Dreaming of a Green Christmas!

By Sylvia Hay

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 and taking away much of the joy of Christmas: 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 and turn you from a Grinch to a Happy Elf!!! Here's how:

Recycle holiday gift wrap!

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. Some of the greatest moments 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.

Fake Fir

For many, Christmas wouldn't be the same without a live, fragrant Christmas tree in their home. Today nearly all of the trees sold at seasonal Christmas-tree lots are grown on tree farms. So forests aren't hurt by choosing a cut tree!

Tree Recycling

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.

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.

The Green Team Wishes You a Very Merry and Green Christmas!

Few items of daily use that you can recycle

By: Rene Hernandez

Everything we recycle adds up and helps in saving our natural resources. It is important that everyone starts reusing the existing and waste products to reproduce into new goods. Go searching your household, you will find numerous objects which are waste, but can be recycled. Not only the old papers, waste bottles, plastic bags, aluminum cans, used batteries, car tires, and textiles but even your computers, washing machines and mobiles can also be recycled into new products.

Here’s a list of items, which are of regular use by most of us, and can be recycled and reproduced.

Batteries:

All kinds of batteries can be recycled. The list includes:

Rechargeable batteries

Alkaline batteries

Lithium Ion (Used in watches and hearing aids)

Nickel Cadmium batteries

Lead Acid batteries

Laptop batteries.

The only precaution to be taken is to tape the batteries to prevent fire while in their collection and transportation.

E waste:

If you plan to upgrade the electronic items of your daily use, do not dump them, rather put them in a recyclable bin around you. These include:

Televisions and VCRs

Copiers, CRTs, CPUs

Stereos and DVD players

Laptops and Fax machines

Microwaves

Before sending e-waste for recycling, it is important to ensure that you have deactivated the property office stickers and erased the hard disk.

Textiles and clothing:

All the textiles and clothing used at home can be recycled.

Plastic bags and products:

Plastics are cheap and easy to produce, but it is non bio-degradable. Plastics can be melted, reshaped and reused. The easily recyclable home use plastics are;

Bubble wraps

Deflated air packets

Journal or magazine wraps

Plastic bags

Electronic appliances:

Recycling electronic items is not only cumbersome but also labor intensive process. It includes separating many components from the equipment as well as dealing with toxic materials like Lead, Mercury and chemical refrigerants. Though, the specialist companies do this at nominal rates. Some of these are:

Refrigerators

Washing machines

Mobile phones

Incubators and other large metal appliances

Aluminum cans:

The best reason why aluminum can recycle is advisable because they save almost 95 percent of the energy used for producing new cans. Mining and refining Bauxite, the ore for Aluminum, not only takes huge effort but causes great deal of pollution too.

Automobile waste:

Automobile waste is toxic for soil and can also cause fire hazards. Tires are recycled into crumbs to give fake soil effect which are further produced into artificial turfs for Football ground. The tires are being widely used for landscaping as well.

These recyclable daily use products are first collected and sorted. There are a few materials which are salvaged from the complex products like: Gold from computer components, Lead from the car batteries. Recyclable bins, Buy-back centers and curb side collection methods are used to collect the recyclable items.

Since the realization has set the mood to save the world from pollution and conserve natural resources, every individual should contribute towards it. This we can begin by recycling our daily use products.

15 Green Tips for the Lazy

By Marisa Belger

TODAY.com contributor

1. Use a remote-control power strip.
The Belkin Conserve is an eight-outlet power strip that comes with a remote control device to help you easily turn off electronics — and completely kill the power (no vampire power drain) — without having to bend over or reach behind your desk to unplug them from the wall. Save energy, save money, save your back.

2. Use natural cleaning products.
Safe cleaning products don’t have to be a luxury. Green Works natural cleaning products are made of plant-based, biodegradable ingredients like corn, coconut and lemon (which leave no harsh chemical fumes or residue) and are affordable and accessible — you can find them at supermarkets, drugstores and mass-market retailers.

3. Get your magazines digitally.
Zinio.com offers digital versions of more than 500 magazine titles like BusinessWeek, Cosmopolitan, Car & Driver, Men’s Health, Dwell, Outside and Yoga Journal. Download the Zinio Reader and read the magazines on your personal computer or access your subscriptions online from any computer at Zinio.com. Owners of iPhones can even access entire magazines through their phones. And in the spirit of budget consciousness, Zinio is offering a free one-year trial subscription to a wide selection of magazines so people can try the service.

4. Choose filtered water over bottled.
Save money as you wean yourself off your disposable water bottle habit — a practice that collectively results in more than 38 billion disposable plastic bottles deposited in the landfill each year in the United States. Brita pitchers are easy to use, and when it’s time for a new replaceable filter, you can easily recycle the old one. Early in 2009, Brita launched a new program with eco-products maker Preserve to recycle the plastic from used filters into a sleek line of personal care, tableware and kitchenware products. You can drop off filters at participating Whole Foods Markets or mail them directly to Preserve.

5. Use a reusable water bottle.
You’ve filtered your water, now you need a reusable bottle to transport it. There are numerous safe and eco-friendly options from Sigg to Klean Kanteen to BPA-free Nalgene bottles. Check out Filter for Good for more information about the impact of bottled-water waste and to purchase a BPA-free reusable water bottle with the Filterforgood.com logo.

6. Get paid to recycle your electronics and keep them out of landfills.
Instead of tossing your gadgets in a landfill when you’re finished with them, get paid to recycle them. Services like www.buymytronics.com, www.myboneyard.com and www.greenphone.com will recycle or refurbish your electronics, which keeps them out of landfills. Simply mail them in and wait for your check.

7. Turn to eco-friendly materials for affordable fashion.
Stores you know and love are focusing on greener fashion. H&M has an extensive line of products made of organic cotton, recycled polyester and natural wool, American Apparel offers colorful, affordable organic basics and Payless recently introduced Zoe & Zac, an affordable, eco-friendly footwear and accessories line. And this spring, look for Loomstate’s eco-friendly collection at Target.

8. Update your wardrobe by connecting with fashionistas with garb to barter.
Swapstyle.com lets you swap accessories, cosmetics and shoes with fashionistas all over the globe for free (you only pay for shipping). You can also combine barter with cash to trade up while avoiding the full cost — both monetary and environmental — of consuming a new product.

9. Use a car-share service to drive without owning.
Enjoy the freedom of being in the driver’s seat while eliminating the expense of owning (or leasing) and maintaining a car by joining a car-share service. Zipcar lets members locate cars conveniently parked at designated spots around a city and reserve them for an hourly fee (typically between $10.50 and $16.50). The company estimates that each of its cars removes the equivalent of about 15 privately owned vehicles from the road.

10. Ride share to get where you want to go.
Another alternative to owning a car is to catch a ride with somebody else. Ride sharing not only saves you the cost of car ownership and maintenance, but also keeps additional cars off the road — a positive eco step.Zimride is a ride-share service built on the Facebook social networking platform that enables members to create personal profiles and select ride mates who share similar music tastes, favorite sports teams, or who just seem “normal.” Zimmers can also evaluate things like driving speed, music volume and smoking preferences before agreeing to hop in. Find rides at Zimride.com or by using Zimride’s Facebook application.

11. CDs, DVDs and books: Swap, don’t buy.
Now you can avoid buying new products (good for your wallet, great for the environment) without sacrificing your need for entertainment. Check out the following swapping sites for access to thousands of CDs, books and DVDs:

• Swapacd.com — Fans can access more than 130,000 available titles. Load in your own CD titles and join the community to starting earning credits. It costs 49 cents plus one credit and shipping to score a CD from another member.
  
• Swapadvd.com — Movie collectors can trade both new and classic DVD titles. More than 58,000 titles are available, and the number is growing as more people discover the cost benefits of swapping DVDs.
  
• Paperbackswap.com — Bookworms can browse more than 2 million titles available for trade. Upload your own titles and send them to community members to earn credits. Use the credits to obtain books that you want. And it’s not just paperbacks; hardcover books are being swapped as well.

12. Video games: Trade, don’t buy.
Whether you’re partial to Xbox, Wii, Nintendo or other gaming platforms, the Goozex online trading community has got you covered with 2,400 games to choose from. Instead of spending big money on new games, Goozex charges you just $1 each time you receive a game from another community member. Save money while avoiding the material waste and greenhouse gas emissions created from consumption.

13. Purchase refurbished electronics.
Refurbished electronics are often products that were returned to stores within 30 days of purchase, had damaged packaging or a slight cosmetic defect, were used as in-store display items or were simply overstocked. Many are still covered by their original warranties and before they can be resold in the marketplace they go through rigorous defect testing. Refurbished products also frequently sell for less than 50 percent of the retail price. Buying refurbished is a clear win-win, saving you money and reducing e-waste heading to landfills. Check out www.dyscern.com and www.refurbdepot.com for a solid selection of refurbished electronics.

14. Conserve water and energy with low-flow showerheads. Evolve has designed a series of water-saving showerheads that let the cold water run until the water temperature reaches 95 degrees and then slow water flow to a trickle. This way hot water doesn’t release until you actually step in the shower and turn the showerhead’s valve to release the flow. Multiple showerhead styles are available, including the Roadrunner low-flow showerhead, which delivers strong water pressure using just 1.59 gallons per minute.

15. Shave with just seven drops.
You’ll live a life free from shaving cream with just seven drops of Pacific Shaving Oil. The natural oil (enhanced with essential oils) will give you the closest shave of your life, and a half-ounce bottle ($6.95) provides up to 100 shaves. The tiny bottle is ideal for air travel, too — perfect for stashing in your carry-on bag.

Texas Renewables 2011 Conference

Be sure to check out the Texas Renewables 2011 Conference and Exhibit on Nov 7 - 9 at the American Bank Center!  The focus of the event is on renewable energy business growth and they will have many speakers and exhibit booths talking about all things green and how this shift in the energy industry effects us all.  The exhibit hall is free to the public and tickets to the conference will be available onsite or at http://www.texasrenewables.org/.