Lawn Care Providers Pay Attention to Health and Environment

As discussed in Organic Lawn Care: Safer, Cheaper, Easier, we have many good health and environmental reasons to pay attention to how we care for our lawns. The good news is that larger lawn care companies now offer better visibility into their products and practices, and are aware of the benefits to sustainable property care.

Corporate websites for lawn care offer greater information on the environmental benefits to choosing their services, and provide information to their customers about the safety of the products being used.

For example, TruGreen Lawn Care mentions some valid environmental benefits of maintaining a healthy landscape. Healthy trees, plants and shrubs can prevent erosion and build fertile topsoil (via decay of lawn clippings, roots, and shoots). They also help to reduce water runoff, which in effect recharges the water table with more purified water. Proper positioning of trees creates better home shading in warm weather, lowering energy costs in the process.

On the health side, keeping a groomed landscape can moderate temperatures and noise, reduce glare, and control some allergens. And carefully selecting only FDA and doctor-approved products will keep our children and pets healthier.

We should all ask that our local lawn care providers to consider these elements when providing their services. The impact of even a fraction of the households taking action would be great, and another step toward better sustainability

Summer Streets of NYC

Guest blogger May Joseph is the artistic director of Harmattan Theater, a group interested in water politics and urban ecology of New York City.

Picture Park Avenue South’s magisterial approach to Grand Central Station filled with human movement along its broad avenue. Picture the view from Grand Central looking uptown, all human scale movement in different states of propulsion. The image you conjure is the impossible scenario of Manhattan without cars. At least a portion of the center of Manhattan, Park Avenue, Lexington, Madison, without cars. The event is called Summer Streets, an experiment Mayor Michael Bloomberg initiated last year through the Department of Transportation.

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Free Refills on Your Water – TapIt

We all know that the use of disposable water bottles and coffee cups is on the rise and out of control. If you’re reading this, you probably already have a snazzy reusable water bottle and mug that you haul around to lessen your contribution to the landfill. Unfortunately, when we’re out and about, it can be difficult to find a place to refill your bottle. Some cafes and restaurants will turn you away from using their water if you’re not a paying customer.

And if you live in a big city, public restrooms and sanitary water can be a rarity. The TapIt water bottle refilling network is an attempt to make it easier to refill your water bottle so you don’t have to pay for water (something that used to be free!). Founded in 2008, TapIt is working with cities to map out places of businesses that have agreed to provide free tap water refills. Several businesses sign on as partners and these partners can be found on city maps. Have an iPhone? There’s an application to let you know the nearest TapIt partner location.

According to TapIt, they are “. . . not just about going bottle-less; less bottles, less recycling, less water privatization and extraction,A it’s about understanding why those things are a problem and finding new and sustainable 21st century solutions.” They also claim to be advocates for health, since sugary drink substitutes are often what people will succumb to if unable to find free fresh water.

So far, New York City is the only city available, but TapIt is working hard to coordinate with other cities to make the TapIt project a reality across the nation.

You can learn more at http://www.tapitwater.com/

Green Books for the Young and Young Adult

Guest blogger Jennifer Ochs is a freelance writer. She currently conducts book reviews and author interviews for her weblog NY Book Cafe. In addition she is a freelance manuscript reader, editor/proofreader.

“Generation Green: The Ultimate Teen Guide to Living an Eco-Friendly Life”, by Linda Sivertsen and Tosh Siversten – Simon & Schuster, August 2008

Generation Green is a practical guide for green living today. Particularly geared towards teens, this book provides various ways in which all of us can make small changes in our lifestyle which can lead to big changes and promote a better world. The theme of the book is that individual change can cause collective change for a brighter and better tomorrow.

This book provides many useful tips as well as resources. From recycling to marshland preservation, many environmental issues are discussed. Linda Sivertsen wrote this book along with her 18 year old son. Therefore, the information presented is very user friendly, promotes environmental consciousness and is overall a good read for all ages.

“Michael Recycle Meets Litterbug Doug”, by Ellie Bethel – Worthwhile Books, March 2009

In this addition to the Michael Recycle Books, Litterbug Doug lives in a green town. However, he leaves his garbage everywhere, he is lazy and doesn’t clean up after himself. Michael Recycle, the caped crusader, seeks to show Litterbug Doug a better way of living to promote a greener environment. In this installation to her Michael Recycle books, author Ellie Bethel conveys a good message to the young reader.

“Going Solar” Affordably

The focus of government programs encouraging the individual use of alternative energy sources focusing primarily on high end systems, particularly solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, although well-intentioned, may ultimately end up ineffective for the most part. Programs that result in significant numbers using at least some solar, geothermal or other alternative energy sources are infinitely more valuable than ones that are more expensive but are only utilized by a small “elite” of environmentally aware AND financially well off consumers.

While strong majorities of Americans believe that all new home construction ought to offer consumers a solar option, and most state that they would be willing to pay a premium of 10% more on a new home, very few Americans currently own solar home installations.

No doubt part of the reason for that lies in the fact that most people are only aware of PV and, to a somewhat lesser extent, solar hot water systems. PV systems are often out of reach for most Americans because of high initial costs. Solar hot water systems, while not as costly, are still out of the reach of a lot of consumers, and often have performance, maintenance and installation issues.

Fortunately there are a number of additional alternatives for “going solar,” all of which are significantly less costly than PV systems. Also many of these systems are passive and thus have no moving parts or major maintenance issues.
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Green Apartment Trends: Coming to a Community Near You!

As the green movement marches on, apartment buildings are starting taking notice. Green building has been largely focused on houses and remodeling, leaving the renter out of options for greening up their home. In fact, living in an apartment or shared housing situation decreases your carbon footprint greatly versus having a house.

As a renter of a house, I’m continually frustrated at the helplessness I feel at not being able to remodel my house to be more energy efficient. Yes, we recycle, limit water use, and use green products, but the house still has a long way to go before it is environmentally-friendly. The fact is that I don’t have the money to remodel a place I will move out of in a year or two. Most people don’t want to invest the time and money into making a place sustainable when they’ll leave eventually.

The Green Apartment Trend
Green apartment complexes are springing up to meet new demands for a sustainable place to live for renters. These complexes vary in their execution of what they consider to be green, but generally they are more energy efficient through building materials or alternative energy. They also will tend to encourage environmental practices, like having safe bike storage or offering free electronics recycling. Some places will even donate a percentage of their property management fees to an environmental cause.

The Boutique Apartments in Denver, Colo., is one such green apartment company that is trying to change the face of renting. They own eleven buildings throughout the city—each with a different theme, all with the same commitment to green living. They install energy efficient kitchen appliances, water heaters, and boilers. They use white roofs instead of black ones to keep the buildings cooler in the summer, thus using less air conditioning. Bamboo floors were installed instead of oak floors, as bamboo is a more sustainable resource.

Green AND Beautiful
The aesthetics of green, sustainable apartments in general are also unique and beautiful. I’ve always been depressed by the uniformity of giant apartment complexes: white walls, identical floor plans—boring. It seems as though the leaders in the green apartment business are interested in making beautiful spaces for their tenants with recycled art, funky appliances, beautiful low-VOC paint on the wall in an actual color. It’s these little touches that will make the green apartment trend blow up.

Some states are starting to give incentives to those that build apartments in a sustainable fashion. Even without the incentive, these buildings will eventually pay for themselves through energy savings. Renters are looking for the X factor when scouring complex after complex, and this is it.

Home Staging: It Gets Results and It’s Green

Despite the down economy, home stagers are busier than ever, as today’s realtors insist that staging is the most cost effective way to maximize home sale profits. It also happens to be one of the most sustainable ways to attract buyers.

Home staging is not tasteful decorating. In fact, when potential buyers walk into un-staged but tastefully decorated homes, the personal style of the existing homeowner distracts them from envisioning the space as a home of their own.

Home stagers, like retail display designers, aim to enhance a product’s appeal. Although the scale is different, the principles are the same: maximize the space, eliminate distractions and increase the traffic flow.

Sustainable Ways to Successfully Stage Your Home

Approach the big purge with mindfulness and commitment.
De-cluttering is an essential step that cannot be missed. Homeowners usually find this phase of the process tiresome, tedious and frustrating but it is a critical one, nonetheless. Trimming ship is the first step towards punching up profits. I advise my clients to reduce everything on display by half and then to recycle unwanted items by selling them or donating them. Three worthy, tax-deductible recipients are Goodwill, local homeless shelters and the public library. Also keep in mind that animal shelters and vets love used linens!
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