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Keep Your Home And Yourself Cool Now That Heatwave Time Is Here

by LenoreMennell Posted on June 27, 2017

Who doesn’t love summer? Wait, do I see a few hands being shyly raised? Well, go head and admit it: summertime is absolutely incredible . until it’s not. When the thermometer starts to climb up past that 90-degree mark, the heat is on and suddenly sunny turns into steamy. Your electricity bills start to shoot up too, and you worry about the effect on the environment. Fortunately, there are ways to keep cool at home without cranking the thermostat up, up, and away.

Refresh yourself fast.

After commuting home from the office or doing some work in your garden, give yourself a quick, cool lift without cranking up the ol’ A/C. Takea mini “shower” by spritzing face and neck with cold water from a plant sprayer. Alternatively, change into a T-shirt that you stashed in the freezer before you headed out. Or you can simply cuddle up with an ice pack. (Wrap it in a dishtowel to prevent skin damage, please.)

Stay hydrated.

Drink lots of water during a heatwave, even indoors. Remember that if you begin to feel thirsty, that’s a sign you’re already beginning to dehydrate. As well as watching your fluid intake, replenish your electrolytes with natural yogurt,coconut water, or miso broth (lukewarm if the very idea of hot soup gives you the heebie-jeebies). Think of your animal friends, as well make sure your pet’s water dish is constantly full of clean water.

Tune up your air conditioner.

Make yourair conditioningrun more efficiently: give it a tune-up every summer and clean the filter at least once a month in the warm weather, more oftenif you live on a dusty area or have furry pets. To save even more energy, set the temperature two or three degrees higher than you normally would and supplement with a fan.

Dehumidify.

You will feel cooler if the relative humidity indoors is fairly low. Forty degrees is comfortable for most people. To reach this level, use the dehumidifying function on your A/C or a separate dehumidifier.

Don’t add useless heat.

Turn off as many electrical appliances and lights possible when not in use, to avoid adding unnecessary heat to your home. A timer,smart home system, or power strip will make this task easier. Include your fan in the list of appliances to switch off; it cools people not air, so it can only do its job when someone is in the room.

Hang thermal window treatments.

Hanging sun- and heat-blocking curtains and blinds is an inexpensive, eco-friendly way to keep your home cooler. They are especially useful when you have unshaded south or west facing windows. These exposures tend to make your house nice and sunny, which is pleasant when the weather is mild, but HOT in the summer.

Take advantage of cooler nighttime air.

Open draperies and windows themselves at night. This works when both the dew point andpollen countare low, usually below 50. The pollen count starts to increase shortly after the sun comes up, so close all those open windows as early in the morning as you can.

Insulate your attic.

Attic insulation is not just for winter. It will also help reduce heat exchange in summer, increasing your A/C energy efficiency by keeping hot airoutsideand air conditioned airinsideyour home. You will feel more comfortable while using less electricity. No wonder this upgrade offers the best return on investment of any home improvement, according toRemodeling Magazine’s annual report. HANDY HINT: If you already have insulation but it’s not enough for your needs, you can install more right on top of the existing insulation. Just don’t put a vapor barrier between the two.

Handle your thermostat with TLC.

Test this useful device to make sure that it is functioning as it should. Move heat-producing appliances like lamps or TV sets away from the thermostat so that they don’t trigger it to get the air conditioner going needlessly.

By Laura Firszt,Networx.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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Keep Your Home And Yourself Cool Now That Heatwave Time Is Here

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Miscellaneous Photo Stuff

by CatalinStapleto Posted on May 13, 2017

Mother Jones

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You can do quick and easy fun stuff with color in Photoshop with the White Balance tool and Replace Color tool. For the former, just click the eyedropper randomly on the image and see what happens. For the latter, choose a color randomly and then change the hue to see what you get. If you feel like screwing around with weird tints and colors, this is a very simple way of doing it. We can all be Andy Warhol for 15 minutes.

Remember my photo of the chopsticks a couple of weeks ago? Here’s what it looks like with various combinations of color manipulation. The original image is at the top, followed by half a dozen false-color images.

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Miscellaneous Photo Stuff

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Republicans Unveil Their Health Care Plan. It’s a Bloodbath.

by ElizabethDeboer Posted on March 7, 2017

Mother Jones

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Republicans have finally released their shiny new health care plan. It’s pretty much the same as the discussion draft that leaked a couple of weeks ago, and includes the following basic features:

Subsidies (in the form of advanceable tax credits) are age-based, starting at $2,000 for young people and going up to $4,000 for older folks.
The subsidies begin to phase out above incomes of $75,000 ($150,000 for households). This will affect about 10 percent of the population and probably reduces the cost of the bill by about 5 percent.
Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion is frozen in 2020 and then gradually phased out.
The bill allocates about $10 billion per year for high-risk pools run by states. This is far too little to work effectively.
The tax meant to pay for everything was removed.
Insurers are required to cover everyone who applies, even if they have pre-existing conditions. However, if you have a coverage gap longer than two months, insurers can impose a premium surcharge of 30 percent for one year. This “continuous coverage” provision is designed to motivate people to buy insurance, since the bill repeals the individual mandate.
The funding formula for Medicaid is changed to a “per-capita allotment,” which is a fancy way of saying it gets cut.
All the Obamacare taxes on the rich are repealed.

Oh, and the bill includes a one-year ban on funding for Planned Parenthood. Conservatives love this, but it’s also likely to generate some sure no votes in the Senate. Remember that Republicans can only afford two defections in the Senate. Any more than that and their bill fails.

Needless to say, there’s not yet an analysis from the Congressional Budget Office about how much the GOP plan will cost or how many people it will cover. It’s safe to say that on the cost side, it will be a lot cheaper than Obamacare. In fact, since the tax credits are so stingy, it’s likely that very few people in the bottom third of the income spectrum will use them. They leave insurance too expensive for most poor people to afford.

Because of this, my horseback guess is that the Republican plan will be used by about 3 million people, compared to 10 million for Obamacare. The Medicaid expansion will be unchanged for a while, continuing to cover about 10 million people. Total cost for subsidies + high-risk pools + Medicaid expansion will run about $25 billion per year, compared to $100 billion for Obamacare.

Three million is far too small a pool for any kind of successful program, and the pre-existing conditions clause ensures that the pool will be not just small, but very, very heavily weighted toward the very sick. It’s a disaster for insurance companies, who will almost surely refuse to participate.

That’s my guess, anyway. It’s a bloodbath. More detailed analysis from think tankers will be available soon, and the CBO will weigh in eventually too. It’s not going to be pretty.

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Republicans Unveil Their Health Care Plan. It’s a Bloodbath.

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California’s drought causes a lot more pain than brown lawns and empty swimming pools.

by Oliva01Ush Posted on January 10, 2017

The Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, released a report Tuesday morning that adds up the many ways in which the incoming Trump administration could enrich the world’s largest oil company.

The report comes a day before Rex Tillerson, Exxon’s former CEO, starts his nomination hearing to be President-elect Trump’s secretary of state.

In that role, Tillerson could do a lot for his former employer. The oil giant has massive holdings in foreign oil reserves and remains one of the biggest investors in the Canadian tar sands, with rights worth around $277 billion at current prices.

As it happens, the State Department is responsible for approving the fossil fuel infrastructure that could bring Canadian tar sands oil to the U.S. market. Remember the Keystone XL pipeline? It could come back from the dead and get approved by Tillerson.

Tillerson could also undo sanctions on Russia that have blocked Exxon’s projects there, including a deal with Rosneft, the Russian state oil company, worth roughly $500 billion.

And then there are the Trump administration’s domestic plans to lift every restriction on extracting oil from public lands and offshore. The CAP report also figures that Trump’s Department of Justice is unlikely to investigate Exxon’s effort to mislead the public about climate change. Tally all the benefits and you get nearly $1 trillion.

So who was the biggest winner of the November election? According to the CAP report, ExxonMobil.

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California’s drought causes a lot more pain than brown lawns and empty swimming pools.

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Obamacare Was Not Passed Via Reconciliation

by ATGElida32606 Posted on January 3, 2017

Mother Jones

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David French:

Remember when the Democrats passed ObamaCare through reconciliation, using procedural gimmickry to pass major social legislation over the unanimous objection of the majority party? So do congressional Republicans, and it looks like payback might be imminent.

I know this is an easy mistake to make, but I’m pretty sure Obamacare was passed over the unanimous objection of the minority party, the Democrats having won a massive, landslide victory in 2008. They figured this gave them a mandate to carry out the promises made during the campaign—silly, I know, since only Republicans have mandates—and they proceeded to do just that.

Less excusable is French’s contention that Obamacare was passed via reconciliation. It wasn’t. It was passed in the Senate under regular order, by a vote of 60-39 on December 24, 2009. Later, after Democrats lost their supermajority in the Senate, the House passed the Senate bill and then passed a second bill that implemented a few modest increases to subsidy levels and taxes. None of them were critical to the overall bill, but the Senate agreed to support these changes. These small, nonessential adjustments are the only part of Obamacare that was passed via reconciliation.

Everything else—the individual mandate, the pre-existing conditions ban, the subsidies, the Medicaid expansion, the medical loss ratios, the donut hole, the cost improvements, the taxes to pay for it all—in other words, everything that mattered, was passed via regular order.

As for the unanimous opposition of Republicans, that’s perfectly true. Democrats in the Senate tried mightily to put together a plan that might attract some GOP votes, but Republicans were adamantine. They pretended to negotiate, but by October it was clear they were just playing delaying games and had no intention of ever supporting anything that would expand access to health care. This strategy of blind obstruction, which applied to every part of Obama’s agenda, not just Obamacare, is a huge blot not on Democrats, but on the congressional Republicans who decided on it before Obama ever set foot in the Oval Office. It was only in the face of this unconditional obstruction that Democrats went ahead and passed something on their own.

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Obamacare Was Not Passed Via Reconciliation

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How to Compost at Home

by MarcusKnudsen Posted on December 9, 2016

In the old Brothers Grimm tale Rumpelstiltskin, a miller swears to the king that his daughter can spin straw into golda bold-faced lie.With the help of the eponymous imp and his magical powers, the daughter was eventually able to spew gold from her very fingers. But, she had to promise her firstborn child to him in order to receive the special talent.

In the real world there is one way to turn straw into gold, so to speak, that doesnt require any special powers or bargaining with a frightful creatureits known as composting. Creating organic fertilizer from food scraps happens to be much easier than most people think. Heres everything you need to know:

Photo Credit: Paul Delmont

WHAT IS COMPOSTING?

In basic terms, composting means recycling plant scraps from the kitchenincluding carrot tops, potato peels, herb stems, celery fronds, eggshells, coffee grounds, used tea bagsall in the effort to minimize waste and to make garden fertilizer. The process transforms such food scraps, which would have normally ended up in the garbage, into a nutrient-rich mulch that can be added to soil and help you grow even more fruits and vegetables, thereby perpetuating the cycle. Now thatssustainability at its finest.

How it works

As organic materials decompose, they break down into nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassiumthe same compounds plants need to thrive. Brown matter, like dead leaves and branches, provide carbon while green matter, like vegetables and fruits, provide nitrogen. Compost piles and bins ideally consist ofthree parts brown matter to one part green matter.

When these organic materials are exposed to air and water, microorganisms likebacteria, actinobacteria, fungi, protozoa, and earthwormsstart to break them down into compost. Carbon gives these microbes energy, and nitrogen facilitatesprotein synthesisa biological process where individual cells build up their specific proteins..

After these microorganisms break down the plant matter, what youre left with is a substance calledhumus(no, not hummus) which basically looks, smells, and feels like dark, moist soil. Spread a thick layer of it on top of the soil in your garden and watch your plants flourish! (Well get to more specifics below.)

COMPOSTING BENEFITS

Reduces and recycles kitchen and yard waste

One of the greatest benefits of composting is giving food scraps and yard waste another life. Instead of going straight to a landfillwhere40 percent of all food produced in the U.S. ends uptheyll serve a new purpose and nourish your garden naturally and even help you to cultivate more food.

Good for the environment

Compost can serve as a natural alternative to chemical fertilizers, which oftenseep into groundwater and end up polluting waterways.

Conditions and fertilizes soil

Compost helps give soil a softer, looser texture, which allows water and nutrients to reach the plants roots more efficiently. Its all thanks to those beneficial microorganisms, which can evenkill pathogensand prevent plant disease, according to theEnvironmental Protection Agency.

Photo Credit: Paul Delmont

WHAT TO COMPOST

Heres what can (and cant) go into your compost heap,according to the EPAandRodales Organic Life.

Brown matter

These are generally dry ingredients that are rich in carbon:

Cardboard
Corn husks
Cotton
Dead leaves
Hay
Nutshells
Paper
Pine needles
Sawdust
Shredded newspaper
Straw
Twigs
Wood ashes
Wood chips
Wool

Green matter

These tend to be wet and are rich in nitrogen:

Algae
Bread
Coffee grounds and filters
Dead plants
Eggshells
Freshwater aquarium water
Fruits
Fur
Grains (cooked, plain)
Grass clippings
Hair
Seaweed
Tea bags
Vegetables

WHATNOTTO COMPOST

These materials may be harmful to the health of your compost:

Black walnut tree leaves and twigs
Charcoal
Dairy products
Diseased plants
Dryer or vacuum lint from synthetic fabrics
Fats or oils
Glossy paper (especially with color printing)
Meat or fish scraps or bones
Pet waste

HOW TO COMPOST

Its easy to start composting at home. Whether you have a big backyard or live in an apartment with minimal outdoor space, heres how to do it.

Composting in a backyard

1. Pick a spot

The first step is to pick a dry, sunlit area outdoors and near a water source (like a garden hose). Since compost tends to be smelly, be mindful and choose a spot where the appearance or smell wont bother your neighbors. Its best to keep it far away from anywhere you eat or entertain, too. You should also avoid placing it near the house or any other wooden structures, as the decomposing materials can rot wood.

2. Dig a hole or buy a compost bin

If you dont mind letting your compost heap sit exposed, its a good idea to dig a hole in the ground to make it easier to manage. Make sure the hole measures at least 3 x 3 x 3.

You can buy a holding unit or bin at Thrive Market, likethis one here. Or you can get crafty and check out how tomake a DIY version. A closed bin with a lid also worksjust drill holes into the lid to allow air in, and add your own worms (you can pick those up at home and garden stores, too).

3. Start adding organic materials

Add compostable materials in alternating layers, starting with brown matter, then green matter, and some brown again. Try to maintain a ratio of three parts carbon (brown) to one part nitrogen (green). Too much carbon can slow down the decomposition, while too much nitrogen can make the pile slimy, smelly, and difficult to aerate.

4. Turn and add water

If you arent continually adding new matter, let it sit for five weeks. Then, turn it with a pitchfork or rake to oxygenate the mixture, and add enough water to dampen the pile. (Excess moisture hinders airflow, and too little prevents the microorganisms you need to start decomposition from thriving.) Leave it for three or four months longeritll turn into dark, moist soil, which is your key to know its ready to use.

Most people, however, tend to add new materials throughout the year. In this case, whenever you add new food waste or kitchen scraps, bury it to incorporate. Turn and moisten the pile at least every four to five weeks, but keep in mind that turning more often can really speed up the decomposition process.

Composting indoors or in an apartment

No backyard? No problem. You can make your own small-scale composting system indoorsand you dont even need worms. Heres how:

What you need

Small trash bin with a lid
Tray that fits underneath trash bin
Soil
Newspaper

Instructions

Choose a space to keep your compost bin. (Under the sink works well.)
Poke or drill a few holes on the bottom and around the rim of the bin.
Cover tray with newspaper and place the bin in the tray.
Add a layer of soil, a few inches deep, into the bin.
Add a layer of shredded newspaper into the bin.
Start adding your food scraps (green matter as listed above), along with a handful of newspaper or other brown matter as you go. (If it starts to smell bad, add more brown matter.)
Once a week, mix the pile and add a handful of fresh soil.

Youll know the compost is ready when its broken down into dark, moist soil. Use it as a top layer for potted plants or donate whatever you cant use to a neighborhood garden.

Photo Credit: Paul Delmont

TOP COMPOSTING TIPS

Here are some important things to know before getting started to make your composting a success.

Start your compost in summer:The process works best in heata compost pile that maintains an internal temperature of 130 to 150 degrees Fahrenheit breaks down faster.
Keep a small compost bin in the kitchen:Its a convenient way to collect food scraps without having to run out to the compost pile every time you have something to add. Once your indoor bin is filled, you can throw it all into the pile at once.
Always keep a healthy balance of of carbon to nitrogen (brown to green):Remember its three parts brown to one part green. Too much or too little of either can slow things down.
The smaller the materials, the better:Before adding things into the compost, cut them down to smaller chunks to help them decompose faster.
Dont pack too much waste in:The pile needs air to breathe.
The more green matter you use, the less water you need:Remember that too much water keeps the air from flowing freely through the mixture.
Do not compost pet waste:It can contain parasites.
Do not compost meat, meat scraps, fats or oils:Otherwise pests will come crawling and potentially spread disease through the compost.
Wormsare your friends:When these guys show up, leave them be and let them do their thing. Theyll feed on your food waste and help turn it into the beautiful compost youve been waiting for.
You can compost weeds:Just make sure they dont have seeds, or else you may get some pesky plants cropping up in your garden.
Turn your pile frequently:Aerating the compost as often as every two weeks can really speed up the process.
Keep two separate compost piles:Got a lot of organic material and extra space? Starting a second pile is handy so you can let the original one break down faster while continuing your composting habit.
Add compost to the garden two to four weeks before planting:This allows time for it to meld with the soil. Once youve got it all ready to go, its time to plant theseeds. When beautiful, bright-orange carrots grow in, youll be pretty happy you didnt trash those old peels.

Written by Emily Murphy, and reposted with permission fromThrive Market.

More From Thrive Market
Avocado Oil Vs. Olive Oil
The Benefits of Raw Garlic
How to Cook Salmon

Photo Credit: Lindsay/Flickr

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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How to Compost at Home

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How to Deal With Election Stress

by Dawna56002 Posted on November 4, 2016

Mother Jones

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With 4 days left until the blessed end of the 2016 campaign, the LA Times goes into full “news you can use” mode and assures that you can do something about election stress:

Election stress disorder1 may not be well known, but it’s definitely real, and its impact should not be dismissed, said Dr. Asim Shah, vice chair for community psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

….Of 3,500 adults surveyed in August, APA researchers found that 55% of Democrats and 59% of Republicans said the election is a “very significant” or “somewhat significant” source of stress….For those who want tips on how to manage their stress between now and Tuesday night, Shah offers the following advice:

  1. Turn off the TV news
  2. Write down your worst fears, then address them
  3. Remember that very little will change overnight
  4. If you must, ask your doctor for medication.
  5. If your candidate wins, take it easy on election night

Hmmm. Apparently Shah recommends turning off TV news, but not avoiding print news—like the LA Times. Coincidence? Or conspiracy between the psychological establishment and the dead-tree media diehards? I suspect the latter. Can I trust the print media anymore? Can I trust their polls? I’M NOT SURE!!! How can I know what’s true anymore? HOW CAN I KNOW??? Is Hillary really ahead? Or is it Trump? OMG, it’s been 20 minutes since I checked with Nate Silver the god. Excuse me while I go see what he has to say.

1That’s ESD, not to be confused with ED or PSD or PTSD.

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How to Deal With Election Stress

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Eco-Aware Kitchen Cabinet Replacement or Renewal

by fji5enf2 Posted on July 26, 2016

You work hard at keeping your kitchen greenbuying healthful, sustainable food and drink to nourish your family and friends. Good for you! Now heres another area where you can make a positive difference to our planet. Make sure that your kitchen cabinets, as well as their contents, are eco-friendly, locally produced whenever feasible and constructed from sustainably produced or harvested substances. Whether you are planning to install new kitchen cabinets or upgrade your existing ones pick and choose from these 7 tips to minimize your impact on the health of Mother Earth.

  1. Reuse. Reusing what you already have is one of the basic principles of anenvironmentally mindfullifestyle. Repair damaged kitchen cabinets if possible, to extend their usefulness and postpone the need to purchase new material. Often cabinets which are somewhat the worse for wear can be renewed by changing the hardware or stripping their finish and redoing with water-based stain or paint.
  2. Reduce. If your present cabinet doors are a little (or a lot) battered, you might need to take more serious steps to make your kitchen functional once again. You can make choices that will reduce the amount of new materials youll need, though. Consider simply refacing the cabinet surfaces or replacing just the doors themselves, while preserving the boxes.
  3. Recycle. Recycling venerable old wood (salvaged from barns or fences that have been torn down or fallen on their own) is not only praiseworthy, it will also give your kitchen a very appealingly weathered rustic look. Do be sure to ask permission before bringing home wood from a demo site or a pile of discarded pallets; it may not be free for the taking. And check whether wood you plan to reclaim issafe free of mold, rot, or insect infestation, to name just a few examples.
  4. Replace responsibly. If none of the previous suggestions works for your situation, you might decide that your cabinets life is done and it is time to look for an appropriate replacement at last. Should you decide toinstall new kitchen cabinets, select natural materials, preferably ones that have not been transported long distances to where you live. Durable, beautiful wood, such as oak, cherry, or mahogany is a good choice; look for Forest Stewardship Council certification that it was sustainably sourced. A new hybrid wood, lyptus, is fast growing and can be harvested without damaging the surrounding environment.
  5. Research other materials for their green potential. Bamboo has become a popular, less expensive, alternative to wood; however, recently questions have started to be raised about its sustainability. In addition, bamboo planks may contain a formaldehyde-based adhesive. A promising new source for cabinet construction is actually farm waste. A process has been developed to transform the debris which is left over from harvesting sorghum, sunflowers, or wheat into attractive fine-grained boards.
  6. Recycle once again. Dont just discard your old kitchen cabinets after they are removed. You may be able to donate them to your local branch ofHabitat for Humanityor at least drop them off at the salvage center.
  7. Remember the details.Opt for environmentally sound materials to craft the interiors of your kitchen cabinets, as well as their faces. Avoid using any toxic adhesives or finishes that will off-gasVOCs (volatile organic compounds)into the air of your home.

By Laura Firszt, Networx.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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Eco-Aware Kitchen Cabinet Replacement or Renewal

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The Ultimate Green Moving Guide

by CatharineFeldman Posted on February 22, 2016

Yes, it’s true. Pulling up stakes and moving is an awful lot of work. No matter how much you are looking forward to life in your new home, change is difficult and stressful. That doesn’t mean you should forget about your green goals, though. Minimizing the wear and tear on our planet when you move is really not so hard. Just follow some — or all — of these 10 tips for an eco-friendly move.

  1. Choose a green new home.There are so many environmentally friendly angles to focus on when selecting a new place to live. Perhaps you will look for a house or apartment with a highWalk Score, LEED-certified construction, or a place to share with roommates or other family members.
  2. Start early.Take plenty oftime to decide which green elements are a must for you to include in your move. Then do your homework to discover how to achieve your aims.
  3. Declutter responsibly.Bringing along only what you really need/want will reduce the quantity of packing materials you requireand the amount of fuel your transport vehicle will consume. Try to sell, donate, or recycle as much as you can.Fringe benefit: This way, you will also pay less for the reduced poundage if you’ll be using professional movers.
  4. Remember your furred and feathered friends,If you have beenfeeding the birds and squirrelsin your current locale, don’t just stop abruptly. Find someone to take over for you when you’re going to move away in the wintertime.
  5. Use sustainable packing boxes. For a small local move, clean secondhand cartons from the nearby grocery or liquor store will be fine. Pass your containers on once you are settled in your new home sweet home. If you are planning a larger or long distance move, you’re likely to need a substantial numberof uniformly sized containers. Rent from your moving company, if you’re using one, or a green packing company. We recommend sturdy crates manufactured from plastic bottles — which can be used and reused an amazing 400 times — and recycled packing and wrapping materials.
  6. Pad your fragile items with towels or sheets.This beats using and discarding newspaper or (shudder!) Styrofoam. Unpack with care.
  1. Minimize your carbon footprint when transporting your possessions.Though making multiple short hops to drop off stuff at your new place may be convenient, it sure does use a lot of gasoline. One trip in as small a truck as possible is much more efficient. When hiring a mover, look for one that practices environmental responsibility, such as working with trucks that run on biodiesel fuel, bicycles, or train transport for long distance moves.
  2. Pick green cleaning supplies.One of the many chores that moving brings is a ton of cleanup (often at both ends of the move). Even though you’ll be tired and stressed, take the time to use green cleaning supplies, such as vinegar and old rags, rather than paper towels and harmful chemical cleansers.
  3. Prep your new home the green way.Seal potential sources of air leakage (cracks around doors and windows, for example) and insulate (ductwork, attic, and crawlspace are excellent places to start). Both these simple home improvements will allow your heating and cooling system to work more efficiently. When you redecorate, chooselow- to no-VOC latexto paint the walls.
  4. Don’t forget the furnishings.Shop charity stores and garage sales for home furnishings to reuse or repurpose. Should you plan to purchase new appliances like a washing machine orair conditioner, opt for Energy Star models.

By Laura Firszt,Networx.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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The Ultimate Green Moving Guide

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Study says street harassment is everywhere, still sucks

by ShaniFitzgibbon Posted on May 28, 2015

Hey Girl

Study says street harassment is everywhere, still sucks

By on 27 May 2015commentsShare

Would you like a joke? Here you go:

Q: What’s just like hot garbage and hangs out all over the street?

A: Street harassers! (And also literal garbage.)

Hollaback! and Cornell University have just published the results of the largest international study of street harassment to date. (ICYMI, we wrote about the United States-focused portion of that study last month.) This great infographic sums up some of their results:

Hollaback! / Cornell University

Remember: Street harassment really, truly sucks — and it’s actually powerful enough to keep women off streets and public transit. Now let’s all take a deep breath and deal with our catcalling-related frustration with this excellent song from Tacocat:

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Study says street harassment is everywhere, still sucks

Posted in Anchor, FF, G & F, GE, ONA, Radius, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Study says street harassment is everywhere, still sucks