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

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.

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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Cuyahoga River Fire of 1969, a Spark for Environmentalism

On June 22, 1969, an oil slick and assorted debris caught fire under a railroad trestle on the Cuyahoga River. It was a relatively quick fire, having only burned for 30 minutes. The occurrence was barely covered in the local Cleveland newspapers, and did not receive much attention until a month later, when Time Magazine made it a national issue.

What most people don’t know is that the fire was one of a dozen similar incidents when oil and chemical-soaked debris ignited on the Cuyahoga. And it didn’t happen only in Cleveland – rivers flowing through urban centers often served as sewers for industrial waste.

40 years later, the Cuyahoga fire remains a powerful symbol of an industrialized planet in peril and our impending environmental crises. The event had such a great impact that many credit it as being a catalyst for Congress to pass the Clean Water Act in 1972, and for the creation of agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency.

In recognition of the four decades of progress since the fire, 2009 has been dubbed “The Year of the River” in Cleveland. This year is a celebration of the progress made in cleaning local waterways, and to recognize that additional efforts are still needed to further clean and maintain these natural resources.

Also commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Cuyohoga River fire, Positively Cleveland is has compiled a nice list of the 75 “green” things we love about Cleveland.

Additional Articles and Videos on the Cuyahoga River fire:

• Cuyahoga River Community Planning Organization
• Positively Cleveland – 75 Green Things We Love About Cleveland
• VIDEO: Retired Congressman Louis Stokes talks about his theory for pursuing clean water laws: If we could clean up the Cuyahoga River, we could clean up any body of water in the nation.
• VIDEO: Ben Stefanski II remembers standing at the river with Mayor Carl Stokes the day after the fire, declaring war on water pollution.
• VIDEO: Frank Samsel, retired owner of Samsel Supply Co., wasn’t surprised the river caught fire. He recalls regularly sucking up fats from rendering plants along with fuel and chemical spills.

Are Fireworks Environmentally Friendly?

The Fourth of July is a holiday of mixed feelings and varying acts of celebration. Some people hide in the bathroom with their pained, frightened dogs while sounds of war surround their city, while others spend hundreds of dollars on fireworks and relish the opportunity to make things go BOOM. The one thing about the Fourth that’s agreed upon is the wonderful day off from work that accompanies this holiday. But what about the fireworks? All the smoke and chemicals can’t be good for the environment, right?

Right.

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Green Real Estate Search and Ratings: GreenHomeFinder.com

The growing percentage of buyers and renters looking for sustainable real estate, to date, have only been served by generalized listing sites like Craigslist and local online classifieds. Now, GreenHomeFinder.com provides a “one stop shop” for a new niche – listing and rating the green features of properties online.

With databases set up to provide prospective renters and buyers with links to everything from the prospective neighborhood’s bamboo flooring contractors to the eco-friendly dry cleaners, Greenhomefinder.com is poised become the most comprehensive green property search engine in the United States. Property owners and managers who take advantage of this opportunity can now get properties listed at no cost for the next year and listing packages, products packages, services packages and advertising space is available for various reasonable fees.  Owners and property managers wanting more exposure can also purchase a “Branded Listings” package that enables the lister to add more photos  and information.

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Green Cleaning this Spring: Healthier and Still Cost-Effective

Still have some spring cleaning to do? Maybe you’re just obsessive compulsive and follow guests, pests and everything else around your home with a Swiffer and bleach to keep things squeaky clean. Whatever your weapon of choice may be — bleach, Windex, knee pads and a toothbrush — the point here is that standard cleaning products can be harmful to both you and the environment. What to do? Well, let’s have a look at how you can clean green without spending too much green…

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