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1. Diapers: …and not just the cloth ones. Did you know that, on average, a baby will go through about six thousand diapers before they’re potty trained? Well, a company called ‘Knowaste’ makes disposable diapers that can be recycled.
2. Soap: That’s right — soap! A non profit organization called ‘Clean the World’ collects leftover soap and shampoo from hotels and donates it to those in need.
3. Caskets: This one nearly blew my mind yesterday and, you know, I don’t know why cause you’d think this was a no-brainer: Why not be buried in something that will easily biodegrade or is made from recycled materials? Seems silly not too, but I suppose that’s just my opinion. And besides being eco-friendly, it’s also much less expensive, too!
4. Running shoes: I am a big gym-goer so I own several pairs of running shoes, cross trainers, ones with shock absorbtion, etc. When you’re done with running shoes that are still in relatively good shape, they can be donated to the less fortunate. But the thing is, for me anyway, they’re so incredibly pricey that you can be sure that I use them until they can no longer be worn. The good news is, they can still be made into building materials. Check out RecycledRunners.com to find out where you can bring your old runners.

Uh oh! Looks like my time outside yesterday left me sunburnt — entirely my fault, of course, as I didn’t update my sunscreen application as the day went on. So now here I am with hideous white stripes on my back where my tank top was and bright red patches everywhere else the sun hit. I partially blame the unusually nice weather in mid September for my screw up. Shouldn’t it be Fall right now? I haven’t even broken out my sweaters yet.

Don’t have an aloe plant? Here are some other around-the-house tips for treating a sunburn without having to invest in nasty chemicals or lotions. They worked very well for me, try them out yourself!

• Use honey as a salve — put a healthy smear of it onto the burnt areas. It apparently helps ease the pain and helps to encourage the healing process.
• Liquify some potatoes. I know, sounds weird, right? But potato paste can be applied to the sunburn and when it dries, it sucks all the excess moisture (what’s keeping it hot and burning) out of your skin.

These more eco-friendly ways to treat a sunburn have the added benefit of having great odds of being in your home just when you need them. I don’t always have pain killers or burn spray in my medicine cabinet, but 99% of the time I have potatoes!

I don’t eat much of this stuff. I’m not actually a big fan of vinegar based coleslaw. Maybe I’m not selling the recipe well… so, why post a coleslaw recipe? Because everyone in my family loves this recipe – it’s in high demand at my house. It’s rare when there isn’t some made up in a container somewhere in the fridge.

And I’m told you’ll like it too, readers. I will guarantee it’s like to coleslaw you’ve had before. Are you brave enough to try after that ’sales pitch’?

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Organic Virgin Olive Oil
• 1/3 cup Organic Apple Cider vinegar
• Parsley
• Herbamare
• Pepper
• 1/4 large white cabbage
• 1/4 large red cabbage
• 1 shredded carrot
• 1/4 large onion chopped
• 1/4 cup sliced black olives (optional)
• 1 inch feta cheese crumpled (optional)

Method:

1. Thinly slice the white cabbage. Then chop to pieces of one to two inches. Put in mixing bowl.
2. Do the same with the red cabbage.
3. Add the shredded carrot and chopped onion to the red and white cabbage.
4. Pour the Olive Oil over the contents of the bowl. Then add the Apple Cider Vinegar. (The oil is added first or the vinegar just pools on the bottom.)
5. Season to taste. Add the optional black olives and feta cheese.
6. Mix. Let sit 10 minutes before serving for enhanced flavor — let the vinegar soak in a bit or else you’ll have vinegar cabbage soup!

There is no flavour I love more in the world than dill. Really. Cucumbers, however, as much as I like them, cause me much pain and grief, thanks to my diverticulitis. Do you suffer from the same? Try cutting all of the skin off the cucumber. It helps, trust me.

These sandwiches go perfectly with a nice hot cup of jasmin tea — great flavour combination!

Ingredients:

• 2 small (preferably seedless) cucumbers
• 2 teaspoons of kosher salt
• 1/4 cup organic cane sugar
• 1/2 cup cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon of dry mustard
• 1 tablespoon of fresh dill chopped
• 6 slices of rye or whole-wheat bread
• 8 oz of semi-soft cheese or cream cheese

Method:

Slice cucumbers crosswise into 1/8 – inch – thick slices. Place cucumber slices in a medium bowl and toss with salt. Let cucumbers stand 15 minutes. Rinse and drain cucumbers. Pat dry with paper or tea towels (using tea towels saves the paper waste!).

In another bowl whisk together, vinegar, sugar, mustard, and dill until sugar is dissolved. Stir in cucumber and let stand a minimum of 5 minutes — it thickens!

Spread cheese on 6 slices of bread in a thin layer. Layer cucumber slices on top of 3 slices of bread in a thin layer. Top with remaining bread and remove crusts. Cut sandwiches into halves, quarters, or triangles.

Alright, alright — you got me. It’s not Cinco de Mayo, but can’t we pretend?

The weather’s getting colder and soon there’ll be… *brace yourself* …snow on the ground.

With the long weekend finally here, why don’t you get in one last hurrah with this tasty organic Margarita recipe?

Ingredients:

• 3oz of 4 Copas 100% Agave Organic Tequila
• 2oz of freshly squeezed organic lime juice
• 1oz of simple agave syrup
• Topped with some organic sugar and kosher salt for the rim

Method:

1. Prechill your glasses.
2. To make the simple syrup add:1 part agave nectar,1 part organic sugar &1 part water to a sauce pan and cook & stir over low heat until the sugar is disolved.
3. Next fill your coctail shaker with the tequila, lime juice, syrup and ice and shake unitl until mixed and cool.
4. Mix up 2 parts salt and 1 part sugar and put it in a dish.
5. Now dip the rim of your chilled glass in the sugar/salt mix, it should stick. **Make sure you do this before you fill your glass with Margarita. Don’t ask
6. Now strain the Margarita into your glass and enjoy!

This video, taken at this year’s GEL (Good Experience Live) Conference, features a pretty funny speaker named Graham Hill. Hill was asked to give a 20 minute talk about climate change this year and managed to do so in a very engaging way — I watched the entire 20 minute video with absolutely no problems understanding what he was on about, which is more than I can say about a lot of climate change/enviro science videos. This one’s in plain english!

He points out some interesting things — like, what’s the use of creating a product that can be recycled, but not creating the facilities needed to recycle that product? Hill also offers up a plan that could save you $1000, make you healthier, and lose 10 tons of carbon in just one day a week.

Check out Graham Hill’s climate change soloutions now. And if that tickles your fancy, check out the rest of the videos here.

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The Nature Conservancy has just published a kind of calculator that crunches numbers and calculates percentages to figure out exactly how global warming will affect you.

The ClimateWizard is the first of its kind, giving people access to statistics and information that while having been readily available for a long time, is hard to read and understand. The ClimateWizard looks to facilitate that.

“The state-by-state, country-by-country temperature projections are part of a new tool called Climate Wizard that allows people to use an interactive map to explore past and projected climate change data on their computers,” The Nature Conservancy states in its press release. “With Climate Wizard, users can zoom in on any location to quickly see how temperatures and precipitation may change by month, season or year under different emission scenarios.”

Read more here

I never had a treehouse when I was a kid. I didn’t really have parents that were comfortable climbing trees and building structures stable enough to hold their kids safely.

But as an adult, I’ve definitely thought about it more than once. I love being outside, I love building, and most importantly, I love sky high panoramic views.

This tree house – featured here – definitely caught my eye.

It’s becoming a neat eco-trend to repurpose lookout towers into homes. That’s right, I could live here! (Though I’m assuming it’s safe to say that this is likely out of my budget.)

So, who wants to rent me a repurposed watchtower, shipping container, or lighthouse? I’m open to any and all.

Time for a very unconventional recipe. I’m pretty sure i’m the only one that eats these sort of treats — I’m one of those “what do I have left in the fridge and how well will it combine to form a mega snack” kind of people.

That being said, this is delicious. Well, I think so at least. Let me know if you’re brave enough to try it

Ingredients:

• 4 Flour tortillas
• 2 tb Butter, melted
• 2 tb Cane Sugar
• 3/4 ts Cinnamon
• 2 c Strawberries, chopped
• 1 tb Chopped fresh mint
• 1/2 ts Grated lime rind (I’ve used lemon rind and juice before and it tastes just as good, I promise)
• 1 tb Lime juice
• 1 1/2 ts honey

Method:

Brush both sides of each tortilla with butter. Combine sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over each side of tortilla. Bake on lightly greased baking sheet in 375 degree F oven for about 10 minutes or until crisp and golden. Cut into quarters.

Combine strawberries, mint, lime rind and juice and honey; cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Put the salsa in a bowl and dip your tortillas in it. Yummmmy!

This recipe really speaks for itself. Show me a person that dislikes warm goat cheese, toasted pistachios, and caramelized onions and I’ll show you a person that hasn’t lived.

Okay, maybe that’s extreme. But this is really good salad. And that’s extremely truthful.

Ingredients:

• One bunch of arugula, washed and dried
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1 Tbsp maple syrup
• 4 Tbsp fresh goat cheese
• 4 Tbsp green pistachios, shelled (or walnuts)
• 3 Tbsp blueberry balsamic vinegar
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• Fresh black pepper and sea salt to taste
• Optional: Red onions, pears

Method:

1. Divide the greens and goat cheese between two plates. DO NOT eat all of your goat cheese right now impatiently, you need it for the salad. PUT IT DOWN.
2. Now, put a dry frying pan on med heat and toast the pistachios until golden and fragrant. Again, don’t eat all of your pistachios right now, save them for the salad. Trust me, you don’t want to eat too many pistachios anyway. Your stomach will hate you for it.
3. Remove from pan and place to one side. Melt the butter in the same pan and slowly cook the onions over low heat for about twenty minutes.
4. Add the maple syrup and let it thicken. Whisk together the vinegar and oil and set aside.
5. Divide the pistachios between the plates and top with the onions and dressing. Add pepper to taste.