Don’t Forget About Fido
September 30, 2008 by boygreen · Leave a Comment
Green living includes our four-legged friends, too. Many brands of dog food, cat food and treats include unhealthy chemicals, by-products, cheap grains, and high levels of salt and sugar. If you’ve decided to go green, you’re probably avoiding eating these things yourself, but what about your pets?
Proper nutrition is just as important for your pet as it is for you. There are several brands of organic, all natural, holistic, or raw pets foods and treats that can help transition your pet over to a “green” diet:
The Honest Kitchen
Dehydrated raw pet food that’s guaranteed to be human-grade. This company takes fresh, raw ingredients and dehydrates them so almost all of the valuable nutrients, enzymes and vitimins remain. The foods are produced in a human food facility in California. They offer dehydrated raw foods for dogs and cats as well as some fun treats.
Nature’s Variety
Nature’s Variety offers several healthier options for your pet, including frozen raw diets, organic frozen meals, freeze dried raw foods, raw bones, grain-free foods and all-natural kibble. My dogs love the Organic Frozen Raw Chicken formula. Their raw diets include the nutritional benefits of ground raw bones.
Eagle Pack Holistic Select
Holistic Select formulas include several “extras” that you won’t find in grocery brands. Corn and soy-free, these holistic dog and cat foods also include prebiotics, probiotics, and antioxidants. The company uses USDA chicken that is hormone and antibiotic free and includes various fruits and vegetables in the foods. They also include Omega-3 and Omega-6 as well as glucosamine for healthy joints.
Natura
Natura offers several different lines of premium dog and cat foods. Grain-free EVO provides key nutrition obtained from raw foods in a convenient kibble. Karma is an organic line of dog food and treats with 95% organic ingredients.
Before you purchase your next bag of dog food, check the ingredient list to see what’s in it. “You are what you eat” applies to pets, too. You just might be surprised when you discover the difference a change to a high quality food can make.
Tesla Roadster: World’s Fastest Golf Cart?
September 29, 2008 by boygreen · Leave a Comment
The Tesla Roadster, now in production, is a serious sports car. It is also seriously green. As a sports car, the statistics are stunning. Since it is based on the Lotus Elise, it’s pedigree is not in question. It will do 0-60 in under 4 seconds and handles with a nimbleness unmatched by anything but a go-cart.
You can’t get much greener than 100% electric. No generators, no gasoline of any kind, and the recyclable batteries will last for 100,000 miles. This makes it the only 100% fossil fuel-free production automobile currently available throughout the US.
All of this sportiness and “greenness” is not without compromise. Since it is based on the diminutive Lotus, it lacks many creature comforts, passenger space and luggage space. Most people drive places alone so this probably isn’t a huge problem, especially for commuters. Since it is a plug-in electric, the source of the power that it plugs in to may or may not be green. The car’s “greenness” is also slightly compromised by the fact that many of the materials and components used in the production of the vehicle still leave a significant carbon footprint. But you can’t win ‘em all.
Green Building Incentives
September 29, 2008 by boygreen · Leave a Comment
Have you been wanting to go green but are afraid of the costs? Many states offer rebates or tax breaks for installing solar panels or wind turbines, along with other renewable energy incentives. In addition, some municipalities have reduced building permit fees and even priority plan review for green buildings, which can save you hundreds or thousands in interest costs on your lot while waiting for a building permit.
Just one of many examples, homeowners building a LEED Certified home in New Mexico may quality for a tax credit of up to $9.00 per square foot. The state of Arizona offers taxpayers a credit of 25% of the cost of installing solar technology, including solar pool and water heaters, up to $1000.
The Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (www.dsireusa.org) provides information on local incentives, rebates and tax breaks for solar and other renewable energy installations by state.
Green Your Yard: Solar Landscape Lighting
September 29, 2008 by boygreen · Leave a Comment
Solar landscape lighting has come a long way in the last few years. I recently installed a string of solar LED plant up-lights in my front yard and I’ve been really happy with them. I had installed regular low-volt landscape lights years ago, and when I went to replace the bulbs recently, I noticed that the bulbs had somehow melted into the fixtures. Just guessing that this could be a potential fire hazard, I decided to remove them.
I pulled out the old fixtures and replaced them with high efficiency solar LEDs that don’t require hard wiring. They simply plug into a small solar panel that easily hides behind a plant. The lights stay lit well into the evening - they were still glowing at 2am the other day. My only complaint is that the color of the light is more of a blue-tone vs. the old halogens that were more of a warm yellow tone. If you don’t see them side-by-side, it’s hard to tell the difference though. This is a great project for do-it-yourselfers since you don’t have to worry about messing with the electricity, and my yard looks great without draining energy.
Changing Nailpolish Colors
September 27, 2008 by girlgreen · Leave a Comment
I rarely wear nailpolish on my fingernails, but living in a warm climate where flip-flops are a year round standard, my toes are always coated in a glossy shade. Until recently, most brands of nailpolish contained formaldehyde, toluene, and DBP, chemicals that can be harmful to your health.
New Nic’s Sticks from Nicole by OPI add a green twist to nail polish. DBP, toluene and formaldehyde-free, these cool new pumps elimate the goopy bottle and potential spills. The nail polish is in a pump with a brush on the end - you just pump it out into the brush and apply. My favorite shades are date night and home by midnight. OPI doesn’t test on animals.
Revlon also offers DBP, toluene and formaldehyde-free nail polish, and the company is also cruelty-free according to CaringConsumer.com.
Greening the Cleaning
September 26, 2008 by momgreen · Leave a Comment
I’ve been trying out some of the new products from Clorox® Green Works™
The Green Works™ All Purpose Cleaner does a great job on every type of flooring I’ve tried it on. I especially like using it on the bamboo floors. I’ve had a really hard time cleaning the bamboo without leaving streaks or residue, and this product is excellent in that department. I used a mop and added some of the concentrate to a bucket of warm water. Th cleaner did foam up on the floors and I thought for sure it would look terrible, but once it dried, the floors were perfectly streak-free and didn’t have any sign of cloudy residue on them. They look great.
I’m also a big fan of Method
Balancing the Sandwich
September 25, 2008 by girlgreen · Leave a Comment
Meat, cheese, bread, maybe a little mustard; That’s my typical sandwich. In an effort to add more fruits, vegetables and greens to my diet, I’ve discovered the wrap. It’s easy to make a bunch of these at once, and it’s forcing me to eat vegetables. Not to mention, they’re really good and cooking is not required.
Start out with a whole wheat tortilla, organic if you can find it. Add a couple leaves of red-leaf lettuce, green-leaf lettuce or romaine. Layer on the cheese and meat, preferably freshly baked and sliced organic chicken breast or turkey rather than processed lunch meat. Top it off with some diced organic veggies (carrots, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, sprouts, sliced snap peas) and some organic salad dressing or hummus. For an Asian style wrap, top it with a Thai salad dressing or peanut sauce and add some chopped peanuts and mint leaves. I also like doing a caesar-style wrap, with some sliced olives and onions, grated parmesan cheese and Annie’s Tuscan-Italian dressing.
Wrap each one up and roll it individually in some plastic wrap and they’ll last a few days in the frig. These are great for lunch or a quick snack. I haven’t tried adding fruit yet, but I think my next round may be something including sliced berries and a raspberry vinaigrette dressing.
Adding a Little Green to My Morning Coffee
September 24, 2008 by girlgreen · Leave a Comment
One of the hardest things to give up during the transition to an organic diet was soda. I’m a total caffeine addict, so I’ve replaced soda with organic coffee and drink a ton of it. The only problem is the creamer…those non-dairy alternatives sound great, but what are they?
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is - when you take the fat and sugar out of something, you have to replace it with something else, and that’s usually a chemical. Basically they’re some sort of oil, corn syrup, and a long list of chemicals. I decided I was better off drinking heavy cream, but after gaining a few pounds in one week, I realized I needed a better plan. Here are some custom creamer mixes that are lower in fat, but still don’t contain chemicals:
50% Organic 1/2 and 1/2 (the real stuff, not the “fat free”) and 50% Organic Whole Milk
This is by far my favorite mix. I add a small spoonful of organic sugar, and it has just the right amount of sweetness and creaminess, but adding whole milk reduces the fat and calories vs. using only 1/2 and 1/2. I call it 75/25. If you’re watching your cholesterol, this probably isn’t a good mix for you.
50% Organic 1/2 and 1/2 and 50% Organic Soy Milk
This mix isn’t as creamy as the full-dairy version, but I like using vanilla soy milk since it adds a little sweetness and flavor without adding any extra sugar. Soy milk is cholesterol-free.
50% Organic 1/2 and 1/2 and 50% Organic Almond Milk
If you like nutty flavor creamers, you’ll probably enjoy this mix. Almond milk is also cholesterol-free and adds a little protein too. If you want a sweeter version, try vanilla almond milk.
A Bright Idea: Compact Florescent Light Bulbs
September 23, 2008 by boygreen · Leave a Comment
EnergyStar® qualified compact florescent light bulbs use up to 75% less energy than traditional incandescent, or normal, light bulbs. According to energystar.gov, if every home in America changed out just one regular light bulb for a compact florescent bulb, it would save enough energy in one year to to equal the amount of energy used to light over 3 million homes.
Read more
Green Your Shampoo
September 23, 2008 by girlgreen · Leave a Comment
So by now you’ve figured out the boygreen team is going green. Once you start moving in the green direction, it seems like you have to keep breaking old habits at every turn. I’ve been using the same shampoo for years, a cheap “grocery” brand that my hairstylist chastises me for using at each visit. Shampoo is shampoo, right?
Well, apparently not. My stylist said that a lot of cheap shampoos contain chemicals that temporarily smooth or add shine, but actually damage your hair in the long run. The artificial chemicals are cheaper than all-natural ingredients, hence, you get what you pay for when you buy cheap shampoo. Still not convinced as to whether she was just trying to make a sale or really knew what she was talking about, I did some research on my own.
Surprisingly, there is a long list of chemicals on that bottle of my old favorite shampoo, most of which I can’t pronounce. I googled some of them, and here’s what I found:
- Ammonium Laureth Sulfate: Can irritate skin, may damage hair.
- Disodium EDTA: A penetration enhancer that alters skin structure to allow other chemicals to penetrate into the skin.
- Methylisothiazolinone: According to Wikipedia, recent studies show this may be a neurotoxin.
The realization finally sunk in - chemicals in soaps, shampoos, lotions and other things you put on your skin or scalp can absorb into your body. Who knows what these chemicals do to you, so my new household rule is if you don’t know what’s in it, don’t use it. This is proving to be much more difficult than I expected!
One thing I have determined is that I love anything by Aubrey Organics. I have wavy hair that tends to frizz, and the White Camillia Conditioner is great. It smooths the frizz and my hair feels much softer, even after just a few weeks. I’ve been using it with the Rosa Mosqueta Shampoo, which smells great. The best part is that the ingredient list is simple, just herbs and natural things, so I feel good about using it. The company is also cruelty-free, not testing it’s products on animals.