Welcome to the fifteenth edition of Tips for Green Living! We have so many good submissions, so let’s get started!.

dining & entertaining

Sam over at Best Cheap Weddings shares some ways to save cash and the planet with the post Best Cheap Green Weddings. Romance and Memories on a Green Budget. I am all for the “recycled” estate diamond ring! (Remember that, Mr. Green Your Apartment!)

MyMaria makes the case that “consistent menu planning means my family wastes less food, eats at home much more often and saves both money and gas in …

Welcome to the fourteenth edition of Tips for Green Living! We have so many good submissions, so let’s get started!
dining & entertaining

Surbhi Bhatia talks about how to Dispose Mind Waste, Not Food posted at The Viewspaper.

for the greenhorns

You more East Coasters – winter has been pretty harsh for you this year. So Guffly shares How to Stay Warm This Winter the Eco-Friendly Way posted at Guffly.

Gracyqueen presents 50 Big Ways that Schools Are Going Green posted at Associate Degree – Facts and Information.

Luke Spencer wants to demystify your electric bill …

Late? Yes. Unfortunately, allergies have been running amok with all this rain at the Green Apartment so last week was awful and this week was catch-up. Oh the joy!
But, I do have a fabulous carnival for you!
dining & entertaining
Mrs. Green presents Price vs principles – 6 tips for eating organic on a budget posted at Little Green Blog. It’s funny, I already implement a lot of these tips but I just can’t find a co-op we’d really benefit from yet. Ideas?
Mrs. Green also gives us another post, 11 reuse ideas …

Welcome to the New Year, oh Internet! We are back and have some great stuff for you to browse.
dining & entertaining
Returning blogger TaraG convinces us with 5 Reasons To Buy Organic Foods over at Go Green Street. Great stuff, TaraG!
Jourdan Henderson gives us ways to Green your morning coffee! posted at Green Justice. I heart coffee and I totally agree with Jourdan’s recommendations.
health & beauty
Jourdan Henderson comes with a second submission, asking us Do you have a fruit tree? posted at Green Justice. Really great idea on putting your excess …

For years, the health community has been railing against high fructose corn syrup and how you shouldn’t eat anything with it in it. Recently, the Corn Refiner’s Association decided to air a series of television commercials plugging high fructose corn syrup as (and I quote) “is natural”, “has the same calories as sugar or honey”, “is nutritionally the same as sugar”, and “is fine in moderation”. (If you haven’t seen the ads, head to YouTube and search “high fructose corn syrup commercials”.) Clearly, it appears that the public at large doesn’t actually know what high fructose corn syrup is or what the hullabaloo is all about. Is it bad? Worse than sugar? Better than sugar?

So let’s set the record straight.

Back in autumn, we discussed the importance of eating seasonally. Now that winter and its holidays are officially upon us, I wanted to share with you cheat sheet to seasonal fruits and veggies during these cold winter months. Let me tell you Internet, in doing my research, there were few quick and easy guides to winter eating!

When I first started really going green, I changed everything. Organic foods replaced conventionally grown. Baking soda and white vinegar replaced nearly every bottle of cleaning product in my arsenal. I started looking for second hand clothing stores and odd new uses for old items I had lying around.

But eating in season? That wasn’t something that crossed my mind. In fact, I realized I did not even know when most fruits and vegetables came into season! Yes, that is how out-of-touch with our world we city-dwellers and suburbanites have become.

Long has been my struggle in trying to find an automatic dishwasher detergent that 1) I can ethically feel good about and 2) actually cleans the dishes! I’ve gone through half a dozen brands with unsatisfactory results – and there really aren’t too many non-toxic dish detergents out there to begin with! While the conventional brands clean really well, the packaging also states “Harmful if swallowed – call poison control if swallowed”. What? Aren’t I using this product to clean items to put in my mouth but the product itself …

So, you may not have a yard or even a deck, but a heck of a lot of us are going to be getting outdoors to celebrate with our friends soon. We’re planning a block party for next weekend (in the alley behind our place) and (shockingly) MamaBird’s in charge of the eco angle. I’ve been trying to think of ways to minimize the impact of our celebration despite the large numbers of guests. Seems like as good an opportunity as any to celebrate Green Your Apartment’s new baby so …

Among the Green Community, there are great proponents of organic, fair-trade, locally grown produce. But the reality is not everyone can afford to pay the organic prices at the large-chain grocery markets, not to mention the fair-trade mark-ups.
First let’s set up the order of importance in purchasing these items.

Local always surpasses organic -there’s less tax on the environment as a whole. Plus with local foods, most of them are from smaller farms that don’t douse their produce with ridiculous amounts of chemicals so a good washing in a plant-based produce …