Ever since cars entered the realm of the common person, they’ve been one of the major status symbols in this world. As the different eras have come and gone, different types of cars have been invented and become popular. While there is no universal definition of coolness when it comes to automobiles, some things are universal. A car needs to show off its owner’s traits. The following are some characteristics cars throughout the ages have shown off.

The 1920s

In the 1920s, just having a car was something of an accomplishment. The dominant style in those days resembled a carriage, and the hard top had yet to be invented. While the Model T has been called one of the ugliest cars ever produced, it sold like four-wheeled hot cakes.

The 1950s

In the 50s, style was everything with big tires, big fins and big bodies. In that era, if your car looked like a tank you were the king of the road. Gas cost about a nickel a gallon and it looked like there was an unlimited supply after the war ended, so “get in your car and drive” became a national commandment.

The 1960s

In the 60s, speed was more important than size. With a fast car you ruled the road, while a big car was often thought of as a lumbering beast. As the green movement took hold, the first economy cars were produced with the specific goal of being easy to drive and using less fuel.

The 1970s

The 70s were dominated by the gas crisis and a serious recession. Waiting in a long line for gas that might easily run out before you got to fill up wasn’t fun, and cars of this era got downright tiny. Just like dinosaurs, huge vehicles starve too easily for this kind of environment. So cars went lean and mean, and fuel economy first came to the national consciousness.

The Last 30 Years

Since the 80s, cars have run the gamut from high safety in an SUV to extreme fuel economy in tiny hybrid vehicles. While clean lines and computer-designed components rule the day, today cars can show off a wider variety of traits than ever before. You can find all types of cars on eBay.

The Future

As fascinated as people are with cars, they’re even more fascinated with the future. Since the 50s it’s been obvious that a lot of people want something on the cutting edge, if not borrowed from the future. The designs of tomorrow are visible in concept cars, which tend to have extremely sharp lines and alternative fuel sources. Many of their looks borrow from the 20s and 50s.

Every era’s cars have shown off a desirable trait in their owners. Some eras have valued size, while some value safety. Still others venerate speed. No matter what era of car your preference comes from, you can tell a lot about who you are by the kinds of cars you love.

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Going to stores too often can wreak a lot of damage on the environment. For one thing you’re already burning gas just to get there and back. You might also end up having to hit the ATM to get cash if you don’t have a traditional account. Sometimes things happen and such an account may not even be accessible to you.

One way you can save some gas is to order your non-perishables online and use your Reach prepaid card to save yourself some gas. While you might not think this is going to make a significant difference, cars release massive amounts of carbon dioxide every year. While some of that gas is burned because of your commute to work, a lot of it comes about because of your normal errands. Sometimes it even comes when you’re going out for groceries or to shop for clothes.

The things you do every day contribute to the earth’s pollution. When you think about how much unnecessary mileage you put on your car doing things you could have done in more efficient ways like having bulk groceries delivered, you might be able to save more than just a ton of money over time. After all, how useful could money be if we pollute ourselves out of existence? Even little things like saving that extra mile or two you used to go on for the ATM can actually make a difference after awhile. Make every mile you travel count.

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If you live in an apartment, you may think that you won’t really be able to implement effective energy saving tips. How wrong you are! You can become more energy conscious as well probably saving yourself some money. You can also reduce your usage of resources. Here are a few tips and tricks for those who live in apartments and how they can save energy.

Don’t leave your refrigerator door open. If you keep your refrigerator organized, you will be able to find items quickly. Unless you have a frost-free freezer, defrost your freezer at least once a month to prevent front build up. The freezer temperature should be set a 5 degrees Fahrenheit for optimal energy savings.

When washing clothes, don’t do partial loads — wait until you have a full load. This will conserve water. Also, select the appropriate water level setting. Additionally, you can save energy by washing your clothes in cold water when ever possible. Clean the lint filter of your dryer before each and every load.

Turn off all those lights you are not using. Replace your old bulbs with more energy-efficient models. Consider installing timers and motion sensors so the lights are used only when necessary.

If you have central heating and air, try to keep the thermostat at 68 degrees during the winter months and around 78 degrees during the summer months. If you have a window-unit air conditioner make sure it is properly maintained. If there is water build up it may cause the unit to have to work harder.

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If you have a garden, you may wonder whether you should start a composting process to help your garden grow. Well, the answer is a resounding yes. Compost will act as a conditioner, fertilizer and mulch. It will also help the health of your plants, as well adding soil nutrients. And of course, let’s not forget that it helps the environment through the recycling of kitchen and yard wastes.

Here’s how you can easily create a compost pile that will be beneficial and will not smell bad.

1. Choose an out-of-sight location that is close to both your garden and kitchen.
2. You can either use a compost bin or create a compost corral. The bins generally look better, but a well-designed natural compost is just as effective.
3. Whether you choose a bin or not just make sure that you can add the materials easily. It is also essential that you be able to turn the piles easily. If you live in an especially rainy area, make sure you compost heaps are covered.
4. The two main elements of compost are garden debris that is green, such as grass clippings and brown debris, such as dry leaves. The compost should be two parts brown to one part green. Add a shovel of garden soil, which will add the microbial element.
5. Add water so that the material resembles a damp sponge. Adding too much water will create unwanted odors.
6. The pile should be turned once a week, moving the material from the outside to the inside.
7. Your compost should be finished and ready to use in about two months.

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It is not at all difficult to join the growing movement to “go green.” This is the newest environmental push to help protect our planet and there are many ways you can join the effort. For instance, use these great tips for going green during a remodeling or decorating project.

Be gentle to the planet. Unless it is absolutely necessary, try not to purchase new items. Look around for items you can use in your project that are gently used or recyclable. Check out garage sales and thrift shops.

You probably think that if you use recycled items you are stuck with a very bland color palette of browns and tans. Nothing is further from the truth. You can find many items that are very colorful and exciting. Again, if you do have to purchase a decorating item make sure you look for the “green” logo on the packaging that indicates that they contain recycled materials.

The reason it is important to try to use recycled products is that less raw or new materials are used in the production of the item. In addition, you can look for materials such as hemp and cotton that have been grown in a green environment — using no pesticides or other harmful chemicals.

If you are planning on replace or updating your floor covering, look for the new companies that are coming out with flooring made with recycled materials. You will find these materials attractive and easy to install — all without harmful chemical glues.

One of the primary ways to make a difference in society is to enter politics or work for the government in one of several areas. You can pursue a traditional or online degree in political science at a university, which will prepare you for entering the political arena. You can complement these efforts by volunteering in a political campaign for a candidate you support or by running for your local city council. These will give you experience that will enhance your education.

Those who want to impact their local area or address a specific need in society can volunteer with a number of charitable organizations. Some of these are soup kitchens, disaster relief, organizations fighting against a certain disease and volunteering with a local school. These organizations offer a variety of activities that can match your personal interests and talents. They may require you to fill out an application and go through a background check before working with them.

Whatever route that you choose to take, stop and consider what you have to offer to others. You may have a talent in a particular area that could truly benefit a particular organization, such as Habitat for Humanity, the Red Cross or other entity. By getting involved you can make a difference in your own unique way.

Using a Reloadable Debit Card

The reach prepaid card is an example of a debit card that you can load up with funds and then spend on the go. What are the benefits of this? First and foremost, you do not have to ask for a receipt when you make purchases, because you can easily find out what your last transactions were, and this is going to save paper. By using a recyclable, reusable and reloadable plastic card, you are not worrying about paper or coin money and everything that managing it entails.

Not only is using a prepaid debit card a greener proposition because it is a reloadable card rather than a gift card that you simply throw away, but it also really simplifies the shopping process and makes it possible for you to have a single card that you can use for a myriad of different retailers and service providers. Swiping a single plastic card at your dry cleaner’s, at the doctor’s office and your local grocer really does simplify the process a lot and makes buying the things that you need to buy really easy too. Because you can reload the card as many times as you like, it is as recyclable and reusable as a shopping medium can get. Pair a prepaid debit card with reusable shopping bags and you are good to go.

The first thing the business owner can do is to purchase supplies that are made from recycled products. These can include:  paper, packing material, folders, boxes and related items. These are often priced cheaper than regular products are and help to support recycling efforts. If you receive your inventory by mail, save the packing material and reuse it when sending items to customers. This will help to cut spending in your monthly budget. You can also budget your efforts with a reach prepaid card.

You can cut down on energy spending by installing lights that activated by motion sensors in bathrooms, storage rooms and other areas that are not used often. When someone leaves the room, the lights turn off automatically, saving on electricity. When you close down your business over the weekend, turn your heating and cooling system, raise or lower the temperature to keep the system from running as much. Your staff can help by turning off lights when leaving a room and shutting down equipment when it’s not in use.

The other step that businesses can take is to support local efforts to recycle products and to embrace alternative forms of energy. This will present a positive image for the company as it helps to keep the environment clean and save money at the same time.

We live in a a world where a lot of people think only about their next profitable deal. While there’s nothing wrong with making money, a lot of people take it too far. When you consider how much the world revolves around its own condition and how much damage human beings can do accidentally, you start to realize that the world as we know it is very delicate. Can you imagine a world that’s mostly desert? If we aren’t careful this is going to be how things are in the not too distant future.

Of course, this is where you come in. Your education can literally change the world if you get the right kind and you know how to use it. While an online degree is no guarantee of success, you do have the option of building a successful career from it. Now, a successful career isn’t just one where you make tons of money. It also means you’re really doing something to help the world we all have to share. If you can do that, you’re doing a lot more than just being a professional tree hugger.

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Many people would say there are no reasons why you can’t go green, but this isn’t necessarily true. In certain situations, such as those concerning health issues, it may be necessary to use commercial cleaners or disinfectants to prevent the spread of germs.

Here’s an example: children and others with compromised immune systems are more prone to contracting illnesses and infections. For some, this can be life-threatening, so caregivers and others have no choice but to use strong cleaners and disinfectants. Not to do so would literally be dangerous to the affected person.

If you are in such a situation, you probably already know this, but you still may be wondering if there is anything you can do to help the environment that won’t put your loved one in danger. The answer is “yes”, you have several options.

• Recycle.

This is one of the best ways to help the environment. Separate aluminum cans, plastics, paper, and other recycled materials from your household trash and take it to a recycling center.

• Use natural products whenever you can.

You may have to use strong cleaners and disinfectants on those surfaces or objects that your loved one comes in contact with, but on those in which contact is not as frequent, you may be able to use natural products on them. Look for ways to do this that won’t compromise your loved one’s health.

• Think outside your home.

You have to keep your home scrupulously clean, but can you make changes outside? Are you driving a fuel-efficient car that has features for emissions reduction? This is one way you can help protect the environment.

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You don’t have to go to extremes to help protect the environment (unless you want to—just make sure the extremes you go to are legal) but there are ways you can go green, especially in your home. Here are a few suggestions.

With the advent of air conditioners and other climate control systems, the amount of recirculated air is increasing in homes. While climate control system filters, vacuum cleaner filters, and other things can help remove particulates from the air, more are being added each day, particularly when commercial cleaning products are being used.

One of the best ways you can improve air quality in your home is to use natural cleaning products. The benefits of this extend to more than just making the air in your home cleaner, you also save money. For example, vinegar and baking soda and both natural products. Used alone or together, these products can substitute for a number of commercial cleaning products.

Vinegar is good for cleaning and shining glass, countertops, appliances, and other surfaces that you would normally use a commercial window cleaner on. Baking soda can act as an abrasive, helping remove stains and soap scum from sinks and tubs/showers (don’t use it, though, if your bathroom fixtures scratch easily).

Baking soda can also be used as a laundry booster. It freshens clothes and helps remove odors. A mixture of vinegar and baking soda can be poured down drains to help them run better and to get rid of odors. Neither substance will harm pipes, so you can do this as often as you like.

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If you are like many people, you are hearing more and more about companies and industries “going green”. This means they are finding ways to manufacture their products or supply their services while protecting the environment. thegreenlife.org applauds them for their efforts.

“Going green” is not really all that new; the concept has been around for quite a while. However, probably what really brought it to everyone’s attention was the discovery that the hole in the ozone layer that makes up part of the earth’s atmosphere was growing. This discovery was made in 1985.

Although this is a naturally occurring phenomena based on weather and climate conditions during the seasons of the year and the size alternately decreases and increases based on these conditions, an “artificial” increase was occurring as a result of certain pollutants being released into the air.

One of the pollutants found to be contributing the most to the growth was chlorofluorocarbons—the stuff found in aerosol spray bottles and cans. Steps were taken to eliminate these from aerosols, and a noticeable improvement was soon apparent.

Like many things, though, the green movement was and still is considered a “fad”, and like all fads, will soon fade away. Additionally, some people believe that problems with the environment aren’t as bad as they are being reported to be, or that if they are, the Earth can essentially “repair itself.” Others believe the problems are worse.

No matter which side you fall on, the fact remains that going green is a good concept. You are urged not to just dismiss it, but to consider ways that you can help protect the environment.

Below are some tips to choosing the right cleaners which do the job without harming our planet.

• Biodegradable does not automatically mean that its environmentally friendly.
  

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  Biodegradable means that certain compounds and elements in the detergent break down into a more simpler form but the chemicals are still there.  These chemicals still find their way out into our waterways and do damage to ecosystems.

• Phosphate free is what you should be looking for. Phosphates are harmful to our environment. Over production of phosphates can reduce the amount of algae and plant growth which can throw out the delicate balance of marine and river way ecosystems causing plant life, fish numbers to reduce which in turn has a direct impact on the surrounding ecosystems and food chains
• Check for endorsements from registered environmental agencies on the products you’re buying or check out organisations such as the Safer Detergents Initiative for advice on buying the right products.

Doing a little research before you go shopping will reduce your impact on the environment and educate you in which products are best to choose.  This helps not only spread the word but protect our planet for future generations to come.

1. White goods can vary in size, color and style and the choices can be overwhelming.
   

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   Ask your local white goods store about the most energy or water efficient products they have.  The latest technology means that performance is not diminished and even if you pay a small amount more in-store you will save money over the years in reduced electricity and water bills.

2. Online stores offer great clothes nowadays which are easy to purchase and made in factories where people are treated fairly and harmful chemicals are not used.
3. At the grocery store.  Organic may be a little more expensive but you will reap the rewards in your health and taste at the dinner table.  The average working family may not be able to afford organic steaks BUT you can make small changes.  Buy barn or free range eggs and organic milk.  Look for a local pick your own farm or growers market for cheap, fresh, chemical free vegetables. Better still grow your own!

Buying a product which is plastered with the word “natural” does not necessarily mean you are buying an environmentally friendly product.  Clothes, shoes and even white goods nowadays have great products which are kinder to the environment and won’t cost you the earth. But by taking small steps in the right direction you really will make a positive difference.

1. Take a look at your suppliers.  Are they environmentally concious, is their transport energy
   

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   efficient? Do they contribute with carbon credits? Is the paper and other office consumables you purchase recycled?

2. Recycling should be part of your daily office routine and educated throughout your staff.  recycling bins in the staff kitchen and recycling paper and cardboard waste all contribute to a more sustainable environment.
3. Fairtrade.  Is the coffee you supply to your staff fair trade? It may cost a few dollars more but with demand comes economies of scale, we all just need to take the step to purchase.  It also sends a really positive message to your staff about how the business cares for the environment and those who live in it.
4. Energy.  Switch off printers, computers and monitors at the end of every day along with the lights to save energy and see your electricity bills shrink too!
5. Plant a tree or two or get some real plants for the office.  They help breed a positive working atmosphere for your staff and reduce Co2 at the same time.

A few simple steps will make a difference to the waste your business provides and also gives a morale boost to your staff.  Its also good for business as more and more customers are looking for a “green” business partner.

Home heating and cooling are two big energy consumers. Replace furnace filters regularly and keep the furnace clean. A properly maintained furnace will work more efficiently and use less energy to heat the home. A furnace that has to fight against a lot of dust will have to work harder to circulate air and use more energy. Also, turn down the thermostat a degree or two. It’ll use less energy and, at only a degree or two, you might not even feel the difference.

Seal leaks or drafts in your home. Cool air can leak in during cold months and keep the heater going. Air can leak in (or out) around windows and door frames. Keep curtains closed or use sealants, caulk, or something to block or seal the drafts. You could also invest in some insulation to block whatever heat may be escaping through the walls and roof.

Not using it? Unplug it. As long as it’s plugged in, an electronic device draws energy whether it’s on and being used or not. Unplug things when you’re not using them or plug things into a power strip that can be turned off. Turns lights off when you’re not in the room.

Consider a supplemental energy source. A solar panel or two on the roof could pay for itself in the money is saves you from your regular energy supplier.

And shop around for a cheaper energy supplier. Using less energy will save you money and can help the environment, but energy that costs less already is even better.

Recycle / Reuse

This isn’t going to save the planet or usher in some sort of green utopia. Recycling and reusing is simply a responsible use of resources. If you’re done with something, recycle it. Aluminum cans, motor oil, printer cartridges, batteries, glass, telephone books – most anything can be recycled. Even if there isn’t curbside pickup in your area, there’s always recycle drop-offs somewhere nearby. Or you could sell your metals to a local buyer and get a little money.

Consider reusing some of the things you would throw away or recycle. Reuse plastic bags, pie tins, glass bottles or other stuff before getting rid of them. If you’re done with some article of clothing, consider how you can reuse it. Alter it and make it into something new or, if it’s not too raggedy, donate it so someone else can use it.

Conserve

We use a lot of water – toilets, showers, washing stuff, watering stuff or just wasting it. Time your showers, turn the faucet off while brushing your teeth, use less water when watering plants. Perhaps consider a low-flush toilet.

Keep an eye on energy usage. Turn off lights or electronics when not being used. Plug leaks in your home that reduce the efficiency of heating/cooling. Lower thermostat temps.

Avoid polluting

Walk when you could drive. Don’t throw your gum wrappers or gum or butts or whatever out the window. Don’t dump chemical-laden liquids outside.

If it’s true, that we borrow the planet from our children, then we need to be responsible with it.

It wasn’t the Chernobyl disaster or partial meltdown on Three Mile Island that turned many against nuclear energy. These, and other much smaller incidents, certainly contributed, but anti-nuclear sentiment started years before – maybe as far back as the mid-40s. Scientists – some disturbed by what they had built – and diplomats pressured the military and government to stop nuclear testing. Larger-scale movements against nuclear technology seemed to rise in the late 70s – probably due to the connection between nuclear power and nuclear weaponry.

Dangerous nuclear power accidents are rare. The US Navy has been powering their ships with reactors for over 50 years and hasn’t had nuclear accidents. France safely gets most of its electricity from nuclear reactors and Japan gets nearly a third of its own power from nuclear.

Nuclear energy can be beneficial as an energy source for the future. Oil could run out some time in the next century or – more likely – become to expensive to continue using on a large scale. Other energy sources like solar, hydroelectric, geothermal, and wind powers all have a variety of pros and cons. So, of course, does nuclear power. It’s not fully sustainable, but can more than meet our foreseeable energy requirements for a few centuries. It also produces waste that can be difficult to dispose of.

Nuclear power can be generated safely. Properly maintained reactors and properly disposed-of waste are not likely to cause any problems. Nuclear energy can still be a part of the mosaic of energy sources that will power our future.

Hydroelectricity

Hydroelectric power is derived from the flow of water. The potential energy of dammed water or the kinetic energy of tides or other moving water is used to move some sort of turbine and generator.

• Pros – it’s renewable, has little to no emissions, and low operating costs
• Cons – hydroelectric power stations require large reservoirs that damage and disrupt the surrounding ecosystems and submerge large areas of land. Dam failures can be disastrous.

Geothermal electricity

Deep (around two miles) geothermal heat is used to heat water to a boil and the steam moves turbines to generate electricity. The water can be naturally present or injected to reach desired steam-levels.

• Pros – it’s sustainable. Some experts believe that, with proper technology, geothermal energy can meet all the world’s present energy needs for several thousand years.
• Cons – the fluids drawn out of the Earth contain greenhouse gases that can affect the environment. Geothermal power plant production has been known to affect ground stability and even trigger earthquakes.

Wind power

Where hydroelectricity uses the flow of water and geothermal electricity uses steam under pressure, wind power uses wind to move turbines and generate electricity.

• Pros – it’s renewable, plentiful, and clean. Produces no greenhouses gasses and has low operating costs.
• Cons – minimal, when compared to other energy sources, but include aesthetic concerns, noise, and the tendency to swat birds and bats out of the sky.

Mercury content

Like all fluorescent lamps, CFLs contain a small amount of vaporized mercury. Mercury is poisonous even in small amounts. If a bulb is broken, then there is the risk being exposed to dangerous mercury vapors. Though the bulbs are meant to be recycled, many are almost certain to end up in landfills and dumps – polluting the grounds, air, and water with small amounts of the poisonous substance.

CFLs put out little heat

This not only prevents little kids from using a CFL in their Easy-Bake Ovens, but it can also contribute to increased greenhouse gas emissions. Incandescent bulbs contribute slightly to the heat in a house and in some colder climates, where house heating may be provided by natural gas, incandescents reduce the amount of natural gas needed to heat the home. Large-scale use of CFLs in colder climates would increase the amount of natural gas being burned to heat homes.

Light sensitivity

Fluorescent bulbs flicker at a normally unnoticeable frequency. This flickering can cause problems for people with light sensitivity and can induce migraines, eyestrain, and – rarely – seizures. An article in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry even suggested that fluorescent lamps can alter a person’s perceptions and worsen depersonalization disorders. Evidence for this is limited though.

UV light

CFLs emit ultraviolet light that can aggravate symptoms in people with existing skin disorders. Long, close exposure to UV radiation can also lead to skin and retinal damage.

This isn’t to say that CFLs are horrible. They’re not. But might the cons possibly outweigh the pros?

Ethanol

• Pros – it burns cleaner and cooler than gas and has a higher octane rating. It takes less energy to turn crops into ethanol than petroleum into gasoline.
• Cons – ethanol can be corrosive and will eat away at much of the metals and plastics that make up fuel tanks, hoses, machine parts, tankers and more. Further, turning corn to ethanol is an expensive process and putting so much corn into ethanol production means less corn for food production.

Biodiesel

• Pros – burning biodiesel produces more energy than gasoline and petrodiesel. It also produces fewer emissions.
• Cons – it’s pricey right now, but with rising gas prices, biodiesel prices could turn into a pro. Cooler temperatures can turn biodiesel into a semi-solid gel that will clog an engine.

Hydrogen

• Pros – …it’s not gas. And the only emission of a hydrogen fuel cell powered electric car is water.
• Cons – the technology and industry is not in place to widely distribute hydrogen as a viable large-scale fuel source. It’s also expensive and energy-intensive to make.

Natural Gas

• Pros – it has a high octane rating and is fuel efficient. It produces far less emissions than gasoline.
• Cons – like petroleum, it is a limited, nonrenewable resource. It takes energy to make, but doesn’t produce much energy when compared to something like gasoline.

Transportation Jobs

Anyone working in mass transit can potentially be considered a green worker. As fuel prices rise and access to gasoline is limited at certain times and in certain regions, bus and train drivers meet the need of transporting people to where they need to go. Green conscious employees in the transportation industry can educate themselves on driving practices that save fuel and limit environmental pollution.

Working in the Recycling Industry

The more society reuses and recycles materials, the better it is for the environment. It takes energy to create glass, paper, aluminum and other materials from scratch. Employees in the recycling industry make great contributions to protecting the environment. The potential jobs are recycling center administrators, pick-up and delivery coordinators, and individuals who sort the recyclable materials.

Green Education

Educators and writers may also be considered green workers if they focus on informing people about green principles. An educator might do this at an elementary school as part of a science class. A writer might create a green blog and share the latest information on the internet with the public.

Technical and Engineering Jobs in the Green Industry

As alternative sources of energy are explored, additional jobs are created. Wind turbines create clean energy. The turbines need to be designed by engineers and transported to ideal locations. Additional technical personnel are needed to install and maintain the turbines. Technical and engineering jobs also exist in the solar, geothermal and biomass industries. You can find green jobs in all locations where alternative sources of fuel and energy are being actively explored and developed.

Make Sure You Care Enough

It’s a good idea when starting a new business to be passionate about the purpose and the concept. Your green business will have a much better chance of prospering if you truly care about the environment. Your deep and invested concern will push you to continually learn about new findings, products and processes to advance the cause of environmental protection. So, first and foremost, you want to be passionate about your green business idea.

Do Your Homework About the Green Industry

Developing a useful and eventually profitable green business requires knowledge. To learn more about green principles, read books on the subject. Be selective. Find reputable books that have been reviewed by people you respect. When researching online, find trusted information from government and educational sites, and other reliable sources. These sites usually present verified information and are more trustworthy than some sites which may be more interested in profits than offering an effective green service or product.

Develop a Useful Green Product or Service

It goes without saying when you start a business that your concept should appeal to at least a segment of the population. Your green product or service should meet a clear need. You might decide to compile and sell information about the green industry in an easy-to-understand format. Whatever your business offering will be, make sure that it will add value to the green industry. When you add value to any endeavor, the product or service tends to sell itself through word-of-mouth and buzz marketing.

Once you’ve considered the above, get started with planning your green business. The environment needs your passion and your useful product.

Regarding online degrees, you won’t have trouble finding suitable programs either. Really, the sky is the limit; and for sure, you want to make sure the sky is pure without contaminant or pollution. Our planet would thank you. While on the subject of online universities, the necessity to make haste couldn’t be more important. After all, once again, our Earth isn’t getting younger; and the more the ozone layer deteriorates, the more landfills we use, the more we infect our Earth with all of our common-day pollutants, the less chances we will have in protecting our Earth. Think of the possibilities with clean energy, too; or how about automobile manufacturing with their hybrids and electric models? You can only imagine the possibilities of research in finding better fuels, better alternatives to already established energy sources.

The fact, though, is this: you won’t find out about any of those wonderful things unless you take the first step and pursue a degree in either Environmental Science or Environmental Law. The course of Earth’s future will depend on you, believe it or not, with an accredited degree in either or these two disciplines. Make a change–for our Earth’s sake, take action.

Teaching Green Principles to Children by Example

If you have young children in the home, they will watch you very closely. Little kids are like sponges. They will imitate everything you do. You can teach them at a very young age to recycle, turn off the lights when they’re not in use, and to practice other environmentally-friendly behaviors by actively doing these things yourself.  To draw attention to your green activities with young kids, announce your actions as you do them: “I’m going to throw the aluminum can in the recycling bin.” Making sure to turn off the lights or the TV when you leave a room are ways to provide a good example for kids.

Structure Green Activities for Children

You might save a week or two of recyclables and then sit your kids down and ask them to help you sort the materials. Separating plastic, paper, aluminum and glass is a useful exercise for kids. They might ask you why you are separating them and why these items don’t just go in the regular garbage can. These are opportunities to advance their knowledge of the environment. You might explain that these items can be reused and how much energy it saves when you don’t have to create glass or other materials from scratch.

Starting children at a young age with these practices is helpful for creating a future generation that values energy conservation and thinks twice about tossing recyclables into the garbage can.

Start a Carpool

Starting a carpool is one of the easiest ways to reduce the number of cars on the road. When you explore this idea, you’ll find that others will find it appealing as well. Start with the coworkers who live near you. If that doesn’t work, look for carpool ads in grocery stores and coffee shops. Online forums might also be an option.

Take the Bus or Train to Work

Taking public transportation isn’t for everyone and doesn’t exist in all locations. However, if it is an option for you, you might check it out. Letting someone else drive while you nap or listen to music can be an enjoyable way to commute to work and back.

Unload Your Car

If you have no choice but to drive your own car, make sure that you lighten your load as much as possible. Some people dump heavy tools and equipment into their trunks only to forget about them. Unload anything that you don’t need and you’ll see better gas mileage.

Invest in a Car With High Gas Mileage

When it’s time to get a new car, consider a car with better gas mileage. With the unpredictable gas prices and the general uncertainty about the future of fuel availability in some regions, you’ll want to prepare in advance. Buying a hybrid vehicle and researching your options for fuel efficient vehicles will save you fuel and money.

Try Telecommuting

The best way to save fuel in your daily commute, of course, is to reduce your commute. If you can arrange to work from home a couple of days per week, you will greatly reduce your fuel usage. Ask your boss if the possibility exists. The worse he will do is say no.

Walk or Bike When Possible

The advice to walk may seem simple. When you walk or bike to run your errands, you save fuel. You also create less air pollution. Furthermore, it’s just good exercise and will keep you healthy.

Take Public Transportation

If it’s possible to switch to public transportation for your daily commute, you would take a car off the road. If each person were to do that, fuel consumption and energy usage would be greatly reduced. Besides, taking public transportation can be relaxing. You can sit back while someone else handles the traffic hassles.

Run a Full Dishwasher and Washing Machine

Make sure to pack your dishwasher and washing machine before running them. Running very small loads is a waste of energy. With a little bit of structure and organization, you can make this a natural habit.

Weather Strip Doors and Windows

Be sure that your windows and doors have tight seals. If not, you’ll want to weather strip them to prevent very cold or hot air from entering the home. By doing this, you’ll see a reduction in your monthly power bill.

Heat and Cool Selectively

Speaking of hot and cold hair, put some thought into your cooling and heating practices. There’s no need to heat an entire house if all you use are two or three rooms. Close the vents and doors in rooms that are not generally occupied to conserve energy.

Install Light Sensors and Timers

If your family is not good about turning off the lights when leaving a room, install sensors and timers. Timers are especially useful for controlling the light usage on the outside of your home, such as in your patio and near your front door.

Cutting Down on Paper Usage

Creating paper requires depleting natural resources, using large amounts of energy to produce the paper, and fuel to transport it from manufacturers to retailers. When you reduce paper usage, you help the environment. Technological advances have naturally reduced the amount of paper society uses. Previously, office communications were typed or printed out on paper. These days, much of written communication is conveyed in emails, on websites or through the transfer of electronic files. This practice results in a tremendous reduction of paper use. Still, you can reduce paper usage even more by printing necessary documents on both sides of a page, distributing marketing materials electronically and, of course, keeping recycling bins in the office and encouraging everyone to use them.

Turning Off the Lights

Another form of energy consumption in the workplace is the use of lights. Some offices leave the lights on in unused rooms. The last person to leave sometimes doesn’t remember to turn off lights. You can conserve energy by implementing automatic sensors to turn the lights on when people enter a room. Timers can be installed to only leave lights on during work hours. Using fluorescent light bulbs will also greatly reduce electricity usage.

Placing Recycling Bins in Strategic Locations

Place recycling bins in locations that are most likely to be used. In the office cafeteria or break room, the bins should go next to the regular garbage can. Be sure to post clearly marked instructions for what should go into the recycling bins. Some people don’t recycle because they just don’t know which items are recyclable. A little bit of education will help them to do the right thing.

Like cloth diapers, there are other small green living measures which moms can imbibe for the betterment of the household and to care for the baby. By raising your kids to be aware of green issues, you are doing a wonderful job and giving them hope for a sustainable future. Green living is all about Recycling and Optimum Use of Resources. Whenever you are using paper, plastic or cloth, recycle them rather than throwing them.

For instance, ask your kids to use both side of white paper for drawing. If you have a stack of printed papers at office, bring them home and ask your kids to use them instead of buying new drawing sheets. Similarly you can buy biodegradable or ‘green’ paper that can be preserved for long. Another way would be to reduce dependency on dryers. If the weather is sunny, feel free to hang the washed clothes outside. This helps to reduce electricity consumption and also allows the washed clothes to absorb sunlight. In the kitchen, place two separate garbage bins – one for recycling biodegradable waste and one for placing non-biodegradable waste.

Recycle the biodegradable ones and throw the non-recycling items. Finally, replace every electric light bulbs with less consumption electric bulbs and/or if possible, use renewable source of energy. You may think of these as inconsequential measures but when every house pitches in like this to save the environment, it matters a lot. 

Firstly, by reducing your dependency on cars and other harmful gas emitting modes of transportation will motivate you to walk or ride bikes, which is undoubtedly beneficial for your health. If you walk to your office daily or do household purchases on foot, it is no less than cardio-exercise. You keep your heart healthy with green living.

Secondly, by reducing your dependency on processed and chemical fertilizer-filled foods, you will be inclined to absorb freshly grown fruits and vegetables. Visit your local organic vegetable grower and take regular food supplies from him. Best will be if you can turn a complete veggie. Reducing meat consumption will help you to reduce your carbon footprints on the planet.

Thirdly, stop depending on bottled water; it is one of the least green items around. Lots of chemicals are used to produce the bottles and some can even leach into the water causing it to contaminate. When you drink this water, you make yourself vulnerable to health problems. Best is to depend on tap water; it is the greenest healthy option.

Fourthly, if you have to renovate your house or office, always use low VOC paint. VOC means ‘volatile organic compounds’ – use of this compound excessively in paint will endanger the health of everyone in the house or office. When you buy paint, it should have less VOC.

Fifthly, channelize natural resources like sunlight and wind energy to light your home. It is a safer and cost effective way of green living and you can produce as much electricity you want. During day time, open windows and let sunlight flow in and touch every corner of the house. This way one receives natural Vitamin D.

Essentially, the management company is working with car manufacturers on a city-wide scale to fund it. Think of how much infrastructure it would take to make this happen. Cities would look a lot different without all of those gas stations. It would sure be convenient to charge a car while you’re busy doing other things rather than going out of the way to get gas. It would be even easier than visiting an ATM machine.

The best part about all of that is Riverside isn’t the only corporation working on the endeavor. Government agencies all over the country are investigating that possibility. Moreover, with everyone on board, parking meters might die out to make room for debit/credit card kiosks that will serve not only as ‘fueling’ stations, but reserved parking platforms to ensure that electric vehicles get an optimal charge. Smart, isn’t it? However, there are, of course, negatives to consider with this new way of life.

One foreseeable problem is when there are a lot of cars needing a quick recharge and not enough spaces. Think of current parking problems to really understand the possible negative effect of the EV outlet concept. This might not be the case however; perhaps it would work out to not only include the downtown parking meters but all parking areas, including reserved lots for businesses.

It’s an interesting possibility.

Most of the developed and developing countries have their own local recycling agencies. As citizens, we can participate in recycling drives and programs and make others understand its importance. We know that poverty still looms large in several countries. Homeless shelters are abounding in countries like US and UK. To help them survive, we can donate items that we no longer use but they can be useful to homeless people. Used clothes and edible items can be donated to shelters and thrift shops.

For a cleaner environment, it is essential that we keep the air clean. Reduce dependence on fuel consumption by minimizing driving. For work transportation, best way is to carpool. Moreover, if driving is necessary, use clean and fuel-efficient cars. These days’ scientists are in the process of creating cars that will one day run on water! A wrongful consumption of water is when we buy plastic bottled water. Some unscrupulous companies manufacture plastic water bottles containing harmful chemicals. These chemicals slowly contaminate the water and when someone drinks from the bottle, there is a strong possibility of getting infected.

Whether you have a business or not, you may find that you have paper materials that you need to print. For example, you may find that you need to print some marketing materials for your business. This can result in huge amounts of waste, especially when you are printing from virgin paper – paper that has not been used previously. Because of this, you may decide that you would rather have your flyer and booklet printing done on recycled paper. This will help cut down on the amount of waste that is the result of your printing.

Another option is to try to find paper that is manufactured from logging companies that use responsible methods and are careful about their own waste. This is a great option if you feel that you are unable to use recycled paper for one reason or another.

Many people are also looking at the option of using soy ink in printing. Since soy ink produces lest waste when it is made, this is important to many who are looking to live green. Soy ink is a growing trend in the green movement, especially for businesses.

If you are looking to go green, or have already made the move, these printing practices are important to keep in mind. Whether you are printing training materials, invitations, or even something as simple as business cards, you will find that you can keep your carbon footprint to a minimum.

Green living enthusiasts have for some year tried to change this dependency and motivate people to covert their homes into consuming renewable energy like sunlight and wind power. People who are aware choose to convert their residential and commercial property into renewable energy systems. Using their laptops and with a bit of online research and minimal cash in the beginning, everyone can channelize the power of renewable energy.

In the last decade, there has been a visible increase at the rate in which people are taken to installing solar energy panels on roofs and some people have gone ahead by planting windmills in their backyard. Most of the state governments today offer subsidies and concessions to homeowners for setting up renewable source of energy production in their home. You can contact your local government office and research about the whole concept. Know about the financial incentives made available by the federal government for using renewable energy.

Renewable energy is unlimited and the electricity produced from it can power your whole home. Renewable energy is green energy because it does not pollute the environment and neither does it spread harmful chemicals around. With DIY manuals, one can install the renewable energy systems on their own or they can hire professionals to do the job.

The fact is renewable source of energy is here to stay – with our natural earth resources depleting at a steady rate, converting to renewable energy remains one of the safest and cost effective option. This way homeowners can reduce their electricity consumption and save lots of hard earned money.

Below are some easy ways which will help you preserve the environment and maintain a greener lifestyle.

For a start, consider changing every bulb in your house with CFL. CFL bulbs consume less amount of electricity and using them will save you about $3 every year for each of the CFL you use in the house. Similarly, if you spend less amount of water on showers and kitchen sinks, you can save about 10 cents per day and assuming that you control use of water considerably, you can save around $1 per day, which makes it roughly $400 you can save yearly on water consumption bills.

Like electricity and water use, you can save on car use by sending it for regular maintenance. As per estimates, you save around $600 per year. By maintenance we mean checking the oil filter, tire inflation, oil changes and others. By tuning up your car, you use fuel efficiently and you are able to save money. Best would be to reduce dependence on car use because cars use enormous amount of fuel and right now, the fuel resources in our planet is steadily decreasing.   You can also keep your car parked and shop online for your JR Dunn jewelry, books from Amazon, and home supplies from Target.

• Water – Purchase a home water filtering system. Filtering your own water will save money, as you will not be purchasing bottled water. The extra-added bonus is saving the planet from the nuisance of plastic water bottles.

• Laundry – Launder garments in cold water and then dry on a clothesline. Using cold rather than hot water to wash your garments saves on electricity. Make sure you wash full loads to save on water and energy. Drying them on a clothesline helps keep garments from color fading and shrinking, as well as saving electricity.

• Light Bulbs – Replace your existing incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs. Fluorescent light bulbs tend to cost more, but they save energy. Saving energy will lower your electric bill and thus putting extra money in your household budget.

• Shopping Bags – Say no to paper and plastic bags by providing your own shopping bags. If you crochet or knit, craft your own out of organic cotton. The result of using your own bags is saving the planet of precious trees and keeps plastic out of the landfills.

• Shop Local – Shop your local farmers and farmers markets to show your support as well as provide healthy organic foods to serve your family. Most local farmers choose to have completely organic operations. Thus, the foods, meats, vegetables, and dairy products are free of chemicals and pesticides.

There are many other budget friendly concepts to use in keeping your life green without going broke doing it. Remember to reduce, reuse, and recycle. By keeping these in mind you will make conscious decisions throughout your green life.

Although to travel the world there will be no choice but to leave a carbon footprint via airplane, which can be offset by staying in an eco-friendly hostel. These hostels vary in how they are environmentally friendly, but nonetheless they are rated as such. As hostels are cheap, these eco-friendly ones are no different, although they may require upfront costs.

To ensure your hostel is green, here is a variety of signs to look for. The first noticeable the hostels will operate with their common sense when it comes to heating and water waste. They will not use harmful cleaning products and make the utmost use of solar power. Some hostels will go to the extent of operating on a bio-diesel generator for power or even a geothermal plant. All foods served at the hostel will be organic and locally grown and purchased. Many hostels enjoy having their own organic garden on site and some even have “living” roofs. When it comes to water, depending on where the hostel is located, rain harvesting maybe implicated. Eco-friendly hostels are keen on not wasting water and will use low flow faucets and or drip irrigation.

Why stay at an eco-hostel? Hostels budget friendly with costs starting as low as $10.00 to say in a friendly green environment. It promotes living the green lifestyle with community involvement as well as the involvement of their guests. It is healthier on yourself as well as the planet.

• Glass: Most glass is recycled via curbside pickup or bottle banks. No matter the method, the glass is sorted by color. Bottles and jars are recyclable as well as green and amber colored glass. Dishes, light bulbs, and crystal cannot be as well as the Pyrex brand of glass. Make sure to thoroughly rinse the glass container and remove any lids.

• Paper: Most paper is recyclable. The common household paper such as newspaper, magazines, phone books, boxes, copy paper, and egg cartons are all recyclable. Waxed paper, glued paper, and foil or plastic coated paper is not recyclable. Keep paper goods dry and clean for recycling.

• Aluminum: Any aluminum is recyclable. Common household aluminum items are pie tins, soda cans, foil wrap, and cans. To recycle appropriately, rinse the items thoroughly and make sure to crush them.

• Steel: Any steel or tin containers are recyclable. As with aluminum, be sure to rinse them and crush for recycling.

• Plastics: All plastics are recyclable and to prepare for recycling the plastic container just needs rinsed thoroughly.

• Miscellaneous: Tires, automotive batteries, and motor oil.

Make sure to understand the rules of your curbside recycling program. Each program has its own set of recycling guidelines, which need to be followed. If an item has a recycling symbol on it, necessarily does not mean it can be recycled within a certain program. For example, some plastics are corn-based and are recycled in an entirely different method than regular plastics. Knowing the guidelines will help in making sure the curbside recycling is picked up, otherwise it will be left with a list of changes that need to be made in ordered to be picked up.

Consider making your own baby food with fresh organic fruits and vegetables. With a food processor, you can blend all their fruits and vegetables, freeze, and defrost as needed. A few wonderful easy foods to cook and blend are peas, carrots, green beans sweet potatoes, plums, pears, apples, peaches and apricots. Some items can be blended and given fresh to your baby, such as bananas. This is just a short list of food items, for the possibilities are endless.

Diapers are the most expensive item when it comes to baby. Not only are they expensive, but they sit in landfills forever, as they do not decompose. The best way to work around this is to use cloth diapers. The money saved is significant comparative to laundering costs. If you do not feel comfortable dealing with the soiled cloth diapers there are eco-friendly disposable diapers available on the market as well as diaper services.

Not all those lotions, baby powders, baby oils, and baby washes need to be utilized. Infants are sensitive to chemicals and therefore water with a dime size amount of baby wash may be all that is needed to keep your infant clean. As always, when it comes to these precious bundles consult the advice of your pediatrician.

Lastly dress baby in organic cotton. If you crochet or knit, you can create all different types of garments for your baby that are eco-friendly. If purchased in a store these items can be quite costly and nothing is better than dressing baby is in homemade organic cotton.

Reduce the amount of gasoline fuel burned by your vehicle. This is possible by carpooling, bicycling, walking or even taking public transportation. Reducing fuels burned will help in reducing the pollutants released into the environment as well as save money. Imagine burning calories while walking or bicycling save money, and becoming healthier all because you chose to reduce the time driving.

Reusing is quiet simple. For instance, reuse water bottles. It has been scientifically proven, in countless studies, that tap water is safer than bottled water. Thus, you would not only save money, keep your body healthier, but also save the environment of those little plastic bottles that do not breakdown in a landfill. If you have an infant, choose to use cloth diapers, rather than disposable. Disposable diapers are in the same class as the water bottle. When it comes to recycling, another landfill enemy will not decompose. If cloth diapers do not work for your lifestyle, there are eco-friendly disposable diapers on the market.

Recycling is defined as taking old used materials and turning them into new usable products. A few common materials to recycle are cans, cardboard, newspaper, glass containers, and plastic items. Most metropolitan cities offer free curbside recycling services. Rural areas will have sites designated to drop off said items. Call your local garbage disposal company to find out what options you have.

Remember to reduce, reuse, and recycle each and everyday. One small change will influence the environment not for a day, but for years.

One of the easiest changes that you can make is with food choices. Processed foods are not healthy for the human body or the environment. Buying from local food vendors is a healthy and environmentally friendly choice. Purchasing fruit and vegetables from local growers, will aid in lessening the negative impact caused by transporting these items, as well as provide garden items healthier for the body. These foods will be the freshest possible and rich in antioxidants and minerals. Organic foods are a healthy alternative, as they do not have additives, which can lead to health problems. Locally grown foods also avoid pesticides and any ingredients that could genetically modify the fresh food. Organic meats are a very healthy choice considering the animals are tended to with standards that are carefully monitored and fed only organic foods for their growth cycle.

The place you call home can be green friendly with a few simple changes. One the easiest changes are to install an in-home water filter rather than purchasing bottled water. For as little as $25.00, you can purchase a filter that will be healthier on your body and an excellent environmental tool. Water bottles fill landfills, are not decomposable and are not recyclable as much as they should be. Another lifestyle change, which will help your health and the environment, is to consider walking or bicycling rather than using your automobile to commute to and from work. This will help in burning unwanted calories and not burning unnecessary fuel, which will cut down on pollution.

These are only a few simple changes that can be made to influence our Earth positively as well as enhance your health. Going green is simple.

Green Energy

The most obvious argument for EVs is that power companies are providing more wind and solar generated electricity, so at least some of juice used to charge EVs comes from green sources. This trend is bound to continue as the power companies explore other green energy sources such as geothermal and tidal/wave action.

Feeding the Grid

A not so obvious argument is that individuals with the resources to do so can install their own solar panels and feed the green energy back into the grid. The solar panels can be installed on top of the garage that houses the EV, and if enough land is available, a wind turbine can also be installed. The forward thinking Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) suggests that a combination of green energy sources should be built into new homes in support of personal EVs.

Maintenance Costs

EVs have yet to be fully understood regarding how green they can run or how the maintenance costs compare to gasoline or diesel fueled vehicles. Some principles are undeniable, such as fewer moving parts to wear out and simpler power train designs. An electric motor does not need oil changes and does not require a transmission, strictly speaking. This will save on the crude oil required for manufacturing motor oil and possibly transmission fluid. An added benefit is that recycling of petroleum products is also not required.

Buying an EV may make perfect sense for commuters in urban environments without considering the green advantages, and this will likely keep driving the sales upward. However, the criticisms of EVs have lost their bite as the world heads toward green energy production. The trend is not only good for the environment but makes economic sense as well.

Good for the Typical Home

The downside to green outdoors lighting is that the brightness of the light diminishes through the night. Until battery technology improves to perform well for at least eight hours and in low winter temperatures, green outdoors lighting may remain inappropriate for anti-crime purposes and certain industries such as construction. Electric generators that burn green bio-fuels can be put into use to support these greater requirements.

For the typical home, green outdoors lighting is sufficient for illuminating long driveways, staircases and walkways. The LEDs now come in different colors other than the old bluish-white as well, including soft yellow. People may have seen green outdoors lights and mistaken them for grid-attached fixtures because the light appears the usual color.

Holiday Decorations

A perfect application of green outdoors lighting is holiday decorations. The more elaborate designs are still pricey when compared to grid-attached offerings, but the cost is steadily coming down as more people understand the wisdom in going green. Rather than racking up huge utility bills, the green holiday lighting has no utility bill impact. The LEDs come in various colors and configurations besides simple strings. The LED technology lends itself to intricate lens designs that look like snowflakes, starbursts, snowballs, icicles and any shape that can be imagined. The one drawback is that a heavy snowfall will cover the small solar panels, thus cutting off the power.

Despite the impact of heavy snowfalls, the use of solar-powered outdoors lighting makes sense for homeowners wanting the illumination while cutting down the utility bill. The initial investment cost continues to reduce, which shortens the break-even time.

Lithium-ion Batteries

The best technology commercially available has been the lithium-ion rechargeable battery. These batteries are used in everything from smart phones to Electric Vehicles (EVs). They can be charged quickly with the right recharging equipment and do a fairly good job of electrical storage. Still, this technology cannot be the final answer because better storage capabilities and faster charge times are clearly required for movement into green energy sources. This need is so obvious that researching engineers are experimenting with carbon-paper techniques, different lithium-ion approaches and capacitors. The question is what technology will make it out of the lab and into the marketplace. The problems that need to be overcome are cost and stability.

The current lithium-ion battery technology can, under certain circumstances, catch on fire. Poorly engineered laptop batteries have been known to do this. The Tesla EV engineers were aware of this problem and designed the battery pack to tolerate one or more cells catching on fire. The chamber for each battery is insulated and physically isolated, so a fire will affect only the battery that has gone bad.

Quick Charge Capacitors

Capacitor technology, which involves an electrical component that stores electricity, has great promise as a solution. Large capacitors are commonly used in the power grid, but the current technology cannot be directly converted for use in EVs. Nobody has yet developed a reliable and safe capacitor for the EV market.

The great allure of the capacitor is that it charges almost instantly. An EV equipped with a good one would take less time to charge than it takes to fill a typical gas tank, and that would be a significant green advancement.

How Geothermal Heat Pumps Work

A regular heat pump extracts heat from the air outside the house, which during winter is a counterintuitive idea. The air is cold outside, so how in the world can heat be extracted? The physics involved is a bit convoluted, but the fact is that air holds heat down to minus 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Geothermal heat pumps go one further and extract the heat from our warm planet through the use of a closed-loop pipe system that carries a specially formulated, compressed liquid. The liquid turns into a gas when decompressed. This is similar to how a refrigerator works, but in reverse. Instead of absorbing heat to get rid of it, the geothermal heat pump absorbs heat to release it into the house. A reverse process cools the house in summer.

More Heat Down Below

With a geothermal heat pump, the majority of the piping needs to be buried under or near the house. If enough land is available, the piping can be spread out. If the land is limited, then the piping can be put deeper into the earth. The deeper the piping is placed, the warmer the surrounding rock. A very attractive feature of our planet is that the heat is constant, given a certain depth, unless for some reason fragmentation occurs that allows molten rock, called magma, to seep upward. Magma breaking the surface causes a volcano to form, which is fortunately a highly unlikely situation for most housing locations.

A geothermal heat pump system will reduce utility bills for heating and cooling up to 70 percent, according to equipment vendors. Electricity is still required to run the heat pump.

The challenges to consumer indoor LED lighting include the initial cost and improving the color of the emitted light. Until these challenges are overcome, the idea of using LED lights for every consumer application is not within reach.

Too Much Blue

The supposedly white LED lights still have a bluish tint to them, which can be disturbing. The ambiance created is more appropriate for Halloween houses of horror than a pleasant evening spent reading a good book. As a result, designers of indoor lighting have gone to LEDs that mark staircases or give off a particular color for mood lighting. While it is true that warm white light LEDs have been designed to replace the typical 60 Watt incandescent bulb, the market for them among consumers will not develop soon due to the initial costs. The market is better for office lighting because buyers tend to think in longer terms than consumers. The good news is that as more offices and possibly industries go to LED lighting, the initial costs should come down.

Controlling the color of LEDs is a harder engineering challenge than most imagine. Bright colors are easy. Pastel colors are harder, and a natural feeling warm white light is the most difficult. Incandescent and florescent lights achieve the warmth and light bandwidths desired relatively easy through simply coating the bulb glass with the appropriate materials. With LEDs, the trick is to get a small piece of plastic to glow just right for color and intensity. An additional challenge is to keep the LED performing like new throughout its lifetime.

Savings over Time

If a well performing LED bulb will last 25 times that of an incandescent bulb, it should at least save a similar amount of money. The LED bulb cannot sell for more than 25 times the cost of an incandescent because many shoppers will probably not see any advantage, even though an argument can be made about electricity savings.

The human brain adjusts to fit its environment, a principle that works for new eyeglasses and transitioning from incandescent light bulbs to the more energy efficient fluorescent bulbs.

First Impressions

When first moving from incandescent bulbs to fluorescent, people generally notice a shift in the light color. The brightness may seem the same, but the color may also appear harsher. This difference, which is actually there, seems to go away with time until the harsher light is no longer noticed. The same effect happens with the tube-style fluorescent bulbs in the kitchen and bathroom. What the brain does is shift its perception in order that the environment seems normal and comfortable.

Smoothing Line Power

The power coming into a house has spikes and valleys in voltage, but usually not enough to be noticed. This power, referred to as dirty line power in large computer datacenters, is smoothed out in them through Uninterruptable Power Supplies, or UPS’s. Relatively inexpensive desktop computer UPS’s can be purchased and used for smoothing out house power to extend the life of fluorescent light bulbs. This is because the fluorescent bulbs also have sensitive electronics in their bases.

Luck of the Draw

Some fluorescent light bulbs last longer than others. The rated lifetime is actually a MeanTime Between Failure (MTBF) number. This means that half the bulbs last longer than MTBF, and half do not. The chances of purchasing a longer lasting bulb is about 50-50, although a higher MTBF for any particular make of bulb is better than a lower number. In any case, a bulb that does not meet its MTBF is not a reason to stop using fluorescent bulbs altogether. They will still, on average, save money on the electric bill.

When the curly fluorescent light bulb first came out, it was derided for being so different. Today they are better accepted, and their lifetimes can be extended with UPS’s.

The Green Importance of Inverters

Inverters are needed to change the DC electricity that photovoltaic cells and wind-driven generators produce to AC. The AC electricity can then directly power a house, feed the electricity back into the grid or both if the generation produces more electricity than the house requires at the moment.

Some solar/wind systems feed DC electricity directly into the house without an inverter. This setup demands that appliances that run on DC be used. Due to this requirement, the strictly DC type of system is not popular.

A Sane Approach to Solar/Wind Home Generation

Although some power is lost in the inverting process, the practicality of this system more than makes up for it. Many homeowners install solar/wind systems just to feed back into the grid and thereby reduce their electric bills. No attempt is made to completely convert the house to wind/solar. Among the sane ideas for greening a house, this is right up there with the best. Even if the investment never returns a profit on the electrical bills, having the system installed and running will be a good selling point for when it’s time to move on. Besides remodeling the kitchen and bathrooms, having ready-made solar can help make the sale.

Our Friend, the Inverter

Inverters are important parts of most electrical systems. Cars and other vehicles generally run alternators, which produce AC. For charging the battery and powering the lights and so forth, the electricity must be flipped to DC. Even our power grid uses inverters, since generated electricity at power plants starts out as DC and needs to be AC when transmitted through the grid.

People have been conditioned to expect their electricity to be delivered over a massive and complex energy grid. An assumption is made that electricity only comes from big power plants out there somewhere. This conditioning is starting to break down as people realize that electricity can be generated locally.

How Local Is Local?

Local can mean right near the consumer of electricity or within a few mile radius. Solar and wind farms would not be considered local in most situations because they feed energy into the grid. However, a solar panel array for powering an office building directly is a localized energy solution. Several wind generators doing a similar thing are also localized energy solutions.

An option for a private residence is electricity generated by solar roof shingles. Some solar shingle designs blend in with traditional asphalt shingles to give the roof a consistent look. Combined with a solar panel array perhaps mounted alongside the house and an unobtrusive, quiet wind turbine, the localized energy solution becomes more productive.

Off-Grid and Local

Ideally, local energy solutions would also mean zero dependence on the massive and complex grid. No natural gas hookups or propane deliveries would be needed. This could be accomplished by using solar, wind and geothermal energy sources that power appliances, lights and heat pumps. This is the ideal, and as with so many ideals, compromises need to be made. One way to compromise is to install a fuel-driven generator that has the capability of kicking in when the other local energy sources fall short of meeting the demand. If this generator uses bio-fuels, then the green nature of the localized energy solution is maintained while still providing all the electricity needed.

Localizing energy sources is one method of moving away from fossil fuels and toward clean alternative energy. This can be done individually or within a community. For example, an entire housing subdivision could pool resources together to harvest all local sources of energy.

The idea of harvesting solar energy from a house roof has been around for a while. Roofs tend to receive direct sunlight that is usually energy gone to waste. In fact, the presence of trees that shade the roof is often a good selling feature for houses. The trees help keep cool the house in summer. Solar roofing shingles absorb the sun’s energy, convert it into electricity and when fed back into the grid, reduce the house electric bill. Consumers now have many choices for solar roofing shingles.

Emulating Asphalt

One type of solar roofing shingle is textured to resemble asphalt shingles. This is a good choice for homeowners who want to keep the roof looking consistent by avoiding a big ugly flat solar panel array up there. Also, for homes located in covenant communities, the solar shingles will likely meet the rules. An additional benefit of the asphalt emulating shingle is that it will meld with the other shingles from the heat of the sun to form better seals.

It’s All about Efficiency

For homeowners who are not so aesthetically repulsed by obvious solar shingles disrupting the symmetry of the roof, highly efficient solar shingles that look like solar shingles are available. The entire roof can be covered, which gives a futuristic look to the house. Another approach that will drive the symmetry fans crazy is to cover only part of the roof in solar shingles. Nevertheless, homeowners who value efficiency above aesthetics will cheer and admire the other homeowner’s wisdom.

What about Glare?

Some solar shingle designs reflect light and produce glare. In areas where steel roofs are common, this will not be a problem because steel, even when painted, glares anyway. In the end, consumers have enough choices to successfully meet building codes and covenant rules while greening the house with solar energy.

Solar Directly from the Sun

Sunshine is solar energy, obviously. This is obvious because since we were small children, we knew that the sun is warm. Our sensation of warmth while the sun’s rays drenched us was clear and uncomplicated. What we did not know was that the warmth came from light rays within the red spectrum, the infrared light. We also did not know that ultraviolet rays were bad for us, causing sunburns and later skin cancers.

The way that solar panels convert the energy in sunlight to electricity involves how certain crystals have this almost magical capability. It isn’t magic, however. This is pure physics. The crystals simply have this capability due to their atomic structures.

Wind Indirectly from the Sun

Wind power is less difficult to understand. The wind blows and pushes on stuff. If the wind blows very hard, as in a tornado or hurricane, stuff is pushed a lot and dangerously so. This pushing is intuitive and the basis for ancient sailing ships.

What is not so intuitive is that the wind would not exist without energy from sunlight. If the sun were to blink out tomorrow, the wind would stop as the atmosphere cooled down. Wind only exists because of air mass temperature differences. These temperature differences only exist because the sun warms up the atmosphere. The air masses travel and swirl, causing the earth to look like a big blue marble from space. The traveling and swirling are what we call the wind.

When we talk about solar and wind energy, we are really talking about only solar energy. The same can be said about biomass energy, since no plants would grow without the sun’s quite positive influence on our planet.

Going green is currently the focus of many individuals and of business. It is the trendy thing to do right now, but it is also the right thing to do for our world. Not only can the human beings of this world help out, Mr. Kitty and Fido can lend a helping paw in the movement to go green. Think about helpful products next time you head to the store to buy cleaning supplies to clean up after your furry, four-legged family members. Do some research as not all products that are advertised as “green” would actually meet that criteria by some green watchdog groups. So what is out there that is healthy for our pet and the environment? There are actually some regular household items that you would normally find in your pantry that can do all the work of chemical cleaners.

Natural Cleaning Products

Baking soda is a great way to deodorize your carpet. Sprinkle, let sit and vacuum. Baking soda can also be used in numerous ways for household cleaning. Do a search and you will be amazed at how much you can do with this product.

Lemons are great to add to tea, but did you know you can use them to clean as well? Many people use lemons to remove stains as the lemon juice can act like a bleaching product. Therefore, if you use lemon on clothing or fabric you should wash immediately after applying.

Vinegar can be used to clean more items than you could possibly think of at one time. For our pets it can be used to remove stains, eliminate urine stains from the carpet, kill germs on surfaces, deodorize the air to help prevent pet odors, and so much more for general household uses.

So try these natural products which are safer for the environment and safer to use around pets. Your pets will probably thank you for not having to smell the chemical cleaners anymore.

There are a couple of sites that is recommended by the American College of Veterinary Nutrition (ACVN) for homemade diets.

Petdiets.com
Balanceit.com

The ACVN has additional information on their site about proper nutrition for your furry family members whether it is a cat, dog, or even a horse. In this time of green living where nature is taking the front seat in many homes, make sure you do your research. Without proper understanding of your cats nutritional needs in your quest to go natural you may be doing more harm than good to your beloved feline. So, take your time and discover the world of feline health and nutrition.

In the world of pet products the word natural is coming to the forefront. For cat owners, litter has been an issue of debate for years. The recorded inventor of kitty litter was Ed Lowe, who actually sold absorbents to industrial companies and other businesses. He accidentally discovered the use for clay when a frustrated friend came to him because her cat’s box of sand was freezing in the cold temperatures. Today, there are a variety of litters available for cats from clay litter to clumping and from paper litters to corn litter. So, what is actually natural? A few of the following companies market and sell litters that are marketed as all-natural:

Feline Pine, www.felinepine.com
World’s Best Cat Litter, www.worldsbestcatlitter.com
Swheat Scoop, swheatscoop.com
FreshAire, www.freshairelitter.com
Yesterdays News, www.yesterdaysnews.com

Cats are very picky creatures, so you may have to try different types of litter to make sure that kitty approves of your choice in your quest to go green. If a cat does not like the smell or texture of a litter they may refuse to use the litter box. Often they will express their displeasure by going outside the box. If this should happen don’t get mad at kitty as you wouldn’t want to be forced to use a bathroom you didn’t like. Try something different and see if kitty approves. Declawed cats also have a difficult time with some litters as a declawed cat is forced to stand on its paw pads instead of its toes. Therefore, some litters may hurt their paw pads and they may not want to use the litter box. If you have a declawed cat you may want to choose something that has a softer texture. Take your time to do some research if you are going to change up Mr. Kitty’s facility to ensure you are getting a product that is actually a natural product and one that your cat approves of as well.

Cats are usually the target of many people when blame has to fall on an animal. Cats get blamed for toxoplasmosis when it is more likely that a person will get it from undercooked meat than a cat. Often people who have allergic reactions if there is a cat in the house will automatically blame the cat and not even bother to go to an allergist to get tested. They get blamed for damaging the environment, smothering babies, and tons of other folklore that are untrue. So can cats actually be good for the environment?

According to a recent study from the University of Zurich published in the Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology, they discovered that “children of mothers who were around farm animals and cats are less likely to develop atopic dermatitis in their first two years of life”. So, perhaps kitty can actually help with some medical conditions instead of the root of all evil in the medical world.Often many medical conditions that are blamed on cats actually have nothing to do with the poor feline. Before sentencing Fluffy to animal control, being abandoned or given away to strangers it is best to seek a second opinion and do proper research. Ask a veterinarian as many veterinarians have a better level of knowledge in regards to how animals affect people than many human physicians.

As for their impact on the environment, yes kitty can do some damage to the bird and rodent populations if they are left to free roam. Cats are natural hunters and will operate as their instincts tell them. As pet owners, we should be responsible and either keep our cats inside or create an outdoor habitat in which your cat can enjoy the outdoors without having access to the wildlife. Doing a simple online search for outdoor cat habitats can bring up many companies and homemade plans for keeping your cat happy and the birds safe.

When corresponding with others try to do as much on the computer without the need for printing. If printing is necessary and multiple pages are needed, print the document using both sides of the paper to reduce how much paper you use. If your company has a recycling program ensure that any paper you throw away goes into recycling and not the trash. Send emails instead of paper memos to not only save paper but save yourself a correspondence trail. Try as much as possible to use the computer instead of marking up on paper documents when doing revisions on documentation.

If you buy office supplies for the company or your own use try to get recycled material. Many items today are made from recycled materials and it is not limited to just paper products anymore. Recycle toner cartridges and other items that have recycling programs available. There are quite a few recycling programs that can help your company go green. The following are just a few examples of some major companies or websites trying to make a difference in conservation.

Xerox Green World Alliance, www.xerox.com/about-xerox/recycling/enus.html

Earth911 has a listing of various organizations that recycle at http://earth911.com/recycling/mail-back-programs-recycling-from-home/

Staples offers EcoEasy environmentally friendly products at http://www.staples.com/sbd/cre/marketing/ecoeasy/index.html

Many other office supply companies are also joining the movement toward a more earth friendly office. From Cannon to Office Depot the smart business move today is Mother Earth. Simple online searches for office recycle programs can locate many resources from recycling monitors and cell phones to purchasing recycled paper products and other office supplies. If your office does not have a recycling program, suggest research into the various companies offering support for eco-friendly offices.

Recycling programs come in a variety of forms today. From the sanitation departments or other governmental agencies of towns or cities to individually owned businesses trying to make a difference, recycling programs are easy to find. If your city or town does not have its own curbside recycling program that picks up on a weekly basis there are things you can do to recycle.

Online searches can help you locate businesses in your area that may accept different types of material that can be recycled. Some cities have places where you can bring your aluminum, paper products, even old monitors and electronics. Many corporations are starting programs that their stores in some cities will hold recycling drives for materials. Electronic recycling has become more popular over the last few years. Best Buy is one such company that has a recycling program. Details about the Best Buy program can be found at www.bestbuy.com/recycle and gives details about what can and cannot be recycled and in which states they have centers. The EPA also lists information about where you can go to recycle electronics. Their site at www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/ecycling/live.htm also includes sanitation and other departments that accept electronics.

If your community does not have a recycling program there are resources that can help you start a program. The EPA also has information on how to start a program at www.epa.gov/region4/waste/rcra/mgtoolkit/starting.html which lists considerations of what needs to take place in order to have a successful program. Planning and community support are important factors in establishing a program. Take your time, do your research and get your community involved in the process. Simple programs can be started at schools or at businesses that can serve as starter programs to determine community involvement. With enough community support a curbside program could be established with the support of the local government.

Even if you have to use your prepaid credit card to pay for it, keep your car in top shape with new filters and keep your tires inflated. When it comes to driving do not go excessive speeds as this lowers fuel efficiency. Another aspect that can lower fuel efficiency is overloading your car. Putting so much junk in your car that your bumper is almost dragging the ground is no way to save on gas consumption. If you have to stop somewhere and people are still in the car, do not leave your car running because you think restarting will use up more gas. Letting the car idle is worse on gas consumption than turning the car off and back on when you return to your car. If it is extremely cold or hot outside, make your passengers come inside with you instead of sitting out in an idling car.

Finally, for work consider carpooling if you have others that live in your area. Using one care instead of four or five during the week will always help out our environment. Plus it helps out our wallets. Think of the money you would save on gas if you only had to drive it to work once or twice a week instead of five days a week.

There are many home remedies stating they are natural ways to kill fleas. Some of the recommendations are salt and diatomaceous earth. Salt is not a flea killer as much as a flea preventative. The theory is the salt dehydrates and kills flea eggs in carpets and other materials, thus preventing new fleas in the environment. Be cautious and vacuum the salt up within 12 hours of distributing on your carpet as salt does absorb water and if you live in an area of high humidity you can have a mess on your hands if you leave the salt in your carpet. Diatomaceous earth is mostly silicon dioxide and has a variety of uses from pest control to helping a variety of health issues in humans. The way it kills fleas is the hard fragments of the ground shells scratch the outer coating of an insect and causes the insect to dehydrate.

Another item that is said to repel fleas is catnip. Strong smelling herbs may repel fleas and by giving kitty treats of catnip during flea season you may not only be making kitty thrilled about the herbs but comfortable by preventing fleas. Eucalyptus and cedar are also said to have a strong enough odor that they repel fleas. There are also pet tablets that contain garlic and brewers yeast that work along the same lines. The garlic and brewers yeast cause the pet’s skin to be unsavory for the fleas and therefore the fleas decide to look elsewhere for a meal. Whatever your choice do research and follow directions to keep your pet safe.

Pergolas are those minimalist, European derived, structures upon which leafy vines, such as grapes, often grow. They’re often seen outside of wineries or upscale, kitschy hotels. Not only are they practical and environmentally friendly, but they add a certain unexplainable, indefinable character to any house or structure to which they are adjacent. And that’s just from the outside.

Wandering beneath the shaded area ensconced inside a hallway pergola, the air is always cooler than that immediately adjacent, because the simultaneous shading and venting effect is so pronounced. To make even better use of this cooling effect, it’s wise to add a sitting area where guests, as well as regular residents of your house, can revel in hours of shaded bliss. Whether you live in a suburb or down a shady country lane, having one of these unique structures will add cachet to your dwelling. Whether it’s the neighbors contemplating whether to take the time to build one – which will never look identical, because the vines are alive and grow of their own volition – or guests chatting beneath the pleasant, sunlit roof, comments will always be positive when there’s a pergola in your backyard.

If you are wanting to find out more information regarding legislation and requirements regarding electronic recycling, NCER (National Center for Electronic Recycling) at http://www.electronicsrecycling.org can keep you up to date on laws, conferences, news and publications. According to the site, there are 24 states that have enacted e-waste laws. Make sure you do a little research to determine if your state has specific laws regarding the recycling or disposal of electronics.

Prior to recycling programs old electronics used to end up primarily in landfills. Landfills are simply dumping grounds where trash is deposited and buried. The EPA estimates that 55% of our trash is buried in landfills. According to an article by Craig Freudenrich, Ph.D. at www.discovery.howstuffworks.com, “The purpose of a landfill is to bury the trash in such a way that it will be isolated from groundwater, will be kept dry and will not be in contact with air. Under these conditions, trash will not decompose much. A landfill is not like a compost pile, where the purpose is to bury trash in such a way that it will decompose quickly.” Therefore, by throwing our electronic and household products in the trash to be brought to a landfill is not helping our environment. Check out the EPA’s site and find out where your community recycles.

Plan outdoor field trips for your kids to let them actually experience and have fun in the environment. There may be a problem if the only experience your kids have with the environment is that brief period between walking out the door to go to school and coming back so they can get on their video game system. Why would your kids want to protect something they do not even appreciate? Get them involved in outdoor activities that help them to love nature.

Every year towns and cities across the world celebrate Earth Day. This is a good chance to take your children to an event that celebrates a wide variety of environmental causes. Get outside, have some fun and learn about the world and how to protect our environment. Information about Earth Day can be found at www.earthday.org as well as information about programs and policies relating to the earth.

Make conservation and environmental issues interesting to your kids. Do some research and you can probably find that one of their athletic or celebrity idols has an environmental cause they support. Looktothestars.org lists many celebrities and the causes they represent. Many kids want to be like athletes and celebrities and if you can show them that the celebrities care about the world as well perhaps this will spark some interest in your children. Your kids may feel that if a celebrity is interested in something it must be worth taking a look at and learning about in some way.

Just find a way to make our world interesting. In the process of teaching your children you will probably discover a whole new world yourself that you would like to care for and protect just like your kids.

A pair of plastic double boots is one of the most important pieces of equipment that a mountaineer expedition requires. Usually, when you reach the highest parts of the mountain, you will encounter ice and snow. These boots will protect your feet from water and other types of moisture. There is also a soft insulated material in the inner shell to protect your feet. You will need to properly size the boots.

Bring some sun protection along with your Tacori on the expedition. You should protect your eyes with goggles that have UV protection. Wearing regular sunglasses is not enough protection for the eyes. Bring along some lip balm and sunscreens too.

It is important to buy a helmet to protect your head while mountaineering. Along the way you may encounter falling rocks or other debris. Make sure that this helmet has some type of straps that adjust so that you will be able to fit a hat under it to protect your head from the cold. This is one piece of equipment that you do not need to be cheap on.

No matter what you should always carry a harness with you. There may be a time when you walk near an edge. You may also need a crampon that is good for traveling over ice. These are spiked devices that clamp on your boots. They will grab the ice with the soles of your boots.

Going green has become a popular slogan in the recent years. It is widely known that going green helps our environment and reduces pollution, yet some people still do not take the steps to go green. Without help, future resources are not guaranteed to future generations of people.

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that by 2050 the world will have over 9 billion people. If natural resources were distributed evenly, the people of 2050 would only have 25% of the resources that people in 1950 had. Not going green depletes these resources further, which means future generations will not have the same standard of living we now enjoy.

Throwing away items that can be recycled or reused not only fills our landfills unnecessarily, but can be harmful. Buying new goods and throwing away old ones when not necessary can also be dangerous. Used batteries and appliances in landfills can leak harmful chemicals that go into the ground and eventually end up in water sources that people drink or water food with.

Recycling is so easy to do, and saves energy, water, and oil. Every recycled ton of paper saves 7,000 gallons of water, 380 gallons of oil, and can enough energy to power a house for six months. Just one aluminum can save enough electricity to run a TV for up to six hours. One glass bottle can save enough to power a 100-watt light bulb for four hours.

So why go green? It is so simple to do and gives such massive benefits. It preserves the earth for future generations. It saves energy and lowers the cost of electricity. It saves landfills from being filled and the earth to stay clean. Going green can be done by small changes to daily habits and will benefit the earth for years to come.

One of the reasons to work at home is because it can help to save the environment. You do not have to waste the time, money or pollute the earth by getting in a vehicle and traveling to and from your job. You do not have to worry about spending money on eating lunch out (nor the costs to the environment because of those wrappers). You do not have to invest in new clothing for work, and therefore save the earth in that way, too.

If you have ever thought that you wish you could work from home to achieve your goals, now is a great time to do just that. You can find great products and services to promote online. Read a affiliate review of a product or service and begin promoting it to earn a commission off of those sales. Another option to consider is the investment in selling your own products online.

As you can imagine, finding ways to cut down on the effect on the environment is going to help you, too. If you have the opportunity to stay at home and work, instead of getting in a car to do so, go for it. If you cannot do that just yet, another option is to commute in groups or to bring your own lunch to work.

The holiday season can be a tough time for people living green. There are some simple ways to change up your holiday routines to make them more environmentally friendly while still keeping in the spirit of the season.

Go Paperless on your Holiday Cards

Sending virtual holiday greetings can seem like its less personal, but there are many great options to choose from and you can send the exact same message in a virtual card. For people who may question virtual cards, explain simply that you’re making efforts to live green and send your holiday greetings online. Most people will be thankful for the reduced clutter and love your message about greening the holidays.

Consider a Different Christmas Tree

For people who want a real tree but hate the idea of cutting one down at a tree lot, consider a Christmas tree with the root ball attached. These trees can be used indoors for your holiday celebration and then planted once the holidays are over. For many households, this is the perfect way to enjoy your tradition with a clear conscience. For families, children can enjoy the routine of having a tree and then participating in the planting of the tree after the holidays are over. If you have space to plant trees in your yard, this can also be a wonderful way to remember the holidays and watch your Christmas trees from past years grow tall.

Trade in your Lights

Many stores, including Home Depot, are currently running promotions for people who want to trade in their old Christmas lights for new more energy efficient lights. Stores will collect old lights, whether they currently work or not, and provide shoppers with a coupon for dollars off a new set of more environmentally friendly holiday lights. These new lights will save energy, save money on energy costs, and look just as wonderful as traditional lights.

With the Thanksgiving holiday just behind you, you may have a refrigerator full of leftovers. Any time you cook (or overcook) a meal for your family and you wind up with leftovers, you can store and reserve the food as is at a later date, you can freeze it for later, or you can turn the old meal into a brand new one.

Rather than feeling the need to go out to a commercial refrigeration appliance store to buy a freezer that will hold all the leftovers, you can wow your family with what they perceive as an entirely fresh cooked meal. For example, if you have a pile of turkey leftover from the Thanksgiving bird, the possibilities are almost endless. Make turkey sandwiches or turkey soup. Heat up some gravy, place the turkey on slices of bread, and pour the gravy on top for open-faced turkey sandwiches, complete with a scoop of mashed potatoes on the side. Break the turkey into smaller pieces and add additional ingredients to make a turkey potpie. Turn all the leftover sweet potatoes into sweet potato pie.

If you have leftover steak or beef tips from another meal, cut up the beef into small 1-inch pieces. Saute some chopped onion and green pepper in a pan. Add the beef and some beef gravy. Simmer for 10 minutes or so and serve over egg noodles.

The point is to stop eating or (worse) throwing away your leftovers. Instead, play a game with yourself where you come up with as many different ways as possible to turn one meal into an entirely new meal. It will save you time in the kitchen and money in the grocery store. It will also keep your family from dreading dinner after dinner of the same food.

What is so hard about recycling? In some communities people are rewarded for recycling. Some recycle centers offer discount coupons for so many pounds of plastic or glass, and sometimes even monetary incentives, just for saving our “reusable trash.” It is really quite easy to keep a bucket around to just toss your plastics and glass into. They can then be taken to the local recycling center, or most communities now have recycle pick up at least once or twice a month.

Actually, we are now seeing the effects of some of our recycling. We can go into the grocery store and there are sometimes entire “green” displays. Many items state right on them that they are “made from recycled” something. Recycling can save a lot of wasted space on our planet, space that our children and grandchildren are going to need. It is also a way to keep trash from the landfills, which can be harmful and dangerous over many years. We would obviously protect them from any harm, why not help them and ourselves to live a healthier life?

It seems as though we are consistently reminded by environmentalist of the impact we have on our planet. Many times, if a person abuses there body with items like alcohol or drugs, they might utilize a treatment center such as Rehab-International.org for help, but most of us are not even aware of the damage that happens to our earth each day. I may not have always been environmentally conscious, but I do believe that we definitely can make improvements on how we treat the earth. I have recently been purchasing products that are environmentally recyclable and safe. I recently had an idea that I thought would not only be good for the environment, but could also be good for our family and friends. The idea is to buy green gifts and give them to others. I believe that giving green gifts may even have a domino effect with the receiver of the gifts becoming environmentally conscious.

A great green gift to give is an eco gift because it can last for a long time. Items that are biodegradable are a great benefit to our environment, but many will find that these items do not have to be thrown out after one use; if it is still sturdy, you can use it as many times as you are able. Try giving a gift like reusable shopping bags, which may not seem like an actual gift, but for the constant shopper, it may serve as both ideal and practical. This gift benefits as it helps reduce the amount of plastic bags going to the landfills and it also helps save the trees. Other items that may be good green gifts ideas include kitchen items or “green” themed decorations. If you know of someone that has a cleaning company, give them a host of the many green cleaning supplies that are available.

Getting Started

Purchase some reusable spray bottles that you can use to mix up your own all-purpose cleaners. You will always want to have a bag of lemons, a large bag or box of baking soda, and a large container of white vinegar on hand for cleaning. All of these green cleaning products are inexpensive and effective. Don’t worry about using vinegar in the home. The smell that most people associate with vinegar fades quickly after it is used.

The Kitchen Sink

For most people, the kitchen sink is one of the first places in the home to need regular cleaning. To clean the basin of the sink, sprinkle a thin layer of baking soda over the surface and pour one cup of vinegar over it. The vinegar and baking soda will foam up. Once the foaming subsides, wipe the sink with a reusable cleaning cloth and rinse with water. A spray bottle of half vinegar and half water can be used to spray down the sink between cleanings.

The Garbage Disposal

When you use lemon juice in your cooking or cleaning, always save the peels. Lemon peels can be cut up in small pieces and put down the garbage disposal for a quick way to freshen the disposal and the air in the kitchen.

The Counter Tops

Mix half vinegar and half water in a spray bottle and add a squeeze of lemon for added freshness and cleaning power. Shake it up and use on counter tops in place of an all-purpose cleaner that is loaded with chemicals. This is also great for families with small children or pets as it is completely safe for little hands and pets who may lick up cleaners.

During the summer months, many people use chemical bug sprays when they are outside in the yard, pool, or beach. For people striving to lead a greener lifestyle, keeping bugs away naturally can be a challenge.

Start in the Garden

There are several herbs that naturally repel bugs in the yard. Rosemary and sage are both good options that also create a nice base for an herb garden. Mints, especially spearmint, are great natural bug repellents. Mint should always be planted in containers, however, because it will quickly spread and fill the container or take over the yard.

Garlic
Planting garlic in your yard can help to prevent insects much like the herbs listed above. Some people find that even consuming garlic is enough to prevent insect bites during the summer. As strange as it may seem, garlic can make you taste bad to bugs and therefore keep them from coming too close.

Consider Natural Options at the Store
California Baby and Burts Bees both make a bug spray that does not contain DEET and other chemicals found in most store bought bug sprays. Many of these contain citronella, lemongrass, and a blend of herbs. Citronella candles are another option that you can find in many stores during the summer months. Candles are a great option for outdoor parties when many people will be gathered in an outdoor space, however, some people do not like the smell.

Make Your Own Simple Spray

Plain mint mouthwash can be poured into a spray bottle and used like a traditional bug spray. Many people who have tried this to get away from chemical sprays find that it is just as effective at preventing insect bites. Most insects hate all kinds of mint and will keep their distance when people have on a spray that smells like mint.

Many people who are living a green lifestyle are constantly looking for green, healthy methods of keeping their indoor air smelling fresh and free of toxins. Indoor air quality is often worse than outdoor because pollutants become trapped in a small space and can leave the air quality low. One of the simplest ways to improve indoor air quality is to green up your home with houseplants. All houseplants will help provide you with plenty of fresh oxygen and add beauty to your home. Some, however, are also great at cleaning the air.

Peace Lily

Peace lilies are great for indoor air quality helping to rid the air of toxins including formaldehyde and carbon monoxide. They are helpful in ridding indoor air of many common VOCs. They also have the benefit of requiring very little light which makes them a good choice for many people in the winter when sunlight may be harder to come by. Many people also use peace lilies in their offices to help clean the air while requiring very little care to thrive.

Gerbera Daisy

Gerbera daisies are beautiful additions the home and are available in many vibrant colors to brighten up any room. Gerbera daisies also are good for cleaning the air and removing benzene from indoor air. Flowering plants are often best at removing benzene. Some studies have also shown that Gerbera daisies can help to remove TCE from indoor air.

Bamboo

Many types of bamboo can be grown indoors in small pots. Bamboo provides more oxygen than just about any other plant, making it great for the home. Lucky bamboo plants are also great gifts and have fun meanings such as good health or luck based on the number of stalks in a pot. Bamboo plants can be a great gift for someone who doesn’t want to devote a lot of time to a plant, but wants a small and attractive container that can clean the air.

Kids are great at learning new habits, especially if you set a good example. Helping them learn to “Go Green” not only helps our environment but teaches them habits that will preserve their future. Going green is not hard to do and it will teach your kids that you value the earth you live on.

Recycle, Recycle, Recycle. Kids can learn early on what is recyclable and what is not. Explain to them how recycling saves space in landfills and takes less energy than creating new resources. Create bins for glass, plastic, paper, and aluminum. Your kids can even decorate the bins themselves.

Make a compost pile. For plant and food materials, a compost pile can teach several things. Again, it saves items from filling up a landfill. It also replenishes your soil with great nutrients. Kids can help make the compost pile and they can be responsible for maintaining it. It is also a great science lesson in how things decompose.

Teach your kids to conserve electricity. Turn lights off when not in the room. TV’s should be turned off when not being watched. It also helps to save money on your electricity bill.

Go Green by not wasting. Kids can be taught to reduce their waste. Some simple ways to do this is to turn off water when brushing teeth. Use a rag that can be washed off instead of wads of paper towels. Don’t overuse shampoo and soap, a little goes along way. This will also save you money!

For a fun “Go Green” project, have your kids plant a tree. Trees are important for the quality of our air. Make it into a science project by teaching how trees grow and why the earth needs more of them.

Going Green with your kids does not have to be hard. With a little time and patience, your kids can learn new habits that will keep the planet clean for future generations.

“Going Green” is important to save our planet. It is not hard to become greener. You can start today by changing little things in your life.

1. Conserve electricity. Turn off lights when you are not in the room. Appliances should be turned off when not in use. You can also reduce energy by using fluorescent bulbs instead of incandescent. Washing your clothes in cold water can also reduce the amount of energy your washer uses by up to 75%. Do not run your heater and air conditioner when not necessary, and when you do run them do so at a moderate temperature.

2. Recycle. Most cities offer recycling with normal trash pickup. Take advantage of the free recycling program. Some cities may even offer money for recycling at recycling centers. Use canvas, reusable bags when shopping to avoid having paper and plastic bags that will need to be thrown away. You will be helping to stop global warming and will help to keep our landfills from overflowing.

3. Alternative forms of transportation. Cars and trucks send out fossil fuel emission into the air and cause pollution which is what has eaten our ozone layer away. Consider forming a carpooling group or taking public transportation. For those who are too busy to rely on public transportation, consider shopping at truecar.com and looking for a hybrid, which will essentially save you money on gas.

4. Plant a tree. Trees take the carbon dioxide out of the air and replaces it with necessary oxygen. It actually helps to reverse the effects of global warming.

Going green starts by changing one habit at at time. Do not wait to start with these steps thinking that they cannot make much of a difference. Every little thing helps to save our planet and reverse the harm that we have done to it.

The landfills are overflowing with our waste and trash. Where we used to throw out one bag a week, we now have three or more bags at the curb each week. With the dawn of the working mom, the emphasis in the last 20, even 30 years has been on making it easier for couples to work and still have time to spend together at home. Thus the dawn of plastic everything, throw away diapers, paper lunch bags, were all invented so that there is little to clean up after a hard day’s work. This may have made things easier on us, but this trend has wreaked havoc on the environment. Our planet is being taken over by landfills full of trash that will never do anything but take up space in our world.

Finally some groups of people became concerned about the fact that eventually trash will cover the Earth, with no more room for people. Environmental watchdog groups have sprung up all over, reminding us to “go green”, giving us the reasons why everyone should live a greener lifestyle. We need to stop filling the landfills. We need to reduce, reuse, and recycle. It is not a coincidence that entire businesses have opened up geared towards making our waste into new, usable products. We all know how to recycle our glass, plastic and paper. It is even picked up for us at the curb.

However, at thegreenlife.org we can learn more ways to protect our planet. There are tips on recycling and many other ways to help us keep our children and grandchildren safe. It is time to do our part. Our ancestors had no idea they were doing this to our planet. We do not have that excuse. We know how to fix it and now we have a way to help us do even more to protect our future generation.

For parents who have been trying to lead a greener lifestyle, one of the most important things that they can do is to pass this knowledge and interest along to their children. Building green habits early on can help children to develop natural habits that are good for the environment.

Limit Throwaways
One of the easiest things that you can do in your home to make an impact is to avoid disposal products like paper towels and plastic bags. Children can quickly become acclimated to the idea of using the cloth grocery bags when they go to the store with a parent and using reusable cloths and dish towels for cleaning around the home instead of sponges and paper towels.

Explain Things
Encourage children to ask questions and provide the best answers you can about the environment and green living. A child may go to a birthday party where there are lots of disposable plastic utensils and plates, this is a good time on the way home to explain that using plates that can be washed and reused in a good way to help keep the earth’s landfills from filling up. If a child asks why you do things a certain way, always take a minute to share information and answer the question. Everything is a chance to learn.

Strike a Balance
When teaching children about green living, it’s important to stress the importance of good habits but always keep things optimistic. Children can be very sensitive and easily scared by big ideas like climate change. Provide honest information while balancing it with positive thoughts about how much more people today care about the world and are working to make everything better. Allow your child to feel like they are part of fixing everything and they will want to learn more and do more to help live green.