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.

Enter “Eco Balls”, amazing little balls which, when thrown into your wash, do all the work your regular soap does (and claim to kill bacteria too) without any chemicals, detergents and the like. When you work out what you save on soap, the savings are enormous, with something like 6 cents a load with the balls, to approx. 80 cents with detergent, more depending on what brand you buy. You can buy kits which come with refills, stain remover (it doesn’t do that great with heavy stains) as well as dryer balls for “fabric softer” role.

So does it really work? While I wait for my order to arrive, I found a good review worth checking out. The verdict? Some liked it, others were disappointed with its cleaning power. There was also one complaint about how the ball came apart and broke her washing machine. Either way, its a product I think worth trying out for yourself -because I think eliminating detergents would be a great thing.

If you think about it, camping is actually a great way to go on vacation and de-stress. It not only gives you time to totally enjoy nature but it is also a great alternative to the usual trip that puts a lot of stress on the environment.

One thing that you should always bear in mind when going camping is that you have to prepare to leave as little impact as you can. This is actually easier than it sounds. The little things that you do – or don’t do – can make a huge difference in maintaining the camp site.

For example, bring enough trash bags with you so that you do not have to leave any garbage behind. Cigarette butts, water bottles, tin cans, toilet paper, etc. – all these things should go into a receptacle that you can bring along with you. This way, you can dispose of your trash properly.

You should also bring environment-friendly soaps, shampoos, and cleansers. For sure you have to have these things for personal hygiene purposes. However, do make sure that you do not use products that can harm the water supply in the area. After all, you would want to have a clean campsite to go back to.

What other things can you do to keep your camping weekend fun and green?

More energy is wasted (as opposed to being saved) by recycling.
This argument is usually backed up by other ideas such as the gas and manpower that the trucks will use to run around town will offset any benefits of recycling plastic bottles and aluminum cans. The truth is, however, the energy needed to create new aluminum cans is so much more than what it takes to recycle. The bottom line is that recycling is still more beneficial.

“Natural” cleansers are not disinfectants.
Have you heard people say that natural cleansers are not effective against bacteria. According to experts, though, hydrogen peroxide mixed with apple cider or undiluted white vinegar is strong enough to kill bacteria such E. coli. What you can do is put the two liquids into separate containers and then spray one liquid first, with the other next. You can use this to clean your kitchen counters and even to clean fruits and vegetables.

It’s better to keep your heating settings at one temperature than to turn it up and down.
The rationale is that it will take more energy to heat up the room if you totally turn it off. That’s why some people think it’s better to keep the room heated at all times. Ask the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) – you will still save more by adjusting the temperature as needed.

If you are still looking for gifts to complete your Christmas shopping list, there is no need to look any further. Visit Amazon and take a look at this book. Titled Green Christmas: How to Have a Joyous, Eco-Friendly Holiday Season, this book is the perfect gift for anyone who wants to enjoy the holidays without putting any more unnecessary strain on the environment. Below is the book’s description from Amazon:

As green awareness spreads over middle America, more and more people want to have a fun, environmentally responsible holiday. This book shows how to enjoy the Christmas season while leaving a smaller carbon footprint. Readers will learn how to do the following: choose between a real tree and an artificial one; find alternatives to holiday cards; avoid the holiday catalog crunch; find or make gifts that are green or teach green; have warm, cozy green fires; create eco-responsible lighting displays, and more! Readers can have a great holiday celebration—while caring for the planet and setting a great example for generations to come.

For the price of $7.95 and possible free shipping, it is a very good gift idea, don’t you think?

The historic win of now President-elect Barack Obama has had Americans and the rest of the world excited and hopeful at what could be a great change for the better. And on the environmental front, Barack’s win has had conservationalists overjoyed with the results.

According to the LCV (The League of Conservation Voters), the general election gave astounding results for pro-environmentalists, with a massive 84% of the wins, from governors to the senate.

“LCV is proud to have helped so many environmental champions win in 2008 and to be within reach our principal goal of a 60-vote pro-environment majority in the U.S. Senate.

With strong new leaders like these, we expect to pass significant global warming and clean energy legislation in the next year. With President Obama leading the way, we will help this new Congress bring about a clean, renewable energy future and a new energy economy for America.”

Said LCV President Gene Karpinski. And they have reason to be happy that the Bush administration is on on its way out. Even in its last weeks of office, environmental groups still have cause for worry as it has been reported that they have been trying to push some anti-environmental laws into effect before they leave.

As reported in the New Scientist:

“…The rule changes include getting wolves off the Endangered Species List, allowing power plants to operate near national parks, relaxing regulations for factory farm waste and making it easier for mountaintop coal-mining operations.”

So whether you voted red or blue, the effect the new presidency will have on our home planet is something we should all eagerly anticipate. Lets hope the change we need is what we get.

It seems logical to me that when wanting to create a greener home, the first question we should ask ourselves is this:

“What is my carbon footprint?”

If you don’t know what that is, it is simply how you personally contribute to the Earth’s global warming. It is:

” The measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide“.

That means the electricity and gas you use at home, how much fuel you consume each day driving, how much you travel by air and so on – it DOES affect the world around you.

Now I have a pretty large household and combined with the amount of travelling we do and power we use at home, calculating my personal carbon footprint was a scary task.  And let me tell you, the results were not pretty. And that’s coming from someone who already has a small awareness of the environment – we recycle, use diesel, have converted all our lightbulbs and try as best we can not to waste electricity and water.  Even my kids brush with the taps off and now bathe together to save water. But in spite of all these little things, our carbon footprint was still terrifyingly high.  Which I am afraid to think, but probably is the case in many homes like ours. But now that I know, the more I am determined to make that footprint a little smaller.

So, have you worked out your CARBON FOOTPRINT? You can do it here.

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.