Bamboo: The Miracle Crop From the Past and a Hope for the Future

Bamboo: The Miracle Crop From the Past and a Hope for the Future. Bamboo is being used in a number of innovative ways. Both old and new which include of course food, building material, environmental uses, decorative and functional objects of everyday need. This material is multi-functional, fast-growing and renewable. If ever there was an environmental product that could call itself “green” it would have to be bamboo. Read more..

4 Tips for Eco-Friendly Home Improvements

“Save the Environment!” — That’s the urgent call in our day and age. Unfortunately, it means changing the way we live and the things we use. Even so, more and more people are adopting eco-friendly ways because it makes sense in more ways than one.

When it comes to home improvement, you can also be eco-friendly. Not only will you do your bit for mother earth but you’ll be doing yourself a favor too. Eco-friendly products and materials can lower some of your ongoing costs. Let’s not forget that it’s a healthier solution too. Here are some ideas how to make eco-friendly home improvements: Read more..

Wood Burning Stoves: Beautiful and Efficient

There is nothing like the warming, comforting heat of a wood burning stove on a cold winter day. The cracking and snap of the wood as it catches fire, the mesmerizing flames, and the soothing aroma of soup simmering on the stovetop. I used to think that wood fires were not environmentally friendly. But in fact, they are a carbon neutral heat source. It’s also really easy to use your wood stove for cooking, almost like a slow cooker, and for heating a kettle which of course just saves on energy. Read more..

Don’t Flush Your Unused Medications Down the Toilet!

For years, safety experts have been telling us to flush unused prescription medications down the toilet. We were told that it was very dangerous to keep these products lying around. They could be injested by someone other than the person for whom they were prescribed or worse yet, taken by small children or used as recreational drugs. Flushing them down the toilet was considered a safe and effective way to dispose of these unused or outdated prescriptions. Read more..

10 Ways To Go Greener In Your Kitchen

When it comes to living more sustainable and making a difference towards the problem of global climate change, every little thing you do counts. So here are some tips for small, easy changes you can make in your kitchen that will help to reduce your energy consumption and lessen your environmental footprint. Read more..

Hybrid Cars: The Vehicles of the Future?

For those of us who want to lessen our impact on the environment the issue of transportation can be a tricky one. If you live in a city that’s bicycle and pedestrian friendly, or has a good public transport system it’s easy to transition to these alternative forms of transportation. But the further you live from your place of work, or if you have to travel a lot as part of your work or you simply live in a city that doesn’t make it easy or safe to use these alternative forms of transportation, another possible solution could be to buy hybrid vehicles. Read more..

12 Ways to Save Water in Your Home

Clean running water, an absolute necessity to our very survival, is also incredibly handy around the house. So handy, in fact, that most of us use it wastefully at least part of the time. As our growing population strains our water resources and infrastructure to the limits, costs for providing water will escalate. We can minimize those costs by employing a few simple water conservation methods in our homes. Read more..

Beware the Toxic Chemicals in Your Mattress

For years we have been taught that a good night’s sleep is a healthy habit to have. A good 7-8 hours of sleep means that one third of our life should be spent in bed. Recent discoveries have found that while sleeping 7-8 hours a night is healthy, sleeping in a bed may not be such a healthy idea. While our faces are plastered into a pillow and sleeping on a new mattress, we may be literally gassing ourselves to death. Read more..

How To Make Earthen Plaster

I just came across a series of great videos on how to make earth plaster. We want to use earth plaster on the outside of our house, and are also considering it for the inside as well. So I have been doing a bit of research, and although I’ve found some recipes for making the earthen plaster we still had a lot of questions. It really helps to actually be able to see how it’s done and I must say these videos are exceptional. Tamar, who teaches you how to make and apply the earthen plaster really knows her stuff, she’s a great teacher and the explanations about how and why are just what I was looking for. I thank everyone who took the time to make these videos and make them available on YouTube.

After watching these I feel totally confident that I can do it. It’s great to see the finished product to. You’ll notice in the 2nd video when she starts applying the plaster to her cabin that much of the wall has already been done. I can’t wait for summer to try this out (it’s winter here in NZ).

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Can Mushrooms Save The World?

Paul Stamets seems to think so. A lot of the content of this video went right over my head the first time, but I got the gist of it. I’ll be watching it again, several times over, because I think it’s that important. I knew a few things about fungi to begin with, and I’ve always been fascinated by them. When I started learning more about Chinese medicinal mushrooms I felt like I was finally getting to the real awesome power of these incredible beings. But this video just blew me away. The implications for restoring the environment and undoing some of the damage we have done is huge. See for yourself, and leave a comment to let me know what you think.

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