http://epa.gov/watersense/products/showerheads.html

The average household could save more than 2,300 gallons per year by installing WaterSense labeled showerheads. Since these water savings will reduce demands on water heaters, households will also save energy. In fact, a household could save 300 kilowatt hours of electricity annually, enough to power its television use for about a year. If every household in the United States installed WaterSense labeled showerheads, we could save more than $1.5 billion in water utility bills and more than 250 billion gallons of water annually, which could supply more than 2.5 million U.S. homes with their water needs for a year. In addition, we could avoid about $2.5 billion in energy costs for heating water.

http://mygreenlifeinpueblo.blogspot.com/2011/12/icare-about-eco-friendly-case.html

http://www.case-mate.com/rpet/

http://earth911.com/news/2009/03/02/the-pizza-box-mystery/

Many people assume that pizza boxes are recyclable. In fact, most boxes have recycling symbols on them and are traditionally made from corrugated cardboard. They are, in and of themselves, recyclable.

However, what makes parts of them non-recyclable is the hot, tasty treat that comes inside them, specifically, the grease and cheese from pizza that soil the cardboard.

So there you have it, pizza boxes that are tarnished with food, or any paper product that is stained with grease or food, are not recyclable – unless you remove the tainted portions.

But why is this? And what are the implications for the general, pizza-loving public? Mmm, pizza.

Read more here: http://earth911.com/news/2009/03/02/the-pizza-box-mystery/

Find restaurants that make environmental issues a priority near your home here:

http://dinegreen.com/customers/default.asp

Kudos to our neighborhood favorite Radial Cafe (mmmmmmmmm) for being a 3 Star Certified Green Restaurant!

GREEN RESTAURANT CERTIFICATION 4.0 STANDARDS

The GRA has been certifying restaurants for the past two decades. Green Restaurant^® 4.0 provides a comprehensive and user-friendly method of rewarding existing restaurants & foodservice operations, new builds, and events with points in each of the GRA’s Seven Environmental Categories. Click below to see the points in each category… or click here for pdf of all the points:

1. Water Efficiency
2. Waste Reduction and Recycling
3. Sustainable Furnishings and Building Materials
4. Sustainable Food
5. Energy
6. Disposables
7. Chemical and Pollution Reduction

Great tips on making environmental choices when eating at restaurants:

http://earth911.com/news/2012/04/26/eat-green-while-eating-out/

Deciding Where to Eat and Getting There

• Transportation: Take public transit, carpool, or walk to dinner.

• Support Local Green Restaurants: Find neighborhood restaurants, bakeries, butchers, and markets serving fresh, sustainable, organic food by using sites like eatwellguide.org.

Ordering Food

• Portions and Courses: According to the Green Restaurant Association, many restaurants report 25% of food ordered is wasted. Think about how hungry you really are when ordering.

• Become a Locavore: Eating food that has been produced nearer to you cuts down on your food’s carbon footprint. You may have heard a 100-mile radius given as a guideline. That’s because typically it enables you to still vary your diet. It does however, require knowledge about local farms and restaurants that feature their goods. The site 100milediet.org can help with that.

• Consider Environmental Impact: Order menu items lower on the food chain. Chicken has a lower environmental impact than beef. Sustainable seafood has a lower impact, and vegetarian and vegan dishes have the lowest.

Learn More: 8 Ways Vegetarian is Good for the Planet

• Sustainability: Make smart seafood choices, whether you’re eating sushi or whole-grilled fish. Carry a guide, or download an app on your phone to a sustainable seafood site like the Blue Ocean Institute or The Monterey Bay Aquarium. A lot of people choosing wild-caught, sustainably-raised fish a little at a time can make a difference.

• Eat Grass-Fed Beef: Grass-fed cows are said to be healthier than animals whose diets are corn-based. Removing them from feedlots also helps solve waste-management and contributes to fertilizing the soil.

• Eat Tofu: Eating soy helps conserve water. Rearing livestock requires water for them to drink, to grow their food, and for cleaning after them. According to Bon Appétit, if you replace one pound of beef with tofu each month, in a year you’ll save 20,000 gallons.

Get Started Green: Order Vegetarian

Drinking

• Tap Water: Skip bottled water. Drink tap. And ask about the tap water. These days, some restaurants even filter their own water.

• Support Local Winemakers: With wineries abounding across the U.S., local winemakers are never that far away. Aside from well-known wine-making areas like California, Washington, Oregon, you’ll find vineyards with growing reputations in Virginia, Arizona, and Long Island.

Takeout

• Take Leftovers Home: Bring a re-usable container and ask your server to pack your leftovers in it. It reduces the restaurant’s waste and doubles as a trick to help you lose weight and save money. Box half the meal once it arrives, or ask the waiter to box half of it before it ever even gets to your table. Half the calories. And with the leftovers, there is such a thing as a free lunch.

http://www.keepatlantabeautiful.org/programs/Recycling.asp

Find where to recycle almost anything near you: http://earth911.com/

Back to the Basics: How to Plant a Tree

http://earth911.com/news/2011/07/06/how-to-plant-a-tree/

It’s summertime, and it’s time to add some shade to your favorite outdoor hangout spot. But before you put your hands on a shovel, there are important tree planting strategies to consider. Don’t let all that money, time and effort nurturing a sapling go to waste with an improper installation.

Get Digging

To start, you’re going to need to dig a hole. But don’t go overboard—a tree does not need to be buried any deeper than its root ball (root ball = the clump of roots that accompany the tree in the nursery pot).

If you plant a tree too deep, the trunk can become susceptible to disease and rot with prolonged soil moisture contact. Soil can also compact onto the root ball if the hole is dug too deep.

However, to help the tree get established and promote proper outward and downward root growth, use your shovel to slope the walls around the hole. This helps water flow through the soil, which encourages the fine root hairs that pick up water and nutrients to follow suit.

What to Watch For

The root ball is important to consider, and something you can examine when you are at the nursery selecting your plants. Make sure the roots are not wrapped around themselves in the pot; if they are, the plant is root bound. Once roots are bound, they are nearly impossible to fix.

To check, lightly flick away some of the dirt at the top of the nursery pot. Check for the telltale sign of circular, wrapped roots near the surface or near the edge of the pot. Root bound plants have been a phenomenon of late thanks to the Great Recession because plant material often sits in the nursery for longer periods of time (things just don’t sell as fast as they used to). If these plants are not replanted into bigger pots, the roots just keep on growing inside the pot with nowhere to go but around and around.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/bayer_save_the_bees/?fxrvadb&pv=11

24 Hours to Save the Bees! (LESS THAN 10 HOURS NOW!)
To Bayer shareholders:

We call on you to vote to stop production and sale of neonicotinoid pesticides until and unless new independent scientific studies prove they are safe. The catastrophic demise of bee colonies could put our whole food chain in danger. If you act urgently with precaution now, we could save bees from extinction.

Quietly, globally, billions of bees are dying, threatening our crops and food. But if Bayer stops selling one group of pesticides, we could save bees from extinction.

Four European countries have begun banning these poisons, and some bee populations are already recovering. But Bayer, the largest producer of neonicotinoids, has lobbied hard to keep them on the market. Now, massive global pressure from Avaaz and others has forced them to consider the facts, and in less than 24 hours (less than 10 hours now), Bayer shareholders will vote on a motion that could stop these toxic chemicals. Let’s all act now and shame the shareholders to stop killing bees.

The pressure is working, and this is our best chance to save the bees. Sign the urgent petition and send this to everyone — let’s reach half a million signers and deliver it directly to shareholders tomorrow in Germany!

http://earth911.com/?p=70194

Second-Hand Sales on the Rise

Thrift store sales have increased by at least seven percent each year over the last two years, according to NARTS: The Association of Resale Professionals. Photo: Flickr 

A throwaway culture leads to clothing being thought of more like wrapping paper and less like reusable, functional art. It looks nice temporarily, but as soon as it’s used, it gets thrown away.

However, our clothing culture is transforming, according to industry statistics from NARTS: The Association of Resale Professionals. Consignment, thrift and resale shops have grown at least seven percent a year over the last two years, the organization concluded in its report. Goodwill Industries alone generated $2.69 billion in retail sales in 2010.

Has the stigma of buying used finally been lifted? Perhaps, but there are many factors at work. Being Earth-friendly is certainly a plus, but in an economic downturn, thrift shops look rather enticing. Throw in the prevalence of vintage-inspired fashion and you have a recipe for responsible reuse.

Get Out and Bargain Hunt: The Best Thrift Shops in the U.S.

Thrifting, of course, is one of the easiest ways to recycle. Some argue that, even though those pants might have been manufactured in China, once thrifted, the only carbon footprint associated with that item is the gas it took the donator to get it to the shop.

Between 16 and 18 percent of Americans say they shopped thrift stores in any given year and 12 to 15 percent shop at consignment shops, according to NARTS, compared to 21.3 percent that shop at department stores and the 19.6 percent that shop at apparel stores.

Last Ditch Effort: Goodwill Stores Don’t Want It? Now What?