Walking Fido? Pick Up Some Trash While You Do It!

Every day I like to take my dog for a walk. Its good for him and it clears my head of all my worries of the day. A while ago I noticed that there was a lot of trash around my neighborhood and it really started to bother me. Whenever I see trash I always pick it up to throw away later but lately I've been collecting handfuls of trash. To make it easier on me I attached on of those doggie duty bag holders to the back of the leash so that whenever I see trash I can pull out a bag to put it in so I can throw it away later. I've started to notice a remarkable difference in my neighborhood; it looks a lot cleaner. It makes me feel so good when I know I'm doing something good for the environment. Now whenever I walk anywhere its an instinct to pick up trash I see on the ground! What small things do you guys to do help the environment?

Put Your Clothes On A Line!

Its Summer and its hot in most places. This Season is probably one of the hardest to eco-ofy. The reason is its hot which means people are going to be cranking up the AC and running water hoses 24/7. Every time I see a water hose left out running in the grass it makes me flinch and I think how many gallons of water are being wasted! Anyway, I have found a great way to save some energy (and money!) that will hopefully make up for some of that water being wasted! Instead of drying clothes, just hang them up on a line to dry. This will help cut your energy bill quite some bit! The problem with this tip is that it really only works in places that are dry and hot instead of humid and hot (sorry Floridians). But, there is a way to save money and the Earth even in those humid climates. It may not work to hang out your clothes (considering it'll take a good three days for them to fully dry!) so try drying (and washing) during off-peak hours. Off-peak hours are the hours that are priced cheaper because they aren't being used as frequently. To figure out the times click here.

Filtered Water Bottles

When I'm at School I like to bring a reusable water bottle so that way I'm not wasting plastic. I have a 24 ounce water bottle and I found that sometimes I will drink all of the water in the bottle before I get to my third hour. I usually just refill my bottle with the water from the water fountain and I'm fine. I'm not too picky with what water tastes like so the flavor doesn't really bother me, but I know it does bother some people. I was shopping at Target and I found this new thing called a Filtered Water Bottle. It has a filter that is connected to the lid of the bottle and the water goes through the filter before you drink it. It is made with BPA Free plastic and its proven to remove 90% of chlorine, bad taste, and heavy metals. So that mineral taste that you get when drinking from a faucet or water fountain will be almost diminished. Its good for 200 uses or three months, if your not much of a counter you will be able to tell by the taste of the water when its time to change the filter; the water won't taste as pure. The water bottle itself comes with one filter and costs 13 dollars and the replaceable filters cost around 11 dollars, which isn't to high if you think about it. You would have to buy four filters a year which would be about 44 dollars. Think how much you would be spending if you bought a years worth of bottle water, there is a major difference. So not only are you keeping thousands of plastic water bottles out of landfills BUT you are also saving yourself hundreds of dollars! If you want to check out the water bottle click here!

Would You Like A Spot of Tea?

Now, I am a huge tea lover. I like it iced, hot, sweetened, unsweetened, anyway you can make tea I drink it! So for all you tea lovers, like me, I'm going to share a few eco tips about tea! One is, if your gonna drink it opt for organic. The reason you should drink organic tea is because other teas have the possibly of being treated with chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The conventional way of growing tea is pretty harmful to the environment as well, it leads to soil erosion and disease. Not to mention that the pesticides being sprayed on the plants are harmful to workers who have to harvest it. Teas that are certified organic do not treat the soil with pesticides or anything harmful to the environment. A few great brand of organic teas that I recommend are Tazo, Yogi, and Stash Teas. If your not into any of these brands check out your local Trader Joes or Whole Foods. All of their teas on the shelf are organic! Another great way to go green with tea is to compost the tea bags! They make a great natural soil for your garden! Using tea will allow your flowers to flourish without the need of any chemical fertilizers.

EOS Lip Balm

One night after my Ballet class I stopped by Walgreen's to pick up a leg wrap (I have terrible shin splints), and I was just shopping around and I came by an awesome little lip balm. I read the back of the product package and I found out that it was Eco-Friendly, had Shea Butter in it, was Paraben-Free, Gluten-Free, Petrolatum-free, and Phthalate-free! That won me over right there, plus it was 2 for $5 at my Walgreen's! Right when I got into my car I tore open the packaging and put some of it on. It was soooo soothing and smelled amazing. There are a total of four scents which are, Lemon Drop, Honeysuckle Honeydew, Sweet Mint, and Summer Fruit. I bought Summer Fruit and Honeysuckle Honeydew. Each flavor has a very nice, light scent that isn't over powering. I also found that these lip balms glide on so smoothly and it kept my lips moisturized for over two hours. So when your trying to give your lips some relief in an Earth Friendly way, check out EOS Lip Balms!

This Disaster Puts Oil In The Word Turmoil (Literally!)

As you guys may know right now, the oil spill is one of the biggest environment disasters as of right now. I have been keeping myself updated every single with this frenzy. It hurts me to think that there is millions of gallons of oil leaking into the Ocean. So many amazing things are being destroyed it! Such as animals, underwater plants, and spectacular coral reefs. There has already been a reported 23 Sea Turtles found dead, these Sea Turtles are endangered and there is only a reported 20,000-40,000 left IN THE WORLD. Those familiar creatures could sometime in the near future be gone forever! Its so scary to think about that those aren't the only animals that are in danger of being extinct! If more environment disasters occur, it could cause the Earth to lose amazing things. I mean, the Great Barrier Reef is basically disintegrating away! It makes me feel so antsy like I need to hurry up and visit all of these before the die away! Anyway, the point of this post was to explain ways YOU can help the clean up the oil spill! Now I don't mean flying all the way to areas that are affected by the oil spill although, that is an option! (Visit Here For More Details) An awesomely easy way to help is to donate your hair.Yes, I'm talking donating your hair. Organizations are collecting human hair and animal fur to use to absorb the oil. Sounds weird but it actually works! Just think about how much oil your hair absorbs after a couple of days of not showering! (Gross, I know, but now that can go toward a good cause!) Mats are being made out of hair and then placed on top of the oil, once they absorb as much as they can they place a special type of oyster mushroom that absorb the oil and turn it into a nontoxic compost! Amazing, right?! I'm thinking about cutting some of my hair right now! If you want to get involved visit http://www.matteroftrust.org/programs/hairmatsinfo.html!

Earth We Love You!

As you guys may know, today is Earth day. A day were we celebrate our beautiful Earth and all it has done for us. Its truly amazing if you ever stop to think about it. Our planet is capable of so many things, so its great if we just take this one day to thank it. It could mean turning off the lights and opening the blinds for natural light or just turning the AC up a few degrees. Even if you are just getting started to the whole "save the Earth" thing there are still plenty of ways YOU can help! A great way to started is to recycle! You can buy special trash cans from target that help you separate your recyclables. Most of them seperate Plastics, Paper, and Glass. You can find this adorable one here! Another great product that I have and personally love is the EVOLVE Shower head. Now what's cool about this thing is when you turn on your shower and let it run for a while to heat up it automatically turns to a trickle ones it gets to the perfect temperature. I love this because it saves so much water for when your not quite ready to jump in the shower yet but you still want to keep the water on to keep it warm. One your ready to hop in the shower, all you do is pull on a tab that hangs down to start it again. Another useful feature on this product is it has amazing water pressure and instead of the typical 3-5 gallons of water per minute flowing out of a regular shower head, it only uses 1.5 gallons of water per minute. That will save an amazing amount of water that is used during your shower. It also save you money on your water bill! This is a great low cost way to save the Earth and your wallet! Click here to learn more. I hope that these products will give your Earth Day a kick-off to a good start!