Light Green Stairs

Category: Green Choices

  • If you really want paper

    So, maybe the idea of a cloth gift bag bugs you. If you plan ahead, you can have some environmentally friendly wrapping paper on hand. The print above is from paporganics.com. I love cute prints like this. And it’s made of 10 percent hemp/flax blend and 90 percent recycled post-consumer…

  • Do you hate to wrap gifts?

    I am really bad at wrapping gifts. And it seems a little silly to me to throw away (or hopefully recycle!) all that wrapping paper. Sometimes you can reuse paper gift bags, but not always. They start to look a little, uh, used. It makes perfect sense to have reusable…

  • Here’s my letter

    As promised, I sent a letter to the editor. Above is how the trash area could look, eh? Thanks for your story, “What Goes Around,” in the Sept 6-12 issue. I agree that the new cardboard recycling program is great, and I think your suggestions on how our city could…

  • How much of this could have been recycled?

    How can I go from posting about cute lunch bags to this ugly photo? It’s what’s in my world. If you’ve been reading my blog from the beginning, you know that my apartments don’t provide recycling bins and my city won’t provide recycling services for large apartment complexes. I drive…

  • Reusable lunch bags

    These super cute cloth lunch bags are available at www.reusablebags.com. The bags are eco-friendly (alternative to vinyl-lined bags), machine washable and 100% lead free. I suppose they are meant to be kids’ lunch bags, but they are versatile enough for anyone, I think. That is, as long as you don’t…

  • Customer numbers

    I posted a few days ago about how I’m trying to eliminate the number of catalogs I receive. GaelSong is a good example. I ordered something from them for a relative for Christmas last year. I’ve been receiving this catalog since then. I’m not really a Celtic chic, and I…

  • Online bill pay

    Over the last few years I’ve switched to online bill pay when possible. It’s been possible with nearly all of my bills with the exception of my utility bill. This seems ironic. I’ll be honest. I could pay it online, but they charge around $2 to do so AND they…

  • Alternative to bottled water

    I drink a lot of water. I take water with me everywhere. But I don’t buy bottled water. Why? Many reasons: it’s heavy to carry from the store, it’s expensive, and it’s not good for the environment. Often, it’s just filtered tap water anyway. So, what do you do when…

  • Number 5

    A few days ago I posted about plastics that are higher than #1 or #2. My recycling center only accepts these numbers. Kat commented that maybe I could call my recycling center to see what they suggest I do with these items. I did. They said that the reason they…

  • Resource for undeliverable mail

    If you handle mail at your company or know someone who does, here’s a great link, http://ecologicalmail.org/index.html. The Ecological Mail Coalition helps companies stop receiving mail addressed to former employees. Here are some facts from their site: Every former employee adds nearly 200 pieces of undeliverable mail and generates 100…