Maureen Wise

Choosing a renewable power source to heat your home lessens your environmental footprint. Renewable energy (such as solar and wind power) is nearly infinite, while nonrenewable (burning coal or natural gas) will become depleted and generally creates more pollution. Today, we're talking about geothermal home heating and cooling.

Looking for a fun and healthy way to spend time with your kids this winter? Get outside and help them connect to the natural world — take them on a winter nature scavenger hunt! There’s plenty for them to discover, even in the colder season.

Are you on your way to a zero waste household? If you haul your trash to the curb every week in a plastic trash bag, figuring out a more sustainable alternative to that plastic bag can be challenging. We’ve rounded up a few greener trash bag alternatives for your consideration to help you reduce your single-use plastic trash bag consumption.

These days, CDs are a thing of the past—most of us are using music streaming services. So what do you do with all those old relics stashed in your basement or attic? If you're looking for how to recycle CDs or use them for upcycling crafts, we've got answers!
CDs can be trickier than other items to recycle, and sending them to landfills is discouraged.

The leftover food scraps generated from preparing meals is a constant waste in just about every home. Prepared food leftovers also create waste when not eaten. A recent study from Penn State shows that an average family wastes about 30% of their food.

Between used floss strands, empty shampoo bottles, and spent loofahs, the products we all use in our bathrooms create significant waste. Let's talk about eco-friendly bathroom products and how to make our bathrooms and their contents greener.

If you’re getting your meals delivered, you may already have a collection of cold packs. These gel-filled plastic bags do a great job of keeping perishable food chilled. But what do you do with the cold packs after you’ve unpacked your delivery?

It’s gift-giving season! With Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, winter solstice, New Year’s celebrations, and winter birthdays upon us, you’re likely thinking about finding the perfect gifts for your loved ones. And before you hand over your gift, you are probably going to wrap it in festive wrapping. But before you purchase traditional wrapping paper and bows, review our waste-free gift wrapping alternatives for a green holiday season.

For those embarking on a journey to make their home zero-waste, the kitchen—with food scraps and plastic food packaging galore—may be the most daunting room to tackle. But don't worry! With some research and planning, you can achieve the zero-waste kitchen you've been dreaming of!

What Is Volcano Mulching?

Volcano Mulching, also known as Over Mulching, is the improper mulching technique that piles mulch high around the tree against the tree trunk. This excess mulch can promote surface roots that ultimately end up strangling and killing the tree. Additionally, it can cause too much moisture retention during the wet seasons, promoting fungus, rot, and pests. In the dry seasons, the mulch can completely dry out and repel water, not allowing water to get to the roots of th...

The bathroom may not be the room you’d think of when you consider high energy consumption in your home. Instead, you might consider the electricity-hungry refrigerator in the kitchen, the clothes dryer in the laundry room, or the plethora of electronics in the living room and family room to be the biggest culprits. But it’s worthwhile to take a second look at your bathroom and how you can make a few tweaks to use less energy there as well.

Reusable cloth napkins keep trees from being cut down as most brands use virgin tree pulp to produce paper napkins. Cloth napkins also help keep our finite landfill space a little emptier by reducing waste — even more so if you make them from upcycled fabric.

Most of us use pillows every single night as we sleep and we often lounge on them while we park on couches. Pillows help make us cozy and comfortable, but what do you do with your pillow when it is completely worn out or is damaged beyond repair?
There are few options for recycling but pillows have lots of potential for upcycling and reuse. Donating pillows may also be a great way to help you reduce the amount of waste you send to the landfill.

What Is Zoysia Grass?
Zoysia Grass is a warm season grass that was refined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Professional Golfer’s Association (PGA) in the 1950s. It is a grass cultivar that is thick, drought-resistant and loves heat. In our Midwestern climate, it turns brown in the Fall and Winter. It doesn’t need a lot of water to stay green in the Summer, so less sprinkling and irrigation is needed. It also doesn’t need as much mowing because this grass cultivar is slow growing...

Light emitting diode (LED) light bulbs are a very high-efficiency lighting option. These bulbs produce light up to 90% more efficiently than old-school incandescent light.
LEDs are even more efficient than compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs, which are up to 70% more energy efficient compared to incandescent bulbs. Because LEDs last so long, you will probably use your LED light bulb for a long time before you need to worry about recycling.