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Do you see the world through green colored glasses? We do! And we love to share. Visit iseengreen.tv every day for the latest green living, environmental and earth friendly web videos and learn how to help make this planet a better place to live.

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Thursday
Sep022010

Better Gas Mileage

Get tips on how to get better gas mileage on your existing car. 

Thursday
Aug262010

How To Teach Your Parents To Be Green 

You want to make the world a cleaner place, but your parents just don't get it. These tips will help your family see that green is the way to be

Tuesday
Aug242010

Environmentally-friendly school supplies 

There are ways to "go green" when picking up those pens, pencils and
notebooks.

Saturday
Aug212010

Eco-Friendly Cleaning

Get tips on how to avoid household cleaners with toxic ingredients

Thursday
Aug192010

How to invest in eco-friendly companies 

If you want to do well by doing good, you may want to start with your stock portfolio. Bestselling personal finance author David Bach says there's lots of green to be made by investing in green companies.

Tuesday
Aug172010

A Sustainable Restaurant From the Inside Out 

The green economy and green jobs as seen through Founding Farmers, a green restaurant from the food on the table to the design on the building.

Friday
May212010

How To Recycle Paper Towel Rolls

Stop throwing out the rolls when the paper towels are gone. There are dozens of good uses for them.

You Will Need

  • Empty paper rolls
  • Imagination
How To Recycle Paper Towel Rolls: Make gift boxes

Step 1: Make gift boxes

Turn them into gift boxes. Paper rolls are great for holding small items, plus they’ll keep the recipient guessing as to what’s inside the tube-shaped box.

How To Recycle Paper Towel Rolls: Make fire starters

Step 2: Make fire starters

Make fire starters by stuffing them with other leftover paper goods like used tissues and napkins.

Cut the cardboard into strips and use it as kindling.

How To Recycle Paper Towel Rolls: Create curlers

Step 3: Create curlers

Create hair curlers. Just cut the rolls into two-inch sections.

How To Recycle Paper Towel Rolls: Control electrical cords

Step 4: Control electrical cords

Neaten up those unsightly tangles of electrical cord by folding the cord and feeding it into an empty paper tube.

How To Recycle Paper Towel Rolls: Tuck them inside boots

Step 5: Tuck them inside boots

Keep empty boots from flopping over and creating creases by tucking a few paper towel tubes inside them.

How To Recycle Paper Towel Rolls: Protect documents

Step 6: Protect documents

Protect important documents by rolling them up and tucking them inside a paper roll before storing them someplace safe.

How To Recycle Paper Towel Rolls: Improve hangers

Step 7: Improve hangers

Improve pants hangers by cutting a paper towel tube in half lengthwise and taping it on a hanger. Voila! No ugly hanger crease.

How To Recycle Paper Towel Rolls: Build a log cabin

Step 8: Build a log cabin

Save paper towel rolls for a rainy day and then challenge your kids to build a beautiful log cabin out of them.

Notch the ends of the rolls and they can attach to each other like wooden logs.

How To Recycle Paper Towel Rolls: Make Christmas crackers

Step 9: Make Christmas crackers

Make Christmas crackers by tying small toys and/or candy with string. Leave string hanging out the end of the tube, cover it with holiday paper, and twist each end. Pull on the string and the surprise pops out!

More than half a million trees could be saved if everyone in the U.S. replaced just one roll of regular paper towels with a recycled brand.

Thursday
May202010

How To Recycle Your Old Electronics

Have a computer too old to sell? A hopelessly dated phone? Don’t just toss them into the garbage, where they will leach toxic materials into the soil and water. Recycle them.

You Will Need

  • Time to research recycling options
  • A delivery method
How To Recycle Your Old Electronics: Trade it in

Step 1: Trade it in

If you’re upgrading to a new version of your current computer, check with the manufacturer about trading in the old one. Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba, and Apple all offer “take-back” programs.

Before getting rid of your computer, make sure to use a software disk-wiping utility to completely destroy any sensitive information on your hard drive.

How To Recycle Your Old Electronics: Donate it

Step 2: Donate it

Donate your old computer, printer, and software to charity. Some options are The National Christina Foundation, Share the Technology, TechSoup, Students Recycling Used Technology, and Anne Bubnic’s PEP Directory.

If you want to take a tax write-off, be sure to get a receipt from the organization that takes your computer.

How To Recycle Your Old Electronics: Recycle

Step 3: Recycle

Find recycling centers for everything from laptops to MP3 players through the Electronic Industries Alliance and/or the National Recycling Coalition.

Some major office-supply chains now accept all kinds of used electronics for recycling, even if they were not purchased there.

How To Recycle Your Old Electronics: Donate your cell phone

Step 4: Donate your cell phone

After terminating your service, deleting your contacts, and removing your cell phone’s SIM card (if there is one), donate it, the battery, and the charger to one of the many national and local charities that supply phones to the needy in case of a 911 emergency.

Only 27% of Americans recycle their old electronics.



Wednesday
May192010

How To Travel Green

Be kind to the environment on your next trip with these simple actions.

You Will Need

  • A green hotel
  • Restraint while packing
  • Public transportation or a hybrid rental
  • Your own toiletries
  • A carbon offset
  • Eco-friendly destination
  • Canvas shopping bag
  • Coffee mug
  • Water bottle
  • A day flight
How To Travel Green: Consider eco-friendly destinations

Step 1: Consider eco-friendly destinations

Consider taking a vacation with a small carbon footprint. Options include traveling by rail to an area where you can get around without a car, staying in an eco-friendly resort that’s made of recycled building materials and uses renewable energy, or booking a working vacation through an organization like Ethical Volunteering.

How To Travel Green: Pack responsibly

Step 2: Pack responsibly

Pack as lightly as possible to minimize the fuel required for transportation. If every American packed 10 fewer pounds, it would save some 350 million gallons of fuel a year.

Bring along a canvas tote bag, a commuter coffee mug, and a water bottle so you don’t have to use plastic bags, Styrofoam cups, and bottled water on the road.

How To Travel Green: Turn off and turn down

Step 3: Turn off and turn down

Unplug all your electronics and appliances when you leave home for your trip. Lower your thermostat and water heater.

How To Travel Green: Take public transportation

Step 4: Take public transportation

Take public transportation wherever you can — to and from the airport or rail station, and at your destination. Or rent a hybrid car.

If you’re flying, go by day. Due to complicated scientific reasons, night flights actually produce a greater warming effect than day flights.

How To Travel Green: Pick a green hotel

Step 5: Pick a green hotel

Reserve a room in an eco-friendly hotel. If there is no certified green lodging where you’re going, choose a nonsmoking hotel that allows guests to reuse their towels and linens, uses compact fluorescent lighting and nontoxic cleaning products, and helps guests recycle.

How To Travel Green: Use your own toiletries

Step 6: Use your own toiletries

Ignore those little plastic bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and lotion in favor of your own toiletries.

How To Travel Green: Turn off the lights

Step 7: Turn off the lights

Turn off every light when you leave your hotel. If you’re going to be gone all day, turn off the AC or lower the thermostat.

How To Travel Green: Don’t waste paper

Step 8: Don’t waste paper

Take only the tourist pamphlets that you really want or need.

How To Travel Green: Buy a carbon offset

Step 9: Buy a carbon offset

When you get home, counteract the carbon footprint you left by making a donation to a charity that helps reduce greenhouse gas, like climatetrust.org or nativeenergy.com.

Airplanes, with their carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and methane emissions, contribute up to 3% of the globe’s greenhouse gas pollution.



Tuesday
May182010

How To Be Green At Work

Make every day “Take Your Green Values to Work” day!

You Will Need

  • Recycled paper
  • A ceramic mug
  • A reusable knife, fork, and spoon
  • Cloth napkins
  • Reusable plastic containers
  • Sunlight and fresh air
  • A power strip with an off switch
How To Be Green At Work: Save paper

Step 1: Save paper

Save paper by using digital files and printing double-sided whenever possible. Print only when necessary.

How To Be Green At Work: Use recycled paper

Step 2: Use recycled paper

Encourage your office to purchase chlorine-free paper with high post-consumer recycled content. Reuse mailers and cartons, and recycle paper after use.

How To Be Green At Work: Use a ceramic mug

Step 3: Use a ceramic mug

Bring in your own ceramic mug so you don’t have to use disposable cups.

How To Be Green At Work: Bring cutlery

Step 4: Bring cutlery

Bring real cutlery and a cloth napkin to work every day to use with your homemade lunch. If you’re getting takeout, ask them not to put napkins and plastic cutlery in the bag.

How To Be Green At Work: Use plastic containers

Step 5: Use plastic containers

Bring lunch from home in reusable containers instead of in aluminum foil and plastic bags.

Plastic containers come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes—from sandwich-shaped to one that features separate covered sections for dips and condiments.

How To Be Green At Work: Use free sunlight and air

Step 6: Use free sunlight and air

When the sun shines, open the shades and use minimal artificial light. If it’s not too hot, open the windows and turn off the air-conditioning.

How To Be Green At Work: Unplug

Step 7: Unplug

Set computers to power down when not in use, and unplug them at night.

How To Be Green At Work: Tap into savings

Step 8: Tap into savings

Offer guests tap water in glasses rather than bottled water.

How To Be Green At Work: Work from home

Step 9: Work from home

Ask your employer to consider letting employees work from home a few days a week, to cut down on commuting.

Office computers waste $1 billion worth of electricity each year by being left on when they are not in use.



Monday
May172010

How To Save Energy in the Kitchen

This is part of Earth 911’s EnviroTip series on how to green your life. This EnviroTip will teach you energy saving steps for your kitchen.

Sunday
May162010

How To Identify Eco-Friendly Products

You want to help the environment, but how do you identify “green” products outside a health food store? Here’s how.

You Will Need

  • To be willing to spend a bit more
How To Identify Eco-Friendly Products: Start with packaging

Step 1: Start with packaging

Look for products with the least amount of packaging, and try to buy ones that indicate that they are packaged with “biodegradable” or “recycled” material.

Whenever possible, buy in bulk to cut down further on packaging.

How To Identify Eco-Friendly Products: Know your chemicals

Step 2: Know your chemicals

Have a basic understanding of what chemicals are bad for the environment. Major no-no’s include nonylphenol ethoxylates (or NPEs, which are detrimental to aquatic life), phosphates, petroleum-based cleaners, and chlorine.

If you had trouble with the periodic table in high school, it might be easier just to look for the Green Seal.

How To Identify Eco-Friendly Products: Choose organic

Step 3: Choose organic

Anything labeled “organic” is going to be eco-friendly. It’s probably going to cost more, too, but that’s the trade-off for a cleaner environment.

How To Identify Eco-Friendly Products: Make the efficient choice

Step 4: Make the efficient choice

When it comes to appliances or windows, look for the Energy Star label, which indicates that the product is energy efficient.

How To Identify Eco-Friendly Products: Be PC with PVC

Step 5: Be PC with PVC

Save some trees by looking for flooring and furniture made from a recycled plastic material called cellular PVC lumber.

How To Identify Eco-Friendly Products: Buy recycled paper goods

Step 6: Buy recycled paper goods

Look for “recycled” when you buy tissues, paper towels, gift wrap, greeting cards, and computer paper.

Better still, use handkerchiefs and washable cleaning cloths, wrap gifts in old newspapers (cartoon pages are great for kids), and send e-cards.

How To Identify Eco-Friendly Products: Look for bamboo

Step 7: Look for bamboo

Look for bamboo when buying everything from flooring to furniture to paper to clothing. It’s the fastest-growing plant on the planet, with some varieties growing four feet a day.

SUVs emit three times more pollution than regular cars.