Crisis
It’s been a few months since backflow prevention was headlining in the news as the cause of the drinking water crisis in Corpus Christi, Texas. It’s rare that the public thinks much about the importance of clean tap water, let alone how interconnected and fragile their water supply is. Municipal water suppliers don’t get much thanks but can get a lot of flack when things go wrong. Buzz surrounding the Corpus Christi backflow crisis can help your own city better understand the importance of ba...
blog.tomsofmaine.com
Why You Shouldn’t Rake Your Leaves This Fall
Autumn brings cooler temperatures and flame-colored leaves, making for crisp days and a vibrant landscape. But it can be tough to enjoy the splendor if you’re worried about raking and disposing of all those pretty, fallen leaves. Fortunately, I’m here to tell you why you shouldn’t rake your leave...
blog.tomsofmaine.com
How to Start Composting at Work or School | Tom's of Maine Good Matters Blog
You can be a trendsetter and start a composting program at your work or child’s school to make the practice easier and more efficient for you and your peers.
piccolouniverse.com
Five Easy, Money Saving Green Laundry Hacks | Piccolo Universe
Five Easy, Money Saving Green Laundry Hacks - Picco...
ecowatch.com
Citizen Scientists Track Bee Health and Shed Light on Colony Collapse Disorder | EcoWatch
Individuals can be part of the solution—and the fun—by keeping bees themselves. To construct the hives...
tokay.com
How Our Hybrid-Cloud Tech Will Make Your Backflow Prevention Testers the Most Efficient Staff on Your Team
Tokay Software knows the business of backflow prevention. We know the people in the field, their work and what they need. We’ve been supporting utilities and others in the field for over thirty years. Our software is currently protecting water supply from contamination in 47 States as well as in England, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and Australia. And we know our users, their struggles and what they need because we have over 4,000 customers and we offer them unlimited support. We talk with thes...