One smiley face equals faster drying time and less energy use. Plus, they’re really cute.  

Hand-felted, artisan-crafted, wool dryer balls might not sound exciting, but once you see your energy savings you’ll be wearing a grin as wide as the one on the left. A wool dryer ball works the same as a dryer sheet, in principle. It separates the clothes and promotes the circulation of warm, dry air. The main difference is that these are chemical and odor free. They’ll also shorten your drying time by up to 20-25% and give your laundry a nice fluff.

Balls are sold as a set of 4 for $34.95. From Greenfeet.

Look for Lustables daily at EcoSalon. 100% gorgeous green finds, and never sponsored. Submit your favorite to tips@ecosalon.com

You’re relaxing in your backyard when you hear that ominous noise: the unmistakable buzz of a swarm of bees. The sight of a writhing mass of wild stinging insects is enough to turn almost anyone into a shrieking horror movie heroine, but whatever you do, don’t harm them! Natural care of feral bees could be a key to overcoming Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).

They’ve yet to pinpoint the exact cause, with guesses focusing on everything from tiny mites to pesticide overload, but one thing scientists do know is that we need the bees to pollinate, since a third of our food crops are rapidly disappearing. But treating honeybees with even more chemicals is just fueling the fire, according to one subset of beekeepers.

“We’re “˜Backwards’ because we rely on observation and natural practices rather than pesticides and other chemicals to keep our bees thriving,” write the self-proclaimed Backwards Beekeepers, a group of organic beekeepers in Los Angeles who are determined to help local bee populations thrive.

While CCD has hit commercial bees hard, wild bees seem to be doing just fine – and Backwards Beekeepers believe their health is due to their more natural way of life. The Backwards Beekeepers trap feral swarms of bees, transfer them to new hives and provide organic chemical-free support while allowing nature to do most of the work.

Conventional beekeepers place sheets made of plastic or wax in their hives for their honeybees to build upon, but the problem is, bees aren’t too fond of plastic and the wax is contaminated by chemicals and pesticides. The hexagonal cell pattern on the sheets is often too large, encouraging the growth of oversized bees that may gather more pollen and make more honey, but are also more susceptible to mites and thus require chemical treatment.

The Backwards Beekeepers – made up of Kirk Anderson, Charles Martin Simon and Michael Bush – believe that this just plain unnatural system is adding unnecessary stress to bee populations. Their own system relies on wood strips painted with chemical-free beeswax taken from their own previous harvests.

Simon outlines the 10 Principles of Beekeeping Backwards, explaining that observation, working with nature and above all supporting the health of the bees are the most important things you can remember, adding “Beekeeping is not about honey – it’s not about money – it’s about survival.”

Want to get started as a Backwards Beekeeper? Check out our primer, ‘How to Keep Bees: Basics of Bee Keeping for Beginners‘ and then bone-up on natural beekeeping methods at Beehuman.blogspot.com.

Image: hr.icio

The flu is already spreading like a Malibu wildfire in my Bay Area community with dozens of kids out the first few weeks of school and contaminated parents unable to play nurse.

It’s going to happen, no way of avoiding it all together, but there are some simple steps to build immunity and combat the spreading of germs at home.

Some people opt for the influenza vaccine, which the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says protects against the three main flu strains causing the most illness during the season. This year’s vaccine contains three new virus strains: A/Brisbane/59/2007(H1N1)-like virus, A/Brisbane/10/2007 (H3N2)-like virus and B/Brisbane 60/2008-like antigens.

The government says it is believed the 2009-10 influenza vaccine can protect you from getting sick from these three viruses, or it can make your illness milder if you get a related but different influenza virus strain.

For those choosing not to get the shot, most methods of fighting and containing the enemy involve keeping your hands and surroundings clean and lying low when you know you’re not well and can infect others. The good news for the planet is that none of the hygiene practices require harmful chemicals to kill the enemy.

1. Hand Washing

Discovered only 150 years ago, frequent hand washing is the most effective way to keep germs from making you sick and spreading to your pals. According to Every Day Health, it doesn’t matter what kind of soap is used as long as the water is warm and the soap lathers and spreads over the hands sufficiently to trap the germs. Soap and water works best (meaning you don’t have to use a chemical-doused sanitizer that can actually lead to worse viruses). Here are the steps recommended by the CDC:

- Wet your hands with clean water – warm, if available – and apply soap.
- Lather by rubbing hands together; be sure to cover all surfaces.
- Continue rubbing hands together for 15 to 20 seconds – sing “Happy Birthday” twice in your head.
- Thoroughly rinse hands under running water to ensure removal of residual germs.
- Use paper towels or an air dryer to dry hands and then, if possible, use a paper towel to turn off the faucet.

2. Sponge Duty

Sponges used to wash dishes and wipe down counters harbor massive amounts of bacteria, at times even salmonella.  While we are urged to replace them often to keep our kitchens clean, many sponges are made from plastics which means even more petroleum waste in our environment.

According to Living Green, the added environmental danger with many synthetic sponges is that they often contain Triclosan, an antibacterial and antifungal agent banned by Canada in household products this past August. Even though it’s registered with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as being a pesticide, it is frequently used in many antibacterial soaps, deodorants, toothpastes and cosmetics. The chemical is linked to health problems and harms fragile aquatic ecosystems and waterways.

While replacing sponges regularly is a good hygienic practice, stick to buying ones made from cellulose fiber (cellulose is sourced from plantation forests or recycled). Read the label carefully as some cellulose sponges are impregnated with polyester, a form of plastic. Keep your green cellulose sponge as dry as possible between uses, to avoid bacteria.  Sterilize them by soaking for a few minutes in boiled water, or try a dilute bleach/hydrogen peroxide solution.

The U.S. Dept of Agriculture also recommends killing bacteria and mold by microwaving a damp sponge or dishwashing a sponge with a drying cycle (the method my family uses).

3. Stay Home When you are Sick

Take cover when you are sick (just like covering your cough) by keeping away from other students, workers and friends. State health departments urge employees to stay home when they are infected for good reason. It’s the right thing to do for you and your community. Ask a friend or a loved one to make a nice pot of organic chicken soup, crank up the vitamins and heal thyself. Work can added undue stress that undermines a quick recovery. Work can wait.

4. Resist Sharing Personal Items

You don’t share brushes to avoid lice. And you don’t share eating utensils, drinking glasses, towels or other personal items if you want to avoid flu and colds. While sharing is a good gesture, there is a big exception when it comes to hygiene.

5. Love Yourself More

An excellent reference guide by Our Home Remedies follows the non-nonsense Farmer’s Almanac approach of boosting your immune system with rest, healthy foods like fresh leafy veggies and organic fruit, Vitamin C, garlic and thyme, and beneficial teas. We know when we are not loving ourselves because we don’t sleep and become run down, dehydrated and tend to reach for high sugar foods to revive us, rather than what we really need.

Image: hlkljgk

Will your years of good green living end with a natural, good green death?

It’s a sensitive topic – so sensitive, many of us can’t embrace it. I cringed some years back when my book group chose to read Mary Roach’s Stiff: Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. The last thing I wanted to do was cuddle up with a read about how to dispose of our bodies: donating organs to eager medical school students, cremation, wrapping remains in biodegradable burial shrouds before returning them to the earth. Still, I managed to trudge through it.

Stiff, published at the height of HBO’s Six Feet Under craze, introduced me to the notion of natural burials and got me thinking about such choices. You should consider them as well.

According to the Centre for Natural Burial in Canada, the modern concept for this alternative approach first began in the UK in 1993 and has since spread globally. A relatively new idea, it focuses on methods that conserve, sustain and protect the earth from which we came and shall return. In other words, your concern for the planet (driving a hybrid, sparing landfills of bad plastics, using reusable shopping bags) doesn’t have to die when your time has come.

The body is prepared for burial in a simple shroud or placed in a biodegradable casket made of locally harvested wood, wicker or recycled paper. No embalming chemicals are used to prepare the body, natural markers like shrubs and trees replace headstones, and burial grounds are often protected preserves in which the natural burial protects and restores nature. There’s no need for irrigation, herbicides or pesticides to sustain the habitat.

The benefits to the planet are obvious, but is it right for your family? “It’s a big leap for some and a thankful change for others,” observes Kathy Curry of the Fernwood Funeral Home in upscale and earthy Mill Valley, California. Fernwood’s natural burials are located on a diverse, 32-acre site adjacent to the Golden Gate National Recreation areas. “It really appeals to environmentalists and people looking to do something more simple, people who don’t like the excess of a big fancy casket and funeral.”

Indeed, the metal caskets and other excesses of conventional burials are taking a huge ecological toll on our planet, according to Joe Sehee of the Green Burial Council, considered the green standard for eco-friendly burial methods in the United States. “We are burying some 800,000 gallons of fluids known to contain carcinogens, along with enough metal each year to rebuild the Golden Gate Bridge and enough concrete to fill a two-lane highway,” he told me. “The lid is being lifted on what we are spending and wasting, and that is what we are trying to get away from.”

Sehee sees the concept moving into the mainstream quickly with supply having trouble keeping up with demand, including a surge in green cremation practices, up from 3% in the 1960′s to as high as 70% in parts of California and almost 50% nationally. “Most people don’t want to impede the process of regeneration by embalming and spending $5,000 on a box, which is what we have been doing over the last 100 years in the industry,” he says.

The recession could also increase the trend. At Fernwood, you might spend $7,500 on a natural burial while an ornate burial can cost well over $20,000. Curry points out that in the U.S., some plots alone sell for as much as $60,000.

Meantime, those opting for green should be careful, suggests Sehee, who warns some mortuaries falsely advertise chemical-free and healthy grasses, but are guilty of green washing. One reason his council was established was to keep the once underground movement of alternative burials well above board.

Image: batega