Jean Crafts

For many of us, it's time to start thinking about holiday gift-giving. In these harsh economic times, you might be considering choosing gifts that require contributions from your heart, hands, and creativity more than your wallet.

A great option to look into: jean crafts!

Earth 911's 8 Ways to Reuse Your Jeans has lots of neat ideas, from bags and shoes to pet toys and more.

Happy crafting!

Thankgiving Travel Reminders

Going out of town for Thanksgiving? Remember to be on your best packing and driving behavior!

1. Only bring what you need! Transporting excess stuff in your vehicle or on an airplane can greatly reduce the fuel efficiency of your mode of transit. Review my previous post "Luggage" to learn more.

2. Drive wisely. Review "Straight and Level Wins the Race" and especially "8 Easy Steps to Greener Driving."

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is coming up very soon. Many of you will probably be enjoying large meals with family and friends. This year, try to make your celebration just a little more sustainable.

1. Organics, organics, organics. Try to substitute organic versions of the ingredients needed for your Thanksgiving favorites. Organic turkeys, organic baking potatoes, organic chicken broth for your gravy, organic butter for your corn, organic flour for your biscuits. Even making the effort to seek out just one or two organic ingredients DOES make a difference.

2. Portion control. This is especially important when dealing with meat ingredients. Have a taste of turkey if you like, but save most of your appetite for the fruits and vegetables bountifully harvested this time of year. In general, try not to cook more than people will eat. If you do have excess leftovers, compost them -- don't throw them away!

3. Plates and glasses and silverware, oh my! No matter how large your crowd, it's always a good idea to use real, non-disposable plates, glasses, and silverware. Don't have enough plates to go around? Ask your sister or cousin or uncle to bring extras. I'm sure they'll be glad to pitch in!

Organic vs. Local

The local vs. organic debate is a tricky one. The best answer, of course, would be "both"! (Even better if "local" means "grown in your back yard.") But often "neither" is the only option we have.

Assuming you have to make the choice, however, go with organic over local. Why? The environmental impacts are much larger.

A recent Chicago Tribune article reports, "Christopher Weber and H. Scott Matthews, professors at Carnegie Mellon University, say transportation accounts for only 11 percent of total greenhouse-gas emissions associated with food, while 83 percent is related to production." Yikes. In other words, try to go with food that is organic and in-season wherever it's being grown.

Another striking tidbit from that article: "If you want to reduce the carbon footprint of your diet, cut back on consumption of red meat, which Weber and Matthews say is responsible for producing 150 percent more greenhouse gases than chicken or fish."

"Fall Back" Your Fans!

We're all aware that it's time to "fall back" when it comes to changing our clocks. But while "falling back" is fresh in your mind, consider switching your ceiling fans, too.

Reversing your fans to spin counter-clockwise helps draw the warm air down. TreeHugger reports that "if you reverse the direction of your fan, you can lower the thermostat on your heating/cooling unit by at least 5 degrees without losing comfort." That's quite a bit!

Just like using fans to keep cool in the hot months, using fans to keep warm in the winter is more efficient than using central heat/air. Instead of controlling the temperature in all the rooms in your house (including those you don't spend any time in like guest rooms, closets, and formal dining rooms), you are concentrating your energy usage where it's actually helpful.

So flip the switch on your fans now...or, if you're living in Florida and it's still 90 degrees out, just keep this tip in mind for January. Haha.