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CELEBRATING 15 YEARS ON THE WEB 1999-2014!

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Solar panels, programmable thermostats and STAR appliances—when it comes to being green, homeowners seem to have all the fun! But there are simple ways that apartment dwellers can make their living spaces more green as well.

Search for Green
If you are in between places or getting ready to move, you can make your apartment home more environmentally-friendly by keeping sustainability and efficiency top of mind during your search. Look for energy efficient appliances, and if possible, call the energy company to see what the average energy costs were for the previous year. This can help you weigh both the efficiency of the apartment and your final costs.

Keep in mind that being green doesn't just happen inside—think about location too. By picking an apartment that is close to bus lines or near your work and school, you might be able to reduce the amount of fossil fuels you burn while traveling. While searching for a new pad, use a comprehensive rental listings site so that you can investigate the sustainability of the place before you take the tour. Keep in mind environmentally-conscious exterior features like trees and shrubs for shade in the summer and interior features such as expansive windows for natural warmth in the cooler months. ForRent.com's Amplified Apartments offers ideas for incorporating eco-friendly features like light-filled spaces into your interior design.

If a move is not in your future, the following ideas are easy to integrate into any apartment home.

Diary of a New Homemaker

Always Be Knolling

Our current favorite video is "Ten Bullets." It's a training film for Tom Sachs' industrial arts/video/coolness studio in NYC, and it's rather inspired us. JJ has taken to "knolling" his desk during conference calls, and I've knolled my own desk and my bedside table. And the kitchen. And maybe a couple of other spaces. We'll see how long it lasts. It is January, after all.

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A Thankful Year

Lessons from my mom: how to make "something" out of "nothing"

Reason number I-lost-count why we homeschool: standardized testing

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A Taste of the Season

Featuring Spring

Preparing for Winter Health

sledding children y observing the changing of the seasons, Mother Earth shows us how to prepare for winter in much the same manner as all her other residents. From Spring's first signs of life our hopes and dreams grow. As Fall approaches we put away the joyful songs of Summer and begin to regress inward along with our other Earth bound companions.

Lifestyles and diet have a direct impact on our health and that of our future generations. We need to be involved and more aware of the world around us. Take away the sciences and assembly lines and our best teachers are truly the cycles of nature. Big business has you skeptical of natural products because they need you. You on the other hand merely need more education to make better choices. I hope here to give you one more view of the partnership we share with this place we call Earth.

A Beautiful Porridge

Making Mousy Valentines

Growing Pansies for Winter Cheer

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A Taste of Today's Chore

Today's Chore: Making Connections

A Greener, Healthier Cafeteria

Improving the nutritional quality of school cafeteria food is on the agenda of many parents and school administrators. Some schools are beginning to source food from local organic farms. Photo: Getty Images ear EarthTalk: How can we get schools to offer healthier and more eco-friendly cafeteria food to our kids? I don’t have time to bag a healthy lunch every day.
-- Leslie Morris, Richmond, VA

Now that many schools have stopped selling sodas and other unhealthy vending machine items to their students, improving the nutritional quality of cafeteria food is on the agenda of many parents and school administrators. And luckily for the environment, healthier food usually means greener food.

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