T-Shirt Bags are a Green Good Thing

Attending numerous conferences means I accumulate numerous t-shirts and conference bags. I keep the groovy ones, some are given to friends and family and others are donated to Goodwill. But what about making something useful out of those t-shirts?

Check out Martha Stewart to see what she and her team have come up with, a t-shirt converted into a shopping bag! Now that's a green good thing. (BTW - fast forward through the part about gourds to see the green t-shirt bag).

Still Confuzzeled About Where to Start Being Green?

G.G. realizes it can be overwhelming going green. Surfing the Net is information overload and frustrating figuring out a beginning point to go green.

My tip? Start out small and take small green steps, every effort helps. Here's a great resource with various tips for going green in the home, it's called Going Green. Check out the A to Z tips for going green.

Some small steps you can take to go green include:

• If you live in an area of the country that runs your AC most of the year, place small trash cans underneath the condensation pipe and use that water to water your plants.


• Recycle everything your curbside service will allow.


• Take shorter showers, eliminate soaking in the bath tub, hand wash dishes and do laundry minimally.


• Purchase re-usable canvas grocery bags instead of using the plastic ones stores have.


• Use environmentally friendly cleaning products.


• Pack your lunch in Tupperware/Rubbermaid vs. Ziploc bags (or at least reuse the Ziploc bags).

How Green is Your Home?

Happy Monday! Since temperatures are cooling, G.G.'s coming off a fab weekend where I was a homebody for most of the weekend but did get outside to enjoy the fresh air and sparkly Florida sunshine.

All this greening the office talk had me wondering what I could do to green my domicile dwelling. After searching the Net I was surprised to learn from the National Geographic Going Green pages how indoor air can be five times as polluted as the outdoor air! What I found more alarming on the National Geographic (http://green.nationalgeographic.com/environment/going-green/going-green-home.html) site is that "the average home contributes more to global warming than the average car...because much of the energy we use in our homes comes from power plants that run on fossil fuels."

Conclusion? Having an energy efficient home can reduce carbon emissions (which cause global warming). This includes:

• Using compact fluorescent bulbs


• Energy-efficient appliances (i.e.: fridge, washer and dryer, etc.)


• Weather-stripping and caulking homes (don't let in the cold or hot air!)


• Solar panels to capture energy and get off the grid!


• Of course, do your part to recycle paper, glass, aluminum, plastic and anything else to reduce waste sent to landfills

So my dear tree-hugger wannabees, I hope next weekend will be spent making your domicile dwelling more green.