Buzz Cut
Gas mowers are wreaking havoc on summer air quality (one hour of mowing is the equivalent of driving 350 miles in terms of volatile organic compounds). Fortunately, the electric models have been upgraded, with more power and better cutting.
House & Home
Cooling Off
Heating and cooling systems in the U.S. together account for 150 million tons of carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere each year. Discover more efficient ways of cooling your home this summer.
A Lean, Green, Cleaning Machine: Deirdre Imus Talks to E
Deirdre Imus may not do her own house cleaning, but she knows the chemical makeup of name-brand cleaning products and the environmental and public health dangers they can cause.
Wet and Wild
A growing number of homeowners are realizing they can use water’s natural energy to cut down on greenhouse gases. Microhydro for the home may be an ideal option for those who want to generate their own electricity.
With a Little Help
Growing a garden, however, not to mention learning to prepare the food one grows, can be a daunting proposition. Enter co-gardening, the act of gardening with friends, family and neighbors. Co-gardeners plan, till, plant, weed, water and even cook together. Like urban community gardeners, they share garden space, and like Community Sponsored Agriculture (CSAs), they share produce.
Spic and Span
There’s nothing like a cleanser that actually works as advertised, bulldozing through dirt and leaving a surface sparkling clean. But conventional cleaning products can actually leave indoor air polluted with a toxic smog of petrochemical volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and the synthetic fragrances used to mask them. Here are some ingredients to avoid in cleaning products, and safer, simpler alternatives.
Pest Patrol
Growers who want to avoid or reduce the use of pesticides have to find alternative ways to deter or eliminate pests from destroying crops. One technique that organic farmers and gardeners have been experimenting with for years is biological pest control—using beneficial insects, birds and bats to control pests in gardens and on farms. Introducing friendly insects, or building houses for birds and bats, has proven effective, but many warn that biological pest control should be seen as just one part of a gardener’s Integrated Pest Management (IPM) plan.
Let It All Hang Out!
According to Project Laundry List, a pro-line drying website, 6-10 percent of residential energy use goes towards the electric dryer. If Americans, or even just New Englanders, would use the clothesline or wooden drying racks, the savings would be enough to close several power plants." E investigates the alternative methods for drying clothes.
At Home in My Dome
I knew my future husband, Mike, a passionate environmentalist, was different the first time I saw the giant, black plastic-covered pillbox he called home. It was a passive solar geodesic dome home in the early stages of construction.
The Ultimate Flattery
Biomimicry is the concept of looking at natural systems to solve such problems as keeping cool in the heat, recycling toxic wastes or self cleaning. This new science doesn’t involve taking any part from an existing animal or plant, but instead mimicking the means by which the problem has been solved over millennia. Unlike typical human solutions to natural problems, "biomimetics" copy natural designs, which by nature are usually non-polluting and use minimal energy.