Technology might not be the greenest fairy of them all, but sometimes technology surprises us, and offers an eco-friendly solution to a problem that has yet to go unsolved. Well, there’s nothing as profound as all that going on with the new iPad accessories, but we still salute Apple for giving us these green options!

Technology might not be the greenest fairy of them all, but sometimes technology surprises us, and offers an eco-friendly solution to a problem that has yet to go unsolved. Well, there’s nothing as profound as all that going on with the new iPad accessories, but we still salute Apple for giving us these green options!

The Vers Shellcase

This hand-crafted bamboo stand has a metal foot to make the incline of your iPad at rest convenient and natural to how you work. There is also a hardwood option for those not into the bamboo look. As a bonus, Vers will plant 100 trees per every one tree it uses in producing its product. If that’s not eco-friendly I don’t know what is!

The Audrey iPad Purse

Pick your fashionable poison with this stylish, eco-friendly and safe purse made for your iPad and all accessories. This bad boy is made from recycled “suade and satin”, vegan leather and recycled zipper. Saving the environment while looking good? Count me in!

Solio Solar Charger

Although these small chargers cannot charge your iPad in the traditional sense, when fully charged it can power your iPad like an external battery. Although not cheap ($99.95), this bad boy can help save a lot of energy.

Can you feel it? Spring has finally arrived! Take out those light-weight sweaters and hose off your garden supplies – it’s time to start your vegetable garden!Veggie gardens are not only great for a green living lifestyle (growing your own food prevents pesticides and other harmful chemicals from entering your body) but is a great money saver.

Can you feel it? Spring has finally arrived! Take out those light-weight sweaters and hose off your garden supplies – it’s time to start your vegetable garden!Veggie gardens are not only great for a green living lifestyle (growing your own food prevents pesticides and other harmful chemicals from entering your body) but is a great money saver.

This early spring time is when you want to make sure to do a couple of things:

• Dig
• Weed
• Seed
• Prepare

Unfortunately, there’s no catchy acronym for this mantra, but dig, weed, seed and prepare should be going through your head during the warming month of April.

Remember: wherever you plan on placing your vegetable garden needs to have at least 6 hours of direct sunlight each day.

Dig

Clean up the area from the winter gook and dig up the hardened earth to make the planting easier. Create a boundary around your garden so no one steps into the fresh soil, and ad a few cups of wood ash and bone meal and a bag of powdered limestone on top of the soil before you begin digging so the tossing can turn in the nutrients.

Weed

Weeding is considered the most important part of an early spring clean up. Rip out those winter weeds like henbit, chickweed, bluegrass and hair bittercress. To make sure you are using an organic gardening approach to wedding simply pull or cut the weeds with a sharp hoe; no pesticide killers needed.

Seed

After laying down a nice layer of mulch (or straw, whichever you prefer), it is time to seed! Early spring is a crucial time for cool-season vegetables and plant transplants. Transplants refer to any plant that began blooming in the winter and need to be transferred to an outside garden. Some of these plants that can be seeded outdoors now include: onions, salad greens, peas, radish and collards.

Remember: warm-weathers plants like eggplant, tomatoes, basil and okra can be seeded in indoor planters and put under lights. These should not be transferred to the outside until early May.

Prepare

Prepare a spot in the rest of your garden for all the warm-weathered plants, like those mentioned above. You can also add an area for herbs like sweet bay, rosemary and Spanish lavender can be planted now, although sweet basil should only be started now if you are planting it indoors.

Drake University, one of the oldest law schools in the country, recently adopted a single-stream recycling program for its campus in Des Moines, Iowa. The university has teamed with Greenstar Recycling, one of North America’s leading waste-management companies, and Metro Waste Authority, an independent government agency that has created many cost-effective waste management programs.

Drake University will be the first college in Des Moines to enact a single stream recycling program.

Drake University, one of the oldest law schools in the country, recently adopted a single-stream recycling program for its campus in Des Moines, Iowa. The university has teamed with Greenstar Recycling, one of North America’s leading waste-management companies, and Metro Waste Authority, an independent government agency that has created many cost-effective waste management programs.

Drake University will be the first college in Des Moines to enact a single stream recycling program.

About Single Stream Recycling

Do you know what the single stream recycling process is? It basically takes the hassle away from separating your recyclables and lets you put them all together into one container.

Take a look at this YouTube video to learn more:

Now can you see why this is such a great idea for Drake University?

Starting the Program

To get the single stream recycling process started on campus, each college office received a recycling container and a trash container. The custodial crew will then collect the trash and recyclables and dump it into corresponding dumpsters that will be located throughout campus.

Hopefully this new single stream recycling process will help Drake students to more effective recyclers and to make more of an effort to reduce their waste.

For more information on what can be recycled in the single stream recycling process, check out the single stream recycling flier created by Drake University.

Source: Drake University News

Nowadays, it seems that everyone has some sort of game console. If you don’t have an Xbox 360, a Playstation 3 or a Nintendo Wii, you’re just not considered cool.

But whether you’re a green gamer or not, you might want to take a second look at how these consoles could be harming your physical health…

Nowadays, it seems that everyone has some sort of game console. If you don’t have an Xbox 360, a Playstation 3 or a Nintendo Wii, you’re just not considered cool.

But whether you’re a green gamer or not, you might want to take a second look at how these consoles could be harming your physical health.

The Playing Dirty Report

According to the ‘Playing Dirty Report’ written by Greenpeace, all three of the above listed consoles contain a variety of hazardous chemicals.

So what kind of chemicals are in these consoles?

1. Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) ‘ Polymer that contains dioxin, which can cause immune system problems, reproductive disorders and a variety of cancers.
2. Beryllium ‘ Element that if inhaled, can lead to acute beryllium disease, which is like pneumonia, and it can also lead to lung cancer.
3. Bromine ‘ Element that can irritate mucous membranes and also cause burns.
4. Phthalates ‘ Family of compounds made from alcohols and phthalic anhydride that can lead to asthma, cancer and other health-related problems.

Now don’t run home and throw away your PS3, Xbox or Wii in fear that you’ll acquire cancer from it.

First of all, even though these chemicals are found in small amounts in these consoles, unless you have a room full of them that you bought to sell on eBay, you won’t be in too much danger.

Secondly, game consoles, along with cell phones, computers and other electronics, are huge contributors to overcrowded landfills.

Instead of throwing your console away, receive cash for it by sending it to BuyMyTronics.com, which is a company that buys and recycles used iPods, cell phones and game consoles.

You can read the entire Greenpeace article here.

Video game systems will always be popular and they’ll always be in demand.

The best way to make sure that they stay toxic-free is for you to write the game makers and tell them to find more eco-friendly ways to manufacture their products.