Green Living on The Huffington Post

Holiday Decoration Ideas: Go Green!

2009-12-05T14:50:32Z

When it comes to decorating for the holidays, green decor means more than hanging a pine wreath outside. This season, be inspired by all of the eco-friendly options available (including the DIY route!) and commit to creating a healthy home for your family and the planet. From lights to ornaments, to modern menorahs and sustainable stockings �" we've got you covered!

Green For Your Home? Funky Fake Grass-Covered House

2009-12-05T14:49:47Z

How green can you go? A tribute to the surrounding landscape, true, but this manicured 'green' house exterior also makes a clever statement on our newfound obsession with sustainable living and contextual design for residential architecture.

California Utilities Push For Solar, Wind And Carbon-Capture Projects

2009-12-04T10:38:45Z

California regulators went out of this world today and gave the go-ahead to a power-purchase agreement involving the nation's first solar power plant in space.

Pacific Gas & Electric Co., the state's largest utility, will proceed with a 15-year contract with Manhattan Beach start-up Solaren Corp., after receiving approval from the California Public Utilities Commission.

The project, which is expected to go live in 2016, will use solar cells from Solaren on orbiting satellites to convert energy from the sun into radio-frequency waves. The waves will be transmitted to a receiving station near Fresno and reverted back into electricity.

Can Local Farmng Save The Suburbs?

2009-12-04T08:11:05Z

I believe suburban farming, like urban farming before it, can begin to bring back a more civic, sustainable economy. After urban renewal we need a suburban revision, where responsible production of food and energy moderates the consumptive nature of suburbia.

Dying To Be Green? Try "Bio-Cremation"

2009-12-02T15:08:30Z

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Worried you haven't been green enough in life? Don't let death come in the way of a more eco-friendly you.

Enter alkaline hydrolysis, a chemical body-disposal process its proponents call "bio-cremation" and say uses one-tenth the natural gas of fire-based cremation and one-third the electricity.

Laundry Room Libraries

2009-12-01T13:40:10Z

My old neighbors in Washington Heights were marvels of resourcefulness, natural born recyclers inspired by thrift, as opposed to love of the environment. One of them regularly used to head down to the laundry room to polish off a load and come back with some rescued treasure.

Companies Pledge to Avoid 'Dirty' Gold

2009-12-01T11:53:05Z

Several major jewelry retailers, including Sears, Kmart and Blue Nile made a pledge last week to sell gold that has been mined and produced through humane, eco-friendly methods.

Christmas Gifts 2009: 13 Great Gifts

2009-12-01T09:32:00Z

With the holiday season upon us, gift-giving can get pretty ugly really fast. From the last-minute frantic purchasing to participating in the consumerist frenzy of buying over-hyped and unnecessary gifts, the season can definitely put a major damper on our "green" efforts.

At HuffPost Green, we believe that if you're going to buy gifts this season, they should be thoughtful, eco-friendly and inspiring.

With this in mind, check out our collection of cool, useful green gifts for this season, from solar-powered gadgets to an organic herb garden kit. Be sure to vote the the gift you think is the best!

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DIY Glycerin Soap

2009-12-01T08:26:54Z

Believe it or not you can make these soaps in your slow-cooker.

Solar Panels Causing Some Storms

2009-11-30T13:12:14Z

Ready to chuck his electric bills, Camarillo resident Marc Weinberg last year asked his homeowners association for permission to put solar panels on his roof.

When the Spanish Hills Homeowners Assn. said no, Weinberg sued the group. Under the state's Solar Rights Act, he argued, a homeowners association can't unreasonably block solar installations.

Paul David Walker: The Next Economy: The Pursuit Of Happiness

2009-11-30T12:54:04Z

Our economy is shifting from being based on consumerism to something else. The question is what will that be. In the past 75% of GNP was based on consumerism. Consumerism, using credit to achieve its ends, has pushed us into economic disaster. We have poured our energy into consuming more clothes, cars, jet skies, jewels, and houses that look like mansions, and we are still not happy or truly wealthy.

So if the next economy is not based on consumerism, what will it be? Well, this is a long story, but let me share a few thoughts. I believe the next economy will be based on the "pursuit of happiness." Even now religion and spiritual activities are growing. Many people are realizing that community and a relationship with something bigger than themselves brings more happiness than consuming things.

There are many industries that can thrive if the "pursuit of happiness" begins to replace consumerism. Instead of the President saying, "Go shopping" as a solution, what if he said, "Make our world a better place to live." Our happiness would grow if the air and water, which are vital to life, were cleaner. Our happiness would grow if we lived in communities of people who support and cared for each other. Our happiness would grow if instead of finding ways to have more than others, we were committed to making the human experience here on Earth more meaningful and profound. Our happiness would grow if we were not always striving for something we don't have, and learned to live in the present with gratitude and joy.

What are the industries that may emerge? To name a few ... greening, health and well-being care, architecture, growth of religions and spiritual communities, building mixed use environmentally friendly communities, energy innovation, communication enhancements, meaningful TV, theatre and movies that help people find their own happiness, helping the less fortunate learn to thrive, growing and distributing foods that support health, mind-body-spirit programs, art to create and extend the beauty of the world.

Along with some very smart people, I am creating and institute committed to "Manifesting Wisdom, Wealth, and Well-Being Worldwide." Here is a website we are refining that can tell you more about these efforts. www.geniusstone.com ... I would love to hear your thoughts about this project.

Anne Hill: Loving An Ecological Disaster

2009-11-30T11:45:35Z

My boyfriend is a walking, talking, ecological disaster. He has many wonderful qualities, but once he moved in with me my energy efficient lifestyle suffered a huge blow. First he replaced my low-wattage lightbulbs with 100 watt bulbs, complaining that he couldn't read in the living room. I soon found that he takes twice as many showers as I do, creates more trash than my teenage daughter, and never waits for a full load to run the washing machine.

Every utility bill in the house shot up by about $30 once he moved in, and that was before the weather got cold and I found out how much he likes to run the furnace. They love him at the grocery store, but our recycling can is filled to the brim each week with plastic bottles from his favorite sparkling water and the two newspapers he reads every day.

Now, I have enough relationship experience to know that there is a difference between annoying traits that can be adjusted and annoying traits that are too ingrained to change. The trick is to figure out which is which, and whether you can live with your partner's ingrained annoying traits. And that gets complicated when we value things like energy efficiency and green living.

Although my boyfriend has made some positive changes in his energy consumption, by mid-November I had come to realize that he was just plain wasteful by my standards, and probably always would be. I began to seriously question whether I could live with all the things he couldn't, or wouldn't, change.

Then came Thanksgiving.

The day started with an argument over lining the bottom of the turkey pan with aluminum foil (his idea), or letting the drippings fall into the perfectly good stainless steel pan, thereby avoiding aluminum poisoning in the gravy (my idea). He was cooking the turkey so I relented and let him do it his way (I don't like gravy anyway).

He made cornbread, mashed potatoes, turkey, stuffing, and gravy, using more butter than I usually go through in a year's time, all the while watching football on his energy-sucking high-definition flatscreen TV. I made a vegetable saute and baked an apple pie.

When our friend arrived to join us my boyfriend set the table and poured the wine, and when we were done he cleared the table and set it again for dessert while we walked the dog. After pie and ice cream, he insisted that we sit down and relax while he cleaned the kitchen.

There he was, leaving the water on full-blast while he stacked the dishwasher. Loading it halfway and putting it on its longest wash cycle, using too much detergent. Not collapsing or rinsing the empty ice cream carton before throwing it in the recycling. Soaking the dirty turkey pan because (as I predicted) the drippings got under the aluminum foil anyway.

Watching all this, it dawned on me: I have never had a boyfriend who likes to cook for me, and to clean up afterwards. I don't even know what it's like to be in a relationship with someone who loves doing nice things for me and wants me to be happy. Could happiness, and a loving, supportive partner, be more important than energy savings?

It's a new idea for me, but I'm willing to consider that choosing efficiency over love might be a foolish move. Relationships don't work without some compromise. The question is, when do our green values become annoying ingrained habits of our own, and do we hang onto them even at the risk of losing something just as precious and life-giving as water?

How Can You Make Sure That A Christmas Tree Really Is Fair Trade?

2009-11-30T08:55:54Z

Is there such a thing as a fair trade Christmas tree, and should I be worried about "unethical" trees?

Jennifer Grayson: Eco Etiquette: 6 Tips For (More) Eco-Friendly Flying

2009-11-30T08:20:48Z

I generally try to be eco-conscious, but it always seems like all bets are off when I have to fly somewhere. Obviously, air travel itself is bad for the environment, but it also seems like there's so much waste involved in the whole process of going to the airport, etc. Is there anything I can do to make flying a little greener?

-Kelli

Until Branson perfects his bio jet fuel, "green flying" will forever be an oxymoron. My trip from Los Angeles to Chicago this Thanksgiving will emit 1,022 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere -- nearly as much as driving my car for three months. I'm not proud of this. But what am I supposed to do, never see my family? That's a choice that even the most ardent environmentalist would be loathe to make.

And green going out the window doesn't stop with the plane emissions: There's the giant bottles of Aquafina in the airport shops, the fast-food restaurants flipping factory-farmed burgers, airport toilets that automatically flush three times before you've even finished peeing, the plastic cups that come with every pass of beverage service in the cabin, piles of discarded tabloid glossies...it's enough to make you want to throw up your hands in despair. (Or just throw up.)

But while it may seem like you're at the mercy of the travel gods and their wasteful, polluting ways, there are still eco-friendly choices you can make on your journey that really do make a difference. And who knows? Maybe you'll inspire the fellow fliers you encounter along the way.

1. Take public transit to the airport. If you live in the country or the suburbs, this may not be realistic, but if you live in a city, nix the cab and take public transportation. You'll not only be going green (reducing carbon emissions), you'll also be saving green: It costs only $7 to take the subway/air train from Manhattan to JFK, compared to a $45 taxi fare.

2. Pack light. This reduces emissions by a) making it easier to take public transit to the airport and b) lightening the plane's load. (Less weight = less fuel = less CO2 emissions.) This is basically the concept behind the new "green" plane Southwest is currently testing, which utilizes innovative materials to reduce weight by up to five pounds per seat. Considering the amount of eating most of us will be doing over the holidays, I say pack extra light to make up for that pumpkin pie you'll be wearing on the return flight home.

3. Buy (reputable) carbon offsets. There's been a lot of debate as to whether carbon offsets actually work, but when it comes to reducing the emissions associated with air travel, you really only have two choices: buy carbon offsets, or don't fly at all. Look at it as a donation to a good cause rather than a way to excuse bad behavior. Make sure, however, that you buy them from a trusted seller.

4. Brown bag it. Actually, make that a reusable lunch tote. I've never understood why pre-made airport sandwiches have to come in such giant plastic containers. Avoid the extra packaging -- and the carbon-intensive processed food -- by packing your own healthy meal and snacks to take with you on your flight. Extra carbon credit: Pack a vegetarian lunch.

5. Say no to bottled water. I have this crazy idea that one day, eco-conscious airports will feature filtered water stations by the gates where passengers can fill up reusable bottles before their flights. Oh right, I think something like that used to exist -- they were called water fountains. Unfortunately, these relics have become scarce in most airports; those who don't want to contribute to the more than 60 million plastic water bottles Americans throw away every day are left to fill up their Kleen Kanteens in an airport bathroom (fine at O'Hare, with its top-ranked tap water; pretty gross at LAX). A safe bet is to bring a reusable bottle with a built-in filter, like EcoUsable's Ech20 stainless steel and BPA-free version.

6. Check out your reading material. From the library, that is. The book industry loves virgin paper -- it's estimated that 30 million trees are cut down annually for books sold in the US alone. (Kindle fans will be happy to know that e-readers are somewhat green, though not as guilt-free as a borrowed book.) Can't fathom flying without your fill of Brad and Angelina? Give that US Weekly a second life by sharing it with another passenger when you're done, or at least drop it in an airport recycling bin on the way out.

Stick to these tips, and you'll be on your way to joining the green mile-high club!

Send all your eco-inquiries to Jennifer Grayson at eco.etiquette@gmail.com. Questions may be edited for length and clarity.

California Recycling Centers Close, Eliminating 'Green' Jobs

2009-11-30T01:17:31Z

Recycling centers across California are closing, and scores of troubled youths are being tossed from "green" jobs onto unemployment rolls in the wake of Sacramento's raid on bottle deposit funds.

California's recycling treasury, filled by consumers' nickel and dime deposits on drink containers, had hummed along successfully for two decades until state officials left it nearly bankrupt after taking $451 million out to help balance the budget.

How To Be A Countertop Composter (VIDEO)

2009-11-29T13:43:19Z

We at HuffPost Green love to get down and dirty...with compost that is! Umbra Fisk of GristTV offers her top tips for composting. From huge outdoor containers, to small countertop boxes, this video will no doubt inspire you, as much as it did us, to get in touch with your greener side. Just in time for Thanksgiving and the holiday season, there will be no excuse to send any the leftovers that don't make it into the next day's lunch to anywhere but your new composter.

WATCH:

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Student Designs Biodegradable Packaging For McDonald's

2009-11-28T09:29:06Z

Fast food packaging takes up a hefty chunk of our landfill space while effectively clear-cutting our forests. Seeking to counter this consumptive cycle, University of the Arts grad student, Andrew Millar, designed biodegradable packaging for McDonald's from grass paper, which has naturally grease-resistant properties.

Avital Binshtock: How To Green Your Holiday Meal

2009-11-26T11:32:52Z

Working up a menu for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, or another upcoming holiday? Here are three tips to help you be more environmentally responsible while planning that feast.

1. Opt For Organic. We know that organic foods are better for our bodies, but did you know that they're significantly better for the planet too? Since organic farmers don't use toxins on their crops, they prevent chemicals from contaminating soil and water, and from harming wildlife. It doesn't just need to be just the turkey or ham that's organic; it can be the wine, too, or the vegetables in the side dishes. An added plus: organic foods taste better!

2. Think Through the Decor. If you're shopping for table settings, look for organic, reusable linens and cloth napkins. As for the centerpiece, try to go with one that's nondisposable or edible -- such as a cornucopia filled with seasonal fruit and vegetables - instead of flowers. Did you know that around 80 percent of flowers sold in the U.S. are imported from Colombia and Ecuador and contain 50 times more pesticides than is legal to have on edibles? Just some food for thought.

3. Do Right With What's Left. If there's one thing synonymous with American holidays, it's lots and lots of leftovers. So what to do with yours? If there's a food bank or homeless shelter in your region that takes prepared foods, take them there. If not, you can turn your leftovers into other meals, including soup or sandwiches; mashed potatoes can become a breakfast hash.

Whatever becomes of your grub, deal with those licked-clean dishes responsibly: A full load in the dishwasher is greener than washing them by hand, especially if you skip the drying cycle.

Tell us: How do you green your holiday meal?

Read more HuffPost Thanksgiving coverage and commentary
Read more: Pesticides, Organic Farming, Hanukkah, Soil, Turkey, Agriculture, Thanksgiving, Flowers, Green, Toxins, Soup Kitchen, Decor, Vegetables, Christmas, Dishwasher, Leftovers, Holidays, Holiday Season, Food Banks, Crops, Ecuador, Green Living, Reusable, Family Meals, Decorating, Imports, Menu, Organic Food, Fruit, Cornucopia, Colombia, Water, Environment, Tips, Homeless Shelters, Food, Decorating Tips, Green News

9 Ways To Cut Waste This Holiday Season

2009-11-25T09:32:25Z
The holiday season produces a lot of waste. Household waste jumps an astounding 25 percent between Thanksgiving and the New Year, according to the EPA. That excess "25 percent" totals 1 million tons of trash.

Read more: Sustainability, Green Living, Holidays, Green News

Top Executive Leaves the Rat Race For Self-Sufficient Mountain Community

2009-11-25T09:06:51Z
The Daily Green caught up with Grant Miller, green developer of the Village on Sewanee Creek, which is nestled in the scenic mountains of southeast Tennessee...Miller recently retired from a 30-year career as an international food service chain executive...He worked in fifty countries, overseeing over 3,700 restaurants. But since moving to rural Tennessee to build a self-sufficient community, Miller lost 25 pounds and says he feels 30 years younger.
Read more: Sustainable Living, Sustainability, Green-Development, Green Living, Green Design, Green News

Dutch Designer's "Fragmented Textiles" Are Like Legos For Fashion

2009-11-23T17:16:16Z
Here's another eco-fashion innovation that is both puzzling and promising: "Fragmented" clothing that features customizable snap-on pieces, requires no sewing, and reduces textile waste.

Read more: Convertible Clothing, Ecofashion, Reuseable Clothing, Refinity, Fashion, Green Living, Convertible Fashion, Fragmented Textiles, Green News

Method's Shiny Suds Video: Getting Behind The Household Product Labeling Act (VIDEO)

2009-11-23T11:57:15Z
With the tag line "when did clean become so dirty?," Method cleaning products -- known for their environmentally-friendly ingredients -- has launched a campaign for the disclosure of all ingredients found in cleaning products.
They're supporting the "Household Product Labeling Acts," which will require all cleaning products to carry full ingredient labels. While current law requires a list of immediate hazardous ingredients, companies don't have to list ingredients that may cause harm more gradually.

With the belief that people deserve to know what toxic chemicals are found in their household products, Senator Al Franken of Minnesota decided to introduce this legislation. It's companion bill was introduced in the House by Rep. Steve Israel of New York.

Check out this video of Method's ad and let us know how you feel about the Household Product Labeling Acts!

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Read more: Toxic Chemicals, Household Cleaners, Green Living, Green Cleaners, Toxic Cleaners, Poll, Polling Methodology, Household Product Labeling Acts, Green News

Tracy L. Barnett: Lighting Out For The South

2009-11-23T08:46:00Z
Tomorrow I will follow in the footsteps of Ernest Hemingway, Che Guevara and Celia Cruz to the irrepressible rhythm of the Cuban son - grandfather of salsa, popularized by the Buena Vista Social Club - emanating from Cuban human beings, not my CD collection or a cover band in downtown Houston. Far from the Bayou City, I'll savor the sunset breezes on the Malecon, the famous boulevard that stretches the length of the city along the Bay of Havana. As many a tourist has done before me, I'll sit at Hemingway's favorite bar and have a mojito in his memory.

And while I will embrace the cultural magic of this legendary land, my journey goes beyond culture to something more essential, something universal and urgent.

Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Salopek recently articulated my thinking better than I could have. Salopek won the Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award last month from Colby College, and like a modern-day Horace Greeley, he uttered some sage words of advice to young journalists in his acceptance speech.

"I would advise any ambitious young reporter today not to head to Washington or to London to launch a career but to light out for the South, because that's where the global narrative is rapidly taking shape," he said.

Salopek, for those who may not know, is the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent who was captured and held captive in Sudan for a month while reporting a National Geographic cover story on Africa's Sahel region. One can only hope that his words will inspire a fraction of the shift in the national zeitgeist reflected in the famous 1800s phrase attributed to Greeley, "Go West, young man."

I am no longer a young reporter, but lighting out for the South is exactly what I am preparing to do. Over course of the next year, I will be traveling through Latin America, reporting on the important and innovative work of world-changers at the grassroots. Here is where the passion and the color and the sazon of the Latino people finds its nexus with what's been called the most urgent issue of our time: remaking society in a way that will avert an ecological catastrophe.

Citizens of the Global South have too often been portrayed as victims, villains and bit characters in the global narrative playing out around us. We see the images of the distressed and dismayed, buffeted by yet another catastrophe. We hear about the druglords and narcotraffickers, the swine flu outbreaks and the hordes of undocumented immigrants besieging our borders.

What I have seen in my travels in the Global South is a sharp contrast. Yes, there is suffering, but as Salopek also noted, there is great joy. He describes Africa, with all its entrenched poverty, as one of the happiest places he's been. Paradoxical, yes; but paradox is the great crucible of the soul, and therein lies the story I am about to tell.

My Global South is peopled with heroes and heroines, men and women who face down their fears and the formidable challenges that stand in their way to produce meaningful change. It's also peopled with ordinary folks who are tackling the same challenges we are, but from a different angle.

My Global South is working quietly to create a model for a future that is ultimately more sustainable than the one that we here in the overdeveloped world have created, and we have barely noticed.

In the year ahead, as humanity wrestles with what may be the greatest challenge of our times - re-creating a society and a sustainable way of life that is consistent with long-term planetary survival - I will be giving voice to some of these unsung world-changers in the pages of The Esperanza Project, a green bilingual (and ultimately, multilingual) news portal for the Americas.

Esperanza is the Spanish word for hope - a commodity seemingly in short supply these days. With the rapidly approaching Copenhagen conference, climate leadership is hard to find - unless one looks south, where Brazil, the world's fourth-largest carbon producer, is pledging to cut emissions by a third; Cuba, which has turned crisis to opportunity with one of the hemisphere's most sustainable infrastructures; and mega-metropolises like Mexico City and Bogota, with green initiatives that go far beyond what most U.S. cities have attempted.
I've already begun the reporting on this project with an October trip to Mexico, where young professionals in Guadalajara are putting their bodies on the line for a more sustainable city, and in Mexico City where a sprawling, 30,000-person complex is making the conversion to an ecovillage.

In Cuba, I'll witness the creative responses to the crisis that followed the fall of the Soviet Union and the loss of its main source of petroleum. The country was forced to rapidly rethink its agricultural, energy, transportation and health care systems with a fraction of its previous oil supply, and in a process borne of necessity, created some of the world's most sustainable cities.

And in January, after packing up my belongings into a storage locker and saying goodbye to my family, I'll be hitting the road on a yearlong southward journey seeking and training collaborators for a new media project.

On this news network, Latin Americans are the protagonists of their own narrative, and one that we here in the North would do well to follow, as there is much to be learned from them. We'll be using all the tools of the digital age to tell their stories: video, photography, the new social media and, yes, the good old-fashioned written word.

Jorge Luis Sierra, an award-winning investigative journalist from Mexico City and a pioneer in online media himself, has signed on as The Esperanza Project's Spanish-language editor, giving the project greater depth and an exciting edge. Patricia Martinez, an environmental journalist from Guadalajara, Alejandro Manrique, an investigative journalist from Colombia, and Tami Brunk, an environmental writer based in New Mexico, are also among our collaborators.

We are looking for contributors from all over, and you can be one of them. You can follow us on Facebook or Twitter, subscribe to our RSS feed or receive updates in your e-mail. You can post relevant stories in the newsfeed, contribute to the discussion in the comment fields or even write stories of your own, if you feel so inspired.

I hope you will join the hemispheric conversation that is about to begin at TheEsperanzaProject.org. Click around the site, share your thoughts, forward it to your friends. This is how a new online media project is born, and you can be a part of it.

Tracy L. Barnett, www.tracybarnettonline.com, is an independent journalist based in Houston. She is a blogger at The Huffington Post and founder of The Esperanza Project.
Paul Salopek's inspiring speech, delivered last month upon receipt of the Elijah Lovejoy Award, is available in podcast here.

Read more: Latin America, Mexico, Environment, Green News, Media Criticism, Sustainability, Colombia, Cuba, Media, Media News, Green Living, Brazil, World News

The World's First Green Surfboards

2009-11-20T18:12:45Z
In San Clemente, a start-up company called Green Foam Blanks is out to change a half-century of surfboard-making tradition. Its founders, Joey Santley and Steve Cox, have created what is thought to be the world's first recycled polyurethane blank -- the foam core of a surfboard.
Read more: Green Surfing, Green Living, Surf Boards, Green Foam, Surfing, Green News

Get Inspired By 10 Amazing Examples Of Eco Art

2009-11-20T18:04:42Z
Maybe it's time we tap into our inner child-artist and try some more creative and open-minded approaches like, as a first step, using green art to convey the urgency without the ideology.

But...what the hell is green art?

The gang at Eco-Art.org offers this list of how environmental artists often work.
Read more: Art, Green Living, Eco Art, Green Art, Green News