JessicaJensen's story links

Learn what good green folks are doing across the US in their workplaces, schools, colleges, and churches to bring eco-smart living to life.

Admit it--You love the environment AND you love your hair.  Here are the top five most sustainable hair-dos.  Stick to these styles and you’ll reduce your net hair-do impact on the planet.

This brand-new household environmental calculator is the first of its kind — it shows not only the carbon but also energy, water, wastewater, trash, and stormwater runoff footprints of your home and lifestyle. In addition, it recommends projects based on your specific inputs that can save you money, reduce your environmental impact, or in many cases both at the same time! The Impact Calculator also calculates a score called the Low Impact Living Index™, or LILI™, that encapsulates in one number your overall environmental footprint. Please give it a test drive!

Our national addiction to coffee has major impacts on our environment. Over 120 million Americans drink coffee, and the average drinker has 3.1 cups of coffee each day.  Over 25% of us drink coffee from stores outside our home– we consume over 15 BILLION cups of coffee at Starbuck’s, Coffee Bean and the like each year. That’s enough paper cups to ring the Earth 55 times! Learn how to become an eco-conscious coffee drinker.

Monica is going car-less in Los Angeles! Is she crazy? No way-- she's so hot she's green. She shares her thoughts on how to embrace a car-free life in any city.

We have been moved, humbled and inspired by the gigantic outpouring our Green New Year's Resolution Contest has inspired. We received over 400 resolutions. People all over the country put their environmental thinking caps on and gave serious consideration to what steps they were willing to take to live a more low impact life in the coming year.  Read on and get some ideas for yourself!

How does one define a toy or game as “eco-friendly?” The basic materials, the paints and dyes, and the manufacturing process all come into play. Ideally, every toy would be handmade by local artisans using recycled, organic, or renewable resources and plant-based dyes. This article highlights a raft of eco-friendly toys & games that are perfect for the little ones on your "naughty and nice" list this season.

Reusing your greywater (water from your washing machine, shower, etc.) can be a great way to save water at home. Learn how to recycled your water-- and your yard will thank you.

Many people don't know that they can buy "green power" from their utility company.  Learn what the different options are by city, and put your money towards better power sources.

For those of us who looooove cars, it’s a special time of year. It’s the new model year roll-out season! That means we can get great deals on last year’s models and we can lick our chops at the new cars coming out. And naturally we are talking about hybrids and diesels (for use with biodiesel fuel) on the horizon. Gas guzzlers are so 1992.

Learn about the great gas-saving car options for 2008.

Energy use and global warming get a lot of attention these days (and they should!), but water conservation is an equally important environmental issue. Significant portions of the United States are facing serious water constraints and we all need to do our part to save water. Did you know that the average American household with three members uses over 300 gallons of water per day, both inside and outside? Learn how to cut your in-home water use in half.

This is the first of our new How To Tuesday feature, where we help you live the low impact life. We welcome your comments!

Sometimes trends are mindless, or even downright annoying. (Beanie Babies, anyone?) And then there are the times when trends make so much sense, we wonder what took so long. One example: the hotel industry's move toward environmental sustainability in the form of green hotels. This article explains what makes a hotel "green" and highlights several outstanding LEED rated and other eco-friendly hotels around the United States.