The Green Life

Adios, Aquafina

Perrier is so passé. With top restaurants now serving tap, bottled water is poised to go the way of acid-wash jeans. And given the environmental costs of pumping, packaging, and transporting all that water, it's none too soon.

If you pledge to break the bottled-water habit before the witching hour (11:59 p.m. EDT) tonight, you can win a chance at an outdoorsy getaway or other great prizes. Switching to reusable bottles is the Carbon Conscious Consumer action of the month from the Center for a New American Dream. Previous challenges have included eating locally, going car-free once a week, and junking your junk mail, actions that the Center estimates have collectively reduced more than 2.6 million tons of carbon dioxide thus far!

Daily Tip: Oct 31, 2007

Happy Halloween Green Lifers!

Having a big Halloween party? Look for an organic food catering service like Back to Earth (California-based) or City Bakery (New York-based). Whole Foods’ nationwide catering services offers organic and local options.

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Daily Tip: October 30, 2007

If you’re thinking about remodeling your home, consider hiring a contractor with an ecofriendly philosophy. Green building professionals are now easy to locate and can offer very competitive rates. To find a green contractor, designer, or architect near you, consult the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) website. Co-Op America also screens building professionals based on their commitment to social and environmental responsibility.

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The Year(s) They Stopped Shopping

When Sierra interviewed John Perry, a founding member of the Compact, he and his friends were about halfway through their yearlong agreement not to buy anything new. As that anniversary approached, other publications checked in on the progress of their pledge. Almost another year later, Good magazine reports, many of the Compacters are still going strong. To celebrate their continuing commitment, we've gone back and added additional interviews with other Compacters to our original coverage. Check it out and let us know, what would be the hardest thing for you to stop buying?

Daily Tip: October 29, 2007

How about a bouquet of long-stem…pesticides? No thanks. Show someone you really appreciate them with a handful of organic or fair-trade flowers or, better yet, blossoms fresh-picked from your yard or a local farm. A nice pot of planted flowers or herbs will provide enjoyment for even longer. You can even find small potted trees for the home as well as larger varieties for the yard, a green gift will last for years and help reduce global warming.

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Now You're Cookin'

They say a watched pot never boils, but a covered one boils extra quickly, saving cooking time--and energy. Using smaller appliances, like a microwave, toaster oven, rice cooker, or crock pot when appropriate to the task; choosing the right size pan and burner for meals prepared on the stove; and keeping the oven door closed while baking are other great ways to conserve energy in the kitchen. It also doesn't take as much energy to reheat food as it does to cook it in the first place, so make enough for leftovers!

When buying new appliances, look for the Energy Star label. And when picking out new pots and pans, skip the nonstick ones. Teflon is made with a chemical, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), that is a "likely carcinogen" (according to the EPA) and a major polluter of air and water near where it's produced. Old-fashioned cast-iron pots and pans are a safe alternative, as are those made out of anodized aluminum and stainless steel (unless you're allergic to nickel).

Fashion Week Tip : October 26, 2007

Shopping at and selling your old clothes to used thrift and consignment stores reduces the amount of energy invested in making new garments, saves money, and ensures your wardrobe is as unique as you are.

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Fashion Week Tip : October 25, 2007

Protect yourself and the environment from harmful toxins by switching to organic hair-care products. Some studies suggest that methylisothiazolinone (Mit), a chemical found in many name-brand shampoos, may be linked to neurological damage. And this kind of stuff is certainly not great for our groundwater or soil either. Learn more about what’s in your shampoo and which brands are safe at http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com.

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Fashion Week Tip : October 24, 2007

Shine your shoes with natural alternatives to toxic shoe polish. Try rubbing the inside of a banana peel on your leather shoes, then buff them with a clean cloth. Or rub a bit of vegetable or olive oil into the leather until it’s clean and shiny. And make sure to contact your sanitation department to learn how to dispose of any old shoe polish safely.

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Seeing the Light

A little darkness can be eye-opening. At this weekend's Lights Out SF event, San Franciscans turned off lights at City Hall, local bars, and in their own homes for one hour to raise awareness about energy conservation. A similar event in Sydney, Australia, reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 24.86 tons. (An added benefit, as one commenter on local blog SFist.com put it: "Your fellow partygoers are much cuter by candlelight.")

Organizers are already working on a nationwide follow-up for Saturday, March 29, 2008. Also carrying the energy-conservation idea forward are members of the Sierra Club-sponsored S.F. Climate Challenge, in which teams of households compete (for some pretty nice prizes) to reduce their utility bills over the next month. Tomorrow, October 24, is the final day to sign up. Not the competitive type? You can still celebrate the remaining week of Energy Awareness Month by taking some simple actions. According to the EPA, "If every U.S. household changed a single light bulb to an Energy Star bulb, it would save enough power to light more than 2.5 million homes."

Fashion Week Tip : October 23, 2007

Americans tend to toss their outdated jeans as styles change, but old pairs can be cut into shorts, made into book covers or bags, used as cleaning rags, worn for yard work, tied in a knot and used as a doggie chew toy, or kept around for another 10 years when they’ll be in style again. The possibilities for reuse are endless.

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Fashion Week Tip : October 22, 2007

Welcome to Fashion Week here at the Green Life. For the next 5 days, our tips will be fashion focused. To make Fashion Week more exciting, we challenge you to upload your Green Fashion pictures to our Green Tips group on Flickr. At the end of the week, all of the images will be featured in a slideshow on our Green Life blog!

These boots were made for…tossing? Americans buy 2.3 million pairs of shoes each day. Instead of throwing your old shoes out, clean and donate gently used ones and keep grubbier ones around for yard work. Nike will take worn-out athletic shoes (of any brand) and recycle them into new surfaces for basketball courts, running tracks, and playground turf.

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Fuel for the Fire

As Halloween approaches, people in nippier parts of the country might be thinking about curling up in front of the fireplace. On this week's Sierra Club Radio show, we discuss greener ways to light your fire, including:

• looking for artificial fireplace logs made of wood only and avoiding those that contain paraffin, a petroleum-based byproduct with dubious emissions quality (an easier task now that Duraflame has switched to non-petroleum waxes); and
• checking out cool ecofriendly alternatives like logs made of recycled cardboard boxes, recycled-paper briquettes, or logs made from used coffee grounds.

Although they're cleaner than they were 20 years ago, wood stoves can cause dangerous microparticulate pollution too. Before burning wood, check to see if the particulate level is high in your area by visiting airnow.gov.

Daily Tip : October 19, 2007

I love to travel overseas at least once a year, as well as occasionally taking shorter flights to domestic destinations. However, air travel is a major contributor to pollution and the overall toll it's taking on our environment. So now I reduce my carbon footprint by making a donation to one of the 17 tree-planting organizations listed on http://www.americanforests.org/ prior to every flight I take. Donations as small as $10 are accepted, and every dollar donated plants one tree. Imagine that  -- $1 plants new life that will combat pollution.

-- Submitted by Michael Henderson

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LEAFHouse in the Lead

A home inspired by "the simple, yet vastly complex leaf," is currently in the lead in the Solar Decathlon, a biannual competition for college and university students to design and build solar-powered homes. The University of Maryland's LEAFHouse (shown) and 19 other entries are on display to the public on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., through Saturday. The winning team will be announced at an awards ceremony tomorrow afternoon.

UPDATE (10/19/07): The team from Germany's Technische Universität Darmstadt ended up besting the University of Maryland for first place. Congratulations to all the winners!

(Photograph by Jim Tetro, Solar Decathlon)

Daily Tip : October 18, 2007

Have you ever thought about your dog’s ecological foot -- er… pawprint? Your neighbors and the planet will thank you if you make sure to always scoop your pet’s poop when you take him or her on walks. Your pooch can impress the neighborhood dogs with a hemp leash and collar from Rawganique.com. And comfy pet beds with no harmful chemical additives can be found now at many pet retailers or online. (Of course, Fifi or Fido would likely be just as happy sleeping on a folded quilt or blanket.)

Most importantly, make sure your dog eats healthy. Opt for organic brands such as Newman's Own or Nature's Variety. Or, once a week, make large batches of rice, steamed veggies and meat and dish out in appropriate serving sizes at mealtime. Just check with the vet to make sure your pet is getting all the nutrients she needs from the homemade food.

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Daily Tip : October 17, 2007

Have the most important meal of the day the eco-way. Sip organic or fair-trade coffee or tea and put local, seasonal fruit and milk from cows not treated with hormones or antibiotics on your cereal. Want to do more? Try baking your own bread or making your own granola on the weekends so you have healthy, quick breakfasts at the ready on busy weekday mornings and won’t be tempted to hit the drive-thru.

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Heard Around the Web

With almost 20,000 bloggers getting their two cents in, Blog Action Day tackled environmental issues from almost every conceivable angle, including:

• 29 ways for designers and other freelancers to make their work greener;
• expressing individuality without overconsuming;
• how administrators of data centers can reduce energy consumption from servers;
• changing expectations about Christmas;
• how to tread lightly as a photographer;
• what guitar companies are doing to help the environment;
• how recycling works in Germany;
• the ins and outs of home composting;
• ecofriendly ways to renovate an old home; and
• creative refashioning of clothes.

Read an interesting post on Blog Action Day? Tell us about it in the comments section.

Daily Tip : October 16, 2007

Concerned about chemical exposures? Then it’s time to mothball those, er, mothballs. In early 2005, the government listed naphthalene, the primary ingredient in mothballs, as a carcinogen. To keep moths out of your drawers safely, sprinkle a few drops of cedarwood oil inside. Or make your own natural moth-repellent bags with this recipe from Care2: Mix 2 ounces of dried rosemary and mint, 1 ounce each dried thyme and American ginseng, and 8 ounces of whole cloves.

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Fashion Puts Its Best Foot Forward

Green has been ruling the runway recently, with sustainable styles on display from Los Angeles to Paris. Over the weekend, London-based designer Gary Harvey showed off his creative recycled couture (like the dress pictured at right) at the EcoNouveau kickoff for L.A. Fashion Week, while Parisians celebrated the now-annual Ethical Fashion Show. Even Seattle shed its less-than-chic image to put on its first Green Fashion Week earlier this month, with hot designers and some stunning styles (although that seemingly picnic-tablecloth-inspired dress about halfway down the page is a step backward, as far as I'm concerned). Fashionistas, let us know what you think: Whose green designs are hot and whose are not?

Daily Tip : October 15, 2007

Build your own rain barrel! Now you can not only enjoy the rain from inside the comfort of your own home, you can also know that you are saving money on your water bill and reducing water pollution. For easy instructions on how to build your own rain barrel, check out the Center for Watershed Protection's step- by-step guide here (pdf).

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Got Something to Say?

Then why don't you just come right out and say it?! On October 15 (that's tomorrow), some 14,000 12,000 bloggers are going to be writing about the environment for their collective audience of more than 12 9 million readers. Sure, we do that every day, but it's going to be great to see what bloggers who usually focus on tech, books, music, or martial arts bring to the conversation. If you've got a blog, add your voice to the mix. We'll round up some of the most interesting entries on Tuesday.

Tricks and Treats for Halloween

Halloween should give you some good scares, not actually anything to worry about. For a safe and ecofriendly holiday, try these tips:

• Set a spooky mood with soy or beeswax candles, not those made from petroleum-based paraffin. If you like scented candles, look for ones with fragrances derived from essential oils rather than synthetic chemicals.
• Invest creativity instead of cash in your costume. Dig into the back of the closet (yours or a friend's) or hit the thrift store to find wacky clothes and accessories instead of buying plastic costumes. Need inspiration? The Green Guide and Care2 have clever DIY ideas that can be great projects for adults and kids. (You can make your own decorations too.)
• Avoid masks made out of vinyl. Latex ones are safer, unless you're allergic to the material.
• Whether you're going glamorous or ghoulish, use natural makeup to avoid chemical exposure.
• Hand out fair trade or organic chocolates, organic hard candy, fruit snacks, or other ecofriendly edibles to all those cute trick-or-treaters. Global Exchange evens sells a Fair Trade Trick or Treat Action Kit that includes individually wrapped chocolates along with Halloween-themed informational postcards.
• Worried about rotting those little monsters' teeth? Fun nonfood alternative treats include nontoxic crayons, coloring books, stickers, or even small change.
• Whether for dressing up or handing out, avoid costume jewelry, especially glossy, fake painted pearls and toys from vending machines, both of which may contain lead. There were almost 30 recalls of lead-containing children’s products this year, so use a LeadCheck kit if you're unsure about a toy your child already owns.
• Look up some recipes for pumpkin pie, soup, or curry so your decoration doesn't go to waste after Halloween. (Not much of a chef? Compost that jack-o-lantern, at least.)
• Don't forget a reusable shopping bag to carry your trick-or-treating haul!

Take Refuge

This weekend, kids can travel through an educational "Bear Maze" in Louisiana, while amateur lepidopterists can count butterflies in Texas--and those are just two of the events being held in celebration of National Wildlife Refuge Week, which wraps up on Saturday. The wildlife refuge system's 547 locations--at least one in every state, from the Yukon Delta to the Lower Suwannee--encompass 97 million acres of habitat and 2,500 miles of land and water trails. So find a refuge near you and get out and explore it!

Daily Tip : October 12, 2007

Instead of meeting a friend for lunch at a restaurant, meet for a picnic in a park or outdoor area. Reconnecting with nature will make the rest of your day brighter and remind you why you are making an effort to implement green solutions in your everyday life.

--Submitted by Ivy Main

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Daily Tip : October 11, 2007

More and more local utility companies are giving customers the option to choose alternative sources of energy. If your power company isn't one of them, speak up and let them know that you would like the choice. Click here to find out if green power is available in your area.

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Daily Tip : October 10, 2007

Enhance your practice -- when it's time to get rid of your smelly old yoga mat, look for one that is PVC free, like this one from Barefoot Yoga. You can also hang on to your old mat for those messy projects around the house like painting or art projects.

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Trash Talk

Seattleites are serious about their garbage--about seriously reducing the amount they generate, that is. First, there was the woman who carried around all of her non-recyclable trash (making an understandable exception for her cat's poop) for two weeks to raise awareness about garbage. Now, a whole group of Emerald City waste-haters have declared this week, October 7-13, to be No Trash Week and have compiled a helpful list of tips for anyone who wants to join in.

While completely eliminating garbage from your life may be difficult, you can reduce it significantly with some pretty simple steps. I've really become militant about bringing my own reusable bag with me everywhere I go, in addition to toting my trusty travel mug. And I was so pleased to discover that my neighborhood grocery store now sells bottled milk from our friends at Straus Family Creamery--they actually take the bottles back and reuse them, just like in the old days.

What are your best tips for reducing the amount of trash you create?

Daily Tip : October 9, 2007

We know that parenting is one of the toughest jobs out there, so here are a few easy ways to be a green parent. For more, check out Baby Center's Green Parenting article here.

Rethink the baby wipes - They're definitely not eco-friendly as most baby wipes take centuries to biodegrade. Switch to washcloths instead.

Have a kid swap party - Don't buy more clothes or toys, host a kid swap party and swap toys and clothes with other parents.

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Daily Tip : October 8, 2007

Fill an empty soda bottle (or two) with water and place it in the toilet tank away from the operating mechanisms. This will save water with every flush, by reducing the amount of water it takes to refill your tank. (This is meant for older toilets, not new high-efficiency ones.)

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The Global Green Life

As if the pollution and litter caused by plastic bags weren't bad enough, soggy piles of the discarded sacks can become breeding grounds for mosquitoes, posing a serious problem in malaria-stricken areas. In Uganda, this concern has prompted another ban on plastic bags, and more interestingly--to me, anyway--a campaign to get people to return to traditional methods of carrying goods instead. And whereas in Japan, that meant wrapping cloths, in Uganda, it means banana leaves.

This fascinating tidbit came my way via the fall issue of Earth Island Journal, which also notes that end-of-life customs are going green in India, where cremation is the traditional Hindu practice. A mechanical engineer has apparently developed an ultra-efficient funeral pyre that cuts the amount of wood used by 95 percent and carbon dioxide emissions by over half. It's great to read about innovative solutions popping up all over.

Daily Tip : October 5, 2007

If you live within a mile or so from your school, try taking your kids via a "walking bus." Walk to school as a group! Organize your neighbors and develop a "bus route." The furthest stop away from school starts, then "picks up" the next nearest, etc. Reverse the plan for the trip home. Parents deal with the timing and safety issues, and everyone gets some exercise, meets their neighbors, and creates very little pollution. Truly public transportation!

--Submitted by Paul

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Daily Tip : October 4, 2007

The next time that you go to the ATM, forgo getting that receipt. ATM receipts are a big contributor of litter. You can also contact your bank to enroll in on-line banking.  Online-banking can improve financial control while eliminating the paper bills, statements and checks that harm the environment -- saving 17 million trees and avoiding 4 billion tons of greenhouse gases a year - according to a recent report.

 

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Walk This Way

Children walking to school, helped across the street by a smiling crossing guard--it's as American as apple pie, right? But this wholesome scene is becoming increasingly uncommon, as harried schedules, fear of predatory strangers, and lack of sidewalks and walking paths in many suburban communities lead many parents to drive their kids every day, adding to both environmental problems and the obesity epidemic.

In response, a group called the National Center for Safe Routes to School has declared today, October 3, Walk to School Day, but with a little community teamwork, you can help make walking and biking to school safer any day of the year. One idea with a proven track record is a "walking school bus" or bicycle train--essentially, just a group of children walking or biking together with one or more adult leaders. (Since there's safety in numbers, of course.) Sound simple? It is. Just goes to show that improving the environment and kids' health can be as easy as putting one foot in front of the other.

Daily Tip : October 3, 2007

Avoid products that are packaged for single use (i.e., drinks, school lunches, candy, cat and dog food, etc.). Instead, buy in bulk and transfer the products to your own reusable containers. Many health food stores have bulk bins where they sell everything from grains to cereal to cleaning products.

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Centenarian Strategies

Perfect place settings and flawless floral arrangements aren't really my bag, so I've got to thank healthy-home guru Debra Lynn Dadd for pointing out this heartening tidbit in her newsletter:

Apparently, the September issue of Martha Stewart Living included an article on "Living to 100" that discussed the importance of environmental health. In it, the author, Dr. Brent Ridge, noted that "Anything we bring into our homes or put onto our bodies can affect our health. I use natural or green products whenever I can--detergents, cleansers, toothpaste, shampoo, etc. If a bathtub cleanser is labeled 'nontoxic,' for example, that means it's safe for kids and safer for me and the environment." Ridge even got in a plug for composite lumber made from recycled materials, saying that it "looks beautiful and works well."

Eco-conscious ideas being promoted to 2 million mainstream readers? Now that's a good thing.

Daily Tip : October 2, 2007

Have an occasion where you need to send a card? Try using an environmentally friendly letterpress house, like this one in San Francisco. They use only tree-free paper and soy-or rubber based inks. That's saving trees in style!

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Keen to be Green

Going green at work seems to be a popular topic, so if you haven't gotten your office on board the eco-train yet, you might be interested in some tips from the Big Green Switch for starting a workplace recycling program. Although it's a British site (which I read about this morning on ENN), most of the advice would be useful anywhere, and I like their convivial approach to finding, tracking, and sharing small lifestyle changes you can make at home or school, while traveling, even in pubs. (Not to mention the way they call a recycling plan a "scheme" without meaning anything bad by it.) So why not have a go at it?