Regis and Kelly Go Green

Today’s Live With Regis and Kelly show is part of a “Green Week” series, and it featured several of the tips I’ve discussed here for saving money while going green: cutting down on junk mail to reduce spending; buying in bulk at the grocery store; and using clean greening products (bought or made). Other great ideas include eating out less for lunch to reduce paper (and money) waste and taking fewer short trips by car in favor of bicycling or walking. I was a bit disappointed that the recommendation to plant trees and shrubs around one’s house for greater heating and cooling economy didn’t caution against non-native species, but the intentions were good.

Check out the full list of tips here at the Green Week site by clicking on “Save Money.”

Less water is the ticket to conservation landscaping

If the first rule of conservation landscaping is to lesson your lawn, the second is to lesson your water use. This can be accomplished in a number of ways, with the most obvious benefit being a smaller water bill. Using less water will also reduce your impact on the earth and encourage another key part of greener gardening: the use of native plants. Plants that are native to your region usually require less water because they are adapted to the climate in which you live, with its unique weather pattern and annual precipitation levels. Let me repeat: the best plants for an environmentally friendly garden are not only native to your country but to your region, as well. Trying to plant a U.S.-native cactus if you live in New Hampshire kind of defeats the purpose.

The first way to reduce your gardening water use is to plant regionally native plants. If you live in the Chesapeake Bay watershed (most of Pennsylvania, Delaware, D.C. and Maryland, with parts of New York, West Virginia, and Virginia as well), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has a detailed photo-book of regional native plants available online. If you live in the Mid-West, check out the EPA’s Great Lakes Native Plants Factsheet. The WildOnes organization is a native plant resource also primarily for the Mid-West, but it has a few Eastern chapters and good information for all. For Westerners, visit the customizable Native Gardening Guide at eNature, which goes for everyone in the U.S., too. Everyone can also benefit from visiting the National Wildlife Federation and Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center websites, both of which have spotlights and lists on the native plants of specific U.S. regions.

Another great way to get into native plant gardening is to go directly to nurseries, greenhouses, and nature centers in your area and to ask if they have native plants available. If they do, take notes but don’t buy anything until you check out resources like those above and books at libraries to make sure the person(s) you spoke with know what they are talking about. I have personally experienced several instances where garden center personnel were happy to help but gave false or misleading information about which plants are native. The native gardening movement is growing in the U.S., but knowledge is lagging behind in the commercial horticulture industry. There are, however, some nurseries cropping up that specialize in native plants. Seek these out and support them with your business if you can. Here in Western Maryland, ElkRidge NatureWorks is a beacon of conservation landscaping, covering aspects beyond native plants for their customers.

Some of these aspects also reduce water use, and I want to mention two more: rain barrels and rain gardens. Both capture rain water, the former for your traditional watering use and the latter for the purpose of decreasing stormwater flooding and increasing groundwater infiltration (besides looking good!). More information and how-tos about both can be found in this pdf document from the Center for Watershed Protection. Be careful, again, if you do not live in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, as the native plants mentioned may not be best suited for your region.

Now go and get your hands dirty with a greener garden; if not for the planet, at least for me, since I must garden vicariously.

Renting is the new buying, and Hummers take a dive

Renting household items may be a great alternative to buying, whether you a) have next to no space for new things, b) don’t want the hassle of arranging, storing, and dusting new things, or c) want to lighten your contribution to the local landfill. Now I’m not advocating those “rent-to-own” places that enslave you for a new T.V., but there are small-scale renting options popping up around the web that are worth a look. Zilok allows you to rent out or to rent from others anything from laptops to golf clubs to evening gowns. For the book-hungry, BookSwim has monthly rental plans that work like Netflix and start as low as 14.99.

In other news, here’s a positive update–according to an article on CNN Money.com, GM is shifting its auto production from 50% cars to 60% in the wake of gasoline price-induced consumer spending changes. Also,

GM is launching a strategic review of its Hummer line of heavy trucks and . . . may sell the unit, though finding a buyer will likely prove difficult.

“This is very difficult environment to sell a brand like that,” Mainstay’s Kudla said. “Unfortunately for GM, Hummer just doesn’t have much consumer appeal at this point.”

The proof is in the numbers. Hummer sales were almost cut in half in April compared to a year earlier, with 2,380 moving off the lots down from 4,375 in 2007.

I was going to say sorry to those who like Hummers, but tolerance has its limits. There’s never been a reason to appreciate Hummers as civilian vehicles, and unless you live on on a craggy outer planet, it doesn’t seem like there ever will be.