Active Eco-Friendly Posts
How To: Harvest the sun with a homemade solar panel
Harvest the sun! This easy step-by-step tutorial will show you how to build your own solar heating/hot water system. Green energy is the wave of the future. Stop high oil and gas prices.
How To: Make your own cinnamon peppermint lip gloss or lip plumper
Lip plumpers can sometimes get expensive, but you can make your own at home! A great handmade gift, or just to use for yourself! This shows you how to create your own lip gloss or lip plumper using cinnamon and peppermint oils.
How To: Recycle Your Christmas Tree (Disposing Live Conifers After the Holidays)
Christmas is almost over— all of the presents are unwrapped, all of the prime ribs have been eaten, the whole family's drunk off eggnog— and soon it will be time to forget about Christmas until next year.
News: What's More Eco? Fake or Fir?
Think you're more green by going artificial? Think again. The New York Times reports that the most definitive study shows you would have to use your artificial tree for 20 years before it has less impact on the environment than a real tree.
How To: Stay green this holiday season by reducing your trash
Christmas and the holiday season can generate quite a bit of trash on their own, so what do you do when you want to maintain your green lifestyle over the holidays? This tutorial gives you tips on how to recycle packing material, wrapping paper and even your Christmas tree.
How To: Wrap your holiday gifts using eco friendly materials
Keep your Christmas green! Don't resort to environmentally unfriendly wrapping paper. You can put your gifts in cloth bags or use catalog and magazine pages as your wrapping paper. Or, just use plain brown paper bags and decorate them as your wrapping paper!
How To: Fold an eco-friendly shopping bag into a tiny pouch
Shopping bags are an ecological nightmare, so many modern shoppers use eco-friendly reusable shopping bags. If you have a stash of eco-friendly bags and want to store them more easily, watch this video to learn a novel way to fold these bags that turns them into a tiny pouch, which you could even still use to hold things if you wanted.
How To: Make a DIY trash can out of newspapers
Recycling things isn't nearly as efficient a means of conserving resources as reusing your waste material in it's current form. Enter this video. It will teach you how to make an awesome little trash can / waste paper basket out of perhaps the most appropriate material of all: old newspapers!
How To: Make a green, recycled centerpiece for your Thanksgiving table
Want to have a green Thanksgiving this year? You can make a classy, lovely Thanksgiving centerpiece with your children out of recycled materials! This project uses empty glass soda bottles, a few paints, flowers and some old jewelry or colored beads.
How To: Go green in your vegetable garden with biodegradable pots and other tips
Are you an avid gardener who tends to your plans on a daily basis? Then before you step foot outside the door today, check out this video to learn a plethora of tips for going green with your gardening.
How To: Make cheap and safe handmade laundry soap
When it comes to staying safe, we all know that dish detergents, spray cleaners, and any sort of bleaching cleaners are bad for our health, since they distribute potentially cancer-causing toxins into the air.
How To: Recycle cans and make decorative candle votives
In this video, we learn how to recycle cans and make decorative candle votives. First, you will use a straight edge to remove any paper from the top of the can. Then, use the straight edge to cut parallel holes in the bottom of the can. Grab sharp scissors and continue to cut the holes from the bottom all the way up to the top of the can. After this, use scissors to help pry the folds up and into the air for a cute design. Make sure not to use your hands to pry these up, as the edges will be ...
How To: Install a dual flush toilet kit
In this tutorial, we learn how to install a dual flush toilet kit. First, grab the directions from the box that the toilet came in and read them! After this, you will take the lid off the tank of the toilet. Then, install the flusher into the tank of the toilet after removing the flapper and the chain. Continue to install the kit according to the directions and secure it inside the tank. When finished, place the top of the toilet back on the tank and then turn the water back on. Test this out...
How To: Make a homemade compost tumbler
In this tutorial, we learn how to make a homemade compost tumbler. Find a large barrel and mount it on a wood frame. You can use recycled materials, like an old pickle barrel if you can find one. There should be an axle in the middle of the wooden posts that runs through the tumbler as well. There should be a pipe in the middle bottom of the barrel to run air through, that will exit through the top where the handles are at. The aeration system will help your compost work properly, so you can ...
How To: Recycle an empty can into an ashtray
In this tutorial, we learn how to recycle an empty can into an ashtray. First, take your can and cut the top off. Then, cut 16 flaps into the can, not cutting the bottom off. Now, flatten them and fold them each into each other. Continue to do this until you have gone all around the can and you have a sort of star shape that has been make. Flatten all of the bends on the tray and then push the bottom of the can in. Now you can use this as a decorative ashtray without having to pay for it, enjoy!
How To: Recycle an old can to make a candle votive
This is a video tutorial in the Home & Garden category where you are going to learn how to recycle an old can to make a candle votive. Take an old can and cut it vertically along the side without cutting off the edges. Now cut along the top and bottom edges starting at the vertical cut and going outwards on each side. Cut up to about half of the circumference of the can. Now pull out the cut halves and you have the basic stand for the votive candle. Now you got to straighten out the jagged ed...
How To: Recycle plastic bottles and make a decorative mobile
In this video we learn how to recycle plastic bottles and make a decorative mobile. Start off by cutting the strips off of the water bottle then pinning them down to a table. After this, you will start to cross each of these with another piece to make a checkered effect. Nail them down on the sides as well to make it stick to where you want it. When finished, you will remove the nails and then place in a needle with beads and shells attached to it on each of the holes. Once you are finished w...
How To: Recycle plastic bottles in unexpected eco-friendly ways
We'd never tell you not to recycle plastic water bottles, but there are other ways to reduce and reuse these commonly consumed products. And when we say "other ways," we mean ways that you've never even thought about.
How To: Make a solar oven from an old Pringles can
Watch as Jordan, a 4-Her from Louisiana, shows you how to make a solar oven from a Pringles can. You can cook anywhere with this great oven; all you need is the sun! For more, as well as step-by-step instructions for building your own solar oven from a disused Pringles potato chip can, take a look!
HowTo: Dumpster Dive For Gold
Dumpsters make great swimming pools and skateboard ramps, but when they're full of trash, they're pretty valuable, too. You can get a surprising amount of free booty dumpster diving. If you're a penny pincher who values low cost (re: free) functionality, check out Apartment Therapy's guide to mastering the craft. Below, my three favorite insider tips.
How To: Make a compost toilet
In this tutorial, we learn how to make a compost toilet. First, you will need a 5 gallon bucket. Then, you will need to put a toilet seat on top of it so it's comfortable. After this, build a cabinet around it to make it look nice. After this, you will need to put something inside it, like sawdust, which will absorb the liquid inside. Now, you can feel free to use this for a bathroom! For ventilation, you can use a hair dryer from your local thrift store which will connect to the back wall an...
How To: Recycle cans to make garden decor
In this tutorial, we learn how to recycle cans to make garden decor. First, use small scissors to poke a hole in the top of the can, then cur around the top of it until you have removed the mouth. After this, cut a rigid design in the top of the can and then cut five slits going down on all the sides. Push these down, then cut the sides of them so they are slightly rounded. From here, you will attach these to another can that has been spread out with tons of different slits. Place this on a r...
How To: Recycle milk bottles to make decorative flowers
With this video, we learn how to recycle milk bottles to make decorative flowers. First, mark eight coupled marks on four sides of the bottom of the bottom. Then, poke holes into them and cut into them with sharp scissors. From here, you will continue to do this all the way around the bottom of the bottle until you have created petals. Then, cut above these to make long oval types of shapes and then spread the petals out on the bottom and on the top. Pull the longer petals into the open areas...
How To: Make a small windmill from a permanent magnet motor
In this video, we learn how to make a small windmill from a permanent magnet motor. You will need: a motor, a rotor, and a stand to make this. First, you need to find a motor that has permanent magnets on it, like one from a printer. Then, grab a windmill like one from the garden and make a stand by combining three pieces of wood. Then, heat up the side of the motor and connect it to the middle of the windmill so that it spins around. After this, you will connect it to the stand with a fiberg...
How To: Begin composting
In this tutorial, we learn how to begin composting. When you compost, you have a lot of choices of where you want to compost. You can do it inside of a metal bin, in a small tumble type of container, or a wood cedar box. If you are doing a lot of composting, use a large composting bin that you will turn with a shovel. It's important to get oxygen into the pile to keep the bacteria growing. You can use compost accelerator to help get things going and make it more successful. You can compost co...
How To: Make an all natural deoderant at home
This may not work for everyone, since each person has a different pH balance. Or you may need to alter the recipe a bit. What you need is: shea butter, baking soda, corn starch, cocoa butter, Vitamin E gel caps and your favorite essential oil.
How To: Recycle an empty cereal box into a magazine holder
Start with a cereal box, then measure and cut away the top corner at a diagonal. Once you've cut out your magazine holder, you can further recyle magazines as decorations, or paint and stencil your own! Hold papers, books, magazines or anything else.
News: Would You Live in a Walking Robot House?
If you fancy yourself a nomad, check out Walking House, a mobile and modular dwelling system that is pneumatically powered, all-terrain ready. The vehicle-home crawls along at a snail's pace of 60 meters per hour, which equates to less than 1/2 a mile per hour. Akin in concept to the rolling house-on-the-go (except in the way cooler insect-like robot form), Walking House also boasts some cool eco-friendly features:
How To: Use an Eco-san toilet
In this tutorial, we learn how to use an Eco-san toilet. These have been designed to protect and preserve the environment. The excrement are disposed of separately and do not use water for flushing. The structure is above the ground and has a concrete slab on the bottom. Platforms are constructed on top of this, then there is a room built above this. There are three parts, the shallow for urine, the middle for excrement, and the last part for cleaning. The user must know how to do use the toi...
How To: Recycle an old blank CD case into a toilet paper case or dispenser
If you need to protect your toilet paper rolls from overactive pets, or want a way to travel with tp without having it unroll, you can create a quick and easy toilet paper holder just using an old case for blank CDs and a box cutter.
How To: Turn old CDs and DVDs into coasters for hot drinks
Don't throw away your old CDs and DVDs! All you need is a little felt, some glue and an X-acto knife to turn obsolete software into techie home decor. Just glue the felt to the disc, and then cut out once the glue is dry.
How To: Make your own organic and all natural toothpaste
Concerned about the unpronounceable chemicals you see on tubes of toothpaste? Clean your tetth and keep your breath fresh without having to introduce unpleasant chemicals to your system! All you need is some baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, essential oils (mints are best) and a few drops of stevia (optional). Combine together, and smile! You have homemade toothpaste!
How To: Build a green wind tunnel insect trap
Killing bugs used to be the domain of fancy chemicals that, it turns out, hurt us as much or more than the bugs. If you have a flying pest problem and need a green way to control it, watch this video to learn how to make a DIY wind tunnel trap for your insect nemeses.
News: Meet the World's Most Eco-Friendly Kitchen
Well suited for loft living, Studio Gorm's Flow Kitchen offers an extremely eco-friendly and efficient solution to all your daily actions in the kitchen. The Netherlands based design studio focuses on three major areas: Waste, Water and Energy. My favorite element? A cutting board that sits above a compost bin. Slide it forward, and sweep your scraps right into the (eco-friendly) trash.
How To: Build a chest of drawers out of old cereal boxes and recycled art
Perfect for decorating on a budget or green decorating! This tutorial shows you how to take empty cereal boxes and other cardboard materials, and transform them into a beautiful and cool chest of drawers you can use to store your small items.
How To: Kill household pests and bugs without using dangerous poison
People used to bring poison into their homes willy-nilly, but now that we realize how bad most household pest-killers and other chemicals are natural ways are becoming more popular. This video will show you how to kill bugs in your home without resorting to poison that could hurt your children or pets.
How To: Use microgeneration to generate power
In this video, we learn how to use microgeneration to generate power. You can start by placing solar panels on your roof which is very easy to get installed. It's not a huge job, it just takes some workers and a meter that is in the house. This will tell you how much power you are getting through the solar panels. Another edition you can have is a panel that will give you hot water, which can save you money on your monthly bills. This will give you confidence in your energy because you are pr...
How To: Use solar thermal microgeneration
Solar Thermal Microgeneration may be used to reduce your hot water bill, fossil fuel use, and lower your carbon footprint. For water heating, water is collected from solar panels. It is used to heat the water, as it filters through the water heater. Some areas require all new homes to provide an energy rating to buyers. Solar thermal panels harness the suns energy and reducing the need for fossil fuels to heat water. You will need the combination of solar panels, a traditional water heater, a...
How To: Make your home more energy and water efficient
Are your electricity and water bills comparable with that of Raging Waters? Then it's probably the right time to consider how to save on your energy and water bill by taking small steps like assessing where you're at in your home, having an energy audit, and eliminate leaky faucets.
The Clip-On Apartment: a Green Solution for Suffocated Living
A group of New Zealand students have designed the ultimate green addition for eco-friendly living: a "clip-on" Plant Room.