The Case for Composting

By composting, you can reduce the amount of trash you generate by at least a third. There are also many other benefits to composting, both for the environment and for you. Most people put off composting because they either don’t understand how to do it or they think that food waste just decomposes in the landfill anyway and doesn’t add to the problem of trash. Well, for the first issue of not knowing how, you can refer to this blog post series that tells you all about how to compost: A Guide to Inexpensive Composting A Guide to Inexpensive Composting … Continue reading

Magnifying Fall

At the nature center where I work, we have an Elmo. Unlike his Sesame Street namesake, Elmo is not an assuming presence. He’s a small machine, and rather gray. However, when you turn on the switch, Elmo turns kids on to nature. He’s a macroscope. What is a macroscope? Like a hand lens, it magnifies objects that are hard to see with the naked eye. Like a microscope, it’s a machine to assist your eyes in seeing things that are not necessarily noticeable with your eyes. Our Elmo also projects items onto a screen, so worms look as large as … Continue reading

How Green Are You?

We hear a lot in the media about what we should and should be doing in our homes. Governments are trying to get people to do the right thing. They are always trying to encourage recycling and composting. The Australian government has offered rebates for getting insulation, or solar hot water, or solar panels – all ideas aimed at helping the environment. So here are some questions for you. 1. How often do you take reusable bags instead of getting plastic bags at the supermarket or for other shopping? We try and do this, so we also keep reusable bags … Continue reading

The Controversy of the Cat

This morning, I was browsing through various web sites to get some inspiration for this blog. I wanted to see what new things might be out in the world that would help us be more eco-friendly. One suggestion that I came across concerned the cat. Keep your cat indoors, it offered, in order to be eco-friendly. Hmm . First let me start with a disclosure. We do have a cat, and we do keep him indoors. Well, we try to keep him indoors and succeed most of the time. There are moments when someone forgets to close the back door … Continue reading

Aiming for Zero Waste

So many of us think it is personal right to be able to generate and toss away garbage. But is it really? Why should added pollution and mess to the planet be a right of every world citizen? Here in my home town, we can simply fill up a large garbage can and have someone take it away twice a week. We can even overflow it or add an extra can. We pay our taxes or for a sanitation service, so we have every right, right? Instead, why don’t we look at having a responsibility to mess up the planet … Continue reading

What to Do with Trash

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, we Americans produce approximately 220 million tons of garbage each year. In case you were wondering, that is enough trash to cover the entire state of Texas – twice! It is estimated that each of us produce, on average, about four pounds of garbage each day. That’s about all the statistics I am going to go into because math hurts my head, but let’s just say, we have tons of trash. Of course, you can use some of it to make compost, but, you can turn some of your other trash into useful items … Continue reading

Do You Need to Wash Organic Produce?

Yesterday, we took a trip to nearby Lancaster County, the home of a large Amish community, along with a lot of Amish tourist trade. Still, there are plenty of interesting places to visit that are not on the beaten path. One of these spots is an Amish family owned and run natural food store. Whenever we visit Lancaster, we usually stop by this store to stock up on organic products in bulk, such as flour, rice, sugar and snacks. This particular day, they were featuring organic gala apples at only $1 a pound! This is a great deal, considering that … Continue reading

“The Price is Right” Goes Green

No need to adjust the color on your TV set tomorrow when watching “The Price is Right.” The popular CBS game show is going green for a good reason—-Earth Day. In observance of the global tradition, Wednesday’s episode of “The Price is Right” will feature environmentally friendly prizes including cellphones made of recycled materials, solar charging equipment and a recycling cabinet. Adding another shade of green to the mix will be tree hugger Ed Begley Jr. The famous actor/environmentalist will introduce a showcase that includes an electric bike, golf cart and Toyota Prius hybrid car. In addition, trips offered during … Continue reading

Summer in New York—-Family Friendly Cultural Choices

Mention to your children that your trip to New York is going to include “cultural experiences” and you can bet that you’ll be met with eye rolling and some groans. Well, stand tough parents because once your offspring are immersed in the Big Apple’s cultural offerings you might be surprised by their reaction. Melodious summer fun begins and ends in Manhattan. It’s music, music and more music at Central Park’s SummerStage. The series of free concerts gets underway on June 13th with a salute to gospel and soul. Artists including Mavis Staples and Stephanie McKay will kick off the summer … Continue reading