Categories
Eco Eats

4 Eco-Friendly Fall Treats

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Fall is here once again and with it comes some awesome holidays like Halloween and Thanksgiving. Jack O’ Lanterns, trick or treat candies and pumpkin pies are just some of the things we have come to expect around this time of the year. But it does not have to be all about sugar and chocolate. (Who am I kidding?) There are several eco-friendly treats that you and the kids can enjoy for the fall season.

Your first instinct might be to buy a bunch of those assorted bags of candies at your nearby Wal-Mart, Target or K-Mart. Yep. The truth is that most of those candies are toxic; well not in the sense that if you eat one you will die. The materials that are used in their construction are harmful to the environment and let us not mention the fact that a lot of the people making them are doing so under some questionable working conditions. So for Halloween this year, why not go for the healthier eco-friendly alternative?

Granola Bars might not seem like the ideal choice for a trick or treat bag but it is healthy with a number of vitamins, proteins and fiber to keep your kid regular.  Best of all, because Granola bars are made with natural ingredients you will not have to worry about any of those difficult to pronounce ingredients on the back of the label that you might be feeding to your kids or your neighbors’ kids. Just make sure that that manufacturer of the granola bars does not use GMO, which are genetically altered materials like yeast, insects, plants, fish or mammals.

Now for the next item, I know apples get a bad rap. Some think apples are too healthy while others are simply traumatized by the story of Snow White and the delicious red apple given to her by the evil queen that put her in a death-like sleep. But that is fiction. In reality, apples, especially green ones are delicious. They are great for your teeth and they do not have any of that extra sugar and artificial ingredients that can make your child obese or as I like to call mine, fluffy like a marshmallow. To ensure that you are being eco-conscious, pick only organically grown apples from your local market.

Another great treat that can get you through the fall season is an orange-ganic snack. All you need are 3 oranges and a celery stick. You start by peeling the oranges and placing them on a plate. Then you cut the celery stick into 3 pieces.  Then ease each celery piece gently into the center of the orange where it splits and voila! Instant treat! It looks like a pumpkin but taste like an orange. Orange you glad it tastes good.

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With Halloween practically done and over with for the year, you are looking at a lot of pumpkin seeds left behind. Of course you can always use the pumpkin that was once your carved Jack-O-Lantern to make a pumpkin pie or you can buy a new slice of pumpkin at your local store to make a pie too. Just do not throw those seeds away. You can actually roast pumpkin seeds, let them cool a bit and then suck on them. It has a natural sweetness to them that is absolutely delicious. If sucking on pumpkin seeds is not your idea of a good time, you can always turn good old Jack into pumpkin cookies or pumpkin muffins too.

Who could have imagined that fall treats, particularly those typically seen during Halloween, could be healthy, eco-friendly and organic?

Categories
Eco Tips

Eco-Cooler Home in the Summer

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It seems like we never catch a break! During the winter we need the heater on or we will freeze our buns off. In the summer, the heat and humidity is unbearable. We either end up glued to our leather couches by sticky sweat or we pass out from a heat stroke. Those of us who can afford an air conditioner will likely burn a hole through their pockets the size of the artic hole in the ozone layer. The energy cost is simply way too expensive and it is harmful to the environment. But there are a couple of alternative ways to stay cool this summer and it is cost saving and energy-efficient all at the same time.

Start by limiting the amount of electric equipment you have on during the day. You’d be surprised how much heat can be generated by computers, televisions, dishwashers, stoves and oven. You can reduce the amount of heat that gets trapped inside your home by using these devices in the evening when it is cooler.

If you think you are keeping your house cool by opening the windows and doors during the day, you’re wrong! All you are doing is allowing the heat to enter, not to mention all those pesky mosquitoes and bugs that are looking for a safe haven from the searing sun. So during the day, do not open your doors or windows. Once the sun goes down, you can let the house air out and allow the cool air to come in. You can actually speed this process up if the house is too muggy in the evenings by adding fans and directing them towards a window or door. This will push the warm air out.

Ceiling fans are excellent to keep the comfortable temperature level in your house to an acceptable level. I would personally recommend one for every room if possible, except the bathroom of course. It will not feel as cool as an A/C but it will make the summer heat far more manageable.

Remember that humidity is inescapable. Meaning you cannot go in the shade to avoid it like you would sunlight. But you can find a way to block out solar heat. You can achieve this by buying and installing mini-blinds for every window in your home. By doing this you can potentially repel up to 40 percent of the heat from the outside, perhaps more. You can go one step further and get blinds that are made from bamboo material. This natural material can repel the heat by more than 50 percent and as much as 80 percent.

Since we are talking about natural and Eco-friendly material, how about using some shade plants? A couple of carefully planted trees or large plants can act as a buffer between the sun and your window. All in all, it’s symbiotically beneficial. The plant gets some sunlight and your house gets to stay cool.

Air conditioning units are just too bulky and expensive; plus they harm the environment by releasing harmful emissions. You are way better off using these alternative steps to lower the scorching heat in the summer. You will get to keep your hard earned money and you will not have to feel guilty about potentially damaging the Eco-system.

Categories
Gadgets & Gear Home Improvement Recycling

Have The Best Eco-Friendly Home Office

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When we think of going green, we consider changing the light bulbs and appliances to more energy efficient alternatives. But have you ever considered making your home office more Eco-friendly?

Think about all the paper you consume when printing or the ink cartridges you use up and then dump. Not to mention the fact that the electrical consumption is as draining to the world’s power reserves as Edward was to Bella’s blood supply on Twilight. But there are a couple of things you can do to turn your home office into an eco-home/office.

If your home/office uses a lot of gadgets and gizmos like desktops, printers, tablets, scanners, radios, CD players, etc., you will benefit greatly from using one of those power strips that plugs everything in. That way, when you are done for the day, you can simply press one button to power everything down. This is great, especially if you are someone like me who forgets to shut down your laptop or desktop.

While we are on the subject of desktops and laptops, let us talk about which of these consumes less energy. The answer should be obvious, a laptop. These portable computers allow you to work with battery power and provide you with mobility that a desktop never could. Plus, it uses only 1/8th the power of a desktop. So consider replacing that big old desktop computer with a laptop.

If you insist on sticking with a desktop, replace those bulky monitors that look like 1970s TV screens. Flat screen monitors consume a lot less energy and they do not strain your eyes as much. Plus they hang on the wall easier.

Conserving paper is the best way to save trees. If you’re a writer like me, you go through revision after revision. You probably make hundreds of print-outs and you end up finding a mistake and end up having to print-out a rough copy again and again and again. Unless you are sure that the letter or novel you are printing is the final draft, consider using the back of the paper you have already printed on.

While we are on the subject of reusing things, let us talk about batteries and ink cartridges. You can buy rechargeable batteries with a recharging station. As for the ink cartridges, you can get a do-it-yourself kit to inject the ink back into an empty cartridge or you can take it to a computer store and have them refill it for you at a discount of the price it would take to buy a new ink cartridge.

Do not be afraid to recycle the things that simply cannot be salvaged. You can go on-line and find places where you can drop off used paper to be recycled. You can even take your laptop batteries, printer toners and ink cartridges to business centers and have them dispose and recycle these safely so they don’t harm the environment.

You can also use cardboard boxes from things you have ordered on-line to make do-it-yourself shelves for your office.

Be green and keep your office clean.

Categories
Home Improvement

LED Lights for Me, Thanks!

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Standard light bulbs were good in there day but now it is time for them to be replaced with LED light bulbs. LED lights are eco-friendly and they provide the same amount of brightness if not more than their earlier counterparts.

Switching all your lights to LED lights will save a great deal more energy, which means that you, as the homeowner, will be saving a lot on your light bill each month. Also, they will last you so much longer. This means you will not have to risk getting a nose bleed every few months after standing on a ladder replacing your light bulbs.

You will also find that conventional bulbs attract mosquitoes and bugs, especially during the summer time because they emit UV light. LEDs on the other hand do not do that so you won’t have to stink up the house or damage the ozone layer with harmful fumes from an insecticide spray can.

LED lights can be used just about anywhere in your home, both indoors and outdoors and have I mentioned just how energy saving these babies are? A conventional bulb will waste up to 60 watts per hour. In less than no time, their efficiency diminishes significantly, down to 20 percent even.  Then you have LED bulbs, which function at 80 percent efficiency and only waste 10 watts per hour. This certainly goes a long way to reducing the huge drain on humanity’s limited energy reserves.

If you are worried about cost, then you can relax. While the LED bulbs are more expensive, a lot of light companies are actually giving you some of your money back for switching to a more energy-reducing, greener light bulb alternative. Plus, you will be saving a load of money on your monthly bill which means you can spend more on outdoor adventures with your family and enjoy Earth’s natural light.

 There is another way that the LED bulbs are helping the environment out and as indirect as it might be, it still helps. With global warming and all, the spring and summer months are getting warmer and muggier. For those of you who can not afford centralized air conditioning or even an A/C unit, you will have to find other ways to keep your home cooler. In most cases, this means closing your windows and doors but without direct sunlight during the day, you will have to turn your lights on to see. This in itself will cause the temperature inside your home to rise because conventional bulbs warm up. LED bulbs do not. So how exactly does that help Mother Nature? It keeps you from going so insane from the already muggy situation and going out to buy an air conditioning unit, which will harm the environment.

LED bulbs come with all kinds of perks that conventional ones do not. There are some that come in different colors, in case you want to create a mood in a certain room in your home (like the picture above). Others have dimmable qualities so you do not have to contend with a bulb that shines like the sun if you do not need it to like in hallways, restrooms, or living rooms. Some even come with a Wi-Fi feature that lets you turn the bulb on, off, or even control the level of dimness right from your desktop, laptop or smartphone.

If the reasons I mentioned are not enough to convince you then maybe this will. When you throw your old bulbs away, you are introducing mercury into the landfill and ultimately the soil. LED lights do not contain mercury but since you have to replace the conventional bulbs and discard them, you should take them to a recycling center as oppose to just throwing them away.

Categories
Green Building Home Design

Better Than My Own House: Out-Of-This-World Birdhouses

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Treehouses are becoming more than just slabs of wood nailed together on top of a high tree. Oh yeah, people are getting creative with their treehouses. Some include an actual working elevator lift! if that’s not enough for you, they may also include solar power panels, and running water. That sounds better than my own house!

Treehouses nowadays are being made by using the actual tree. Other treehouses are being deemed works of art. They are so big that they seem to be made by a humongous bird. In reality they are just made by a human like you and I, but one that is extremely creative. If I were a bird I would want to live in one of his special nest houses.

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The amazing artsy human who created this is known as Patrick Dougherty from North Carolina. His nest houses are so wonderful and unique that he is known as a branch-bender extraordinaire/artist. He basically sculpts growing trees into shapes that form a house, a bird nest, a cocoon, a clay pot, etc. The weaving ideas are endless. He has a background in sculpting and a love for nature so it comes to good use in his field of work. He is a winner of many awards and his living art has traveled through the whole United States, Japan, Brussels, and many more locations worldwide. I find it tough to bend one single tree branch; how he does it, I will always marvel over his strength. We normal folks call it art work, but Patrick calls his amazing sculpted work ‘stickwork’. I say tomato, you say tomatoe. You’re unbelievable, Patrick! Your work should be called “magic”.

With over 200 sculpted pieces of work, Patrick decided to showcase them all for you in his published book, Stickwork. My favorite piece of his is called Just Around the Corner in New Harmony, Indiana. It looks like something out of the Lord of the Rings realm. Each branch is bent to perfection.

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Not everyone can be Patrick, but you can be you. Learn to create your own nest house, treehouse, inside decoration, birdhouse or backyard sculpture. It just takes a little bending of your creativity. I recommend doing some research first on what type of wood works best for the type of project you want to do. There are three types: Dogwood, Live Oak, and Elm. These are used in the craft of pleaching: molding and weaving trees to create structures. You can also just create a tree house of your choice, and weave wood around it. It will take time because trees do not grow real fast. The outcome will be spectacular, though and of course, you should use branches that are already on the floor.

Three tips on how to begin.

      1. Plan out the tree house. Make a sketch. Doodle away! Get creative and don’t be afraid.
      2. See if it is safe to build on your specific tree. Get a tree expert to come out and check if you’re planning something on a large scale.
      3. Measure twice, cut once. Do not waste wood. Recycle as much as possible.

The great thing about building a treehouse for your kids is that the measurements can be adjusted. Want an adult treehouse? Make the measurements bigger. Want a birdhouse? then make the measurements smaller, like real small. Nope, smaller than that. Smaller. There you go.

Nest houses, sculptures, huts, giant bird houses, and unthinkable tree houses are all possible. Get inspiration from Patrick Dougherty. Get inspiration from the Ewok village in Star Wars. Be creative and weave something good.

Categories
Eco Eats

Eating Healthy On a Budget

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I want to be on the see-food diet for the rest of my life. The diet entails that whatever food I see I must eat. I wish that were true. Due to having health problems, and weight issues my nutritionist has put me on a healthy diet. Eat healthy, live better. Yeah, say that to my wallet. The change has not only been difficult mentally and physically, but it too has changed my spending habits. Eating healthy can be very expensive but there are a few steps I learned along the way that might help you out.

Step 1: Get the whole family on board. You will save tons of money if you only have to cook one meal for everyone instead of individual meals. It will be tough at first, but they will all get used to the delicious Veggie Lasagna Nights.

Step 2: Stock up. Keep an eye out on bargains. Buy 2 get 2 free specials are always showing up in different grocery stores. You can never go wrong with too many veggies and fruits. You can even freeze certain foods to keep longer. But whatever you do, don’t you ever, ever, ever freeze tomatoes. Been there, done that.

Step 3: Cook from scratch. If you are going to start to eat healthy then the worst thing you can do is go out and pay three times more for something you can make at home. A typical salad at a restaurant is worth $12 bucks. You can make one at home for less than $5 bucks. Cook more food today to save and eat tomorrow.

Step 4: Coupons. Store flyers always have great deals. Most of the deals are for healthy food products. Pasta at time goes for 5 boxes for $5 dollars. While making a list, look to see if you can find coupons for them. Look online too.

Step 5: Mix it up. Eating healthy does not mean that you have to eat only green things. You can still eat a burger, hotdog, steaks, cakes, and pies. Just moderate the portions and make them from scratch. You will save lots of money. With a pound of ground turkey I can make 8 burgers or a meatloaf for only $9 bucks. Just add some salad on the side, and you’ve reduced your calorie and fat intake by 40%.

Step 6: Plant your future. Growing your own vegetables, fruits, and herbs will save you a lot of money. Plus it is a great way to get the family involved. Fresh products equal a fresh healthy life. I loved living in New York because of the weekly Farmer’s Market. A gathering of local farmers would sell their products at a great price. I purchased 8 organic red apples for $2 dollars. Look up information for local farmer’s markets. Learn how to make your own garden here.

Step 7: Know your stuff. A lot of people complain that it is very expensive to just eat vegetables. Some say that they spend up to $20 dollars on a salad. Where are they shopping? If you are on a budget then the last place you need be is in organic grocery stores like Trader Joe’s and Wholefoods. For $5 dollars I can get a head of lettuce, two tomatoes, and a cucumber.  Cut them into four portions (two salads a day). That will last me for two days. So that is a total of $15 dollars a week for just salad.

Yes eating healthy can be tough like chewing on eggplants, but after a while your body and health will thank you for it, and by using the right salad dressing (fat free), you won’t even realize you’re on a diet. Your wallet will also get used to the new budget plan.

Categories
Eco Tips

How To Use 3 Kitchen Appliances the Eco-Friendly Way

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No one wants to spend more money than they have to, especially when they’re on a budget. Fortunately there are ways you can save money in your kitchen and help the environment out in the process.

How many of you have those high tech refrigerators that make ice seemingly out of thin air? Have you ever noticed how when you need ice there never seems to be enough and in times like the winter, there seems to be so much that it’s practically overflowing. Are you ever afraid that you’re going to open the freezer door one day and you’re going to get bombarded by millions of ice cubes? Okay, so maybe that will never happen, but you need to realize that the automatic ice maker in your freezer consumes energy. So if you see that your appliance is producing too much ice, turn the automatic ice maker off, especially if it’s winter. By doing this you can save up to 20 percent from the cost of your next electric bill.

The dishwasher is another kitchen appliance which is quite useful but can consume too much energy if you’re not careful. Leaving dirty dishes in your dishwasher isn’t nearly as bad as leaving them piled up on the kitchen sink. In fact, it’s recommended. Dishwaters not only use up the precious water supply, but also leaves a carbon footprint as well. It’s extremely energy consuming, especially because it uses heat to dry the dishes once they are washed. The same happens when you dry clothes in your dryer. There are a couple of things you can do to go eco-friendly. First of all, when you pile the dishes, make sure they are piled up properly.

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There’s a reason why there are slots for dishes, pots, cups, and silverware. So use them. Otherwise, an overflowed dishwasher can result in your dishes not being cleaned well. This will mean you will have to wash your dishes all over again wasting twice as much energy for what should have been one load. Also, don’t assume that you have to wash dishes after every meal. Wait until you have enough dishes stacked in the washer and then start a cleaning cycle. Of course, you can always go the old fashioned way and wash your dishes with a sponge once and a while.

If you like to bake like Martha Stewart then invest in an oven that actually has a light that allows you to see how the baking is going. If you have the bad habit of opening the oven door to check, you are basically wasting a whole bunch of energy. While you are at it, let us go topside to the coil size. Most stoves have four tops with different coil sizes to match the size of your pot or pan. So make sure that the size of your pot or pan matches the coil. If you want to fry an egg and you use a small pot on a big coil, you will end up producing a lot of heat in your kitchen. This will either make you turn your fans on higher to lower the heat or he air conditioner.

Common sense when using these appliances will not only save you money and electricity, you will also be reducing the carbon footprint that threatens our planet. So sit down with your family to enjoy a nice cooked meal from the oven, a cold drink from the fridge, and then hand wash the dishes together as a family. Ahh, who am I kidding? Put them in the dishwasher. Go enjoy a movie.

Categories
Gadgets & Gear

Eco-Friendly TV, Laptop, and Battery, Oh My!

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Eco-Friendly TV, Laptop, and Battery, Oh My!

Going green is the latest fad and let’s face it, Mother Earth could certainly benefit from it. There’s only so much you can do when it comes to recycling. You don’t have to trade in your gas car for an electric or hybrid car to help the environment.

You can replace your conventional gadgets for more eco-friendly ones. You can get these gadgets either online or at an electronic store. After all, manufacturers are trying to be conscious of the environment. So finding the right piece of technology to live a little greener is a piece of cake.

Energy conservation is on the top of any environmentalists’ list. Most of us still have those big old fashioned bulky tube TV sets. So now would be a great time to buy one of those modern flat-screen television sets. By choosing brands like Energy Star, you’ll be using 40 percent less electricity. Manufacturers like Phillips and Sony have especially jumped on the eco-friendly band wagon to provide energy conserving television sets.  The way they save you money and energy is through manual and automatic settings that you can program. So say if the television detects no signal from a DVD player or cable input interface, the television will go into conservation mode. You can even program it to shut down in the event that it doesn’t receive any commands from your remote control after a number of hours.

Eco-friendly laptops are the most innovative gadget solutions. Of course when we think of laptops, the first thing that comes to mind is the requirements. No matter how eco-conscious we are, the main thing we think about before purchasing one is looking at the processing speed, the RAM and hard drive capacity and whether or not it has Wi-Fi capabilities or a DVD-ROM drive. Now you can get the best of both worlds. That’s because electronic manufacturers are creating laptops that have energy conservation features similar to those found on the ECO-TV sets. Then there’s ASUS, a computer manufacturing company who have created a laptop exterior made of bamboo. Since bamboo is biodegradable, once your laptop has processed its last byte, the exterior can be discarded without the risk of harming the environment. Click here to see the beautiful specimen of both worlds.

The next eco-gadget is super cool. It’s a rechargeable battery with a USB outlet. You can use the battery with just about any appliance that uses AA batteries. Once the battery runs low you can take the top off the same way you would the top of a pen.  Then you simply stick the USB cell battery into the USB port of your laptop or desktop and wait until it recharges. Unlike typical batteries which contain chemical acids, these USB powered alternatives do not. See them here: USBCell. Great for holiday gifts. Take the pictures then upload them. Great two in one.

Once you buy one of these eco-friendly gadgets you’ll be hooked. Before you know it, you’ll want to replace all of your gadgets and appliances with environmentally friendly substitutes. So take some time and do a little research. You might actually find yourself fascinated by all the cool stuff out there whether it’s a bamboo laptop or a solar panel battery collector to power your gadgets and gizmos.  While these may not seem like significant contributions, every bit helps and if everyone in the world starts switching to eco-gadgets, it will have a huge impact on the environment.

Categories
Green Building Home Design

Welcome To My Pallet House

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Welcome To My Pallet House

As a child I always wanted a tree house, but ever since I saw Fern Gully, the movie, I did not want to hurt the rainforest. As an adult, I can now build my own tree house using reusable pallets. Thanks to two students from the University of Vienna who designed the Paletten Haus, I am able to make my childhood dream come true.

Want to make your own too? Go to a Home Depot and you’re bound to find wooden pallets being used to rest heavy objects or merchandise on top of them. But you will more than likely find a bunch of them next to an industrial trash bin outside of your local warehouse or supermarket. A lot of these stores receive these pallets during shipping of a large crate full of items. So they’ll actually be more than willing to simply give them to you for free if you ask for them. I actually got 4 different stores to hand them over to me for free, and none of them refused. This means that you’ll be able to build a house, an extra room, a shed, or even a cabin out of this stuff without having to spend so much on material.

You can go online and find blueprints on how to build one of these eco-friendly shelters just like that. It’s so easy in fact, that you can probably build a simple small shelter using about a hundred of these pallets. With the right power tools, nails and of course, help from your friends and family, you’ll have a 250 square foot home in a week or two. The stacking of these wooden pallets is fairly easy when making up the house. Just make sure that you make it so that the roof is slanted. This way, debris, snow, and water will slide down rather than getting stuck on top of your home.

So why go for these wooden pallets to make a modular style home as opposed to buying conventional material like plywood? Well for one thing, they are a whole lot cheaper than other types of wood, metal or other materials. You can even build a chicken coop, or tiny play house for less than $25 dollars. Click here to see a cool video on how to build a chicken coop.

Another great advantage is the fact that these bad boys are strong and durable. After all, they have to be if they’re able to hold heavy loads of items at hardware, department store and supermarkets. You certainly wouldn’t expect a company to use something flimsy to hold up merchandise that can tip over and crush a customer. With that same logic, you wouldn’t want to build a house that could be blown away by the wind or that your 2 year old daughter could bring down by leaning on it. With some common sense, you can stack up and nail these wooden pallets so that they create a bulky and sturdy house.

Now if there’s one thing you can say about wooden pallets is that they are easy to find. You don’t have to risk going to the hardware store and finding out that there isn’t enough material because there are as many wooden pallets out there as there are ants running around the planet. In the extremely rare event that a hardware store does not have any, you can scavenge the back of malls and shopping centers until you find enough pallets.

Learn about building one on your own here: DIY Pallet House. Sometimes you may find a pallet that has been damaged or one of the planks has come loose. Don’t worry. They are easy to fix. It’s just a matter of hammering a couple of nails and the pallet will be as good as new. Creating a home out of shipping pallets is not only an affordable way to build but it saves a lot of time, manpower, and is eco-friendly.

Categories
Eco Tips Recycling

How To Recycle As a Family

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A bottle a day keeps the earth going round another day. By bottle, I mean recycling bottles. A great way to get into the recycling routine is to involve all of your family members. The process of recycling is beneficial not only for Earth, but recycling also lets you educate your children about the ecosystem, making them, interested at a fairly young age, so they can carry on through their adult life with a green conscience.

Here are some easy tips to get you started on shrinking earth’s carbon footprint:

1. Get them excited about recycling. Here is a great video to get you started, where they explain everything you need to know: Recycling with Family.

2. Get them educated on the environment and why recycling is good for the planet. Help them grow a conscience by explaining them what at terrible problem we have when it comes to the disposal of trash. There are many books that talk about the subject. Explain to them how every time we cut a tree, we must replace that loss by planting a new one.

3. Buy Eco-friendly garbage containers. The more colorful they are, the better. That way you catch a child’s eye when looking for the recycling bins, making them seem like toys. You can have a blue one for bottles, a red one for glass to signify it as a “be careful” bin, and a green one for paper. You can also get creative with the bins.

4. Personalize bins with paper, bottle caps, etc. It will make everyone feel a bit more inclined to fill their bin up. You can assign different chores. If you have 3 kids, this shall come as an easy task. Assign a color per child, and have them be responsible for taking that one out, or collecting all the materials that belong to that bin. In my house, my daughter Sarah is in charge of the plastic bins, so she’s always asking “mom, have you finished with your drink? Can I throw away the bottle?”. She sees it as a game, so in my head, all you can hear is “mission accomplished”.recycle-bins-colors-family-eco5. Come up with fun incentives. Some of the family members at first will not be accustomed to recycling. This goes for adults and children. A nice game is to have a chart by the recycling area. Make a list of every recyclable item you normally recycle. Put the family member’s name. For every item they recycle, they must mark it on the board. Whoever has the most points at the end of the week gets a special prize. If this seems like too much of a hassle, you can simply explain to them why the main incentive is to help the earth. It depends on every child, since not every one of them will respond the same way.

6. Getting your family into a routine is great. Teaching them how to recycle will help improve their outlook on prolonging Earth. I have a lot of family members who leave paper, bottles, and newspapers lying around the house. Teach them about when all the trash inside the bins will be taken out and show them what the process looks like on Youtube videos or take them on a field trip to show them what recycling is all about.

7. Reuse. Reuse. Reuse. Using jars that once contained jam or peanut butter are a great way to store craft items. Clean them and reuse them. There are a lot of plastic containers that could be used and reused. Shampoo bottles can be bought once, and then you simply buy the eco friendly version which is just the refill. Think before you recycle. If it can be re-purposed then re-purpose it. Old clothes can either be donated or you can use them to make puppets, plush toys, and quilts.

Make recycling with your family an important pastime with them so they can someday teach this to their own kids.