Happy, Healthy and Green: A Month-to-Month Guide to Creating a Healthy Family in a Green Home

Install outdoor solar lights. Instead of lighting the path to your door using electricity, install some solar path lights that charge during the day and light up all night. You can even get a solar-powered motion detecting light for security! Whenever possible, use public transportation, carpooling or even bicycling to get to work or run errands.

When you can, stack your errands and run errands for friends and neighbors so you can reduce the number of individual car trips. This will save you gas and wear and tear on your car, plus help improve air quality in your town. Learn more about reducing your transportation footprint. Rotate your car tires and keep them filled. Keeping your tires inflated to the right PSI and rotated regularly saves fuel. Avoid idling your car. Unless you are sitting in traffic, it actually uses more gas to idle your vehicle for a mere 30 seconds than it does to turn it off and restart it.

On top of that, the huge amount of smog created by idling vehicles is a major contributor to hot, hazy summers and diseases like childhood asthma. Learn more about why idling is so bad. Try a spend fast. Just for a month, restrict your spending to only those things you absolutely need to survive, like rent, utilities, medicines, basic food, gas or bus fare, etc.

Things you will avoid buying for 30 days include movie tickets, junk food, fancy coffee drinks, clothing, music, haircuts, etc. Doing this just for a month will help you become much more mindful of your spending habits and help you save a ton of money. Learn more about spend fasting. These days you can buy almost anything—furniture, clothing, electronics—used and in good shape. This reduces your consumer footprint and saves one more thing from going to a landfill!

Start or join a buying club. Buying clubs enable you to get bulk quantities of the things you usually purchase—but at a discounted or even wholesale rate. If you are unable to start or join a buying club, buy in bulk whenever you can. Learn more about how to start a buying club. Quit buying bottled water! Bottled water is usually no better than your typical tap water—it just costs more, contains plastic toxins from the bottles and leaves a trail of waste everywhere.

Get a faucet water filter and a reusable water bottle to save money and help the environment.

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Learn how to choose a good water filter. Buy recycled paper products. The good brands of toilet paper, computer paper and other paper products work just as well as virgin paper, but save tons of chlorine pollution from the bleaching process, and conserve millions of trees and gallons of water. Cook from scratch whenever possible. The more food you make from simple basic, minimally-packaged ingredients like vegetables, grains, meats, eggs and spices, the more you will save on groceries and the less impact you will have on the environment.

Bonus points for eating in season and buying locally-grown food. Read your favorite newspaper or magazine online. Almost all magazines and newspapers have digital versions now, and many of them are free. Reading them online saves tons of trees and the energy and fuel expended on creating, delivering and recycling paper versions. Get a library card. Reduce your consumer footprint and save resources by checking out books and magazines from the library! When buying big items, spend more to buy things that will last. Buying a coffee maker that will last years is a better use of your money than buying a cheap one that will break in a year.

Many "fair trade certified" coffees are shade-grown. Here's a list of bird-friendly coffee companies.

Going Green In Your Home

Conserve Energy Please do not wait to start conserving as much energy as you can to reduce your climate change emissions! To reduce your energy consumption: Print the energy and water consumption chart and post in a visible spot in your home. If possible, choose a utility company focused on renewable energy. If you live in a deregulated state in the U. The following pages provide tips on how to save energy: Great list of typical energy use per appliance to help prioritize your approach to saving energy.

Bring back the clothesline!: Using a clothesline to dry your clothes whenever possible is a great way to reduce carbon emissions. The Carbon Footprint Calculator helps you to determine your carbon dioxide emissions from major sources: This information can be tracked over time, allowing you to gauge the impact of actions you take to reduce your carbon footprint. Even with a damp, a lot of heat flows up chimneys in the winter.

Check out the Chimney Sheep to save on heating and reduce uncomfortable drafts. Check out The Nest for potentially large savings in heating and cooling. If you are taking a trip, consider buying carbon emission offsets. One well-respected Green-e certified company is TerraPass. In hot areas, if you have west-facing windows use window treatments such as blinds, tints, deciduous trees or trellises to help keep out heat from the summer sun. In general, you will lower your summer air-conditioning bill by planting trees and bushes along the west side of your home.

Paint your home a light color if you live in a warm climate and a dark color if you live in a cold climate. Insulate your hot water heater a tank that is warm to the touch needs added insulation , as well as hot water pipes and ducts located in unheated areas.

Reduce " standby power " the energy used while an appliance is switched off or not performing at home and at work. The easiest way is to unplug appliances that are not being used. You can also plug your appliances into bye bye standby or smart meters so that they are powered down completely when turned off. Whenever possible, keep lights off during the day. Consider installing a well insulated skylight if more light is needed.

Encourage family members to get in the habit of turning off lights when they leave a room taping small reminder notes to light switches can help. Learn about easy ways to reduce energy use by your computer with the Power Management for Computers guide Location of Home: Choose a place to live that reduces the need to drive easy access to public transit, easy biking routes, close to work and stores, walk able community, etc. Consider using a solar cooker to cook some of your meals. When turning on a water faucet, unless you need warm water choose the coolest water setting. Energy Efficient Mortgages U.

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EEM's let you borrow extra money to pay for energy efficient upgrades to your current home or a new or old home that you plan to buy. If you don't have the ability to switch to renewable energy, consider buying an REC which let's you essentially purchase renewable energy without switching electricity suppliers. Investing in renewable energy production is the same as investing in a home or office building. Buying energy from a utility, on the other hand, is like renting - at the end of fifteen years you don't have anything to show for it - and you are left vulnerable to the fluctuating costs of energy.

One investment option is solar panels which can produce energy for 40 years or more - far longer than it takes to pay off the installation costs currently around 15 years for homeowners and only 7 years for businesses. Wind power, where available, has a far quicker payback period. For more information on renewable energy, check out: Change outside light fixtures so that light does not shine up into the sky.

The International Dark-Sky Association works to educate individuals and communities about the use of energy-efficient, properly designed lighting that allows for good night sky viewing. The Fatal Light Awareness Program educates individuals about how urban lights harm migratory birds. Conserve Water Freshwater degradation is a looming crisis that we must face head on with strong and effective actions. To reduce your water consumption: To determine your overall water footprint, use the Water Footprint Calculator.

Determine a baseline to start reducing from. Chart the number of gallons of water used in the last 12 months for comparison to each month this year if water consumption is listed by CCF hundred cubic feet , one CCF equals gallons. Make specific changes in products used and family member habits: Here are top 5 and top 10 water conservation tips plus useful water waste facts at National Geographic. Find products that save water and protect the environment at WaterSense U. Each time you turn on a water faucet use the lowest pressure necessary. Keep the water turned on only while it is needed.

For drinking water, keep a pitcher in your refrigerator so you don't have to let water run to cool. It is estimated that Check your water meter when no one is using water in the house. If it's moving there's a leak. A running toilet can waste 2 gallons a minute. Check by adding food coloring to the tank without flushing. After 10 minutes, look for leaks indicated by color in the bowl.

This is most likely a worn flapper valve that can easily be replaced. One of the best ways to avoid wasting water is to switch to low flow or dual flush toilets. Visit Terry Love's consumer toilets report for a great review on available low flow toilets.

Going Green Outside

Flush your toilet only every other time or when it has solid waste. LeakAlerter notifies you if your toilet is leaking. Replace existing shower heads with the lowest flow product you can find. Shower heads with a mist setting let you reduce water flow even further. Shower instead of taking a bath. Time your showers - try to keep them to 5 minutes.

If taking a bath, limit how high you fill the tub. Install flow restrictor aerators inside all faucets for a savings of 3 to 4 gallons per minute. Always run full loads of laundry and dishes. Choose the short cycle at low water levels whenever possible. Set the clothing washer at the lowest possible temperature needed and for single rinse only.

8 Tips For A Happy & Healthy Pregnancy - mindbodygreen

Use your dishwasher and don't rinse dishes beforehand for an average 20 gallon savings. If you buy a new washing machine, choose a " high efficiency " model. Fill your yard with native plants. This will cut down significantly on watering requirements and, in the process, provide much needed food and shelter to local wildlife.

Mulch your gardens to reduce water evaporation around your plants this also reduces weeds and builds healthy soil. Install a drip irrigation system to water your plants more effectively For Your Hoses: Buy a squeeze nozzle for all of your hoses. However, if you're watering plants, use a watering can to reduce water waste. Best Time to Water: Water at night to minimize evaporation. If you have house plants, whenever possible water them with leftover or unused water from drinking, cooking, and showering. Keep of water pitcher near your sink or bathtub and collect unused water running from the tap waiting for cooler or warmer water.

Take your car to a car wash that recycles water. If you wash it yourself, use a bucket and sponge and rinse sparingly. Make the switch back to environmentally-friendly tap water instead of bottled water. Steam rather than boil your veggies to save a quart or more of water. Better yet, try giving vegetables a quick rinse, placing them in a covered bowl, and microwaving them for a minute or two. Out in Nature Citizen Science Projects: IThere are lots of great ways to get involved in projects to help monitor animal species for scientists and conservationists: When you are out hiking, pick up trash along the way.

Leave No Trace, Outdoor Ethics - provides tips for campers, climbers, and hikers. Organize a community group to clean up a local stream, highway, park, or beach. For opportunities to do restoration work for a local organization, check out VolunteerMatch. The American Hiking Society coordinates week long volunteer vacations to help restore trails. Plan regular gatherings for tree-planting and watering. Visit and help support local parks. Never release balloons outdoors. They frequently find their way to open water even from 's of miles away and can harm or kill turtles, whales, and other marine mammals.

Stargazing schedule - provides current information about stargazing events. The Biology Project Marine Biology: Peterson's Perspective and Introduction to the Aves Microbes: The Microbe Zoo Astronomy: Nontoxic Home Hazardous Waste: Dispose of the following products at a hazardous waste facility: Building Materials - paint , varnish, paint thinner, solvents, rust remover, wood preservatives and driveway sealer Automotive products - gasoline, transmission oil, brake fluid, kerosene, charcoal lighter fluid, power steering fluid, used motor oil,used oil filters, used antifreeze Household cleaners - spot removers, rug cleaners, metal cleaners, bathroom cleaners, oven cleaner, drain cleaner Pesticides - insect killers, weed killers, flea products, moth crystals, fertilizers with weed killer Miscellaneous - photographic chemicals, acids and corrosive chemicals, pool chemicals, compact fluorescent light bulbs mercury , mercury thermometers, Ni-Cd batteries Home-Made Products: Suggested recipes for home-made cleaning products: Invite a spider into your home!

For the price of a few cobwebs in a ceiling corner, they'll minimize unwanted bugs in your home. Green Certified and Eco-Labelled. There are now dozens of great brands of eco-friendly mattresses. If available, clean your "dry clean only" clothes at a dry cleaning facility that uses wet cleaning techniques. Or, safer yet, avoid purchasing clothes that require dry cleaning. Whenever possible, buy sustainable clothing.

Check out environmentally-friendly soap nuts Sapindus to replace your laundry detergent. It can also be used as a general cleaning soap. This highly effective technique is safe and gentle and should be a first approach before considering more invasive methods. As a Webster Certified Doctor, I have seen countless situations where a baby has changed position and a mother was able to avoid a C-section or medical intervention. Locate a Webster Doctor here. There tends to be a lot of misinformation out there when it comes to pregnancy and childbirth, especially on the internet.

That said, it's vital to do research on your own and not agree to or refuse any test without researching both sides first. While it can be hard to refuse a test or care—especially if there is pressure from a doctor - ultimately you have the responsibility for your pregnancy, your health and your baby. You have the right to refuse or consent to any procedure and you certainly have the right to make an informed decision.

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Omega-3s play a pivotal role in fetal growth and development, and are particularly essential for brain and nervous system development. Taking a high quality, purified fish oil supplement, as well as eating foods that are rich in omega-3s. In addition, research has found that women who consumed greater amounts of omega-3 fatty acids during the third trimester were less likely to show signs of major depression during pregnancy, and for up to eight months after the birth. Vitamin D can help reduce the risk of many pregnancy related complications including gestational diabetes.

Probiotics are also critical, especially during pregnancy. Babies are born with a completely sterile gut and they culture their beneficial gut bacteria from what the receive from their mother when passing through the birth canal and from nursing in the months afterward. A high quality probiotic will help ensure that your baby will get a good dose of beneficial bacteria, which can reduce risk of illness in the first few years.

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