ArcaMax

If you're planning a trip and the final destination is less than 500 miles away, the greenest way to get there is by car. Mile for mile, flying by plane is far worse, considering the greenhouse gases, soot particles and other contaminants planes emit when in flight. Driving a car is especially better if you have a hybrid or electric car, and it'...Read more

Did you know root vegetables are among the most sustainable vegetables you should incorporate into your diet? A study by the Journal of Cleaner Production found carrots, potatoes and onions to be among the lowest greenhouse gas-emitting crops of all fruits and vegetables. In addition to the health benefits, root vegetables also last a long time,...Read more

Here's a produce item you can eat lots of and still be a conscious eater, too: mushrooms. Because mushrooms are a crop that can be grown nearly anywhere and also can be grown using byproducts from other crops, their environmental impact is very low. They're drought-tolerant as well, needing just 2 gallons of water to grow from start to finish. (...Read more

It's time to eat more seaweed. The World Wildlife Fund named algae on their "Future 50 Foods" list because it's responsible for 50% of the oxygen production on Earth. It's also good for you -- it's loaded with minerals, antioxidants, protein, iodine and Vitamin C; wakame seaweed is even a source of the omega-3 fatty acid EPA. Because it's easy ...Read more

Did you know some of the biggest culprits in contaminated loads of recyclable plastic are dirty peanut butter jars? Since the thick, sticky nut butter often completely coats the inside, it's important to clean the jar well to prevent it from being tossed into the landfill (along with the recyclables tainted by it). Just use a rubber spatula to ...Read more

Did you know the No. 1 most returned item from online shopping is clothing? It's believed that 30%-40% of all clothing items purchased online are returned. It's easy to understand why: Size and fit are the top culprits. Enter AI technology, which allows you to virtually try on clothing using models of your body type, skin tone, height and more ...Read more

Do you work or live near active construction? Construction sites, with all of that dust and debris flying around, actually contribute 14.5% of particulate matter in the air, according to a 2022 study by the American Lung Association. To protect yourself when there is active construction, be sure to keep doors and windows closed. Use an air ...Read more

When choosing flowers to plant in your yard, there are benefits in choosing perennials vs. annual plants. The obvious is that annuals are short-lived plants and often only last for one season, while perennials thrive and come back year after year. But having plants that have a long life also means they have time to grow longer, healthier roots. ...Read more

It's believed that nearly 30% of items purchased online are returned to the retailer. What you may not know is that about one-fourth of returned items are landfilled. This is because they are not suitable to be restocked, are damaged or simply cost too much to restock vs. being thrown out. That equals about 10 billion pounds of goods landfilled ...Read more

Do you use teleconferencing software like Zoom for meetings? They are far more environmentally friendly than flying and traveling for in-person meetings, but you can also do one more thing to make them more sustainable: Turn off the camera. If you can do a teleconference without your camera on, it reduces your carbon footprint by a whopping 96%,...Read more

Just how bad can single-use paper coffee cups be for the environment? Turns out, they can be pretty bad. These aren't just paper cups, they're paper cups lined with plastic. When these cups degrade, the plastic lining becomes microplastics that are released into our waterways. Not to mention nearly 6.5 million trees are cut down every year to ...Read more

The Humane Society of the United States says prevention is the best way to make sure you don't lose a family pet like a cat or a dog. Start with an inexpensive microchip (your veterinarian or animal shelter can insert it) and register it for free on sites like FindPet.com or FreePetChipRegistry.com. Be sure the tag says "call my owner" with your...Read more

Hot summer weather also means mosquitoes. Rather than using chemical sprays to keep pesky bugs away, reach for something in your medicine cabinet instead: mouthwash. Natural mouthwashes are usually made with food-grade alcohol and eucalyptus oil to freshen breath. By transferring this same mixture into a spray bottle, you can keep mosquitoes at ...Read more

The next time you get a haircut, take the trimmings off the floor and bring them home. Hair is rich in substances plants love, like nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. It also retains water, which is especially helpful to your soil during droughts or in more arid climates. All you have to do is sprinkle the hair into the soil and rake it in. ...Read more

A lot of us are giving up shampoo, soap and conditioner packaged in plastic bottles for solid bar soaps that do the same thing. But often these bars can end up sitting in pools of water in the shower, degrading and getting mushy. The solution? Look for a magnetic bar soap holder that keeps the bars out of sitting water, offers ample ventilation ...Read more

If you're choosing plants for your landscaping or garden, there are two purple flowering ones you should avoid. One is called wisteria. It's a beautiful vine with gorgeous flowers, but it's invasive and can kill native plants and trees by choking them to death. Plus, wisteria can live for up to 100 years and is very hard to kill. The second is a...Read more

Did you know the secondhand market for clothes has become a $16 billion industry? With so many resell sites making it easy to sell and cash in, it makes sense to take the extra time to find a new home for the unwanted items in your wardrobe. But a growing industry also means competition, so to maximize your earnings, start with good photos that ...Read more

Did you know it's free to recycle empty containers that all of your favorite beauty products come packaged in? It's a program called BeautyCycle by Nordstrom, and all you do is bring your empties to any Nordstrom or Nordstrom Rack location and simply throw them in a specially marked recycling bin. The retailer aims to recycle 100 tons of beauty ...Read more

Did you know that using the wrong vacuum can actually make your home ... dirtier? When you clean a room with a vacuum that does not have a HEPA filter integrated in its design, you risk stirring up mold spores that can be sucked up and scattered around the room. Vacuums with HEPA filters absorb the spores and other particles that are invisible ...Read more

Are wigs something you can donate to help someone in need? If you have a high-quality human-hair wig you no longer need, give it a good home by donating it to help a woman undergoing cancer treatment. The EBeauty House will take your wig for free and find someone else who can benefit from it; all you have to do is pack it up and send it to them....Read more