Go Green in the New Year

One way to go green this near year is to change all of your standard incandescent light bulbs in your home to compact fluorescent bulbs. You will instantly see savings on your monthly power bill.

Another way to go green and save money on your monthly power bill is to set your thermostat a few degrees lower in the winter and a few degrees higher in the summer.

Yet another way to save on your monthly utility bill is to unplug appliances and gadgets when you aren't using them. All these appliances continue to draw electricity even when switched to the off position.

A big step to save money and go green during a recession is to stop buying and drinking bottled water. Try drinking tap water instead. Bottled water is very wasteful on many different levels. In fact, bottled water can cost up to 10,000 times more per unit than the same amount of tap water. Bottled water is also an industry with a huge carbon footprint left by the entire process, from the manufacturing of the bottles, to the shipping of the bottled water, to the waste produced by disposed bottles. In most developed countries, tap water is cheap, safe, clean, adheres to higher standards, and tastes just fine. If you don't like the taste of your tap water, then install a filter or purchase a pitcher with a filter for tap water. Both options will quickly be much cheaper than buying bottled water, and there are many filters and devices available on the market. When you would would normally take bottled water with you somewhere, bring a reusable container of tap water instead.

Another way to go green this new year and to positively affect your health while saving money is to stop driving everywhere and try to walk, bike, and use public transportation more often.

Eating smaller portions at mealtimes and eating less meat each week is another way to go green, save money, and positively affecting your health in the new year.
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Tips for a green New Year's Eve party

1) Plan a local menu. 

2) Rent instead of buy.

3) Flowers don't have to be exotic. 

4) Invitations don't have to use paper.

5) Decorate your space using nature's goods. 

6) Don't use plastic or Styrofoam plates. 

7) Send guests home with leftovers! 

8) Don't buy noise makers. 

9) Make a list of resolutions with friends. 

10) Clean up using natural materials.

Day after Christmas

Hope that you all had an enjoyable Christmas with family and friends. 
This year I wrapped all our presents in newspaper-attached is a picture of
some of them.  How many of you used some of the
green tips on this blog or others?

Give the gift of Green

Your green gifts have all been bought, and if you're a last minute wrapper,  it's time to unload them from the hall closet, try to figure out which gifts are for whom, and devise a tasteful way to regift that sweater Aunt Agnes gave you last year (after all, regifting is a very green concept).  You wouldn't want to undo all your green efforts by using needless paper, foil, tape, ribbons, and bows.  I'm happy to "present

" to you some import eco-conscious gift wrapping

tips:

1.  Rather than Stryofoam packing peanuts, why not just use real peanuts?  Instead of bubble wrap or tissue paper, opt for popcorn, grass, or rice.  You could also shred that pile of paper recycleables to make a festive confetti stuffing.

2.  Whenever possible, go with the gift bag or decorative gift box.  If you're afraid that will seem lazy or cheap (I, for one, am not afraid of this assumption), use cloth to wrap your gifts. 

3.  Thanks to innovations such GPS systems and GoogleMaps, road maps are quickly becoming relics and so, too, are newspapers.  Why not use those ancient mediums for wrapping paper this Christmas

?  Give your gifts an antique look with the icons of yesteryear - maps and newspapers. 

Green Christmas - Part 2

Recycling fresh trees after Christmas can make a huge difference in reducing holiday waste. Instead of taking up space in the landfill, trees can be ground into wood chips, which can be used to mulch gardens or parks or to prevent erosion at a local watershed.

The National Christmas Tree Association, an organization which represents Christmas tree growers, has teamed up with Scottsdale, Arizona-based conservation group Earth 911 to point consumers in the right direction with their trees. On their Web site, you can enter your zip code to find the nearest of 3,800-plus spots nationwide that accept old trees.

Low-Energy Lights

The newest energy-saving stars on the holiday scene are Christmas lights made with light-emitting diodes, or LEDs. First introduced in 2001, LEDs incorporate the same computer-chip technology used to light calculators and watches. The lights, which use semiconducting material rather than incandescent filaments, are 90 percent more efficient than traditional Christmas lights.

According to one U.S. Department of Energy study, if everyone replaced their conventional holiday light strings with LEDs, at least two billion kilowatt-hours of electricity could be saved in a month.

The savings would be enough to power 200,000 homes for a year, according to Littleton, Colorado-based Holiday Creations, which makes and distributes a popular line of LED light strings.

Karyn Atwood, Holiday Creations' director of domestic and commercial sales, notes other added bonuses: The LEDs release little heat, and they last about 200,000 hours. In the unlikely event that one does burn out, she said, the rest of the lights keep on glowing.

Green Christmas - Part 1

Yes, the holidays draw out the best in most of us each year. But they also bring what seems like an environmentalist's worst nightmare: tons of extra garbage, millions of chopped-down trees, and megawatts of flashing lights. With a little tweaking, however, everything from holiday gift-giving to light-stringing can celebrate the environment, too. Here's how:

Between Thanksgiving and New Year's day, Americans throw away a million extra tons [900,000 metric tons] of garbage each week, including holiday wrapping and packaging, according to Robert Lilienfeld. Lilienfield is co-author of the book Use Less Stuff: Environmental Solutions for Who We Really Are.

So why not recycle holiday gift wrap? Lilienfield, who has published a newsletter on reducing waste since 1996, notes that if every family reused just 2 feet [0.6 meter] of holiday ribbon, the 38,000 miles [61,000 kilometers] of ribbon saved could tie a bow around the entire planet.

And not all gifts need wrapping. "Think back to your three favorite holiday memories," Lilienfeld said. "I'm willing to bet that they all involve time you spent with your family and friends."

By giving gifts that can be experienced, like tickets to a baseball game or a homemade dinner, you can minimize wrapping and still win points with the receiver. "People like these gifts just as much," he said.

National Geographic

Green Christmas decorations

Christmas time is just around the corner and it's the season of giving and decorating lovely Christmas decor and ornaments. It will be great if we make our own. It'll be unique and can use recycled materials.

1.  Christmas Stockings

Materials:

- a pair of sock

- big red and green buttons

- sewing kit (use green thread for a red button and red thread for the green button)

Simple steps:

Just sew the big button one at a time. Spread them evenly on the sock and alternately.

2.  Pine cone and bow ribbon ornaments

Materials:

- pine cone dried and cleaned

- glitter glue or glitters

- glue gun

- strings

- red and green bow (small one not bigger than the pine cone

Here's how:

Just simple put glitter glue on each side of the pine cone (on each scale side). Put the string on the top of the cone to use it to hang on the Christmas tree. Then on the string glue the bow.

3.  Decorative giant candle holder

Materials:

- giant glass in any shape

- candle that can be place inside the glass

- artificial poinsettia

- glue gun

- greenery

- plain white, green or red color plate (circle or square will do)

- small pine cones

Here's how:

Place the giant glass at the top of the plate. Make sure that the glass is in the center of the plate. Place the candle inside the glass; secure it with a glue gun. Line the 3 poinsettias at the front base of the glass; secure it with a glue gun. Then, place the greenery around the base of the glass. Then scatter the pine cone all over the base. You now have a beautiful decorative giant candle holder.

9 Eco-Friendly Ways to De-Ice Your Driveway

Snow shovel
Minimize snow and ice by shoveling, and the sooner after snow stops falling, the better. If shoveling is too challenging for you, pay a neighborhood kid a few dollars to help.

Go electric (if you must)
If you prefer to use a snow blower, get an electric model. Gas-powered blowers generate a lot more air and noise pollution

Try a "snow melt mat"
If you’re installing a new driveway or replacing an old one, lay down electric wires to heat the driveway from below and radiate heat upwards. Yes, you pay for electricity, so it’s not as “eco” as shoveling by hand. On the other hand, it may be better than using chemicals that pollute the water and endanger plants and pets. It would cost someone living in the Washington, DC area (where I live) about $14 in electricity each time the system was used – though that doesn’t include the cost of installing the system. Electricity costs will vary by region. (NOTE: I’m not recommending you tear up a perfectly good driveway to put in a snow melt system!)

Get a grip
Scatter sand or even birdseed for traction. The grains won’t melt snow or ice, but they will give you more grip on icy surfaces.

Scrimp on the de-icer
Remember, the job of a de-icer is to loosen ice from below to make it easier to shovel or plow. Don’t pile on the de-icer thinking you’ll remove the ice completely. You won’t. The recommended application rate for rock salt is around a handful per square yard you treat. Calcium chloride will treat about 3 square yards per handful.

Pick your salt carefully
If you do use salt, choose wisely. Sodium chloride (NaCL) may contain cyanide. Calcium chloride (CaCl) is slightly better since less goes farther, but it is still not ideal, since its run-off still increases algae growth, which clogs waterways. Potassium chloride is another salt to avoid. • Whatever you use, keep it away from landscape plants, especially those that are particularly salt-sensitive, like tulip poplars, maples, balsam firs, white pines, hemlock, Norway spruce, dogwood, redbud, rose bushes and spirea bushes.

Skip the kitty litter or wood ashes
Neither melts snow and ice, and they have a tendency to get messy when it warms up.

Avoid products that contain nitrogen-based urea
They’re more expensive and are not effective once the temperature drops below 20°F. Plus, the application rate for urea during a single deicing is ten times greater than that needed to fertilize the same area of your yard. Remember that the urea you apply to the ground will eventually run off into the street, down the drain, and into lakes and streams.

Get the boot
Wear boots that have a solid toe and bottom treads to help increase your grip on icy surfaces.

The daily green

Holiday Crafts

					Greeting Card Gift Box Recycle greeting cards by turning them into gift boxes. You will need: Two greeting cards A pencil A ruler Scissors Tape 1. Cut the picture side of the cards from their backs. 2. Use the ruler to make an "X" by drawing two lines from corner to corner on the blank side of the card (Figure A). 3. Using one card, fold all edges, two sides at a time, to meet in the middle of the cross (Figure B). Reserve the other card. 4. Cut along the areas shown in red (Figure C). 5. Fold the side tabs inward, twice, to create the box. 6. Tape the inner seams. You can also tuck the seams together to avoid using tape. To make the lid, repeat the steps above, but in step 3, fold the edges slightly away from the center of the “X” making the top larger than the bottom allowing the box to close. Greeting Card Placemats Use the pictures from old holiday pressed between two pieces of clear contact paper to make seasonal placemats. Pine Cone Kindling On the stove, melt colored candle stubs in an old metal pot. When the wax has melted, hold the base of the cone and carefully dip the cone tip into the hot wax. Remove and place the cone on a piece of wax paper to cool. Add as kindling to your fireplace.

Green gift wrapping tips

1. Re-use paper shopping bags. This can be done either by placing the gift inside the bags and giving the gifts that way, or you could cut up the bags to make actual wrapping paper. Last year we went out and bought holiday rubber stamps and ink pads and used them to make our own wrapping paper instead of buying rolls of the stuff. This way, we used paper that was already destined for the landfill and used it once more before it gets thrown away or recycled.

2. Re-use wrapping paper from last year. You know you have some sitting around that you folded up real nice and tucked under the bed. Why go out and buy new paper when you already have paper stored away!

3. Use magazine and newspaper comics to wrap the gifts in. Not only does it make for an interesting wrapping job, but it also re-uses that paper one more time before it gets sent to be recycled.

4. For shipping, shred magazine and newspaper for packing materials. Instead of buying packing peanuts or styrofoam for shipping stuff, just start shredding magazines – free packing materials!

5. Old boxes make great gift boxes. From cigar boxes to small shoeboxes, this is a good way to pack those breakables. Stuff the shredded newspapers inside and wrap the outside with your homemade paper and you have a nice custom gift box.

No matter what you do, see if you can avoid buying rolls of new wrapping paper. Most of us have plenty of paper and bags in our houses to wrap gifts for the next couple of years – see if you can make it through the holiday reusing what you already have sitting around. How do you make your holiday more eco-friendly?

From  "The Good Human "

More Winter tips

The Furnace

Just because summer is over, does not mean you should have the heat jacked up in the house. Wear warmer clothing, and leave the drapes open to filter in sunlight and solar power. This will help to have a natural heating filter through.

Avoid Electrical Heaters

Electric heaters are not necessary if you have a furnace and the furnace is not set any higher then room temperature. That would be roughly 60 degrees.

Couch Throws

Keep organic and woolen blankets on the couch, sofa and chairs in your home. Nothing like a good snuggle under a warm blanket.