7 Shares Brighten Up Your Holidays – Sustainably – with LED Lights It all started with candles. The tradition of an illuminated holiday tree emerged around the 18th century, when wax candles were used to festoon the branches of fresh evergreens. Candles. The notion is somewhat terrifying today. But even those incandescent bulbs of childhood had their safety and practical drawbacks. The large glass bulbs would shatter; […] More
7 Shares Ethical Underwear, Straight to Your Door: the Quarterly Underwear Club My idea of the worst business concept ever: a “Victoria’s Secret” for men. Very simply, guys don’t want to shop for underwear, and will wait until every last pair they own is threadbare until they go out for new skivvies (or wait for the significant other to get fed up and makes the trip to […] More
8 Shares Just for Kids: Fashion Brands Create Eco-Friendly Looks for Little Tykes Grown-ups are no longer the only ones dressing in ultra-chic, sustainable fashions; designers are creating a niche especially for kids. More
8 Shares Change Your Furnace Filter at the Right Time, Every Time: FilterWatch Are you religious about changing your air conditioning/furnace filter every 30 or 90 days? You’re saving yourself energy and money… but not as much as you could if you changed the filter at the exact point it became too clogged to work efficiently. More
8 Shares61 Views Five Ideas for Revamping Old Shoes Just in Time for Shoe Week Got a closet full of shoes that you wouldn’t wear on a dare? Don’t throw them away: try out some of these ideas for revamping last season’s looks into something “new” and stylish… without spending a lot of money. More
11 Shares12 Views No More Business as Usual: Eight Innovations & Opportunities Developing in the Sustainable Fashion Industry Eco-fashion designers and business owners are completely revamping how they work with one another as well as with those in the ‘fast fashion’ industry. In fact, there are at least eight innovations and opportunities happening in the sustainable fashion industry that you’re sure to notice as you shop your favorite brands. More
7 Shares Buying Second-Hand Online: Better for your Wallet & the Planet Buying second-hand products as a means to saving money and resources is kind of a no-brainer: gently used items will always cost you less, and you’re making more efficient use of the materials and energy that went into creating them. Taking your thrift shopping online expands the possibilities of finding just the right thing… More
8 Shares Ziploc's Compostable Plastic Bags: Great if You've Got Commercial Composting Available Compostable plastics provide no environmental benefit unless you’ve got a nearby commercial composting facility that accepts such materials. If you do, though, SC Johnson is trying out a new product that can help you green up your food storage practices: compostable Ziploc plastic bags. More
8 Shares How One Small Business is “Refrying” T-Shirts into “Funner” Upcycled Fashions [Interview] T-shirts are a comfortable, inexpensive and fun way to tell others about things that interest you. Unfortunately, they also are quickly piling up in America’s landfills, which collect about 12.4 million tons of textile waste each year. Lisa Stout, founder and Chief Upcycling Officer at Refried Tees is working to lessen this outrageously high amount by creating her entire clothing line from reclaimed t-shirts. More
9 Shares22 Views Another Small Aquaponics System for the Not So Handy: The Blue Green Box Want to give home aquaponics a try, but not interested in trying to piece together a do-it-yourself system? The Blue Green Box is plug-n-play, and designed to work with a standard 10 gallon aquarium. More
7 Shares How to Move Sustainable Fashion Even More into the Mainstream More consumers are willing to recycle their used clothing for vouchers, and big brands are working to create ‘closed-loop’ garments for the masses. Indicative of this year’s theme “Momentum”, these are the types of significant changes that industry leaders hope to continue by joining forces at the annual Ethical Fashion Forum’s (EFF) Source Summit. More
6 Shares11 Views Oxnard, California’s Café Nefola: Leading the Green Lunch Brigade Her name is Cynthia Neftin, and she is the owner of Oxnard, California-based Café Nefola, whose motto is “healthy, local, fresh and natural.” An additional tag line – “from fat to fit, this is it” – leaves returning customers and new visitors in no doubt as to the restaurant’s orientation. More
7 Shares Reclaimed Wood Decor: Incorporating this Reused Material into Your Home Reclaimed wood is one of the hottest eco-friendly trends to come out of the interior design world. With products like reclaimed wood flooring and veneer paneling, the options and uses available with this type of lumber are limited only by your imagination. By learning more about this type of eco-friendly material, you can make educated decisions about the home design products you choose. More
6 Shares How to Buy an Energy Efficient Water Heater [Infographic] According to the US Energy Information Administration, heating water doesn’t consume quite as much energy as it did twenty years ago. It does still represent over 17% of the average home’s energy consumption, though, so any increases in efficiency will make a difference in energy use and electricity bills. There are a lot of different types of water heaters on the market, though, so how do you know which one will work most efficiently for your living environment? More
8 Shares Hydrogen Peroxide: the "Missing Link" in Green Cleaning and Personal Care Products? PROXI touts the presence of hydrogen peroxide in its line of household cleaning and personal care products. Is that enough to consider them high-quality “green” products? More
6 Shares Airocide: NASA’s Answer to the Home Air Purifier I’ve gotten a number of pitches to profile/review air purifiers in recent years. Generally, I’ve turned them down. While I have no problem with cleaner indoor air – who does? – I know an awful lot of products on the market don’t deliver like they claim. That was the mindset I had when a PR friend approached me with the Airocide; just a little digging, though, showed me that this wasn’t the average product in this niche. More
6 Shares Toxins in our Everyday Personal Care and Food Products With so many “natural” and “eco-friendly” alternatives on the market, one would assume it would be easy to dodge harmful chemicals from entering your body, right? Sadly, this is not the case. As more and more companies come out with new personal care and food products, more eco-experts are finding them to be green-washed and full of harmful chemicals. More
8 Shares17 Views Bark Cloth: The History, Craftsmanship and Fashions of Uganda’s Most Vintage Fabric From runways to online shops, designers are incorporating bark cloth, an ancient fabric made by indigenous peoples, into their looks because of its sustainability and longevity. More
7 Shares12 Views Green Window Treatments: Eco-friendly, Economical and Easy on the Eyes Home Depot’s Jay Harris shares his ideas for great-looking, environmentally friendly window treatments that won’t bust your budget. More
8 Shares SOURCE Brand Preview: Cutting-Edge, Sustainable Designers Showcase New Trends in Fashion Want to know what’s on the horizon for sustainable fashion this year? The SOURCE Brand Preview provides insight into trends you’ll see in Spring and Summer collections. More
5 Shares282 Views The DIY Soil Block Maker: 7 Plans Want to try using soil blocks for starting your garden seeds this year? You can buy a soil blocker… or make your own from one of these DIY plans. More
10 Shares Detoxing Fashion: Greenpeace’s Investigation Pressures Global Clothing Retailers to Clean Up their Supply Chains I’ve read numerous predictions about the future of the fashion industry for this year, but one seemed to stand out to me more than the others – thirteen global clothing retailers will begin ‘detoxing’ their garment supply chains and promise to be toxic-free by 2020. More
6 Shares Crowdfunding Efficient Lighting Options for the Developing World Lighting is a critical aspect of development for the world’s poorest regions. Two social enterprises have taken to crowdfunding platforms to raise money for bringing their innovative lighting technology to the market. More
9 Shares How a Cardboard Bike Could Shrink the Environmental Impact of Bicycling Even Further Could a $20 bike made from cardboard really work? Israeli inventor Izhar Gafni thought so, and has created a bike that meets these specifications. More
4 Shares sustainablog's 2012 Holiday Gift Guide Putting off the holiday gift shopping? We hate the mall, too, but if you go at the last minute, here’s what you might end up with. Never fear, though: we’ve got good green gift suggestions that only require some time on the computer. More
