All posts in going green

We love this idea. A self cleaning fish tank that groves food right from your counter top. You can grow a variety of fresh produce, including spinach, baby greens, oregano, beans, basil, mint, parsley & thyme. You can learn more about the product here.

Plastic decorations, candy wrappers, and costumes can lead to a significant increase in household waste at this time of year. Next to christmas halloween is the second biggest holiday for retailers. We dont think that you should skip out on the fun of Halloween but here are some helpful tips on how to keep your halloween green.

Green Decorations:

Try to re-use Halloween decorations in the same way that Christmas ornaments are used from year-to-year, instead of throwing them away each November first. Natural decorations with gourds, pumpkins and Jack-o-Lanterns can be a great replacement for commerically bought plastic decorations! You can also lower your emissions on Halloween by buying locally grown pumpkins, and then lower your waste by composting them after Halloween is over.

Green Trick-or-Treating

Send your children trick-or-treating with reusable buckets, canvas bags or pillow cases. Lower emissions by trick-or-treating in your neighborhood. Pass out healthy, fair-trade candy to the trick-or-treaters that come knocking on your door.

Green Costumes:

Consider reusing or recycling costumes from previous years to make new costumes, or recycling old clothing into new costumes. Set yourself up for next year by making a Halloween costume box and throughout the year throw old clothes, interesting props and recyclable materials into it by the time halloween rolls around again you’ll have a box full of eco friendly materials to repurpose. Planning ahead helps you to avoid those last minute stops at the big box retailer.

In honor of this festive day here are a few tips on how to make your home more green!

Eco-Friendly Paint:

One of the simplest things you can do is to use eco friendly paint. BEco friendly paint is produced with less Vola-tile Organic Compounds (VOC). VOCs are toxic and contribute to ozone depletion and smog formation. Eco-friendly paint is made with more natural materials such as mineral pigments and clay. Here area a couple companies to check out if you are planning a home reno in the near future. AFM Safecoat and American Clay and Ecos Organic Paints

Grow Your Own Veggie or Herb Garden.

Most people claim that they are plant killers and just don’t have the time to grow their own veggies or herbs. In reality, growing your own garden is quite simple and you don’t need much space. There are many eco benefits to growing your own garden – every plant helps to improve air quality, gardens provide habitats to many species and therefore can help to increase biodiversity and by being self sufficient we help to reduce pollution on the environment. This website provides very helpful information to plan your first garden!

Change Your Light Bulbs

Energy efficient (compact fluorescent) light bulbs now come in all shapes and sizes so you don’t have to look at egg whisks all day. There are even bulbs available that can be used in ordinary dimming circuits. Energy efficient bulbs may be more expensive than ordinary bulbs but they will save you money because they use far less electricity and last much longer.