Your Greeness

1.Consider buying nothing this year. Why not give donations in your friend’s names to an organization that helps save the Earth!

2.If you must shop for gifts, consider taking public transportation, or maybe you can sop with friends and have like a shopping car pool.

3.Look for products that are fair trade certified, or those that give back to green institutions.
4.Try to shop for gifts that are local, that are made in the area, or made in the country.

5.When looking for gifts, avoid buying those with excessive packaging.

1. if your house gets too hot because there are one too many people, don’t automatically turn on the AC. Try opening the window to cool the house down.

2. You don’t need to buy new Thanksgiving decorations. Re-use and recycle your old ones.

3.Give back to the 100 mile run by Treehugger that goes on every Thanksgiving.

4.The fall season is an excellent time to plant trees. Start a tradition and plant a tree every Thanksgiving.

5.If you are traveling back home to see family, or reunite with friends, please consider purchasing carbon credits to offset the pollution caused by the travel!

1.Avoid Coffee Stirrers- If you really need to stir your coffee, use a piece of uncooked pasta instead. What you can also do is when you are making your own cuppa joe is to add the sugar and creamer first, so that it dissolves as the hot liquid goes into the cup!

2.During winter time, please do not use chemical deicers that can be hazardous to animals and plants. Look for an animal and pet friendly deicer at your local pet shop.

3.Look for q tips with paper spindles. There are two kinds of q-tips- those that come with a paper spindle or middle part, and those that come with a plastic spindle. Always buy the ones with paper spindles because they can be recycled!

4.One way to avoid using more paper than necessary is to adapt the practice of paying bills online. You can save statements via email and not use up paper!

5.Another way to save up on paper consumption would be to tell your bank to stop sending you monthly paper statements. Some banks will even give you back a dollar if you do this!

1.Make sure you have your coffee cup at work, so you don’t need to use up disposable cups. In fact, why not make disposable cups non-existent at work. Have everyone bring their own cup or else!

2.Schedule errands- Write down all the errands you need to accomplish in a week and do them in one big go. You’ll save trips to and from town, the grocery store, etc., etc.

3.When at the beach or a picnic, keep track of which cup belongs to who with a magic marker. It will save you from getting a new cup each time you need a drink!

4.Did you know that many old cellular phones end up in landfills? Do your share and recycle cellular phones when you can. Donate your old ones to people who wouldn’t mind using them!

5.Recycle Old Wire Hangers- If you don’t know what to do with these, why not give them to the dry cleaners?  Lot of recycling programs do not accept wire hangers because they’re made of steel, so the best option would be to donate them to your favorite dry cleaner!

Here are some ways to help and ease the burden off our suffering planet!

1.This should appeal to lovers- shower together! It’s a great way to save up on some water and amp up on some intimacy and sexy time!

2.If you don’t have anyone to shower with, you can take shorter showers! Try to cut back 1-2 minutes!

3.Get some plants, or plant some trees! Mor eplants mean more of them using up the carbon dioxide and creating oxygen!

4.Use the cruise control button of your car- you can get up to 15% better mileage so that means you save up on gas!

5.Don’t scoff at second hand- Consider buying items from the second hand store. It’s your way of reusing and recycling!

1.    Use both sides of the paper. Teach kids to always use both sides!
2.    Recycling your newspaper can add up and can save about half a million trees per week!
3.    Reuse gift bags, wrapping paper, old maps, old cloth and utilize these as creative wrapping solutions.
4.Say No to bottled water!- Only 10% of these bottles are recycled, the 90% clog our landfills Jus use a reusable container instead.
5.Once a month have a no bath week, and just take showers instead. You will literally save barrels of water!

1.Aim to have your city join the cool city list of the US. Cool cities help prevent global warming by passing creative and innovative laws on transportation and legislation that aims to save up on energy.

2.Write to your congressman and encourage them to support the laws that limit carbon dioxide emissions.

3.Use email instead of paper for announcements, invites and for generally disseminating information.

4.Share this list with co-workers, family and friends!

1.    Why not look into community car sharing? You and a number of people can purchase a car together and contribute for fees.
2.    Fly less- try out local vacations!
3.    Encourage schools in your area to reduce emissions by maybe providing better and wider school bus routes
4.    Support charities that aim to protect and conserve our forests!
5.    Look into the environmental impact your investments make.

You really don’t have to wait for easter if you want to see if these organic des will work out!! Why not make a fun afternoon out of it! You can make your own organic dyes from the food and other products you may already have at home!

1. Use natural fruits and veggies to make the dyes that you want.

2.If you use the juice from canned produce, you will come out with paler shades

3.If you boil the eggs with the dye in vinegar, the colors will come out so much deeper.

4.You can use vegetable oil to polish the dyed eggs after.

Here’s an easy tutorial on the dyeing method:
This method involves boiling the eggs in the dye, which gives darker colors. Roll eggs around in the hot, dye water, they take on a uniform color. Place eggs in a single layer in a saucepan. Use this ratio for your mixture: one tablespoon white vinegar for each quart of water! Keep on adding liquid until the level is an inch or two above the eggs. Add dye ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. Rinse with lukewarm water.

I will show you how to get natural dyes in the colors you want in a future post!

1.Only run your dishwasher when it is completely full. The same rule applies to your washing machine!

2.Try to minimize the usage of your kitchen sink garbage disposal, as this uses up a lot of water!

3.Remember the shower rule? The same one applies for washing hands! As you’re soaping up, turn off the water.

4.Wash dishes this way: Put water on the dishes. Turn the water off. Soap up the dishes. When you’re ready to rinse, only then do you turn on the water again!
5.Rinse vegetables in a bowl of water, not in a sink while the water runs!