Stay close to home, or take the train – Thanksgiving is traditionally a time when airports and highways are jam-packed with travelers trying to make it to Grandma’s house. Why not skip the headaches and save some carbon by sticking close to home? Make a new tradition with your friends and family that live in your area. Or, if you must travel, consider taking the train – it’s far better on the environment than air travel or personal vehicles.

Keep it simple – Don’t feel like you have to amaze your friends and family with a gourmet magazine-worthy spread rife with exotic ingredients flown in from around the world. Nor is it necessary to provide a 6-course spread with choice of 14 side dishes. Most people aren’t looking for novel culinary fare on a day like this – they’ll be happy with traditional dishes that celebrate the bounty of the local harvest. Keeping it simple will also reduce the amount of electricity you use while cooking, which can be considerable on this holiday.

Buy local – Many of the veggies you need for your side dishes probably grow within 100 miles of your home. Check out your local farmer’s market for fall goodies like squash, greens, potatoes, yams, pumpkins and evergreen herbs like rosemary and sage. And don’t forget to check your local free-range farms for that centerpiece of the Thanksgiving piece, the turkey (unless you’re vegetarian, of course…).

Go vegetarian – If you’ve been thinking about trying out a vegetarian diet, Thanksgiving is actually a great time to do it. You’ll be amazed at how many options there are – you won’t even miss the turkey. Livestock put a huge strain on the planet, and factory farms do abominable things to those poor little animals before they end up on your plate. Check out vegetarian Thanksgiving recipes and meal ideas at VegWeb.com and The Veggie Table.

Serve organic beverages – Pick up some local libations if you’ve got nearby breweries and wineries, especially if you have guests coming into town – it’s a great way to show off regional specialties. If you don’t live near any craft beer or wine producers, pick up a few bottles of organic brew – there are dozens of varieties available at most health-food stores.

Use what you have – This is one of the easiest, cheapest ways to go green any day of the year, and it works on Thanksgiving, too. You don’t need fancy dishware – your regular tableware will do just fine. If you’re the Martha Stewart type and feel like everything must match perfectly, consider renting tableware, chairs and linens – it costs less than buying new.

Get extras at the thrift store – If you’re in need of a gravy boat, a vase for that organic bouquet centerpiece, a few extra glasses or a table runner, check your local thrift and consignment stores. Consignment stores in particular tend to stock up on things they think will be in demand during certain times of the year, so you might be surprise at the selection. It’s always better to buy secondhand!

Decorate with natural materials – There’s absolutely no reason to run out to the mall and purchase a bunch of Thanksgiving-themed junk that was made in China and will fall apart by next year. Skip the cheesy seasonal décor and take a cue from nature. Many people like to place pinecones in a bowl or basket as a centerpiece, or wind a string of white lights around some branches in a planter or tall vase. You could also purchase a living plant that can go into the garden next spring, or pick up a bouquet or organic blooms from your local independent florist.

Illuminate your home with beeswax or soy candles – No need to turn on every light in the house for your guests. Create a romantic atmosphere without adding to your electricity bill by placing beeswax or soy candles around your home. Avoid paraffin candles, though – they’re made from petroleum and emit nasty fumes into the air.

Compost your scraps – Don’t toss those potato peels, celery tops and carrot ends into the trash! If you’re not the type to save them for soup broth, toss them in a bucket along with a handful of shredded paper, leaves or other carbonaceous material. If you don’t already have a compost pile or bin, now’s a great time to get a head start on next spring’s garden by creating free, fertile compost.

Source: Earth First

Traditionally, the leaves of the banana tree are used most often as (quite dynamic and attractive) serving vessels for everyday meals in South Indian and Filipino cuisine. Hindus and Buddhists both use the leaves for religious ceremonies and offerings, and the fully biodegradable and bright green leaves are used as trays of sorts. But that’s not all!

Banana leaves are said to impart a special flavor to foods and can even be used to steam food, especially cha lua, a Vietnamese sausage. Banana leaf rice is a dish unto itself in South Indian cooking, and it’s usually served with a vegetarian curry.

Source: Inhabitat

• Spider Plant (Chlorophytum comosum) – Very popular with beginners, this plant propagates despite neglect.
• English Ivy (Hedera helix) – One of the most popular forms of Ivy, this plant is perfect for cascading or trailing from elevated planters.
• Bamboo Palm (Chamaedorea seifrizii) – With beautiful wispy foliage, this plant is also known as the Reed Palm.
• Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum) – Very easy to grow, this plant produces beautiful white spade shaped flowers.
• Snake Plant (Sansevieria trifasciata) – Solid, sword-like leaves grow straight up from the soil on this plant, also known as Mother-In-Law’s Tongue.

Inhale and enjoy!

Source: Make Carolina Green

1. Use recycled (and recyclable) food wrap and containers

Wrap sandwiches in recycled aluminum foil or unbleached, recyclable parchment paper. If you use plastic baggies or zip-top bags, get your child in the habit of bringing them home again so you can rinse them out, dry them and reuse them a couple of times. Better yet, invest in a few sets of reusable eco-friendly food-storage containers in various sizes that you can use every day. And if your kids brown-bag it, use recycled paper lunch sacks and ask your family to bring the bags home so you can use them again.

2. Take a cue from the Japanese

The Japanese often pack their meals in a bento box, a compartmentalized food container that is often elaborately filled and arranged with a contrasting array of foods. Young kids in particular will love eating out of a cleverly designed box with its many compartments. Traditional bento boxes can be purchased online or at Asian supermarkets. Or try a reusable stainless steel food to-go container, a different take on the same idea that’s easy to clean and plastic free. For a more modern look for kids, check out Laptop Lunches (thanks Samantha!).

3. Be smart about utensils

If you need to pack plates, bowls or utensils, buy a couple of sets of inexpensive reusable or biodegradable partyware and utensils and teach your kids to bring them home in their schoolbags. Or, you can invest in earth-friendly utensils made of bamboo and other sustainable materials.

4. Pick a fun lunch bag

Get your child involved in choosing her own reusable lunch bag. A reusable lunch bag will cut down on the waste of paper lunch sacks, and will also make it easier for your child to transport reusable containers back home. There are lots of fun options on the market, and whether it’s her favorite color or features a favorite cartoon character, she’ll be more likely to tote the bag to and from if she’s decided for herself that it’s “cool.”

For more great ideas you don’t have to look far, here are some ideas our Charlotte Energy Smart Charlotte Community shared with us on how they pack their lunch Energy Smart Charlotte Facebook. Thanks everyone!

Source: A Recycling Revolution

It’s called guerrilla gardening — the practice of taking a tiny bit of control over the local environment by planting seeds in an untended place. Here’s how it works:

• The guerrilla gardener identifies an unused lot or vacant property that’s neglected and would look so much better with some flowers, grass, or other non-invasive, native plant life.
• Whenever they walk past the abandoned area, they’ll drop some seeds around, or throw seed balls, which are seeds and soil wrapped in a biodegradable capsule.
• After a few weeks and a good rain, plants should start growing, and that vacant lot will be a lot more pleasant to look at.

You may even pass a guerrilla gardening spot and not even know it:

The earliest record of the term guerrilla gardening being used was by Liz Christy and her Green Guerrilla group in 1973 in the Bowery Houston area of New York. They transformed a derelict private lot into a garden. The space is still cared for by volunteers but now enjoys the protection of the city’s parks department. Two celebrated guerrilla gardeners, active prior to the coining of the term, were Gerrard Winstanley, of the Diggers in Surrey, England (1649), and John “Appleseed” Chapman in Ohio, USA (1801).

Source: Houselogic

The company that engineered all of these systems, Thermax of Pune, India, markets them as one of its “sustainable solutions” for today’s environmental concerns, but the technology—absorption chilling—has been in commercial use since the 1920s. Like standard air conditioners, absorption chillers rely on a refrigerant with a low boiling point. When the refrigerant evaporates, it removes heat from the air. Standard air conditioners then change the refrigerant gas back to liquid using an electric compressor. But absorption chillers rely on thermal compression to restart the cycle; they need only heat—no moving parts—to drive the operation

Absorption chillers are pricey and have what is known as a low performance coefficient; they don’t provide a great deal of cooling output for the heat input they need. But absorption chillers turn out to be an efficient solution when they are co-located in facilities that already generate excess heat—as was the case in Thermax’s Basel, Copenhagen, Munich, and Rome installations. The systems also don’t use hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants, which are potent greenhouse gases, relying instead on water and lithium bromide or ammonia.

Source: National Geographic

Commercial buildings are generally energy overeaters. They account for nearly 20 percent of all energy consumed in the country, and about one-third of that is completely wasted, the program says — lights left on in empty conference rooms, for example, or multistory buildings that are fully air-conditioned in the dead of night.
An estimated $300 million in energy is wasted by commercial buildings each year. But unlike homeowners, who face the consequences from cranking up the AC when their utility bills arrive, managers and workers can be lazy about switching off lights or turning up the thermostat and not necessarily feel it in their wallets.
That is why interval meters, which report energy use every 15 minutes, have become hugely popular among entrants in this year’s competition, Ms. Beard said.
Such meters have been introduced, for example, at Coal Ridge High School in New Castle, Colo., a leading contender that has cut its energy use by about 10.5 percent.
“I’s really empowering for everyone at the school,” said Theresa Hamilton, director of districtwide services for the local school district. The school has also retrofitted its light fixtures to be more energy-efficient.
“The interval meters let us measure how installing occupancy sensors, and switching to more efficient lighting is helping to cut costs,” she said. “It also gets the kids really excited because they get instant feedback and can see how every little thing they do can help the school win.”

Last year, just 14 buildings entered the competition. This year’s 245 entrants represent 12 different categories, from hospitals to schools to banks to churches.
Last year’s winner was a college dorm, Morrison Residence Hall at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which is said to have reduced its energy consumption by 36 percent. This year, the top contender, a garage complex at the University of Central Florida, is reported to have already reduced its energy consumption by 31 percent.
Ms. Beard said this year’s competitors ran the gamut in age as well. “We have buildings this year that were built in the 1800s and others that are only a few years old,” she said, “and every one of them is finding ways to improve efficiency, reduce waste and save money.”
The winner is to be announced in November.

Article By New York Times, By JOANNA M. FOSTER