We live in a foresty neighborhood where there are lots of critters running around: chipmunks, squirrels, mice, opossum, raccoons, foxes… My roommate says it’s a bad idea to throw food scraps out into the bushes because a) it’s bad to feed the animals and b) it’ll attract rodents to our house and make them more likely to try to get inside. I feel so wasteful just throwing scraps in the trash. And we rent so we wouldn’t be able to start a full-fledged compost pile. Ideas?

Composting is a great idea, and doable.

There are many different types of compost bins.

Even if you rent, your landlord would probably allow you the space to have a small barrell style composter.

In fact some metropolitan areas have programs where you can get composters from the city.

best

cez

Technorati Tags: compost bins, composting, environmentally friendly, food scraps

My husband and I live in a small apartment, and want to know the basics for living green. Any tips?

The key is reduce, reuse, recycle.

Reduce your purchases (of stuff and of energy). We have been encouraged to be super consumers in recent years but much of what we buy is unnecessary stuff which quickly ends up in landfill. Our parents were perfectly happy with far less stuff and keeping up with the neighbours is the cause of a great deal of stress. It also requires us to work more hours to earn the money to buy the stuff, whereas greater happiness could be achieved by spending the time with family and friends.

Reuse stuff that still has life in it rather than replace it because it is a little shabby or out of date. Learn to repair. Again keeping up with the neighbours is stressful whereas there is great satisfaction in repairing.

Recycle stuff that can no longer be reused.

Living in an apartment you will not have a lot of spare space so I recommend you Google "freecycle" and your town (for example freecycle toronto). It will probably lead you to a community of people that advertise spare stuff for collection by members of the community that can make use of it. It is a great way of reducing what goes to landfill.

Finally I recommend fresh organic food cooked at home.

I am glad you are looking for ways to be more green. Best wishes.

Technorati Tags: energy efficient, landfill, living green tips, organic food, reduce

Hello all

I’m currently writing a research report for my 4th year in Interior Design, I’ve been asked to conduct interviews and ask people on three topics.

1. Living in an eco-friendly home.
2. Living in a multifunctional space.
3. Living in a space efficient environment.

Please could anyone help giving me some ideas on what questions I can ask?

Q. set 1 -
- What are the main advantages to living in an Eco-home?
- What are the disadvantages?
- What were the main motivations for moving into/building an Ecohome? Financial (e.g. cheaper and no Utilites to hook-up), Environmental (e.g. reducing carbon and water water footprint , Independence (e.g living off-grid)
- Do you feel that the aesthetics of your Eco-home were inspired by its environmental profile, or do you believe that they are not relevant in the design criteria
- How much of the aesthetics of your initial dream eco-home did you have to sacrifice, in name of environmental the sustainability?
- How much CO2 does your home save/produce?
- How much H2O ?
- How easy was it to get planning permission for the build [if self-but]

Q. set 2
- What are the main function of your living space?
- What percentage of the time would you say the space is used to serve each distinct function?
- Do you find you sometimes wish you had separate spaces?
- What are the main disadvantages you find about multifunctional spaces?

Q. set 3
- How would you define space-efficiency?
- Which features in your space-planning were of paramount importance
- Which did you have to sacrifice? Was this because of cost, practicality or aesthetics?
- Do you believe space-functionality will become more popular, as the UK becomes the most overpopulated Western Nation?

To all 3:
- How important do you believe aesthetics are, when planning an [Eco-home]; [Multi-functional space], [Space-efficient habitation/workspace].
- Do you believe that form follows function and, if so, do you believe that this results in more or less attractive interior design?

Technorati Tags: eco-friendly home, interior design, multifunctional, space efficient

As it is, I walk mostly everywhere I go, so as not to add more car transmissions into the environment. I recycle paper, bottles, and cans. But what else can I do to live more green and eco-friendly?

Going green is easy, there are so many great resources about the subject. My personal favorite is "The Green Book" which has parts of its book online as well at www.readthegreenbook.com.

As I have been striving to "Go Green" I realize it is like stepping back in time without getting rid of my modern conveniences. I’m doing many things I learned as a child, like line drying my clothes, sweeping instead of vacuuming, opening the windows in the morning to catch the cool breeze, only buying what I need instead of everything that looks cool, growing some of my own food, and canning what I can’t eat now.

To me "going Green" is a frame of mind. Do what fits your lifestyle and do the easy things first, it is a process and like dieting if you go to radical to soon, you are more likely to go back to bad habits. I also believe there are good, better, best choices in most things. If you aren’t ready to start a home garden, then try finding a farmers market, until you locate one look for produce grown as close to home as possible and go organic when available.

Many people think "going green" is expensive, I disagree. Some changes may take an initial investment, but they usually have a short payoff time. Things like weatherstiping and insulation cost, but the energy savings will add up quickly. You may need to purchase reusable bags, but most stores give you a 5 or 10 cent credit, so you are paid back within a few months.

My top tips are make your home more energy efficient, that also means using natural light, cooling and heating.

Reduce your packaging, if you eat more fresh food you will generally reduce packaging, it’s the same thing they tell dieters, shop the perimiter, that is where all the meat, dairy and produce are located. Only buy what you will use, many Americans throw away a lot of unused food. Buy in bulk, that doesn’t just mean large packages, but that area with the bins that you buy only what you plan on using.

Replace disposable items with durable items, if you eat outside often and use disposable paper or plastic plates, it is a wise investment to purchase a set of reusable plastic plates. Replace disposable razors, diapers and cleaning products like swiffer. Avoid bottled water, get a home filter like Pur or Brita.

Recycle, www.earth911.org will help you locate the nearest recycle center. I try to only purchase plastics that are #1 or #2, they are more easily recycled. I also buy recycled products when available, that includes paper towels, napkings, toilet paper, tissue, school/office supplies and clothing.

Detox your cleaning, vinegar and baking soda clean almost anything, they can even losen a hair clog. Seventh Generation and Method are a couple mainstream brands that are very earth friendly.

Just start small and build from there, don’t get overwhelmed.

Technorati Tags: eco-friendly, green living

http://www.HippyGourmet.com

http://www.BetterWorldBooks.com

In this segment from Organic Living TV with the Hippy Gourmet we meet up with Xavier Helgesen, Co-founder of BetterWorldBooks.com. BetterWorldBooks.com is an on-line book seller with a defined purpose to spread literacy throughout the world, while creating sustainable avenues for dealing with used books from colleges and libraries. Special thanks to the GreenFestival and Co-op America

Duration : 0:3:38

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Technorati Tags: Betterworld, books, festival, gourmet, Green, hippy, living, national, organic, PBS, TV

Frogwalking host, Christy Stesky (happyfrog.ca) talks with Susan Johnston (Green Coast Weddings) about how to put on a green and environmentally-friendly wedding. Interviewed from the floor of the Green Living Show in Vancouver, BC, Canada on March 1, 2008

Duration : 0:3:17

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Technorati Tags: eco, environment, environmentally friendly, events, Green, happyfrog, living, planner, show, sustainability, sustainable, wedding

DigInfo – http://www.diginfo.tv

Amadam exhibited eco friendly products that use bamboo at the Eco Products 2008 Exhibition. The products are based on a concept of “living with bamboo”.

Bamboo is grown almost entirely without the use of agrochemicals, can grow in 3 months, and can be used in products after three years. Therefore, companies are focusing on bamboo as a superior ecological material that can be used in place of cotton and timber.

Amadam began selling the eco-friendly bamboo products in September and is now selling its products on-line through Yahoo Japan and Rakuten.

Duration : 0:1:49

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Technorati Tags: 2008, AMADAM, bamboo, DigInfo, eco, living, products, with

Faith leaders and community activists of Harlem have joined forces to fight for environmental justice through a green mapping project. Green mapping identifies both green places, such as parks, and environmental hazards, such as places with high emissions.
This video is brought to you by Earth Institute of Columbia University.
This is a Earth Institute project.

Duration : 0:8:47

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Technorati Tags: asbestos, asthma, Columbia University, community, Earth Institute, eco-justice, emission, environment hazards, Green, green mapping, Harlem

Why is it so expensive to live organic and green? Where food is concerned, organic products are much more expensive than non-organic products. I just read an article that Honda has introduced a vehicle that is similar to the Civic and runs basically on water. Yet a 3 year lease of the vechicle costs $600 per month. I know that the technology that allows a vehicle to run on water is not at all new. So why is green living so expensive? At a time when our planet really needs to use alternative fuel sources, the overwhelming majority of people cannot begin to consider a change because our economy is in such bad condition. How is someone that is just getting by supposed to get on this bandwagon?

the previous answer is only partially true. Yes Organic food is much more diffucult to get because they can only use natural fertilizers and no pesticides whatso ever, therefor making less of a yield and a higher cost. As for the electric car your talking abou im sure you read the same article on Yahoo as everyone else. It does cover matinence and other cost related to the car. The reason why it is so expensive is because it is very new. It may be better but this is basically a large beta test of how this technology works at home. There are only roughly 200 of these cars on the road so if you have a limited supply you can charge whatever you want due to the insane amount of demand for it. I am not sure if Honda has the technology to mass produce these yet, so these cars could be built one at a time there for increasing cost. Our economy is in bad condition but hopefully with the up coming election things may change, after all that is what both parties were preaching.

i hope this helps resolve some of the questions you had

Technorati Tags: green living, organic foods

Does anyone have tips on easy ways for a college student to help out the environment? I live with roommates who don’t recycle, plus there is no pick up service. I want to do what I can, but I don’t know how!

People have the whole "recycling" thing backwards. You should not worry about what CAN be recycled, start by looking at what you purchase as a consumer.

If consumers would stop buying excess packaging there would not be as much to recycle to begin with. Here is a great rule of thumb to follow:

1) Reduce – Do not buy individual servings of things. If you must have the individual serving then use your own re-usable container. If you are watchful and do not buy things that have excess packaging you will also see a difference in the money you save as well. Manufacturers do not give you that packaging for free, they charge for it and then YOU have to dispose of it.

2) RE-Use- If you just MUST have that Sobe drink in the cute bottle then find a way to Re-use that cute bottle when you are finished with it. Used coffee grounds are great for garden compost, Old sweaters can be unraveled and the yard used to make something new, jars and cans make cool and interesting containers for a new gift. Use your imagination and you will be surprised at what you come up with.

3) Re-cycle- If you follow the first two steps you should be left with almost nothing to re-cycle and this is how it is supposed to work.
So what do you do with the things you have left? Almost every town in america has some resource for aluminum cans… you may have to ask around or do some searching on the internet. If all else fails contact your local landfill or elementary school. They typicaly know who to contact.

I hope this helps

Elliscountymod
Moderator/Owner,
Ellis County Freecycle(TM)

Technorati Tags: be more environmentally friendly, recycling