Back to school is just around the corner. Parents are now looking for green ways to save money and the Earth’s resources while going through their daily school routines. One of the concerns is the distance of your home to school and transporting your kids. Whether you drive, walk, take a train, etc… there are always greener alternatives to your current routine.

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On the contrary, back to school also brings pollution. With the majority of people from all ages traveling from home to school or offices, pollution is inevitable. But there are several green ways to reduce the effects of transporting to school:

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Consider carpooling

This is very effective especially for families with different destinations. There are times when your kids are enrolled in different schools that are located in opposite directions. With this scenario, a car pool will be a great solution to save your travel time and gasoline as well. This will also allow your kids to be acquainted with other kids and add more friends. Other carpooling options include pairing up with neighbors and taking turns driving back and forth to school on designated days of the week.

Utilize school bus services

This is one of the greenest ways in going to school. Riding a school bus is affordable and efficient. It provides pressure for kids to wake up early; otherwise, they will be left behind. The good thing with school bus services is that it is safe and usually provided by the school. With school buses, a lot of students are able to go to school with only one means of transportation.

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Bike to school

Biking to school is still one of the greenest modes of transportation, besides walking. The bike doesn’t produce smoke and can double as a form of exercise. You can be sure that you are not only saving money for your transportation but also keeping your body in top shape. With its sleek design, you are free from getting stuck from traffic. This option is ideal for older middle, high school and college students are more independent and can safely get back and forth to school.

Going to school will never be so productive and beneficial when the above-mentioned green solutions are considered.

For more back to school ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

Summer experience is never complete without the splash of your pool. It makes you feel the summer heat and the plunge. A great way to do this is a cool summer pool party with family members or friends. This will certainly boost your summer experience.

However, going green with your pool this summer should still be emphasized. Although swimming in your pool is exciting, ensuring the Earth and your family is safe is equally as important. Ensure this is considered in the water purification of your pool. The use of concentrated chlorine and other harsh chemicals should be avoided.

Image via: Sfgate

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Here are some great alternatives to go green in your pool this summer:

Use saltwater

This kind of water treatment needs to be done a few days ahead. This process requires a small amount of saltwater. So small that it will never be noticed by your guest. The electrolysis produced by salt in pool water allows the cleaning process to take place. This is a natural occurrence and characteristic of salt when dissolve in water. This creates similar treatment with chlorine but in a non-threatening and natural way.

Apply ionization

Water treatment is done in your pool to prevent and stop the growth of algae. With ionization, silver and copper are used to sanitize and cleanse your pool. The infusion of metals like silver and copper will result in conversion of ions brought about by the reaction water molecules. This may sound complicated but can be performed easily by experts.

Image via: Vanguarda Architects

Consider purifying plants

There are several purifying plants that experts recommend to filter your pool from bacteria. For instance, you can have Nymphea Alba, Sparganium Erectum and other plants that effectively provide your pool with the necessary amounts of oxygen and exterminate algae and other organisms. You can always remove these plants before you use the pool for a summer pool party.

Although some of these processes may be tiring and time-consuming but then the help you provide for the environment is all worth it! Use these guidelines for helping “green” your pool this summer. The Earth will appreciate and the health of your family will be improved from harsh chemicals.

For more pool ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

While “saving” and “less” are key concepts associated with going green, there is no need for individuals to deprive themselves. When it comes to making one’s kitchen appliances environmentally friendly, it is all about updating old, non-environmentally-friendly appliances by replacing them with energy-efficient and water-saving appliances. One of the best ways to conserve energy in the kitchen is to choose appliances with Energy Star ratings that indicate the number of kilowatt hours that an appliance consumes in a year. Options for creating a green-appliance themed kitchen are described.

Image via: All Things Elegant.Tumblr

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Refrigerator/Freezer

Choosing an Energy Star qualified refrigerator is the number one way to go. A distinctive quality, they consume 20% less energy than non-Energy Star qualified refrigerators, particularly from the 1970’s and 80’s. Some qualities of energy-efficient refrigerators and freezers are described as follows:

• Size – Energy Star refrigerators fall within the size range of 16-20 cubic feet.
• Temperature –The ideal temperature settings are between 37 and 40 for refrigerators and 5 degrees for freezers.
• Design: Models with top-mounted freezers save 10-25% more energy than side-by-side or bottom-mounted freezers.
• Materials: Refrigerators that are 2001 energy compliant are insulated with polyurethane foam.
• Feature replacement options – Refrigerators with built-in water dispensers and freezers with icemakers consume 14-20% more energy than those without them. As an eco-friendly alternative, individuals can invest in portable pitcher filters to purify water from the kitchen faucet and cool the pitcher-filtered water in the refrigerator. Also, pouring water into ice cube trays and freezing is an alternative to using automatic icemakers.

Dishwasher and Sink

It is important to note that Energy Star dishwashers consume 5,000 less gallons of water per year than washing dishes by hand. Also, Energy Star dishwashers use about four gallons of water per cycle, in contrast to non- Energy Star dishwashers that use about six gallons of water. Further, double-drawer dishwashers are more energy efficient than one-drawer dishwashers. Double-drawer dishwashers allow one to choose between one drawer for small loads or both drawers for large loads. In addition, an eco-friendly sink is designed with aerators that significantly reduce water flow.

Oven

Using ovens during the summer not only consumes a lot of energy in itself, but also requires increased use of air conditioning. If not using an eco-friendly convection oven, which operates with even circulation of air, one can reduce energy by cooking with the following oven alternatives:

• Electric egg cookers – save energy by allowing individual to poach eggs or boil seven eggs in about 13 minutes with the aid of a timing buzzer. Electric egg cookers save water by requiring no more than four ounces of water to cook seven eggs in a six-inch diameter aluminium plate.
• Multi-cookers/steamers – allow steaming, boiling, roasting, stewing, and deep frying foods such as vegetables, fish, roast, and pasta.
• Toaster ovens – heat dishes such as pizza.
• Grilling machines – allow the cooking of grease-free burgers.
• Electric skillets
• Microwaves

Having reviewed these eco-friendly kitchen appliances, one can substantially conserve energy and water. A green kitchen is further portrayed by appliances that are unplugged or connected to a turned-off surge strip when not in use.

Appliance City are specialists in kitchen appliances including a huge variety of stoves and range cookers including the popular American style fridge freezers. For more information visit Appliancecity.co.uk

For more kitchen & bath ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

Earth Day is a celebratory day of Eco-consciousness for the young and old to find new ways to preserve and utilize the Earth’s resources in respectful and focus on conservation. While adults have their organizations, festivals, and even online “Acts of Green” – the children of the world are another important focus for Earth Day. Children are the ones that will teach generations into the future how precious our planet is. Here’s a look at how children spent Earth Day around the world.

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Pakistan 

For school age children in Pakistan the day was highlighted with a puppet show about preserving the Earth’s resources in a fun and playful presentation. ‘Emphasis was on the environmental pollution which includes air, water and land. Beautiful animals’ puppets complained about these pollutions and excessive deforestation and because of lost of their habitats, these species are now endangered or near to extinct. Human beings are also severely affected by these issues.’… The Pakistan Forum

What great ways to get kids involved in their environment and teach conservation habits early.

China

Chinese school aged children color pictures, cut out animals and plants to celebrate the Earth wide celebration of the Earth. Kindergartners enjoyed pairing up with friends to make poster board-sized colorful drawings depicting a cleaner and happier earth.

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Washington State, United States

At Suquamish Elementary the kids celebrated with an Earth Day parade complete with instruments, and costumes of plants, animals, and even sea-encrusted rock marched in their Third Annual Earth Day Parade. “Modeled on an 18-year-old Procession of the Species celebration that began in Olympia and has spread across the country, the parade brings the school and community together.”

Kids playing outside and involved in nature boosts their awareness about Earth’s precious resources. Whether your kids play outside on gorilla playsets or they are conserving water in the bathroom. Earth Day celebrations helped children understand the value of community while playing with fellow friends.

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Australia 

In the land down under the school aged children celebrated Earth Day by reading the book, ‘Easy to be Green: Simple Activities you can do to Save the Earth’ – by Ellie O’Ryan and illustrated by Ivanke & Lola. ‘What sets this book apart from other earth day books is that it is printed on recycled materials with vegetable inks. Easy to Be Green develops eco-friendly consciousness at an early age. Besides information it has Earth-saving tips, fun facts, and easy activities kids can do to help the environment.’.. Today at Play

After the children read the book they took a field trip around their school and collected trash, refuse, and cleaned up their local community and school grounds. What a perfect activity for children all over the world!

Earth day celebrations around the world were exciting for kids to unify and celebrate a common theme and learn important facts about keeping the Earth safe for years into the future. Celebrating Earth Day with children can occur everyday of the year. Ensure you keep your kids and community involved in Earth conservation awareness for the safety of Mother Earth.

For more green living ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

Happy Earth Day! See how you can do your part – in “A Billion Acts of Green’

Earth Day 2011: A Billion Acts of Green®

This year, Earth Day’s theme is themed after A Billion Acts of Green: our people-powered campaign to generate a billion acts of environmental service and advocacy before Rio +20.

Ready to take part in Earth Day 2011? Here is how you can get involved:

	Share your commitment the the environment this Earth Day – declare your Act of Green.
	Organize an Earth Day event in your community.
	Take part by attending an Earth Day event near your.

Other elements of the 2011 Earth Day campaign include:

• The Canopy Project: Help fight deforestation, we will plant a tree for every $1 you donate
• Green Schools: Greening America’s Schools within a Generation
• Women and Green Economy (WAGE): Engaging women leaders in the creation and development of a global green economy
• Athletes for the Earth: Bringing the voices of Olympic and professional athletes to the environmental movement
• Creating Climate Wealth: Convening 200 of the world’s entrepreneurs to solve climate change and create a new green economy
• Arts for the Earth: Celebrating the work of environmental artists in all media, including
  • Design: Browse submissions to the Acts of Green contest – You can purchase the winning t-shirt on April 22.
  • Music: visit our Music for the Earth contest – download hundreds of free Earth Day-themed songs
  • Museums: Our partnership with the American Museum Association

For more information on Earth Day 2011, click here.

Welcome to D.I.Y. Saturday at Stagetecture! As we continue ‘Making your home life easier’ month here at Stagetecture, last weeks – D.I.Y. Saturday #36 – Making your Home Energy Efficient taught you simple ways to make your home more energy efficient. This week we are going to learn how to make your Laundry room and/or Mudroom eco-friendly for your home. Whether you are trying to save energy with your tumble dryer, or you want an eco-friendly layout in your space, these tips will help.

For many home owners the laundry room is an easy culprit of wasteful energy, and environment depleting culprits. Here are tips to help you design an eco-friendly laundry and mudroom if they are combined.

To give you inspiration, here is a YouTube video of  HGTV’s Jaime Durie showing you the HGTV Green Home’s laundry and mudroom!

How to create an eco-friendly laundry room from ehow.com

• Revamp you current laundry room. Take a look at what space you have to work with and reorganize things to make a more functional workstation.
• Be sure your laundry room has proper ventilation. Pay attention to windows, fans, and doorways in your laundry room or space. Most likely you will be able to position appliances for ideal ventilation
• Use energy- and water-saving appliances whenever possible. Many companies are making more environmentally safe washers and dryers.

• Maximize your space. Utilize shelving to store supplies, cleaning products, laundry baskets and other essentials. Make use of special hangers. Install a clothing hanger on the wall for shirts and other laundry that needs to be ironed. This will help cut down on wrinkles so you don’t have to use your iron as much.
• Utilize an octopus hanger. It will help you save money and space. Use it to hang all your delicates or light-weight items rather than wasting electricity drying them.
• Hang laundry outdoors whenever you can. Use a retractable clothesline complete with a hook for bags of clothespins. Nothing beats the smell of fresh, clean laundry on a spring day.

For more laundry room ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

In our continuance of “Making your home life easier” month, I’m constantly asked how do you find ways to use eco-friendly practices in your baby’s nursery? When it comes to our children, whether you are renovating their space, decorating, or cleaning, we want them to be safe and we want to protect the environment while doing it. I have done a few posts for other sites about the subject, but then realized I didn’t have one on Stagetecture!

Here is mine at Freshome: 5 Eco-Friendly Ways to Renovate Kid’s Rooms

Here is an article I was featured in at Tiny Green Mom: Greening Baby’s Nursery on a Budget. It has great tips, and thought it would be helpful as we find ways to make life easy, healthy, and enjoyable for our home this month. We obviously should start with the littlest humans of the house, right?!

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For new moms, creating a safe, comfortable and planet-friendly nursery on a budget can often be challenging! How can the average household stick to a tight budget and still provide a peaceful, “green” environment for the newest member of the household? The following tips & suggestions show that yes, it IS possible for the average household to create a space that is kind to baby, the wallet and the environment!

Choose Low to Zero VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) Paint

Olympic® Premium Zero VOC Interior Paint is the only paint available in any color, available exclusively at Lowe’s, making it easy if you want to live and decorate “green.” You can choose from more than 1,200 colors in Olympic Paint’s palette or custom color match any color for the perfect hue for baby’s nursery. Unlike traditional paints, Olympic Premium Zero VOC Interior Paint is virtually odorless, which means you can breathe easy and have a more enjoyable painting experience, while contributing to the health of your home and the environment. Olympic Premium® paint starts at $18 a gallon, so not only is it good for indoor air quality, but it’s great for your budget, too!

Opt for Natural

From the furnishings to the crib sheets to the mattress – natural truly is better. One of the best items to “splurge” on for baby is an organic crib mattress. According to Shannon Choe, Founder of Premier Baby Concierge, “New parents are usually shocked to learn that most traditional mattresses have a vinyl cover with PVC, which is one of the most toxic plastics, and are foam made from petroleum with the toxic additive polyurethane and that these are tied to respiratory issues and are known carcinogens.  Babies sleep a lot and spend a lot of time in their cribs, so the mattress is obviously one of the most important purchases parents will make and they should definitely learn more.”

However, for those on a strict budget, this simply may not be an option in this economic climate! This is where Natural Mat comes in – they have created an Organic Top Mat that is 100% Organic lambswool in a quilted cover. The Organic Top Mat is an economical way to give your precious cherub the key benefits of an organic mattress, at less than half the price. It fits easily over any existing mattress, protecting baby from breathing in any toxic chemicals, and as it rolls up easily, it can be utilized as a travel mat for naps on-the-go!

For sheets, purchase two fitted organic cotton sheets for starters. Babies do not require a top sheet, and having two fitted sheets, one on the mattress and one clean in the drawer, is truly all you need. Kushies offers lovely, super-soft 100% Organic Cotton sheets, in a variety of hues for baby’s nursery. At just $25.49, two sheets will not break the bank, and will have everyone breathing easier! www.kushiesonline.com

Ronique Gibson, of Stagetecture, chimes in, “For inexpensive décor and baby toys opt for natural wood objects over plastic formed ones. Instead of choosing expensive out-of-the box toys, use simple household items, like wood kitchen utensils and pots and pans for noise makers.”

For bedding and furnishings, look for natural materials made from jute, seagrass, wool or cotton for area rugs and simple window treatments. Consider using sheets and simple materials from a fabric store to keep costs down for window treatments and wall hangings.”

Clean & Freshen the Nursery Without Chemicals

Keeping a handle on germs with a newborn in the house is top-of-mind for most parents! When cleaning baby’s nursery, choose non-toxic, eco-friendly cleaning supplies that will not expose your child to harsh chemicals.

Munchkin offers a powerful, portable Arm & Hammer Nursery Freshener that contains the power of baking soda & scented with soothing lavender that can be placed in diaper pails, diaper bags, changing tables, hampers, and more to keep odors at bay! www.munchkin.com

For cleaning the nursery, Eco Clean is a non-toxic, child-friendly collection fragranced with fresh smelling essential oils (orange rosemary, spicy lavender and cool mint). Since Eco Clean is made of plant and sugar-based surfactants, no toxic gases or fumes are released upon contact with water.  This is a delightful choice for the entire household, as well! All Eco Clean products are available for $4.49 at www.Alice.com and Duane Reade, and a little truly goes a long way!

For more green living ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

Last week I had a guest blogger on from EZ Slide Cabinet Hardware, and this week I thought I’d have a guest blogger on that

showcases kitchen cabinetry. Not just any kitchen cabinetry, but bamboo – that is eco-friendly, renews quickly in nature and is gorgeous to the touch and eye.

Guest blogger Joseph Freenor from CFT411 – Cabinet and Furniture and Information, shows us how a California cabinetry maker utilizes eco-friendly bamboo in their beautiful cabinetry. By the way, Joseph is a wonderful cabinet maker too!

I don’t normally write about other cabinetmakers, and I extra especially do not write about cabinetmakers in Southern California who aren’t named Joe, but every now and again, something comes along that makes a firm rule develop a bit of flexibility. And Laguna Bamboo is very much a case in point. What first piques my interest in them is their use of bamboo, as my partner uses this material whenever he can, such as in his bamboo shoe benches—and does so for the same reason that Laguna Bamboo does so. It is environmentally sound, by which we mean that the use of it does little or no damage to the environment.

Any forest, once cut, requires replenishment, and under the right circumstances, this can be arranged. A hardwood forest of oak, for example, once harvested is not forever lost. It can be re-grown. The problem, though, is that it takes many decades for this forest to re-grow, and if it is to be characterized as “old growth,” it must be left alone until the growth is old—several centuries. Bamboo, by way of distinct contrast, reaches full growth in four years! That is not a misprint, not a forty or four hundred that somehow became a four. It is four years.

Laguna Bamboo 3 The other part of the equation that makes bamboo particularly attractive is that it is both very hard and very capable of being shaped into a product that is usable by woodworkers. When we first started this website I wrote a lengthy nine-blog dissertation on the need for bamboo plywood and its many uses, but let me just summarize that here by saying that it is now possible to get plywood sheets that are not plywood at all in the traditional sense of the word. They are made up of bamboo that has been sliced into strips and glued into sheets. These sheets are then glued together just as traditional plywood would be—each sheet positioned at 90° to the preceding sheet—and the result is actually stronger than regular plywood because bamboo is so hard. It can be milled like wood, finished like wood, and used like wood, but it does not grow like wood. At four years of age bamboo is harvested. The mighty oak tree at that age, by way of distinct contrast, is mostly just thinking about becoming an oak one day. You might also check out my partner Joe Dusel’s discussion on bamboo plywood.

These pictures, as I indicated earlier, are from Laguna Bamboo, and those of our readers who are in the Orange County area may want to check out this company for their kitchen projects. But I cannot close this blog without urging my San Diego area readers to check out Woodistry, as my partner has also done a lot of innovative work with this product. That’s the thing with an idea whose time has come. No one ever corners the market on it!

For more echo-friendly ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

Happy Earth Day 2010! What are you doing to help the Earth? Do you even know where to start? There are several resources, activities, social media outlets, and information out there.  Here are some resources to get you started.  Don’t just sit there, get up and do your one part today to save the Earth!

Read below the core issuesthat the Earth is facing. Pick a few to get started on immediately. Have your family get involved. This is for everyone who wants future generations to have a beautiful Earth!

Core Issues:
Green Economy

Conservation & Biodiversity

Education

Green Schools

For the rest of the core issues visit Earth Day.org.

• Follow the Earth Day Network on Facebook.

• Click here to sign: The Earth Day 2010 Climate Declaration –

April 25 is our chance to demand accountability from Congress.  Americans from all walks of life will

gather for the Climate Rally on the National Mall in Washington, DC. There, we will demand that our

leaders pass strong climate legislation that benefits all Americans while sending a powerful message to the polluter lobby: we’ve had enough of dirty power, the time for change is now.

Help us motivate Congress by signing this petition. During The Climate Rally, your name will appear in lights – all signers will be displayed to the crowd, and to Congress, in a visualization of the power behind America’s call for fair, ambitious and comprehensive climate legislation.

Sign our petition – Show Congress that America is serious about clean energy and a sustainable future

• Click here to: Get On The Climate Rally Bus!

Are you committed to having a positive impact in the fight against climate change? Are you ready to step up and make a difference? Have you always wanted to come to Washington to tell Congress that now is the time for change?  Do you want to take a FREE trip to DC to make your voice heard?

Join Earth Day Network for The Climate Rally on April 25 in Washington, DC! The Climate Rally will bring together environmental advocates from across the country to move Congress to pass comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation.  We need YOU to be there to make this event a turning point in the environmental movement!