By Teresa Hernandez
For many, it’s the time of year to agonize over finding the perfect holiday gifts for friends and family without breaking the piggy bank. Many traditional gifts end up collecting dust and adding to household clutter. This year strive to give useful, economical gifts that align with social and environmental values.
Get empowered to [...]
A new wave of job-seekers is leveraging Twitter, LinkedIn and other social networks as quick ways to access job referrals, screen potential employers and obtain interviews. Twésumés (personal bios in 20-word chunks) and Twinterviews (interviews conducted on Twitter) are helping to speed up the hiring process. All of it can help cut through red tape.
“Instead [...]
Americans buy about 3 billion household batteries a year (about 10 per person), according to the Environmental Protection Agency—and nearly all end up in landfills. Unlike disposable alkaline batteries, rechargeable batteries can be reused hundreds of times, saving money and resources, while reducing pollution associated with their manufacture and transport. A study by battery manufacturer [...]
Teens ages 13 to 18 learn about current environmental issues, teen action groups, funding opportunities, green college curricula and eco-careers at Planet-Connect.org, where students also share their success stories. It all makes for an exciting exchange of ideas that can shape a lifetime of experience.
One of several current scholarship and award programs, the Apprentice Ecologist [...]
A growing number of travelers are choosing to learn more about regional cultures and help people in a deeper way than just buying their souvenirs. Vacation volunteers report that they work hard, laugh a lot and live an adventure than can’t be duplicated. The lengthy menu of vacation options is as diverse as reading to [...]
The desire to live simply, a cornerstone of the Small House Movement, has led to interest from architects and builders who are now providing smaller housing alternatives, according to ResourcesForLife.com. For example, Florida designer Ed Binkley, who used to design mansions, now offers a Shelter Series that includes homes ranging from 600 to 900 square [...]
Online “crowdsourcing,” so useful to Wikipedia.org in gathering information for its free encyclopedia, is set to benefit other types of nonprofits as well, thanks to an iPhone app piloted by The Extraordinaries, out of San Francisco. The idea is to get people to volunteer whenever it is convenient. Currently, on-demand volunteers simply tap in to [...]
At its most basic, time banking is about spending an hour doing something for someone in our community and banking it. Each hour banked represents a time dollar to spend having someone doing something for us.
Time banks are built upon the premise that everyone has something to contribute and everyone needs a helping hand now [...]
Today’s economic challenges are spurring updated approaches to living a good life. These free or nearly free Web-enabled services make it possible to exchange goods and services with neighbors and others anywhere in the world. It’s a satisfying way to recycle stuff.
Freecycle.org – Facilitates a “gifting economy,” in which local Freecycle Network group members give [...]
The average American adult receives 41 pounds of junk mail a year, even though, as Newsweek reports, polls show that 89 percent of us prefer not to receive direct-marketing mail; 44 percent of it is never opened. Opposition from the U.S. Postal Service and the Direct Marketing Association has so far helped defeat passage of [...]
