Gabrielle Crowe on Reclaiming Indigenous Culture in Southern California

Offices and schools go through a lot of paper. Printing, faxing, copying, writing, taking notes, passing notes, and making paper airplanes all create a lot of paper waste. If you’re not recycling your school and office papers, this is a great time to start! And you never know, some of that recycled material may just end up back in your hands as post consumer waste products!

An Adventurous woman, determined to implement sustainable solutions to many human problems, travels throughout the tropics of Costa Rica learning and growing. This is a story about her journey and the things I have learned from here. Come explore the world through the eyes of a Permaculture Pilgrim.

Have you ever wondered what to put in a compost bin? Knowing exactly what can go in there can surely benefit you in the long run. Place the right type of red worm food in there and they will reward you with excellent lawns, bright flowers, and succulent vegetables.

Many people are beginning to experience the dramatic effects of global warming, and the dialogue has opened up wide on the different ways to save the earth. One ongoing debate is whether to go with solar power or wind power. Which is more beneficial to the environment? Which is more efficient?

So you want to use alternative power from the sun. Solar panel guides provide information on what you need to know about installing them. The guides can provide you with information on alternative energy sources, and maximize your power to help save the environment while saving money on your electric bill. Installing your own panels can cost upwards of $3000 or more. However, now there are more cost-efficient options available that can help us save money and recover our initial costs sooner. The guides can show you how to install the panels by yourself, as well as teach you how to save money and actually get your panels for as little as $200.

Most appliances these days run on electricity. Unfortunately, most of the appliances that run on electricity operate on carbon-based power sources. These power sources are the root cause of global warming and are major contributors to the destruction of our beautiful universe. The good news is there are alternative power sources that we can take advantage of, such as the sun, water, and wind. Solar power is a popular choice right now. In order to utilize sun power, you can set up your own solar panels at home. These panels are relatively inexpensive and simple to make and install. They will harness readily available power from the sun, transforming solar energy to electrical energy which will keep your household or business running smoothly. Solar power will effectively and efficiently generate electricity for your computer, television, radio, oven, microwave, and other appliances. Making panels at home saves you and your pocketbook lots of cash when it comes to your electricity bills.

When designing and starting a vegetable garden in any urban setting it can be an awkward yet rewarding experience for the novice gardener. My goal is to inspire you to incorporate a flavorful harvest into your present outdoor environment. Urban Garden enthusiasts have several issues to consider during the planning stage. First and foremost consider the aesthetics of adding a vegetable garden to any area. Presentation is critical. There is an abundant variety of easy to harvest plants that will enhance your space, but you must be aware of the awkward green giants that will not blend in with others. This is not to say they should not be allowed a space to coexist with the flowers, it’s just they are more challenging to blend them into the urban landscape. Most urban dwellers visualize a vegetable garden as a mere dirt field with the smell of rotting compost, or the image of rows of produce growing in exposed dirt. My goal is to encourage you to create an edible oasis.

Generating electricity from a stream or other water source has long been the realm of engineers, but this simple article explains how anyone with a handy-man background can do it. Micro-Hydro systems are becoming easier to build, more common, and are one of the most economical and reliable alternative-energy systems available.

Stevia is becoming increasingly popular as a natural sweetener, due to the fact it contains virtually no calories and does not cause cavities. It is a herb that is easy to use in baking, cocktails and even as a sugar substitute in tea and coffee (its extracts are up to 300 times sweeter than sugar). Growing stevia is a rewarding and low-cost way to have this plant to hand when it’s needed.

Setting up a recycling bin at a recycling center for waste management is not all our communities need. Each household needs to play a part in reusing what we would normally throw away. It can be a beautiful system when you work it right. Plus, you save money, time and energy. Three valuable resources that we all can appreciate saving at the moment.

Water recycling, or greywater, is rapidly gaining popularity around the country. Water bills are on the rise and water quality and availability are falling in many areas. Greywater use is a great way to conserve water while saving plenty of money that normally just flows down your house’s drain.

Water conservation is a familiar topic. Low flow shower heads, high efficiency toilets, turning off the tap when brushing teeth, is there anything else you can do to save water? Look over these ideas that are so old school they are new and see.