CasaSugar

Earth Day Quiz!

CasaSugar — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 11:00:11 -0700

How well-informed and friendly are you when it comes to our dear Earth? Take this quiz to find out!

Question 1 of 5

Which Charlie's Angel wrote the foreword of a book about living an environmental lifestyle and starred in Sundance's Iconoclasts series, where she headed to New Orleans to talk about the environmental impact of Hurricane Katrina?

Happy Earth Day!

CasaSugar — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 06:15:28 -0700

Happy Earth Day! Today, take a moment to care for your environment, and to think about how you can live your life in an eco-friendlier manner. Maybe it's as simple as unplugging your appliances when they're not in use, or watering your garden at the right time of day. There are plenty of small changes you can make that add up.
Want to join an Earth Day event in your community? Search here to find an Earth Day event near you.

Happy Earth Day!

CasaSugar — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:00:43 -0700

To celebrate Earth Day when I was in grade school, my friends and I rewrote the lyrics to TLC's "Waterfalls" with verses like "Don't go littering the earth, Please stick to the recycling bins," and sang them to the tune of the song playing on my boombox. Even though that is an utterly awesome image, I think I'll save you the pain of hearing my voice this Earth Day. Instead, I thought I'd round up some of my favorite Casa Verde posts that I've written.

I hope that's enough for you to chew over on this special day. And, when you've finished reading, remember to unplug your computer from the wall.
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How Have You Made Your Home Greener in the Past Year?

CasaSugar — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 12:00:56 -0700

Happy Earth Day! In the past year, what have you done to make your home greener?
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How-To: Making Your Wedding a Little Greener

CasaSugar — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 06:30:30 -0700

Unfortunately, just because you're holding your wedding ceremony in the great outdoors that doesn't mean your celebration is good for the planet. If you want some ideas for cutting down on the environmental impact of your big day, take a look at my tips.

For a Greener Wedding

Who doesn't love flowers? You can keep your flowers eco by buying organic blooms or buying the flowers locally.
When considering where to hold your wedding, think about where most of your guests are located. Midwest? East Coast? The Southwest? Then, consider holding your ceremony there. It will cut down on travel expenses as well as the environmental cost of planes, trains, and automobiles.
You can now buy compostable cups, plates, and utensils for your shindig. This means that your guests' plates will end up enriching the soil instead of sitting in a landfill.
If guests are traveling from a long distance, ask them to offset the carbon produced from their travel. It's cheap, quick, and easy. In lieu of wedding favors, which are often thrown away or forgotten, you could also offset your entire wedding guest list's carbon output. You could have a message telling them about the carbon offset "gift" printed up on wildflower seed cards that are left on each guest's plate. Make sure the guests take the cards home and plant them.

For the rest of my tips, just read more.

Instead of cut flowers, arrange small potted flowers in groupings on reception tables. Encourage guests to take the plants home to their garden at the end of the party.
Keep your registry eco-oriented, with gifts from green designers, artists, and furniture stores. Crate and Barrel and Ikea are two big retailers that have consistently scored high marks in terms of environmental responsibility.
Print your invitations on recycled paper that use nontoxic, soy-based inks.

Anyone else have some great ideas to make your wedding greener? Let me know by leaving a comment below.

For all of our wedding coverage check out IDoSugar.
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DIY: Botanical Prints

CasaSugar — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 05:15:57 -0700

I found this great DIY on Design Happens, and it fit so well into this month's theme and Earth Day that I had to share.

Here's What You Need

Plant cuttings from your yard or a nearby park (remember to only take one from each plant)
Clear acrylic finish
Plexiglas frames to match number of cutting you want to frame
Matting to match number of frames
Watercolor paper
Hot-glue gun

To find out how to put these botanical prints together, read more.

Gather cuttings that you like from your yard or a local park. Let the cuttings dry to ensure that they'll maintain their colors.
Spray the cuttings with a clear acrylic finish, which will protect the color.
Purchase Plexiglas frames and mat board for the back.
Hot glue the clippings onto heavyweight watercolor paper.
You can also write each clipping's botanical name onto the watercolor paper.
Assemble into the frames.

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Cool Idea: Living Wall Systems

CasaSugar — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 04:30:00 -0700

To kick off Earth Day here on Casa, I thought I'd show you a very cool way to bring a little green into a cramped-for-space home or garden. The ELT Easy Green Living Wall ($39 - $249) is a modular-living wall panel that you can buy pregrown or that you can plant on your own. Made of 100-percent recyclable plastic, it is environmentally friendly, not to mention aesthetically pleasing. A vertical garden of sorts, it's a great option for those lacking green space, but it also has a wonderful, modern visual quality that I've seen nowhere else. Each Living Wall looks unique, as its appearance all depends on which plants are used. There are numerous ways to use Living Walls; you can take a traditional route, using it as decor (like a planter), give it function, using it as a fence, or take a modern approach, livening up an exterior wall, as shown. What do you think? Would you buy one (or several)? I kind of want one . . .

View 19 Photos ›

Casa Verde: RuMe Reusable Bags

CasaSugar — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 15:00:41 -0700

The question "paper or plastic?" is nearly passé by now, since so many of us are using reusable shopping bags. One company that I've been particularly impressed with is Denver, CO-based RuMe, which was launched on Earth Day last year. RuMe bags aren't only durable and fair-trade certified, they also come in a variety of styles and sizes. I also love that the bags' long handles make them easy to sling over your shoulder, and that their box-stitch sides and bottom makes it easier to pack items like bottles and boxes. Also, these tiny bags can be rolled up and tied together (equaling the size of a cup of coffee), which means they'll fit into even your smallest purse.

While the bags are slightly more expensive than other reusable bags, there are two good reasons for that. RuMe bags, which retail for $30 or less, are made of a higher-quality, thicker, water-resistant 180 denier polyester that can hold up to 50 lbs. The bags are also produced in a government-certified, fair-trade factory, where costs are slightly higher than if the bags were made in an unregulated factory.

Interested in getting a RuMe? Good news: you can now get one for 20 percent off, and I'll tell you how when you read more.

Starting today, you can buy RuMe bags sitewide for an additional 20 percent off. Just enter the promotional code EARTH at checkout to receive the discount, from now until the end of Earth Day (that's April 22).

Link Time! (Special Earth Day Selections)

CasaSugar — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 11:00:40 -0700

Grist has 10 green gadgets to lust over. I actually registered for this Solio Charger.
YumSugar has a great Earth Day quiz for you to try.
Apartment Therapy takes a look at vertical farming.
Danny Seo shares a peek of his green kitchen reno.
Design Happens looks at 20 ways to save the planet.
Inhabitat shows off Australia's greenest development.
Photojojo has some green photography tips.
Treehugger reports on some shocking facts about space garbage.
YouGrowGirl chats about early Spring planting.

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Casa Verde: Wooden Furniture That's Green and Budget-Friendly

CasaSugar — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 07:00:22 -0700

Slate magazine recently answered a reader's question about affordable, earth-friendly furniture. Are the two concepts compatible? And what are the best options? You can read the whole article here, but I've handily summed up the advice from writer Nina Shen Rastogi. The first (and perhaps most obvious) piece of advice is to buy the highest quality, solid wood furniture you can afford. This way, your furniture will last for decades (at least).
Ready for the rest of the advice? Then read more.

Furniture made from medium-density fiberboard is an affordable option that is made from leftover sawdust and lumber scraps. It takes more energy to produce MDF than it does to process lumber. However, as the article notes, "[f]igures from New Zealand suggest that, on a pound-for-pound basis, the production of composite-wood products is more energy-efficient [PDF] than making plastics and most metals."
Plywood, another type of composite panel, uses about the same energy to produce as MDF.
Buyer beware, though: MDF, particleboard, and plywood all contain adhesives that may release formaldehyde, a known human carcinogen, according to the International Agency For Research on Cancer.
The cheaper the furniture, the more likely it is to release formaldehyde, since it's more expensive to use more high-quality, less toxic glues, and to cure the furniture over time to ensure that the furniture isn't releasing formaldehyde.
To avoid this danger, look for furniture with low- or no-formaldehyde adhesives.
If your new MDF or particleboard furniture contains recycled content or alternative fibers, it is less likely to offgas.
If your particleboard or MDF furniture smells funky, leave it outside for a few days so it can offgas outside of your living space.
When buying solid wood furniture, ask about how the wood is sourced. Look for certification from the Forest Stewardship Council. Always ask retailers about how the wood is sourced, and let them know that this is important to you as a consumer.
The best option for both your budget and the planet is to buy secondhand solid wood furniture. Check flea markets, Craigslist, and tag sales for quality items.