Saturday, September 3, 2011
Here are five eco-friendly ways to celebrate the end of summer.
It's the Labor Day weekend — time for picnics, parades and end-of-summer fun. Here are five easy ways to add some green to your Labor Day celebration: Cut back on holiday shopping. Most green advocates — from Lynn Colwell of Celebrate Green! to Alan Pultyniewicz of Montgomery County's Department of Environmental Protection — seem to have the same underlying message: buy less. For Labor Day, that might mean bringing one less dish to the family barbeque or buying fewer bottles of soda for the company picnic. Update your picnic basket. Now is a great time to switch to resuable plates, cloth napkins, stainless steel straws and other resuable picnic supplies. Instead of donating your mismatched cutlery to charity, toss it into your picnic …
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Saturday, April 23, 2011
Patch columnist Julie Bloss Kelsey shares her experiences with eco-friendly Easter eggs.
This year, in an effort to have a more eco-friendly Easter, I decided to purchase local pasture-raised eggs and color them using fruit and vegetable juices. To find the eggs, I enlisted the help of Katie McCormick, a Germantown locavore. On a recent wet April morning, she and I traveled along Maryland Route 28, winding our way through the Montgomery County Agricultural Reserve on a quest to find free-range chickens. Established in 1980 by the Montgomery County Council, the Agricultural Reserve is the largest farmland protection program in the United States. Roughly 93,000 acres of farmland exists along the northern and western borders of Montgomery County. There are over 500 farms in the Montgomery County Agricultural Reserve. Many, …
Saturday, April 2, 2011
The 23rd Annual Potomac River Watershed Cleanup is next Saturday, April 9, 2011. Most events are planned from 9 a.m. until noon.
Mark your calendar! The 23rd Annual Potomac River Watershed Cleanup is next Saturday, April 9, 2011. The cleanup is part of the Trash Free Potomac Watershed Initiative, a program of the Alice Ferguson Foundation. What makes the Potomac River so special? “It’s the nation’s river," said Becky Horner, Potomac River Watershed Cleanup Coordinator. "This is the nation’s watershed. If we want to see changes in all of the rivers in the country, it has got to start here.” Last year, more than 14,500 volunteers from Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and West Virginia participated in the cleanup. Over 250 tons of trash was removed from the forests, fields, parking lots and other areas that drain into the Potomac River. About …
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Take advantage of $1500 in tax savings before the year's end.
Do you need to replace your furance? Now is a good time to have one installed. December 31, 2010 marks the end of the Nonbusiness Energy Property Credit for certain energy efficient home improvements on your primary residence. This federal tax credit pays you back 30 percent of the cost of qualifying improvements, up to $1500 combined for calendar years 2009 and 2010. Eligible items include insulation, metal and asphalt roofs, windows and doors, non-solar water heaters, and heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) units. Installation costs are sometimes included. Improvements must be put into use before 2011. Which improvements are cost-effective? Michael C. Ellis, a certified public accountant, said that he advises his …
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Author and environmentalist Lynn Colwell shares her tips for celebrating an eco-friendly Thanksgiving.
Lynn Colwell, co-author of Celebrate Green!, doesn't mince words. If you want to have an environmentally-friendly Thanksgiving, buy less. "In this country, we overbuy and then we throw away a lot of what we purchase," Colwell said. According to statistics she's read, anywhere from 15 to 40 percent of the food we buy in the United States ends up in the trash. That spells enormous waste for consumers, both in terms of food and money. "Before you set foot in a store, think about what you need. Can it be replaced by something you already have or something you can borrow?" – Lynn Colwell, co-author of Celebrate Green!. A great first step, said Colwell, is to be aware of how much you are buying. The second step is to be conscious of what …
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Try these ten tips for an eco-friendly holiday.
It's Halloween and you're thinking green. You've already repurposed last year's Halloween costume. You've decided not to go overboard on candy this year. What else can you do? Choose your pumpkin wisely. If you're planning that last minute pumpkin purchase, pick one that was grown locally, preferably straight from the vine. "Go for one that has a good heavy feel for its size and sounds sturdy when thumped on," said Katie McCormick, a Germantown resident committed to eating locally-grown food. "You do not want it to sound hollow." At the grocery store, select the smaller, tastier "pie pumpkins" in the produce section over the larger pumpkins displayed outside. Keep your pumpkin cool and dry. Bring it inside when frost is predicted…
Tiffany Arnold
11:11 am on Monday, April 25, 2011
Eeeew. I hope you found them all! more ›