Making Your Garden Go Green

Although with snow on the ground and more expected, gardening should be the last thing on my mind, I am already planning ahead. The last frost will be here and gone eventually. With everything still dormant, it is a good time to start the planning for the garden season to come. Being more environmentally conscious and gardening go hand and hand. If you want to make your garden really go green this year, try taking advantage of the following tips. Start a compost pile that will nurture your plants with natural fertilizer and plenty of good food. As you clean … Continue reading

Organic for Health – Sandy Powers

In the new book “Organic for Health,” author Sandy Powers shares her own story of sickness and healing. In 2005, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. However, her treatment was complicated by the fact that her liver enzymes were three times higher than normal. Her doctor feared that the surgery for the breast cancer would damage the liver, but Sandy feared the cancer more than the liver. She proceeded to have the mastectomy needed, but decided against chemotherapy and radiation because of the possibility of harm to her liver. Every time she had her enzymes tested, they were dangerously high. … Continue reading

Are Organic Garden Products Misleading?

When we see an organic sticker on a product, we can have faith that we are doing the right thing for the environment by purchasing it, right? This is actually not necessarily the case. For food, organic stickers are USDA approved, so that food must meet certain standards to be labeled organic. This is not true for other products, such as garden products. pretty much anyone can currently slap on an organic or green label on a garden product, such as a bottle of pesticide whether or not it is truly organic. If using organic gardening products is important to … Continue reading

What is a Home Geothermal System?

Install a home geothermal system, and you may never need oil or gas to heat or cool your home again. The system, while ingenious goes back may centuries. Many cultures around the world and through time have uses the Earth’s nature temperatures for keeping warm or cool and for heating water. For the home, a geothermal pump system is put into place. Rather than generating heat by buring fuel, as does a traditional home furnace, a home geothermal systems collects the earth’s natural heat and brings it up from below to your home heating your home and even providing hot … Continue reading

How to Clean Green

Having a clean home doesn’t mean that you have to expose yourself and your family to tons of chemicals that can linger in your home and may negatively impact both your health and the environment. The old days of strong chemical cleaners that eradicate everything in their paths is gone. Welcome in a new era of cleaning, one that will leave your home clean and smelling wonderfully without causing harm. First, let’s talk a little bit about the traditional cleaning solutions that are on the market. Most of them are petroleum based, which we know is not a renewable resource. … Continue reading

Six Ways to Have a Greener Home

The little things that you do around your home can make a big impact in how much energy you can save. if you want a greener home, concentrate on the following six areas. 1. Conserve hot water. You can conserve hot water by taking shorter showers, washing your laundry in cold water and lowering the thermostat on your furnace or water heater. 2. Replace your blinds. If you have traditional metal blinds on your windows, you’ll save money when you replace them with wood or fabric. This is because blinds will suck up the heat and the cold from outside … Continue reading

RecycleBank: Getting Paid to Recycle

Yesterday morning, there was great anticipation in our household while we expected a large arrival. I had just signed up for our local RecycleBank (http://www.recyclebank.com) program, and we were awaiting our new large recycling container, complete with RDIF chip. Through the RecycleBank program, our household will be rewarded for recycling. The amount of recycling that we do is directly related to the number of rewards. The literature that I received said that good recyclers could earn hundreds of dollars worth of rewards in a year. The RecycleBank website and the literature about the program doesn’t go into great detail about … Continue reading

Green Home Tips

Did you know that a plastic shower curtain can be dangerous to your health? It can release dangerous levels of volatile organic compounds. If you want to protect your health and your environment, you’ll want to read the following green home tips. First, let me offer a reading recommendation for anyone who is interested in being more aware of healthy products. There is a magazine called Body & Soul that offers a lot of great information on this subject. Many of the tips I have for you today were inspired by some recent issues. Now let’s get back to that … Continue reading

How to Recycle Crayons

Did you know that when crayons are tossed out in the garbage, they can spend almost an eternity in a landfill? Who knew that such a little think could contribute to the trash on our planet? As a household with three young children, crayons are everywhere. There are the broken ones, the ones that are of unpopular colors and the ones that get replaced when a gift of a new box of well-dressed crayons appears. Ah, it is that new crayon smell that no one can resist. There are several ways that you can recycle crayons and keep them out … Continue reading

Easy Household Ways to Go Green

While new windows and electric cars are great ways to go green and take care of the environment, there are also a number of smaller but equally effective steps that you can take in your home to cut down on your impact to the environment. Eliminate the paperwork Paying your bills online and asking for electronic delivery of your bills and statements can reduce not only the paper itself, but the fuel consumption to deliver all of those bills, statements and checks. Eliminate the vampire electronics Many electronics consume power even when they are turned off or not being actively … Continue reading