Give The Gift of Food

 

If you're not sure what to give for Christmas this year, make it! Food will always be a good gift because everyone loves to eat! You can be sure that your present will not end up in a landfill or in the ocean. And your recipient will probably reuse the container that you put it in as well.

Reclaimed Edgings Are Hot

 

If you buy firewood, consider getting something like this: reclaimed edgings from local wood mills. It takes scraps and uses them rather than throwing them away, and it prevents new trees from being cut down. Make use with what you have, I like to say! As the tag says, Save our forests! 

Terracycle For Christmas

 

Are you stumped on what to get your friends and family this Holiday Season? Do you want to avoid being "trashy" but don't know how best to do that? Consider getting gifts from Terracycle.com. Terracycle is a company that takes trash and turns it into usable, practical items. Then in turn, anyone can buy those "upcycled" items and enjoy. Trash is removed from a landfill and someone gets a really cool gift. Yay!

A Foot of Innovation

 

Let's admit it, I am short. And the desk that I use is kind of high. Therefore, my feet do not touch the ground when I sit at my desk. I was going to ask for one of those footrest things for underneath desks for Christmas, but then I realized that I didn't really need one. All I needed was an object that my feet would reach. For example - an old 1-800 pet meds box. Perfect! Most of us already have too much stuff, so don't add to the clutter unless you need to. Find solutions to your problems by finding uses for things that you already have. 

P.S. The box works great, and it was free (plus shipping and handling), and it is reusable once I am done with it.

Seriously...Get an Energy Audit!!!

 

So a couple months back I suggested getting an energy audit done on your home. Well this weekend I finally had one done on my own home. We recieved $800 worth of free CFL lightbulbs and discovered that our walls had no insulation. The CFL's will save my family about $700 per year, so even if we had bought them on our own they would have paid for themselves within a year. Getting insulation will save on heating as well. Wowza! So really...Get an energy audit!!! It is free of charge (because you are already forced to pay for it in your taxes) and you receive boatloads of free stuff that save you even more money. (And all of those money savings also translate into huge energy savings which translate into environmental savings.) Other than the fact that it was at 8:00 am it was totally painless. So I am telling you, take advantage of your home energy audit!

*pictured above are all of the light-bulbs that got removed and replaced with CFL's...that's 8 boxes full!

Bamboo Birdhouse

 

I know that I have posted about birds before. When we cut down trees and forests we take away bird habitats, so it is important that we put out houses and feeders to help them out. But additionally, check out this cool thing! It is a birdhouse made entirely out of bamboo! Bamboo is incredibly renewable...it grows up to 2 feet per day! This house is made by Duncraft (in case you were interested) and is said to decompose after 4-5 years of use in about a year. So to recap: it is made from renewable resources and does not make any trash when you are done with it. Let the bird-mating begin!

All I Want for Christmas is Some Nice Clean Air

 

UPS offers emission free shipping when you want to send a package with them. Depending on what kind of shipping you require it is only $0.05 to about $0.75 I believe. Your extra cents will go to things such as reforestation, landfill gas destruction, wastewater treatment, and methane destruction. These types of services help to offset the carbon output from the trucks, planes etc. that UPS uses to ship. Since shipping uses so much fuel and energy it is great that they are trying to offset their impact. So, while you are shipping all of your boxes this holiday season think of adding a few extra cents to your bill for Mother Nature and cleaner air. Because I know that all I want for Christmas is some nice clean air!

Therostats Need Sleep Too

 

Running your thermostat as little as possible is best. We all know not to set it too high, and to get a programmable one so that it is only on when we are home.However, what about at night? Have you ever thought of that? Obviously we don't want to freeze at night and wake up to an icy house. However, there is no need to set it to the normal 68 degrees or whatever your normal is. If you're unconscious, bundled up under layers of blankets I do not think that your body will mind if the heat is down to 60 degrees or whatnot. Just set it to turn down around the time that you usually go to bed and then to turn back up about 30 minutes before you usually get up.

Clipping Your Nails Outside

 

Now I am sure that nail clippings are never an issue when it comes to trash dumps and pollution...but they are all natural and don't really neeeed to be thrown in the garbage. Instead, choose to clip your nails outside. In the summer it is nice to catch a little sun and not worry about getting the clippings all over the floor or the table. In the winter when it is colder this may not be so nice, but maybe a little outdoors might still be nice. If not, chuck 'em out the window when you're done!

BuyGreen.com Surprise!

 

I recently ordered from buygreen.com. It is website full of useful, environmentally friendly things! When I first opened the package I realized that it was unusual, and was confused as to why the box said Duracell on it. Then I realized, duh! They reused packaging to ship me my order! How appropriate. I love this so much. They even put a sticker on the side about shamelessly reusing packaging. So, if you're looking for some joy this season, order something from buygreen.com! Who knows what kind of box it will come in!