The Green Life

Green Tip: Grow a Low-Maintenance Lawn

The sounds of summer don't have to include the purr of lawn mowers and the patter of sprinklers. Lose the grass--cultivate a chemical-free lawn that drinks less and grows low.

Moss is an easy alternative to grass--it needs some moisture, but it requires little maintenance once it's established. Moss thrives in shady areas with compacted, acidic soil. Another option for greening your lawn is to encourage clover, a nitrogen-fixing plant, which enriches soil while providing a low-growing ground cover. Additional eco-friendly ground covers include strawberries and oregano--edible plants for lawns that taste as good as they look.

--D.W.

Sources:  NY Times, Eartheasy

Old News

Love getting the Sunday paper and looking for some creative ways to re-use all of that old news?

Apartment Therapy has featured a list of 20 household uses for old papers, from warming up your house to cleaning your fridge and even a way to entertain people at a party! For all twenty ideas, check out their post here.

-CN

Green Tip: Wrap With Fabric

This Mother's Day, ditch the wrapping paper and embrace the traditional Japanese art of furoshiki (fabric) wrapping. It's an eco-friendly way to dress up a package, and the fabric doubles as an extra gift. Use a tablecloth, pillow case, or napkin, and try out these furoshiki wrapping techniques to make your mom proud.

--DW

Let Go of the Machine

We know there must be a few of you left who still have those old-fashioned answering machines -- you know, the ones with the tape? It turns out that if all answering machines were replaced with voice mail services, the annual energy savings would total nearly two billion kilowatt-hours.¹ There are a myriad of voice-mail choices online, even ones that will deliver your voice message to you in an email.

¹ 50 Ways to Help Save the Planet

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

A Pain in the Gas

Nobody likes high gas prices -- except Big Oil. While regular American families are struggling to figure out how they'll afford to pick up the kids and drive to work, the oil industry has been celebrating billions of dollars in profit.

Ready to do something about it? We can show you how to save money at the pump -- and help you learn about and encourage better  U.S. energy policy.

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

Lighter Impact

Getting ready to light some birthday candles, or having a romantic candle-lit dinner for two?

Instead of reaching for a lighter, think about using cardboard matches instead. Lighters tend to be made with plastic and butane fuel, both of which are derived from petroleum, but those cardboard matches are made from recycled paper!

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

Green Grill Out

Have you broken out the grill yet? Wondering whether you should invest in a shiny new propane grill or stick to your Weber?

You might want to read what Jon Gertner wrote in the green edition of New York Times magazine:

Barbecuing, as any guy grilling a flank steak will tell you, is as much about process as product. Propane gas versus charcoal is typically a debate about flavor, not carbon-dioxide emissions. But let’s ask anyway. Which is greener? Probably charcoal, according to Tris West, an environmental scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratories, who last year calculated emissions from the two methods.

He says that since charcoal is derived from wood — and thus trees that took in atmospheric carbon as they grew — burning it on the grill is pretty close to a “net zero” in terms of carbon emissions. Propane, by comparison, is a fossil fuel that adds to greenhouse-gas accumulations. West cautions, though, that it gets a little more complicated than that. Even if burning charcoal is technically greener, it may release particulates into the atmosphere. (Food scientists also warn that it can be less healthful.) It’s good to know that your choice won’t effect any significant change in mass carbon emissions. By West’s estimation, the total amount of carbon dioxide released from barbecue grills on July 4 is on the order of .003 percent of the annual U.S. total.

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

Drive Slower!

With gas prices reaching $4/gallon, there is an easy way for you to save money at the pump if you simply must drive.

Slow Down!

The friendly folks over at the San Francisco Chronicle did some reseach and concluded that "how much you stand to save depends on a lot of factors. With gas at $4 a gallon, a driver with a long commute - 400 miles a week - and a gas-guzzling vehicle getting only 20 mpg would save $18.74 a week by slowing down dramatically from 75 to 55 mph, extrapolating from the government's most recent figures on the subject. Even a more moderate deceleration - from 70 to 60 mph - would save that driver $11.74 a week."

The Chronicle reporter went out on a test drive at 59 miles per hour and waited to see how many cars he would pass. He reported that "even through the 50 mph zone through downtown, nobody was driving slower than 60. It took a couple miles of driving to tally the first slow-moving fuel saver."

Have you tried to slow down your driving? How did it go?

Green Tip: Learn to Compost in Your Backyard

Hey! One of the Sierra Club's Earth Day videos is a YouTube hit! Watch it here:

Score Your Walk

Most Americans take to walking like ducks to asphalt. But it's not always our fault. Many of us live in communities where walking to the store is dangerous, impossible, or both.

Now walkscore.com has launched a website that lets you get a sense for how "walkable" any neighborhood really is -- based on the proximity of stores and other services.

Do you live in a "walker's paradise" (score of 90-100)?

Find out for yourself.

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

Earth Day 2008: How-To Videos

It's easy to talk about installing a low-flow showerhead or covering your water heater with a wrap, but how the heck do you actually do it? Have no fear, the Sierra Club's own Owen Bailey invites you into his shower and wraps you in a (water heater) blanket, so to speak, in order to demonstrate how simple these home projects can be.

Check out Sierra Club's Earth Day 2008 for the videos and much more.

Look on the Bright Side

It’s peak viewing season for the California poppy, so enjoy the solar-powered show. The Wildflower Hotline will help you find out what’s blooming in the West, while the National Parks Service provides wildflower resources nation-wide. For our winter-coat-bound readers in the far North, planning ahead for summer excursions is a great way to make sure you won’t miss any of the flower spectaculars in your area. 

Source:  The Felt Mouse

The Torch Warms the World

The Olympic torch arrived in San Francisco yesterday, its only North American stop on a 85,000 mile jet-fueled journey around the world.

We did some calculating, and the little flame that could will wrack up roughly 4000 tons of carbon emissions by the time it arrives in Beijing on August 8—and that’s not including the emissions from the bus forced to transport the normally foot-powered torch when things got hairy during the Paris leg of the relay.

To put the number in perspective, the torch’s tour will use the equivalent of over 400,000 gallons of gasoline and produce the annual emissions of 665 cars. If the Olympics folks feel bad about all that greenhouse gas, they can plant a few trees to offset the carbon: 93,000 of them, to be exact. -- Della Watson and Michael Fox

Take Some Downtime

Turn your computer off--all the way off--before leaving work. Authors Jeffrey Langholz and Kelly Turner write in their new book that shutting down not only saves energy, but can also help your hard-drive last longer.

Not bad.

Now, what if your friends in IT need all office machines to stay on for updates? No worries, mate: even the “sleep” or “hibernate” mode makes a big difference. If you set your monitor, computer, and printer to snooze after just 5 minutes of inactivity, you could save as much as $22 and prevent up to 435 lbs. of greenhouse gas emissions over the course of a year. For a step-by-step guide to reducing your computer’s energy use, visit Climate Savers Computing.

How Green Is My Screen?

Calling all couch potatoes! Are you warming up more than your sofa cushions?

Learn how you can green your TV without adjusting the color knob by taking our newest online quiz: How Green Is My Screen?

Daily Tip: March 24, 2008

The U.S. Postal Service is launching a free, recycle-by-mail "Mail Back" program. In 10 select areas of the country, you can use free envelopes to mail back inkjet cartridges, PDAs, Blackberries, digital cameras, iPods and MP3 players –- without having to pay for postage. Learn more about the program here.

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

How Green is Your Bracket?

You might not realize that the climate has a stake in the NCAA men's basketball tournament. But if you're a fan of a clean energy future, you can root for the 24 schools that have signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, pledging to go climate neutral. See who's on the list and follow their progress at http://www.greenbrackets.com.

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

Daily Tip: March 19, 2008

While they're awfully pretty, resist the urge to take home the free brochures available at concerts, museums, or even real estate open houses. Most of the info exists online and just a Web search away -- and you’re less likely to lose it on your computer than your pocket.

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

Daily Tip: March 11, 2008

Quicky oil-change shops may urge us to change the oil in our vehicles every 3,000 miles. But most cars nowadays don’t need changing that often. In fact, most manufacturers say you can go 7,000 miles without a problem. Ditto for that SUV—unless you really are starring in one of those TV ads and driving it hard and long over dusty roads. What difference does it make? Consider this: each year California alone generates about 153 million gallons of used oil. Change less often and it really can save your engine and the planet.

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

Mr. Green Talks Bulbs

Now that you have replaced your incandescent bulbs with efficient fluorescents, you might have been wondering how to properly dispose of your dead fluorescent bulbs. Tune into the Sierra Club's Mr. Green podcast to find out the answer.

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

Bike it Out

Short car trips are, naturally, the easiest to replace with a bike trip (or even walking). Mile for mile, they are also the most polluting. Engines running cold produce four times the carbon monoxide and twice the volatile organic compounds of engines running hot. And smog-forming (and carcinogenic) VOCs continue to evaporate from an engine until it cools off, whether the engine's been running for five minutes or five hours.

Check out the following links!

Glow in the dark bike:
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/01/glow-in-the-dar.html

Kayak-bike:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoSLqm1aVvA&feature=related

Bike made out of bamboo:
http://www.calfeedesign.com/bamboo.htm

Bicycle made entirely out of wood:
http://www.leevalley.com/newsletters/Woodworking/2/3/article1.htm

Home furnishings made out of recycled bicycle parts:
https://www.resourcerevival.com/store/retail

Grist Greens Your Fridge

Getting a head start on the spring cleaning, Grist has written an article on how to green your fridge. One of their great tips:

Be unconventional. Keep a list on your fridge of these eight additional troublemakers: conventional versions of milk, peanut butter, baby food, ketchup, corn, cottonseed oil, beef, and soy. Each month, pick one item off the list -- corn and its byproducts, for example -- and find a way to feast without it. You'll be reducing your household intake of toxins, pesticides, antibiotics, and hormones. The earth will be happier, too.

Check out the whole article here.

Cut Fat and Carbon at the Same Time

It turns out that fighting global warming is good for the waistline. If every American spent 30 minutes a day walking or cycling instead of driving, the citizenry would collectively cut carbon emissions by 64 million tons and shed 3 billion pounds of excess flab, according to Paul Higgins of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Trim even more by trading in that T-bone for tofu--livestock production produces 18 percent of the world's greenhouse-gas emissions, according to the United Nation's Food and Agricultural Organization.

-—Dashka Slater, Sierra Magazine

Send it with an eco-envelope

When Ann DeLaVergne realized that more than 80 billion reply envelopes are mailed in the US each year, she decided to do something about it. After making reusable envelopes from scratch with her sewing machine for two years, she met with the US Postal Service and patented the ecoEnvelope. The envelopes zip closed, eliminate the need for a separate reply envelope, and are manufactured with paper from managed forests and contain up to 100 percent post-consumer waste content.

For businesses or for use in your home office, ecoEnvelopes eliminate the need to print, store, handle, insert, track and include a separate reply envelope.

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

 

Movie Friday!

Winter weather getting you down? Escape to the movies with one of our "Film Fridays" selections. Each week we'll feature a movie with environmentally or socially responsible themes that’s currently in theaters or available on DVD.

Seen a good eco-flick lately? Send us a review of 100 words or less and we may feature it on the e-mail list!

Garden Insects
www.gardeninsectvideo.com

Kentucky filmmaker Chris Korrow’s award-winning film, Garden Insects, premiered nationwide on PBS in 2007, and was filmed in Korrow’s organic gardens in Cumberland County. As an environmental film, Garden Insects, gives viewers an opportunity to connect with nature through something that is close and personal -- their own gardens -- rather than something far away like the destruction of the rain forests.

The movie features profiles of insects and information about insect life cycles is presented amidst original music and an artistic back drop of colorful flora and fauna of the garden. Great for children, gardeners and nature lovers.

-- Christy Korrow

Daily Tip: Feb 20, 2008

A great resource for making healthy choices for the ocean when you purchase seafood is the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch site. Search for your favorite fish, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium will let you know if it's safe to eat.

If you are a pregnant woman or a parent with small children, the government advises you and your children to eat smart to reduce mercury. Take the Sierra Club's quiz on Mercury, then get a handy guide that you can print to carry with you.

If you are not near a computer and still want to make sustainable seafood choices, you can now text the Blue Ocean Institutes's Fish Phone. Simply text FISH and the name of the fish to 30644, and you'll receive a message back with information on whether the fish is safe to eat.

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

Daily Tip: Feb 14, 2008

Happy Valentine's Day!

Thinking about spending some extra time between the sheets today? If so, spend it between sheets made from bamboo. Bamboo sheets are silky soft, and come from a rapidly renewable resource that doesn't require pesticides to grow.

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

Daily Tip: Feb 13, 2008

With Valentine's Day on Thursday, the Green Life will be all love, all the time for the rest of the week.

Celebrate the many facets of your love with a rainbow of organic, biodynamic, or VerifFlora-certified flowers from a farmers' market, CSA, or natural-foods store. If you can't find any locally, try Organic Bouquet, Diamond Organics, California Organic Flowers, or other online purveyors of pesticide-free petals. (Check out "The Hidden Life of Cut Flowers" if you want to know what's wrong with the conventional variety.) Or give your sweetie a lasting reminder of your sentiments: a beautiful house plant. If your relationship's long-term future looks bright, think about growing your own bouquet next year.

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

Daily Tip: Feb 12, 2008

With Valentine's Day on Thursday, the Green Life will be all love, all the time for the rest of the week.

Treat your honey's tastebuds at a restaurant specializing in seasonal, regional cuisine. If you're too late to grab a coveted February 14 reservation, hit your local farmers' market and gather the ingredients for an intimate home-cooked meal or romantic picnic.

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

Daily Tip: Feb 11, 2008

With Valentine's Day on Thursday, the Green Life will be all love, all the time for the rest of the week.

Are you thinking about purchasing a Valentine's Day card or flowers? How about combining the two with a card that will sprout wildflowers when planted in the ground? The Green Field Paper Company sells Grow A Note Greeting cards that do just that. Check them out here.

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

Daily Tip: Feb 6, 2008

Wondering what do do with all those leftover business cards when an employee leaves, or when you're clearing out your drawers at work?

The business cards would be perfect for the mail room's return address labels. Most business cards are set up so that you can cut off the person's name and title, leaving the company's mailing address.

Not exactly workable given the design? Instead of heaving the box of unused cards, turn them over, keep them by the phone, and use the backs for those short messages you'd put on sticky notes.

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

Fast Fact

If each U.S. household installed one low-flow sink faucet or aerator, it would save more than 60 billion gallons of water annually. epa.gov/watersense

Daily Tip: Jan 24, 2008

We all turn to Consumer Reports when we are thinking about purchasing a new car or vacuum cleaner, but did you know that they have published a "Complete Guide to Reducing Energy Costs"? Consumer Reports has made an excerpt from the report available on their site, called 20 Free Ways to Save Energy, which include using a crockpot, getting rid of that roof rack, and more! You can read the report here.

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

Daily Tip: Jan 23, 2008

Do you bring a 6 ounce container of yogurt to work in the mornings for breakfast? To reduce your impact, instead try buying the larger 32 ounce yogurt containers and scooping your daily portion of yogurt into a reusable container. That reusable container could even be the old 6 ounce yogurt containers that you used to buy. You'll be reminded everyday of the waste you are preventing!

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

Daily Tip: Jan 22, 2008

We're all in a hurry. But a little patience when ordering items online could cut your shipping carbon footprint by half, or more. Rather than have each item shipped separately as soon as it becomes available, ask that your order be grouped into as few shipments as possible. It might take a few days longer, but why have two or three big brown trucks stop at your curb when a single one can do the job?

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

Daily Tip: Jan 17, 2008

Just say no" and "BYO" are two ways to reduce waste while shopping. For more tips, check out the Boston Globe article "9 Ways to use one less plastic bag".

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

Daily Tip: Jan 15, 2008

If you’re in need of lumber, consider buying from ecofriendly wood providers. The Forest Stewardship Council has approved 59 million acres of timber forest in 47 countries for their environmentally responsible practices. Friends of the Earth also has buying tips on its Good Wood Guide site

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

Daily Tip: Jan 10, 2008

According to the Sierra Club's Mr. Green, fueling your fire with sustainably harvested or dead trees may be the most ecofriendly way to feed a fireplace, but be sure to ignite them in an EPA-approved fireplace insert or wood stove to slash those nasty particulate emissions. And sometimes, it's better to let dead trees rot; forests may need nutrition from these arboreal corpses.

If you're still using a dirty old traditional fireplace, opt for artificial logs made of materials that might otherwise have been wasted, such as sawdust and wood chips. Because these elements are squeezed together under pressure, the logs are denser and drier than wood, so they burn cleaner and hotter while producing less soot.

Look for manufactured logs made of wood only, and avoid those that contain paraffin, a petroleum-based byproduct with dubious emissions quality. One of the biggest brands, Duraflame, has made its logs greener by phasing out all petroleum-based waxes. Some other options include recycled-paper briquettes (simplefire.com) and logs made of recycled boxes (cleanflamelog.com) and used coffee grounds (java-log.com). If only they smelled like a fresh-brewed espresso.

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

Help for Holiday Stragglers

OK, people, it's officially the first full week of 2008, the 12 days of Christmas are over and done with, and you can't use your New Year's hangover as an excuse anymore: It's time to take down the holiday decorations. Fortunately, it seems there are many companies and groups eager to help you wrap up the season in a green way:

Lights out: This year, you finally swapped out your incandescent Christmas lights for energy-efficient LED ones. Now, what to do with those old, wasteful, tangled strands? Retailer HolidayLEDs.com is accepting incandescent holiday lights for recycling through the end of the month. Send 'em to:

HolidayLEDs.com
Attn: Recycling Program
120 W. Michigan Avenue, Suite 1403
Jackson, MI 49201

Back to nature: Cut Christmas trees can--and should!--be mulched to help create healthy new soil. Check with your local recycling and disposal company to see if they do curbside pickup or click on over to Earth911 to find a recycling location near you. The National Christmas Tree Association has stories about other cool ways that trees are being recycled around the country.

We greet again: Old holiday cards can provide cheer a second time around. Send them to CardsDirect, which will distribute those that can be reused to charitable organizations and recycle the rest:

CardsDirect 2007/2008 Card Recycling and Re-Use Program
200 Chisholm Place, Suite 220
Plano, TX 75075

Of course, you can also recycle old cards yourself, and/or turn the images into gift tags or new cards for next year.

The gift keeps giving: No need to hunt for receipts or wait in line at the store. Unwanted gifts can be swapped for what you really want online. Even gift cards can be sold back or exchanged.

Daily Tip: Jan 8, 2008

If you don’t have laundry facilities in your home, visit one of the ecofriendly Laundromats that are starting to show up in many cities. They have more efficient machines (usually front-loaders), sell detergents without harmful additives, and may also offer wet cleaning, a less energy- and chemical-intensive version of dry-cleaning. Schlep your clothes to and fro in an organic cotton laundry bag or petroleum-free (non-plastic) basket.

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

Daily Tip: Jan 7, 2008

Think globally, eat locally. Food that's grown and produced nearby reduces transportation-related emissions and can also be safer because you know the source. If you have them nearby, farmers' markets and farms' U-pick or roadside stands are great places to shop. And some grocery chains like Whole Foods try to stock regional food. (Their qualifier: the food has to travel seven hours or fewer from the farm to be considered local.) But you can look at the label in any grocery store. The sticker will often tell a fruit or vegetable's origin.

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

Daily Tip: Jan 3, 2008

How many phone books do you need? Stop getting those bulky throwbacks by contacting the manufacturer (their contact information is usually listed on the phone book’s inside cover) and asking to be taken off their mailing list. Use online phonebooks or search the web to find what you need instead.

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

New Year, New You

Eight ecofriendly resolutions for a happier, healthier 2008

1. Bring camaraderie to your commute
Carpooling saves gas and turns traffic delays into socializing opportunities. Find fellow riders at goloco.org and zimride.com.

2. Be an informed eater
If you're torn between the trout and the halibut, text 30644 with the message "FISH" and the type you're considering to learn which is the more sustainable choice (fishphone.org).

3. Junk the junk mail
Inundated by catalogs but too lazy to call and get off their mailing lists? Just register with catalogchoice.org, which will do the legwork for you. (Services like greendimes.com and 41pounds.org stop other kinds of junk mail too--for a fee.)

4. Become a mix master
DIY kits make it easy to blend up your own nontoxic household cleansers, skin products, and pet-care items (all from eco-me.com) as well as all-natural baby food (freshbaby.com).

5. Learn to share
At neighborrow.com and borrowme.com, you can find neighbors willing to lend you books, tools, or other things you'd rather not buy.

6. Give back on your next getaway
Count whales or plant trees in exotic locales--opportunities abound at greenvolunteers.com and in The Ethical Travel Guide (Earthscan) and The 100 Best Vacations to Enrich Your Life (National Geographic Books).

7. Just say no to bottled water
If tap water is good enough for some of the country's top restaurants, isn't it good enough for you?

8. See more meaningful movies
Sick of Hollywood fluff? Subscribe to a socially conscious film series at earthcinemacircle.com or ironweedfilms.com and get cinematic conversation-starters delivered to your door.

What's your green new year's resolution? Share it with us in the comments section.

(Illustrations by Josef Gast)

Saving Santa

Looking for a last-minute gift that shows you care about the environment too? Reader Tom Dusky from Huntington Woods, Michigan, writes:

"This Christmas, I am giving long underwear, with a note from Santa saying: 'Save Santa's home at the North Pole by reducing global warming. If you are good and wear your long underwear, you can turn your thermostat down 3 or 4 degrees and still be comfortable. Don't forget, Santa can't swim!'"

Happy holidays!

Daily Tip: Dec 21, 2007

When snow piles up in your driveway, avoid using gasoline-powered removal equipment. Electric alternatives still use some energy but create less pollution. Better yet, get out shovels and brooms to clear the snow -- you'll use absolutely no energy but your own!

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

Daily Tip: Dec 20, 2007

Buying a hybrid isn't the only way to reduce your car's impact on the environment. Changing your driving habits can increase your vehicle’s fuel efficiency and reduce its carbon emissions while keeping you safer on the road. Here's how:

• Take it easy. Aggressive driving, including abrupt starts, extreme acceleration, and hard braking wastes gas and contributes significantly more pollution than normal driving.
• Travel at the speed limit or lower. Driving at 75 mph instead of 65 mph will decrease your fuel efficiency by about 10 percent, and can dramatically increase tailpipe pollution in many vehicles.

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

Daily Tip: Dec 19, 2007

Fill 'er up: Next time your shampoo, body wash, or lotion bottle is empty, take it to a store that sells those items in bulk and fill your container. Many co-op and eco-minded grocery stores offer this option. Also look for "refill packs" when available for products such as diaper wipes: They use up to 90 percent less packaging than regular, hard-plastic containers.

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

Daily Tip: Dec 18, 2007

A great alternative to cranking up your home’s radiator is making small, heated bean bags. Simply fill a clean sock with uncooked rice or beans and heat it up in the microwave. You can use them in bed, on the sofa while reading, or directly on your body to relieve an ache or pain. Commercial versions are also available in stores.

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

Daily Tip: Dec 17, 2007

When your CFLs eventually burn out, don’t forget to dispose of them properly. Since they contain mercury, they should not be tossed in the garbage bin or put out with regular recycling. (This is especially important for the large, tube-like variety used in offices and other business establishments.) Contact waste management and recycling services in your area to find out the best method of disposal.

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

Daily Tip: Dec 14, 2007

Ditch the disposables and use cloth handchiefs and dish towels instead. At the very least, look for paper products made from recycled content. According to manufacturer Seventh Generation, if every household in the United States replaced just one box of 85 sheet virgin fiber facial tissues with 100 percent recycled ones, we’d save 87,700 trees and 31 million gallons of water.

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

Daily Tip: Dec 13, 2007

Use the air-dry setting on your dishwasher instead of the heat-dry option. Air drying uses 15 to 50 percent less energy in practically the same amount of time. If your dishwasher does not have an air-dry setting, simply open the door once the final rinse is complete. For more tips on saving water and energy while doing the dishes, check out http://www.flexyourpower.org/res/tools/energy_tips_results.html?tips=dishwasher.

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

Daily Tip: Dec 12, 2007

Replacing commercial household cleaners in your home with a bottle of vinegar and water or other homemade concoction reduces your potential exposure to toxic chemicals and saves energy that would have been used in the manufacturing process. If every American household replaced one big-brand bottle with the homemade stuff, it would save millions of barrels of petroleum.

Receive these Tips in your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here.

Daily Tip: Dec 11, 2007

It’s easy to save natural resources and money in the winter. To reduce your energy use and keep money in your pocket during the colder months:

• Set your thermostat to a lower temperature at night and when you’re not in the house.
• Put on warmer clothes and add additional blankets to your bed before turning up the heat.
• Make sure your home’s windows and