Mambo Sprouts

Here are some simple, earth-friendly, and money saving ways to decorate your home for the holiday. Bring the beauty of the harvest season indoors with gourds, colored corn, or nuts place in a basket to display the decorations.

1. Take a nature walk and gather signs of the season from your own local environment to create a simple but beautiful nature’s harvest centerpiece. Gather found items such as Pine cones, colored leaves, seed pods, sea shells, colorful leaves, or dried flowers. Place your nature’s treasures in vases or clear bowls accented with a pretty raffia ribbon for a pleasing and naturally green centerpiece

2. Use soy candles for holiday lighting, make sure you keep flames away from little ones and use basic fire safety precautions.

3. For an extra touch fill a glass bowl with water and flower petals or seasonal grains, such as colorful corns and place a pillar candle in the center.

4. Create a thankful tree as a centerpiece; collect a small fallen tree branch from outdoors and place in a ceramic vase. Collect leaves of all shapes and sizes, using recycled paper trace the outline of the leaves, and cut to shape. leaving a space in the center for words- color the paper leaves with crayons or makers. Punch a small hole in the leaf and string with ribbon, string, or colored yard. Next think of those special things you are grateful for such as: family, nature, food, health, laughter, or special people in your life etc. Using a colorful marker, write one word on each”leaf” and hang from the tree. In addition you can use”leaves” as place cards and ask guests to add their own words to a leaf. Place your guests’ leaves on the thankful tree too!

5. Another easy “handy” and meaningful Thanksgiving decorating idea: trace your hand on colored paper and write notes of thanks to each guest, hang the colored hands with ribbon or yarn on chairs.

Each year, Autumn delivers a cornucopia of seasonal delights to tempt each of the senses: A rich palette of colorful leaves that rustle in the breeze, the scent of cozy fires burning, and the taste of freshly harvested fall fruits and vegetables. Now is the time to head to the produce section or farmer’s market in search of the best locally grown goods—from apples and pears to pumpkins and potatoes—so you can preserve them properly through the winter months.

Why locally grown fruits and veggies?

For starters, buying local is extremely eco-friendly. It’s estimated that most food travels over 1,000 miles from the field or pasture to your plate! That’s a lot of fuel being burned to ship food around the world. Plus, tons of energy is used to keep food frozen or refrigerated during its journey. Buying local cuts down on food miles and wasted energy. It also helps support your region’s economy, as you’re putting money directly into the pockets of the farmers in your area. Additionally, even if it isn’t grown organically, local produce is often safer, as small-scale farmers tend to use less aggressive farming methods and fewer chemicals than industrial farming methods. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the biggest challenges and dilemmas of our generation is to find and use alternative energy sources. This has been an on going concern for generations, but as Earths’ natural resources, such as oil, are depleting, it is now more urgent than ever to invest in alternative and renewable energy sources.

What does alternative energy mean to you? For most people, wind and solar power come to mind, but there are many other sources available.

Wind Power—Wind energy harnesses the power of wind to drive the blades of wind turbines. The force of rotation created by the turbine blades is converted into energy using an electric generator. It produces no pollution, and since no chemicals are used, there are no harmful by-products to be worried about. The only down side (besides the fact that large wind farms aren’t exactly esthetically pleasing) is that wind is not predictable. Less wind=less energy.

Read the rest of this entry »

We see everywhere how the American public has a hunger to live and work in green, healthy spaces – and now a statistic coming out of the NAHB (the National Association of Home Builders) is an indication as to how hungry the public is.

Here’s the stat:

One thousand professionals in the building industry have taken the Association’s green training program.  They’ve taken the classes, studied hard, and passed the tests.  Now they’re certified to build structures as Green Professionals – ‘cuz they know their stuff.

In response to demand, the building industry has been offering greener materials and greener manufacturing of those materials, but with the release of this stat we see that the industry is increasing its response by training builders who are certified in best practices as well.  Green materials plus green practices equals healthier spaces to live and work.

The NAHB president was expecting the certification program to be popular, but adds…“This is phenomenal growth.”

Contributor Info:

Today’s Green Minute is a print, radio, and web feature that highlights innovations in attitudes and technology that improve our stewardship of Mother Earth. Jim Parks hosts HGTV’s home-improvement show, “New Spaces,” and makes frequent appearances at home & garden expos across the country.

Most of us realize the importance of making and checking lists. We may make packing lists, lists of items we need to take along and lists of people we have been meaning to connect with. Some more organized people even have lists of lists! But many of us neglect to consult the most vital list of all – our self-care list. We are complex beings and must attend to ourselves – physically, emotionally, socially, spiritually and environmentally.

Life is stressful.

We are always on the go and trying to meet the needs of others while balancing the often-difficult demands of our personal lives. We may find ourselves away from our homes and loved ones at times, eating airport snacks, sleeping in unfamiliar surroundings, lacking opportunities to exercise and dealing with delays, plan changes and set backs.

Before you head out the door pack a self-care checklist to review on the plane or in the hotel. Attending to your needs on all levels will ensure consistent health and balance. You will look better, feel better and radiate higher energy all day long! Following is my personal checklist. Read the rest of this entry »

Japan, the “Land Of The Rising Sun,” is also the land of rising intensity for supremacy in solar power manufacturing – and wherever there’s a lot of money to made, the competition will always be…shall we say, “high-powered.” Japan’s solar equipment suppliers – like Kyocera, Sharp, and Sanyo – are the world’s leaders, but when sales were looking promising indeed back in 2005, the government suspended all subsidies. Domestic sales plunged and German and Chinese companies came rushing in to take up the slack. But Japan is now seeing a new dawn in its domestic solar business: officials are now calling for “drastic” subsidies and tax breaks that will cut the cost of domestic solar systems in half. These measures come along with a national target of lowering emissions by a whopping 60 - 80% by 2050 and equipping 70% of all new houses with solar panels by 2020. …Seems Japan aims to seize the green leadership of the industrialized world – while taking good care of its corporations at the same time.

Contributor Info:

Today’s Green Minute is a print, radio, and web feature that highlights innovations in attitudes and technology that improve our stewardship of Mother Earth. Jim Parks hosts HGTV’s home-improvement show, “New Spaces,” and makes frequent appearances at home & garden expos across the country.

Cyclomethicone. Sodium Cocoyl Sarcosinate. Methylchloroiso- thiazolinone. Chloromethylisothiazolinone. Do any of these names sound familiar to you? Better yet, can you even pronounce any of them? They’re toxic chemicals and chances are that your home is covered with them. If you go into your kitchen and read the back of any of your cleaning supply bottles, guaranteed that you’ll see at least one of the above ingredients.

A cleaner doesn’t deserve a “clean” name if it pollutes your home, your health and the environment. There are an overwhelming number of cleansers and disinfectants designed to make our countertops glow, showers sparkle, bathtubs glimmer, windows shine and our homes smell like fresh baked cookies, but, at what cost? They also contribute to in-home and environmental air pollution, are poisonous if ingested and can be harmful if inhaled or touched. Read the rest of this entry »