The great minds over at Lowcountry Environmental Education Programs (LEEP) have begun offering a great way to go green AND support the local eco-community: The Lowcountry Green Scene Coupon Book. The book contains valuable coupons for local-area green businesses, which is a great way for you to make a difference locally. Also, all of these [...]

At the heart of every local green movement you’ll find the businesses, organizations, people, growers, and movements that are making a difference. The Go Green Local Guide is a great place to look for local eco-friendly options (check the sidebar…down and to the right → ↓ ) Here are five new additions: Soyful Candle Company [...]

Halloween! I love it. The costumes, the candy, the cooler weather, the parties, the decorations and of course, carving pumpkins – a plethora of fun for all ages. Hmmm…all that spooky fun can cause a lot of consumption and waste. Chad and I found some ways to manage our haunting excesses, and I’m certain we [...]

Our foray into cleaning with vinegar has been great, so I thought I’d share some of the cool things I’ve learned: Vinegar is as old as dirt. Not really, but vinegar has been a part of human life for 10,000 years. Hippocrates used apple cider vinegar for its many healing properties. 1 cup of vinegar, [...]

Have you noticed the new captions in the produce department of Harris Teeter? Cute handwritten bubble signs announcing, “locally grown.” No kidding. Cabbages, collards, mustard greens, peaches, grape tomatoes, and others display their hometown pride. It is reassuring that a regional, but large, grocery store is utilizing the farms here in the Carolinas. The shipping [...]

Well, Summer is over, and I’ve made it through without drinking bottled water yet again. Fifteen months ago, I began reading articles about the environmental impact of bottled water, so I decided to give it up. Similar to my decision to stop using disposable bags when shopping, giving up bottled water had been incredibly easy [...]

Speaking of parking, Monday is World Carfree Day 2008 – a day to ditch our cars and seek alternative transportation. We often ride our bikes to the park, pool, and store when possible, Jen rides the bus, and we often shoot for one weekend day to be car free.  It would be tough to give [...]

It’s that time of year again – new phone books are arriving on porches and driveways throughout the Lowcountry. This means updated information, but also tons of excess waste. Please remember that Charleston County Recycling accepts old phone books for reclamation, and you can throw them right into your blue curbside bin with other paper [...]

Every day, I look for new ways to reduce my impact on this planet.  I loved Annie Leonard’s The Story of Stuff the first time I watched it, and I believe this is going to be one of our culture’s toughest challenges as we move towards a sustainable future. One of the biggest uses of [...]

It’s back to school time! Well, for us, this is our first jump into the wonders of public school (Kindergarten, here we come!) Leading up to the big day, one question has been popular in the conversations: Will he ride the bus? We have lived in our neighborhood for 8 years, and I have never [...]

A few weeks ago, Go Greener Melanie Milonas handed me a copy of Shade of Green Magazine, and I thought: how exciting it was that another piece of the local green puzzle had fallen into place! With a SMART car on its cover, the inaugural issue was off to the races. Publisher Robin Jarvis has [...]

My little GDiaper boy is growing up, and he is enjoying the feel of underpants – especially in this heat! Most disposable diapers use sodium polyacrylate to ensure long lasting dry diapers. Have you ever put Pampers in the ocean? It will absorb and expand to an unsightly size until the gel turns into tiny [...]

My goal to go emissions-free in my yard was put on hold this summer when I decided not to purchase that reel mower I had my eye on. I did, however, go through with my plans to seek an alternative to my loud, gas-fueled weed eater. It’s now August, so I’m calling it – my [...]

OK, It seams like these high gas prices are here to stay. Earlier this month, they finally crossed the $4 mark here in Charleston. While this is bad news for our wallets, it’s good news for the environment. People are driving less, using public transportation more, and buying cars with more efficient engines. Overall, our [...]

I have enjoyed being a member of CSA. Serving meals made with fresh local produce made me proud. As I continue to learn as a homemaker, I realize that the meals I prepare impact our environment. Not only did I learn about different veggies, I tried new recipes. Sure, the beet chips didn’t work out [...]

Hopefully we are all showing some thought to the environment when driving these days. Purchases of hybrid vehicles, public transportation, car-pooling, even hypermiling can all contribute to the causes of these days. Whether your reasons are economic or environmental, we all need to make more changes. I have found that the best way I can [...]

Trying to reduce trash is a major goal in our house, and probably many of yours as well. So when I find a biodegradable item that is normally trash (think packaging), I feel better about throwing it away when I know it is returning to the earth by decomposing in a landfill.  But when trash [...]

Go Green Charleston friend and contributor Melanie Milonas sent me a quick email this morning about a local company planning to use priuses (prii?) as taxi cabs. What a cool idea! I have not been able to find out any more info. There is a parked domain at charlestongreentaxi.com, as well as some official state [...]

I just got an email from Mary at Lowcountry Laundry Service. They now offer eco-friendly options to their customers, including chlorine-free bleach, plant-based detergents like Seventh Generation, and line drying. Yeah, line drying! Clotheslines are a holy grail for most green suburbanites, as they are often unobtainable due to covenants and restrictions. I remember reading [...]

OK, so it got pummeled by golfball-sized hail, but my Prius is truly a cool piece of technology. The greenie in me loves the high-mileage low-impact stats, but the geek in me loves the intricate hybrid power system. Learning to trick out my foot to maximize mpg is just the start of it. I’m already [...]