Living Sustainably

Vegetarian Organic Life Newsletter - This free weekly e-mail newsletter is designed to give you bite size bits of helpful and relevant information about good food, balanced nutrition and healthy living. The author, Amira Elgan, practices yoga, has a black belt in Tea Kwon Do, and has managed some of the premier restaurants in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills and Hollywood.

thebookcart.com - gives everyone a chance to move along previously read paperbacks that may be headed for a yard sale, cardboard box in the attic, or even the trash. The premise is simple: FREE (except for postage) paperbacks for anyone. They feel that "communication is the very cornerstone of which a better world will be built upon; and there is nothing as important as reading to give us the knowledge to communicate intelligently."

The National Atlas of the US - Small-scale maps of the U.S. which can be overlayed with all kinds of data, including: soils, county boundaries, volcanoes, watersheds. crime patterns, population distribution, and incidence of disease. This information is tied to specific geographic areas and is categorized and indexed using different methods, such as county, State, and zip code boundaries or geographic coordinates like latitude and longitude. A great research tool.

Composition Workshop - Whether you're drawing, painting, making a collage, a card, a web page or a photograph, its success is largely dependent upon the laws of composition- the mysterious chemistry that happens when people look at your creation, and makes it seem interesting...or boring. Photographer Harry Snowden wrote this nifty, one-page, illustrated intro to composition. Check it out!

How to Make Musical Rainsticks - Make a colorful Rainstick using recycled materials and stuff you probably have around the house.

Zenda's Soap & Beauty Recipes - Recipes and tips for soapmaking. Everything you need to get started and make a variety of soaps (including Glycerine Soap) and related products, like bath bombs & cookies, bath salts, and more. [19k]

Traditional Soap Making - Clean out the fireplace or woodstove- Here's a good use for all those wood ashes! Soap made the original way- from wood ashes and natural fats and oils. A complete, very detailed guide.

Soap Making Projects - A very large selection, compiled by the Mining Company. Everything from basic soap and household cleaners, to glycerin and vegetable soaps.

Making Soap - A site put together by Steven Baumrucker, MD, former moderator of the internet Soapmaking List. Several recipes, including how to make your own tallow, and a nice collection of soapmaking-related links.

Making Rose Petal Beads - Just the thing for an early Summer's Day. [7k] Here's another recipe for Rose Petal Beads and here's one with pictures. [5k]

Toys From Trash - This page, by Debbie, is a great idea. She's soliciting ideas, but so far, she only has a few toys; let's help her out- Think back to your childhood (or your present...) and tell her what fun you had with trash!

Build an inexpensive playhouse for your toddler - "Here is a project for new parents, who, After spending most of their $$$ on diapers and formula, find it difficult to spend more on expensive toys! The playhouse costs next to nothing (well under $20.00) and is as much fun to make, as it is for your child to play in."

Make your own greeting cards - Homemade Holiday Greeting cards are easy, fun, inexpensive, and a great way to be together as a family. Even very little ones can participate.

Handmade Papier-Mâché Napkin Rings - These napkin rings are a kid-friendly project. They're a great way to reuse paper and make a useful, attractive gift at the same time. easy, fun, free, and a great way to be together as a family.

Making Paper Beads- You can make beautiful, featherweight paper beads out of old catalogs, magazines and even computer printouts. Use the beads to make earrings, necklaces, bracelets and more.

100 Things You Can Do For Your Community In A New Century - Simple, practical, powerful things you can do to make the place you live a better place to live. From the folks at Alliance for National Renewal. Also available as a poster.

You Can Do It - A large collection of easy, practical things you can do to help the planet. Covers a variety of topics, with a page of tips for each. Topics include: house, garden, car, water, travel, shopping, school and office. At Green Networld

EcoTips - Ecological Living for Normal People - A nice collection of commonsense tips for saving energy and resources. Tips on saving on water, heating, air conditioning, lighting, battery use, appliances, gifts, etc..

Care2 be Green - A great introduction to earth-friendly living, this set of pages is a very readable set of tools and knowledge that will help you make a difference by leading a greener life. Topics covered include Saving Energy, Hazard-free Cleaning, Conserving Water, The 3 R's (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle), Organic Gardening, Composting, Landscaping, Eating Organic, Eating Less Meat, Green Transport, Green Kids, and Green Pets. Whew! Check it out.

P24U - A guide (annotated links) to resources that will help consumers reduce their environmental impacts and protect their health by practicing pollution prevention, or "P2," around the house. This is an exceptionally useful list. Topics: Green Building, Home Comfort, Home Appliances & Fixtures, Breathing Easy Indoors, Painting, Staining & Sealing, Housecleaning, Out in the Yard, Car Care, What do I do with these Chemicals?, Multiple Topics, P2 Quiz.

P24U is compiled by the Pacific Northwest Pollution Prevention Resource Center, in Seattle, WA. [49k]

Stay Cool - some practical, earth-friendly coping tips for summertime heat. [6k]

Water Pollution Prevention - Individual behavior can have a powerful effect on water pollution. This article, prepared by the Corvallis, Oregon Public Works Dept., describes steps you can take around your house and neighborhood to keep your community's water clean.

GreenSensible Tips - Tips on oil burners, energy and soapmaking. It's not easy being green in a culture devoted to the opposite. But if you're trying, you've probably come up with some pretty creative solutions. Let's inspire each other! What worked for you may work for others- Click here and we'll post your tip.

Better Shopping: Tips & Tools - A collection compiled by Co-op America. Topics include: Ten Things You Should Buy - Local Products or Foreign? It Depends... - Save Money, Time and Resources When You Shop - 'Mall-ternatives': 8 Alternatives to Shopping as Usual - Businesses to Boycott; Front Groups to Beware - Have More Life with Less Clutter, Waste and Stuff.

Shopping/UnShopping: Personal Profiles - Stories of real people dealing with: personal priorities vs. work; Family, Community, & meaningful Work; Doing What You Believe in; Retiring Early & Enjoying Life Now...all from Co-op America.

A Guide to Less Waste and Toxics at Home - What to eliminate; what to use instead, for food containers, personal care, lawn care, houshold cleaning and laundry, etc.. From ZERO WASTE AMERICA's site, which has lots of information on the national waste situation, along with suggestions for political action individuals can take to improve the situation.

Chefs Collaborative - This is the web site for Chefs Collaborative, a non-profit group of chefs and others. Chefs Collaborative educates chefs about (1) local, artisinal, sustainable food, (2) about how to operate food-related businesses sustainably, and (3) about how to communicate the Collaborative commitment to the public.

Low-Fat Vegetarian Archive - Feeling overfed? This archive has 2,541 fat free and very low fat vegetarian recipes as well as information about healthy very low fat vegetarian diets. But you don't have to be vegetarian or eat low fat all the time to enjoy one of these recipes. Browse and enjoy!

Vegetarian Organic Life Newsletter - This free weekly e-mail newsletter is designed to give you bite size bits of helpful and relevant information about good food, balanced nutrition and healthy living. The author, Amira Elgan, practices yoga, has a black belt in Tea Kwon Do, and has managed some of the premier restaurants in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills and Hollywood.

The "Quick and Easy Veggie Meals Under a $1.50" FAQ - Not a collection of recipes, this is much better- an easy-to-follow guide to creating your own delicious, inexpensive, nourishing recipes. Includes tips for beans, rice, potatoes, pasta, pizza, salads, sandwiches and more. [16k]

How To Win An Argument With a Meat-Eater - Need we say more?(8k)

Green Cuisine - Our own collection of flavorful, frugal, and healthy recipes...

Simple Sourdough - Mark Shepard's "simple living" bread recipe, inspired by the Community of the Ark, a Gandhi-inspired community in the mountains of southern France.

Three Sisters Cookbook - To Native Americans, they are "sustainers of life" Corn, Beans and Squash- "sisters who would never be apart from one another- sisters who should be planted together, eaten together and celebrated together". 23 nicely formatted recipes, each with number of servings and nutrition stats (calories, fat, sodium, etc.). A gift of the Oneida people.

A Modern Herbal Home Page - Sore throat, runny nose? This classic herbal reference, by Mrs. M. Grieve has everything from Abscess Root to Zedoary, and lots of ways to find what you're looking for.

The Wild Garden - One way to re-connect with nature is to make it a part of us- to eat, drink, and nurture ourselves from the Wild Garden now and then. We start with a cool drink of Wild Pink Lemonade

Flora's Chocolate Heaven - "It ain't easy being green?". Take a break and check out this incredible collection of Chocolate recipes. The index alone is 18k.

The Healing Power of Soy's Isoflavones - An introduction to the many benefits of Soy, with a recipe.

'Dry Brushing' Beats Dental Plaque - Save on tooth paste...and dental bills. This Arizona study found that brushing with a dry brush reduced plaque by 67% and gingivitis by 50%. Includes instructions. NOTE: Thanks to the anonymous visitor who sent us this link, with more about drybrushing.

Frugal Tip File - . Extensive discussions of everything from auto brake rotors to frugal makeup. Part of Frugal Living Resources excellent Website, which, in turn is part of IGC, The Institute for Global Communications, a network of organizations "working towards peace, a better environment, and social justice".

Frugal Tips USA - A nice collection of practical tips in list format. Topics include: Auto, Appliances, Finances, Health, Beauty,Leisure, Shopping, Telephone and Water.

Previous Tips of the Week - More pages of practical tips from Julie's Frugal Tip of The Week.

Rachel's Ramblings- Wedding Frugality Page - A series of pages for brides and grooms. Topics include: Your Engagement, The Invitations, The Reception, Wedding Attire, Wedding Crafts, and more.

Food Waste - American households waste 28 billion pounds of food/year. This article from ULS gives lots of practical suggestions to help you waste less food.

Operation Landfill Elimination - Over 100k of re-uses for bags, balls, bats, binders, blankets, books, bottles...to wallpaper, water, watch bands and much, much more.

PEP National Directory of Computer Recycling Programs - Wait! Don't throw that old clone away! Check out this State, National and International Directory of agencies that facilitate donations of used computer hardware for schools and community groups:

Roadside Recycling - What's even better than Recycling? Reuse. Why? Because it takes a lot of energy to recycle- transportation, sorting, processing, remanufacturing, marketing, etc. Re-use eliminates all of that. Example: the garage sale. Or better yet...

The greeting at this site begins: " Have you ever gone down a road on a garbage day and seen something potentially interesting and then stopped to investigate? Well, if you answered 'yes' then, buckeroo, you are a garbage picker."

Topics include: Is Garbage Picking Legal? Garbage Picking Tips,Garbage Goodies, Garbage Picking Manners, and Learn the LINGO!

Cheapskate Monthly newsletter: Preview Copy - Cheapskate newsletter.

Green Living News - Having kids and learning that her community had a high rate of several types of cancer motivated Amy Todisco to find out more. What she learned changed her life. She found alternative ways to clean her house and feed her family and jump-started a vibrant, powerful environmental movement in Marblehead, MA. In this newsletter, she shares it all with you.

Green Market listserv - A listserv run by IGC's Green Market.

Overcoming Consumerism - A complete guide. Thoughtful commentary combined with "hands-on" (literally!) suggestions.

The Unofficial Tightwad Gazette Fan Club Home Page - Scroll down for a nice collection of practical tips a la the Tightwad Gazette.

Stuff - An uncommon look at a day in the life of some very common stuff. From Northwest Environment Watch.

Stuff Owns You - and this article, from The Gentle Survivalist, draws on Native American tradition to come up with some great suggestions for what to do about it.[9k]

Michelle's Organizing 'The Stuff' Tips - A nice set of suggestions organized by type of stuff: pictures, Boots and Gloves, Happy Meal Toys, Christmas Decorations, Junk Drawer Stuff, Extra Blankets And Bedspreads, Bills, Board Games, and Kids Craft Supplies [15k]

The Messy Homemaker - Get Organized! One woman's personal account of her ultimately successful struggle with clutter.

What is worm composting? - The basics of getting worms to eat your garbage, from Worm Woman's Web Site. (5k)

Build a worm bin - Detailed instructions (6k)

How To Raise 100 Pounds of Worms - For a _really_ detailed set of instructions for raising worms try this seven part article by Brian Paley.

How to Compost - Not into worms, but still want to compost your garbage? Check out this article by Eric Johnson. (12k)

Vertical Gardening - Feeling cramped for garden space? Well, grow up! Literally. Here's a simple, inexpensive way to garden in very limited space- even if all you have is a concrete patio.

Plant Lettuce Now for Winter Greens - Gardening in reverse with cool crops, by Shepherd Ogden. Did you know that Lettuce can withstand air temperatures as low as 25 F.? And it grows well with fewer daily sunlight hours than almost any other crop, even when soil temperatures are in the 40 F. to 50 F. range. The article tells how to take advantage of these qualities to make "salad season" last a lot longer than you thought possible. [13k]

Growing and Harvesting Wheat by Hand - How to do it, step by step, with illustrations. [11k]

The Wild Garden - One way to re-connect with nature is to make it a part of us- to eat, drink, and nurture ourselves from the Wild Garden now and then. We start with a cool drink of Wild Pink Lemonade

Free-Nets & Community Networks - Reading this at the library? Get wired for less. You can buy a used 386 w/monitor now for about $50, a 286 for half that or less. Make sure it has at least a 14.4 modem, use this link to find a freenet near you, and you're all set.

- An excellent list of environment-related sites at E/Magazine. Many of the entries are annotated, to give you an idea of what you'll find there. [74k]

PubMed - Free at last! Check out the long-awaited free, direct public access to the U.S National Library of Medicine's "Medline".

The National Atlas of the US - Small-scale maps of the U.S. which can be overlayed with all kinds of data, including: soils, county boundaries, volcanoes, watersheds. crime patterns, population distribution, and incidence of disease . This information is tied to specific geographic areas and is categorized and indexed using different methods, such as county, State, and zip code boundaries or geographic coordinates like latitude and longitude. A great research tool.

BookWire - From John Stuart Mill's On Liberty to Howard Reingold's Virtual Community , and a lot in between, plus links to the internet's major archive of online texts, this electronic index is a great alternative to buying books.

On-line Books Page - Over 5000 books online, From Homer (Iliad) to Howard (Rheingold- The Virtual Community). Inspiring and practical: click to read how to build a paper canoe - From The Voyage of the Paper Canoe by N.H. Bishop.

thebookcart.com - gives everyone a chance to move along previously read paperbacks that may be headed for a yard sale, cardboard box in the attic, or even the trash. The premise is simple: FREE (except for postage) paperbacks for anyone. They feel that "communication is the very cornerstone of which a better world will be built upon; and there is nothing as important as reading to give us the knowledge to communicate intelligently."

The Carbohydrate Economy Clearinghouse - Moved to Models.

The Home Energy Saver - A cool web tool that shows homeowners what to do to save the most energy and money. Enter your zipcode and get the energy use, bills, and energy-related carbon dioxide emissions for your areas' typical house, compared to an energy-efficient house. Answer some questions about your house (floor area, type of heating equipment, etc.) and get a custom-tailored energy bill breakdown along with a custom set of energy-saving improvements for your house covering all major energy-using systems.

Developed by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The site also has links to hundreds of Internet sites: energy-efficient homes, products, service providers, utility programs, and on-line reading materials...even email access to energy experts.

Home Issues - An RMI plan for making your home more resource-efficient.

Geothermal Heating/Cooling Systems- - geothermal heating/cooling, also known as ground source heat pumps, has been named "the most energy-efficient and environmentally sensitive of all space conditioning systems", by the Environmental Protection Agency. The system's basic concept takes advantage of the earth's constant temperature, approximately 55 degrees, to heat and cool a building. By tapping this steady flow of heat from the earth in the winter, and displacing heat in the earth in the summer, a geothermal heat pump can save homeowners 40 to 70 percent in heating costs and 30 to 50 percent in cooling costs compared to conventional systems.

Solar Data - Could you heat a house with sunshine where you live (U.S. only)? Check out the Solar Radiation Data for your location. Gives data for several collector types, also has basic climate data for regions in the U.S. Or look at a map of average daily solar radiation in U.S.A. ( 79k ) At Home Power Magazine.

Mr. Solar - All your questions about Solar Energy answered! Charlie Collins (Mr. Solar) has run his homestead on solar power for nearly 20 years. He designs and sells solar power systems and writes a column that appears in several magazines.

Designing & Installing Your Own Solar Electric System - NOTE: CURRENTLY OFFLINE (2:09 PM 12/12/00). How to do it, by Mr. Solar. Covers types of systems, how to figure the amount of electricity you need, how to generate power from sun, wind, and water, and how to store the electricity you generate.

RMI - Home Resource Efficiency - More from Rocky Mountain Institute, plus lots of references to books, etc..

Strawbale Construction - The hottest development in sustainable (and affordable) housing. This exhaustive site by Solstice tells all.

NOTE: CURRENTLY OFFLINE- "Whole house" diagnostics and repair - How to diagnose and repair energy leaks in your house, and if you wish, how to find and evaluate contractors to do the work for you.

Window Quilts - Are those chilly winds of winter putting frost on the window panes? Here are complete instructions for making and installing window quilts and insulating panels.

Improving Indoor Air Quality--What Works. - A guide to understanding indoor air pollution, so you can intelligently tailor solutions to your specific situation. (5k) A Contemporary Home With Good IAQ Too!, tells, in detail, how this approach was applied to a new 3 bedroom ranch house in Southern Indiana. [15k]

A Pedestrian Manifesto - Matt Harray, librarian and writer, and his girlfriend enjoy their car-free life in San Francisco, California. Matt describes how it works for them and offers tips on doing the same where you live.

Kelley Blue Book New Car Prices and Bluebook Values - Buying or selling a used car?- Look here to find its official "book value".

The Green Guide to Cars and Trucks - Rates cars and trucks for their "environmental friendliness". Scroll down the page to find ratings for 1998 and 1999.

Making Biodiesel at Home - Veggie Van Recipe - Vans are great, but they can use a lot of fuel. How about a gas-guzzling van that doesn't guzzle gas? Check out these step-by-step instructions for converting waste fryer fat into diesel fuel.

Ride the Rails - Save gas, be able to stretch your legs, listen to the clickety-clack...Check out these passenger train schedules: Southern California, Eastern Pennsylvania, and U.S.(Amtrak).