With almost three quarters of our world in rapid decline due to excessive pollution and resource disruption, ocean conservation is more important than ever.

In case you forgot the stats from geography class, a little more than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered by oceans. The fragile ecosystems are vital to sustaining marine and human life. Unfortunately, our oceans have become a breeding ground for pollution due in large part to current waste disposal, both in the water and on land. Oil spills, untreated sewage and solid waste, plastic, heavy metals, radioactive materials, and chemicals are all common (and completely disgusting) pollutants.

In addition to mass pollution, unethical fishing practices and senseless harvesting of marine resources are also associated with ocean devastation. All of these elements, whether alone or combined, are responsible for negative repercussions, like coral reef die-off, food contamination, and the hundreds of thousands of turtles, whales, and other marine mammals, including more than one million seabirds, that die each year from ocean pollution and ingestion or entanglement in marine debris.

So what can you do? In addition to recycling, cleaning up your local beaches, eating sustainably, and raising ocean conservation awareness, you can also put your purchases toward businesses that care. Shop for your spring and summer apparel at any of these retailers and you can be sure that your money is going to a good cause.

1. Devocean Co.

“Save the sea turtles with every purchase.”

Devocean, which stands for “devoted to the ocean,” claims to have a “vision of a world where our oceans are clean and free from pollution.” Dedicated to positive change, the website goes on to say, “all of our efforts as a social enterprise are intended to raise awareness about the growing fragility of marine habitats and encourage people to take immediate action.”

Devocean was founded in 2015, and chose sea turtles as the first ocean conservation effort. Today, 20 percent of the company’s net profits are donated to FAU Marine Research Lab at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center and the non-profit Friends of Gumbo Limbo. Devocean credits these two organizations as being instrumental in saving the lives of thousands of sea turtles.

Devocean sells vibrant beach-ready apparel and accessories for men and women. Jewelry, hats, towels, hoodies, tees, and tanks are popular among the business’s clientele. And you can’t miss the sea turtle emblem that appears on many of the items.

2. Rock the Ocean

“Were not trying to save the world…just 3/4 of it!”

This business gets right to the point when it comes to the dire straights of our oceans. Rock the Ocean believes “oceans worldwide are in serious peril due to overfishing, severely damaged habitats, and pollution,” going on to say, “the ocean is our greatest natural resource and our fate depends on its health, but oceans are headed for mass extinctions unless we take action.”

The 501(c)(3) organization utilizes efforts like hosting benefit concerts and events all over the world, including Tortuga Music Festival, to further the ocean conservancy cause. The non-profit also increases public awareness about ocean-related issues while supporting scientific research, education, and ocean conservation initiatives. Rock the Ocean also sells lifestyle apparel and donates 50 percent of the proceeds to the Rock the Ocean Foundation.

Rock the Ocean sells apparel, hats, and accessories for men and women. The tees, tanks and hoodies are great everyday basics featuring cool logos that raise awareness for the non-profit. Hats and accessories, including the towels and drink koozies, are functional and neutral.  

3. Consurfvation

“Don’t trash where you splash.”

Consurfvation was created by designer Robert Lipton and works in tandem with its four beneficiaries: Waves 4 Water, LA Waterkeeper, 5 Gyres, and Gulf of Mexico Foundation. What makes this company truly unique is that much of the apparel is made from 100 percent recycled plastic water bottles.

Consurfvation Clothing was established in 2011 in an effort to protect what it believes is the world’s most precious resource — our oceans. Taking pride in the company’s fun, hip, and eco-friendly approach to fashion, this business really has its finger on the pulse of today’s trends, while also believing that “every effort, no matter how big or small makes a difference.”

Mixing advocacy with aesthetic, the men’s and women’s apparel is fresh, current, and perfect for beach weather. We’re totally digging the scoop back tee’s super sexy cut!

How do you plan to support ocean conservation? Share your thoughts on the EcoSalon Facebook page!

Related on EcoSalon

10 Ocean Conservation Groups Making a Difference
Ocean Plastic Pollution Meets Its Match: A 19-Year-Old
Garbage Patch: Nothing Short of a ‘Plastic Paradise’

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Water makes the world go round.

It is estimated that only one percent of the world’s fresh water supply is available for human use, in the form of rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and other above and below ground sources. Given the world’s impending water crisis, it’s more important than ever that we keep our water sources clean and free of impurities. This Earth Month, take a moment to appreciate this photo selection of healthy rivers, then learn more about the world’s water issues from our vault.

(above) Trento, Italy

Susquehanna River Valley, Pennsylvania, USA

Luckiamute Falls, Falls City, Oregon

Southern Ontario, Canada

River Dodder, Dublin, Ireland

Horseshoe Bend, Glen Canyon, Arizona

Farningham, England

Munnar, Kerala, India

Budd Creek, Yosemite National Park, California

Red Deer River, Alberta, Canada

Strassel, Oregon

Firehole River, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Chirkhuwaa Khola, Khanbari, Nepal

Moor Brook, Dartmoor, England

Amazon River, Peru

Vuoksa River, Russia

The post 20 Photos of Healthy Rivers appeared first on EcoSalon.

 

Deep inside a 1,300-hectare rainforest reserve in Ecuador, mere three hours northwest of the equator, you will find Mashpi Lodge, an eco-friendly hotel bursting with activities to teach you about this unique mountain bioclimate and its wildlife – which include cycling along a high wire, listening to frogs and making chocolate.

This being Earth Month, it’s only appropriate that the lodge opened this week for the first guests to enjoy the rich flora and fauna of the bioreserve: colorful butterflies, monkeys, birds, pumas, and orchids galore.

To experience the forest first hand, you can travel along the forest canopy in the “Aerial Tram” – an open-air gondola car – giving you a monkey’s eye view of the treetops and their inhabitants. As you sit in a swiveling chair, for a 360-degree perspective, you can listen to the resident biologist make sense of it all.

Or, for those preferring solitude, climb a ladder and sit on a forest platform, or check out the hummingbird viewpoint (blink and you’ll miss them – they’re the smallest animals, and fastest birds, in the world). Adrenalin junkies can take a zipwire ride through the primeval landscape, or ride an aerial bicycle, designed for two, along a 655-foot-long cable; then cool off in a waterfall. Creatures of the night can go on a nocturnal safari (guided; you don’t want to get lost in the dark jungle). Reptile lovers can learn about frog songs and snake secrets. Or you can just sit in bed and watch it all.

The 22 guestrooms are furnished in a simple, contemporary style, with warm tones, wood and floor-to-ceiling-windows looking onto the rainforest; all have WIFI; suites and bathtubs with views (other rooms have showers). All are TV-less; it’s in a communal area – after all, you’ve got a live-action nature film going on outside your room. There are also outside terraces to tune into the jungle sounds, with secluded yoga-perfect areas; and an extensive library, where you can hear talks from experts.

In the restaurant, ingredients used are garnered from the forest – plantain and chocolate – or locally-grown organic: mandarinas, guavas, naranjillas, squeezed into freshly-made juices. You can gather your own, too – yucca, bananas, palm hearts and coffee, or make cocoa beans into their end delicacies, ripe for eating. After all that culinary excitement, you’ll need to chill out. The spa has a jacuzzi open to the outside and a massage room with treatments featuring jungle ingredients such as earth, stones, herbs and leaves. Swimming is wild, in the rivers.

Mashpi Lodge is working closely with the local community. A quarter of the staff (80% from the surrounding area) will own a stake in the project. As well as being socially responsible, hydroelectric power will be used soon.

Rates from $1,296 per person including tax, transfers from Quito with visits to archaeological sites and museum, and lunch at a volcanic crater, en route; all meals at lodge; guided daily excursions and activities within reserve; rubber boots, rain ponchos and binoculars for your jungle walkabouts (this is a rain forest, after all).

Photos: Mashpi Lodge

Places & Spaces is a travel guide that will inspire you to carve out a vacation on your calendar. All of the gorgeous locations and accommodations in our guide share our concern for the environment. From tent glamping to lavish built environments, fair warning, you’ll feel compelled to pack your suitcase.

The post Places & Spaces: Mashpi Lodge, Ecuador appeared first on EcoSalon.

EcoSalon and Sprout Watches are teaming up for a special Earth Month promotion!

On trend for too many years now: otherwise fashion-forward women rummaging through the depths of shoulder bags to flip open mobile devices for the time of day – emanating from an iPhone in ugly neon numbers, no less.

We think the time has come to bring back the wristwatch. For the eco-forward and design conscious consumer we suggest the Sprout watch.

As if you needed an added incentive for wearing one of these:

For every Sprout watch sold online during Earth Month, the company will plant a tree. And just to sweeten the deal, shipping is on them.

Sprout is a rather vintage breed: a traditional watchmaking company with timely values. They started making timepieces over 50 years ago and remain rooted to the same principles and technical expertise they were founded upon; but they keep on ticking into the future through their innovative sustainability practices.

Sprout’s mission statement says: “We do not claim to be the greenest company around…we aren’t environmentalists, we are a watch company, and so we figure one of the best ways to be a greener company is to make a greener watch.” Like these handsome selections from their new water-resistant line.

All Sprout watches are lead and phthalate free and made out of biodegradable corn resin instead of synthetic plastics, as well as organic cotton. Materials like Tyvek® (a high-density recyclable and incinerator safe fiber), bamboo and mineral crystal are the norm.

For luxe watch wearers, fish skins are used instead of animal leather, sourced from farmers harvesting non-endangered species for human consumption. That skinless salmon filet might be tonight’s dinner; the sloughed off skin could be tomorrow’s wrist watch. Fish skin is one of the strongest and most elastic leathers on the planet.

For the ultra-luxe, all diamonds are certified and conflict free.

Sprout’s promotion runs now through April 30^th in celebration of Earth Month. Just in time for a billion of us individuals, in our scattered 190 countries, to bind together for a healthier and more sustainable planet. The hour is upon us; it’s on our watch.

The post Sprout Watches: Saving the Environment One Wrist at a Time appeared first on EcoSalon.

Haute gardening for boutique parcels of land.

It’s Earth Month, technically. At the risk of sounding like a cliché: for us here at EcoSalon, every month is earth month. To celebrate April and beyond, we’re going to be taking a look at gardens galore this month and next. We’ll be exploring ways in which designers, gardeners and other earth-loving individuals are integrating nature into their homes and communities.

Today, some haute gardening ideas for tiny parcels of land in dense urban environments, where space (and greenery) is at a premium.

If your “acre of land” is actually a wall, try hanging pots, empty jumbo soup cans or a salvaged boom box:

Garden bags are perfect for a room with a view:

The Kikkuu White Planter is perfect for an enclosed patio or porch:

Make your rooftop a thrift-store/flea-market gardening oasis: 

An amazing reuse of pallets:

Street art…

Images: Urban Gardens; Vintage Modern Home; Downsize My Space; Labellum Flowers; Made in Design; Studio G; Life on the Balcony; Dishfunctional Designs; Blog Alice

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ColumnRead a book. Sustain your mind.

In yet another new chapter of “What’s Going on Upstairs,” it seems that scientists have had a virtual breakthrough in figuring out what fiction does to our brains. Recent studies show that reading about a made-up event can trigger the same neuro-bells and whistles as does taking part in an actual event. That is to say, when we read, “See Spot run,” we in some ways experience Spot running. With this in mind, given that it’s Earth Month, let us consider how certain stories can make us feel as if we’re soaring through the air, splashing in the sea or, for the more grounded among us, happily playing in the dirt.

But first, let’s agree with our friends in the lab (no deniers here). There’s no doubt that certain words and well-crafted sentences can have a similar effect on our minds as does the smell of fresh-baked bread, taking us to a time and place far beyond where we are when the reading experience occurs. And that’s the point, right? We often read books to escape our current experience and trade it in for another. Moreover, in many of the best novels, place functions as a character in and of itself, complete with attributes that go beyond backdrop to both embody and tease all five senses; whether it be Paris or Pi’s pontoon, the venue of a novel informs how we “feel” about a story and allows us to “go along” with the action.

So let’s celebrate novels that take us outside – tales that get our tails off the couch, out of the library and up from our lounge chair (yes, a beach read implies that you’re outside, but you know what we mean) and take us someplace else—namely, someplace without a roof. Enclosed please find deserts, jungles and mountains, oceans and rivers, blue skies and lush valleys…

1. Death Comes for the Archbishop, Willa Cather (1927)

A natural and majestic silence pervades Willa Cather’s story of Bishop Jean Marie Latour and Josh Vaillant’s humble mid-19th century journey from the Midwest to a newly established Catholic diocese in New Mexico Territory. From the onset, as the two travel first to the Gulf of Mexico before heading out into the Native American frontier, Death Comes for the Archbishop captures a feeling that is pristine, nascent and dry – a pure presentation of the American West on the eve of conquest. Reading the novel, you get a deep sense of (mis?)guided faith as you witness the two men’s plodding entrance into a new and largely undisturbed world. Every village, mesa, path and stone along the way is offered up for examination and contemplation. In contrast to later, typical Western novels where the outward thrust is violent and clumsily unobservant, Cather allows us to clearly see the trail upon which our nation was to tread.

2. The Dharma Bums, Jack Kerouac (1958)

Dash, gallop and hop-skip from San Francisco to the Sierra Nevada with Ray Smith (Kerouac) and Japhy Ryder (based on the author’s friend, Zen Buddhist and Beat poet Gary Snyder) as they whoop and hike their way out of city life in a search of transcendence. Booted and ruck-sacked, these are perhaps Kerouac’s most “holy” characters. The plot of The Dharma Bums rises up, almost panting, as Kerouac’s signature freestyle prose is ideal for delivering the air and sounds of those epiphanies that only happen in nature. Even at rest, you’re there with them to catch your breath: “The yard was full of tomato plants about to ripen, and mint, mint, everything smelling of mint, and one fine old tree that I loved to sit under on those cool perfect starry California October nights unmatched anywhere in the world.”

3. Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Richard Bach (1970)

“It was morning, and the new sun sparkled gold across the ripples of a gentle sea.” This is the poetic and unforgettable opening to this beautiful tale of rebellion, self-seeking and joyous aerial defiance. Jonathan Livingston Seagull flies both with and against the wind, and has touched millions of readers in that unforgettable, “I remember exactly where and when I read it” way. Richard Bach’s simple tale of the young hero bird is perhaps the closest you’ll ever to come to flying without leaving the ground. Each time he ascends from the confines of the earth, he takes us along with him to feel the assistance and challenge of every breeze and gust that affects his every… single… feather.

4. The Clan of the Cave Bear, Jean Auel (1980)

Twenty-thousand years fail to distance us from the rich natural textures and challenges described by Jean Auel in her story of a chance coming together of a Cro-Magnon girl and a tribe of Neanderthals. You can almost smell the dank caves, primal mud and lush forests of the prehistoric landscape that hosts Ayla and her adoptive clan, as they navigate the edge of the era’s Ice Age. The first of the author’s Earth’s Children series, The Clan of the Cave Bear was based, according to Auel, on a great deal of research, with resulting language that allows us to trust (some have said too much so) the story’s historical backdrop and crawl into the cave of prehistory to enjoy a page-turning plot that, given the success of the series’ ensuing novels, may likely leave you craving more.

5. Water Music, T.C. Boyle (1982)

The first novel of the always funny and insanely observant T. Coraghessan Boyle, Water Music is an historical and satirical examination of two sadly misguided, yet somehow majestic and even glorious tragic heroes—conman Ned Rise and the great adventurer Mungo Park. Taking place largely in Imperial British West Africa, the novel’s lavish language and plot are as twisted as its main characters who come together in the late-1770s/early-1800s in a quest to find fame and fortune—and the source of the Niger River. Tapping into the imagination of discovery, the relationship between the reader and the novel’s landscape—notably the river itself—is cemented early on and lasts through to the (fabulously) bitter end. Guaranteed you’ll find yourself more than once wiping the sweat off your brow in heat of the African day.

6. Galápagos, Kurt Vonnegut (1985)

Back to the sea. That’s where our “big brains” have gotten us in this ghostly accounted, post-apocalyptic tale of the last humans (among them Mick Jagger and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis) and the evolutionary de-evolution that follows our gravest mistakes. What have we become? Wiser perhaps, but mercifully less brainy, the new humans of Galápagos are flippered creatures who hunt with their snouts, and are generally less capable than their ancestors who were, needless to say, occupied with ill-advised tasks like bomb making and facilitating global warming. Like all great Vonnegut tomes, we’re treated here to his rare form of fanciful pessimism, which in some weird way rings optimistic. A maestro of simplicity and irony, the author’s language transports us ethically and emotionally in terms of our relationship with our natural world.

7. Ishmael, Daniel Quinn (1992)

With the natural world embodied in the form of a giant Gorilla/Socratic instructor, Ishmael is Daniel Quinn’s philosophical manifesto as much as it is a novel. The story retells history through a stunningly fresh and clear lens that exposes, point-by point, the illusion of human greatness and superiority as a fantastic and cataclysmic lie. Zeroing directly in on the Bible and the great stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, the book’s teacher unfurls for the narrator new explanations and interpretations of events and roles that allow him (and us) to rethink humanity’s relationship with the environment. While this story doesn’t so much take us outside, per se, it offers a new view of who we are here on this earth and our role in sustaining what is not ours.

8. Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer (1996)

A biography that reads like a mystery (sorry for foray out of fiction here, but you can file this one under “you cannot make this stuff up”), the great chronicler Jon Krakauer invites us to join him in his effort to understand the life of Christopher McCandless. Later made into a truly great movie (in 2007), Into the Wild takes us along on the 24-year-old’s life walkabout, which culminated in his disappearing into the Alaskan wilderness with a 10-pound bag of rice. The journey is one of self-actualization attained by pushing, poking and prodding the natural world a in way that calls upon the painful alchemy of exposure and danger. Somehow this cautionary tale both beckons and warns, presenting the dichotomy of risk and reward in a way that leaves us breathless and wondering what self-discovery is worth.

9. Last Night in Twisted River, John Irving (2009)

Probably too often (and sloppily) referred to as the American Charles Dickens (and a more symbolic and postmodern writer than he would like to admit), John Irving is known for plot brilliance and character development nonpareil. His powerful talents, when turned upon the natural world and how we negotiate it – namely here, New Hampshire’s Androscoggin River and the logging professionals who work on its shores and in its waters – are a literary force to be reckoned with. Last Night in Twisted River’s time on and along the water drives the story forward with Irving’s characteristic power and engagement. While there, we are inside the camps, towns and forests of the Northeast for the plot-developing twists and turns of the author’s 12th and perhaps most natural world-oriented novel.

10. State of Wonder, Ann Patchett (2011)

Reading this story of a Minnesota physician who chases her past and future up the Amazon River, one cannot help but think of the great Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (if you haven’t read it, think Apocalypse Now without the napalm). Indeed, we feel in our guts the upriver suction that possesses Marina Singh as she searches for answers surrounding the fever-caused death of a colleague who succumbed while searching for a mysterious and brilliant pharmaceutical specialist who has disappeared into her “research.” Ann Patchett’s State of Wonder is a page-turner (the plot flows as deliberately as the river itself), and you’re sure to feel the heat and bugs and hot rain as you see “civilization drop away again and again” into a jungle that breathes a single color: “The sky, the water, the bark of the trees: everything that wasn’t green became green.”

Editor’s note: News & Culture contributor Scott Adelson’s biweekly feature, InPRINT, reviews and discusses books new and old, as well as examines issues in publishing.

ALSO CHECK OUT:

InPrint: Gatsby, Paradise and the 1% – F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Pre-Occupation

InPrint: Not for Kids Only – 10 Young Adult Novels You Need to Read

InPrint: On the Road, Again – Revisiting Jack Kerouac

InPrint: Les Histoires De Paris & Two Novel Additions

Top image: Zach Welty

The post InPRINT: 10 Novels That Make You Want to Play Outside appeared first on EcoSalon.

Step one to getting zero waste is keeping your rubbish in sight and in mind: bring that junk into your awareness.

Editor’s note: Rachelle Strauss is the author of My Zero Waste, a homegrown blog and informational site about a family of four striving to reduce the amount of waste they send to landfill each week, month and year. In her ongoing series with EcoSalon, she’s challenging readers to do the possible: reduce household trash to one bin a year.

“Away” is simply somewhere else – a landfill site, an incinerator or a ship to China. The trouble is, once we’ve put something in the ubiquitous black bin bag, it’s out of sight, out of mind. We can’t wait to “get rid of it,” to absolve responsibility for it and, in some cases, forget it ever happened.

I’d like to challenge you to start thinking about your rubbish. Start thinking about what you are doing before you dump something in the bin. Start thinking about what you are buying before you get it home. Bring your rubbish in sight, in mind and into your awareness.

Don’t worry; I’m not asking for an overnight change of habits; this is all about taking baby steps, manageable steps, steps so small you won’t even notice – towards a fantastic goal.

This month, then, I’m challenging you to become aware of your bin habits. That’s all.

What do you throw away without thought? What do you haul to the curbside each week? What do you buy on autopilot without considering the alternatives?

To gain this knowledge you need to take a bin audit.

A Good Dirty, Squirmy Rummage

Rubber gloves are handy. Pull them on and have a rummage. Is your stomach turning yet? It should be. Who wants to be reminded of all the garbage we throw away on a day-to-day basis? It’s okay if you’re disgusted, perhaps you should be. This is the awareness.

Get in there. Have a poke, a prod and a ponder. Hold things up in horror. Feel guilty if you need to for all the food waste in there or the broken plastic that that you really didn’t need to buy in the first place.

Micromanage That Junk

Make a list dividing it into categories like food (waste, packaging, leftovers), household (cleaning product containers, DIY remnants, aerosols), personal (toiletry packaging, sanitary protection, medications packaging).

Use whatever system works for you and write it all down.

Now pin it to the fridge where you can be reminded of your wasteful habits.

Can you measure your waste in some way? Either chuck it on the scales or measure by number of bags. Write this down along with your list of rubbish; it will give you something to feel good about when you can see your progress a couple of months down the track.

If you could work out a percentage, what are the top five wasters in your bin? Is it plastic bottles, yogurt cartons, food waste? Write these down too.

The guilt stops here because you’re on the path to positive change. I’ll even hold your hand. In less than a year you’ll be in possession of a size zero waste.

The dirty work is done. Let the real work begin.

Postscript: In 2009, Rachelle Strauss and her family accumulated one lone and solitary trashcan of landfill waste. It was not an overnight transformation, but rather an 18-month process of planning and a gentle change of habits. In Strauss’ ongoing series with EcoSalon, she challenges readers to do the possible: reduce household trash to one bin a year.

Images: Bonnie Natko; Christopher Wolfe; Duncan Blackwood; The Daily Mail, Dru Bloomfield

The post The Zero Waste Trash Challenge: First Stop, A Bin Audit appeared first on EcoSalon.

Dust, degrease and disinfect with all natural products and items you already have around the house.

The tulips are blooming, the birds are singing, and you’re on your hands and knees in your ugliest sweatpants scrubbing the grout on the bathroom floor. Spring cleaning isn’t exactly fun, but it’s a necessary evil that can be made a lot more pleasant with the use of natural, non-toxic products that won’t leave you with a headache or require a costly trip to the store. If you’ve got baking soda, vinegar, lemons, an old towel and a handful of other common household items, you can give your house a fresh start without spending any money at all.

Fresh Air In, Odors Out

Closed-up houses may be cozy in the winter, but they tend to smell pretty stale. Get some air moving in your house by opening all the windows and positioning a few fans in strategic places, like hallways and stairways. Placing a fan in the window, facing out, can work wonders for your indoor air quality, making it smell as fresh as the outdoors.

Make Glass Sparkle with Newspaper

Nothing gets glass windows and mirrors quite to a streak-free, so-transparent-it’s-dangerous shine like newspaper. You won’t have problems with smeared text because most newspapers are now printed with water-based inks. The paper leaves behind virtually zero lint. Just spray the glass with a 50/50 mixture of water and white vinegar, rub the glass with a dry cloth and then go over the surface with a piece of newspaper.

Cut Old Towels into Cleaning Rags

Those scratchy towels that are no longer fit for post-shower use could provide you with a dozen or more new, totally free cleaning rags. Just cut them up – most terrycloth towels won’t unravel, so you don’t need to worry about breaking out the sewing machine. It’s far better for the planet than using disposable paper towels.

Eliminate Odors with Fresh Lemons

Even the nastiest of odors can’t stand up to the freshening power of fresh lemons. Get rid of garlic, fish and other strong smells using half a cut lemon or some fresh-squeezed lemon juice. To freshen indoor air, simmer lemon peel on the stovetop, adding water as needed.

Freshen the Fridge with Coffee

Among the many unexpected uses for coffee is absorbing funky odors in the refrigerator. If you’ve got stale coffee grounds, or have a bag that’s no longer good for brewing, place a bowl of them in the fridge for a day or so. You can use the same trick to deodorize virtually anything by placing the object in a plastic bag along with a container of coffee grounds.

Sanitize Sponges With Salt

There’s no use trying to clean anything with a sponge that’s teeming with bacteria. Suds up your sponges, rinse them thoroughly and then soak them in cold, heavily salted water for an hour or two. This process will kill the germs and plump the sponges back up again.

No-Scrub Oven Cleaner

It’s time to tackle that burnt-on mess on the bottom of your oven. Baking soda makes it as easy as it gets, and your next batch of cookies won’t taste faintly of chemical cleaners. Sprinkle it liberally all over the floor of the oven, spray it with water until it’s well dampened, and leave it for a few hours. Then just wipe out the mess and use vinegar to remove the film of baking soda residue left behind.

Vinegar for Cleaning Floors

Use a half-and-half solution of white vinegar and water to clean virtually any type of flooring other than porous stones like slate and granite. You can up the cleaning power for unwaxed wood floors, tile or linoleum by mixing 1/3 white vinegar, 1/3 rubbing alcohol and 1/3 water with 3 drops of dishwashing liquid.

Make Reusable Swiffer Covers

There’s no doubt that Swiffers and other floor cleaning tools that use disposable pads can be convenient. But all those sheets add up fast, not only in cost but in the amount of trash you put out each week. Instead of buying refills, sew up a few of your own covers with a pattern you can find at Berlin’s Whimsy.

De-Gunk Microwaves with Baking Soda and Lemon

The citric acid in lemon juice can loosen even the crustiest food residue that gets splattered all over microwave interiors. Place lemon wedges in a small bowl of water and nuke them for two to three minutes. Let it sit without opening the door for about ten minutes, then wipe out the inside. If you still have any odors or nightmarish globs of unidentifiable gunk left behind, use a paste of baking soda and water to scrub them right out.

Polish Wood With Olive Oil

Add a teaspoon of olive oil to a quarter cup of lemon juice for a non-toxic, gentle furniture polish that will remove dust and bring wood surfaces to a brilliant shine. Because this mixture is free of petroleum and waxes, it won’t build up into a dull, gunky finish over time.

Remove Rust with Salt and Lime Juice

Not only is rust hard to scrub away, sometimes it’s impossible – like when it starts to appear inside a tea kettle. Most commercial rust cleaners are highly toxic, so they’re not exactly ideal for use in bathrooms, let alone on a furnace that comes into contact with food. For spots you can reach, slather them in a paste of salt and lime juice, let it sit for a few hours and then scrub it off. To clean the inside of a tea kettle, just add a cup of lime juice and then fill it up with water. Let it sit overnight and then boil it for about ten minutes.

Disinfect Surfaces With Tea Tree Oil

Tea tree oil instantly kills bacteria, viruses and mold, so it’s an ideal antiseptic cleaner for extra-germy spots like doorknobs and toilets. Add two cups of hot water to two tablespoons of 20 Mule Team Borax, plus 1/2 teaspoon liquid dish soap and 1/2 teaspoon tea tree oil. Put it all in a spray bottle, shake it and apply it to any surface that needs to be disinfected.

Deodorize Carpets With Baking Soda

Carpets absorb odors all too easily, making it hard to get rid of a smell like smoke or pet urine. Make them smell almost new again (minus the overwhelming plastic smell of off-gassing VOCs) by sprinkling them with baking soda and letting it sit overnight before vacuuming it all up.

Dust With Old Socks

If your dryer is in on the sock-eating conspiracy, you probably have a few lonely socks sitting around. No need to throw them away. Put one over your hand like a glove and use it to dust surfaces around the house. This works especially well with athletic socks that have been turned inside-out, since the inside is usually textured.

Polish Metal Surfaces With Half a Lemon

Easily remove food residue, fingerprints and other grime from stainless steel or chrome surfaces by slicing a lemon in half, dipping it in salt and rubbing it on the surface in circular motions. Rinse with water.

Unclog Drains With Baking Soda and Vinegar

Drain cleaner is enough to give anyone a migraine. Next time, don’t put yourself through the trauma of gagging on toxic fumes. Dump 3/4 cup of baking soda down the drain and chase it with 1/2 cup white vinegar. Plug the drain, let it sit for 30 minutes and then rinse it out with a kettle full of boiling water. If you do this on a regular basis, you probably won’t have a problem with clogs anymore.

Brighten Yellowed Linens With Lemons or Salt

You don’t need bleach to get white sheets, towels and other laundry looking crisp and bright. Add a quarter cup of lemon juice to the assign machine and then hang them out to dry in the sun. Alternately, you could boil them in a big pot of water with a few tablespoons of salt plus a few tablespoons of baking soda.

Kill Mold With Borax and Vinegar

Mix half a cup of white vinegar with half a cup of Borax (the type sold in the laundry aisle, not the bug-killing kind.) Dilute that mixture with 1/4 cup of warm water, then pour it into a spray bottle. Apply it immediately to moldy surfaces to kill and loosen the mold spores so they’re easy to wipe away.

Organize Cleaning Supplies with a Shoe Holder

Over-the-door shoe holders can organize a lot more than just shoes. Keep all of your cleaning products and tools – which should include boxes of baking soda, bottled vinegar, Borax, empty spray bottles, dish soap, reusable rags, socks and essential oils – visible and handy. Everything will be easy to access and you’ll be able to tell at a glance when you’re running low on a certain item.

Photos: Muffet, Horia Varlan, Beaufort’s TheDigital, Andrew Comings

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We love earth a lot… maybe a little too much.

What is there not to love about our beautiful planet? And with Earth Month now upon us, we thought we’d get even more chummy. Are you enamored, as well? Well then: We’ve found all the right words for you to use to build a new lasting relationship.

Use wisely.

1. In this entire universe, all I want is you.
2. I’d love to explore your longitudes and latitudes.
3. Is that the summit of Mt. Everest or are you just happy to see me?
4. I love getting dirty, and you seem to have a lot of it.
5. I’m an environmentalist, because I wouldn’t want you any hotter than you already are.
6. My middle name could be Magellan, because I love exploring your continents.
7. How many dormant volcanoes do you have? Because I bet I could activate all of them.
8. How deep are your oceans?
9. I can see us in orbit together.
10. I can’t resist your gravitational pull.
11. I’d never mow your grass with a gas mower.
12. I want to fly in your friendly skies.
13. Let’s follow this current wherever it might lead us.
14. Meet me inside Davy Jones’ Locker, I’ll be Neptune, you be my staff.
15. I want to climb your trees and swing.
16. Ain’t no mountain high enough to keep me away from you.
17. I love the way you whip through my hair, I wish it was with hurricane force.
18. Did you say spelunking?
19. You’re so sexy you make me want to flower.
20. I love your soft edges.
21. Want to play chemical make up with my periodic table of elements?
22. You’re millions of years old – I bet you’re experienced.
23. I want to swim deeply in all five of your oceans.
24. Care to show me your ozone layer?
25. Your sunsets are amazing.
26. I’d make your icebergs melt.
27. Should we take this conversation above sea level?
28. I’ve never seen a better looking isthmus.
29. You’re making me as hot as molten magma.
30. What’s your favorite kind of cloud? Mine are cumulus.
31. I bet you know a thing or two about bedrock.
32. Do you believe in the big bang theory?
33. Show me your dunes.
34. Please don’t tell me that’s an impermeable rock.
35. My favorite geological features are created under pressure.
36. Is there a magnetic field between us or am I just attracted to you?
37. Will you teach me about plate tectonics?
38. What is your energy-to-mass ratio?
39. I love stratified layers.
40. You are hot to the core aren’t you?!
41. Venus aint got nothing on you.
42. I wish I were one of your Northern Lights.
43. I don’t care what Copernicus says, you’re the only planet to me.
44. Why don’t we peel back your mantle a bit and have a peek.
45. I would love to experience tectonic subduction with you.
46. Do you think we can we get to absolute zero together?
47. I can’t stop thinking about what is under your topsoil.
48. Want to go back to my place for some geospatial analysis?
49. You throw my center of gravity off.
50. Can I be your axis for the night?

Want more pick up lines? We’ve got you covered. 

Image: NASA Goddard

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The post 50 Pick Up Lines for the Planet appeared first on EcoSalon.

While many think of changing their habits on Earth Day, we bet you’re probably in the know and are taking green strides all month. It is Earth Month, after all!

To make it easier for you to incorporate more fashionable green choices into your lifestyle, TerraCycle is hosting The Greenup! – a pop-up shop that opened on March 27th in New York City and will continue to be open until the end of April.

TerraCycle’s own line-up of products is impressive, as it consists of 100 items made from common waste materials, including food wrappers and yogurt cups. In addition to selling their own wares, TerraCycle plans to use the space to collect over 30 different non-recyclable waste streams, turning the store into the world’s largest ‘Upcycling Center’. And consumers who drop off waste will be entitled to a discount on the products they purchase.

The venue is also providing Thursday evening DIY events, lunchtime workout sessions and presentations from speakers like Josh Dorfman of the Sundance Channel’s The Lazy Environmentalist and Craig Michaels of Riverkeeper.

Held inside what was once an empty retail nook on the corner of 8th and 41st Street at the Port Authority bus terminal, an exhibition area and boutique shop has been carved into the beautiful space showcasing designer duds by RESTORE Clothing, Garbage of Eden Design and Christiana J. Paul Couture’s window display of a dress made entirely from M&M wrappers.

In addition to Terracycle, partners for the month long venue include the Fashion Center Business Improvement District, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and the Times Square Alliance.

Seem like a veritable Earth Month feast? You bet.

The post TerraCycle Celebrates Earth Month in Style appeared first on EcoSalon.