Celebrating a Green Christmas

Christmas is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated and loved holidays of the year. It’s easy to get so carried away in the festivities you forget about the environment. If you are a true eco-friendly person or wish to become one, give each of the following tips a thought, and take the necessary steps for a beautifully green Christmas.

Christmas Trees

Have you ever wondered whether it’s better to buy an artificial Christmas rather than a real one? An artificial tree can be used year after year, but many of them are made with dangerous chemicals that add to environmental pollution during production. Besides, every eco-friendly person knows that there is nothing quite like the fresh smell of a natural Christmas tree to complement the holiday. Choose your tree from a certified farm that is sustainable and responsible, and consider a live tree you can plant after the holidays.

Christmas Cards

Send e-cards instead of paper ones. We live in a digital age, a time when people have access to the internet through smart devices and phones. If you choose eco-friendly e-cards, you can personalize each card, choosing music or animation. Considering the fact that Christmas cards usually end up in the trash, isn’t it time to consider environmentally conscience alternatives?

Christmas Presents

Pick your presents wisely. There is no need to go overboard. Buy less and buy local. This is the greenest action you can take this Christmas. Tons of products come to the U.S. from China along with a huge carbon footprint. If you buy local, you are supporting local suppliers and minimizing your environmental impact.

Christmas Decorations

Reuse decorations. You don’t really need to buy decorations every year. Instead, you can reuse the décor from last year. If you are feeling particularly creative, you can create your own decorations instead of buying them. That way you will not only save on money, but also reduce the clutter of your home.

Go through the items you are about to throw away and see if you can use anything. One great example is reusing paper from packaging into custom-made gift packets. Simply draw a shape on two layers of paper and stitch the two pieces together. All of those Christmas cards you received in previous years that are too cute to be thrown away can be glued together to make a thematic wreath to hang wherever you please. Acquire some acrylic paint and use it to turn your food jars into Christmas characters, such as Santa, snowman or a greeny elf – a fantastic addition to any Christmas décor.

It really isn’t that hard to transform your Christmas into a green one. All you need is to turn to your environmentally-cautious mind and think of what ways you can make your holiday is less taxing to nature. Be sure to check out the Handy Rubbish Blog for more information on recycling and green living topics.

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The Guardian – Pollution articles

Three Quick, Easy, and Green Household Tricks

Cleaning surfaces and unblocking drains is usually perceived as a rather unwelcome chore. This is especially true if you’re proud to live a sustainable lifestyle and do not want to use store-bought conventional cleaners. But fans of green living (and cleaning) don’t need to despair. There are plenty of easy and very useful sustainable cleaning hacks that you can draw on when you cannot or do not want to buy an expensive eco-friendly cleaner, but want to keep it green at the same time.

How to Treat Stains Naturally

Even unusually stubborn stains can be treated using all-natural remedies. Hydrogen peroxide is an eco-friendly alternative to chlorine bleach and, diluted, a great cleaning solution that will work wonders on most stains. For food stains, sprinkle some baking soda on the area and then spray a water and hydrogen peroxide solution on the stain. Let it soak for a while, and then wash as usual. This green solution will even get rid of wine stains if you let it soak for long enough.

White vinegar can also act as an effective stain remover pre-wash. But keep in mind to always test any cleaning solutions on a small area first to make sure you won’t damage the fabric.

How to Unblock Your Sink

As an outdoorsy person who puts a lot of emphasis on a sustainable and environmentally friendly lifestyle – but at the same time likes creature comforts – glamping is the perfect choice of holiday for me. It’s low maintenance and close to nature, but with many of the perks that usually only hotel accommodation offers.

Last time I embarked on a glamping trip, I stayed in a cabin close to the woods. It was lovely to have a bathroom and small kitchen area at my disposal whilst still being as close to nature as you can get, but unfortunately, that luxury was short-lived when the sink clogged up on my second day. I had to choose between getting in touch with the owners to have them take action, and figuring out how to unblock a sink myself.

As a firm believer in green cleaning, I remembered a homemade remedy to clear the drains. All I needed was baking soda, boiling water, and a cup of vinegar. Luckily, the cabin had all of these things in stock. If you want to try this green unblocking remedy, pour the baking soda down the drain, then follow this with a few cups of boiling water. The baking soda will react with the water and dissolve any gunk. If the sink is still blocked after that, repeat the process with baking soda and vinegar, and carefully plug the drain. Then clear the drain by pouring down more boiling water.

Taking matters into my own hand rather than contacting the cabin’s owner saved me a lot of trouble – and time – so it’s always good to be prepared and have some cleaning hacks like this one at the ready.

How to Clean Surfaces the Green Way

Grease stains on kitchen surfaces are ugly. They seem to cling to kitchen surfaces like a magnet, and after you let them sit for a couple of hours, they can be tricky to remove. But if you’ve got vinegar and vegetable oil in your kitchen cupboard, you’ve already got yourself a highly effective surface cleaner to leave your kitchen sparkling. Spray vinegar onto the surface; let it sit for 15 minutes, then wipe off the surface with a cloth.

If there are still some greasy remains left after this first stain, it’s time to treat grease with grease. Soak a paper towel in natural vegetable oil to scrub away especially stubborn stains. This should remove even the most persistent stains.

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Secrets of Success: What Your Green Business Needs to Know

As we move forward in the twenty-first century, more people than ever are concerned about preserving the environment and our natural resources. This concern has been carried over into the world of business, which means that an increasing number of businesses are going green in a variety of ways.

Running a green business is similar to running a traditional business, though there are a few additional perks and pitfalls for eco-friendly owners. Here are a few secrets to make your green business even more successful.

1. Look for government incentives for green businesses.

Whatever your motives for running a green business, the U.S. government wants to sweeten the deal by offering a variety of incentives for businesses to use renewable and more efficient energy.

The Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency (DSIRE) offers a complete list of incentives available to business owners. Here are a few highlights:

Corporate Tax Incentives: If your business invests in eligible renewable or energy-efficient equipment, you may be eligible for special tax deductions, credits, and exemptions. The exact incentives vary by state, and some states have a minimum requirement before the incentive can be applied.
Green Building Incentives: Chances are you have heard of LEED certification, but other organizations can also issue green building certifications that qualify your business’s building for a government incentive. Typically this incentive applies to proposed buildings and, if approved, the permit fees are greatly reduced or even waived. Green businesses that are erecting new buildings should capitalize on their environmental efforts with this incentive.
Sales Tax Incentives: Businesses that purchase a renewable energy system or other energy-efficient goods can have the sales tax from such a purchase waived or refunded. If your business is thinking about getting a new energy system, then don’t overlook this valuable opportunity.

2. Choose green power for your business.

During the twentieth century, businesses had little choice but to use the energy supplied by the local electricity company. Now, however, most businesses can choose to get their energy from a green utility company.

Depending on your business’s location, it could be feasible to switch your power supply from traditional sources to more eco-friendly sources–such as a green electricity company.

You can look on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s website to locate a green power center near you, after which you have to take a few simple steps such as identifying your annual power usage and signing a Green Power Partnership agreement.

Once your business is identified as a Green Power Partner, the EPA will provide you with tools, expert advice, and certifiable credibility for the green nature of your business.

3. Apply for grants and loans for your green business.

Depending on your business’s product, you may qualify for a government grant. Listed below are several types of industry-specific grants that may apply to your green business.

Energy Development: Whether your business is working on developing renewable energy or more efficient energy production methods, there are grants available to support your mission and minimize your costs. The Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency both offer grants for these types of businesses.
Real Estate: Developers who improve polluted real estate qualify for Brownfields Grants for their eco-friendly efforts. These grants can also be applied toward assessing polluted property, cleaning it up, and training staff on environmental matters.
Pest Management: Traditional pesticides wreak havoc on the environment, which is why the Environmental Protection Agency partnered with PestWise to promote Integrated Pest Management programs. Businesses and schools that focus on developing more eco-friendly approaches to pest management qualify for grants to support their work.

4. Use caution when advertising your eco-friendly ways.

While the previous tips are potential perks for green businesses, one pitfall to avoid is falsely advertising the eco-friendliness of your business. Since many consumers tend to prefer doing business with a green partner, it is important that you do not falsely advertise your business, lest you draw the wrath of consumers or law enforcement.

If your advertising is false or misleading, consumers can take actions such as submitting a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission or filing a chargeback against your business. The FTC can start an investigation on or even issue sanctions against your business, which will hurt your reputation. Consumer chargebacks can put your credit processing privileges in jeopardy and hurt your business’s bank account as well.

The bottom line for green businesses is that there are many more potential benefits than costs associated with doing business in a more eco-friendly way.

If you currently run a green business, tell us some of your insider secrets—we’d love to hear them!

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Four Simple Steps Towards a More Sustainable Lifestyle

If you’d like to do something for the environment, but don’t really know where to start, don’t worry – you don’t have to change your entire lifestyle to make a change. It’s often the little things that add up and can make a real difference. If you’re scared of committing to a lifetime of organic and sustainable living, then why not start small and see what happens? We’ve compiled a few easy tips for beginners who want to work towards a more sustainable future and a healthier and happier lifestyle.

Eat Green(er)

You don’t have to become a vegan or vegetarian overnight, but why not skip meat once in a while and try and cut down on your chicken and beef intake? If you cut down on meat, you will also save quite a bit of money, which means that you could go to the butcher or farmers market more often to treat yourself to some grass-fed organic beef. After all, it’s quality over quantity. Plenty of people around the UK are doing meatless Mondays – and there’s no reason why you couldn’t be one of them. So look for some vegetarian recipes online and get cooking.

Choose Sustainable Cleaners

It’s easy to buy strong, harsh household cleaners from the supermarket, but did you know that you could simply use basic household items instead of harsh chemical cleaners and get the same effect? A mixture of vinegar and baking soda, with some lemon juice added in, makes for a great cleaner for household cleaning emergencies in the kitchen and bathroom. Cleaning has never been so simple and cheap – and sustainable.

Turn Off the Lights

We all know we shouldn’t waste energy, but how often do you actually find yourself leaving on the lights, simply because it’s easier? Try to make it a habit to turn off any lights and lamps that you don’t need, even if you’re just popping to the shop across the road. And remember to swap your light bulbs for energy-efficient ones to save energy and money. You won’t have to feel so bad if you do end up forgetting the lights once in a while.

Avoid Plastic

It’s generally a good rule of thumb to avoid plastic whenever possible. Take your own bag for shopping instead of getting a new plastic bag every time you buy something. Not only are tote bags sturdier than plastic, they will last you a long time, while being a lot better for the environment. What’s not to love? Try and avoid bottled water, too, as plastic generates massive amounts of container waste. Get yourself a reusable water bottle that you can refill, and save some money while you’re at it too.

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How To Clean Your Bathroom In a Green and Organic Way

Of all the rooms in a house, it’s probably bathrooms that need the most attention – and a regular, ideally weekly, scrub in order to get rid of any dirt and prevent mould and unpleasant smells. But while you want to get rid of all the germs and soap scum, luckily, there’s no need to turn to harsh chemicals and toxic bleaches to keep your bathroom clean. Natural cleaning products are better for your skin, lungs, and the environment – and surprisingly, there’s nothing in the bathroom that you can’t clean the green way. Take a look at these simple tips for how to get your bathroom sparkling using only sustainable and organic cleaners.

Green Clean Your Toilet

To get rid of nasty stains, calcium residue, and germs, mix together half a cup of vinegar and a spoon of baking soda, and let the mixture sit in the toilet bowl for an hour before you start scrubbing the toilet with a brush or sponge. If you do this regularly, you won’t need abrasive chemicals to keep your toilet spotless.

Using Homemade Cleaners in The Shower

No-one likes a shower full of soap scum – and all you need to get rid of soapy residue is some baking soda and biological dish soap. Mix those two together, apply to a sponge, and you’ve got yourself a powerful cleaner for shower doors and ceramic surfaces. If the stains are slightly more stubborn, use an old toothbrush for extra powerful scrubbing. For your shower curtain, mix some vinegar and water, spray the mixture onto the curtain, and clean it with warm water. If you’ve got mould on the curtain, apply some baking soda mixed with water and rub the stain. Did you know that you can also wash most shower curtains in the washing machine? Use an organic detergent to get rid of stubborn dirt and give your curtain an overhaul.

Unclogging Drains the Natural Way

Clogged drains in the bathroom can be a nightmare, but there’s no need to pour toxic chemicals down your drain – think of the environment, and opt for a natural de-clogger instead. Simply mix baking soda with vinegar and let the mixture sit for a while – it will break down any gunky residue and allow the water to flow again after. But keep in mind that this is no substitute for a plumber – sometimes, you just have to make that call.

Use Natural Scents

You don’t need to buy air freshener to have a constant lovely scent lingering in your bathroom – use lavender oil or peppermint oil to keep it fresh, or place dried herbs and flowers in small bowls around your bathroom. You can also add some lemon and cinnamon to a small few spoons of baking soda for a nice and cosy winter smell.

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Organic Cleaning Tips with Just 3 Natural Ingredients

We know how unhealthy chemical cleaning products like bleach can be, and the environmental damage they can cause when disposed of improperly. Do we really want to clean our own home with these chemicals, where they can get into the air we breathe, the food we eat, even the clothes we wear? Of course not. Believe it or not, it’s just as easy to clean our homes using three simple natural products: lemons, baking soda, and white distilled vinegar.

Not only are these three items a lot cheaper to buy and healthier to use, we can also avoid buying into the excessive packaging of chemical cleaning agents. Without consuming this stream of cardboard boxes, plastic bottles, and plastic-wrap, you’ll reduce your household’s carbon footprint in an instant. While the Internet is awash with cleaning tips, read on to learn just some of the many ways we can clean our homes with lemons, vinegar, and baking soda.

Removing stains on fabric – Amazingly, these three ingredients can help us remove most of the stains on fabrics. If you have a stubborn stain on white cotton or linen, soak the stain in lemon juice, lay it under direct sunlight, and the stain should disappear. For other fabrics, soak the stained area in a water and vinegar solution, or mix a thick paste of baking soda, vinegar, and warm water and spread it on the stain. Let it sit for at least 20 minutes or even hours for maximum effectiveness. Afterwards, scrub and rinse. The stain or residue should be gone! Some synthetic fabrics like acetone can be damaged by vinegar, so use a paste of just baking soda and water in these cases.

Removing stuck-on residue from hard surfaces – That same paste of baking soda, vinegar, and warm water also treats stains and difficult residue on hard surfaces. Spread it on, let it sit for 20-30 minutes, and the stain or residue can be scrubbed away. Remember, vinegar should not be used on aluminium, cast iron, or waxed surfaces.

Getting rid of limescale – Similarly, the natural acids in vinegar are a great at dissolving limescale on surfaces which come into regular contact with water. Instead of using a chemical descaler, spray a solution of equal parts vinegar and water on your tiles and pipes. Let it soak, and scrub away the limescale. Boil the same solution in a kettle, and after soaking overnight and scrubbing with a clean toothbrush, your limescale should be gone. Or unscrew a clogged showerhead, and soak it overnight in a bowl or bag of the solution for the same results.

Disinfecting ovens, refrigerators, and hobs – Avoid commercial oven cleaners by mixing a solution of warm water, vinegar, and baking soda, with a few drops of lemon juice. Use this to scrub and wipe down your ovens, fridge and freezer interiors, and hobs. It’ll cut through the grease, disinfect the surface, and leave your kitchen smelling lemony-fresh. Again, for burnt-on residue, use the baking soda paste.

Cleaning drains and waste disposals – To clean out your sink, shower, and bathtub drains, pour down half a cup of baking soda, then follow with a cup of vinegar and plug the drain. Leave it for an hour, then pour a kettle of boiling water down the drain, and it should be clear! For your kitchen’s waste disposal, do the same, and then cut a lemon in half and send the two halves down the disposal for a final cleanse.

A natural air freshener – Baking soda easily combats odours, so to keep your fridge smelling fresh, leave an open dish of baking soda on the bottom shelf. You can do the same with microwave and conventional ovens, or microwave lemon wedges for 30 seconds to zap odours. If any garments or fabrics have developed a mildewy smell, soak them in a solution of water and vinegar. And to freshen your house in general, boil a pan of water with shaved pieces of lemon peel. Leave bowls of the lemony water in your rooms, and the air will smell a lot fresher!

These are just some of the countless ways we can do our household cleaning with these three easy ingredients. Say good-bye to buying chemical cleaners, and say hello to an organic, eco-friendly cleaning regime for your home.

CLUCK U: 5 Things You Need to Know About Chicken

(DrFrankLipman – Frank Lipman) Though America still eats more meat than any virtually other country in the world, consumption at home has been on a downward slide for the past several years. Concerns about factory farming methods and its environmental impact; animal welfare; potential health risks as well as the Meatless Monday movement, all have helped fuel the slide. And while some have cut out meat altogether, many people have simply swapped cows for chicken, thinking it a healthier or earth-friendlier option. Not surprisingly, the switchover to chicken has increased demand and the poultry industry has answered the call, in a way that’s anything but healthy for man or bird. In short, chicken’s got problems – and if you’re a poultry-eater, so do you. Let’s break it down:

Factory-farmed Chicken – It’s For The Birds

Factory-farmed chicken, aka Big Chicken, is the stuff of nightmares: over-stuffed coops, floors covered with excrement and thousands of live animals packed so tightly they’re barely able move, much less engage in comfort behaviors like pecking, wing-stretching or simply walking. The result: stressed-out chickens with reduced immunity to the illnesses that rip through over-crowded facilities. The sick birds (and often the well ones) receive multiple courses of antibiotics, traces of which eventually wind up in our bodies, and over time contribute to antibiotic resistance. In short, nothing good is happening down on the ol’ Big Chicken farm.

Factory-farmed Chicken Poisons People and the Environment
The U.S. raises roughly 10 billion chickens a year, which generate billions of pounds of excrement annually. While some is used as fertilizer, there’s literally tons more waste, which, no matter how well-managed, still tends to “spillover,” contaminating air, land and water. And poultry processing is pretty tough on people too.

Workers face daily exposure to the toxic chemicals used to clean and disinfect poultry, which often trigger severe respiratory problems, sinus troubles, rashes and burns. If that weren’t enough, poultry production is also indefensibly and insanely wasteful: it’s estimated that it takes roughly 700 gallons of water and 6 pounds of grain to produce just 1 pound of chicken meat. Is this any way to spend our precious resources?

What the Cluck? Your Chicken’s Going to China – And Back

In what must be one of the looniest pieces of legislation ever, late this past August, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, perhaps thinking everyone was on vacation and wouldn’t notice, cleared the way for your birds to go on an all-expense paid trip from the U.S. to China and back. In China the chicken will be cooked, packaged, and then shipped back to the U.S for sale. Given China’s questionable track record on food safety, this seems like one of the most wasteful and potentially dangerous chicken-processing schemes ever devised. I urge you to fight back by refusing to buy pre-cooked, ready-to-serve or heat ‘n eat, processed chicken products – no matter how much the kids protest!

Connect With Your Chicken – And Look For Pasture-raised

While raising your own chickens is fantastic for those who can, chances are you’re not one of them. The next best thing is to get to know a local chicken producer from whom you can source fresh, pasture-raised birds. You’ll find them through your local farmers market, health food store, food cooperative or CSA – or visit localharvest.com for lists of small-scale, local and organic farms. An added bonus with these types of extra healthy birds: feel free to eat the skin! For years we’ve been brainwashed into thinking skin is bad but if it’s from healthy, pasture-raised chickens, it’s all good, as they say. If it comes from one of the aforementioned good, clean, toxin-free sources, the saturated fat found in chicken is not bad for you – so enjoy that chicken skin you’ve been denying yourself all these years.

Know Your Chicken Lingo!

If you must go the supermarket route, then bone up on the sometimes confusing terminology and buy the best chicken you can afford:

Certified organic is top of the supermarket health heap and pricey, in part because it means no drugs, antibiotics, chemical additives or pesticides. It also means feed without animal by-products and some daily exercise.

Certified humane and handled means your chicken’s been raised according to standards that require ample space, shelter and gentle handling to limit stress, and it prohibits the use of antibiotics and additives.

Free range means the chickens get to go to an outside, fenced-in pen every day, though there’s no requirement for how much time they spend outdoors.

Raised without antibiotics means just that, but it doesn’t mean drug-free – these chickens are allowed to be dosed with other meds.

Raised without hormones is a label you may often see, but it’s fairly meaningless, as the USDA doesn’t allow their use in chicken in the first place. (Hormones are more commonly used in beef.)

Natural or farm-raised are fairly useless terms, which tells consumers nothing about the way the chicken was raised, what it was fed or if it was treated with meds and antibiotics. Assume these chickens are the most industrial of all!

Take a Page From Grandma and Lighten Up

With the rise of Big Chicken and availability of cheap, plentiful, low-quality factory-farmed birds, we’ve come to expect a chicken in every pot, every day. Look back just a generation or two and you’ll see that for some of our parents and many of our grandparents, poultry was a special occasion treat, not an every day event. Perhaps it’s time we take a page from Granny’s book and start cutting back on chicken consumption to help the environment, the animals, the workers and ourselves. Here are a few suggestions on how to get the ball rolling:

Consider taking part in the Meatless Mondays movement, and add your own Chicken-free Thursdays to help broaden your culinary horizons, be kinder to the earth and to support healthy gut bacteria.

Think of chicken as the side show, not the main event….when you do eat chicken, eat smaller amounts.

Remember, if you are scaling back on animal products, do so without trying to fill up on processed non-meat alternatives, which tend to be full of health-sapping additives and preservatives.

BOTTOM LINE: I encourage you to buy the best, healthiest, freshest, pasture-raised, organic poultry (and meats, too!) possible – and savor every bite.