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Don’t forget, Earth Hour is this Saturday the 29^th at 8pm. The whole world will unite and power off for a full hour to send a message against global warming. If you would like to participate, just turn off your lights, TV, computer and anything else that requires electricity from 8-9pm. It’s only an hour, but I know some people might freak out at the lack of stimulus and go crazy with boredom. So, what to do for an hour?

• Light some candles and snuggle with your honey
• Have a candle lit dinner
• Read a book or play a board game…by candle light
• Catch up on some much needed sleep
• Play Hide and Go Seek in the dark, either outside or inside
• Get to know your family better
• Talk about other small changes you can employ every day to make a difference in the environment
• Go outside and look at the stars; learn a few new constellations

Use your imagination! Maybe you’ll have so much fun you’ll keep your lights off for more than an hour, or dedicate one night a week as Earth Hour and help save the world a little more.

Feeling alone? 26 cities, almost 12,000 businesses and over 188,000 people have signed up to participate. That doesn’t include the people who are going to participate but who haven’t signed up. Join the fun and save the world!

The city of Seattle has kicked the bottle habit, eliminating bottled water from city events and facilities. Mayor Greg Nickels plans to phase out the purchasing of bottled water by the end of the year while encouraging city workers to switch to municipal water. The order does not, however, ban employees from bringing in their own bottled water.

“This is a matter of leading by example,” Nickels said. “The people of Seattle own one of the best water supplies in the country, every bit as good as bottled water and available at a fraction of the price. When you add up the tremendous environmental costs of disposable plastic bottles clogging our landfills, the better choice is crystal clear.”

This is a big step against the evils of bottled water, which I loudly applaud.  The order will also give the city a chance to do better things with the money saved and will keep their landfills that much emptier and cleaner. Last year the city spent $58,000 on bottled water for its employees. Think of the possibilities!

And this is only the beginning. According to the city’s press release, “The mayor’s order — which applies only to city departments — is the first step in an effort to promote Seattle’s water and get people to consider kicking the bottle habit.”

To refurbish or rebuild? That is the question. Is it more environmentally cheaper to knock down your old house and rebuild it so that it’s squeaky green? Or is it better to convert what you already have?

Many house builders claim that new homes are four times more efficient than older houses. Sure there’s the initial surplus of CO2 to get it built, but the lower emissions will make up for that over the years. That is not so.

The Building and Social Housing Foundation (BSHF) and The Empty Homes Agency of England did a study that compared the CO2 given off in building new homes and creating new homes through refurbishing old properties. The key findings are:

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from new homes fall into two distinct sources: “embodied” CO2 given off during the house building process, and “operational” CO2 given off from normal energy use in the house once it is occupied.

Reusing empty homes could make an initial saving of 35 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per property by removing the need for the energy locked into new building materials and construction. Refurbished old homes have lower embodied CO2 and therefore a distinct head start over new homes.

Well-insulated new homes eventually make up for their high embodied energy costs through lower operational CO2 but it takes several decades. This means there almost no difference in the average emissions of new compared with refurbished housing for about 50 years.

Fifty years was not intended to represent the expected lifespan of the house but to represent the likely period before a major refurbishment might be expected. This would provide the next opportunity after initial development in which the environmental performance of the house could be reconsidered and changed.

So if there is no structural damage or need to rebuild, consider refurbishing your house until the next 50 years is up. It’ll save you money and a large CO2 footprint.

Spring is here and it’s time to surround ourselves with signs of fertility. Dyeing eggs is a fun way to get the family together to express themselves creatively. Making your own dyes from ingredients already in your kitchen is much more satisfying than dropping a couple of tablets into a cup, so give it a whirl. There are two ways to get fabulous eggs: Boiling the color on and cold dipping.

Boiling

Place 6-8 raw eggs in a single layer in a large pot and add enough water to cover by one inch. Add some white vinegar (2 tablespoons per quart of water). Add dye ingredients (1 cup of vegetable solids per cup of water, 1 tablespoon of spices per cup of water, or substitute liquid ingredients for water) and bring to a boil. Turn heat to low and simmer for 20-30 minutes. The motion of the eggs in the boiling water ensures that the color will be even on the egg. The resulting egg will be very hard-boiled and inedible, as it picks up the flavor of the dye.

Cold Dipping

In a saucepan, add dye ingredients and cover at least 1 inch with water. Bring the water just to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer about 15 minutes to an hour until you like the color. Remove the pan from the heat.

Strain and pour the mixture into a bowl or jar that is deep enough to completely cover the eggs you want to dye. Add 2 to 3 teaspoons of white vinegar for each cup of liquid. Add the eggs and leave them until you like the color. You may want to leave them in for several hours or overnight for deeper color. If you choose to do so, be sure to do it in the refrigerator to keep them edible.

Remove your eggs with a slotted spoon and dry in the empty egg cartons or paper towels.

Don’t forget the crayon trick and decorate your eggs before you dye them. Or use stickers to keep certain shapes white. You can also dab the wet eggs with a sponge for a textured look or wrap with thin rubber bands for a tie-dyed look. To make them shiny, rub some vegetable oil on them after they’re dry.

Here are some things to try out. Mix and match, it’s a science project too!

It’s kind of sad and not that surprising to see that big brands like Kraft, Pepsi, and Heinz own most of our favorite organic snack lines. Here’s who’s really behind it all.

What is “Organic” anyway? We all know it’s a good thing, and we try to buy it even though it’s a little more expensive. But what does it mean? According to The National Organic Program,

Organic food [and other agriculture, like cotton] is produced by farmers who emphasize the use of renewable resources and the conservation of soil and water to enhance environmental quality for future generations.  Organic meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones.  Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides; fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge; bioengineering; or ionizing radiation.  Before a product can be labeled “organic,” a Government-approved certifier inspects the farm where the food is grown to make sure the farmer is following all the rules necessary to meet USDA organic standards.  Companies that handle or process organic food before it gets to your local supermarket or restaurant must be certified, too.

What the labels means:

100% Organic: Made with 100% organic ingredients

Organic: Made with at least 95% organic ingredients

Made With Organic Ingredients: Made with a minimum of 70% organic ingredients with strict restrictions on the remaining 30% including no GMOs (genetically modified organisms)

Products with less than 70% organic ingredients may list organically produced ingredients on the side panel of the package, but may not make any organic claims on the front of the package.

Beware, natural and organic are not interchangeable.  Other claims, such as free-range, hormone-free, and natural, can still appear on food labels.  However, don’t confuse these terms with “organic.”  Only food labeled “organic” has been certified as meeting USDA organic standards.

The term “free range” is only regulated for live poultry. The government only requires that outdoor access be made available for ‘an undetermined period each day. So five minutes or an hour? No one knows but the farmers. And what about cows and pigs? There are no regulations for them at all. Anyone can put that phrase on their packages.

Hormone-free only means that cows were not treated with bovine somatotropin, a bovine growth hormone used to make cows produce more milk.

The term “natural” means that well, it’s natural. Cotton is natural. Just because most of it’s made with gallons of fertilizers doesn’t make it unnatural. It’s the “organic” that you want.

What guy wouldn’t want to tell his friends he showered with a “filthy farmgirl” just before meeting them at the bar? Especially when she’s got a name like Peppermint Patootie or Cinnamon Temptation, which happen to be two of the scented soaps from Filthy Farmgirl. The company promotes living nakedly and features eco-friendly ingredients in all their bars. According to them:

We grow and harvest many of our herbs and spices ourselves, and go out of our way to support local organic farmers whenever possible. Our Soap recipies are 100% Natural and Vegan Friendly!

They don’t use detergents, surfactants, sulfates, artificial scents, colorizers, or petroleum products of any kind, which aside from being good for the environment is likely also better for your skin. Thrown in recycled paper labeling and you’re looking at a friendly fresh smelling package in Filthy Farmgirl soap.

You’ve made the switch. You sleep on 100% organic bamboo sheets, dry off with organic cotton towels, sink your toes into a rug made of recycled plastic bottles while surfing online for the newest organic clothing trends by soy candlelight. Out with the old, in with the green! Shopping has never felt so good. After all, it’s for Mother Earth.

Is it really? Have you ever considered helping the environment by not buying things? Sure your old sheets weren’t organic but they were already there and still functional. Are they any better now that they’re in a landfill somewhere while resources that didn’t need to be used were used to make the new bamboo sheets you just purchased? And don’t forget the carbon footprint they left to get to your bed. It’s very wasteful to toss out your old clothes and replace them with organics when you didn’t need new clothes at all. The only things worth replacing outright in your home are your fridge and furnace, and maybe your toilet and shower head for water conservation. But you don’t need new hemp curtains when the old ones work just fine.

When renowned environmentalist Paul Hawken is asked to comment on the new green consumer, he says, dryly, “The phrase itself is an oxymoron. Really going green,” He says, “means having less. It does mean less. Everyone is saying, ‘You don’t have to change your lifestyle.’ Well, yes, actually, you do.”

If you absolutely need it, sure, get the organic brand. But, as Chip Giller of Grist says, “We’re not going to buy our way out of this.” The greenest products are the ones you don’t buy.

Saint Patrick’s Day is coming, and you know what that means. Another excuse to drink until you pass out! (Does anyone really know what the holiday is supposed to be about?)

No matter how much beer you celebrate with, remember to be responsible. Environmentally responsible.

Cascade Brewery, from Tasmania and owned by Fosters, has declared their new Cascade Green as 100% carbon neutral from the picking of the locally grown hops to the eventual deposit in the recycling bin.

The carbon neutral aspect comes via the purchase of Australian Government Greenhouse Friendly certified carbon offsets that go to supporting the Hobart Landfill Flare Facility.

The brewery has also reduced its energy usage by 16% and water usage by 30% per unit of production over the last six years. The beverage comes in the lightest weight, highest recycled content glass bottle currently available in Australia, and is shipped in cartons of 100% recycled cardboard printed with two-color biodegradable vegetable inks.

Just be warned that Cascade hasn’t made any claims to be organic or vegan, it’s just carbon neutral.

If you do want a vegan beer, then try Green Man. It’s brewed from organic ingredients, and is free of added sugars. They reuse their bottles and many of their cardboard cartons too.

All good reasons to raise a glass and say Slante.

Hurray scientists! They’ve developed a neat little goo to coat cloth in that cleans itself! Can you imagine how much water we would save if we never had to use the washing machine again? It would also greatly reduce the amount of eco-destructive cleaners that are used.

The magic goo is anatase titanium dioxide, a widely used pigment. Sunlight reacts with the coating to break apart organic molecules like dyes, turning them into carbon dioxide and water at room temperature. How cool is that?

The scientist coated some silk and wool with it, then stained both treated fabrics and non-treated fabrics with red wine and exposed them to simulated sunlight.

After 20 hours, the stains on the treated fabrics were almost completely gone, while the stains on conventional fabrics looked virtually the same.

When can we expect this magnificent marvel? “We are currently collaborating with a famous textile company for doing mill-trials,” said study co-author Wing Sze. “We believe it won’t be long before the product appears on the market.” They believe that clothes with self-cleaning properties will become a standard feature of future textiles. I’m willing to believe them too.