Maureen Wise

There’s no doubt that single-serve coffee makers are downright convenient. Java drinkers can make just one cup of coffee to their exact liking while their housemates, office mates, or clients can make coffee (or tea, hot chocolate, chai) to their own personal tastes. No more arguments over how dark or light or which flavor to brew the community coffee pot. The major downside to a single-serve coffee maker is the plastic pod that remains after you make the coffee.

The average cost of tree removal is estimated at $985. If you’re looking to remove the stump along with the tree, it will cost an average of $1,072. However, the cost to remove a tree can vary greatly — from about $155-$230 per tree on the low end to over $2,000 on the high end.

There’s a new threat to your lush lawn this year in the Midwest: the Fall Armyworm. The thing is, they’re not worms and your organic lawn will probably recover easily if you see an invasion.

People in the United States are consuming more meat and dairy alternatives. Statista recently reported that sales of plant-based meat and dairy alternatives are soaring. Purchases of milk alternatives such as almond milk, soy milk, and oat milk increased 20% in 2020 compared to the previous year with total sales of $2.5 billion. Sales of meat alternatives rose 45% in 2020 compared to 2019 with total sales at $1.4 billion.

Unless you live in an area that has banned single-use plastic shopping bags, you likely can't avoid them. From the grocery store to take-out orders at your favorite Chinese food place, plastic bags are everywhere. Your local group might even hand over some of their locally grown produce in plastic bags.

Americans purchase billions of batteries every year to power toys, cell phones, clocks, watches, laptops, portable power tools, rechargeable vacuums, radios, smoke detectors, remote controls, and so much more. When they no longer hold their charge, it’s always a good idea to recycle them – and in some cases, it’s the law. This guide reviews common battery types you use at home and how to recycle them.

Are you a crafter or an artist who likes to experiment with different materials? If so, you probably are already familiar with your local creative reuse center. But if your community doesn’t have a creative reuse center, this may be something you’d like to get started locally. If so, this article is for you.

Do you have a craft stash at your home? In your collection of crafting supplies, do you have partially used paints that you know you’ll never use again or a partial packet of buttons? Maybe you have irregular pieces of fabric, foam, and felt. Or there’s a third of a skein of yarn that just won’t match anything, half a sheet of stickers for a very specific project, crayon stubs, worn-out paintbrushes, outdated cake toppers, or any other leftover materials from your crafting projects.

Look around your bathroom and you'll likely find a lot of plastic that can't be recycled, including toothbrushes, floss containers and floss itself, feminine products, deodorant containers, and toothpaste tubes. The latter of these tends to be especially confounding to recycle because it's hard to tell what materials are even used to make these tubes.
So, are toothpaste tubes recyclable, and can they go anywhere beyond the landfill once they're empty?

If you've committed yourself to caring for the planet, you're faced with the challenge of balancing your drive to live sustainably and your desire to explore all the incredible wonders our world has to offer. We have some tips on how to minimize the environmental impact of your travels to help you plan a truly green vacation.

The Viburnum Leaf Beetle (VLB), native to Europe, was first found in North America in 1947, in the Niagara Peninsula of Ontario, Canada. In 1996, it was discovered in New York State in Northern Cayuga County. The Viburnum Leaf Beetle has continued to spread south and west through New York into Pennsylvania, and in 2002, was discovered in Ashtabula County, Ohio where it appeared to have been established for at least two years, based on egg scars.

If you're an avid reader, you probably have a bookshelf bursting with books . . . and stacks of books that don't fit on that bookshelf . . . and probably a few out on loan from your local library. That's great! The power of literature has been scientifically studied—though a good story's full mental and emotional impact likely touches us in ways we will never fully understand.

In general, plants need sunlight, water, and nutrients to grow. Certainly, there are exceptions, and plants can grow in dark places without a lot of water—but they won't thrive. When gardeners want their plants to really flourish, they'll add in fertilizer for extra nutrients.

Veronica, also called Speedwell or Birds Eye, is a member of the largest genus in the flowering plant family that grows mostly in the Northern Hemisphere. Veronica is both a weed and a cultivated plant. There are two distinct varieties of Veronica: the short groundcover described above and a tall plant that grows in clusters with tall spikes of flowers. The groundcover variety can easily become a lawn weed.

Do you know how your car’s carbon dioxide emissions compare to those emitted by other cars? Are some car brands bigger CO2 emitters than others? And do all new car models really produce fewer emissions than the older models on the road?