Living | Indoor Air Quality Lab

5 Tips to Conserve Energy this Winter share

Winter is coming. This year, why not get ahead of those heating bills by preparing your home to conserve energy now?

Earlier this week we looked at whether it was feasible to power your house with potatoes (hint: it's not), and we talked a little bit about energy efficiency. Making your home more efficient is a great way to conserve energy and reduce your electric and gas bills. Now is the perfect time to get your home ready for the cold months. You can feel good about not using dirty coal or natural gas to heat your home, and you can save some cash to boot.

Winter is my least favorite season. I get chilled pretty easily, and I basically spend all winter with cold hands and feet. It's tempting to reach for the thermostat when you're freezing. Before you touch that dial, try some of these DIY ideas to conserve energy this winter!

1. Winterize Your Windows to Conserve Energy

Replacing drafty windows with efficient ones is great, but if that's not in your budget you can still seal up your windows to help keep that heated air inside of your home and keep drafts out. Click here for deets!

2. Insulate Your Attic Door

You would be shocked at how much warm air hides in your house's attic and at how much of that warm air gets sucked up there through the attic door. It's super simple to insulate your attic door to conserve energy. Check out how right here!

3. Cover the Floor

A rug can really make your house feel more comfortable during the chilly months. You can even keep your rugs rolled up under the bed and just pull them out in winter when you need them. Don't have a rug? Check out this fun rag rug tutorial!

4. Use a Programmable Thermostat

There's no sense in keeping your house toasty warm while you're bundled up in bed or away for the day at work. A programmable thermostat will turn the heat up and down on a schedule for you to conserve energy. Check out this video from Home Depot on how to install one yourself. It's simpler than you might think!

5. Make (or buy) a Draft Dodger

Drafts that sneak in under your doors and windows can do a number on your heating bill. A draft dodger is a simple tube of fabric stuffed with sand, rice, or other small, heavy materials. Slide one snugly against the bottom of your door or window to keep that cold air outside where it belongs. Learn to make your own draft dodger here!

Have you done any simple DIY projects to get your home cold-weather-ready? Share your tips to conserve energy in the comments!

Image Credit: Icy Window photo via Bigstock

Posted: | Categories: conserve energy, conserve energy this winter, DIY, Home+Decor, Living, winterize your home, winterizing

Oct

Fall Garden: 6 Container Gardening Ideas share

Are you planning your fall garden? We've got some container garden ideas whether you have a little space or a lot!

Container gardens are a great way to maximize space or grow food when you have no lawn. They can also help keep crops out of contaminated urban soils, even if you do have a yard. The best part? Container gardens can also be beautiful. Instead of planting rows, farm-style, you can artfully arrange or build your containers to give your garden variety, whether it's a big back yard or a tiny balcony.

If you're not sure what to plant in your fall garden, check out this article we shared earlier this week, which includes a helpful video on fall garden planning. It may be too late where you are to start your fall garden from seed, but you can purchase seedlings and still grow some of your own food this fall!

Ready to get planting! Here are 6 container ideas for your fall garden!

1. Herb Spiral

Got bricks? Add a couple of bales of hay, and stack them to create a beautiful spiral herb garden for fall. You can plant herbs or small seasonal veggies in your spiral.

2. Wine Box Container Garden

Got a wine box handy? Don't toss it! Old wine boxes make beautiful planters for smaller fall garden additions like herbs and green onions.

3. Self Watering Container from a Plastic Bottle

This is probably the least pretty of our container garden ideas, but it's super handy. If you tend to kill your plants, a self-watering container can help save your plants!

4. Chalkboard Pot

Give an old pot a fresh face with a little chalkboard paint. You can use chalk to label the pots for your fall garden, then wipe the chalk away to write new labels as the seasons (and the plants you're growing) change.
5. Reclaimed Drawers Vertical Garden

Old dresser drawers and a reclaimed ladder make a beautiful, functional vertical planter for your fall garden needs. Planting vertically like this allows you to have more plants in a smaller space, and runoff from the higher up plants will nourish the ones below them.

6. Raised Bed Garden

Got a back yard but bad soil or a big weed problem? A raised bed gets your plants out of the ground. A basic raised bed is easy to build to exactly the size that you need, so you can configure yours to accomodate whatever space you have.

Are you planning a fall garden this year? Tell us about what you're planting and what containers you're excited to use!

Posted: | Categories: container gardening, container gardening ideas, fall garden, Gardening, Living, Yard+Garden

Oct

Victory Garden: Fall Garden Planning Made Easy share

Have you been wanting to plant a victory garden but weren't sure what to grow when? Fall is a great time to get started. Here's how!

It's a little bit late to start your fall victory garden from seed, but you can still find young food plants at your local nursery, so don't let the timing stop you! When you're shopping for seedlings or young plants, you want to make sure that they are organically grown. You don't want to start your organic garden with plants that have been sprayed with toxic, bee-killing pesticides! Bigger nurseries, like the ones at Lowe's and Home Depot sell plants sprayed with these chemicals, and you don't want to introduce them into your organic garden, because they may harm the pollinators who live there and are crucial to your garden and to our food supply.

Instead of shopping at these bigger stores, look for smaller organic nurseries in your area. It's worth the drive to ensure that your victory garden is as healthy for wildlife as it is for your body.

Fall Victory Garden Video and Planning Tool

Need some help choosing which fall vegetables to plant? This informative YouTube video from GrowVeg talks about what to plant and how to grow a productive fall victory garden:

Like they mention in the video, GrowVeg offers a garden planning tool that you can use to map out your garden. They are not a site sponsor at this time, and they didn't approach us to talk about them - we just stumbled upon this video and think that they offer a cool tool to help you grow your own food!

Do you have any plans for a victory garden this fall? Have you already started yours from seed? Let's talk food-growing in the comments!

Image Credit: photo by Becky Striepe

Posted: | Categories: fall garden, fall vegetables, Living, planning a fall garden, victory garden, Yard+Garden

Oct

Upcycled Decor: Drum Lamps by Willem Heeffer share

Artist Willem Heeffer makes beautiful upcycled drum lamps from a surprising reclaimed material.

What I love best about these upcycled lamps is that you can't tell at first glance that they're made from something else. Don't get me wrong: I love a little kitsch in my decor, but once in a while, you want something that just looks sleek, right? The Dutch designer's lamps are simple, modern, and gorgeous.

But what are they made from? He transforms reclaimed washing machine drums into these beautiful upcycled lamps!

When you think of upcycling, large appliances might not spring immediately to mind, but old washing machines wear out eventually, and when they do they're headed to the scrap heap, just like anything else. You can recycle old washing machines, but just like with other materials, reusing is always better. Reusing an old washing machine drum tends to take less energy than recycling it.

Heeffer is extending the life of at least part of old washing machines with his upcycled lamps, and the finished piece is made of 90 percent upcycled materials. Not too shabby! He says:

When I work with old materials I take them out of context, use it in an unexpected way to create something new. The goal is to first see a beautiful product after which you discover the history behind it. Only then the products are no longer viewed as trash and have become design pieces.

He uses locally-sourced materials to create his drum lamps, so his upcycled lighting helps support the loconomy in his area, too!

There are two versions of this lamp available: a special circular bulb called a T5 circular tube or an LED. You can find the upcycled lamps along with Willem Heeffer's other designs on his website.

Image Credit: Upcycled Drum Lamps photo by Yehia Eweis

Posted: | Categories: Fixtures, home decor, Home+Decor, Living, upcycled, upcycled decor

Sep

Vegan Food: Stocking a Vegan Pantry share

Vegan food might seem like it's very expensive, but if you stock the kitchen strategically, it doesn't have to be!

Normally I leave the food writing to Andrea. I run my own vegan food website and I work on a sustainable food site, so I like branching out to other aspects of sustainable living in this space. A couple of weeks ago, though, I produced my first ever video, and I'm excited to share it with you guys!

When you're trying to incorporate more vegan food into your diet, that first trip to the store can cause a little bit of sticker shock. In this video, I go through some of the most important staples in my pantry and freezer to help you stock your pantry with vegan food that's healthy, tasty, and inexpensive.

The staples that you choose really depend on your personal tastes, and I'm hoping that this glimpse into my pantry will give you ideas on vegan food to stock up on yourself.

Vegan Food List

I know that if you work in an office or are just plain busy you might not have time to watch the video above, so here's the bare bones list of what's in my pantry, in case you just want to get to the shopping already:

nutritional yeast
raw cashews
canned beans
dried grains
flax meal
canned coconut milk
veggie bouillon
frozen fruit for smoothies
frozen corn, frozen peas and carrots
Sriracha hot sauce
olive oil
sesame oil
apple cider vinegar
rice vinegar
balsamic vinegar

I'd love to hear from you guys! What vegan food could you not cook without? Are there staple foods that you pick up regularly rather than as a special treat? Let's talk food in the comments!

Posted: | Categories: Food+Drink, Living, vegan diet, vegan food, vegan recipes

Sep

Recycle Old Jeans with Blue Jeans Go Green share

I recently got a great question in my inbox about how to recycle old jeans that are too tattered to wear or even craft with.

We've all wrestled with this, right? Jeans tend to take a beating - more than other clothes in our wardrobes - and at a certain point they are just too tattered to wear and too threadbare to even bother repairing. What do you do when they get to that point? I did some searching and found a service that will recycle those old blues: Blue Jeans Go Green.

Blue Jeans Go Green accepts your old jeans and turns them into denim insulation! That means that when you recycle your old jeans, you're doing double duty: you're keeping them out of landfills and you're helping folks reduce their energy bills. Not too shabby, right?

When you recycle old jeans through this service, it gets turned into UltraTouch insulation, a formaldehyde-free, zero VOC insulation. My favorite part of this whole process is that not only do you keep all of that organic matter out of the landfill, but they donate up to 250,000 feet of insulation to Habitat for Humanity to help them build more energy efficient homes.

Here's how to recycle old jeans through the mail with Blue Jeans Go Green:

1. Box up your jeans. They ask for no more than 100 pieces of denim per parcel. They take any denim, so that means denim tops and housewares are fair game too.

2. Print a shipping label. You can download their pdf label by clicking here.

3. Ship it. You cover the shipping costs, but you can use whatever shipping method you like. Since denim is heavy, I'd go with a flat rate USPS box. That tended to be the cheapest option when I was shipping heavier items for my crafty business.

That's it!

Do you need to recycle old jeans from your wardrobe? Have you found other services that make it easy to keep them out of the landfill? I'd love to share more resources in the comments!

Image Credit: Remixed Creative Commons photo by Ten Speed Photography

Posted: | Categories: denim recycling, how to recycle jeans, Living, recycle old jeans, Recycling Services, Shopping+Services

Sep

5 Wood Pallet Crafts: Weekend Project Ideas! share

Need a fun weekend project? How about some good ol' wood pallet crafts to keep you busy and revamp your decor or your garden!

Wood pallets are becoming popular as craft materials, and that's because we use (and discard) so darn many of them. The trick to wood pallet crafts is making sure that the pallets you choose are safe for crafting, and then disassembling them while preserving the wood planks.

Tracking down wood pallets for crafting doesn't have to be difficult, but you do want to make sure that the pallet you're using has outlived its usefulness in the shipping industry. Don't just grab a pallet that you see outside a shop - businesses reuse them! Instead, ask the store manager if they have any pallets that are past their prime. Big box stores are a good place to start, especially home improvement stores that get a lot of big shipments. Don't be shy about asking - if you take an old pallet or two off their hands, they don't have to bother with disposal. Most big businesses like that have to pay for trash disposal, so you're doing them a favor.

Wood Pallet Crafts

1. Upcycled Ottoman

This plush, upcycled ottoman might not look like it's made from wood pallets, but that's part of the charm of this project.

2. Pallet Planter

Transform an old wooden pallet into a vertical planter for ornamentals or succulents. You can also use this method to create an herb planter, but you want to be 100% sure that the pallet you're using is made from untreated wood. Click here for details on how to tell if your pallet is made from treated wood.

3. Wood Pallet Bookcase Makeover

Transform that an ugly, pressboard bookcase into an heirloom piece with some sweat equity and an old wood pallet.

4. DIY Succulent Table Planter

Pallet wood planks make a beautiful outdoor table with a planter embedded right in the center. Wouldn't this make a magical spot for entertaining?

5. Pallet Desk

Want to get in on the wood pallet crafts craze but aren't super good at wood working? This pallet desk is easy peasy and very fresh. No wood working skills required!

Have you done anything fun with old wood pallets? Tell us about your favorite wood pallet crafts in the comments!

Posted: | Categories: DIY, Furniture, Home+Decor, Living, wood pallet crafts, wood pallet DIY ideas, wood pallet furniture, wood pallets, Yard+Garden

Sep

Spotted: Wood Pallet Bookcase Makeover share

Got an old bookcase that needs a little love? You can cover it in reclaimed wood pallets!

If your house is decorated with pressboard furniture, you know that that stuff doesn't really hold up to wear and tear. The finish gets scratched pretty easily, and unlike real wood it doesn't have that classy distressed look. It just looks terrible. Rather than replacing an ugly, boring bookshelf, Riccardo Tamiazzo of Padova, Italy did this beautiful wood pallet bookcase makeover instead.

He uses a piece of cut PVC to cover the top of his shelf, but if you want to use less plastic, you could just finish yours with a clear coat of resin or even a water-based wood finish to keep this project plastic free (aside from the plastic in the bookshelf you're revamping, of course). If that rustic look isn't your thing, you could also use some VOC-free paint to update your old shelf.

Tamiazzo shared the details of his wood pallet bookcase over at Ikea Hackers along with lots of additional photos. Click here for more!

When that cheap pressboard furniture starts to go, it's so tempting to replace it with new, cheap pressboard furniture, and I love that this project not only revamps an old bookcase but you end up with something unique and sturdier than what you started with. It's kind of an eco double whammy, right? This wood pallet bookcase uses reclaimed materials to divert waste from the landfill while avoiding a trip to the store to buy something new. Win-win-win!

You could also use this technique to re-cover other ugly pressboard furniture, like a desk, tabletop, headboard, or nightstand. I'm eyeing my boring sewing table right now. What furniture pieces would you like to reface with pallet wood? I feel like this project idea has endless possible iterations!

Posted: | Categories: DIY, Furniture, furniture revamp, Home+Decor, Living, wood pallet, wood pallet bookcase, wood pallet bookcase makeover, wood pallet craft

Aug

Earth Overshoot Day: Living Beyond Our Means share

Last Wednesday - August 21st - was Earth Overshoot Day. What does that mean for the planet and the people who live here?

Earth Overshoot Day marks the day that we - as inhabitants of this planet - have used one year's worth of planetary resources. That's right. We went through a year's worth of the Earth's bounty by mid-August. That is not good, you guys. Not good at all.

Silvio Maracci at Ecopreneurist sums this up eloquently:

While it’s only a rough estimate of how fast humanity is drawing down our ecological bank accounts, Earth Overshoot day has arrived sooner than ever before. This stark reminder of the growing pressure humans are putting on our natural resources means we’re borrowing against future generations to cover today’s bills. (emphasis mine)

As a new mom, that last bit really strikes home for me. It means that beginning on August 22nd our cars, our electricity usage, and our water all represent resources that our children might not get to enjoy unless we start making some big changes. Right. Now.

Earth Overshoot Day falls earlier and earlier each year. In 1993, it was on October 21. In 2003? September 22. Ten years from now, will we even make it half the year before gobbling up all that the planet can offer us? Or will we start taking conservation and efficiency seriously? Wouldn't it be great to buck this very scary trend?

Earth Overshoot Day: What You Can Do

We have a lot of power as consumers and as citizens to make a difference. Here are some ways that you can get heard:

Spread the word! A lot of folks have never heard of Earth Overshoot Day. Talk about it!
Conserve, conserve, conserve. That means reusing what you have or opting for second hand goods instead of buying new, reducing your water usage, and cutting back on the amount of electricity that you use.
Get efficient. Choose home improvement projects that help improve your home's efficiency. For example, you can replace old windows or cover them with insulating film. Replacing windows is expensive, but you don't have to do them all at once. Go one room at a time, starting with the draftiest. Speaking of drafts! A simple draft dodger under your doors and windows can help reduce your energy usage!
Grow your own food (or shop local!). The agricultural industry is one of the most resource-intensive in the world. Between inputs like fertilizers and pesticides to the footprint from shipping food worldwide, our food industry is a beast. Even growing some of your own food can make a big difference. When you can't grow your own, shop farmers markets or join a local CSA to keep your foodprint as low as possible. Local Harvest is a great site to help you find local food no matter where you live.
Write your Congressperson. Did you know that when you take away the massive fossil fuel subsidies, many renewable energy resources cost the same as or less than fossil fuels? Tell your Congressperson that you don't want to subsidize dirty coal and oil with your tax dollars! You can look up your representatives here.

Had you heard of Earth Overshoot Day before? This was a totally new concept to me, and it really shook me up. Tell me what you're doing to use fewer resources!

Image via Global Footprint Network

Posted: | Categories: conservation, conserve, Earth Overshoot Day, how to conserve, Living, News+Opinion

Aug

African Black Soap by Nubian Heritage: My new Favorite Luxury! share

Free samples are one of the perks about working in a health food store. This is how I found my new favorite tea, and now my new favorite body wash, African Black Soap by Nubian Heritage. True story: I scored this particular flavor because my coworker opened all the bottles and said, 'meh, this one smells like you-' meaning it smells like earth, sandalwood, cacao, and shea butter. Surely she meant it in the nicest way possible... Anyway, it's always quite a treat to use something kinda fancy like this body wash, cause my daily routine is pretty simple: Dr. Bronner's soaps, herbal shampoo, and coconut oil for my skin. But now it includes this yummy, vanilla-colored body wash. It feels so soft and pretty and makes my skin so nice!

But, hey! WTF is black soap? According to the label on my bottle, it is a mix of palm ash, plantain peel extract, tamarind extract, mixed with coconut, palm, oats, and other oils. It is the color of vanilla extract, and little bits of stuff make it look like vanilla bean. It is famous for helping with acne, eczema, and other skin problems. There are a few less-than-perfect ingredients in here like sugar beets (often GMO), and some of their products contain silk or milk- which I'm not sure are ever necessary. But overall their ingredient list is great. You can also buy raw chunks of Ghanian black soap on Amazon (check the link- the photo is super cool). This article from Treehugger has some more information about it too.

Nubian Heritage has an extensive line of body care, hair care, and such. Find them on Facebook, since the Nubian Heritage website was down at the time of writing. You can buy their goodies at Amazon, Vitamin Shoppe, CVS, Whole Foods and elsewhere (sheesh... any independent retailers out there sell this stuff?).

Posted: | Categories: body care, eco-friendly household, Living, non-toxic

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