Change the World Wednesday - A Green Halloween

It's Change the World Wednesday time again! This week, the challenge was to celebrate a greener Halloween:

Halloween is coming up so ... this week consider the environmental impact of the treats we give out and offer suggestions for better alternatives. Let's expand on the idea and include parties, costumes, etc.

Healthy Home Party - October 12

Remember how I told you there are some great classes coming up at Green Baby Diaper Service in Wilmington? Up first is the Healthy Home Party.

There has been a lot of talk lately - on blogs, in the news, pretty much everywhere - about how toxic cleaning chemicals and other products you use in your home can be. But determining where to start to eliminate these toxins from your home can be overwhelming. At the Healthy Home Party, you'll learn 5 easy steps to make your home safer, healthier, and more environmentally friendly for your children and your family.

Change the World Wednesday: Reduce your Emissions

Time for another Change the World Wednesday (#CTWW) challenge at Reduce Footprints. In case you're reading about this for the first time, the goal of CTWW is to get a bunch of people to make a small change that has a big impact on the environment (in a good way), especially if they all do it at the same time.

Last week's challenge was to go car free for a day. Or longer.

Take Classes at Green Baby Diaper Service

There is a lot going on at Green Baby Diaper Service, so we're calling this week "What's New Week." We're going to tell you about all the plans we have for the fall to bring you more. Here's a preview:

Green Baby is going to start consigning used cloth diapers, hosting all types of classes, holding a fundraiser, and putting out a monthly calendar of events.

Lots of exciting stuff.

There are several classes scheduled to take place at Green Baby Diaper Service. Below is a list:

The No Poo Challenge - A Wrap Up

So who tried the No Poo Challenge? Was it hard? Did you find your hair looked better than ever? Was it too greasy? Did you push past it?

I was washing my hair yesterday (with baking soda) and thinking about how it didn't feel heavy anymore. When I used to shower, after shampooing, it would feel heavy and coated. And when I started the No Poo challenge, it felt worse. As though it was covered in rubber.

And now that's gone away. I don't remember how long it has been. Since July, I guess. My hair feels soft, not dry, not heavy, just real. Sometimes it gets greasy. I've tried to use less baking soda because I've been getting dandruff, and if I don't use enough, my hair gets a little greasy. But you know what? It gets greasy with regular shampoo, too.

Composting 101: How to Make Compost (The Easy Way)

We have been talking a lot about gardening and natural products. Well, composting is one of the best, most natural things you can do for your garden and your environment. You probably know what composting means—it’s becoming pretty popular—but how on earth do you do it? Composting is essentially combining scraps of organic material so that it breaks down into a nutrient- and microbe-rich “soil." This happens in nature all the time. It’s how plants existed before people arrived to fertilize and mess with them. As organic matter breaks down, it feeds other plants, giving them what they need to fight disease and grow.

If you have ever researched information about composting, you may have become overwhelmed. A lot of resources make it sound like if you don’t do everything perfectly right, you’ll have a rotting, stinking mess. I used to worry about this and even went so far as to buy a thermometer to make sure my compost pile was getting hot enough for proper decomposition. I turned it religiously and tried to monitor my ratios of brown to green stuff.

And then I had two kids, got lazy, and didn’t touch my compost bin for a year. When I started gardening again, I stuck a shovel into the bottom of the compost bin and pulled out … COMPOST!

So this is the lazy, beginner’s version of composting. The point is that it works. It gives you a foundation to start from, and you can perfect it as you go. This is the lazy person’s guide to making compost.

Change the World Wednesday: Reduce Water Waste

It's been a while since we joined in on the Change the World Wednesday (#CTWW) challenge at Reduce Footprints. In case you're reading about this for the first time, the goal of CTWW is to get a bunch of people to make a small change that has a big impact on the environment (in a good way), especially if they all do it at the same time.

We have been too busy to post, comment, and write about Change the World Wednesday, but living harmoniously with the Earth is in our blood. So it's not like we've been galavanting around, turning on lights and wasting gas. But now we're ready to get back in the game and work on this.

Please join us. The more people who work on the same environment-saving activities each week, the more of an impact we'll have.