What is Earth Day?

Earth Day marks the anniversary of the modern environmental movement in 1970. It is an annual celebration of the environment and intended to inspire awareness of & appreciation for the Earth’s environment.

Earth Day was founded in 1970 by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson, who started a “teach-in” to protest the government’s environmental ignorance. This eventually led to legislation including the Environmental Policy Act (1969), the Clean Air Act (1970), the Clean Water Act (1977) and fuel efficiency standards for automobiles.

Celebrate Earth Day’s 40th anniversary on Thursday, April 22 by conserving. Use less energy, less water, and create less waste.

Here are the top 5 ways to conserve this Earth Day:

1- Change lights to CFL bulbs
2- Install a low-flow showerhead
3- Use reusable shopping bags
4- Fix all leaky water fixtures
5- Stop using disposable items

You should not allow your domestic cat to roam freely outdoors. That’s becasue they kill over one billion small birds and animals every year. That means 1 outdoor kitty averages about 40 kills per year. This upsets the natural predator/prey balances and eliminates ground nesting birds altogether. So, it is best to just keep that kitty cat indoors or in a screened in porch.

On Saturday, March 27, 2010 at 8:30 p.m. local time, Earth Hour will once again cascade around the globe, from New Zealand to Hawaii.

During Earth Hour hundreds of millions of people around the world will come together to make a bold statement about their concern for climate change by doing something quite simple – turning off their lights for one hour. In the U.S., Earth Hour sends a clear message that Americans care about our country, our planet and our future, turning the lights off on pollution and climate change, making the switch to a cleaner, safer and more secure world.

Turn Out Take Action!

For more information check out the Official US Site for Earth Hour.

Today is World Water Day!

World Water Day is an international day to celebrate freshwater and a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.

The international day to celebrate freshwater was recommended at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro. The United Nations General Assembly responded by designating March 22nd, 1993 as the first World Water Day.

St. Patrick’s Day is tomorrow! Are you ready to celebrate the holiday in a truly Green way?

Here are the top 5 tips for celebrating St. Patrick’s Day the eco way:

1. Wear Organic Green Tees: One of the biggest St. Patty’s Day triditions is to wear green or an Irish slogan T-shirt. This year, instead of just wearing any old green T-shirt, wear an organic cotton or bamboo T-shirt! That way your green tee really is Green!
2. Drink Local Organic Beer: The other big St. Patrick’s Day tradition is a visit to the good ol’ pub! This year celebrate in an eco-friendly style by ordering an organic local beer on tap and in a re-usable glass mug of course.
3. Avoid Plastic Disposable Decorations: This is really a no brainer for any holiday. Cheap plastic accessories such as beads and plastic shamrock rings usually just get thrown out the next day, only to end up in landfills. So this year try making your own decorations and accessories for your party or purchase items you will actually re-use.
4. Eat Local & Organic: Another holiday favorite is to eating delicious meals. So this year try to make your Irish favorites by shopping at the local farmers market. It’s just not Green if your potato is flown from half way around the world.
5. Tint Your Brewski With Natural Dye: Artificial food coloring is nasty stuff, especially Green No. 3, which has been prohibited in the European Union and some other countries. I recommend trying Chefmaster’s all natural green food coloring instead. It is much healthier for you & your friends.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

This is another easy tip to save on energy….Just turn down the brightness of your computer monitor.

By kicking down the brightness a few notches, will still allow for you to read the screen perfectly but will save on electricity. Plus, if you are prone to headaches reducing the brightness of anything can really help.

It’s the small things that count & will add up over time. Just watch that electricity bill drop!

I live in an apartment within the city and I never thought composting would be possible for me without having a backyard. Well, times have changed & composting is no longer limited to backyards.

The Worm Factory 360 is one of the first composters that can be used indoors or outdoors allowing year round production.  Composting with worms allows you to turn kitchen scraps, paper waste & cardboard into nutrient rich soil for your plants. Plus The Worm Factory 360 is odorless making it great for apartments, kitchens, garages, porches and more.

How does it work?
Simply add a handful of worms & your organic waste to the bottom tray. The worms will start processing the food. Once the bottom tray is filled add another tray. The worms migrate upward to the newest food source leaving the bottom tray full of nutrient rich compost.

As waste is broken down, moisture filters through the system, taking nutrient-rich particles with it. This makes it possible to harvest organic liquid fertilizer right from the spigot.

Why is it better than traditional composting?
With a thermo siphon air flow design, the Worm Factory 360 increases the composting speed. Now you can produce compost much faster than traditional composting methods. Master Gardeners agree, worm castings are one of the richest forms of fertilizer that you can use.

Check out this video which is a preview of the instructional DVD for setting up & managing the Worm Factory 360 worm composting bin.

Buy your Worm Factory 360 today!

Reuse your used coffee grounds as fertilizer!

Coffee grounds make a great fertilizer for plants that thrive in acidic soil, like rhododendrons or azaleas. Just sprinkle your used coffee grounds around the base of plants. This will also help to repel ants, snails, and slugs, who can exacerbate an aphid problem.

Next time you’re thinking seafood for dinner, don’t order the Chilean sea bass. The Environmental Defense Fund has issued a health advisory for it due to the high levels of mercury. Plus, scientists have warned it is critically over-fished and possibly on the road to extinction.

Chilean sea bass is a slow-growing fish that takes years to reach reproductive age, making it particularly vulnerable to overfishing. They can live to be six feet long and more than 50 years old, but fishermen are reporting smaller and smaller weights and lower catches.

Since Chilean sea bass live in remote Antarctic waters, law enforcement is difficult and large numbers of boats fish these waters illegally, without proper permits or gear, resulting in most Chilean seabass fished unsustainably.

And according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Chilean sea bass is caught with bottom longlines, which damage the seafloor and lead to high rates of bycatch, meaning the death of seabirds, turtles and other nontarget species.

Good alternatives to Chilean sea bass include:

• Striped bass
• Pacific halibut
• sablefish (black cod)
• Mahi mahi