Natural and Sustainable

• Collect rainwater from downspouts and use it to water your won garden and plants.

• Say no to carpeting. Carpet contains more contaminants and pollen and dust than anything else in your home.

• Buy green power when you can and ask your utility company to off it if they don’t already. The typical U.S. household uses about 10,000 KWH a year.

• Repair, and don’t replace appliances. Each fix means your won’t be buying a new one and it will keep your old one out of landfills. IF you feel you must replace, then donate the broken or semi-broken one to a company that refurbishes or repairs then and resells then.

• Buy energy-efficient appliance when you do replace. Energy Star appliance use 10 to up to 50% less energy and water and must meet EPA efficiency guidelines.

• Dry your dishes on the dishwasher rack and if your dishwasher offers the air dry option, use that as well.

• Buy secondhand clothing or household items as tag sales and save the carbon cost of new production.

• Hang your laundry out to dry on a clothes line and eliminate one dryer cycle per week or more.

• Clean AC filters or replace them when necessary to keep your AC unit running smoothly.

• Run ceiling fans instead of the air conditioner in hot climates; this can save you more than a ton of CO2 waste within your won home.

• Use cold water to wash and rinse your clothes, only use hot water when the laundry is very dirty and always wash your bedding in hot water to kill bed bugs and dust mites.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Go for low flow showerheads, this switch can save you 1800 in eclectic cost and 43o in natural gas depending on how your water is heated. Not to mention the savings in water cost and waste as well. Consider putting in a low-flow toilet as well.

1. Reduce, Recycle, Reuse: If you recycle paper you use 70 percent less energy and 55 percent less water than creating paper from new source. Whenever possible, use washable cups, napkins, plates and towels instead of paper one. Pay as many bills as you can online to reduce the paper waste when a bill is sent to you through the mail. Also, please consider the planet when you go to print something from your computer.

2. Eliminate the uselessness of packaging: Use reusable shopping bags wherever you go. Drink filters water straight from the tap. Avoiding plastic containers can help save 1.5 million barrels of petroleum each year.

3. Reduce your carbon footprint at home: Replace your bulbs with CFLs or LEDs and always turn off the lights when you aren’t using them. Turn off your ceiling fans as well. Unplug your stereos, phone chargers and also your video games when you aren’t’ suing them. Set your water heater no high than 120 degrees. Vacuum your refrigerators coils monthly and keep your freezers stocked full. Consider installing solar-powered items in your home such as ceiling fans on decks or porches or pool lights.

4. Travel more green: Check your tires often and get regular tune-ups. Consider investing in a hybrid vehicle or ride a bike or scooter for shorter trips within your town or to a friend’s house. If you work near co-workers consider carpooling and walk every chance you get that means even consider taking the stairs from time to or all the time.

5. Buy organic when you can: Organic has no pesticide residue or chemical enhanced ingredients. Also many organic products have been produced sustainable, using less energy and less water. This in turn protects the animal and water supply, which in turn protects wildlife and plants

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Garden outdoors as much as possible. Plant trees and shrubs to help shade your home in the summer and block cold winds in the winter. Select organic and heirloom seeds for your garden as well. Use paper and grass clippings as much and reduce your water usage. Water your garden heavily in the early morning or late in the evening. And never ever use chemicals fertilizers or pesticides.

• What you will need:

-Recycled, plastic container. Make sure it is pretty tall so you can continue to fill it without having to empty it as often.

-Utility knife

-Recycled paper

-Scissors

-Recycled tape

What you will need to do:

Wash and clean the plastic container thoroughly. Especially clean it well if it contained soaps or other washing liquids or cleaners. Next, tear away any labeling and add this labeling to your recycling of paper goods on the curbside pick up.

Take the recycled paper and make palm tree leaves or daisy petals to add to the top if your coin bank. You can even paint the outside of the container with paints or use the recycled paper and make additional designs and paste them on the outside of the container. Once the paints and the paste dry, start adding coins to your newly made bank. Once the bank is full, donate the money to a wildlife charity or buy seeds to plant in your garden. This project is good at teaching children the three Rs. Reduce, Reuse, And Recycle.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Make you own paints and pastes, here’s how:

For watercolors: Stir 1/2 tbs. of powdered drink mix with 1/2 tbs. of warm water.

For paste: Mix 3/4 cup cold water with 1/2 cup cornstarch. Bring 2 tsp corn syrup, 1 tsp. white vinegar, and 3/4 cup water to a boil in a saucepan. Slowly add the cornstarch mix to the boiling mixture. Stirring until dissolved. Let cool for 24 hours. Store in an airtight container. These two recipes are better for the environment and your child’s health in the long run.

1. Recycled tin is the best idea for any home furnishing. You can find many household decorating items, such as lamps or even certain light fixtures made of recycled tin. Try Stray Dog Designs.

2. Many of your beddings and throws are made with chemicals and other harmful ingredients. And most are dyed with unnatural dyes that can either bleed or cause asthma problems later. Try finding ones made of natural dyes and better ingredients. Try Garnet Hill.

3. If you are looking for stools or even nightstand try reaching for ones made of solid wood or a company that gathers their goods for salvaged or a sustainable source. Try ABC Carpet & Home @ (212-473-3000).

4. Rugs are made from a material that can leach contaminant for month and months after they are purchased. So reach for a rug that is made from better sources, such as wool, felt and twine. Try Felt Rugs.

5. An organization like Sao Paulo, allows homeless people to transform recycled newspaper into one of kind bowls that you can actually use within your own home. This program allows these people to work and they are paid a wages in order to survive. Try Brastilo.

6. Wallpaper and the wallpaper adhesive is one of the most controversial paints now days. Instead of using conventional wall paper methods to cover your walls in your house try using ones that are more eco-friendly. Try DDbuilding.

7. As stated above, using better furniture and wood pieces in your home is the better option for yourself and the environment and better made products last longer as well. For your next table purchase needs try Autoban-Delaespada to find stores that carry better for the environment goods.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Recycle your rechargeable batteries just the same as you would your conventional batteries. If it doesn’t hold a charge, send it in into for recycling. Call 2 Recycle is a company that offers drop-off locations for those batteries. Visit their web site or call them toll-free at (877-2-recycle).

Wildlife Birdfeeder

What you will need :
• 2-liter plastic soda bottle with the plastic screw top in place
• A Hammer
• A Nail
• Duct Tape
• Wooden Dowel
• Funnel
• Bird Seed
• Twine or Hemp String
• Paints or permanent markers

What you need to do :
Using the hammer and the nail, punch two pencil-sized holes on opposite sides of the plastic soda bottle. Make sure you punch them, just before the curve of the bottle begins near the top. Push the wooden dowel through the holes to form a perch for the birds to sit while they eat from your feeder.

Next, punch two larger holes about 1 in half inches from the perch, just above where the birds will sit. Be sure and make these holes large enough for the birds to be able to pick out the bird seeds while they are eating, but not too large that the seed falls out.

Finally, Punch two to four more holes into the bottle of the soda bottle so you can be able to feed the twine through the holes and hang your feeder from a nearby tree. Once the holes in the bottom are made, feed the twine through. Kids can now help paint or use a permanent marker to place whatever they want to on the outside of the bottle. Once the paint is dry, place a small piece of duct tape over all the holes so you can feed the birdseed into the soda bottle through the top using the funnel. Once your birdseed is in, screw the top back on, flip upside down and hang your feeder outside and remove the duct tape.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Making more for the birds. Preparing nesting supplies for your local birds is such a simple process. All you need is a mesh cotton grocery bag and fill it with items such as shredded paper, fabric strips, cotton balls, feathers or batting. Dry grass or pine needles. Hang this in a spot that is out of the way of predators and is easy accessible to many birds.

Most bottled water you purchase is basically just tap water in a mask. Most bottled water manufactures’ market on the idea that the consumer thinks they are buying better water in a bottle, but tap water is held in higher standard than most if not all bottled water is. But with this thought many people depend greatly on bottled water which is taking a great toll on our environment in a big way.

The environmental impact creates fossil fuel consumption, water consumption and ever massive amounts of waste every year. There is approximately 1.5 million gallons of oil, enough to run about 100, 000 cars for a whole year used in making the plastic which holds this water we are consuming. The water we are consuming is effecting nearby farmers that are close to the bottling plant. There are millions of gallons of water used to make the plastic to hold the water and 2 gallons of water are wasted in the purification process as well. The waste is what’s taking a toll the most. There are only about 10 percent of the plastic water bottles being recycled; leaving the rest in a landfill where it takes thousands of years for the materials to decompose completely.

There is a better and cheaper alternative to this ever growing problem. Simply turn on the tap the next time you want a quick drink of water. Installing a faucet-mounted filter or keeping a pitcher filter in your fridge will take out some of the tap-water taste from the city water as well. If you are away from home, be sure and take your own water in a stainless steel or plastic container with the numbers 2, 4 or 5 instead of buying bottled water. Always bring your own water (BOYW) whenever you can.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Use recycled content toilet paper. If everyone in the U.S. used one recycled roll per year it would save 424,000 trees.

It’s hot, so what’s the first thing most people think to do? Get cooler, obviously. Most people have central heating and air conditioning inside their homes or at least a water cooled air system or even a window unit to help cool their homes. But, did you know that placing ceiling fans in proper locations within your home will help cool the air even more.

Ceiling fans use 90 percent less energy than an air conditioning system and they make the room seem cooler by seven to even ten degrees cooler. They ultimately help push the air around making it seem cooler automatically.

By placing a fan in your attic alone will help cut your air conditioning cost by at least 10 percent, depending on the size of the fan, of course.

If you must still cool the air in order to be in your home during the summer months, depending on where you live, look for Energy-Star-rated models, which have an Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER) about a 10. Call you local air conditioning dealer to ask which Energy-Star approved model is best for your home. Mike’s Heating and Air Conditioning in Royal, Arkansas sells brands such as Frigidaire/Nordyne and Rheem systems that are all Energy-Star approved. What’s more with nearer Energy-Star approved models is the change from R22 to new Environmentally Friendly 410 A. This new refrigerant isn’t harmful to the ozone layer and is better for the environment overall. Ask your local A/C dealer if they carry the new refrigerant and how to change your older model A/C that uses R22 to a more environmentally friendly model. Do it for your health and your environment.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Buy local by shopping at you local neighborhood farmer’s market. This option allows you to support farmers and introduce your children to fresh, seasonal foods. If you can, join a Community Supported Agriculture group, (CSA). These groups cost about $20 a week and give you access to fresh shares of vegetables, fruits and even some meats and eggs. Check out Local Harvest to get started taking advantage of the groups in your area today.

Kids love art projects, so why not use items within your own home to help with the art project basket or tote. You can find thing lying around or that were once used for something else to add to that art project basket and here’s how:

• For Paintbrushes: Use clean roll-on deodorant sticks, old tooth brushes, sponges, old pencil erasers.

• For Canvases: Use newspaper, cardboard boxes or inserts, paper bags, old tarp pieces, left over wrapping paper, or even left over carpet remnants.

• For Templates: Use plastic containers or lids for circles, an old flip flop and cut out pieces and designs from the foam of the shoe bottom, jug lids, old leggos for squares and even square pieces of wood.

You can get creative with just about anything lying around your house, your garage or even in your yard. If you take a trip around and use a bit of imagination, anything can be use to paint with. And it’s fun to reuse items and show off how you reused them to others.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: If more people walked or biked to their two mile or less destinations there would be less need for foreign oils and less carbon emissions. But since many depend so much on their car there are other ways to help with this issue: Avoid idling in drive through lines, park and go inside instead of sitting and waiting in your car. Carpool whenever you can and take public transportation instead. If you cut just 20 miles out of driving a week you can save up to 1,000 lbs. of emissions a year.

Making your own recycled watering jug:

What you will need:
1. 1/2 gallon plastic jug, such as orange juice or milk jugs. Use a jug that has a sturdy handle so you child can easily hold the jug while using it.

2. Hammer and nail; to punch holes in the jug so the water can drain while using it.

4. Colored duct tape or paints (Use non-toxic, no-water-based paints for this project)

5. Small bucket (to collect water to use in the jug for watering the plants with)

What you need to do:

Using a hammer and nails to punch 10 to 15 holes about 1/4-inch apart in the upper corner of the jug on the opposite side of the handle of the jug. Cluster the holes just as you see in a purchased water can.

Kids can design the jug in anyway they want. You want to use water-proof sticker and or water-proof paints. If you use water-based paints, they will dissolve over time, so find some nontoxic paints that will withstand the use of water and your child using the jug.

The bucket can be placed in the shower to collect shower run off and your kids can use that extra water to water their plants with. Or go one step better and have them help you create a rain collection barrel. This will show kids the importance of saving water and also recycling old into something new.

Kids will love this jug project because it is something they made that they can use everyday on their own plants and/or garden plants.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Be smart about the toys your child plays with. Look for second hand toys at yard sales or second hand stores and the wooden toys with nontoxic finishes are the best for your child. Plastic toys aren’t so great all the time. Plus wooden toys last a lot longer than plastic ones do anyway so they are well worth your money and your health in the long run.

The best way to change for a greener lifestyle is to eat more fruits and vegetables and it’s a healthy way for the body, as well. The Environmental Working Group estimates that you can significantly reduce your family’s exposure to pesticides, chemicals and other harmful toxins by as much as 90 percent by going organic. There is a category known as “the dirty dozen” that every family should eat organic anyway. Pesticides are used in great amount on these 12 fruits and vegetables and it’s a great practice to get into by taking a list of these foods when you grocery shop.

The Dirty Dozen:
• Apples
• Bell Peppers
• Celery
• Cherries
• Imported Grapes
• Nectarines
• Peaches
• Pears
• Potatoes
• Raspberries
• Spinach
• Strawberries

Try this recipe to help get more veggies in you and your family’s diet.
Veggie Quesadillas
Serves: 4

1/2 medium red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1/2 cup cooked corn
1 cup refried beans
4 taco-size whole wheat tortillas
1 cup grated Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese
1/2 cup steamed vegetables such as spinach, squash, zucchini, etc.
Salt and pepper to taste

Steam the bell pepper with 1/4 cup water in a large saucepan with a lid for 2 minutes. Add the corn and other vegetables, and refried beans, cooking on low until heated.

Arrange the filling on 2 tortillas. Sprinkle with cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Cover with remaining tortillas.

Arrange quesadillas on a nonstick baking sheet and bake at 400°F or until tortillas are golden, about 12 to 15 minutes.

To find out other ways to eat more “green” visit Earthly Eating here at 451 Press.

Also check out Local Harvest to find the “greenest” farms around in your own area.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Save water in more ways than one.
1. Turn off the faucet while brushing your teeth to save 50 gallons a week per person.
2. Keep a water pitcher in the refrigerator instead of letting the faucet run.
3. Cut your showers to about five minutes or even less.

1. Use vegetables dyed jute or paint on your walls in your home. There are many options that have low VOCs and always use non-toxic paints in nurseries and in children’s play rooms and bedrooms.

2. Try 100 percent hemp or bamboo curtains in your front room or bedroom.

3. The mango tree is the fastest growing and sustainable product other than bamboo, try to change out your lighting for more sustainable options.

4. Mahogany furniture is a great way to live more green. Try an end table from Palecek (800-274-7730)

5. Soy-based cushions for your furniture or even slip covers are a great way to live more green.

6. Recycled polyester is easy to clean, and a great addition to your other green furniture.

7. Canvas bags to take shopping at the local farmers’’ market or even the book store is a great green option.

8. Try to wrap your food or cover your left over’s with 100% recycled aluminum foil.

9. Try unbleached, undyed, organic cotton cloth tea towels to dry your own dishes off with or dry your hands on. You can even pick the same options up for cloth napkins as well.

10. Add cookbooks to your collection that includes recipes on using local and seasonal foods.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Where does your presidential candidate stand on environmental issues. If you presidential hopeful doesn’t have a strong will for change and helping the environment, then why not find one who does. Find out where your choice for president stands by clicking here.

There is a claim that the diet children are eating, the typical American diet is exposing children to high amounts and sometimes sickening levels of pesticides. Many parents are going for the more organic approach with foods that their children are eating every day. Instead of allowing children to go to the corner shop to get a soda, bag of chips and a candy bar they are opting for the local farmers market and having them grab a locally grown options such as fruits and vegetables.

A common used agricultural pesticides called organophosphorus (OP) insecticides are known to have a negative neurological effect on the body and especially the body of young children and even some babies. In one 2003 study done by the University of Washington a group of 23 children ages 3 to 11 had their urine tested twice a day for 15 days. When the diet was switched to a more organic choice in food the levels of malathoin and chlorpyifos (OP insecticides that are used on fruits, vegetable and even wheat gardens) in their systems. (Source: Organic Gardening 2006)

The bottom line on this study proved that organic diets help reduce your child’s exposure to OP and other pesticides that can ultimately cause health issues later in their young life’s.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Now is the time of year to get your hands on berries, fruits and even certain amounts of veggies at the local farmers’ markets. If you over stock on the produce that is locally, organically, and naturally grown, can it, freeze it and even dry it to help with your winter local produce fix and to eat great and local all year long.

• Convince a friend or even a neighbor family to reduce their water usage.

• Ask your church or synagogue to convert to green power. Get your church to switch to renewable energy and improve their energy efficiency.

• Pick an initiative and lobby in your community. Recruiting just 500 people to recycle their newspapers every day would reduce the impact significantly.

• Support the bike lanes in every town, especially your own. As well as car pooling, mass transit, and green space, then get 50 people to commute by bike or even by bus.

• Volunteer on your community council or for an advocacy group to fight global warming. Conduct a campaign to convert 3,000 homes in your own town to changing to CFL light bulbs.

• Write letters to the editor and express your own opinion in community group meetings in support for action on climate change.

• Give away your old clothes, your household goods, and other items you don’t use to friends in need, neighbors in need and even charities. Post your unwanted goods on Free Cycle or even Craigslist.

• Organize a clothing swap with at least 10 other friends and save yourself and everyone involved some money in the long run.

• Ask your county dump to open a reuse center where you can bring items that another family could use that are in need.

• Plants trees in your community that are in need of a mother earth-touch. Start with your own yard and then venture out from there.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Turn your computer off when you are not using it. Even when in “energy saver” mode computers continue to use a lot of energy.

Not only is having a garden a great asset to your already earth-friendly behavior, picking the right kind of seedlings, seed starts and even some plants is just as important as well.

During my time of searching our seedling packages and seed starts I have come across two great companies that are in the eco-friendly business of bringing you quality plant starts in eco-friendly packaging and the starts are organically grown as well.

Gro’we is a company based in Bellingham, Washington and carries corn starts, zucchini, yellow and green squash and even tomato starts in eco-friendly containers made from rice hulls that can be composted with your compost pile or even through your local municipal composting facility. The company is USDA certified organic and they are also certified organic by Washington State Department of Agriculture as well. I found these potted seed starts at my local Bi-Mart but they can also be found at many nurseries as well as some grocery stores that carry seed starts.

Eco Starts is a company based in Hillsboro, Oregon and is certified organic through the USDA as well as through Oregon Tilth. They carry many of the same variety of plants for your garden needs but their container the plant seedlings comes in can be planted right into the ground,. the plastic sleeve and all. The plastic sleeve is made from a compost able corn product even though it looks and feel like plastic. Eco-Start save your time and your money as well as their companies own resources.

These two companies are in the business of offering you great quality, earth-friendly products that require less work on the environment overall. This growing season or even the next growing season, give these two companies a try and make the change to better eco-friendly garden practices a every day thought.

*Natural and Sustainable Living tip: Make your own compost for your garden instead of buying pre-made compost. You will help save plastic, labor cost as well as give something back to the ground that should be there naturally anyway.

You may think that all the suggestions to change in order to help the planet are too many to change at once or that practicing them all can’t really be all that important, but they are. All of them. No matter what you hear that is “supposed to help the environment”, what could it hurt in changing for the better? And you should change little by little and not jump head first into all the changes within your own household or you will end up over whelming yourself more than you think., this will lead to burn out on trying to change and you may give up. So start slow. One small step you can change the next shopping trip you make is with your toilet paper choices. It’s also the one change that you can make today and keep it for ever. Choosing recycled toilet paper is a great change within your own household and for the better of the environment. It’s a good everyday change that will even come in handy when you just can’t find the right paper.

What is it about recycled toilet paper, you may ask, that is good for the environment. Here are the facts to back up why the change in toilet paper is a great step toward environmentally friendly behavior.

By Recycling 1 ton of paper you save:

17 trees
6953 gallons of water
463 gallons of oil
587 pounds of air pollution
3.06 cubic yards of landfill space
4077 Kilowatt hours of energy

So grab for recycled toilet paper and do one step more to help the environment and your own septic system.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Every cahnge we do to better the planet and our lives is one step closer to stopping rapid climate change. Global warming and climate change is a very real and threatening problem, if you just recycle one can, that is one step in the right direction.