Tag Archives: green living

Waterpik Ecoflow Showerhead

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that I like to advocate changing out your standard shower head for a low flow version. The problem is, that it isn’t always easy finding a model that works well and is attractive. The “works well” issue is especially important for me. We live in an older home where the water pressure can sometimes be iffy and maintaining a consistent hot water temperature at the furnace level is sometimes difficult. Still, shortly after we moved in, we installed a low flow shower head right away and lived with it … Continue reading →

Green Holiday Cards – Part 1

Not long ago, I blogged about how you could create your own paper. Theoretically, I could create my own paper and then from that, create my own holiday cards, but frankly, I am just not that crafty. Some people say that the e-greeting cards are green and I suppose that is correct, I just find them a bit impersonal. Call me old fashioned, but I liked to sign my holiday cards, address the envelopes, and drop them in the mail. It takes more time, but then that is part of the fun for me. There are some green holiday card … Continue reading →

The Best Green Intentions Can Sometimes Go Awry

So much of green living seems to be a fad or at least tied up with marketing. For example, you can buy organic disposable diapers. Hmm, why not use cloth diapers instead? Although as Colin Beaven, the No Impact Man wrote in his book, “I have to choose between the “angel twist, the ‘newspaper fold,’ the ‘reverse newspaper fold’; the ‘thigh fold,’ and on and one. All I want to do is contain my child’s poop, but apparently I’m learning origami.” And yes, cloth diapers can still have an impact on the environment. We can also buy organic cleaners that … Continue reading →

Dreaming of a Green Christmas

This holiday, why not make sure that you can celebrate by still being responsible? The holidays can be tough on green living practices, with all of the running around and the chaos. Normal things that you do to prevent waste can get put aside. Still, there are so many things that you can do to ensure that your Christmas is green. Light are the most obvious place where you can make some improvement for responsibility. You can replace older lights with more efficient ones, such as LED lights. This way, you will naturally use less electricity. You can also put … Continue reading →

The New “R” in Green Living

You may have heard about the three “Rs” in green living. These are easy to remember guides to practicing responsible consuming. These three points are Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Reduce means to consume less and produce less waste. Reuse means to get the most out of something, rather than discarding it and replacing it with something new. Recycle means you either repurpose something old that you don’t need into something new that you do need, or to recycle that product so it can be made into something new by someone else. There is a new “R” to add to our … Continue reading →

Green Kids Crafts

Today I spent most of the morning with my two youngest kids creating crafts for the fall season. We’ve made pumpkins, leaves, hand turkeys, and even a friendly trick or treater or two. In the process of these crafts, we’ve gone through some paper, some glue and some crayons. It got me thinking about whether or not we are being responsible about all of these crafts. The answer, as you might expect is somewhat. We make use of paper that is already printed on one side, so we are making an effort to get the most out of each piece … Continue reading →

Five Ways to Reduce Your Packaging

Excess packaging is everywhere, and it has a hug impact. Just for one day, keep track of the amount of packaging you generate. Weekends are probably worse than weekdays. If you can fill a box in a couple of days of regular living, with all of your packaging, I wouldn’t be surprised. Reducing that packaging takes a little forethought, but it isn’t as hard to do as it might first seem to be. 1. Go for non-processed. Non-processed foods generally have little to no packaging. Think about produce, for example. Stay away from “bagged apples” for example and bring your … Continue reading →

Vanilla in Our Water

I came across this really interesting piece courtesy of Christine Dell’Amore and the National Geographic Green Guide Blog. Apparently, our earth’s water are actually flavored with the cooking spices and foods that come out of our kitchens. University of Washington associate professor Richard Keil is testing the waters so to speak and finding some interesting things. For example, in the time around the Thanksgiving holiday here in the United States, the Puget Sound (off of the coast of Washington State and British Columbia) tends to get flavored with the spices of time and sage. Summer days and the Independence Day … Continue reading →

What to Do with All of Those Fall Leaves

Just because something is naturally grown doesn’t mean that disposing of it can’t create a problem for the earth. While you might not have thought twice about disposing of those fall leaves in the past, here is why you should be thinking of responsible ways to get rid of fall leaves today. Thing you shouldn’t do With fall clean up, many people opt for using a leaf blower. While this might be a good choice in areas that might otherwise be dangerous (such as getting leaves off of your roof), in general, using a leaf blower is a bad thing. … Continue reading →

Organic Flowers for Fall

When we think of organic, it is usually related to food or maybe even in home goods. We like to buy organic produce, organic chicken and even organic sheets and clothing. But one area that we tend to forget about when it comes to organic is flowers. Fall is a wonderful time of year to decorate your home and outdoor living space with flowers. There is an almost endless bounty and variety of flowers for Autumn. Why not take advantage of what nature has to offer, but do so responsibly? Organic flowers are both harder and easier to find than … Continue reading →