You’re a food checker – and not the kind in the store. Peeking in on baking goods is a great way to allow perfectly good energy to escape. In fact the NRDC notes that opening the oven door to look at cooking food can waste as much as 25% of the heat inside an oven. That’s a lot and it adds up. Don’t peek, instead use the oven light. If you don’t have on, open the door very rarely.

You always preheat and cook until the timer says stop. Unless I’m making baked goods I rarely preheat. Most ovens heat super speed nowadays so preheating is wasted energy in my opinion. I usually put the food in, cook, then turn the oven off about 5-10 minutes early. If you leave the door shut your food will continue to cook.

You’re a clean freak. Cleaning your oven is smart, because clean appliances run better. However, if you’re so clean-minded that you cover your oven racks with foil you’re one, wasting foil and two food doesn’t cook as fast when heat is blocked by foil. Ovens are easy to clean without chemicals even if you skip the foil. Simply sprinkle a little salt on a hot oven spill, let it cool, then wipe it up with a wet cloth.

You cook one little thing. One potato to bake is no reason to turn on an oven. A microwave or toaster oven is a better bet for single items when it comes to energy savings.

Your gaskets are too loose. Gaskets are located between the panels on the oven door (or on the frame). If you can feel heat escaping from the oven door then you need to tighten or replace your gaskets. This is a DIY project BUT make sure you unplug the oven before fixing them.

[image via stock.xchng]

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Reduce oven energy loss

However, one of my issues with them when I first tried it was their packaging. The packaging wasn’t actually terrible before. The bottles of Vaska are made with from up to 50 percent post-consumer content, and can be recycled in most major cities. Both the bottle and lid carry a recycling reminder which is awesome (and rarer than you might think among green companies). That said, I think people are more likely to recycle cardboard so I noted that it’d be nice if a box option was offered.

Now though they’re offering newly packaged detergent at Sam’s Club Stores in California and Nevada. The new greener package called, Jerribox, consists of a plastic bag contained within a 50% post-consumer recycled paperboard exterior. The Jerribox saves approximately 62%* plastic usage compared to the plastic bottles that are currently the industry standard.

In addition to the Jerribox, Vaska’s laundry line includes 48 oz and 96 oz lavender scented and unscented herbatergent, oxybleach (non-chlorine), herbasoft fabric softener and spotoff spot remover. Many of Vaska’s products carry the EPA’s DfE seal and all are biodegradable and gray water safe.

I’d be WAY more likely to buy Vaska in the new packaging since it cuts down on even more waste. Also cool to note, back when I first reviewed this detergent, the company told me that they’re working on a powder too. Right now the only downside is that the new packaging seems to only be available at Sam’s Club, but Vaska does plan to make the Jerribox available to other retailers in 2010.

Visit Vaska to learn more.

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Vaska detergent moves to greener packaging

This month you’ve probably got some large tin cans hanging around – especially if you’ve been making pies in bulk with canned goods. This is the perfect opportunity to make lovely homemade Recycled Holiday Luminaries.

You’ve got lots of choices about how to reuse scrap gift wrap from last year. I was thinking you could make some adorable recycled cereal box houses, then dress them up for the holidays. Not only a cute idea, but something the kids could totally help with. You can make beautiful recycled gift wrap scrap cards. You can also create paper Christmas trees with recycled construction then cover them with ornaments made from recycled gift wrap.

Lastly you can use small scraps of recycled gift wrap around drink glasses at your holiday party or gathering. People can write their names on their cup without marking the glass and more easily tell them apart.

One of my favorite craft ideas is the Illuminated Wreath (shown above) that I saw at Real Simple. Grab a wire wreath frame and an old set of lights and you’re good to go. I realize the downside is the energy use, but you can limit that by unplugging this wreath at night when everyone heads off to bed.

A great useful reuse craft is to turn old holiday greeting cards into brand new gift boxes – seriously these are awesome and gift boxes can be expensive so this solves two issues.

What holiday reuse ideas do you have?

[Wreath Image via Real Simple; Homemade luminary image via:http://www.flickr.com/photos/beckmann/ / CC BY 2.0]

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Recycle Holiday Goods Into New Decor

The EKORRE Rocking Moose from Ikea is made of eco-friendly rubberwood and birch but at just $$39.99, this toy costs much less than most rubberwood toys. Of course rocking is one of those great developmental skills for kids – working both their sense of balance and allows them to sort out sensory impressions. Plus rocking is soothing for many kids.

This toy is not available online though. If you’d like this cheerful red moose for the holidays check at your local Ikea store.

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Eco-friendly EKORRE Rocking Moose

BOOK: The Looking Book by P.K. Hallinan, published by Ideals Children’s Books (October 2009)

COST: Hardcover, $16.99 list price but you can find a sweeter deal at Amazon.

AGES: 4-8

ABOUT THE BOOK: From the publishers, “A delightful story that encourages children to put down the TV remotes and video-game controllers and take a look at the wonder of the world around them… author P.K. Hallinan uses lively rhyming verse to entice children to delight in the wonders of the world around them. Given a pair of ‘lookers’ by their mom, two boys soon realize that the lookers aren’t needed at all. They just need to take the time to step outside, and they will see how much fun they can have.”

Excerpt below:

WHAT I THINK:

Reviewers included my son Cedar and me. There were things to love about this book and a few cons. First the pros. The book does have lovely rhyming text (think A LOT like Dr. Seuss) that little kids will find appealing and parents will find fun to read aloud. The book has a major focus on enjoying nature vs. sitting around inside watching TV or playing video games which I like. There was also an adventure feeling to the book with the main characters hunting down all sorts of cool new nature things to see.

The children characters in the book, Mikey and Kenny, were cute and likable, although I would have liked to see a girl character as well vs. two boys. Boys, in my experience, are more likely to play outside without coaxing and studies show that girls really benefit from green spaces.

The artwork was charming and full of cool nature shots. Plus, for art in a book it was actually very mobile – i.e. active. I liked the busy aspect and the fact that all the pages had numerious nature items to look at and discover.

The age target is right on I think. Cedar is eight years old but closer to nine. He liked the book because he’s a nature fan but he would have liked this book more last year I’m guessing. I’d say this book is good for kids 8 and under.

The cons:

• The book is not printed on recycled paper – which would have been an organic thing to do with a book of this nature.
• The mama in the book stays inside instead of heading out with the kids. I’m not sure why this irked me, but it did. In my opinion nature loving parents raise nature loving kids. For me the impact would have been better had the whole family gone out outside exploring together. I think that one small change would help encouraged parents in the right direction.

OVERALL SCORE:

3.5 little trees. The book automatically loses one point for not being printed on recycled paper, and another half point because I felt a girl character and more parent interaction would have been cool. Overall though, this is a nice book about kids in nature and would be especially good for a kid who is not very interested in heading outside. This book might help encourage them in that direction.

I’d check it out at the library or if you do want to purchase The Looking Book for the holidays without guilt about the non-recycled pages visit Eco-Libris where you can offset the books you buy.

Other opinions – Sierra Club listed the Looking Book in their nature books for kids round-up and the Celebrate Green gals, who I adore actually gave The Looking Book a similar review to mine.

*See my green product review criteria.

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Ignite Nature Love with The Looking Book

The EWG notes that “PBDEs are found in the bodies of nearly every American.” Also they explain that “Laboratory studies show that exposure to minute doses of PBDEs can damage reproductive systems and cause deficits in motor skills, learning, memory and hearing, as well as changes in behavior.“Babies who are rapidly developing are at a serious risk for problems due to PBDEs. Studies have shown that just a single dose of PBDEs at a critical brain development point can cause lasting harm and record numbers of this toxin have been found in breast milk.

One problem is that few studies have been done on humans with regards to this toxin so we can’t know the full scope of the health issues BUT studies with laboratory animals do show that PBDE exposure before and after birth caused problems (some major) with brain development, including problems with learning, memory and behavior. PBDE exposure during development is also linked to problems with thyroid hormone levels and reproduction.

Besides being found in most human bodies at this point, levels of PBDEs in the soil and air have been increasing at a rapid rate.

How to avoid PBDEs

• Most PBDEs are found in polyurethane foam products manufactured before 2005, but just because you have a newer product doesn’t necessarily mean it’s free from PBDEs.
• Go through your home and locate items with PBDEs. Mattresses, mattress pads, couches, easy chairs, foam pillows, breastfeeding pillows, carpet padding, and other foam items purchased before 2005 are most likely to contain PBDEs and the same goes for vehicle seating, car seats, and office furniture. Since you obviously can’t ditch all your products at once think about replacing any baby or kid products that contain PBDEs first, since kids and babies are currently developing.
• When switching out bedding buy organic cotton bedding (cotton fibers aren’t treated with PBDEs).
• Buy mattresses – especially baby mattresses made without PBDEs.
• See a list about companies who are currently phasing out these chemicals AND get more more tips on preventing PBDE exposure at the EWGs PBDE site.

[image via stock.xchng]

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Household toxin – chemical flame retardant

Use amazing wrap that doubles as a gift or that doubles as a reusable wrap option. For example, ChicoBags, shown above make lovely wrap AND then your gift recipient will have an awesome reusable bag to use for groceries! See how to wrap a gift in a ChicoBag. You can also use reusable food containers, baskets, and more. See below for other reusable gift wrap options.

1. Modern Twist hide boxes
2. Furoshiki Silk Wrap
3. Gel-Cool Bento Box, Polar Bear
4. Bobo Wrapping Scarf – many colors available.
5. Lucky Crow Reusable Gift Bags, Organic Print, Crop Circles
6. Lucky Crow Reusable Gift Bags, Sock Monkey
7. Driftwood Basket
8. To-Go Ware – 2-Tier Stainless Steel Food Carrier

Use last year’s wrap or buy recycled wrapping paper.

Use the comics, recycled magazine pages, old construction paper your kids drew on and so on instead of new paper.

Top gifts off with cool DIY  gift bows made with recycled magazines. You can also use pine cones, leaves, evergreen branches, or other found nature items instead of paper bows. Or look for natural yarn or organic ribbon.

Make recycled paper gift tags, write directly on the gift with a non-leak-through pen, or get some plantable paper gift tags.

Don’t forget, no matter what wrap you use, reuse it or recycle it after the holidays.

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Wrap a greener gift

Reusable Bags is not only having amazing closeout deals on reusable bags right now, (good ones) but also closeout prices on other cool reusable gear; EarthLust water bottles and green cleaning kits to name a couple.

Bangalla has 10% off ALL green holiday gifts and plenty of reusable bags made their list. PLUS get free first class shipping for spending just $30 – they’ve got some of the best bag set deals I’ve seen in a while too. Well worth a visit.

Not really a sale, but you should know that Original ChicoBags are just $5 which means you can afford to stuff one into every stocking PLUS if you buy any five Original ChicoBag brand reusable bags the fifth is free! All kinds of colors to choose from.

Lastly, Night Owl Paper Goods has their fab owl Book Tote available for just $8.00 – a totally cute bag for a great price!

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Reusable bag sales for the holidays

Green cars are good! Green cars do save money and reduce your CO2. That said there is a cost to the planet for each new car made; even highly efficient, small cars. If your old car is small, you don’t drive much, or you have a newer car it may not make sense to replace it simply to get a super efficient car. Tires, seats, the body, electrical parts and so on all take energy and materials to make. If you’ve got a big old gas guzzler that you drive non-stop, then yeah, a newer energy efficient car is likely worth it. But if not, you may be better off in the meantime simply using smarter green driving tactics.

Green homes rock! Green homes in general are a good goal. Using green building tactics can make your remodel a healthier experience and green homes can save you money. There are however difference between a healthy home and a green built home. Many of the aspects that go into creating a green home can be healthy – i.e zero voc paint but some green aspects such as solar panels or energy efficient appliances may be healthy for the earth (which is good for humans), but you need to go beyond that for total human health. You need to consider what’s inside your home both related to air quality and furnishings. You need to clean your home with green cleaners.  Your home should have healthy HVAC, ventilation and filtration systems. Green and healthy do come together, but not in total. You need to consider both issues.

Energy efficient appliances save resources! They do to a point but human habits save more. For example if you have an energy efficient washer and dryer, and you always run hot water loads and dry everything, you’re not being as responsible as someone with an older set who washes on cold and hang dries. An energy efficient stove won’t save as much energy as a simple microwave. Energy efficient TVs are swell but watching one all the time is not as eco-friendly as the family with an old set who instead of watching TV gets out into nature for a hike. Along with considering your appliances also consider your actual use habits.

[image via stock.xchng]

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Green issue to take with a grain of salt

Weekend Getaway gift set from Good Clean Love – awesome company!

Why natural lube:

If you’re going to go through the cost and hassle of locating eco-friendly sex toys, why on earth would you top off your toys with a toxic, chemical laden lube? In fact, Time Magazine notes, “Most of the personal lubricants in the U.S. — drugstores sold $82 million worth of them last year — contain chemicals found in oven cleaner, brake fluid and antifreeze.” AND you want to put them where?!

You have lots of other, greener, safer options.

You can choose silicone lubes, but they’re not as good as water based. Silicone is man made, but can’t be absorbed into your skin or mucus membranes so it’s safer than a major chemical lube. Still you’ll want to look for fragrance free, color free, and so on to avoid other chemicals. Oil based lubes can be harmful for women trapping bacteria under a coat of oil, plus these lubes can break down condoms. If you’re looking for organic lubes you’ll have the most luck with water based products. Water-based personal lubricants are the safest for the planet BUT also the most easily absorbed by you, so you have to look for 100% natural and organic products. Also note that while water based lubes have pros they also need to be reapplied more frequently – if you think that reapplying is fun, it’s easier to handle.

Some natural choices:

Firefly Organics makes a 100% natural moisturizing lubricant with pure plant butters like natural Shea Butter and Cocoa Butter. The lube does not contain glycerin, silicone or petroleum, is preservative-free, and safe for use with silicone, rubber or polyurethane accessories and toys. The company does not test on animals and the packaging is fully recyclable.

Yes makes an certified organic water-based lube with organic Aloe Vera, organic Flax extract, three synergistic plant based gums – guar, locust bean and xanthan. Food grade preservatives are included, and citric acid to buffer the pH. Yes is also Vegetarian Society trusted which means products are approved as free from animal derived and GMO ingredients, as well as cruelty free.

Sliquid Organics Natural Lube – is a water-based lube that’s both glycerin and paraben free, the use of plant cellulose as a thickening agent makes it last longer than most glycerin-free lubes. Product contains organic botanical extracts that are independently certified by Quality Certification Services in compliance with the USDA National Organic Program.

Many other companies make eco-friendly lube though and you can even find all natural men’s stroke cream and organic massage oils.  For more organic and natural options check out…

• Sliquid Organics Stimulating O Gel
• Evergreen organic soy candles – which can be applied as massage rub.
• Good Clean Love
• Rub Me Massage Bar
• Sensua Organic
• Discreet Organic Lubricant

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Organic & Natural Personal Lubricants