Jen and I were recently able to go green in a whole new way – by burning locally-made soy candles from A Soyful Candle Company. (thanks Melissa!) Soy candles are a natural alternative to paraffin candles, which are made from petroleum. Because they are biodegradable, they also produce less soot when burned. Making small tweaks [...]

For the past five years, Mount Pleasant has opened their maintenance facility to residents for used motor oil and oyster shell recycling. I know a lot of DIY oil changers, and there’s an oyster roast around every corner, so it’s nice to know there is a recycling option for both activities. The site is located [...]

Have you been keeping up with the Charleston Alternative Energy movement? What started as a monthly meetup has since turned into a full blown community. Ian Sanchez and partners have setup an online community for local alternative energy enthusiasts, and it’s open to all comers.  There’s a lot to do there, including blogs, forums, custom [...]

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 [...]

Seeking out alternative transportation is a great way to reduce your impact on the environment and save a few bucks. Jen has been blogging about riding the bus and driving abstinence, and I’ve been rocking the hybrid – but are always looking for ways to go farther. We would like to integrate cycling into our [...]

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 [...]

This Thursday, June 19th, is National Dump the Pump Day, and CARTA is celebrating by offering free rides on all routes. Cheers to CARTA for giving us this opportunity to participate and save a little money, all while helping the environment and promoting public transportation. “We hope that new riders will consider trying CARTA on [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

When it comes to going green, our family’s mantra has always been “Do What We Can, When We Can.” To that end, a couple weeks ago the stars aligned and guided a 2008 Toyata Prius into our lives. We couldn’t be happier. Over the last few years, I’ve spoken with many Prius owners about the [...]

Despite the dreary weather last night, about 25 of us made it to the Charleston Alternative Energy Meetup at Huger’s Restaurant. These monthly meetings are hosted by local greenlebrity Ian Sanchez, and bring together a wide range of people interested in biodiesel, solar, wind, wave, and nuclear energy. The meeting kicked off with a 30-minute [...]

Chad has really been pushing me to blog about this goal I have: On average, my car stays in the garage one day each week. About two years ago, I realized that as a stay at home mom, I never stayed at home. I also began reading and hearing about peak oil production. I found [...]

Our good friends over at the Coastal Conservation League have just released Global Warming Guy, a light hearted take on a serious issue: global climate change. The goal of this video is to educate viewers on the issue and encourage them to follow links to CCL’s website to learn more. It’s a great video and [...]

Ever since a Hummer began showing up in the parking lot where I work, I’ve been dying to get a shot of it next to one of the many Priuses. Well today was the day, and to make it even sweeter, a Chevy Suburban was parked on the other side forming a veritable eco-sandwich. A [...]

Thanks for participating in our second poll everyone.  It looks like most of our readers will be getting a hybrid when I do: the next time we buy a new car. I bet this is a common strategy that Toyota is counting on, as they ramp up production. They currently have a stranglehold on 80% [...]