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Eco Tips Featured Uncategorized

Going Green:5 Small Steps That Make Big Differences on the Environment

Going green simply means choosing to live your life by taking steps to be more environmentally responsible. Being more eco-friendly is intended to decrease the ecological impact you make on the earth and its resources. Going green may seem confusing or overwhelming to some, but it doesn’t mean you have to take drastic steps. The first step to going green and preserving the planet is to start small. Many of the small changes you make will have a large impact on preserving Earths natural resources.

Reusable Shopping Bags

One of the easiest, yet most effective things you can do to start going green is to stop using plastic grocery bags. Using reusable shopping bags will not only reduce the amount of plastic bags you have stored throughout your home, but it reduces the amount of plastic that lays dormient for years in a landfill as well as reduces the impact they have on marine ecosystems. Reusable grocery bags are inexpensive and they are more sturdy than plastic bags.

Clean Water

An easy and inexpensive solution to buying bottled water is to invest in a recycled container and an inexpensive water purifier. It will save you money, allow you to drink fresh water whenever you want and reduce the amount of plastic being thrown in local landfills.

Cleaning Products

Most household cleaning products contain a vast array of harmful chemicals. Each time you use these products, chemicals are being released into your home as well as into the environment. Try using homemade cleaners, such as vinegar, baking soda and/or lemon. These products are much less expensive than store bought cleaners and they clean better. For example, using lemon juice on the stove surface will dissolve built-up grease and remove cooking odors.

Energy Use

If you are fed up with paying outrageous utility bills each month, there are several things you can do that will not only conserve the use of energy for future generations, but lower your utility costs. For example, by changing all of the light bulbs in your home to LED bulbs and unplugging electronics when not in use, you could save several hundred dollars each year in utility costs.

Transportation

It is convenient to get in the car and drive to work, school and shopping. However, each time you drive, the fumes from the car are being released into the environment and damaging the ozone layer. Not to mention the cost of gas and maintenance for the car. By using public transportation just one time a week, you will be doing your part to reduce your carbon footprint and you will save a few hundred dollars each year on gas and maintenance.

It is virtually impossible to completely change your lifestyle overnight and you are not expected to do so. However, by making a few small changes in daily living habits, you will make a huge impact on an array of environmental problems. Simple things often make the biggest difference, such as practicing the 3’Rs (reduce, reuse and recycle) and using organic household cleaners.

~Rene W.

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Eco Eats Uncategorized

Let’s Go Berrying!

Early summer means the arrival of fresh strawberries in the stores. Unfortunately, many supermarket berries are sprayed with harmful fungicides and pesticides. For the wise consumer, buying organic berries is a better choice. There are several ways to get sweet strawberry flavors without the harmful chemicals

You-Pick Farms

To get the freshest berries, the first choice is to visit an organic farm where you can pick the berries yourself. Even if you don’t have time to pick, you can buy berries that were growing on the plants just a few hours earlier. However, if you do have time, picking strawberries is a fun outing for the whole family. As you pick, keep in mind that strawberries don’t ripen after they are picked. Therefore, you should only pluck berries that are bright red all over. Don’t choose berries that are white at the top.

Farmer’s Markets

Visiting your local farmer’s market is another way to get tasty, all-natural strawberries. You may be able to sample several different varieties of berries. Get to know the farmers who sell their produce and ask questions about their organic practices.

Organic Stores

If you have a nearby organic store, talk to the produce manager to find out when the produce truck makes its deliveries. Berries are extremely perishable, so you will want to be there just a few hours after the truck leaves. Choose your berry boxes carefully, turning them over to check for crushed or moldy berries on the bottom of the container. Your box of berries should smell sweet and fresh rather than sour.

Preserving Your Harvest

However you get your harvest of berries, you should take care of them as soon as you can to prolong the flavor of fresh strawberries. If you leave them on the counter for a day or two, they will quickly become a moldy mess.

Organic berries are not sprayed with fungicides, so to kill any mold spores that may be on the surface of the berries, rinse them gently with a vinegar-water mixture. Add one cup of vinegar to three cups of water, swish the berries around in it, remove them, and pat them dry with paper towels. Rinsing with vinegar can greatly prolong the amount of time you can enjoy your berries.

To store berries in the fridge, line a container with a layer of paper towels to absorb moisture. Place unbruised berries in a single layer on the paper towels. On top of the berries, lay another paper towel and add another layer. Cover with a tight-fitting lid. Your berries should stay fresh and tasty for up to a week in the refrigerator when they are stored in this manner.

~April F. 

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Eco Tips Recycling Uncategorized

Online Social Recycling

It’s happening again. You’re online connecting with friends, posting pictures, and responding to event invites. Eventually, you become vaguely aware that clearing out the closet is fast becoming a fading dream, but it doesn’t have to be. You can do it all with social recycling.

Invite Friends to Spark Online Chatter

With social media, you can invite your friends to an event, group page, or hangout without using your personal homepage as a source of contact. Instead, you can create an alternate way to exchange information for your online recycling project:

  • Facebook events: set a date and time for a recycling event and invite your friends
  • Facebook groups: create a group page focused on exchanging and recycling items
  • Google Hangouts: have a video chat with friends to plan upcoming recycling plans
  • Twitter: tweet about your upcoming event or post photos of items looking for a home

Events

If you can create an event to meet friends for dinner or a birthday, you can create one to host a recycling party, event, or both. Do yourself a favor and ask if a few guests can arrive early to help sort clothing types and sizes, books, toys and other items. Consider these event ideas as a starting-off point:

  • Throw a clothing-swap party in the day for kids or at night for adults
  • Schedule a yard-sale event or combine forces, making it a neighborhood event
  • Create an online flea-market event or page, so everyone can post photos of wares to share

Volunteer Meet-ups

Sometimes it’s not possible to host a gathering in your home, but you can still host a meet-up with your Facebook, Google and Twitter friends at an organization looking for volunteers. Here are a few suggestions to consider:

  • Meet at your local animal shelter and bring blankets, sheets, bath- and beached-sized towels
  • Choose a non-profit, such as Dress For Success or Career Gear, and donate gently used clothes
  • Volunteer at a local library and donate your used books, CDs, cassettes, records, and DVDs
  • Roll up your sleeves and build your own Little Free Library or your neighborhood

When you create events with friends and family, you create memories. These are special because of the company and the intention. So the next time you’re whiling away the time online, have some productive fun with social recycling—create new memories and clear that closet out.

~Maureen F.

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Eco Tips Uncategorized

Go Green in the Kitchen

The kitchen may be one of the busiest rooms in your entire house, and it’s no surprise that kitchen appliances use a large portion of a home’s energy. Additionally, due to dishwashers and sinks, much of a family’s water usage happens in the kitchen. Use these tips to conserve energy in your kitchen every day. Not only will you be helping to save the planet, but you will also be saving yourself some money. There’s no reason not to use these five tips to go green in your kitchen.

1. Washing dishes.

If you wash dishes by hand, don’t run the water constantly. Instead, fill one side of the sink with soapy water for washing, and fill the other side with clean water for rinsing to save water. However, most newer models of dishwashers are much more efficient than washing dishes by hand, and you won’t need to pre-rinse the dishes. However, you should only run the dishwasher when it is completely full to save on electricity and water.

2. Check fridge and freezer seals.

If the seals on the doors of your refrigerator and freezer are leaky, you could be losing money every month as cool air escapes from the fridge. Put a dollar bill in the door so that it is half in and half out. If you can pull the bill from the door easily, you should replace the seal or give it a good cleaning.

3. Use small appliances.

Instead of heating the oven every time you want to cook, try using a slow cooker. This will not only use less power, but it also helps you to avoid heating up your house in the summer. You should also consider using small appliances, like electric teapots, toasters, and rice cookers, instead of your stove if you can.

4. Fix the sink.

If your sink drips, you could be wasting gallons of water every day. A new washer only costs a few cents, but it could save you many times that on your water bill each month.

5. Install a water filter in the sink.

If you are used to using bottled water, try installing a water filter on your kitchen faucet. You can fill a water bottle and still have the convenience of portable water. However, you won’t have the expense of buying water bottles, and you won’t be generating trash. Alternately, you can use a water-filtering pitcher.

The kitchen is the heart of the home, so express your heart for the earth by utilizing these green kitchen tips.

~April F.

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Eco Tips Featured Home Design Uncategorized

4 Quick Eco-Friendly Interior Fixes and Facelifts

Vintage Charm. Switch old pressed fiberwood cabinet or closet doors with antique swirled or crackled glass. The textured or crackled glass will still keep your kitchen looking open and airy while hiding the interior cabinet contents on occasions when things aren’t completely orderly.

Easy Update. Give your cabinets and kitchen drawers an updated look with a fresh coat of no or low VOC paint and new drawer pulls. Use one style on drawers and a contrasting style on doors.

Hide Floor Flaws. No need to entirely refinish a scratched, scuffed wooden floor. You can creatively cover scratches and scuffs with a coat of ECOS VOC-free Floor Paint. Find a variety of colors and finishes at Ecospaints.net.

Beadboard Display. Camouflage that unattractive stove hood by covering it with repurposed beadboard and adding some molding or finials to display china or heirloom kitchen collectibles.

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Eco Tips Featured Uncategorized

How To Green Your Beauty Routine

Cosmetic companies are making it easier for consumers to recycle empty beauty containers. Before you throw out that empty container of foundation or bottle of moisturizer, check with your favorite cosmetic company to see if they have a recycling program. The following companies accept used beauty containers in exchange for free product:

Origins. The Origins recycling program allows you to return your empty products to their stores (any brand), and then they take care of shipping the containers off to the proper recycling facility. For every container returned, Origins will offer you a free product sample of your choice.

Kiehl’s. Return your empty Kiehl’s product containers to accumulate stamps for freebies like lip balm or travel sized products.

MAC Cosmetics. By returning six MAC packaging containers to a MAC counter or MAC online, you’ll receive a free lipstick of your choice.

Aveda. Aveda’s cap recycling program accepts caps that are rigid plastic (usually noted with a 5 in the chasing arrows recycling symbol). Caps that twist on with a threaded neck such as those on shampoo, water, soda, milk and other beverage bottles and pharmaceutical lids, flip top caps on tubes and food product bottles, laundry detergents and some jar lids such as peanut butter.

Garnier. Garnier has partnered with a recycling program called TerraCycle. Sign up online at terracycle.net to receive mailing labels and collection materials to shop your used items (regardless of brand) to be recycled.

Make yourself and the world more beautiful by supporting eco-conscious brands.