Author Archives for Jennifer Chait
Green your cell phone
Mobile phones are actually a pretty easy item to green up; good thing since so many folks have them. Here are some tips.
Literally get a greener phone. Eco-friendly cells aren’t totally common (yet) but you do have some options like the Sony Ericsson Green Heart line (shown above) for example. See more green cell phone choices.
Consider ditching the land line. Why use energy to run a land line and have a phone that requires energy and materials to make if it’s unnecessary? Can you live with just a cell phone? Probably – I have for over four years and nothing [...]
Post from: Blisstree
Alternatives to electric clothes dryer
Clothes dryers use up a bulk of home energy – especially if you dry everything. Now, if you choose to dry with alternative methods you can cut down on energy waste and dryer sheets and in some cases time.
Dryer-free alternatives…
Drying racks: Drying racks are really nice because unlike a set-up clothes line, you can bring racks inside when the weather is terrible. You’ve also got plenty of style options and even some wall-mounted choices. The downside – most drying racks are big and even if they fold up nice and tight you’ll still need to store them somewhere. Still, [...]
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Toaster ovens for energy savings
The word toaster oven brings to mind that old (and often overly large) contraption sitting on grandma’s counter – or is that just me? In any case, the toaster ovens of today are not like the toaster ovens of the past and they can be an excellent way to save energy in the kitchen.
Toaster Oven Broiler with Convection from Cuisinart
The newest lines of toaster ovens emerging from various companies are sleeker, better looking, and harder working than machines of the past. Toaster ovens now come in loads of size choices from sizes that fit cupcakes to items that are much [...]
Post from: Blisstree
Are Dryer Sheets Necessary?
Dryer sheets actually aren’t all that necessary. They’re also not so green. Most dryer sheets contain icky ingredients that can in fact be toxic for your family. Also dryer sheets are a huge waste of materials – for what? Static cling that’s hardly a real problem. You’ve got the sheets themselves creating waste not to mention the box packing. Larger cases are often re-wrapped in plastic as well.
Green solutions…
First of all if you’re line drying (which you should be for most stuff) dryer sheets become a moot point.
You can also aim to buy naturally made fiber clothing which will [...]
Post from: Blisstree
Does your drink pitcher contain lead?
In a stand against plastic, many families are choosing other materials for their dishes, including drink pitchers. That’s a good thing, but one thing to be aware of is that a questionable drink pitcher may contain lead. If said pitcher does contain lead it’s directly in contact with your beverages – not cool.
All in all many pitchers are perfectly safe. For example, you can consider ceramic pitchers safe if they’ve been sealed properly. The problem is that it’s hard to tell if handmade pitchers are sealed correctly so it’s smarter to go with a company made product. It’s not a [...]
Post from: Blisstree
School lunch makeover video Q&A chat!
If you’ve been reading here at Blisstree Green for a while then you know that I’m seriously peeved about the school lunches of today. Today’s school lunches are chock full of stuff like fats, pesticides, soda and more icky non-essentials and worse they’re low on fresh veggies, fruits and healthy grains. School lunches pretty much blow. However, you can learn how to make a difference on Facebook today.
The Renegade Lunch Lady, Chef Ann Cooper, of the “School Lunch Revolution” campaign, is throwing down on Facebook today with a cool video Q&A chat – “One More Dollar for Healthy School Food.” [...]
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Skip beauty pageant vegetables & fruit
One way to help keep your produce choices greener is to skip the clear beauty pageant winning vegetables and fruit. There are negatives to those uniform rows of shiny waxed apples you see. You know, the apples that are minus any discoloration or odd shapes.
Perfect fruits and veggies aren’t that great because…
They’re usually not organic – there’s a clear visual difference at the store between organic and non-organic produce. Organic aren’t as pretty and uniform, but they’re also free from pesticides (the clear winning choice).
They increase useless waste. Customers think they have to buy perfect looking produce which encourages the [...]
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Green & Active Toys for Spring
Spring will be here before you know it and it’ll be so much easier to get outside. With that in mind here are three eco-friendly toys that are earth friendly and will motivate your your little one (and hopefully you) to get out into nature and active rather than staying cooped up inside.
Ecosaucer Flying Disc – from Green Toys, this flying disc is made, like all Green Toys, with 100% recycled milk containers and packaged in eco-friendly packaging.
The Nature Bag – an awesome spring-time toy that seriously encourages kids to learn about and enjoy nature. The kit includes, a Fair [...]
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Ben & Jerry’s are going Fair Trade
Ben & Jerry’s just announced last week that they’ll being going totally Fair Trade by 2013. This is great news for the ice cream world, especially since Ben & Jerry’s is so darn popular. The company plans to go Fair Trade across its entire global flavor portfolio. From Cherry Garcia to Chocolate Fudge Brownie, all of the flavors in all of the countries where Ben & Jerry’s is sold will be converted to Fair Trade Certified ingredients by the end of 2013.
Ben & Jerry’s was the first ice cream company in the world to use Fair Trade Certified ingredients starting [...]
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Springtime walks to school
It’s not exactly spring yet, but here in Oregon the weather has been excellent. It’s still pretty cold but very sunny and with a coat it’s good walking weather. Depending on where you live spring may already be starting to sort of show its head and those sunnier skies are the perfect excuse to skip morning car rides and walk to school.
Don’t like walking? Try skateboarding, biking, or taking a scooter to school. All of these modes of transportation are more eco-friendly and healthier than driving. I get that in super chilly weather or once in a while when folks [...]
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