• Save on electricity bill
With the continuous crises in fuel resources, fuel inflation is also continuous, giving people with no choice but to pay their high electricity bills. You can save a lot of energy by simply switching off your lights when not necessary, by unplugging all unused electric appliances or you may use surge protector. You can also replace your light bulbs with energy efficient bulbs like fluorescent, they last longer and they are energy savers. You may also stop using hot water in the laundry. Cold water can also clean your clothes as effectively.

• Save on gas
By avoiding using your vehicle to get to short destinations, you are saving yourself from a lot of gas expense, not to mention gas emission. You may also practice carpooling. Just ask your neighbors if they need a ride located near your destination. This will be cheaper for you and for your neighbors. You may also want to try public transportation. This may not be as comfortable as having your own car but they can save you a lot of money. You may also convert your car into bio fuel or any other alternative fuel to minimize the cost. By simple looking at these examples you would be able to not just help the environment but save money too.

Buy green cleaning products. Much like many other offices, we have supplies to keep the premises clean: carpet cleaners, glass cleaners, detergents for the rest rooms, hand soaps, etc. We normally have the commercial stuff that you can easily get at the supermarket. Perhaps we can make a change and buy products that are easier on the environment.

Go digital. We actually have been trying to do this in our department. We love print outs, I have to admit. However, there are many things that we do not really have to print. Perhaps an official memo on avoiding print outs if possible will help cut down on paper (and ink!) consumption.

Supply re-usable kitchen utensils. We always have plastic and paper cups in the pantries (we have two). We also have paper plates and plastic forks, knives, and spoons. Naturally, people would use them indiscriminately. If only re-usable utensils were supplied, we could cut back on the use of plastic materials.

What do you think? Will these ideas fly?

Using organic skincare products is more than just saving your skin from possible chemical irritation—it’s also saving the earth from home. However, that is only if you are using the real organic skincare.

Why Use Organic Skincare?

Organic skincare products are made up and processed without using any chemicals like synthetic fertilizers, pest killers, and preservatives. Thus, supporting organic skincare brands means encouraging chemical-free farming and processing.

That’s less pain for the earth and less damaging effects for the environment. As for your skin, that means less irritation, less potential damage, more natural glow, and more youthful appearance.

Beware of Some “Organic” Skincare Products

The dramatic increase of environmental concerns is taken advantaged by manufacturers. Adding the words “natural,” “organic,” “eco-friendly,” etc. on the label can instantly transform a poorly sold product into a market hit.

As a consumer, you need to be vigilant. Otherwise, you might only be contributing harm to the environment despite your desire to help. And the most painful part is, you are not aware of it.

Organic Skincare Labels

All products can say that they are “organic skincare.” But only few can have the real seal of being organic.

There are groups that are responsible for certifying that organic skincare products are really organic like the Australia’s Organic Food Chain, ECOCERT, USDA, UK’s Soil Association, and Germany’s BDIH.

They give certification depending on how organic an organic skincare product is. For instance, those with “Certified Organic” seal have at least 95% organic ingredients while those with “Made Organic” have at least 70%.

In the end, making your own organic skincare recipe is still the best way to make sure that you are using organic. But with the hectic lifestyle, using trusted organic skincare brands is a better and more comfortable way to save your skin and the environment.

The fact is that online shopping involves so much less energy than normal shopping. For example, if you look at the operations that are involved in merchandising, traditional retail stores use up a lot of resources; more storage space, more overhead expenses, more manpower. As compared to this, e-commerce businesses use up about 1/16th of the energy and resources. Add up the number of e-commerce businesses in existence and you will realize just how much better for the earth this is!

Now how about the fuel that you use going to the mall? You might be thinking that the shipping involved in online shopping would use up a lot of fuel as well. The thing is that you actually use up more fuel driving to the mall than ground shipping or overnight air shipping. This drive to the mall does not even include driving around looking for a parking space or moving from one mall to the next. Now I bet you didn’t really know that, did you?

In any case, there are also more online shops that offer various options that will help you lessen your carbon footprint. That’s the good news. Go ahead, shop online all you want.

Previously we asked you what your carbon footprint was. Well as we’re bloggers, maybe we should start with the very activity that we are doing at this minute- blogging!

J. Angelo Racoma, a member of our team at Splashpress Media, wrote on one of our sister sites about this very topic- giving 10 Ways To Reduce Your Blogging Carbon Footprint:

The new year has come, and among some bloggers’ resolutions include being more environment-friendly. Sure, oil prices have plummeted, partly because of the worldwide economic crunch. But this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t start being more efficient in your energy use. TIME Magazine’s latest feature tells us that there is a renewable-energy resource that is perfectly clean, remarkably cheap, surprisingly abundant and immediately available, and it is not some new-technology power plant or biofuel, or whatnot. It’s simple: energy efficiency.

I’ve actually tried to start a blog about becoming more green, but the idea of becoming more eco-friendly seemed a bit trivial to someone like me who spends almost all day in front of the computer (and so the blog has not had much activity for some time now). But then it hit me–being environmentally friendly should start at home, or better yet for a blogger, right at your fingertips.

And so I’ve thought of a few ways to reduce one’s carbon footprint, specifically from blogging. First and foremost, we define carbon footprint as the greenhouse gas emissions caused by your activities, whether directly or indirectly. So with blogging, this is mostly related to your use of energy or electricity.

You can either reduce consumption altogether. For instance, you can limit yourself to just a couple of hours of online activity every day. But that would only result in conservation and not efficiency. That’s doing less with less. What we want is to be able to do more with the same amount of energy, or even less.

1. Unplug, unplug, unplug. Or at least turn off the main switch. I must admit I’m guilty of this environmental sin. Most of our electronic gadgetry these days come with a soft power button. That is, you press a toggle button and your TV, monitor, component, or whatever gadget turns on and off in an instant. But turning it off this way does not actually cut off the power supply from the device. Chances are, leaving something on standby will consume about 5% to 30% of its powered-on use.

Standy power accounts for about 5% to 8% of household electricity use (sources: 1 (PDF), 2, 3 (PDF)), and results in about $3 billion in wasted electricity annually in the US alone.

One good solution is to plug your devices in a power strip (or AVR), which you can simply turn off after use.

2. Use a laptop computer. In the old days, I used to do online work on an ancient Pentium-IV desktop computer with a CRT monitor. Not only was it noisy, hot and slow, it was very power hungry, too.

Desktop computers typically consume 350 Watts, while laptop computers would usually draw just 45 Watts or so. You can check your power supply to see how much maximum power draw your gadget takes when plugged in. For instance, my Compaq Presario laptop uses a maximum of 65 Watts, while my Asus EeePC takes in about 36 Watts maximum.

If you’d rather stick with a desktop, you can use alternatives like nettop computers or smaller, energy efficient models. I hear Macs are more energy-efficient than their PC counterparts! I’ve gotten rid of my old desktop, and now I use an Apple Mac Mini (G4), which consumes the same amount of electricity as most laptops (plus the monitor, of course).

3. Switch to LCD. If you still haven’t done so, then this is the right time. LCDs are getting cheaper and cheaper by the moment. These days, CRTs are usually only appreciated by hardcore gamers who need really fast refresh rates, and some graphic designers (who for some reason are able to calibrate their CRTs better than LCDs). But for writing, emailing, blog reading, and the occasional online video, LCDs are appropriate. They’re easier on the eyes, lighter on the desk, and they consume less power, too. A typical LCD would consume less than half the consumption of its similar-sized CRT counterpart.

And while we’re at it, you can reduce your monitor’s brightness to a comfortable, but not too bright, level.

4. Set your computer to sleep/standby or hibernate. Most laptops would have this setting by default, but not everyone is aware how to change or activate this on a laptop or desktop. In my case, whenever I need to take a short break, I just close my laptop’s lid and it goes to sleep. That way, the computer’s screen and keyboard are protected, and I save a bit on consumption. Or in case I forget, my computers are set to sleep after 20 minutes of inactivity (and my desktop hibernates and turns itself off altogether after a couple of hours).

This is especially important on desktop computers. Screensavers don’t give any savings at all, but the difference between sleep mode and powered-on is dramatic (see tip #1). Of course, it’s still best to turn off and unplug when not in use, but for brief bathroom, stretching or coffee breaks, sleep mode does wonders to the environment.

With both Mac and Windows machines, this is fairly straightforward.

5. Minimize the use of the A/C or heater. In cool weather, I no longer turn on the air conditioner at my home office. Or when it’s really warm or hot, I share A/C use with the wife and kids (either the kids play at my office room, or I work at the bedroom). Sure, we need quiet time to concentrate on writing. But isn’t it fun to share the warmth (or cool) with someone you love? You get to save on the electricity bill, too!

Case in point: Our electricity bill for December was just 50% of our usual bill during warmer months. This should also apply to folks in cold countries, although it would be the other way around.

6. Use energy-efficient lighting. If you blog from home, then you should switch to energy-efficient light bulbs, like compact fluorescent. Incandescent bulbs burn up more than 96% of the energy it uses as heat. So a 15 Watt CFL bulb is usually as bright as a 400 Watt incandescent bulb.

If it’s daytime, then open those blinds or curtains. Let the sun shine in!

7. Brewing coffee? Why not brew enough for two or more cups? I normally only get to consume one cup per sitting, but on those all-nighters, I brew myself an extra cup just to be sure. Brewed coffee will go stale if you leave it warming on the hot plate for more than 20 minutes (that is, if you’re using a drip-brewer). But if you’re consuming more than one cup anyway, it would be a waste of electricity, water, soap and even coffee grinds if you were to brew twice or more. Why not brew enough to last your blogging run? You can actually keep coffee in a thermal carafe or thermos for about five hours, and it will still taste as good.

If you prefer getting your caffeine fix at the neighborhood cafe, then you could try walking or biking if it’s not too far. Or if you have to use the car, then perhaps you can plan your trip. Why not bring some family members along if they’re running some errands?

8. Consolidate your blog hosting. Unless you run blogs purely for SEO, or unless your blog gets DUGG every day, why not host your blogs under a single hosting account? Most hosting accounts these days offer more than enough bandwidth and space for one single blog. If you run your blog from a hosted service like WordPress.com or Blogger, this shouldn’t be an issue. But if you run a self-hosted blog, or perhaps you run your own hosted blogging service, then this could make a difference. Not only do you save on hosting fees, you help save the environment, too!

9. Work more efficiently. I guess this is subjective, but you definitely reduce your carbon footprint if you do more with less time or with less resources. So rather than spending hours upon hours pointlessly sifting through your feed reader trying to find something interesting, why not get your thoughts more organized? Why not plan ahead, noting down topics you’d like to write about, and clipping quotes and URLs in a handy notebook, so when you’re ready to write, information would be easier to access?

Or how about reducing your workspace clutter? At any given time, I have dozens of tabs open in several browser windows. Not only does this clutter my current window, it also clutters my taskbar and on-screen real-estate. Every once in a while, I shut down my browser altogether and open only the tabs I really need, like my Gmail, feed reader, and Twitter window, among others. This way, I get to focus, and I’m able to produce better output.

Working smarter beats working harder. You get more things done with less effort! You help save the world, too.

10. Write shorter posts. I’m not a fan of one-liners, but posts that are too long tend to tire me and cause me to spend a little more time than I want to. At the very least, split your post into headings, bullet points or lists, to make reading (or scanning) easier.

And I think this should be the last tip, because I’ve just violated it with my post going past the 1,000 word mark!

Contributing to the increasingly popular concept of carbon footprint-reduction does not necessarily entail drastic lifestyle changes. Even a few adjustments here and there can make a difference. And even if these savings result in just a small reduction, the sum can add up to something big, if we all do our part.

Don’t forget to contact us if you have any suggestions as to what you’d like to see us post about here at Yurto- we always like to hear from you!

In changing your ways to greener living, the key thing to remember is:

“little things mean a lot”

Meaning, you don’t have to go out marching in Washington or move your family to a yurt in the wilderness to save the earth.

Take your weekly trips to the grocery store, for instance. Just by being aware of what you buy can make loads of difference. For me, the main thing I’ve done in my home is to switch the cleaning supplies I use from the nose-burning, toxic, chemical-laden stuff to non-toxic, bio degradable brands. It was the smell that actually bothered me the most (especially when I was pregnant), so switching to the lovely natural stuff I use now as a surface cleaner, which uses orange oil, is such a great thing.

A small local company in my area makes most of the stuff I buy now (more points for saving on transport fuel) , but even the bigger guys are starting natural, eco-friendly lines now, like Clorox Green Works, which launched early this year. Did you know they bought Burts Bees too?

Here’s a part of a good article I found which should help you in the grocery. Read and heed.

Buy local. When food doesn’t have to travel far, it requires less packaging materials, fewer preservatives and often fewer pesticides. Not only are these processes bad for the environment but they also take away from the taste of the food. Another benefit to buying locally grown food is the shorter distances the produce needs to travel, which results in less damaging greenhouse gases.

Buy environmentally friendly products. Many companies are trying to be more environmentally conscious so look for brands that offer natural products in recycled packages.

Take fewer trips. Car emissions continue to be a major contributor to greenhouse gasses in Canada making carpooling and fewer trips to the grocery store a must. Making a grocery list in advance can help cut down on trips to the store for one-off forgotten items. Organizing a grocery store carpool with friends or neighbours is also a fun way to spend time with people while reducing the number of cars on the road.

Cut down on plastic bags. Canadians use approximately 10 billion plastic bags each year. Reducing that number means bringing reusable grocery bags with you to the store. If you don’t already have some, most stores have their own brand of reusable bags you can purchase while you are there. Another alternative is to use cardboard boxes to carry your groceries or paper bags that can be recycled.

Welcome to Yurto, the blog about eco-friendly living in the home. Inspired by the yurt, an ancient circular dwelling place built in tune with nature, we hope to explore the ways we can all make a change for the better in the world that we live in – beginning from our homes.

Why is it so important to go green? Al Gore, who woke up the world with his now-famous documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, puts it succinctly:

“…Some of the leading scientists are now saying we may have as little as 10 years before we cross a kind of point of no return, beyond which it’s much more difficult to save the habitability of the planet in the future…”

10 years??? Now that’s a scary thought.  If you have children like me, that’s enough reason to stop procrastinating and do something about NOW.

So from plastic to canvas, wasting to conserving,  lets find ways to care for the earth while we can and live healthier, happier lives.