If you’re sending correspondence through the mail these days, why not design your own stamps to promote your green message?

Many sites, including Zazzle.com, allow you to either select from their designs or customize your own using photos or images downloaded from your computer.

If you decide to make stamps for a special occasion, remember to weigh whatever you’ll be mailing before you order so you can specify the correct postage amount. If you aren’t going the route of Evites or other email invitations, using stamps that say something special, and green, is a great option.

Here are ten designs I found at Zazzle with cool green themes:

1. Six Reasons to Plant a Tree

2. Fair Trade Only

3. Got Bamboo?

4. Dreaming of a Green Christmas

5. Hang Dry

6. Love Your Mother

7. Love it or Leave It

8. Kiss Me

9. Like No Tomorrow

10. Burn Fat Not Oil

Images: Zassle.com

The kitchen could be considered the hub of a home. It’s the spot where people congregate at parties, despite protests from the hostess; it’s the place a family gathers to break bread as often as three times a day.

There are all types of kitchens. We’ve shown you recycled or sustainable parts and entire islands of green. But I can’t recall setting my eyes on living or growing.

The Flow2 kitchen isn’t for the faint of heart. It gets down and dirty; it reveals the cycle of life from potted plants to edible food to composted waste to fertile fertilizer to potted plants. And round we go.

It’s a cool, cutting edge concept by the Oregon-based Studio Gorm team of John Arndt and Wonhee Jeong. And it’s their second go of it. The first kitchen, Flow or the kitchen of terrestrial mechanics, was Arndt’s graduate degree project.

Updated and more flexible, the designers have taken the idea of conservation and efficient living (or eating or cooking or growing) to a new level.

Case in point (see image above): The hanging dish rack drips water on the herbs and plants arranged below. The refrigerator is cooled via an evaporation cooling process (sounds fancy, but it involves H2O and not much more), rejecting the need for a large energy-guzzling fridge. There’s a cutting board that slides away to reveal a composting bin below with live worms read to nosh. And the list goes on.

The flow of Flow2 is indeed seamless, but is it feasible or just a fantasy? Whatever it is, it’s cutting edge…and just a concept for now. Time will surely tell.

- via Dezeen

It’s hard to ignore those cautionary labels (even the misspelled ones). Do we dare wash a delicate garment at home and risk ruining the texture or shrinking it beyond recognition?

Warnings are warnings, but there are exceptions to every wash ‘n wear rule.

With the help of our blog readers, writers and the experts, we have put together a list of myths we are happy to debunk to save you some precious bucks.

1. Washing sweaters will ruin the texture!

“Hogwash,” says EcoSalon’s Caitlin Fitzsimmons, whose mama passed on the tried and true method. “You need to wash in lukewarm water with a gentle detergent,” she explains. “Then lay it flat on a towel with the arms folded in. Fold in the corners of the towel and then roll it up – this lets you squeeze out water, without destroying the shape of the sweater. Repeat with a second towel. Then lay it out flat to dry.”

Image: Moline

2. Dry clean wool because it will always shrink up in the machine.

This one’s for the dogs according to EB, who has been washing his own wool blazers and slacks with a front-loading washer wool cycle for years. “Wool is fairly hard to shrink and doing so requires changes in temperature and agitation  from rubbing, scrubbing and wringing.” No washer for wool? He says use the same temp water for wash and the rinse, a friendly, wool-wash cleaner and minimal agitation. Squeeze dry, roll in a towel and lay out forming the correct shape on a flat surface. I heart this advice!

Image: Romeo’s Mom

3. Cotton really stiffens up when I clean it at home because of the hard water.

We all know hang drying is the most sound energy-saving way to go, but that can produce tough results, as well. Naomi tells us she cheats a bit by tossing her cotton into the dryer with a sheet for a few minutes before hanging dry and it does the trick. And don’t forget, there are some gentle water softeners on the market that won’t give you that Downy chemical rash!

Image: Luigi FDV

9. Dry Cleaning is convenient.

Unless you are as organized as my friend Jodi (keeping schedules is her side career), it could take several months to pick up your stuff at the cleaners. Parking can be hard unless you walk or take public transportation in the city (Carrie Bradshaw did it by cab). And very few cleaners pick up and deliver anymore. It’s just simpler to do most jobs at home.

Image: Flickr

10. Dry cleaning always extends the life of your clothes.

If your clothing can only be sustained by monthly trips to the cleaners, then you are buying the wrong kind of clothing. Our fashion editor, Amy DuFault, is a guru of stylish alternatives and you can follow her resources in the fashion section. Meantime, no one has proven that Perc or other solvents with enzymes are protecting the life of your garment. The truth is, if you are following the guidelines of frugal wash n’ wear experts, your clothes should last as long as they would when doused with toxins and sealed in plastic – perhaps, even longer.

Image: Coolslaw

Main Image : Wm Jas

This is a new SIGG water bottle with a Keith Haring lady liberty design, part of a limited edition series celebrating America, land of the free, home of  thirsty. Perhaps you could score one of these cool designs for free by getting rid of an old SIGG bottle that contains poison, and you can enjoy the benefits without having to worry about exposing your body to a synthetic drug known to disrupt normal endocrine function.

I simply won’t stand for that in a water bottle. How about you?

If you bought a metal SIGG bottle before August of 2008, you have until Halloween to trade it in for a bottle with the new and improved EcoCare liner free of bisphenol A (BPA), a synthetic sex hormone chemical linked to cancer and neurological problems. In other words, switch that trick for a treat.

What is the trick in the SIGG exchange program? Last week, Steve Wasik, chief executive officer of SIGG Switzerland, shocked the reusable water world by admitting that the liners were made with an epoxy resin that contains BPA. As Elaine Shannon of the Huffington Post pointed out, this was an about-face from his previous posture that the bottles simply didn’t leech the harmful chemical and were totally safe.

“He decided on his authority, consumers didn’t want or need to know more,” Shannon observes, adding it is difficult to see Wasik’s stance as anything but cynical.

Wasik’s posting on the SIGG website explained that the BPA debate has heated up dramatically in the last 12 months with the conversation progressing from a focus on leeching to the mere presence of BPA in products. He stresses that this dialogue has evolved to the extent that “some states are considering legislation.”

In fact, last May, Chicago was one of the first U.S. cities to ban the sale of baby bottles and sippy cups containing the chemical and the Food and Drug Administration recently announced it would undertake a new BPA review. In 2008, the FDA resisted recommending retailers discontinue using products that contain BPA until it had completed its risk assessment process. “However, concerned consumers should know that several alternatives to polycarbonate baby bottles exist, including glass baby bottles,” the feds said.

Meantime, you have to follow your own instincts and decide if you want to exchange your SIGG or simply find another aluminum or other bottle brand.

In terms of determining if you have the old kind of bottle, SIGG has provided the best kind of crisis PR fact sheet on its site with visuals that show the difference between the bad and good liners.

The EcoCare liner has a dull, pale yellow appearance while the former liner has a shiny copper bronze appearance.

For details on the exchange program and other issues pertaining to the safety of these bottles, go to the My SIGG website.

No one growing up during the upbeat, Mattel-directed Sixties figures they’ll be worse off in middle age, forced to scrounge harder for work, buy less, live smaller.

Those Barbie songs my sister and I sang along to in our pink and green room constituted teenage visions of a supercalifragelistic future that we owned, co-starring Dick Van Dyke, four kids, a shiny Lincoln and full-service yacht.

“Here’s a cake, that you and I can make, I’ll share the recipe, if you say yes to me.”

But due to the recession and soaring costs of raising two girls in the city, I’m singing a different tune today on my birthday. Sure, I married Ken, but where are the other Camelot conquests I was guaranteed?

Gone is the wine country home, jaunts to spas on a whim, the black velvet boxes concealing gems he bought for me with cash from cases he settled.

Despite the unexpected Barbie plot twist, I can’t help but feel a deep sense of gratitude as I take inventory of what I do have.

For instance, I spotted a gold necklace on Fillmore Street with a round charm that that bore the words I am completely blessed. I didn’t dare buy the $600 trinket but I have kept the affirmation close to my heart.

So, I’ve decided to count my blessings today (my colleague Sarah Irani should know that quite a few of them came free!). Here are a whopping 50, plus one for good luck.

I am completely blessed because…

1. I birthed two healthy, spectacular daughters who teach me something new each day.

2. I married a great father.

3.  I follow my bliss every day that I write.

4. My girls are strapping amazons because God gave me super human breast milk.

5. I’m surrounded by friends who are like family.

6.   My mother is still around and down to just one biting criticism of me a day.

7. I am never hungry when I don’t want to be.

8. We live without war in the  streets of San Francisco.

9. I have not been killed by a truck like my brother.

10. My religious faith has connected me to a community of fellow yentas to grow old with.

11. My older sister is an exceptional auntie.

12. My older brother is keeping the family business afloat during rocky times.

13. My pug and cat think I’m their mommy and I am.

14. I married father nature.

15. I’m healthy and strong from exercise and can climb the fence when I get locked out.

16. The builder’s daughter has always had a roof over her head.

17. I have commercial-free TV.

18. I have art on my walls from friends who made it.

19. I have memorized dozens of bedtime songs.

20. My daughters sing the songs I have sung to them.

21. My children are known for being creative and kind.

22. My beloved camera almost always works.

23. My children can read and write and like to do both.

24. My children make me exquisite birthday presents and set a regal table with a tiara at my place.

25. I can walk to the movie theater on Saturday nights.

26. No one at the theater asks me if I want the senior discount.

27. My city has excellent public transportation.

28. I can still see very well when I wear magnified lenses.

29. My mom, who unloads much, has kept her box at the iconic Hollywood Bowl.

30. My children get to use the box at the Hollywood Bowl and hear live music.

31. No menopause yet.

32. Menopause will come sooner or later.

33. I think I’ve seen god.

34. I think god is the miracle of birth.

35. I have learned how to kayak.

36. I have learned Italian.

37. Henna makes me higher than jewelry.

38. I married a great teacher.

39. My husband rarely spends money. When he does, it is on books and candy.

40. I have kept my commitments.

41. I’m in a bad girls book club.

42. My book club is all about the food.

43. Decent chick flicks are still being made, i.e. Julie and Julia.

44. I can grow vegetables in my yard to make soup.

45. I can pick flowers in my yard for table bouquets.

46. I can find stylish Sixties-inspired fashion on sale.

47. My Weight Watchers Guru is a Stanford Nutritionist.

48. I have gained the wisdom to see my own culpability.

49. I was born a healthy female in a rich land.

50. I’m a survivor because my Polish grandparents were survivors.

51. Today is my 51st birthday.

Main image: Sparkleneeley

Second image: Luanne Bradley

This is the fourth in Luanne’s new lifestyle column, Life in the Green Lane.

The grass is always browner when officials have Los Angeles homeowners turning off their sprinklers during the sizzling days of summer.

Starting June 1, the L.A. Dept. of Water and Power imposed mandatory restrictions aimed at reducing the city’s water use by 15%. Residents were ordered to use their sprinklers only on Mondays and Thursdays or be slapped with higher utility bills.

Nearly two months later, it’s clear that suburban lawns are dying of thirst in the San Fernando Valley where folks are complying as temperatures climb past 100 degrees in July and August.

“If you look around, everyone’s lawns are drying up and dying and it looks terrible,” complains Cherie Sanders, a resident of an upscale gated community in Calabasas. “It’s not fair that we have to shut off the sprinklers when golf courses and parks are using so much water and don’t have to comply.”

Flooded with complaints by ratepayers who have yet to convert to drought-resistant succulents and wild grasses, the city is loosening the law. Parks, cemeteries, colleges, school districts, athletic fields and at least five golf courses have been given the green light to irrigate the grounds on any day of the week until the law can be rewritten.

Jon Kirk Mukri, general manager of the Dept. of Recreation and Parks, told the L.A. Times parks deserve special consideration because they serve entire communities. Apparently, parks were also showing signs of distress from the restrictions.

“I couldn’t just come up with a picnic basket and jump on your front lawn,” he said, adding his own North Hollywood lawn has turned brown. “As people’s lawns die, they’re going to need a refuge and we can provide that.”

The DWP’s Board of Commissioners is considering a proposal to alter its watering law for larger property owners (three acres or more to landscape) to hydrate more frequently, as long as they reduce their water use by 20%.

Mukri told the Times his agency has made strides in cutting consumption by 40% over the last two years and will continue installing drought-friendly irrigation systems. He notes that the parks being given a break, such as popular Griffith Park and five city golf courses, already use recycled water and are therefore allowed to water on a daily basis.

Other officials have said that if the greens die on the golf courses the replacement could be very costly.

But what the pretty lawns of the average homeowner?

“I think the city needs to follow its own rules,” said David Coffin, a member of the Westchester-Playa del Rey Neighborhood Council.

Coffin, who is also a candidate for state Assembly, said the city would take its conservation policies more seriously if it experienced their effects firsthand.

“As much as I hate to say it, the only way to force them to address the overall water situation is to let those things turn brown,” he said.

Last year, the DWP banned watering between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. and prohibited restaurants from serving water unless a customer requested a glass.

A council vote is not expected for a few weeks.

Image: paulhami

Is it possible to make great California wine in an unfriendly environment? Not according to Hall St. Helena, the first winery in California to achieve Gold LEED Certification.

LEED is an internationally-recognized green rating system that measures how well a building or community does in its efforts to save energy and water, reduce CO2 emissions, improve environmental quality and show leadership in the stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.

Hall won the prestigious award from the U.S. Green Building Council for its sustainable design and practices at its facility in Napa Valley. Among the features recognized:

• Radiant Floors Allowing for Precision Winemaking and Maximum Energy Efficiency:

Radiant flooring allows HALL to control the facility’s temperature while conserving energy. This technology, accomplished by running cold or warm water through the floor slab, provides a energy efficient and stable storage and production environment.

• Solar Energy:

The sun provides more than 35 percent of the energy needed to power HALL St. Helena. Solar photovoltaic cells (solar panels) on the roof tops of the barrel cellar and fermentation building convert sunlight directly into electricity. Approximately 42,000 square feet of solar panels span the St. Helena winery roofs.

• Local Building Materials:

More than 10 percent of materials used to build the facility were extracted, harvested or recovered, as well as manufactured, within 500 miles of the project site.

• Recycled Building Materials:

More than 10 percent of the materials used were made with recycled content.

• Water Conservation:

Drought-tolerant plant species were selected for the winery landscaping which will reduce the demand for irrigation by more than 50 percent. In conjunction with this, all of the landscaping and vineyards are irrigated with recycled water. A 40-percent reduction of building water has also been achieved through the use of low-flow water outlets without compromising performance.

Cheers to Hall and its owners, Craig and Kathryn Hall for achieving their vision.  To celebrate this accomplishment, HALL is offering complimentary LEED tours daily at 11am through the end of August. Call 707.967.2626 to reserve your spot.

Last year, the Union of Concerned Scientists and Penguin Classics joined together and went looking for interested citizens to participate in a new anthology.

The topic: personal stories about global warming.

The response: overwhelming. There were over 1,000 submissions from established writers and new voices from across the country.

The result,  Thoreau’s Legacy: American Stories About Global Warming, is a collection of 67 essays from scientists, students, activists, parents, journalists, grandparents, artists and business people, all of whom have stories to tell and views to express.

Named after Henry David Thoreau, one of America’s earliest environmentalists, the anthology starts with a foreword by Barbara Kingsolver who sets the book’s tone as she calls on all to realize that we cannot simply pretend nothing is wrong. Writing with energy and enthusiasm, Barbara asks everyone to actively combat climate change.

The essays, chosen by a team of reviewers from Penguin Classics and the Union of Concerned Scientists, fit into the seven chapters that are loosely organized around themes relating to people, the landscape, wildlife and faith.

A limited-edition hardcover coffee table book is available. You can also read the anthology for free at the Thoreau’s Legacy website. Have a look and pass in it, virtually, through email and your social media networks.

Considering that less than 1 percent of all the water on the planet is usable freshwater, we’re not nearly as careful as we should be with this precious resource. Here are some amazing facts to put things in perspective.

Set in the desert of Dubai, the Tiger Woods Golf Course uses 4 million gallons of water every day to maintain its lush appearance.

Since 1950, water usage in the United States has risen 127 percent.

Even though each person only requires 48 liters of water on a daily basis, individuals in the United States use an average of 500 liters, those in Canada an average of 300 liters and those in England an average of 200 liters.

Of all the water that enters each household, about 95% of it ends up down the drain.

With access to just 5 liters of water each day, more than a billion people in water poor regions around the globe survive on the same amount used to flush a toilet or take a 5-minute shower.

If you shorten your showers by just a single minute, you can save approximately 700 gallons of water in a month.

Letting the tap run when you brush your teeth wastes up to 4 gallons of water every time.

It takes an average of 300 gallons to water your lawn. During the summer, this can account for almost half of your water usage.

Every time you throw your clothes in the washer, you use about 50 gallons of water.

Another wasteful desert endeavor, the proposed Waveyards water park in Mesa, Arizona will require up to 100 million gallons of groundwater every year in an area that receives a mere 8 inches of rainfall in that time.

So, what can we do? Learn more about water conservation, and check out 100 ways you can conserve water.

Image: Prabhu B

Window tints are optical grade polyester sheeting with colored dye and/or metal particles embedded into its surface.

For years, homeowners have applied the film to their glass to add privacy and security to bare windows in a modern setting, and to keep expensive furnishings from fading.

But as our energy conservation needs grown, consumers find the film to be a fairly inexpensive way to add or block heat and greatly reduce their electricity bills.  According to the U.S. Department of Energy, an estimated $30 billion or more of energy is lost per year through single pane windows and an average home loses 25-40% of energy through windows.

Window film can greatly reduce the transmission of solar heat and ultraviolet rays through a pane of glass, getting rid of glare at the same time (especially with the frosted or fluorescent styles). Even for renters, the film can be a good option for creating a more comfortable nest while going greener.

Among good products on the market is Energy Film, available at Home Depot under the Artscape brand, and at other retail locations. Some handy homeowners like to install the film themselves, measuring the material and using utility knife and straight edge to cut the film to fit smaller or specialty-shaped windows.

Energy Film is made of a spectrally-selective material that blocks 70% of thermal solar energy in summer and reduces heat loss through windows in winter. The company says the product  blocks 97% of UV light while still allowing 77% of natural light into the room.

Energy Film is also known to have excellent visual clarity. I also like that the company partners with Habitat for Humanity on projects, saying it shares the goal of providing affordable materials for the country’s housing needs.

Another product sold nationwide by dealers is Solar Gard, made by Bekaert Specialty Films in San Diego. Solar Gard films are sputter-coated with durable, exotic metals such as titanium, stainless steel, copper, gold, silver, aluminum and other alloys.

The company says the varying mixes of  metals are what gives Solar Guard its exceptional solar performance capabilities and color. This film is professionally installed and comes in a wide range of products for residential and commercial use in varied climates (hot sun, ski lodges, etc).

One other option is to install solar screens or shades on your windows. Modern solar screens are made either of fiberglass or high tech fabrics and stop heat before it reaches the window, reducing as much as 90 percent of solar emissions. They are usually installed on west-, south- and east-facing windows. The sheer weave options look like Roman shades.

You can locate installers and dealers in most cities, or online at Blinds Galore and other sites. Some, such as Austin, Texas, offer a rebate of one dollar per square foot for the energy savings the screens provide. Check with your city and local electricity provider to see if they have a similar program.

According to eHow, some experts recommend removing the screens in the wintertime on the west and south sides of the home. But since they have an insulating function, many homeowners choose to leave them on all year. You want to select screens that are easy to detach and carry.