So you’re making a quick dinner of it with a pot of pasta and a jar of your favourite prepared sauce.  Great!

How are you heating the sauce?  The microwave?  A saucepan?  I recommend a different approach.

If you have a double boiler, you’re in good shape, but even if you don’t, you probably can pull this off just fine.  As your pasta boils, get ready for heating your sauce by emptying the contents of the jar into the inner container of the double boiler.  Go ahead and add your spices or balsamic vinegar — whatever your routine for a jar of sauce — if you’re like me, you do so just to feel as if you made it (somewhat) your own.  If you do not have a double boiler, directions are found below.

Once the pasta is al dente, strain it so that enough of the water ends up in the bottom part of the double boiler to heat the inner container of sauce.  Place the container with the sauce into the double boiler.  If you’re patient, there’s likely enough of a heat transfer from the boiling hot pasta water to heat your sauce to a pleasant temperature within about five to ten minutes.  Spend that time finishing draining the pasta, stirring your favourite olive oil throughout, serving drinks, maybe enjoying a first glass of wine.  After a few minutes, check to see the progress of the sauce’s temperature.  Use the stove’s heat only if it’s not quite hot enough, just to finish getting it up to the correct temperature.

If you do not have a true double boiler…

…Make one! You can do so with a larger- and a medium- sized stainless steel bowl, ones that have about a two-inch diameter difference.  Pour the water into the bigger bowl as described above and place the sauce into the smaller bowl, heating it as described above.

How is this greener?

Simply put, you are not using a stove or microwave for the amount of time it would have taken for those appliances to heat the sauce.  You’re taking advantage of the already boiling hot pasta water to transfer its now unneeded heat to the sauce.

Sure, freezing food that might otherwise go bad is a great way to save money and environmental costs by not wasting perfectly good foods.  But how many times do you need that food, get it out of the freezer, and plop it into the microwave for ten to fifteen minutes for defrosting?

Considering that your microwave uses a lot of energy, you’re actually taking away a lot of the environmental good you did by saving the food in the first place.  But behold, a better, more envirohumanly friendly way to defrost.  It just takes a little extra pre-planning, and you’re set to go!

So, when you decide that tomorrow you’re going to have the chicken breasts you lovingly stored away in your deep freezer last month, get them out of the freezer and put them into the fridge to defrost.  No, it’s unlikely that they will be fully defrosted the next day, but if you plan two days out, you’re likely to have them fully defrosted.

Also, the fact that they are still partially frozen is not so bad, because the microwave will not have to defrost them for quite so long.  Additionally, the cold temperature from the frozen chicken breasts (or other frozen items) is conducted and convected throughout your refrigerator for a (albeit slight) reduction in refrigeration-related electricity use.

No, your refrigerator will not shut down during this time, but it will certainly help to have the frozen item in there helping to keep it cool.  Better that than using your “I need this to happen right now!” microwaving, and you’ll actually (albeit slightly) reduce your electricity consumption, meaning not just saved environment, but some money saved.

Today, Al Gore had his moment.  Perhaps bigger than his Nobel Peace Prize, Gore gave a speech today that may be his crowning achievement: leading the country he was denied the chance to lead.  Whether you think he deserved to lead or not, he was denied the chance.

Today, Gore enthusiastically endorsed the idea that the United States can and should change our economy over to completely renewable sources of carbon-free sources of energy within ten years.  Can’t be done?  Try landing on the moon in ten years’ time!

Gore compared the challenge to the one John F. Kennedy announced thirty-nine years ago to land on the moon.  To summarize the main point of this speech:

He said the United States and the rest of the world were facing unprecedented problems, including growing demand for electricity, dangerous changes in the climate driven largely by emissions of carbon dioxide and political instability in regions that produce much of the world’s oil.

He continued:

“When we look at all three of these seemingly intractable challenges at the same time, we can see the common thread running through them, deeply ironic in its simplicity: our dangerous over-reliance on carbon-based fuels is at the core of all three of these challenges — the economic, environmental and national security crises,” Mr. Gore said. “We’re borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of that has to change.”

I love to see Mr. Gore using both his political and environmental credibility to shift the debate from short-term half-measures to, “let’s fix this problem in the next decade,” kind of thinking.  That is important for the next President to be able to tackle this problem head on–that is to say that having the debate moved toward fixing the problem soon rather than allowing the energy industry to drag its feet.

One last point: Gore matched up the idea of taxing carbon use with the idea that one would cut payroll taxes.  That sounds like a plan many can believe in, because it would tax people’s income less while keeping government revenue (needed to pay the bills!) from decreasing.  Gore said we need to be taxing what we burn rather than what we earn.

I just got back from the store, and I still find myself changing over to greener buying habits, even when it takes more money (at times) to do so.  It can take a hit on the grocery/toiletry bill and even make you feel like it’s a major pain.

Today, I introduced a greener toilet bowl cleaner and a Pangea Brand organic skincare product to my bathroom cabinet.  The toilet bowl cleaner was priced just fine — the same as others — but the Pangea set me back a few.

But, there’s silver lining in picking up that greener laundry detergent, dish soap, or toilet bowl cleaner.  And if you slowly replace your fleet of cleaners, toiletries, and paper goods, you will find it much easier to do so.  I have slowly shopped myself into a greener life, one shopping trip at a time.  As items need to be replaced, I purchase the greener toilet paper, paper towels, and waxed paper.

If you try to do it all at once, you’re likely going to drop a lot of money on the products, something many of us may not want to do all at once.  Be prepared, if you so choose.

The better way is to gradually introduce greener options as needed.  So next time you run out of something, consider purchasing the greener option!

It can be a traditional watering can, an old pitcher or jug, but whatever it is, you should use it on your plants.

What?  Who is this guy telling me to water my plants with a watering can?  I don’t even have plants!

Well if you don’t have plants, you should get them in order to clean up the air in your home, as they can absorb unwanted chemicals from your air, leaving it healthier for you and your family.

Now, why use a watering can?  Obviously, your plants have to be watered.  You have them (or you’re going to get them, right?  For you and your family’s health!) and they require water.   Okay, glad we cleared that up.  So I was stating the obvious, but work with me here.

This may be something you already do without thinking much about it, but in order to further green your activity of watering plants, over the course of a day, pour excess water you did not drink into your watering can.  Sometimes I leave a glass sit overnight and the next morning, I don’t care to drink water that sat overnight and in any case, I would like a new glass.

But my plants could surely use that water (filtered, no doubt with some backwash!).  Also, hold your watering can under the faucet while you run the water through the faucet to get hot water.  Have ice leftover after you drink your beverage?  Put the ice into the watering can rather than down the drain.  Then use that water that otherwise would go unused on your plants.

Don’t leave water sitting in the can for more than a day, and use it as needed on your houseplants, garden, or landscaping and you’ll be greening your home a little bit more.   Just make sure to keep it near the kitchen sink (or maybe the bathroom) in order to catch that extra water for other use.

And how does this green my activity? Simply put, getting water to your home and then back away again is energy- and chemical-intensive.  From pumping it to a treatment facility to using chemicals and processes for cleaning it (and leaving some, like chlorine in the water) to pumping it to your home and up into your building (if you live in a high-rise, you may have seen water pressure drop if you had a power outage) and back to pumping the water away and treating it again before releasing it back into nature.  Just remember that when the water is running, pollution is also, “running.” The less water you run for your functions, the less pollution.

What do I buy? If you’re going out to buy a water can, I recommend one that has an optional end with holes for giving plants a shower, in case you’re watering a surface of small plants (like wheatgrass) or for watering seeds that you’re starting and you can remove it for free pour.  Remember, in almost all homes, there’s already something that will fulfill your watering can needs, a pitcher or an old juice or milk jug would work, for example, so you need not go out and buy something new — just clean whatever you use out with a little dish soap.

Plastic or metal? Hard to say.  Both are technically recyclable, both have to be removed in some way from the ground (oil for plastic, ore for metal).  Metals tend to rust (unless you get copper or stainless steel, which in most instances will not) but as a general rule, if you have an opportunity to buy something other than plastic with very similar results, go for the non-plastic product – there’s no telling what our longterm exposure to plastic products in so many of our applications will do to humans, and as time goes on, we’re seeing that its coming into contact with our food and water may be carcinogenic (saran wrap and plastic water bottles, as two examples).

Action item: Go (right now) to your kitchen (or at least visualize what you would choose) and pick out an item that will work for your watering can.  You might have one already, maybe in the basement??  If not, choose which jug in your fridge might make a good candidate, or consider buying new.  And if you do not yet have plants, go pick some nice ones out to spruce up your abode, as well as the air you breathe!  Might I recommend philodendrons for you?  Might I?

EHI is here, everyday, bringing you new tips, product reviews, and environmental news, all to help our readers become more aware and to make both small and large changes in their lives toward a more sustainable future.  We hope you will join us again.  You can get daily feeds through our RSS Feed or through Email Updates (found below!).

Philly cheesesteak, french onion soup, onion rings – some of the best things in life involve cooking and eating onions!  However, if you’ve ever cut up and cooked with an onion, you know that the worst part of this majestic experience is not the tears of joy you’ll cry while slicing and dicing but rather that pleasant reminder for sometimes days after your meal that you handled onions.  That’s right, whether while washing your face before bed or showering the next morning, the smell of onions has soaked into your hands so thoroughly that even toughest of soaps and detergents are no match.

The simple (and green!) solution: find a stainless steel surface, usually in the form of a sink or countertop and wipe your hands all over it!  Make sure to get everywhere, in between fingers, the palms, the backs of the hands, and all places in between.  A complete cleansing will usually take about 30 seconds but even just a few quick swipes will do the trick on light jobs.

Now I don’t exactly know the science behind this and why it works but I can undoubtedly tell you that it does work!  If you’ve ever been embarrassed or just plain disgusted by your stinky onion hands, you’ve probably tried new hand soaps, dish soaps, and other harsh chemical cleaners.  Well, throw them all out (or at least save them for other dirty jobs) because the greenest cleaner is one you never have to use in the first place!

Summer and air conditioners go hand-in-hand for most of us. But while in the winter, you might try to increase moisture in the air using a humidifier or putting a pan of water on the radiator, during the summer, you should reduce the strain put on your air conditioner by making moisture less available for evaporation.

What do I mean? In the most subtle ways, you can probably find a few places where you may be failing to do this, putting unwanted stress on your air conditioning system and costing you more to cool your home.  Plus, remember to mentally tie electricity use to pollution!

• Turn on the exhaust fan while you shower to force the steam out of the bathroom. Just remember to turn it off afterward so you do not continue to vent cooled air out of your house.
• Make certain your dish drainer drains water onto a drainboard — whether built-in as part of the sink or more likely, a plastic mobile one — so to drain the water directly down the drain. I used to go without the drain board (yes, I know not the smartest thing for many reasons) and had a nearly constant source of moisture in my air.
• Ring out your rags thoroughly after use, so that they do not have a large abundance of water which would add extra vapor to your air.
• If you have decided to hang your clothing to dry to improve your envirohuman impact by using the clothes dryer less, be sure to dry them outside when possible to limit the amount of vapor they let off into your home’s air.
• Lastly, remember to use your tea kettle for boiling water, so as to minimize the amount of time you’re boiling water (which saves gas or electricity!) and decreases the amount of water evaporated in the process.  If you do not own a kettle, covering the pot of water decreases the amount of water expelled into the air and makes the water come to a boil faster.

I am sure that most of you heard it from time to time from your parents while growing up: “close that refrigerator door.”  I heard just about anytime that I was checking out the snack variety and trying to make a choice.

Sure, I could have and should have gotten an idea for what was available and decided with the door shut, but it seemed pointless at the time to close it, decide for a minute and then reopen the fridge for what I wanted. But, with so many people, this was all too often a staple exchange at my house.

Now I can see how correct my parents were that I was both wasting energy and that standing with the door open “would not make something appear.”  But there’s yet another way you can make your refrigerator and freezer run more efficiently.

Simply, keep it stocked!  The reason my parents did not want the fridge door to be open for very long was that the air was escaping (rapidly).  But if your fridge is full of containers, those aren’t going to flow out of the refrigerator like the air between them will.  They will hold their temperature when you open the door, and over time reduces the amount

I’ll be the first to admit: When standing in line to check out at any store and someone busts out the checkbook to write a check, I start to fume.

Not necessarily because they’re harming the environment using the little paper payment, but because it wastes an extra 30 seconds of my day standing in a pointless line. This VISA ad is so right on:

But aside from my snobby distaste for check-writes, it brings up a better point beyond just the speed and convenience of a credit/debit card: you can reduce your envirohuman impact by using one as well!

The digital age has afforded us many things including the ability to limit our envirohuman impact. Today, we look at one of the easiest ways to reduce your consumption (and a company’s production/use) of paper.

Every month, you probably receive 2-3 small novels in the mail taking the form of various statements, whether for a credit card, bank, or cell phone monthly usage statement. These can vary from 2 to 30 pages long and oftentimes, many people don’t even bother looking at them in the first place.

Well, if you didn’t already know, most of these companies provide you the opportunity to “opt out” of the paper version of your statement in favor of just viewing a PDF or web page version of the statement. Now, if at some point you’d like to have a paper copy of a statement, a magnificent invention from over 25 years ago can help solve that: it’s called a printer.