LiveScience.com has a great slideshow outlining 10 ways to green your home.  I thought it would make for a great opportunity to highlight how some of the products at earthscreen can fit into the picture.

 

10 - Make it, Build it Green: Choose furniture made from eco-friendly sources such as sustainably managed forests, bamboo, and reclaimed wood. Buying vintage wherever possible, rather than adding something new into the waste stream, is always in style. Also, look for furniture that is durable and likely long-lived-you'll save money on replacements in the future and prevent more wasted materials from winding up in the landfill.

 

For Kids, this Bohemian Garden Step Stool is beautiful and made from recycled wood.

9 - Go Au Naturale: Ditch the poisons and choose natural, non-toxic, and equally effective methods of cleaning and corralling pests. 

 

For Controlling Pests try Bang! Natural Insect Control.

8.  Slay Energy Vampires: their nasty pointed teeth plunge deep into your wall socket, draining power all hours of the day and night, even after you've switched them off. (Americans pay $1 billion a year to power our televisions and VCRs while they're turned off.)

 

 

 

Here's a power strip that turns off appliance when no one is around: The Watt Stopper.

7. Get off the Grid: Opt for clean, renewable energy if it's offered in your area.

 

Even if you can't get off the grid completely, you can always go solar, bit by bit.  Here's a  "Light My Shed Solar Light"

6. Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle (in that order).

 

I love repurposing trash for good use.  We love these Record Label Coasters.

 

5. Buy Local Food

 

I bought a great book called Recipes from America's Small Farms.  One of the best things in the book is a list of farm CoOps that partner farms with consumers to guarantee delivery of locally grown produce.

4, Stop the Junk Mail

 

Green Dimes has a great solution for this.  They have a free basic plan as well as premium plans for a one-time fee of either $20 or $36.  Just sign up and they stop junk mail from being delivered to your house!

 

3. Paper Nor Plastic.  Bring your own reusable shopping bags to the grocery store.  I keep a full supply in the trunk of my car. Here's the Acme Workhorse Reusable Shopping Bag Set.

 

2. Always buy Energy Star appliances. The average home can pump out twice as much greenhouse-gas emissions as the average car. Purchasing energy-saving Energy Star-rated appliances, electronics, and lighting can help mitigate that, while slashing a third of your electric bill.  

1.  Switch to energy saving light bulbs.  Until affordable and effective LED light bulbs are widely available Compact Florescent bulbs are still the way to go.  They do contain mercury but studies show that the amounts are so small that they are still better for the environment than traditional bulbs which loose 90% of their energy in heat.  Also, CFLs last much longer - years longer - that the risk is reduced even further.  

 

Here's a 10 pack starter kit.