Neutral Existence Environmental Site

Growing Networks, Growing Food: Community Food Security

2010-07-24T16:13:17Z

Food security: it sounds so formal, but the concept is actually very simple. If you can eat fresh and healthy food every day, you are food secure. If you struggle to buy or grow or glean enough food for yourself and your family, you are food insecure.…

It is Getting Warm Yet? It’s Summer - Time for Winter Gardening

2010-07-16T11:35:15Z

It’s summer. While the sun might be sporadic in many places, it’s time to plant your winter garden. Winter garden? Yes, that’s right. Planting a winter garden is a summer time activity, however hot it might be right now. Plants need…

How Humans Have Impacted The Oceans

2010-07-11T20:05:12Z

The devastating BP oil spill is still on everyone’s minds as its ecologically dire impacts on the ocean continue to take a toll. The scale of this particular problem is huge, but unfortunately, it’s just another way humans have wrecked…

Local Produce is Fun(gi)

2010-07-01T02:23:19Z

Growing your own? It never looked so good. The grow it locally movement is growing in leaps and bounds, and with it come new trends in urban gardening and foraging. Stinging nettles and dandelions are on the list for foragers in urban areas. Bees in…

Climate Change Might Result in Mass Extinction of Lizards

2010-06-19T21:43:12Z

New research from a study in Science claims that nearly 40% of all lizard populations, and 20% of species could become extinct by 2080, due to the effects of continuing climate…

Where Does Your Milk Come From?

2010-05-28T04:53:41Z

Ever wonder where that jug of milk came from that you just purchased at the supermarket? Just how far away were those cows raised? Well, thanks to this super nifty website, you can find out exactly where.

From the website “where…

Growing Soil

2010-05-26T03:09:43Z

It’s spring. The birds are singing, the plants are growing, and at garden stores across the nations there is a run on potting soil and other soil amendments. Everyone is heading out to buy soil.

I confess to buying soil upon occasion,…

Super Green Home: Turf Houses in Norse Era

2010-05-18T13:29:37Z

Talk about a green home! This website documents some ancient turf home reconstructions that date from the Norse Era in Canada and Iceland. The…

BestBloc Organic Sunscreen

2010-05-12T01:22:57Z

I went to a marketing convention a while back and met the owner of Best On Earth Products and he gave me a sample of BestBloc Organic…

Living Car-Free is Good For The Environment and Your Community

2010-05-10T16:32:55Z

In the eyes of many young Americans, the chance to one day own a car is likened to gaining a new kind of freedom and independence. However, many people are wising up about the realities of owning a personal vehicle, such as the writer of this particular…

Discover Bicycling Trails and Directions on Google Maps

2010-05-05T00:58:34Z

Google has recently updated Google Maps with an option to find bicycling directions, lanes, and routes. Although some major cities have physical maps with bicycling routes, it’s usually pretty tough for cyclists to find safe routes in unfamiliar…

Learning Communities Are Sustainable Communities

2010-04-28T00:27:18Z

Carbon-neutral living. Is it about technologies? Well, it is and it isn’t. Technologies facilitate this new way of living. Solar and

47 Ways to Live With Less Plastic

2010-04-10T03:00:08Z

I was happy to recently stumble upon Beth Terry’s fake plastic fish, a blog devoted to her adventure in learning to live with less plastic, and in the process, tallying her consumption and plastic trash…

New Green Careers in a Low Energy Future

2010-04-04T02:19:08Z

Many Americans are taking charge and matters into their own hands to carve out a new sustainable lifestyle, despite the government’s incredibly lackluster response to the threat of global climate change and other environmental crises. This is…

Sharing the Urban Jungle

2010-03-27T21:13:45Z

This afternoon, I crept outside in the rain, into the mud that surrounds the yard of my townhouse. I surreptitiously pulled a package of seeds from my pocket and began to plant them just beyond my fence. A line of buckwheat: it will be my first experiment…

Plant a Windbreak to Reduce Home Energy Costs

2010-03-20T09:11:20Z

Reducing your home energy costs can be as simple as planting a few trees in the right location surrounding your house. An effective windbreak can reduce the amount of money you spend on your heating bill by deflecting and slowing down gusty, cold winds…

Where To Buy Products Made in the USA

2010-03-03T23:11:22Z

It’s difficult to find clothes without tags that say “Made in China”, or electronic equipment, shoes, tools, kitchen appliances, and well… just about everything. It seems like a rarity to find something that is still actually…

Those Who Live In Glass Houses

2010-03-02T21:52:51Z

I’ve always wanted to have an odd house. As a university student, I studied straw bale building and dreamed about creating my own straw bale or cob creation, a piece of art that I would live in as well. Now, I wrestle with ideas of green roofs…

Where Does Your Trash Go?: The Hidden Life of Garbage

2010-02-12T20:03:43Z

We all know the three Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Unfortunately, we’d like to think that recycling goes a long way into decreasing the amount of trash that goes into landfills. However, it’s the reducing and reusing that are exponentially…

Rural Dreams, Urban Living

2010-02-10T22:58:02Z

There’s a debate amongst those of us suburban dwellers who have rural fantasies. We dream of chickens, of eggs, or sheep and spinning our own wool and knitting it into fantastic sweaters. We dream of mornings on the farm, pulling out pristine,…

The Down and Dirty of It: Rebranding Cloth Diapers, Menstrual Products, and Toilet Paper

2010-02-07T10:23:17Z

Come on, now. You don’t want to talk about it? Why not? It’s not polite? Well then. I have a four-year-old. I can talk toilet with the best of them.

I just finished writing a short “how to” book about cloth diapering.…

7 Dangerous Foods That You Should Avoid

2010-01-31T20:28:51Z

Mercola.com, the popular personal health website, has a list of seven dangerous foods that you should avoid to lead a healthier lifestyle. Of course, these foods are not the only ones that you should avoid in the supermarket, but they are some of the…

Hibernation Time: Make Your Home a Safe Haven for Heat

2010-01-12T08:31:31Z

It’s January, and that means that it’s hibernation time! In the Pacific Northwest, the weather is getting truly blustery, the trees have nearly finished dropping their leaves, and the unchained barbecues are bashing against the sliding…