Green Tips for All Seasons:

• Gearing up for Christmas may mean deciding on a tree—real or artificial? From a green standpoint, each has some pros and cons. Artificial trees will one day end up in a landfill and may be have hazardous materials like PVC or lead, while cutting down real trees deprives the earth of necessary greenery.

  On balance, though, real trees are better for both the local economy and the environment. You may want to be sure, though, that a real tree comes from a sustainable, locally grown source. If you already use an artificial tree, check the label to see where it was manufactured and look into the possible lead content. If you keep using it, store it in an airtight container for the year to reduce dust, wash your hands after putting it up or taking down, and dispose of it responsibly when the time comes.

• Even as the ground becomes blanketed in white, it can be easy to be green this winter. Here are a few easy steps to bundle up your house this season:
  · Turn down the thermostat. When you're away from the house and while you're sleeping are great times to turn down the temperature by a couple of degrees. Before you assume that you'll be too cold, try a test run. Grab a sweatshirt, reduce the thermostat a few degrees and try it for a week.
  · Check your doors and windows for leaks. Insulate your hot water heater and pipes. (This isn’t as involved as it may sound. Placing an insulating blanket around your heater and placing coverings on your hot water pipes leading away from your hot water heater is all you need!)

• Worm composting, or vermiculture, is a great way to reduce your organic waste and give back to the environment. The worms reduce your organic waste into rich compost or fertilizer that would sell for top dollar at any greenhouse. To get started all you need is a medium sized Rubbermaid® bin with some small air-holes punched out of the lid, some shredded paper, a handful of soil, and a little bit of water (just enough to dampen), and a dozen red wriggler worms that can be purchased at local pet shops or bait shops. You must make sure red wrigglers and not your ordinary earthworms are used as they are not suitable for this sort of composting. Provide your worm bin with fresh scraps and overturn the compost every few days in the bin and in several months you will have a considerable amount of valuable compost.

• Back to School Tips:
  · Consider taking the bus or other means of public transportation—it's a great way to lower your individual carbon emission impact on the environment! If you live in an area where you could walk or ride your bike to school during the early warm days of fall, go on ahead! Not only will it be a fun trip to school, but you also will be helping out the environment by not using gasoline to get to school every morning!
  
  · If your kids wear a uniform, check out your school's used uniform sales! Most of these sales allow you to trade or sell your old uniform as well as buy used, rarely worn uniforms.

• Summertime means outdoor fun, but it can also mean mosquitoes. While it's tempting to want to break out the bug zappers and chemicals, those aren't necessarily the safest (or even most effective) ways of keeping these pests out of your yard. Mosquitoes can develop immunities to pesticides, and pesticides may also kill the mosquitoes' natural predators.

  The best option is to make sure that they don't have a place to breed near you, and that means keep standing water from accumulating on your property. It only takes four days of stagnant standing water to breed mosquitoes. Putting a fan near you when you're outside may help as well. Mosquitoes are weak fliers, and the air from the fan should help keep them away.

• Summer often means heading for the great outdoors, but while camping, it's important to keep a few green tips in mind. Check campers and tents before leaving for any insect or rodent nests that you might take along with you on your vacation as stowaways. Never take firewood with you to or from the campsite. It's a better idea to plan on buying it where ever you are camping and leaving any excess when vacating your campsite. And remember this motto: Leave only footprints and take only memories (and pictures).

• When gardening and landscaping, native plants are best. They will be healthier and require far less watering and fertilizing. Also, check your property for dangerous exotics such as purple loosestrife, fragmites, and spotted knapweed. These plants might look pretty, but they spread terribly and are devastating to native ecosystems, creating monocultures of plants that can not be used by native wildlife.
  
• When it comes to painting, it doesn't matter what color you choose, but do your best to do it green!
      · Buy only as much paint as you need. A gallon of paint will generally cover about 400 square feet, but double check the can when you're purchasing paint.
      · Store your paint correctly. Keep any extra paint in places where it's not likely to freeze. Paint stored on a cement floor is more susceptible to rusting. Any paint that still mixes and spreads smoothly is probably still usable.  
       · Don't just throw your old paint away. If you're not going to use your old paint for touch-ups or to paint another area in the house, there are a number of alternatives to pitching it. Consider donating it to a home rehabilitation organization or local community theater group in your area.
  
  
• Did you know that the average dinner consists of items that have traveled an average of 1,500 miles from the farmer's field to your plate? By purchasing food raised and grown locally, you are supporting the local economy. It's also good for the environment—there's considerably less oil and air pollution as local food is not being shipped in from around the world. So next time you're in the grocery store, support your local farmers.