Green Your Coffee Tip #1

I love coffee. Without a cup or two in the morning I have a hard time getting started. I guess if it's my only vice, then I'm in good shape. One of my favorite coffees is Costa Rican coffee. When I travel to Costa Rica, I always bring some back with me, but I hesitate to order it because I'm in Miami and its in, well, Costa Rica--Central America.

So, I began to think. How can I green my coffee?

Tip #1 Buy coffee that has traveled the least distance to land in your coffee cup. If you have local cafes, coffee growers, etc., in your area, support them by buying from them. It may be the freshest cup of coffee you've ever had!

5 Ways to Reduce the Carbon Footprint of Your Home

Recycling cans and newspapers helps to decrease the carbon footprint your daily living is leaving on the Earth, but it is no longer enough. It is time to go the extra mile to be eco-chic and help save Mother Earth. And it’s not as hard as it may seem either. A few easy steps on your part can reduce the carbon footprint that your home life leaves behind.

Water

Water is the most precious resource we have and is also the resource that we waste the most. We rinse our dishes before putting them in the dishwasher, run the shower to heat the water, and run the faucet while brushing our teeth. This is all good water that is wasted. Ways to reduce water usage are simple. If you have to run the water in the shower to heat the water, consider capturing the cold water in a bucket to water your plants or wash the kitchen floor later. Do not rinse your dishes before you put them in the dishwasher, and only run your dishwasher when it’s full. Turn the faucet off while you are brushing your teeth. Not only do these steps help to reduce water usage, but it can also save you money.

Furniture

Whether you are moving into a new home or just redecorating your current one, you can buy eco-friendly furniture to help the environment. Buying furniture made of sustainable and recycled materials is just one way to help. Also, consider recycling furniture by buying second-hand or reupholstering existing furniture instead of buying new.

Electricity

It may sound basic, but turn off lights, computers, TVs and other electrical items when you are not in the room or not using these items. Unplug them completely, if possible. If you’re replacing appliances or buying new ones, consider energy efficient ones that use less electricity—saving energy and money.

Lighting

Lighting is another energy waster. Change your conventional incandescent bulbs, which give off more heat than light, to compact florescent bulbs (CFLs) or LEDs—both use less energy and give off less heat. Turn lights off completely when nobody is in the room or natural light can be used. It saves energy, money and Mother Earth. It’s the eco-friendly way to light your life.

Laundry

We have to clean our clothes, but it takes a lot of energy to heat the water for the washing machine and air for the clothes dryer. According to Energy Star the average household does 400 loads of laundry per year—using 13,500 gallons of water. One way to reduce water usage and save energy is to buy an energy efficient washing machine—saving water and almost $550 per year. Also consider washing in cold water instead of hot or warm water. Next, consider cutting out using a clothes dryer—use a clothesline or drying rack instead. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, it saves households about $70 per year and cuts out the usage of the second biggest energy wasting appliance in your home.

Organic and Green Savings: A Great Time to Try Organic Kids Food

Read the full article about what Mom Made Foods has to offer your children and your organic way of life when it comes to eating.

Best Buy Offers More than a Place to Buy Electronics

Yesterday, my computer tanked and I had to rush it to the emergency room. For computers, this is the Geek Squad at Best Buy. I walked in the door and noticed to my right there was a trash can looking container with three little swinging doors. One said, "Cell Phones." The other said, "Rechargeable Batteries," and the third one said, "Printer Cartridges."

I thought and said to myself, "How cool."

I'm more of an online shopper, so I may be late coming to this e-waste party, but you can take your printer cartridges, rechargeable batteries, and old cell phones to your local Best Buy for recycling.

Put it in your good to know file.

Stop Being an e-waster

Did you know that 130 million cell phones get thrown out every year? How about computer monitors? Did you know that 50 million of these wind up in our landfills on an annual basis? It should make sense since technology is inventing newer and better cell phones and computers almost on a daily basis. You may have never thought about it, but when you replace your old computer with your new one, what happens to your old one? If it winds up in the garbage, it winds up in a landfill and becomes e-waste.

It's not just about the devices either. It's also about the power these devices use.

E-waste stands for electronic waste and here is how you can stop it.

Small ways you can stop being an e-waster

Recycle your cell phone. There are 500 million unused cell phones in the U.S. When you get a new cell, you have several options with what you can do with your old one. First, you could give it to someone you know who needs a cell phone. Second, you can donate. There are charities that give cell phones to those who cannot afford one for emergency purposes. Third, you can sell it to a third party recycler. The last two options usually allow you a tax write-off too.

Download your software. More than one billion computer disks are tossed into the trash each year. Consider downloading your software online instead. Sometimes it's cheaper to download it online than it is to buy the CD and when you're done downloading it, you don't have any CD or CD packaging waste to throw away.

Use high-speed Internet service. High-speed Internet service uses less energy than dial-up. It's the 21st century, people, make the switch from dial-up to high speed.

Laptops vs. desktops. Do you know how the U.S. could save $2.5 billion in energy costs? By switching from desktop computers to laptops. Laptops use less energy than desktops, by about 50%.

Email and text message. If you can send messages from your handheld instead of your computer, you'll save about one-third of the electricity it takes for a computer to send these messages.

Switch from answering machines to voice mail. Voice mail service uses a lot less energy than the energy sucking answering machine that is always using energy. These little answering devices also end up as hazardous waste when we toss them in our landfills, so don't buy them in the first place and then you won't have to throw them out.

Use the sleep mode on your computer. Set up your computer so that when you're not using it, it goes into sleep mode. This saves energy and can save you up to $75 per year off your power bill.

It's not about changing your whole life. It's about doing the little things that add up to big things. You can't save the world, but you can contribute to helping save it by doing all of the little things you can.

5 Ways to Be an Eco-chic Traveler

Almost 100% of Americans (91%) take an annual vacation-a week or two to get away from it all on a tropical island, in the mountains, on the beach, or just away from the hustle, bustle, and stress of our daily lives. Be just as aware of what you are doing on vacation as you are when you're at home when it comes to being eco-chic. Take small steps and fit them into your vacation routine to be an eco-chic traveler.

5 ways to eco-chic your vacation

Don't change your linens and towels during your stay. You don't use a new towel and change your bed sheets everyday when you're at home, so don't do it on vacation either. If you're only away for a few days or a week, then use the same towels and linens during your whole stay. If you're away for more than a week, then have your sheets changed once a week and change your towels out once a week too. By taking this small step, you're saving up to 40% of the water used in a hotel per day. You're clean when you dry off with your towels so they aren't getting dirty with one or two uses!

Stay in a green hotel or engage in eco-tourism. There are green hotels popping up all over the world. These hotels run an eco-friendly operation--using chemical free cleaning products, asking you to reuse towels and linens throughout your stay, using energy efficient appliances, light bulbs, and more to meet green standards. There are also eco-tourism efforts taking place in destinations that are not overcrowded and focus on local culture and environmentally friendly practices.

Use e-tickets. Use e-tickets instead of checking in at the counter and getting a paperboard ticket. Even if you print the e-ticket from your home or office computer, the regular paper is more easily recycled than the paperboard tickets. This saves the airlines money, which saves you money, and saves paper too.

Use timers for your lights at home and shut lights off in your hotel. Don't leave lights constantly burning in your home while you're away. Use timers so your lights come on for a few hours each night and then shut off again. When you leave your hotel room, shut off the lights. It's just like a room in your home--if nobody is in the room, then turn the lights off. Seventy-five percent of energy used in a hotel is from the bathroom light being left on when nobody is in it.

Carry on your luggage. If you can, pack one carry-on bag rather than checking your bag. This not only saves you time waiting in line to check your bag and then waiting for your bag to come out in baggage claim, you'll also save 70% of the energy used to operate the luggage carousel. This also causes you to pack only what you need, which can save 350 million gallons of jet fuel for every passenger who packs ten pounds lighter.

You don't have to change your whole life to help make a difference. It's the small steps you take that add up to a big difference.

3 Ways to Green Your Furniture

It sits in every room of our house. We sit on it. We eat on it and we sleep on it. It's our furniture. Seventeen billions pounds of furniture ends up in landfills every year. This is waste that can and should be avoided Stop wasting and green your furniture now.

3 ways to green your furniture

Buy used: Never underestimate the charm of used furniture. Antique shops, ebay, and used furniture stores offer a treasure of furniture just waiting to be repurposed. You'll save moeny, save energy, and save materials by buying vintage or shabby chic.

Buy furniture made of sustainable materials: If used, vintage, or shabby chic isn't for you then buy furniture that is made of sustainable materials. Furniture made from harvested wood like plantation-grown lumber or woods that are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.

Refurbish what you have: Take a look at the furniture that you already own and think of ways you can turn it into what you want. Maybe stripping the paint off of an old dresser and returning it to its natural wood or reupholstering a chair with a new material will turn an old piece of furniture into a brand new piece.

You don't have to completely change the way that you furnish your home. But you owe it to yourself and to the environment to do what you can to save it. Maybe it's as simple as buying one new piece of furniture that you can't live without, while refurbishing and buying used for the rest of your house renovations.