More popularly known as Green Building, this is a method of constructing a home or building with the use of environmentally friendly products and technique. Much thought is given to what is available at the site it self, it is a boon to be able to harvest energy, water and some materials for the construction. This type of construction combines urban and wild land development, you have a modern home using mostly natural materials that are found around your land. Excess wood from the trees that cut to make way for the construction site may be used as flooring for a particular room.

Green Building costs less since most of the materials needed are easy to manufacture and do not put the environment or your health at risk. Imagine positioning a building in a direction that takes advantage of natural lighting and wind direction. To keep energy use at a minimum, a well insulated structure using safe insulation is needed. With Green Building, the worry for toxic fumes emitted by artificial insulation is a thing of the past.

Since technology in Green Building is evolving and the response to the demands for the environmentally sound materials are acknowledged by the building materials industry. “Green Building Products” is gaining acceptance, not just because of its impact on the environment but because of the excellence in quality. All of these materials comply to construction standards in appearance, practicality and durability. These may be eco-friendly but also succeed in adding an appealing visual quality to the room. Designing with green materials also gives architects and designers the freedom to extend the norms of building design, appearance and style. Green designers look for materials that are available and easily replaceable. Using old techniques with the use of technology make natural materials available without the risk of exploiting the source. The Bamboo Grass and the Cork Tree are two of the favored construction materials for flooring. The life of the tree is never endangered when the needed materials are extracted. The Cork Tree bark is just stripped leaving the tree still living. While the Bamboo Grass, is harvested according to the shoot’s age. Since shoots are known to grow from a single root, extraction is not dangerous.

The next time you think of remodeling your house, keep in mind what is healthy for you and still looks great. We must remember, if we think green we will always see green.

by Gladys J Co
About the author:A feature writer who is an in-house writer for http://agentsofvalue.com

Image Source: http://flickr.com/photos/gsbrown99/2504988631/

Author: Ernest Jarquio

“There is no question that bamboo is a renewable resource- it is a grass and grows very quickly. Where oak takes 120 years to grow to maturity, bamboo can be harvested in three.” Treehugger.com

Bamboo flooring is very quickly gaining popularity with many businesses as well as homeowners. There are many benefits to be gained from the installation of bamboo flooring in your home compared to other kinds of wood flooring. The main one of these is that it is much stronger as well as being denser than hardwood floors. This quality also makes it very resistant to moisture.

In addition, this type of flooring as produced by such companies as Morning Star Bamboo Flooring is very easy to install as a do-it-yourself project, so that makes it cost effective. Plus it is also extremely easy to maintain.

Bamboo flooring is made from the canes of the bamboo plant which can grow up to 100 ft high and can be between 45 and 60 cm in width. These canes are split and then flattened before they can be glued (laminated) together under extreme pressure and then made either into planks, tiles or strips of laminated bamboo flooring.

This method makes them really strong and durable as well as looking very elegant once the flooring has been laid. The process of bamboo flooring installation is a very simple one that anyone can carry out for themselves. Many of the companies selling this product offer you a glueless bamboo flooring system known as click lock where you just click the joints into place so there is no need for toxic adhesive products to be used during this process.

When looking to buy bamboo flooring there are hundreds of sites on the internet where it can be purchased from. But there are also many flooring companies around the US now selling this sustainable and environmentally friendly flooring. If you were to do a search of the internet for bamboo flooring in Oregon or say Los Angeles or Seattle you will be amazed at the results that you would come up with.

“Contrary to the concerns of some, the harvesting in these forests is not a threat to Pandas, as they live at much higher elevations and eat a different species of bamboo.” Buildinggreen.com

As well as bamboo flooring being very strong and durable and also easy to install, the other great advantage it has over other types of hardwood and laminate flooring is that it is resistant to both moisture and insects. In addition, when you compare the prices of bamboo flooring to other kinds of flooring you will be surprised at just how inexpensive this type of flooring is.

Most of the bamboo flooring available today is provided through China and it is fast becoming one of the most popular kinds of flooring the world over because it is a highly renewable material and so is truly environmentally friendly.

About the author:
Learn about bamboo flooring installation and Morningstar bamboo flooring and glueless bamboo flooring in my site.

Image Source: http://flickr.com/photos/sacharules/2279387052/

There is another, perhaps unexpected benefit to the high gasoline prices however. Just as smoking related deaths drop in almost predictable numbers when cigarette prices increase, auto related deaths are on a swift and remarkable decline due to the rising price of gasoline. Some researchers believe that automobile related fatalities will drop by as much as one third because of gas prices.

Some of the reasons suggested for the remarkable decrease in fatalities is that the riskiest drivers (teenagers) cannot afford gasoline, the most dangerous vehicles (SUVs) are too expensive to drive and that people are simply driving more slowly to save money. Most importantly however, is that people are simply driving less. 1.4 billion fewer miles less in April alone to be precise. That may not be good news for your summer vacation but it is excellent news for the environment and approximately 12,000 lives saved every year.

Learn more at abcnews.com

Author: James Grierson

Speciality coffee by its nature is fairly traded. Rather than being treated as a commodity on the futures market, it is traded on its quality, which in turn demands a premium price for the
farmer. For example, in May 2006 ‘Hacienda la Esmeralda Geisha’ coffee, from Panama, set a record of USD50.25 per pound at online auction (This award winning coffee retails for over
USD100 a pound). More over, it is not only third world countries which grow coffee, developed nations such as Australia and United States (Hawaii) also have established industries.

Many people imagine coffee to be grown in large plantations akin to vineyards, with row after row of coffee bushes. This may be the case for the beans that are sold to make your jar of instant coffee, but speciality coffee tends to be grown in smallholdings by the indigenous people of the land. In contrast to the mono-culture of plantations, these smallholdings are bio-diverse. The farmers cultivate the land with self-sufficiency in mind. They have to feed their family and
their livestock as well as growing coffee and other produce they can sell.

“Fair trade’s strategic intent is to deliberately work with marginalised producers and workers in order to help them move from a position of vulnerability to security and economic self-sufficiency. It also aims at empowering them to become stakeholders in their own organizations and actively play a wider role in the global arena to achieve greater equity in international trade.” Wikipedia.com

This approach has great benefit for both the quality of the coffee and the sustainability of the land. The bio-diversity of the smallholding attracts natural predators to eat the pests, so
chemicals are not needed. The nutrients of the soil are not drained as the different species of plants require and produce different nutrients. And so, although most farmers choose not to
pay to be certified, their produce is organic and therefore better for us.

So you should feel good when you buy speciality coffee. Not only is it fairly traded, but it is grown in a sustainable and organic manner. You get great tasting coffee which is ethically
sound.

“Few Americans realize that agriculture workers in the coffee industry often toil in what can be described as “sweatshops in the fields.” Many small coffee farmers receive prices for their coffee that are less than the costs of production, forcing them into a cycle of poverty and debt.
Fair Trade is a viable solution to this crisis, assuring consumers that the coffee we drink was purchased under fair conditions.” Globalexchange.org

Shop for fair trade coffee

About the author:
James Grierson is the owner of Galla Coffee: http://www.gallacoffee.co.uk - UK online retailer of designer coffee accessories. Through the Coffee Knowledge section of his website he aims to help people understand more about coffee and give them tips on how to make great tasting coffee in their home.

Check out
http://www.gallacoffee.co.uk/acatalog/Coffee_Knowledge.html for more articles.

Links from the video:
Easyclosets.com
Shoji-living.com
Can-am.ca
Slide-lok.com
Brownjordan.com
Orecontainers.com

View Green Home Makeover Part 1
View Green Home Makeover Part 2

Author: John Wishley

Gardening is one of the most relaxing and rewarding hobbies which also carries benefits like bringing the entire family together and providing good health. While growing flowers is simply aesthetic joy, growing your own vegetables and herbs is something more practical and you can enjoy the crops in a much greater way. Having your own organic salad garden will ensure fresh and organic foods on your table all year round.

Reasons to Grow Organic Salad Garden
The main concern we all have when we purchase from a store is that the vegetables and salad may not be fresh and/or they are chemically treated. Chemicals are more likely than not to have side affects on our health, especially when consumed regularly; therefore many people seek out organic produce or choose to take the initiative of growing their own vegetables in an organic environment. Starting and maintaining an organic salad garden is easy and you will delight in having fresh from-your-garden salad everyday to accompany your meals.

Starting an Organic Salad Garden
The first and basic thing in starting an organic salad garden - as well as any organic garden at all - is to ensure that the soil in which you are going to plant the vegetables is not chemically treated in any way. Then you need to get the seeds from an organic store only to ensure that they are not treated artificially either. Maintaining an all organic salad garden also implies the use of chemical-free fertilizers and pest control, which can also be found in organic stores.

If your lawn has already been chemically treated then use pots, hanging baskets or raised beds with organic soil.

Start a worm composting bin for the best, organic fertilizer that costs only pennies

Never, ever use pesticides. Search the internet for natural methods of pest control. If it kills bugs then who knows what it is doing to your cells.

Lettuce, for example, is very easy to grow - it only needs plenty of water and sunlight. However, if it is winter and you have a green house you must ensure it has adequate light or else it will not grow very well.

Having Salad Everyday Improves Health
Salad is a very healthy complement to your food, which will not only add a dash of taste but will ensure that your metabolism works fine, blood stays purified and provides iron to the body. Having salad that is organically grown ensures that you don’t alter any of those properties nor compromise on your beliefs.

It takes very little to start your organic salad garden today. You can also get your family to help with planting - and all of you will be able to enjoy wonderful results together. Besides, gardening is also a great way to bond with the family and teach the kids some great life lessons such as, eat right and exercise in order to lead a happy and long life. You can achieve these numerous positive results by such simple thing as growing an organic salad garden.

“Successful vegetable gardens are not accidental. They are the results of planning, constant care, and the will to make things grow. Among the many things a vegetable garden may offer toward a satisfying experience are fresh air, exercise, sunshine, knowledge, supplemental income, mental therapy, and fresh food, rich in vitamins and minerals, harvested at the best stage of maturity.” Organic Vegetable Gardening

Buy the Book: Organic Salad Garden

About the author:
For more information on Organic salad gardens check out Myorganicgardeningsecrets.com. You’ll find answers to questions many others in your situation have asked before.For a limited time you can get your very own copy of our award winning Organic Gardening Software at absolutely no cost.

This might be acceptable if the amber waves of pesticides are feeding thousands of starving people, but now it seems that massive government subsidies are in place to promote ethanol which takes more fuel to create than it produces in the end. Is ethanol an environmental nightmare?

Author: Sandra Case

What is Ethanol?
Ethanol is a colorless, volatile, flammable liquid that is the intoxicating agent in liquors and is also used as a fuel or solvent. Ethanol is also called ethyl alcohol or grain alcohol. Ethanol is the most important member of a large group of organic compounds that are called alcohol. Alcohol is an organic compound that has one or more hydroxyl (OH) groups attached to a carbon atom. Alcohol is shown as: C-O-H or C-OH.

Ethanol is a product of fermentation. Fermentation is a sequence of reactions which release energy from organic molecules in the absence of oxygen. In this application of fermentation, energy is obtained when sugar is changed to ethanol and carbon dioxide. All beverage ethanol and more than half of industrial ethanol is made by this process.

Pros of Ethanol:

1. Adding ethanol to gasoline improves combustion and reduces toxic emissions
2. Ethanol helps keep fuel injectors clean and improves engine performance
3. Ethanol revives local economies with high paying jobs (thanks to the subsidies)

*source Iowacorn.org

Cons of Ethanol

1. Ethanol increases prices at the pump due to increased complexity of production
2. Ethanol requires more energy to create than the final product contains
3. Ethanol is simply converting massive amounts of energy into another form
4. Ethanol cannot be shipped via normal pipelines substantially increasing costs
5. Ethanol contains 2/3 less energy than gasoline so the same priced tank will not take you as far
6. Billions of tax dollars are being spent on ethanol subsidies
7. Corn production depletes underwater aquifers
8. Corn production causes massive soil erosion
9. Negative environmental impact of 10 million acres of corn that could be returned to forest

source: Slate.com, Igreens.org

How Ethanol is Made:
Converting corn into ethanol by fermentation takes many steps. Starch in corn must be broken down into simple sugars before fermentation can occur. In earlier times, this was done by chewing the corn. This allowed the salivary enzymes to naturally break down the starch. Today, this is achieved by cooking the corn and adding the enzymes alpha amylase and gluco amylase. These enzymes function as catalysts to speed up the chemical changes. Changing the starch in kernels of corn to sugar and changing sugar to ethanol is a complex process and requires a mix of technologies that include microbiology, chemistry and engineering.

Once a simple sugar is obtained, yeast is added. Yeast is a single-celled fungi which feeds on the sugar and causes the fermentation. As the fungi feeds on the sugar, it produces alcohol (ethanol) and carbon dioxide. In fermentation, the ethanol retains much of the energy that was originally in the sugar, and explains why ethanol is used as a fuel. Most of the ethanol production in the United States is made in 50 production facilities in 20 different states. Most of these plants are located in the Midwest.

Bottom line:
Why on earth are we going to spend billions of dollars to chemically infest 10 million acres of previously forested land that could be used to grow food for human beings but instead is used to make an incredibly inefficient fuel that is so expensive that the farmers themselves cannot use it to fuel their own ethanol production and it does nothing to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

Better alternatives? Public transportation, solar cells, electric vehicles, hybrids, bicycles, scooters and yes, your own two feet.

About the author:
This article has been written by Sandra Case, who is Vice President of Commodity Research for Absolute Futures Commodity Brokerage. For further information regarding this article or information on other commodities or trading of the commodity markets please contact Sandra Case 800-935-6494. http://www.absolute-futures.com

The slideshow includes information about modern fishing practices including bottom trawling. You may not think bottom trawling is a big deal until you read that they are destroying over 6 million square miles of ocean floor every year. The fisherman don’t use a fraction of the marine life they destroy, they simply decimate an entire ecosystem and move on to the next location. The sealife that they do not keep is called bycatch and thrown back into the ocean dead or on the verge of death. Trawling is not the only harmful fishing practice. There are many other large scale practices that cause irreparable harm to marine life and our oceans.

You can do your part by not supporting environment destroying fishing outfits. Either go vegetarian or seek out certified sustainable fish such as Wild Alaskan Salmon. You will be speaking out with your wallet and enjoying a substantially healthier fish as well.

Watch the slideshow on PBS.