Are you wearing green? I have to admit that I forgot to intentionally wear green this morning. Luckily, I had a small green paint stain on the bottom of my shoe. It worked.

My sons are both wearing green shirts. We didn’t go out and buy them anything with “Saint Patrick’s Day” on it, although there was a huge selection at our grocery stores.

It seems like stores have huge selections of gear for every holiday now. Instead of just wearing green, I could have bought my sons socks, four-leaf clover antenna headbands, leprechaun hats, etc. I can even hang four-leaf clovers all over our house.

We probably notice consumerism more now since our 3-year-old is a very eager consumer. He wants everything that he sees, especially if it’s shiny and flashing. He’s not quite sure what Saint Patrick’s Day is, but will gladly ask for me to buy him stuff so he can properly celebrate the holiday.

The stores are of no help in such situations. They obviously want me to buy all the holiday gear they are shilling, even though it will be used on one day and then forgotten and stuck in a closet.

It’s frustrating. I’m sure most of the Saint Patrick’s Day decor and accessories are just green, not eco-friendly. And once bought, and possibly used, they will be pitched into the trash.

I have no solution other than not to buy these products. Most of us have green items of clothing. Why can’t we just wear a green shirt? If you have to decorate, then why not have your kids draw and cut out four-leaf clovers to hang around the house? (It’s a bonus if you use newspaper from the recycling bin!)

I’m just wondering what type of one-use-only decorations they will be shilling for April Fool’s Day and Earth Day?

It’s hard to believe, but more than 28.3 billion pounds of clothing and textiles make their way to U.S. trash heaps annually. In Santa Barbara alone, more than 11 million pounds of usable clothing and household textiles end up in the landfill every year. The good news is that people are starting to take notice!

Forming a new partnership, Levi Strauss and Goodwill announced this week a new label – the Care Tag for Our Planet, a new initiative that aims to put billions of pounds of unwanted clothing to good use instead of into landfill.  Beginning in January 2010, the Levi’s® brand will be the first major retailer to include messaging on product care tags that encourages people to donate unwanted clothing.

Donating your clothes should be the first option when deciding what to do with clothes you no longer want. Even worn out clothes can be donated because many thrift stores and homeless shelters work in close partnership with textile recyclers who will take items which are no longer suitable to be worn. Donating makes a significant difference in the amount of clothes entering our landfills. The 166 community-based Goodwills in the United States and Canada collectively divert more than 1.5 billion pounds of clothing and textiles every year from landfill by recovering the value in people’s unwanted material goods.

You can make donating easy by keeping a paper shopping bag in your closet so that when you have a piece of clothing you no longer want, you can store it until there are enough pieces to make the trip to your local thrift shop or homeless shelter. In my closet, I actually keep a couple of bags – one for clothes ready for donation and another for clothes that I no longer want but is in near excellent shape so I can make a few bucks selling them to our local upscale thrift shop. Whatever the shop won’t take, goes right into the other bags destined for the homeless shelter.

With Levi and Goodwill getting in the act to remind you and I to donate the clothes when we are through with them, millions of pounds will be diverted from the landfill – clothing thousands more people and adding to the stream of recycled raw materials available.

This is not the first green minded action for Levi Strauss. For years, they have been a leader in encouraging environmentally friendly practices, from water quality guidelines to restrictions on the substances that can be used to make its clothes. Embracing the cradle to cradle concept of their product, the company conducted studies which showed that they greatest impact their clothing has on the environment is actually after the pair of jeans leaves the store to go home with the customer. For this reason, Levi encourages their customers to wash their clothes in cold water and line dry when possible – a significant savings the energy needed to warm the water and dry the clothes.

With the help of company initiatives like Goodwill and Levi, consumers are being given the reminders and opportunities they need to do right by nature. Have more great ways to utilize old clothing or ideas for how to give your clothes a new lease on life? Let us know in the comments below.

Welcome to August – the month of more water usage than any other month of the year in the United States. It’s time we identify methods to keep ourplants happy and green and still reduce our appetites for the ubiquitous clearliquid.

On average, an American household uses about 260 gallons per day, but this amount climbs to around 1,000 gallons per day during peak water use season with some households using as much as 3,000 gallons a day, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

But we can all do more to reduce our water consumption. According to EPA’s WaterSense Program, homeowners can save as much as $110 a year just by following a few tips and making a few changes.

August tends to mean hot, dry weather leading to more yard watering just to keep our plants alive and our neighbors from wondering why we stopped caring for our yards. To save money on your water bills set sprinklers to water your plants only early in the morning or at dusk. Watering in the middle of the day when it is hottest means more of the water will evaporate before being absorbed by vegetation. Purchase a rain gauge and water only one inch of supplemental water in the absence of rain. Your rain gauge will tell you how much water will be needed if your area received rain. Also before watering plants, press your finger into the soil up to the first knuckle and see if it is moist. If the soil is dry and your finger comes out clean, the plant needs water.

If your grass needs water, set up sprinklers in the early morning hours or in the evening and attach timers to them. Nothing wastes more water than forgetting about your sprinkler for hours. Timers are available at most hardware stores and can be as simple as an egg timer mechanism or as technologically advanced as a digital interface. Prices vary so check out reviews online so you can make the most informed decision before purchasing.

Install rain barrels around your home at the ends of gutter downspouts. These barrels will hold rain water for you until your plats are ready to use it. I installed one this summer on our new home and we have barely used our hose at all for our vegetable garden and household plants. Purchase or make a rain barrel which has a spout as close to the bottom as possible. Make sure the barrel has a screen on the top to reduce the number of bugs which can enter the water. To keep any larvae from germinating, add mosquito dunks to the water – they are non-toxic and will not hurt your plants. If the water in the barrel begins to smell at all, do not worry. Add a capful or two of bleach to the water and let it sit for a day before you use it again. Rain barrels offer free water and help reduce runoff in your neighborhood. Some municipalities offer financial help with purchasing these inexpensive barrels and some have tax rebates. Make sure to check with your municipality to see what they offer.

Outdoors isn’t the only place you can save a little water, though. Keep a pitcher of water in your refrigerator so that you always have cold water on hand and you do not have to run the tap water until it is cold. Wash only full loads of laundry and dishes, and scrape dishes instead of rinsing when loading the dishwasher. Lastly, put your favorite handyperson to work fixing leaks around the home, which can waste about 200 gallons per week. Fixing leaks can add up to about $50 in utility bill savings annually.

Renovating or planning to upgrade your kitchen or bath? Look for EPA’s WaterSense label on toilets, faucets and faucet accessories which have helped Americans save more than 9.3 billion gallons of water and realize more than $55 million in savings on water and sewer bills in just 2008. That is enough water to supply 100,000 average households for a year.

What do you do with your old magazines?

I am a magazine junkie. Currently, my husband and I get about 5 subscriptions in the mail each month. Those don’t include the ones my mother gives me that she subscribes to.

For the longest time, I saved my old magazines and tried to give them away to people who might be interested. But no one was interested. Not even when I offered them up on Craigslist.com.

Some magazines should go well on Craigslist.com. If you get a subscription to a magazine dedicated to something niche and specific (guitar playing, woodworking, knitting, etc.), there very well could be an audience.

My fashion and home magazines have not garnered any interest. I ended up recycling all of the magazines just to clear out some space in our garage.

But I feel like there were so many better things I could have done with my magazines.

Here are some of my ideas for the next stockpile:

• Donate them to a local hospital, med serve or doctor’s office. These places can always use some new (er) reading materials. You can usually just drop them off in the lobby of your local hospital. You might want to call first to make sure they will accept used magazines.
• If the magazines are in pristine condition, many libraries will accept them for resale. Our library will accept any magazines except for Smithsonian and National Geographic. (I’m assuming certain adult magazines would also fall into the not-accept category.)
• Many pre-schools and after-school programs would probably welcome the magazines, and could use them for numerous different craft projects.
• Know of an artist who makes collages or works in multi-media? That person might also want your old  magazines.
• You could also save the magazines to do craft projects at home if your kids are crafty (mine is not.) Or if you are crafty. Magazine pictures are great for decoupage.
• If you live near a fashion school, and have several fashion magazines, students at the school might be interested in your magazines.
• If you have a shredder, you could shred them and use them as pretty filler in boxes, in place of Styrofoam nerdles.
• Or wrap small packages with them.
• Maybe even collage some pieces on a plain box to dress it up?

What about you? Any other good ideas to recycle used magazines?

Summer can be a tough time for greenies. At least in my opinion. If you own, or rent, a place with a yard, then you are expected by your neighbors to keep it fairly neat.

Making a lawn beautiful isn’t usually the most “green” thing to do. There’s the mowing, weed-eating, watering and fertilizing.

Mowing and weed-eating:

Most mowers and weed-eaters are not environmentally-friendly. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA,) the emissions from small engines, like lawn mowers, include carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides.

The good news is, there are lower-energy options. If you have a small lawn, or lots of stamina, you can use a reel-mower. The only energy these guys use is man-power. For the weeds, you could use a scythe (though that might scare your neighbors!)

There are also electric options. We recently upgraded to an electric mower, and though the cord does tend to get in the way, this mower is so much lighter and easier to push over the lawn. We also have an electric weed-eater. While these do not guzzle gas, they are using electricity.

But there is one other option — plant groundcover. Once groundcover takes hold, it shouldn’t need to be mowed. You could make your yard ornamental and unconventionally beautiful with lots of work upfront, but little on the back-end.

Watering:

Once the dry, hot summer begins, many people put the sprinklers out to keep their grass lush and green. But that can be a big waste of water.

Instead, why not invest in a rain barrel? They collect rainwater from your roof, and even have a spigot that you can connect your hose to for watering. Here’s a great description of rain barrels and what they do.

Fertilizing:

Many fertilizers on the market are chockful of chemicals. There are several organic options, like animal manure and compost. I know some cities sell compost, but you can easily make your own organic compost.

Mother’s Day is just around the corner. Planning to just head to the card store and pick up a sappy card on the way to Sunday brunch? There are several green gift options out there.

You can make your mom a card with recyclable material. If you have a budding artist on your hands, fold a piece of artwork in half and write your message on the inside.

Breakfast in bed is always a nice option. You can make the breakfast yourself instead of heading out for fast food and avoid the extra packaging.

Instead of buying cut flowers, pick flowers from your garden, or buy your mom a plant.

Bake mom a sweet treat. No need to buy her a cake when you can make one that will mean so much more!

Want to do something a little different that would get Mom’s attention? Clean the house for her. Give her a break on her big day.  For advice on green cleaners, look here and here.

Want to really make Mom’s day? Set aside the day and spend it with her. Go for a walk, reminisce about old times, look through photo albums.

And the most important thing — green or not — that you can do for your mom? Tell her that you love her and appreciate how much she has done for you.

It can be hard to go green when living in an environment that you can’t control, such as a dorm.

Recently Ryan wrote in, “I am a college student living in a school dorm. I recycle all of the paper that comes through my notebooks, don’t drink bottled water, but I’m finding a lot of green tips nowadays are geared towards people in their own homes. Could you publish a post about how to be green in housing that you don’t even own? i.e. I don’t have control over AC/heat, hot water tanks, anything dealing with food, etc. I love the green movement but I feel like I could do more.”

Ryan, it’s great that you are thinking about this! And it’s great that you recycle and don’t drink bottled water. Those are good steps.

While you can’t control the heat or A/C, there are several things you can do, and most likely are doing to go green while living in a dorm.

You can recycle your paper, cans, bottles, cardboard boxes, etc. I would think most campuses would have easily accessible recycling on campus. If not, talk to your Resident Advisor (RA) and student services. With going green being on the tips of most tongues, it shouldn’t be hard to get some bins on campus.

While talking with your RA or student services, ask if you can post signs in common areas reminding people to turn off the television and lights when they leave the room.

Not on the first floor of your dorm? Take the stairs when possible. Encourage others to follow suit.

Since you are in a dorm, you are most likely on campus. That means walking to and from class, the cafeteria, bookstore, etc., should be very easy. Walking isn’t only great exercise, it makes a lot of sense on a college campus. Parking was a nightmare on my campus, and it really didn’t make sense to drive for 2 minutes and search for parking for 10.

If it’s rainy or snowing, opt for the shuttle system. Many larger schools have free bus shuttles running regularly.

Walking not really an option? Most campuses are bike friendly, with racks situated outside the bigger buildings.

When you do drive somewhere — a real store, movies, etc. — go with friends. This is also probably something you are already doing, but carpooling saves gas. And don’t forget your canvas bags!

If you use the cafeteria, or eat at your sorority/fraternity house, this is much better for the environment than picking up fast food for your meals. When eating in the cafeteria, you most likely aren’t using and throwing away plastic utensils, plastic wrappers, etc. My cafeteria had actual plates, cups and utensils that they washed after each use. This cuts down on the excess waste going into landfills. If you only do take-out from your cafeteria, consider eating in. You might meet new people, or at least find a quiet place to do some studying.

I did this more out of thrift than out of being environmentally conscious when I was at school, but look around for the biggest washer/dryers. The washers/dryers in my dorm were tiny, but the washers/dryers at the store about 5 minutes away were HUGE. I did not sort, just threw everything in, inserted my quarters and congratulated myself on saving some money.

Speaking of stores, look for used textbooks at the bookstore. When the semester is over, sell those books back. This not only saves you money, but also helps cut down on the paper used to print books. If possible, share books with people who are also taking your class (preferably at different times.)

If possible, take your laptop to class to take notes instead of using paper. 

Are there any other green tips for dorm dwellers that I’ve forgotten or didn’t think of?

There are lots of little actions that you can take around your house that will make a big difference, both for your pocketbook and for the earth.

One area where you can make a big difference is the way you use your dishwasher.

Think you shouldn’t be using your dishwasher? A study by the University of Bonn showed that dishwashers were more economical and ecological than hand washing, even for single-person households.

According to the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACE3), you should only run full loads. The dishwasher will use the same amount of energy and water whether it’s washing 10 dishes or 30.

Pre-rinsing isn’t recommended either. Most newer dishwashers are powerful enough to do a thorough job without any help. If the dishes will be sitting for a while before you run the next cycle, then use cold water to do your rinsing.

ACE3 also suggests using the no-heat, air-dry feature if your dishwasher has that option.

I like to run our dishwasher in the evenings during the summer, so I’m not adding extra heat to our house.

Have any energy-saving tips when it comes to dishwashing?

Earth Day is fast approaching, and some major retailers are going to great lengths to show their greenness. The good news is that many of these lengths can benefit you!

Starting April 19th and running through the 22nd, Home Depot will give away 1 million CFL lightbulbs. The lightbulbs are available while supplies last.

Now through May 15th, you can design your own reuseable Kroger shopping bag. You will get a free canvas bag just for entering and will be entered to win up to $1,000. Kroger is a national grocery chain.

If you bring in three plastic bottles to any Disney Store, they will give you a free canvas tote bag.

Have you heard of any other cool freebies?

There are some areas of my life that I find very difficult to make green: I have terrible allergies, and my attempt at line drying our clothes last year was a complete failure and I’m having a difficult time teaching my 2-year-old to conserve energy (electricity, not his own.)

Some of his favorite activities include turning our bedroom light on and off, opening the fridge and staring at the contents (then demanding yogurt, but that’s not really a green problem) and wanting the television to be on even when he is not watching it.

Reasoning with him that turning on a light when the sunshine lights the room better is just not working. And if I turn the light off, he thinks it’s a really fun game of On/Off. The good news is that he has the concepts of on/off and open/shut down pat.

Now that the weather is finally warming up, I am able to steer him away from the TV with the lure of the outdoors. But I know rainy days will happen.

I’ve found several articles on how now is a great time to teach my son about gardening, recycling and re-using (he inherently knows how to re-use and re-imagine), but I didn’t find anything very helpful about teaching energy conservation to a toddler.

Any advice on teaching energy conservation to a very playful 2-year-old?