Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Can You Have a $250 Eco-Friendly Christmas?

December 14, 2010

Currently I’m running an experiment here at Growing a Green Family. Can the average family of four save $50,000 in five years simply by living green? With this in mind, I decided to see how much you can save by celebrating a less consumer Christmas. Can you really spend just $250 on Christmas? That’s a [...]

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Your kids don’t have to know about paper towels either

November 19, 2010

Seventh Generation often sends me stuff to review. Today we got a box from them and Cedar decided to open it while I drove him to school. He worked at it, finally got the box open, pulled out something and said, “Well THIS is funny looking toilet paper!” I was driving so I had no [...]

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Lead found in reusable shopping bags

November 17, 2010

This week, reports of lead in reusable bags broke, possibly leaving many to wonder why they even try to live green. Seriously, we’ve got bunk organics, greenwashing and of course dangerous reusable bags that harbor death. Now lead. Sigh. Be aware that this lead issue is confined to cheap reusable bags – the very same [...]

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Does it help when stores ban plastic bags?

September 18, 2010

So, here in Portland, local Fred Meyer stores (I believe a total of ten) banned plastic toss-away bags as of August 1st. This happened, according to a Kroger/Fred Meyer news release (pdf), because of a new mess of laws that may go into affect here in Portland, Oregon that will ban bags in some places [...]

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It’s Recycle Glass Week!

September 15, 2010

Wondering who these adorable guys are? Hustle over to Inhabitots to learn more about a cool new website designed for Recycle Glass Week. Bonus, you’ll score tips that will help you teach your little one how to easily recycle glass. Read the post – HOW TO: Teach Young Children to Recycle Glass.

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Look Out! Reusable Bags Harbor Deadly Illnesses!

July 19, 2010

Every once in a while, (okay often) the American Chemistry Council tries to convince consumers that reusable bags are indeed the devil in disguise. Just to clear things up, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) represents most of the major companies engaged in the business of chemistry, such as the Plastics Division, the Chlorine Chemistry Division, [...]

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Bottled Water Causes Blindness in Puppies!

June 28, 2010

Oh. My. Tappening has got to be the best flipping anti-bottled water campaign ever created. Tappening was covered at the New York Times last year but I just learned about them today at elephant. Tappening targets bottled water companies with a simple tactic – they lie about them. One of their posters claims “Bottled Water: [...]

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How to afford green living – start by living green

June 25, 2010

Lately I’ve been talking about living green on a budget. If you need to catch up read the following first then head back here for more tips. Is Green Living Worth the Cost? Why green living is worth the cost False: It’s impossible to afford green living I’ve mentioned that even on a limited budget [...]

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Make recycling easier for your kids & reluctant adults

June 21, 2010

Recycling should be a family affair but often recycling can seem very complicated to little kids. Take it from me; at age five Cedar “recycled” some of our silicone homemade popsicle molds claiming, “They looked recyclable!“ Reluctant adults in your home may actually not get recycling or they may be using their lack of know-how [...]

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Ten incredibly lame disposable products to help trash your footprint

June 14, 2010

There are all sorts of super lame products on the market, some more footprint trashing than others. With this in mind it’s very easy to live a trash heavy life – if you so choose. Following are ten of the best products to buy if your goal happens to be anti-eco. 1. Of course the [...]