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Is your green hotel really green? Or is your hotel merely trying to dip into the pond of eco-travel? Here are some tips to separate the truly eco-friendly from the environmental pretenders.

Local Staff

A good sign of an eco-friendly lodging is to find out if the people employed by the hotel are locals. Are the tour guides and trail leaders ‘locally grown’? This is a key way for green hotels to give back. A good eco-friendly hotel should make the most of community involvement. Does the staff seem knowledgeable about the eco-friendly policies of their establishment?

Water

Several hotels give you the option to reuse towels and thus, conserve laundry (and valuable energy and water). When searching for a green hotel, be sure to find out more about their water conservation policies. Are there water saving devices such as water sensors or lo-flow shower heads installed in the bathrooms? Does the hotel kitchen use similar devices? Of course, make sure that you’re also staying aware of how much water you’re using, but make sure that the eco-friendly hotel supports your water-lovin’ efforts.

Recycling

Most hotels and business establishments recycle these days. Still, dig a little deeper and get curious. What kind of recycling does your green hotel do? Do they recycle paper or aluminum? Does the hotel or lodging participate in a carbon offset program?

Food

One of the best things about vacation is the food. However, make sure that the hotel you’re considering uses either organic or locally grown produce whenever possible.

By Marissa Cohen

Why are you interested in living a green life? Everyone has a reason for going green, for listening to the pulse of the earth, or for living clean. For some, it’s personal health. Some of us go green because of our children’s future, while some of us understand the benefits of cutting toxins out of personal products whenever we can. Through our journey of environmental awareness, it’s important to keep the image of what we’re saving in front of us. One way to do that is to make travel plans that incorporate nature.

Get Cozy with Mammals and Trees

When on vacation, go to a zoo and spend a day getting to know the wildlife there and learn facts about the animals you’re seeing. Concerned about the earth? Plant a tree and give back to the environment. (This can also be a great project to do with kids.)

Beach Time

One way to remember why we’re going green is to go to the beach when on vacation. Focus on the beauty of the ocean and remember that may be a reason for your decision to go green. Think of the marine life you and your family are helping to keep safe. When going on beach getaways, stay away from plastic and instead use reusable cutlery or washable cups or try getting recycled plastic for beach picnics. Want to play with the kids, have beach fun, and still keep green living in mind? Try joining a beach cleanup on vacation or at home.

By incorporating environmental fun into our vacations, we’ll be better able to stay in touch with the world we’re saving.

by Marissa Cohen

In Green in the Garden: Part I – Building from the Ground Up, we talked about ways to work with homemade compost and organic soil or mulch to help create a green garden. But what to put in that fresh soil and how to treat the plants? This time, we’ll share a few more tips to create a garden that will be both environmentally healthy and save you time and energy.

Water Conservation

Use compost and mulch to help hydrate your plants and conserve your water supply while making sure your garden gets the precious moisture it needs. But when to water? Mornings are best because there’s less wind in the morning and the ground is still cool, causing less water to evaporate.

Encourage Pollination

Grow several different kinds of flowers in order to encourage pollination from bees and butterflies. A good, diverse garden full of many native flowers is a great way to get pollination going. Why? Pollinators affect more than 25% of the world’s total crop production and significantly help the output of food crops.

All Natural Weed and Pest Killers

Concerned about avoiding pesticide sprays? Don’t worry, just hit the fridge. Mustard and water in a spray bottle can help get rid of bugs. Want to get rid of weeds? There are several homemade vinegar mixtures that can kill those weeds at the roots.

By Marissa Cohen

Photo by Mike Schmid

While going green should start at home, summer vacation is a great time to model green vacation habits for your kids. Teach them about going green with these simple tips.

Reuse the Jeans or PJs

Wearing clothing multiple times can help your family to cut down on hotel laundry. Many times, nightclothes or heavy-duty items made from denim fabric can endure a few wearings before you pop them into the laundry basket. (Obviously, this tip works best if you and your family have spent the day in relatively non-smelly fun.)

Kids’ Music

A great way to teach kids about a greener lifestyle is through music. Jack Johnson’s song “The Three R’s (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle)” from Sing Alongs and Lullabies for Curious George is an adorable, catchy song that’s a wonderful introduction to living a more environmentally conscious life.

Kids Model Behavior

Explain to kids why it’s important to go green – and more importantly, show them. The more you communicate and show your kids the importance of being environmentally friendly, the more they will feel involved. Ask their opinions and let them see you recycling bottles and using canvas grocery bags, even on vacation. Remember to tell them exactly why living green is so important and create an environment where going green can sustain, even on the road.

By Marissa Cohen

Photo by krossbow

In the recent articles, Green Laundry, Parts 1 and Part 2, we looked at several great tips to make laundry day environmentally friendly. Thanks to the fact that driers use about as much energy as your average refrigerator, many experts suggest using a clothesline for at least some, if not all, of your laundry load. The world outside our laundry rooms can provide us with natural wind and sun, two things that can help save over 700 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per family per year. But how do you put up a clothesline?

How To Put Up a Clothesline

Clothesline should run north and south in order to maximize sunlight, but also should be more or less out of your daily sight, because who wants to look out of their window and see a clothesline and not, say, flowers? You can either purchase a ready-made clothesline pole set or set about the exciting weekend project of creating your very own clothesline. (Just make sure that Junior is inside and his Smartphone confiscated, unless you want this DIY adventure to go viral.)

Get some galvanized iron pipes, hooks, and cement. Dig a hole that is about one foot wide and one foot deep, put the pole inside and then pour in some cement mixed with water. Repeat the same process for the second pole. There are several different kinds of clotheslines and each has a different method of installation.

Many, many people find it very easy to install a clothesline. You can even purchase clothesline kits at your local hardware store. (In our family, we don’t have that kind of  coordination to get seriously involved with galvanized iron pipes and then be that daring to throw cement into the mix. I’m certain the dog would be lost forever.)

For more instructions on how to put up a clothesline, check out these great links from eHow or LiteGreenLiving.com.

How Far Apart Should the Poles Be?

Clothesline poles should be far enough apart to accommodate your laundry  because you don’t want heavy items dragging. Be sure to make the hooks (which hold the clothesline) high up. Once you put wet clothes on it, the whole thing will droop so making sure that the line is a bit taller than you is a good idea.

And, once your project is over, you can give Junior back his Smartphone.

by Marissa Cohen

Photo by MrB-MMX

Summer is a perfect time to learn to garden in ways that benefit the planet. But isn’t gardening already a great first step to being green? Not necessarily. Begin your earth-positive garden with these easy to follow tips.

No Chemicals

Keep your new garden healthy by avoiding pesticides and fertilizers. Many online and offline  stores carry organic versions of these. To avoid these entirely, consider creating your own compost.

Create your own compost from vegetable scraps that would otherwise go into the trash. Mark Harris, author of Embracing the Earth, found that one person who does not use compost can throw away 1500 pounds of trash, while gardeners who use some of their would-be trash for compost can reduce that number by an astounding 1125 pounds. That’s a lot of trash being used for a good cause!

Soil and Mulch

The kind of mulch or soil you use can make a world of difference as plants begin to blossom and grow. If you go with the richness of organic soil and mulch will help your growing garden thrive . The healthier and more natural your base, the greener and more vibrant your garden will be.

By Marissa Cohen