When Should I Buy Organic?

Here are some eco tips:

We all want the best for our kids, but going completely organic can be daunting. Compromise by choosing organic where it really counts. The nonprofit Environmental Working Group ranks 46 fruits and vegetables according to pesticide content (go to foodnews.org for details) — the greater the pesticide load, the greater the reason to consider buying organic.

Here, you'll find a quick round-up of which fruits and veggies are best to buy organic and which are OK to buy non-organic. Download our printable guide to keep this information handy -- tape it to the refrigerator or bring it with you to the market to make smart produce shopping a breeze.

Click here to view more.

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Eco-Friendly Tips

Here are some tips to keeping our planet green:

 

Bike, use public transit, carpool to work, drive slower, keep your tires inflated

One-third of all traffic is commuters. Use alternative transportation when possible. If you must drive, go slower with proper tire inflation. It saves both fuel and tires, and lowers emissions. It also saves lives.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Compost

Reusing packaging material saves more energy than recycling. By avoiding extra packaging, you save both energy and landfill space. Yard and kitchen waste (leaves/grass/vegetable scraps) are 30% of trash. Reduce this amount by composting. Also be sure to re-use plastic bags, or better yet... refuse plastic bags when you really don't need them.

 Conserve water

Don't let faucets run. Never water your lawn at midday. Place a brick in old toilets. Take low flow short showers. Run the dishwasher only when it is full. Let grass grow longer. Plant native or drought-tolerant garden plants.

 

Click here to view more.

 

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50-MW for Washington

It looks like Washington is looking greener:

 

The 50-MW Linden Wind Project in southern Washington has completed construction. The wind farm consists of 25 REpower MM92 turbines in Klickitat County, and has been under construction since November 2009.

Member of SCPPA serve more than 2 million residential and business customers in southern California, representing a population of about 4.6 million people.

The project, developed by enXco and owned by the Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA), will bring cleanly generated power to the SCPPA generation portfolio on behalf of participating members Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) and the City of Glendale.

The utility will receive 90% (45 MW) of power from the wind farm, representing about 0.5% of its renewable portfolio goal of 20% by end of 2010. The project will use existing transmission to deliver the power to the Los Angeles area.

 

Click here to see what others are doing to help this planet.

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Wallpaper Tree

Here is a cool decoration idea for crafting your home with recycled products:

 

Any blank surface becomes an enchanted forest with this patterned mural made from wallpaper scraps. Using this photo for reference, sketch a basic tree trunk on the back side of a sheet of wallpaper (you may want to practice first on butcher paper). Once you have your desired shape and height, cut out. On the back of another piece of the same wallpaper, again using this photo as a guide, draw branches of various sizes and shapes — including a group of three attached limbs for the treetop. Cut out the branches. Apply the paper trunk, then the branches, to your wall with ready-made paste. While the tree dries, trim remnants of other brightly patterned wallpapers into leaf shapes — you'll need about 60. Paste these to the wall so they appear to be sprouting from the branches.

 

Want to see more ideas? Click here

 

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Eco Gadgets: Solar energy harnessing Flower Cell offers a sustainable recharge

Here is a really great, eco-friendly idea for charging any of your portable devices by using the energy from the sun:

Eco Factor: Solar-powered portable electronics charger.

The current situation of the planet demands more use of alternative energy and systems that are less polluting and more environmentally responsible. This thinking has made several designers develop products that in some way or the other are helping retrieve the environment from its present state. Industrial designer Alan Ríos is a man on the same mission.

Alan has developed a green charger, known as Flower Cell, that relies on the use of solar energy to offer sustainable recharge to most portable electronic gadget you might be possessing. The flower-shaped device carries flexible solar panels in its petals, which harness sunlight and store it in its internal battery. Portable electronic devices that have the ability to charge via a USB port can be connected to the Flower Cell for a quick recharge.

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Green Lunch-boxes - For Your Back to School Needs

Taken from the website: www.gogreenlunchbox.com

Many of the local elementary schools are working hard to teach the children of our community the importance of protecting the environment. Since their kindergarten days, my children have been taught repeatedly the phrase, “reduce, reuse, recycle.” Over the past few years, with children taking the lead, my family has made changes in our daily lives to do our part to protect and conserve our environment – locally and globally.

In 2008, Go Green Lunch Box was founded simply out of "frustration." Packing two lunches everyday, I was appalled at the amount of waste generated by the packaging of single-serve items (sandwiches, juices, snacks, desserts, etc.). All of that – plastic baggies/wrap/cups, paper cartons/bags, cellophane bags – eventually wound up in our landfills. Upon reading a statistic about a typical American child generating 67 pounds of lunch packaging waste each school year, I knew I had to make some changes. After buying food containers and trying, unsuccessfully, to fit all the containers into the lunch boxes we already owned, resulting in either the lids or containers (or both!) not being brought back home from school, I decided to solve the problem . . . hence, Go Green Lunch Box!

I have partnered with a family friend and international businessman, Hinman Dunn, who has manufacturing and sourcing experience. Like many new products, customer feedback over the past year has provided Hinman and me excellent opportunities to improve our products so as to better meet the needs of parents and children. Consequently, our latest product line features not only design changes, but also, improvements in functionality and durability. We truly think these “second year” products will be very well-received by our existing and new customers.

To ensure quality of our products, Hinman has spent considerable time working with our contracted factories. Also, the lunch box and bottle have passed tests in accordance with the relevant FDA extract and California Proposition 65 (the nation’s most stringent law regulating environmental health and safety). Our food container is made of polypropylene, along with silicone to ensure freshness of its contents. Both are safe and recyclable (please visit www.americanchemistry.com for additional information on plastics and recyclability).

5 Go Green At Home Tips!

Green "to go." - Not brewing at home? Take a travel cup to your favorite java joint; they may fill it at a discount.

Put it to sleep. - If you'll be away from your computer for more than 20 minutes, change it to "sleep" mode.

BYOB. - Bags, that is. It's good for your wallet, too: Some retailers, such as CVS, now pay you for every disposable bag you don't take ($1 on a special CVS card for every four trips on which you BYO).

Book it. - Dr. Seuss's 1971 book, The Lorax, stars a creature who "speaks for the trees" against those who'd cut them down. Talk about the message with your tykes (book and matching plush doll, $5 each, Kohl's).

Pitch in. - Live in one of the 11 states with bottle bills? Have your kids collect aluminum cans and plastic bottles to redeem for cash to spend on a treat.