greenSMART Kids!

Want your kid to get involved? Here are some kid-friendly activities that can teach your child to live greenSMART!

Garden Time
Teaching your kid to grow a garden can be an invaluable lesson. It involves hard work, patience, and it saves the environment AND your wallet.

• Start off with something small that's not as challenging, such as herbs in the window.
  
• Explain why plants are important to the earth.
  
• Help them cook a delicious meal when your garden is finally ready.

Crafts and More
Is your recycling piling up? Think about what kinds of crafts you can make with some of the leftover materials. Boxes become robots, cardboard tubes become kaleidoscopes. They dream it up, you help make it happen.


Aside from that, think about what they do with all their free time. Is your kid a TV junkie? Pull them away from the TV and take them to the library, or make a fort with sheets in your living room. That kind of fun can't be found on television!

Hybrid or hy-bad?

I'm just going to lay it out there: I get extremely frustrated when I see commercials for hybrid cars that are supposed to be wonderful for the environment.

In 2007, it was exposed that the nickel mining involved in the production of many hybrid cars is actually worse for the environment that Hummers. Imagine that!

Nickel mining, particularly coming from a plant located in Ontario, is ridiculously awful for the environment! On top of that, the cars are not as long-lasting as their counterparts, meaning you are throwing away your money.

Check out the link below to read more.

http://www.thegreenguide.com/home-garden/room-by-room/green-myths/2

Cleaning House

I hate cleaning the house, but it has to be done. What is a really great trend lately is the introduction of environment-friendly cleaners and products.

Before recommending those, however, I still have to show you the alternate to save you $$ and hopefully make you life a little bit easier.

Whenever cleaning something, ask yourself if it needs to be sanitizer or more wiped down or dusted off. If it doesn't need to be sanitized, water and a cloth will do just fine!

I've also worked on doing away with paper towels. For most cleaning projects, I have enlisted a separate set of dish towels with the specific purpose of being used for cleaning - making them okay for most surfaces. The only surface paper towels would really be ideal for is the toilet - because that is a pretty nasty surface. But for kitchen countertops, for example, there's not reason why a dish towel cannot be used.

I like to even enlist a separate dish scrubber and use plain dish soap on my countertops, scrub them real good and then wipe them down. It's like washing your hands - they say if you wash your hands for 30 seconds it eliminates germs. Well, think of this as washing your countertops. The great thing about this is that dish soap is dirt cheap, and when bought in bulk, eliminates the packaging and extra cost of buying special cleaners. Realistically, most cleaners are relatively similar. If you're unsure of what you're buying - read the label!

Whenever you're about to pull out that vacuum, WAIT! Ask yourself if a broom will suffice. Most of the time it will, depending on the need. I've used a broom on many carpets, but if your carpet is too plush it might not work. Just think about it!

Lastly, be extremely careful in disposing of any old chemicals or cleaners. We've all had them - the ones that sit under the kitchen sink until you don't want to touch them without gloves. Read carefully through the warning label and even research some of the key ingredients before lumping it in with the rest of your garbage. Is it something you'd be okay with running through a stream?


http://www.thegreenguide.com/home-garden/cleaning

Buying a house?

One of the absolute saddest miseries to me these days is that so many people buy brand new homes when there are beautiful homes already out there.

I went to college in Des Moines, Iowa, which is home to the Salisbury House. It is hands down my favorite attraction in Des Moines because it is this grand castle-like home that is completely filled with amazing antiques and treasures. The last time I went on a tour, the tour guide said that Carl Weeks, the man who dreamed up Salisbury House and commissioned its building, was green before green was cool.

Weeks had reused numerous materials from around the world to help create his home, but the most important aspect of this lesson is that he also incorporated the trees from his own property in the home. These trees were being torn down to make way for his grand house, so why throw them out? He built them into the home, as well as bricks from Des Moines' streets that were about to go to waste as well.

This makes us stop to ponder quite a bit about modern home buying. Obviously, in recent history the housing market has been in a complete crisis because there have been much too many homes built for people who don't truly need them.

I also watch a LOT of HGTV and see quite frequently people who are wanting a new "green" home, which maybe has bamboo floors or energy-saving appliances, but wasted all kinds of lumber being built!

If you are in the market for buying a house, you can 1) get an older home cheaper, 2) use that extra money to properly insulate the house and buy the appropriate "green" features and 3) my personal favorite, enjoy the natural scenery that has grown around your home. I absolutely hate new homes because they never have trees! It's ridiculous!

Not that I want the construction market to completely crash, but think of all the buildings that people simply don't want anymore that could be fixed up with little resources, versus the extreme waste involved in new development projects.

Starting Out

I recently saw a news article about a man who decided to hold onto all of his trash for a full year just so he could grasp what he and his family goes through. Think about it. Think about a given week, then imagine 52 garbage cans lined up your driveway. It makes you stop and wonder where that waste is going and how necessary it really was in the first place, huh?

To start off, take one day just to THINK about every little action and how it affects the environment around you. Consider every piece of trash you throw away, consider every light you leave on too long, consider how your every move affects this earth.

Start off first thing in the morning. Do you leave the water running while you brush your teeth? Did you start the dish washer even though it's only half-full? These are little things that, when everyone does them, adds up to a big difference.

Here are some more questions to ask yourself to get going:

1. How did you get to work today? If you drove, was it necessary? Are you withing walking distance of your work or can you take public transportation?

2. Did you turn off and unplug all unused electronics - including computers, cell phone chargers, lamps or other electronics? These types of equipment are using electricity even when they're not in use - just for being plugged in! Think about hooking up all items to a multi-plug strip with an on/off switch to save energy, then you just have to unplug the strip instead of all of the items.

3. How much of your daily waste is recyclable? Consider finding ways to increase that percentage.

4. How much time do you spend using electronics for entertainment? Are there alternate forms of entertainment that could provide fun for less money and help the environment?




This gets you going. Now you're ready to think greenSMART.

Here we go!

One night not too long ago, I just couldn't sleep. I had just seen a news story about hybrid cars and I was so frustrated I couldn't find it in myself to just relax and go to bed. And so greenSMART was born.

The problem with the trendiness of going green right now is that it's not accessible, and buying organic cotton tees doesn't do that much good for the environment. With that in mind, I'm collaborating information, tips and other help so that you can make your home greenSMART too!

If you browse the site, you'll notice I have everything organized by household room or by purpose so that you can find just what you're looking for. Maybe if everyone went a little greenSMART we can actually save this planet!