Think you can’t have a garden because you live in the city?  Think again.  The Durvaes Family of Pasedena, California has done just that.  Watch the amazing transformation of their yard, from dry, parched dirt, to rich organic soil where fruits and veggies (and more) grow.  Their story is ultra-inspiring.  Let it inspire you to do the same!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IbODJiEM5A

About two-thirds of households that regularly recycle credit the woman of the house as the “recycling enforcer,” according to a 2009 survey. That’s a big deal since women continue to shoulder most of the housework, experts say.

With the surge of catalogs and Christmas cards we all receive in December, be mindful to recycle.  Be especially cognizant of your landfill contributions this month by recycling all magazines and catalogs, recycling envelopes from the Christmas cards, and ultimately recycling the cards after Christmas.  If the card is especially beautiful, buy a great frame, put the card in it,  and put it on a bookshelf, desk, or entry table.  That’s recycling too, you know.  Have a Green Christmas this year!

We all know the 411 when it comes to recycling, and that’s simply to DO IT.  We know better than to make excuses.  We should also know it’s simply a way of life for us now.  It’s should be a way of life for your children, too.

So lets take it a step further and precycle.  What is precycling?  It’s Proactive meets Recycling.    Here are 10 ways to proactively recycle.

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1. Bring reusable bags to the store with you. Cloth or paper will do!

2. Buy Large Quantities. If you buy products in bulk or in large sizes and quantities, you can put them in smaller containers as you need them and this uses less containers.

3. Buy products with the least amount of packaging or none at all. Items packed in multiple containers may look nice, but they are a waste!

4. Buy products packed in recycled packaging. If you have to use a container, it might as well be green. Additionally, you help support green corporations. (Important: make sure you look for the recycled symbol)

5. Don’t buy disposable items (plates cups, pens, diapers, batteries, etc.) They only fill the landfill more.

6. Buy less paper towels and napkins or none at all. Use cloth ones!

7. Buy long life and concentrated items (batteries, bulks , etc.) This saves on packaging as well as product.

8. Don’t purchase styrofoam. It contains polystyrene, which is the most difficult material to break down in our landfill and is considered a hazardous waste.

9. Buy items in cardboard. aluminum, steel, glass, and plastic containers marked 1 and 2 ( They are stamped on the bottom 1 and 2). These containers can be recycled more easily.

10. Read labels for ingredients. Stay away from chemicals that harm our plant and animal life and poison our land.

Did you know that 84% of all household waste can be recycled?  Recycling is one of the easiest ways to go Green, yet makes a monumental impact to the environment.  At a bare minimum, everyone should be recycling.  Take care of the waste you create.  Be eco-responsible.

Plastic bags are not biodegradable. Even if they say they are, they do not decompose fully. Also the ink is made up of cadmium, and is highly toxic when it is released. Whereas paper bags are reusable and biodegradable. If your purchase is small don’t take any bag, this alone could save hundreds of millions of bags. Bring a cloth bag when you shop, or use string bags.

Bottled water is not evil.  Sure, it’s gotten a bad rap in the past few years…everything from plastic bottles taking over our landfills to causing cancer.  In theory, those things are true, and yes, bottled water can be frowned upon in that regard.

Here’s the upside…keep bottled water out of extremely high temperatures, for instance, your car.  Some scientist believe that the plastic can omit toxins into the water when the bottles are extremely hot, thus, perhaps, being the cause of breast cancer.  Simply keep your bottles out of the heat and the plastic is otherwise harmless.

About the landfills…Our landfills are being polluted with millions of water bottles.  Since the bottles take an estimated 600-1000 years to decompose, it’s an absolutely horrible idea to throw the bottles into the trash.  Sadly, only 10% of plastic water bottles are recycled in the US.  That means a whopping 90% are going straight to the landfills.  It’s so easy to recycle.  If you don’t…you should start.

At the end of the day, bottled water is not evil.  It can be an evil if you aren’t properly disposing of the bottles and you are letting them sit in a car all day omitting toxins into the water.   As long as you follow the rules, bottled water can be a very, very good thing.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKhNcKT_mTo

• Recycling
• Wind Power
• Solar Power
• Composting
• Alternative Transportation
• Pollution Laws
• Organic Gardening