You are invited to join thousands of your Chicago friends, neighbors and businesses and millions of people around the world to make a bold statement about climate change on March 29 from 8 to 9 p.m local time.

Turn out your lights for one hour. Earth Hour.

As World Wildlife Fund's flagship city for the United States, Chicago, a leader in environmental initiatives, is encouraging its residents across the region to make the pledge to help fight global warming by voluntarily turning off their lights for 60 minutes. Signature skyscrapers, key landmarks, theater marquees and shops on the Magnificent Mile will voluntarily turn off their lights.

Earth Hour's not just about cutting back for one hour. It's about taking a stand and thinking ahead about what you, your neighbors and your city can do to ...

Remember the Secret Word on Pee Wee Herman's show?  Every day, my hero Pee Wee would pick a Secret Word, like petunia.  Whenever someone on the show said petunia, everyone would freeze and scream!  While I don't expect anyone to get hysterical over Lifecycle assessment, and I also realize that it's 2 words, I thought I'd share the definition with readers to help build your green vocabulary.  This info is care of the good folks at Natural Home & Garden magazine (on sale at Green Home Experts!) So, today's Secret Word is:

Lifecycle Assessment
Reviews the environmental performance of a product or building over the course of its life, including financial costs, energy efficiency and maintenance requirements.  The process includes an assessment of raw material p ...

Getting ready for spring?  Can't wait to try out your green thumb this season?  Then be sure to visit this great blog I just discovered,  You Grow Girl.  Written by Canadian Gayla Trail in February 2000, it has grown into a thriving online community that speaks to a new kind of gardener, seeking to redefine the modern world's relationship to plants.

This contemporary, laid-back approach to gardening places equal importance on environmentalism, style, affordability, art, and humor.

I found it a nice escape from winter, and it got me thinking about making plans for spring gardening!

I recently saw an ad for GreenSingles.com, "where hearts and minds connect," according to their website.  Apparently they've been around since 1985, and somewhere along the line went online.

So if you're looking for "progressive singles in the environmental, vegetarian, and animal rights community and other green singles who love the outdoors, holistic living, personal growth and spirituality," then visit the website!

Or just do what I did and go to DePaul University. 

If you're like me, from time to time you find yourself getting depressed by all the bad news out there, the alarming statistics about global warming, and the possibility that winter in Chicago will never end.

So, to help beat the blahs, I encourage you to visit www.HappyNews.com.  With a wide variety of topics, including the environment , there are plenty of stories to read that might make your day a little better.  Happy reading!

Look, there are some things we use in our lives that we just can't avoid.  While I know of alternatives to our disposable society for items like paper towels, disposable diapers, and several other one-use products, something we have to use is toilet paper!

So what are we to do?  If you ask Sheryl Crow, use only one piece of toilet paper per bathroom visit.  Hmm...thanks for the great advice Sheryl, but I don't think I'm ready to make that change in my life. 

What about buying recycled paper products?  Green Home Experts carries recycled paper towels, toilet paper, and facial tissues.  Why bother?  Consider this statistic:

If every household in the U.S. replaced just one 175-sheet box of virgin-fiber tissues with 100% recycled tissues, we would save 163, ...

Take 5 minutes to take this quiz today, and learn how green your household is when it comes to laundry. 

I liked taking this quiz because it was a no-brainer (i.e., no math!) and offered easy, concrete solutions for how to be greener when it comes to laundry. 

I scored an 84.  Air drying my clothes is where I could really improve.  How did you score?  Tell us your score and tips for improving it in our comments section.

http://www.sierraclub.org/howgreen/laundry/

I have several family members who are the unfortunate sufferers of allergies.  I also used to have a dog who had terrible seasonal allergies.  Below are some tips from Natural Home & Garden Magazine on how to fight allergies in your home without breaking the bank.

Pricey:  Central electronic HEPA filter system to reduce airborne dust mites, mold spores and pollen: $600-$1,000
Thrifty:  Portable HEPA air filter in sleeping area: $150-$300

Pricey:  Whole-house water filter: $900
Thrifty:  Shower filter (removes chlorine): $75
             & ...

In May of 2007, my husband and I travelled the trail of tears (at least for me) from the city to the suburbs.  While we prepared to leave the beloved West Loop, we had a lot of stuff to get rid of! 

Most of it was appropriate to give away to second-hand stores.  There were other things that I chose to give away on The Freecycle Network.  These are regional listservs (there's one in Chicago, another in Oak Park, etc.) where people post items that they either want to give away or are hoping someone can give to them.  This is a fabulous way to get for free a variety of home goods, electronics, clothes, books, etc. 

Some of the things I have given awa ...

Unfortunately, I've had several reasons lately to try green methods of getting rid of the stink.  Well, not one singular stink, but odors from my beloved (and rambunctious) puppy, the cigar shop next door (that's closing this month!), a few mishaps with groceries in the car, and having the house locked up and sealed for the winter.  Yuck!

While all of this is pretty gross, it still doesn't come close to how disgusting commercial odor removers and room deodorizers are.  They contain caustic chemicals that wreak havoc on our respiratory system! 

Try some of these alternatives next time you find yourself in a stink:

• Baking powder:  Put out a small dish of baking powder, which will suck up the stink.
• Open the windows:  When weather permits, give yourself some fresh air and fight indoor air pol ...

Here in the Midwest, we've been enjoying a lot of time indoors lately.  As I write this, the radio newscasters are announcing that major highways in the area have been completely shut down, thanks to the snow and ice.

While you're cooped up, spend some time performing indoor house maintenance.  By its very nature, maintenance is eco-friendly because you're preventing untimely replacements and extensive repairs that waste resources.  These tips come courtesy of Natural Home & Garden Magazine (now sold at GHE!)

Conveniently enough, you can find several maintenance products mentioned below at Green Home Experts!

Check These Monthly
Refrigerator:  Vaccum the vents; clean coils are more energy efficient.
...

LEED: Abbreviation for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a four-level rating system established by the U.S. Green Building Council  (GHE is a proud member).  

Buildings are rated in each of five categories: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resourcse, and indoor environmental quality.

Here is some info on two LEED-certified buildings with which I'm very familiar.  They were developed by a non-profit organization in Chicago, Mercy Housing Lakefront.  Working there was how I got my first taste of green building.  Their first LEED building was

In just a few days, I will be adding a difficult-to-find, but much-loved, floor care product, BonaKemi.  It's a high-performance, low-VOC floor care system that meets Greenguard standards.  Many contractors, architects, and designers prefer BonaKemi to care for bamboo and soft woods.  Call or e-mail us for more product info and pricing!

Be sure to check out www.global-cool.com.  It's a solutions-based web site that is chock-full of facts and tips for lifestyle changes that will make a difference on our environment.  And, if you need a celebrity morale boost, you can delight in videos from several A-listers who have gone online to fight global warming--which is great, because I never would have been concerned about the earth if Fall Out Boy wasn't.  Sarcasm aside, it's a great website.

With the real estate market being as depressed and depressing as it is, market differentiation has become more important than ever.  Green building elements are a tremendous way for sellers to stand out from the plethora of houses on the market.

By marketing green building features, sellers can grab the eye of the buyers, who have so many options and choices.  Energy efficiency, indoor air quality, sustainability, eco-friendliness, and--let's face it--coolness, can be the determining factors when it comes to buying.

If you have a green home that you're thinking about putting on the market, or if you're interested in purchasing a green home, you might consider contacting an EcoBroker (www.EcoBroker.com).  EcoBrokers are real estate professionals who are educated and certified on topics spannin ...

My friend and colleague, Adrienne Winner who is a green architect in Oak Park, sent me this fascinating link yesterday.  She has a friend in St. Louis whose family started a year-long project called “The Waste Diet”. Their goal is to go the entire year producing as minimal landfill waste as possible.

They’ve been researching their project and weighing their trash since October of last year, and have just completed their first official month. By changing shopping habits, getting serious about recycling and composting ...