Nature Kids, Hot Water Woes, and Pellet Stoves
I want my child to connect with nature, but how can a suburban park be designed to both protect visitors from Lyme disease–carrying ticks and restore the natural ecosystem? —Lena Crandall, Scarsdale, NY The funny thing about wildlife (even the kind that finds its way into parks and playgrounds in…
Roam If You Want To (But Not if You're a Bear)
This map, scanned from Patagonia’s latest catalog, details a grizzly’s 50-mile journey, which in the world of a bear, isn’t even really that far of a trip- they’ve been known to travel 500 miles or more as part of their natural movements. “For many wild animals, to roam means to…
Smartest Car; Still Worse Than The Dumbest Bike
The process of buying and making new cars isn’t the solution to this enormous fossil fuel problem we’re having. Hackneyed as it might seem, we need to develop long term sustainable community transportation, AND to rethink the way that we structure our lives around cars. Buying a smart car is…
Green Gifts: The Top 5 Regifting Don’ts
It’s the day after Christmas. Aside from feeling fat and hungover, you’re probably wondering how you’ll get rid of all the terrible gifts you’ve collected–the gizmo you’ll never use, the book you’ll never read, the sweater you wouldn’t be caught dead wearing. Rather than toss that hideous scarf or Ricky…
The Kids Are Not Going to Be Alright: They're Going to Be Pissed
Several of my friends have had babies in the last few years, and some are on their second round already. Though it seems to me that there are far too many people on the planet already, it’s difficult to begrudge anyone the basic human drive to reproduce, and my friends’…
EVO's Big-Tent Green Shopping Revolution
Last week, EVO, the get-everything-green-in-one-place site launched, and it’s pretty awesome. They have a ‘Green Rating System’ for each one of their products that works like this: Simply put, how green a product is depends on what it’s made from, how it’s produced, the distance it travels to reach the…
Eco Chick FINALLY Run on Renewable Energy!
Since I run Eco Chick from my home office, and since up until last month renewable energy was NOT available from my electricity provider, this blog was run entirely on fossil fuels (how embarassing!). On one hand it was kinda cool; my electric never came from a huge corporation like…
Green Gifts for All the Lovable Weirdoes in Your Life
You know those lists of gifts everyone has now? They’re killing me. So I had to make my own because my friends and family are a motley bunch, and the usual stuff (even the usual green stuff) isn’t going to cut it. Plus, they have high expectations because I am…
Why Greenfest? Here's the Answer
by Guest-blogger Katherine Cure Katherine Cure sipping organic fair-trade coffee from one of the second-hand mugs that were available for use during Greenfest “Greenfest? What’s that?” the tanned middle-aged East Bay native eating next to me asked, as I outlined to him my reasons for coming to San Francisco for…
My Dream (Hobbit?) House
My friend Chris Baskind says this house is for “upwardly mobile, fashion forward hobbits.” I THINK that describes me…. OK, I’m having a severe case of house lust. Have you ever seen a cuter little abode? Check the website for more pictures, as well as plans and details of the…
