Native plants are a virtue
These days, I can't imagine why I planted that bank of hydrangeas along a sunny back wall, except that their puffy blue flowers are gorgeous and they remind me of my grandmother. After hearing a talk...
View ArticleWant to cut your carbon footprint? Here’s how
If you’re driving your SUV to the farmer’s market to buy local asparagus — and thinking you’re making a difference for the planet — not so fast. You’re focused on a detail and ignoring the gas-hogging...
View ArticleGeek helps gardeners find a food bank for their harvest
Gary Oppenheimer hates waste. And he loves gardening.
View ArticleA bonus for letting utilities turn off your AC
On the hottest, sunniest, sultriest days of summer, Peco wants to reach through its wires and turn off your central air conditioner. About 87,000 households have told the utility, "Have at it."
View ArticleStronger vinegar for greener cleaning
When Molly Rouse-Terlevich, a Bryn Mawr mother of two, goes to clean the kitchen counter, she reaches for a spray bottle. In it is a solution of half water, half white vinegar.
View ArticlePetitioning for change with a click of a mouse
The kids at Sun Valley Elementary School in San Rafael, Calif., love Crayola markers.
View ArticleWhich is greener: Glass bottles, plastic bottles, or aluminum cans?
Hot enough out there? Bet you're thirsty. Once you choose what you want to drink, there's another big decision: What are you going to drink it from?
View ArticleGreenSpace: Parents' groups urge action on climate for children's sake
South Philly mother Gretchen Alfonso and California author Mark Hertsgaard have been waiting for the outrage, for the sense of urgency among the nation's parents - the group that they think should...
View ArticleGreenSpace: Greening and guilt: What bothers us the most
Aside from national political sparring about whether wind power is the future (President Obama) or merely a fad (vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan), is the greening of our lives temporary?
View ArticleGreenSpace: Take another look at solar
Not long ago, Gov. Christie and New Jersey environmental groups wound up on the same side of an issue. Some of the groups actually praised the governor they are so frequently confronting.
View ArticleGreenSpace: Gutting a house to show their true color: Green
We've all been there - wondering how to eke more efficiency out of our homes. We've switched the bulbs and tinkered with the setting on the hot water heater. We've beefed up the insulation and tangled...
View ArticleGreenSpace: Let there be light - but not so much
The searchlights over the Benjamin Franklin Parkway have gone dark. The three-week Open Air show by Montreal artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer is packing up.
View ArticleGreenSpace: When you choose coffee, have a heart for the birds
The goldfinches have long since devoured the sunflower seed heads in my garden. Time to get out the feeders and go buy birdseed.
View ArticleGreenSpace: Of old paint, new paint, and doing right by the environment
It's dark, dreary, and occasionally damp. Spiders lurk. Stinkbugs lie dead in the corners. And on the shelves: Ugh. Old cans of paint, their labels obscured by drips, their lids encrusted with clumped...
View ArticleGreenSpace: Banishing the ugly butts
Tom Szaky collects the most disgusting things. Yucky yogurt containers. Sticky candy wrappers. Old flip-flops. Now, he and his Trenton company, TerraCycle, are onto a new one: cigarette butts, the most...
View ArticleGreenSpace: A waving queen and other solar-powered wonders
The queen of England has gone solar. The panels may not be on Buckingham or Balmoral. But there's one on the tiny black purse of a six-inch queen figurine, and the power it generates makes Her...
View ArticleGreenSpace: Prepared for season's greening
I bet your Christmas tree looks gorgeous. And I'm equally certain that if it's a live tree, in a week or two it will be dropping needles and you'll be eager to get rid of it.
View ArticleGreenSpace: His study of energy expenses paid off
David Director is a man who loves spreadsheets. He spent years at his keyboard, poring over documents, looking for answers to one of life's burning questions.
View ArticleGreenSpace: Getting kids into the great outdoors
Ken Finch delights in asking people to recall happy childhood moments spent outdoors. Invariably, they involve nature: climbing a favorite tree, wading in a stream, catching fireflies in a jar.
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