Here are some useful green tips that you can practice everyday.

1. Salt

Salt can be used for a lot of things in the home, including yourself. You can use it to test an egg’s freshness, extend cheese life and shell nuts easily. You can treat mosquito bites and ease sore throat using salt. You can keep ants away, repair walls and tame barbecue flames. You can clean sink drains, clean greasy pans, refrigerators and glass coffee pots. Feel free to share your other uses for salt at home.

2. Moving Homes

Moving homes can be such a hassle. Trying to figure out which goes and which stays, packing the ones staying in boxes and hauling them from the old to the new house. When you’ve figured out which ones are not coming with you, consider placing an ad on Craigslist, Freecycle or eBay. Or just have a good old-fashioned garage sale. Pack the stuff you’re bringing in reused boxes you can purchase for a small price or for free. Pay it back by offering it up for the other movers. Lastly, use one large moving van and make sure everything is done in one trip.

3.  Baking Soda

Like salt, baking soda can also be used in numerous ways around the house. You can use it to freshen your mouth and use it as a facial scrub and body exfoliant. You can use baking soda to freshen sponges, clean the microwave, oven, floors, furniture and shower curtains. Use it to deodorize your refrigerator, sink drains, trash cans, lunch boxes and dish washers. You can also use baking soda to extinguish fires and scrubs fruits and vegetables.

4. Vegetable Garden

Gardening is hard work and if you don’t pay attention, your plants will die. But there are some vegetables that you can easily grow in your garden that even the laziest or clueless gardener can do. Asparagus needs a full sun and non-soggy, and a little sandy oil. Kale will grow in many climates. And bunching onions will grow even in cold climates.

5. Bathroom

There are a million ways to “prolong the life” of your bathroom products. For shampoo, just use a small amount for your hair. Short lengths only need to use a nickel-sized amount. Longer lengths will need a little more. For toothpaste, only a pea-sized amount is needed, the most important thing is how you brush your teeth anyway.

What other green tips can you recommend to our readers? Share them in the comments below!

So we all know how composting works, right? Whatever goes into the compost container takes time to decompose, then comes out as an earthy, dark and crumbly substance. Usually when we talk about composting, we refer to the composting of kitchen and garden wastes. Did you know that we can compost human waste?

Okay, I know that sounds gross, but composting toilets are actually very clean and effective. They are starting to sprout up in many state parks and even some green college campuses. Think of it as a very upscale and green portable toilet. The building pictured actually contains a composting toilet. It is the Canaan Valley Institute in Davis, WV. It is a LEED-certified building. This facility also uses a green filtration system to reuse their water for flushing toilets. (There is actually only one compositing toilet in the building; the rest are normal toilets.) They keep their drinking water separate from their water filtered by plants, though their measurements indicate that the water they filter on their own would be safe of drink. Their energy bill is amazingly low, not much more than a typical home.

Owning a personal composting toilet is not anything I expect anyone to be doing any time soon. It just doesn’t fly well when people have to think about dealing with their own waste. However, if you know of a nearby park where there is currently a portable toilet or simply no toilet at all, consider recommending a composting toilet for the area. Composting toilets are much cleaner (and smell less) than normal portable toilets, and they help our world become a little bit greener. On Seguin Island in Maine, there is a composting toilet that a boy built for his Eagle Scout project. When I visited the island with some locals, they told me I had to use the toilet. They were actually quite proud of their composting toilet, believe it or not. The facility was indeed very clean and did not smell like waste or chemicals. Properly built composting toilets protect ground water from contamination or provide optimal nutrient recycling.

Doing your laundry may just seem like a simple chore–okay, well maybe it is not so simple for everyone–but what you may not know is how much is wasted when one runs a load of laundry. All we see is a water going in, the machine churning, and water being spun out. I have not tried to calculate the amount of water that our machine uses, but I have a feeling that it is a lot more than I think it is.

If people changed the way they did their laundry, we could make a big difference in this world. It takes so much energy that is used to heat the wash water and to run the dry cycle and we do not usually think too much about this fact. However, if were all more aware, then we could start to reduce the carbon footprint that’s associated with our clothing.

One of the easiest ways to change your habits is to dry your clothes on a line rather than in the machine and to use the cold water setting rather than the hot water setting when hot water is not needed. The dryer actually comes in as number two on the household energy hog list and by not using it, you can save more than $70 per year in energy bills. So let us take the dryer out of the equation.

The average household does about 400 loads of laundry each year–coming in at about 13,500 gallons of water per year, according to Energy Star.  If you still have one of those older machines (my family had one up until about 2 weeks ago), you should really think about switching to an Energy-Start qualified top-loading machine. Why? Well, you an save as much as 7,000 gallons of water per year. This type of machine can save you $500 in operating costs over its lifetime (about 11 years). In short, you will most likely end up having a machine that pays for itself over the course of its useful life.

Doing your laundry in an efficient manner is a household chore you can afford to spend your money on because in the long run, you will save money and our environment.

It’s easy to live a green life now, with all the green restaurants, furniture, home and personal items. And now, even fashion designers have decided to embrace green life and share it with their clients.

Meet some of the world’s green fashion designers.

Anja Hynynen (Sweden)

Based in Sweden, with regular trips to Scotland, Anja Hynynen, 27, creates clothing from organic materials. As an independent designer, her collection is mainly womenswear, with some for men and children. Her designs include tailored pieces with exquisite detailing in woven fabric, knitted pieces and pieces with application work.

Raquel Allegra (USA)

Born in Berkeley, CA, Raquel Allegra creates unique shirts made from oversized vintage shirts recycled from the Los Angeles County Prison System. Coupled with comfort and a modern romantic design, no wonder her cult following follows her from Los Angeles to Beirut.

Jane Palmer (USA)

Jane Palmer, along with her partner, Marianne Fairbanks, created a powerful bag called Noon Solar. Noon Solar bags come equipped with thin solar panels to help you charge your iPod or cell phone. Jane Palmer is also the founder of the first and only natural-dye production house in the US.

Julie Roebuck (UK)

Julie Roebuck, from London, designs and produces clothes from used or surplus garments. She uses only rejected items, materials that are unwanted and have been discarded to create brilliant chic street wear masterpieces.

Dandi Maestre (Canada)

Born in Colombia, studied in New York, worked in Bogota and now living in Toronta, Canada, Dandi Maestre’s jewelry designs is a mix of naive and urban cultures. She uses shed antlers, bone, driftwood, crocodile skins, skulls and shells to create avant-garde jewelry masterpieces.

Styrofoam trays have been quite the debate in many school districts over the past few years. Most schools choose to keep Styrofoam as the material for the trays because of the costs. Some students eat off of these trays three times a day. In other words, students eat off of these trays three times a day, for about 30 minutes a day, and then they throw them out. What a waste right?

Not only is it a waste in terms of the volume of trays that are thrown out, but the fact that these trays are made of Styrofoam makes it much worse. Styrofoam is terrible for our environment. Not only this, but there is also some concern that toxins can leach from Styrofoam when it comes into contact with hot food. There is no “good” way to recycle Styrofoam. If they are thrown out, then they will most likely go to a landfill. Once they have reached their resting point at the dump, it will take over one millions years to decompose. Yes, one million. So not only will it take a very long time to “decompose”, but the trays also just sit there, taking up space, in our already overfilled landfills.  Also, when expanded polystyrene enters aquatic environments, creatures could ingest it; this causes intestinal blockage that will ultimately lead to death.

So, why not recycle the trays? Some schools do try to have a separate spot to throw away trays so that they can be recycled, but even when the trays are recycled, not much good becomes of them. Also, trays are not often recycled because it costs a lot to do so and the facilities for doing so are few and far between. Some burn the Styrofoam, but because they are based on crude oil, and chemicals such as benzene and styrene, the burning of Styrofoam produces toxic gases.

These are all things that school districts are well aware of. The thing is, it costs close to nothing per tray (about 3 cents) — it is hard to convince a school district to pay more for trays when they are struggling with other costs. There are many other options out there, but costs are what are holding the schools back.

Are you looking to move somewhere that’s more eco-friendly? Are you curious to find out which state is as green as it gets? Here is a list of the greenest states in the US and what makes them part of this list.

Washington

Washington tops this list. Their high standing is due to the high number of LEED buildings in the state. They also have a high number of green businesses as well as renewable energy resources, including the Nine Canyon Wind Project of Energy Northwest. The Nine Canyon Wind Project was designed to produce up to 95.8 megawatts of renewable energy using wind power. Phase I officially started in 2002 and they just completed Phase III in late 2008.

Vermont

The Searsburg Wind Power Facility, one of the state’s renewable energy sources, powers about 1400 homes a year. This has made green businesses confidence to operate and now, about a hundred green businesses are operating within Vermont.

New York

New York is home to about 3000 green businesses. Several eco-friendly and green organizations have also set up shop to help other businesses go green.

Oregon

There are about 600 green businesses in Oregon and the number is growing regularly. They also have one of the highest recycling rates in the country, at almost 50 percent.

California

California is home to eSolar’s Sierra SunTower, which powers 4,000 homes in Southern California alone.

Nevada

The ACCIONA’s Nevada Solar One powers up to 14,000 homes in Nevada every year.

Maine

Maine is one of the states with the highest number of LEED-registed and LEED-certified buildings. Businesses have utilized solar panels, recycled materials and rooftop gardens to achieve this distinction.

Colorado

Colorado has one of the highest concentrations of green businesses in the US.

Minnesota

Minnesota has a high number of green businesses and LEED-registered and LEEd-certified buildings, including the newly constructed baseball stadium, which has recycling stations, water-saving fixtures and recycled building materials.

New Hampshire

One of New Hampshire’s achievement is its low energy consumption and emissions. They also have their first wind farm, which started operations last June and expected to power at least 10,000 homes in the state.

Halfway (or more) through summer vacation, you may be hearing, “I’m bored!”  While a quick suggestion of cleaning the garage or basement may help quiet the whining, there are other ways to eliminate summertime boredom.  This list of suggestions not only will help entertain and amuse your child but also will help keep our planet healthy.

1. Track and reduce trash.

Create a spreadsheet on your computer or on a whiteboard (to make it more visible) with days of the week labeled at the top of the columns. Brainstorm with your children, and then label the rows with items that they throw out on a regular basis, such as napkins, paper towels, water bottles, paper plates.  Then each time a child discards one of those items, have him or her add a tally mark to the correct box on the chart.  At the start of the next day, total the tally marks in each box for the previous day.  Challenge your family to discard one less item.  See how low you can get your tallies to be!

2. Recycle old clothing

Although cleaning out closets and drawers may not be fun, it does allow more room for new clothes.  Once all worn-out and undersized clothing has been removed, sort them.  Things that are just too small but in good condition can be passed down to a younger sibling or cousin or donated to a charity.  Clothing items that are stained can be repurposed.  Encourage your kids to find creative uses for these items:  cut up a few t-shirts and sew a quilt for your stuffed bear, remove all of the buttons and use them as decorations for an art project.

3. Start a mini-garden.

Yes, it is late in the season for a lot of vegetables, but there are some that sprout more quickly.  Try planting a few radish or lettuce seeds in a medium to large planter or in a quiet corner of your yard.  Have your child check the soil daily for signs of growth and to determine if watering is needed.  When these veggies are ready, make sure your child gets to do the picking!

Cape Wind is a very exciting project that will be America’s first offshore wind farm. The site of this offshore wind farm will be on the Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound. There has been a ton of opposition to the placement of the wind farm and there are plenty of efforts that are trying to “Save the Sound”, but the permits have been put in place and the project is a go!

I honestly do not see why people think that wind turbines are ugly. I think that it will look kind of cool to have rows of wind turbines stretching across the water, but I can see how there could be opposition and how it would make the Sound less natural. They received state and local permitting in 2009 and federal permitting through April 2010. From when they start construction, it should take them less than 2 years to build the wind turbines that should last 20 years or more. Once the wind turbines are at the end of their economic life, the Cape Wind team will provide a decommissioning financial instrument that will fund the removal of the wind turbines down to the seabed.

In this project, they will place 130 wind turbines that will harness the wind to produce up to 420 megawatts of renewable energy. The 130 wind turbines will be spaced six to nine football fields apart so that shallow draft  boats can pass through or fish. It has even been endorsed by the Maritime Trades council and the Seafarers International Union.

It has been calculated that the turbines would provide about three quarters of the Cape and Islands electricity needs. It will also reduce global warming green house gas emissions by 734,000 tons per year and will provide enough clean, renewable energy that should replace about 113 million gallons of oil per year.

With numbers like that and events such as the major oil spill this year, who would not be in favor of this project in the Nantucket Sound? It is definitely time to start using more forms of renewable energy and to start using resources like the wind– which I don’t think we will be running out of any time soon.

For more information check out Cape Wind’s website.

An article on Yahoo highlighted a woman’s transformation from a high-consumption life to an eco-friendly one by making a few instrumental changes in her life. Do you want to know how she did it? Here are a few tips she shared in the article.

1. Natural Cleaning Agents

Instead of buying the pre-made cleaning products in the stores (which are filled with all kinds of chemicals and bleach), make your own using items already found in your home. These items include vinegar, baking soda, natural soaps and lemon.

2. NO to Bottled Water

Buy a filter for the faucet or a pitcher with its own filter and start drinking from the tap. When going out, bring your own mug and fill it with tap water. Just this act alone can eliminate usage of at least 300 bottles a day.

3. Reusable Shopping Bags

Make it a habit of bringing your own shopping bags to eliminate the use of plastic or paper bags for your items. The bags only cost between $0.99 to $2 (some cost more but you don’t need to buy those) and use them again and again.

4. Avoid Plastic Wrap

When putting leftovers in the fridge, don’t use plastic wrap to cover your food. Use container covers or brown wax paper.

5. CFLs and Energy-Saving Appliances

Switch to CFL bulbs and energy-saving appliances and notice the big change in your electricity bill.

6. Grow Own Food

If you have the ability and the space to do, grow your own food. Just buy some pots, soil and seeds and plant away. You can plant spinach, mushrooms, tomato, eggplant, any kind of fruits or whatever else will fit in your space. Don’t forget to take care of the plants, though.

7. Don’t Be Afraid To Buy Used

There are some items that you can always buy used, like furniture (including book cases, chairs and tables, etc.), clothes, DVDs, CDs and other items that won’t compromise your health or will be with you for the long haul.

8. Say NO To Paper

Go paperless for all your bills and statements. Cancel all catalogs, print newspapers and other subscriptions and choose to view them online instead.

So are you ready to switch to a green lifestyle? Take the challenge and start now!

What could be better than making sure you’re practicing green tips in your own house than to build and design your dream green home?

Styles

There are several styles to choose from. Conventional styles are the usual styles anyone and everyone uses to design their own home. It can be Victorian, Southwestern or Bungalow. Contemporary or traditional styles may be used, depending on your own taste.

A Rounded style simply means that a significant part of the house has a rounded or curved appearance. This could be the roof or the floor plan. These styles usually convey a cozy and comfortable feeling inside the home.

An Earth-Sheltered home is either fully or partially nestled in the earth. Temperature rarely changes in an earth-sheltered home and uses less energy to keep it cold or hot. Be sure to keep the part of the house in the underground well-insulated, as it can be too cold.

Materials

There are a lot of natural materials that can be utilized to create your dream green home.

Adobe, cob and rammed earth are the most common materials from the earth. Traditional burlap bags can also be used and stacked vertically or horizontally to create walls. You can fill the bags with rocks, adobe, shells or sand.

Wood is the most common choice of material for anything, including green homes. Make sure that the wood comes from certified sustainably harvested trees.

Other materials that can be used include straw, bamboo and stones.

What other styles and materials can be used for your future green dream home?

Just remember to make sure that all materials were provided through sustainable harvesting and production. Otherwise, it will defeat the original purpose for having a green dream home.