green barn.jpg

Jennifer Chait

RIVERWIRED BLOG: GREEN HOME

Jennifer is a full-time unschooling mama to Cedar, professional blogger, and freelance writer. She's a tad obsessive about architecture, green living, music, and travel. She recently moved back to the lovely, rainy, Pacific Northwest after too many New Mexico years.

Blog

  • 1038152_sunshine.jpg

    What's Cool (and Hot) in the World of Green Living Jul 23, 2008

    Great Green Reads

    Here's what's fresh in the world of green living.... Or, you know, at least what I'm reading. I'm fairly fresh, so it counts. Chlorine free swimming: Got a pool? Maybe you should consider a fresh water pool, or at the... more
  • 4.jpg

    Five Tips for a Greener Home Jul 22, 2008

    Use These Tips to Green Your Space

    Here are some easy tips for going green in your home. Stop incoming trash. At home we produce enough trash, there's no good reason to have trash delivered as well. Stop all that junk mail with two quick visits to... more
  • pink_tulips.jpg

    Green Audit Your Yard & Garden Jul 19, 2008

    How to Complete A Green Home Yard & Garden Audit

    This week we've been going over some easy green audits you can try at home. So far we've looked at: Green Audit Your Home & Yard Green Audit Your Pantry Green Audit Your Cleaning Supplies Green Audit Your Bathroom Green Audit Your Closets Tonight... more
  • 842485_percha_4.jpg

    Green Audit Your Closets Jul 17, 2008

    How to Complete A Green Home Closet Audit

    As you may recall we're talking about green audits this week. So far you can read about: Green Audit Your Home & Yard Green Audit Your Pantry Green Audit Your Cleaning Supplies Green Audit Your Bathroom Today we'll look at closets. Most people... more
  • white_toothbrush.jpg

    Green Audit Your Bathroom Jul 16, 2008

    How to Complete A Green Home Bathroom Audit

    This week we've been taking a look a green audits for the home and garden. So far we've seen: Green Audit Your Home & Yard Green Audit Your Pantry Green Audit Your Cleaning Supplies Today we're going to take a closer look at... more
  • 18.jpg

    SolFest 2008 Jul 16, 2008

    SolFest XIII - A Celebration of Renewable Energy and Sustainable Living

    If you're planning your summer vacation soon; you might want to consider scheduling in some time for SolFest 2008. SolFest takes place each year at the Solar Living Institute in Hopland, California. This year the event is August 16-17 -... more
  • 505445_at_the_co-op.jpg

    Green Audit Your Pantry Jul 15, 2008

    How to Complete A Green Home Pantry Audit

    This week we're looking at how to green audit your home. Yesterday we looked at how to green audit your home cleaning supplies. Today we're moving on to your kitchen pantry. The kitchen pantry is usually not a big old... more
  • worldglobe5.JPG

    Green Audit Your Cleaning Supplies Jul 14, 2008

    How to Complete A Green Home Cleaning Audit

    Cleaning supplies are a good place to start if you want to green audit your house. Cleaning supplies are easy to sort, and an important thing to audit because many cleaners are chock full of harmful chemicals. Green auditing your... more
  • 906705_green_house_1.jpg

    Green Audit Your Home & Yard Jul 14, 2008

    How to Complete A Green Home Audit

    There are professionals you can hire to run a green home and yard audit for you. If you have a complex home situation, a pro can help. That said, most of us can easily run our own green audits with... more
  • FROG.jpg

    Eliminate Summer Bugs with Natural Methods Jul 10, 2008

    Yesterday we started looking at how to get rid of summer bugs without toxic chemicals or sprays that can be harmful to humans and pets. Today more of the same... Mosquitoes: To keep mosquitoes out of your home use screens on... more

Comments

  • How to kill pests without killing yourself or the earth......

    There are about 50 to 60 million insect species on earth - we have named only about 1 million and there are only about 1 thousand pest species - already over 50% of these thousand pests are already resistant to our volatile, dangerous, synthetic pesticide POISONS. We accidentally lose about 25,000 to 100,000 species of insects, plants and animals every year due to "man's footprint". But, after poisoning the entire world and contaminating every living thing for over 60 years with these dangerous and ineffective pesticide POISONS we have not even controlled much less eliminated even one pest species and every year we use/misuse more and more pesticide POISONS to try to "keep up"! Even with all of this expensive and unnecessary pollution - we lose more and more crops and lives to these thousand pests every year.

    We are losing the war against these thousand pests mainly because we insist on using only synthetic pesticide POISONS and fertilizers There has been a severe "knowledge drought" - a worldwide decline in agricultural R&D, especially in production research and safe, more effective pest control since the advent of synthetic pesticide POISONS and fertilizers. Today we are like lemmings running to the sea insisting that is the "right way". The greatest challenge facing humanity this century is the necessity for us to double our global food production with less land, less water, less nutrients, less science, frequent droughts, more and more contamination and ever-increasing pest damage.

    National Poison Prevention Week, March 18-24,2007 was created to highlight the dangers of poisoning and how to prevent it. One study shows that about 70,000 children in the USA were involved in common household pesticide-related (acute) poisonings or exposures in 2004. At least two peer-reviewed studies have described associations between autism rates and pesticides (D'Amelio et al 2005; Roberts EM et al 2007 in EHP). It is estimated that 300,000 farm workers suffer acute pesticide poisoning each year just in the United States - No one is checking chronic contamination.
    In order to try to help "stem the tide", I have just finished re-writing my IPM encyclopedia entitled: THE BEST CONTROL II, that contains over 2,800 safe and far more effective alternatives to pesticide POISONS. This latest copyrighted work is about 1,800 pages in length and is now being updated at my new website at http://www.thebestcontrol2.com .

    This new website at http://www.thebestcontrol2.com has been basically updated; all we have left to update is Chapter 39 and to renumber the pages. All of these copyrighted items are free for you to read and/or download. There is simply no need to POISON yourself or your family or to have any pest problems.

    Stephen L. Tvedten
    2530 Hayes Street
    Marne, Michigan 49435
    1-616-677-1261

    When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest.

  • Green shredders | Jun 27, 2008 08:58

    You don't have to unplug a Kobra paper shredder.
    These shredders have Energy Smart which is software that enables the shredder have zero power consumption when in stanby mode.

    Details at www.elcoman.it

  • grow is gorgeous! | Jun 24, 2008 18:20

    we saw it and we love it! wish it was available!

  • Thanks for the ongoing attention to this topic, RiverWired, and its never too early to start planning, that's for sure!

    But here's something to think about; What do you start with?

    Don't forget to plan for the reuse and recycling aspects of the project. The biggest oportunity for environmental savings during the remodel is the first step of the remodel process - demolition! Ironically, even though its the first step, its the most overlooked step in the planning process!

    Check out my blog site: http://recycleyourhouse.blogspot.com/

    I've got some ideas for you on reuse and recycling while doing a remodel. See:

    YOUR HOUSE, YOUR RULES! Ten Ways To Ensure Your Home Is Properly Recycled & Your Construction Project Doesn’t Generate Needless Waste

    Thanks.

    Lorenz Schilling
    Deconstruction/ReUse Network, Inc.
    www.reusenetwork.org

  • Thanks, Ms. Chait & RiverWired for doing this piece about the deconstruction alternative to traditional crash & burn demolition.

    You brought up one downside to deconstruction; that it takes longer is actually a big obstical this fledgling industry constantly faces.

    Homeowners (or businesses) are understandibly focussed on planning their new home or building and are usually unaware of this alternative to traditional demolition. If they do hear about it, often times its in the 11th hour.

    At Deconstruction Network, we often get calls from people who ask if we can come perform deconstruction on their home next week and they need the home down by week's end. Some even think the service might be free and that they can take a tax deduction too!

    Well...

    Needless to say, these folks haven't planned for the up front costs or time involved, even though they can often save money in the long run.

    We're trying to make a more concerted effort to make green architects and designers aware of their vital role and responsibility to give their clients a heads up about their choices well in advance. Propert owners should consider the deconstruction option two or three months in advance of a scheduled tear down.

    Often architects think this is something that should be handled by the general contractor and haven't considered the issue of timing. Asside from the timing, GCs aren't always as progressive, and even if they are supportive of deconstruction practices, often times they're not hired until homeowners are ready to build and the clock is ticking on the vacant property. Architects hold a very influencial role in the viability and success of deconstruction practices and most don't know it yet.

    It's a little frustrating and a bit ironic when the first step is the process of construction is a mear afterthought, when lots of good can come from the resources in old homes and buildings.

    Lorenz Schilling
    Founder/President
    Deconstruction Network

  • The problem with your four | May 19, 2008 02:58

    The problem with your four square box is that you have tilted the outcome to support the idea that it is better to take action, than to not.
    You did this by collecting the most scary scenarios of the IPCC and the extreme global warming activists WITHOUT assigning the probability that they may occur to them.
    While blithely throwing aside the possible problems associated with a world-wide economic collapse. As if the world wide economy is not tied to things like providing health care to people (bad economy, less able to do so) or feeding people. Or being able to respond to true disasters like the hurricane in Burma, the earthquake in China, the Tsunami in the pacific.
    Wasting money is just like wasting resources, as a matter of fact, a good economist can tell you that money is a symbol for resourses. Just ask the Arabs if their resources aren't worth money.
    As far as your nightmare scenarios goes, you can get the same sort of things from natural occurances such as an asteroid strike, or a super-volcano eruption.
    Do you seriously think, in the face of the scientists that say otherwise, that sea levels can rise 20 feet in 10 years? Huh? And by scientists, I am talking about the same scientists that put together the IPCC reports. Or do you want to make your own nightmare scenarios without ANY credible scientific evidence to back it up?
    Or how about the lead author in the IPCC report recanting the idea that AGW will cause more and stronger hurricanes? I think I heard you mention that hurricanes like Katrina might become the norm. Well, here's a news flash for you: Catagory 3 hurricanes have always been the norm, as far back as recorded history goes. And now you have someone that beat the drum talking about "More bad hurricanes" saying, well maybe not. And if they are stronger, then it would be 1 to 2%.
    Here is the comment that pokes a hole in your silver bullet:

    It is stupid to waste resources (money) combating something that only has a 1 to 2 percent chance in coming true. And the "draconian" regulations that it is O.K. for you, becuase you live in the USA, would result in certain death and disease (because of the lack of resources i.e. money) for literally millions, maybe more, as we recover the economy because the "rich" countries wouldn't be able to help and support them.

    Good luck with your video. Let me know how it works out, I'm truly interested.

    Regards,

    Brian Claggett

  • reusable moving boxes | May 16, 2008 04:28

    When you pack-up to move all your stuff to your new place, rent reusable moving boxes like the ones made from recycled plastics at Rent-a-Box.

  • USGBC | May 09, 2008 03:06

    I love the people at USGBC. They are always ready to help if you have a question.

  • Have you heard of Grow from | May 09, 2008 03:03

    Have you heard of Grow from Smit - http://www.riverwired.com/blog/awesome-solar-and-wind-system-greener-bui...
    it's in prototype but if it comes around will be awesome, it fits right on the side of buildings, but is wind (and solar). As for sooner options I haven't heard of smaller systems often, although I did recently hear about one couple who put solar / wind on their condo top - that was a really small system, I'll see if I can find it and also ask around. If I see something feasible I'll post it.

  • urban wind? | May 07, 2008 10:24

    Hi Jen,

    the article is inspiring but we've been trying to find a wind solution for a brownstone and have been unable to. Have you heard of wind on that small a scale?

    Ellen

Videos