Tiny houses on display in Portland, Oregon in 2017.Dan David Cook / Wikimedia / CC BY-SA
By Maria Saxton
Interest is surging in tiny homes — livable dwelling units that typically measure under 400 square feet. Much of this interest is driven by media coverage that claims that living in tiny homes is good for the planet.
If you think this is going to be yet another column admonishing you for not doing enough to curb the amount of single-use plastic in our waste stream, you can relax. You don't need a lecture at this point.
When you hear about businesses with a high environmental impact or activities with a high carbon footprint, you are probably more likely to imagine heavy machinery, engines and oil rather than hairdressing. Yet hairdressing, both as a sector and as an individual activity, can have a massive carbon footprint.
Do the planet a favor and skip the roses this year.
Trace the path of a rose back from your local florist to the pesticide-drenched greenhouse in South America from whence it likely came, and you will quickly realize that beautiful red bud has had an outsize role in destroying the planet.
In Mexico, a startup has found an innovative way to deal with the tons of avocado pits that producers discard every day.
Michoacan-based Biofase, located in the heart of Mexico's avocado industry, is transforming the dense seeds into disposable drinking straws and cutlery that are said to be 100 percent biodegradable.
Supermarkets around the world should be commended for
banning plastic bags, but there's another single-use foe on the environmental radar: produce packaging.
For eco-conscious shoppers, one of the most frustrating things about the grocery store is seeing things like a lone potato spud shrink-wrapped in
plastic.
In the past, eco-friendly cleaning products have held a bad reputation for being ineffective. As the demand for green products has grown, there's been more innovation and better choices for consumers. Going green is great for your health and your home because not only do these items clean just as well as the chemical-laden options, but there's also less chance that their ingredients will harm you—and the environment.
If you're into the spooky side of Halloween, there are plenty of fun ways to get your fear fix—going to a haunted house, slathering on fake blood or taking in the latest horror flick. But not even the most adventurous fright fans want to be scared about their family's health or the planet's come Oct. 31. That's not fun-scary, that's just plain old scary.
There are many misconceptions about sustainable office design—with one of the most common myths being that eco-friendly offices can't be as good looking. However, going green certainly doesn't mean you have to compromise aesthetics. Architects and green interior designers are constantly finding innovative ways to design beautiful, functional offices in a responsible way. More and more, we see successful examples of green architecture that have minimal impact on the environment yet maintain elegance and style. Here are three key tips to design a beautiful, sustainable office.
