Twenty years ago, I saw a catalog filled with practical household products that were better for the environment than the stuff we'd been using: laundry and dish and cleaning products made from plants and natural minerals, paper products made from recycled paper, tampons and cloth towels made from organic cotton. I was excited! But I'd … Continue reading Go Green in 2018: Can You Afford to Buy Greener Products?
Old televisions and old computer monitors are things we've all had to deal with recently, as we Earthlings make the transition from cathode-ray tube (CRT) displays to high-tech flat screens. By local standards, my family was very late to replace our television, but I bet that some parts of the world still have a lot … Continue reading Things Not To Do: Television Recycling Edition
One of the most effective things you can do to reduce your environmental impact is to drive less. Every gallon of gasoline burned puts 24 pounds of pollution into our air! Of course we should work toward powering more cars with cleanly generated electricity or other alternative fuels, but we also need to move away … Continue reading Go Green in 2018: Get Out of the Car!
On the way home from preschool on Monday, after we got off the bus in our neighborhood, Lydia stopped to examine a pine tree in the tiny yard of an apartment building. I took this opportunity to get some photos of her looking cute in her winter gear (she'd insisted on wearing two hooded cardigans … Continue reading The Urban Nature Experience All Children Deserve
Life here on Earth presents an astonishing array of abundance. There's so much stuff that we can gather to fulfill not only our basic needs but also our more frivolous desires and, perhaps, our need to feel prepared for meeting future needs. Many years during Lent, I've given up some category of material things in … Continue reading Would decluttering save you from buying a new appliance?
I first heard about the amazing usefulness of hemp when I was in college, 25 years ago. I had gotten onto the mailing lists of various environmental organizations, and from time to time they mentioned that hemp is excellent for making biofuel, food for humans and animals, rope, clothing, paper, plastics, construction and auto-body materials, … Continue reading Peeking Over the Hemp Horizon
This is a guest post by Rick Blanchard, an expert on sleep product materials and manufacturing for BestMattressReviews.com. His research covers the entire life cycle of mattresses and bedding, including production, wear over time, and disposal. Rick lives in Tarrytown, New York. We welcomed this article because we will soon need to shop for a … Continue reading What You Need to Know About So-Called “Green Mattresses”
I've been on this Earth-friendly journey for a long time, and some parts of it have gotten a lot easier. Twenty years ago, you couldn't buy plant-based cleaners or chlorine-free toilet paper at target.com and have them show up on your porch two days later! I saw a tiny ad for Seventh Generation brand products … Continue reading How the East End Food Co-op Keeps Me Fit and Happy
It's Girl Scout Cookie time! I was a Girl Scout from second grade all the way through high school, I am a Lifetime Member, and I was a leader from 2002 to 2010. I've sold a few thousand boxes of Girl Scout Cookies. Girl Scouting is an important program that had a huge influence on … Continue reading How to support Girl Scouts without buying cookies
Happy new year! This is a great time to start a new habit to make a little less garbage, use a little less energy, or otherwise reduce your environmental impact. I made my new year's resolution on a sudden whim when I was in the supermarket on December 30, stocking up on fresh produce after … Continue reading Go Green in 2018: Try Something New!
Earthlings have been discarding too much plastic too irresponsibly for the past five decades, and a lot of it has ended up in our oceans. Plastic never goes away. It just swirls around, breaking into smaller pieces, harming marine animals. method, a company making cleaners that are safer for the Earth and human health, teamed … Continue reading Hand Soap of the Zygons [method ocean plastic soap review]
Improve soil quality and prevent erosion without spending a cent! Just take a few minutes to collect this free resource from your neighborhood.
In our 17 summers of buying a share in a community-sponsored agriculture farm, we've developed a 5-step plan for making good use of our weekly veggie crate--but our long-range planning still isn't perfect. When I put "carrots" on the shopping list in late summer, Daniel bought the 5-pound bag because it was the best value … Continue reading Can you eat carrots that look like THIS?!
It's been a tough year for our garden. I'm going to write more about it someday, but at the moment we're busy digging, planting, laying a new stone path, building a new raised bed, and visualizing a beautiful garden next year! Meanwhile, here is an infographic to motivate us by pointing out the physical and emotional … Continue reading Gardening is Good for You! {infographic}
We Earthlings are planning to renovate and slightly expand our small, shabby, 1950s kitchen, so I'm very interested in this guest post by Sofia Lockett, a freelance writer based in Auckland, who is passionate about travel, technology and innovation. Sofia has written for New Zealand businesses such as seacontainers.co.nz. Kitchens are the heart of the … Continue reading Eco-Friendly Kitchen Renovations
Today is the first day of seventh grade for my son Nicholas and the first day in the new Bigger Sprouts classroom for my three-year-old daughter Lydia! Even if you're not in school and have no kids in your life, this is a great time of year to start something new. As the leaves begin … Continue reading Go Green in 2017: Something New in September!
This is a guest post by Justin Havre, a Calgary native and owner of Justin Havre & Associates. A home's carbon footprint is its impact on the environment, measured in the amount of carbon dioxide released in the process of operating that home. Excess carbon dioxide in our atmosphere traps heat, accelerating the process of global climate … Continue reading How to Reduce Your Home’s Carbon Footprint
This is an honest review. I received a discount on this product, and if you join Grove Collaborative using my affiliate link I will receive a discount on my future purchases there, but I was not paid to promote this product. All opinions stated here are my own. For the past two years, I've been … Continue reading Acure Brightening Facial Scrub review
We save money on fair-trade organic coffee by buying five-pound bags. Larger bags also mean less garbage per pound of coffee, but those metallized plastic bags are still an environmental problem: Most recycling programs won’t take them, and they're not biodegradable. For several years, I collected coffee bags—our own and those discarded by friends, co-workers, my … Continue reading Recycling Coffee Bags with TerraCycle
I'm nervous posting this because of the freakout when Lenore Skenazy let her 9-year-old ride public transit alone. I don't want to be the next "America's Worst Mom"! But I think it's important to talk about how to approach children's independence safely and gradually so that they learn the skills they'll need as adults. Nicholas is … Continue reading Why My 12-year-old Is Riding Public Transit Alone
