As we spend these cold days inside on our laptops yearning for spring, we have decided to be productive with our time by sharing with you all the very useful sites we come across that are eco-inspired, our hope will be to help and inspire you to make better choices in the new year ahead!
Happy Farming,
KatnAnna
Here is a good start …
Join the Movement for better foods & nourish your soul…
ditch the bag ~ December 18th & everyday!
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Top 12 conservation tips for the holiday season
from our friends at Brighter Planet
Our count-down of holiday conservation tips will help you save money and carbon this winter. The tips are centered around the theme of one day’s worth of carbon dioxide emissions for the average American, or 136 lbs. of CO2.
12. Recycle.
Most people know recycling is good for the planet, but they don’t connect it to climate change. In fact, the average bag of landfilled waste emits the equivalent of 5.77 pounds of CO2 while it decomposes. You can save 136 lbs. of CO2 by recycling or composting 2/3 of your waste for just 2 weeks.
11. Get outside.
Recreation is a major contributor to our carbon footprints. Get outside to enjoy winter while it lasts, and help keep winter cool in the process. Instead of loading the family in the car and driving to the heated movie theater with its high-power projector, go sledding in the park, or take a family bike ride.
Instead of paying a landscaping company to bring in their trucks, leaf blowers and snow blowers, give your kids some rakes, or grab a shovel, and get active. Instead of driving to the gym to exercise on an electric machine (a treadmill emits 2 lbs. of CO2 per hour), put on a hat and go for a jog in your neighborhood.
Already a skier? Consider ditching the crowds, the expensive resorts, and the energy-intensive lodges, snow makers, and lifts (a 250-hp lift emits 1750 lbs. of CO2 each day), and heading into the backcountry on Nordic or telemark skis instead.
10. Weatherproof your home.
Heating can account for over half of all home energy usage, so it isn’t just hot air that escapes through leaky windows and doors—it’s money, and it’s carbon. By installing storm doors, weather stripping, storm windows, and clear window films, you can dramatically reduce your heating bills and your carbon footprint. Even just closing all your curtains at night can make a big difference in preventing heat loss. Stopping your worst heat leaks will easily save you 136 lbs. of CO2 emissions every month.
9. Fly eco-light.
If you’re planning a flight over the holidays, there’s a lot you can do to minimize your climate impact.
Do everything you can to avoid flying at night—night flights have more than double the warming impact of day flights, because contrails trap much more heat in the atmosphere at night than during the day. Flying cross-country during the day instead of at night will cut your footprint by the equivalent of over 1000 lbs. of carbon dioxide.
Pack light—every pound of extra baggage decreases aircraft fuel economy. If all passengers shaved their bag weight by just one kilogram, the average airplane would reduce its emissions by 190,000 lbs. of CO2 per year.
Book direct flights—they use 10% less fuel by taking off and climbing once, and save more energy (and time!) by not stopping at out-of-the-way destinations.
8. Cool your house; cool the planet.
Getting creative with your thermostat can help you save big on home energy.
Turning down your thermostat 1 degree will save you 136 lbs. CO2 in 2 months; you won’t notice the difference. Or try turning it down 5 degrees, put on a sweater, toss another blanket on your bed, and save 136 lbs. CO2 in a few weeks.
Additionally, make sure your thermostat is programmed to heat the house to room temperature only when you will be at home and awake—keeping it at 55 degrees when you’re asleep and at work will save major dollars and pounds.
If you’re going away for the holidays, make sure you turn down the heat to 50 degrees before you leave.
7. Audit your energy.
Turn a home energy audit into a fun family activity. Have the kids search the house high and low, and compete to find the most inefficiencies. Drafty windows, vampire chargers, incandescent bulbs, inefficient appliances, blocked heating vents, exposed hot water pipes… the more inefficiencies you can find and correct, the more energy and money you can save, and the more we can teach eco- stewardship to the next generation. An audit that saved you just 1% of home energy usage would reduce your home CO2 footprint by 215 lbs. CO2 annually.
6. Lighten up on lighting.
One string of incandescent holiday lights burns through about 100 lbs. of CO2 over the holiday season, and chances are you have more than one. If you love your lights too much to take them down, there are some easy alternatives that will save lots of energy. Replacing a few strands of lights with efficient LED holiday lights, which only use 10% as much energy, will save over 200 lbs. of CO2 this winter. So will installing an automatic timer that turns your lights on only when needed—between dark and bedtime.
5. Give green.
Multiply the positive impacts of your giving. Thoughtful, eco-minded gift giving can benefit the planet as much as the recipient, save money, and distinguish your presents.
The first step is to focus on the gift item itself: give to charity in someone’s name, buy second-hand gifts, or give EnergyStar rated electronics and appliances. Vote with your dollars by choosing socially- and environmentally-responsible companies if you are purchasing new products.
Next, think about how you purchase your presents: shop online instead of driving to the store, ship your presents by ground instead of by air, and combine all your shopping into as few trips as possible. Every mile you avoid driving saves a pound of carbon dioxide emissions, which adds up fast.
Finally, wrap creatively: use recycled wrapping paper, newspaper, blankets, or even hide the gift, instead of wasting wrapping supplies.
4. Focus on the fire.
Most fireplaces are extremely inefficient, drawing lots of warm air from the house up the chimney, and transferring very little heat into the room. Ironically, the furnace often has to switch on every time you light a fire. Installing glass doors or an external air source can significantly improve the efficiency of your fireplace.
Huge amounts of heat can escape through open or leaky chimney flues. Making sure the flue is always closed after a fire can keep huge amounts of heat from escaping—but most dampers still leak, so consider installing a chimney-top damper that completely seals the chimney opening. If you almost never use your fireplace, consider sealing off your chimney permanently.
The best solution is to install a new wood stove—they are a very efficient way to heat your home, and are carbon neutral, assuming your wood is sustainably harvested. Heating half your home with wood instead of a furnace would save you 136 lbs. of CO2 every week.
3. Cruise with control.
When we drive to Grandma’s house, the shopping mall, or a ski mountain over the holidays, the miles really add up. It’s an important time to remember some simple things you can do in your car to save money on gas and reduce your carbon footprint.
Avoid idling. Whether caught in traffic, lining up at the drive-thru, or waiting by the curb, idling is extremely inefficient, and contrary to popular belief, idling does not save fuel. Ten seconds of idling uses more gas than restarting your engine. Also, resist the temptation to warm your car in the driveway, and just wear some gloves; modern cars don’t need any pre-heating the way old ones did.
Drive slowly and smoothly. Driving 65 instead of 75 will save you 1,400 lbs. of CO2 emissions every year, because speeding reduces your mileage. And accelerating and breaking slowly instead of abruptly can have just as great an effect.
Check your tire pressure. The EPA estimates your fuel economy falls by 1% for every PSI your tires fall below the recommended level. So if your tires are at 15 instead of 20, correcting the problem will save you 136 lbs. of CO2 emissions every 2800 miles.
2. Cook carbon-light.
The holidays are often centered around the kitchen, so this is a great place to achieve major energy savings. Making some simple changes in the way you cook and cool your food can really make an impact.
What you eat matters, too. The UN estimates that the livestock sector produces more greenhouse gas emissions than the transportation sector. A family of four going vegetarian for just one week will save the equivalent of 150 lbs. of CO2. But shop smart: local, organic meat may have a lower carbon footprint than agro-industrial soy products.
Fight back against the irony of using energy to cool your food in a heated house in winter: move that extra fridge or freezer from the basement (often the warmest place in the house during winter) to the garage, the porch, or even outside. 
Use the outdoors to keep beverages cold for parties, and to pre-chill hot leftovers before refrigerating or freezing them. And you can always send guests home with leftovers!
When using the oven, bake dishes together rather than separately, avoid opening the oven unnecessarily, and don’t preheat—things may take a little longer to cook, but the energy savings are worth it.
Run the dishwasher only when full, and use the low-energy setting. The standard dishwasher emits 64 lbs. of C02 every month, but most people don’t run them full.
1. Give the gift of carbon neutrality.
The One Day campaign gives people the opportunity to give the gift of carbon neutrality for one day this holiday season. Brighter Planet will donate 136 lbs. of carbon offsets—used to fund renewable energy projects—to each One Day participant.
