If we can swap party dresses and soccer shoes, why not club chairs, throw pillows and framed art prints, too?

You can probably convince a designer friend to work for food, trading services for a veggie burger and a smile. Even IKEA organized a swap at its Amsterdam store in February, advertising the husselmarkt as a way to get customers to think like designers by exploring the rearranging of vignettes in their own homes. Up to 250 people were invited to bring in unwanted pieces to shuffle around and swap.

Swapping and trading is a good alternative to shopping Craigslist for purveyors of bargain furniture and accents. When you shop Luanne’s list or Sara’s list, you can get it for free.

Here are 10 ways to freshen and color your space without spending a dime:

1. Hold an art swap in your backyard inviting friends to bring framed prints or unimportant paintings they no longer enjoy. Serve lots of wine so that everything looks extremely enticing and you leave the party feeling you plucked something great from the treasure chest.

2. See if you have a designer friend who will work for food. Offer to make him or her lunch or dinner for a design consultation. What do you say, Orlando? You do my dining room and I cook you an omelet. Deal? Things are so slow – designer buddies might take you up on it. If you need the designer to return for more free advice, offer a massage!

3. Form a design crew with your circle of friends and travel to each other’s homes to help with a quick-fix makeover. Often, simply rearranging the furniture can make a huge difference. Let’s face it; some of our friends just don’t have the talent but still desire a cool pad. It’s also a way to get a small room painted. Call it Extreme Makeover – the economic collapse home edition.

4. Pillow Talk: Changing out pillows is an easy way to make a big difference in reviving a sofa or bed. Flickrstream photos of pillows you no longer love and get friends to do the same thing. Hopefully, the bed pillows won’t tell tales.

5. Have a Father’s Day garden party for actually gardening, not just firing the BBQ and watching grandpa rock and sip bourbon. Turn on some lively tunes and get down to that urban gardening. Replant those pots and flower beds. Maybe someone has a bird house or feeder they don’t want that would attract feathered friends to your garden.

6. Roll out a fabric free-for-all with rolls of extra upholstery fabric from your past projects. I have several I’d be happy to part with that might be useful to someone. And I know my friend, Susanne, has some spare Ikat I wouldn’t mind using to cover a bench.

7. Pass on kids’ furniture that your little ones have outgrown. There is nothing like getting a used rocker or desk set that your child will view as special and new. It’s absurd to have to buy a lot of furnishings for children’s rooms when so many of our friends also have children and can share the wealth ““ especially pieces that aren’t marred with permanent marker graffiti or dented from raucous play.

8. Media rooms are simply spare spaces with televisions and lots of good DVD’s. But we all know they get pretty tired. Have a Hollywood night and let everyone bring movies they can’t watch again, no matter how sentimental the scene of George picking out a Cracker Jack ring for Audrey at Tiffany’s. I’ve even given away large-screen televisions to people who wanted them. Electronics are another good thing to swap. Anyone got an iPod for Sydney? I’ll give you a Hello Kitty CD player for it.

9. Register for serving items again (with your friends), after the divorce or when you have decided you never use that china in the spare closet or that giant salad bowl in the attic. Tell everyone what you need, and offer to swap with what you no longer want. I could use a can opener that actually opens the entire dog food can.

10. Call area hotels and department stores and find out if they have spare furniture they want to get rid of. You’d be surprised how much of their stuff is headed for the heap. I’d take anything from Hotel Vitale. You might be able to score a nice headboard or set of chairs. Say you will return the favor by telling all of your guests to stay there. Hospitality, indeed!

Image: Jeff Kubina

It’s time to get something off my chest: an idea that could protect entire forests, save millions – and get me fired.

What does paperless actually mean in today’s world? Despite increasingly living in a world where the electron is king – where even business cards are under threat – we still cling to our slivers of bleached, flattened wood pulp with an obsessive, needy love. We pretend that we’ve found an ingenious way to avoid turning pages, but after a while the flaws start to niggle and we revert back to our old, less sustainable ways.

And boy, do I know it. I work in a printing business during the daytime, servicing the needs of a nearby city and university. The latter is a big customer. And by big, I mean massive. Departmental teaching material, student photocopying – it’s endless.

I cannot convey to you how much paper we go through.

So my idea, then. It hinges around the surely undeniable fact that every modern student has (a) access to a computer, and (b) a mobile phone or digital camera (or phone-cameras, many of which now have 4-Megapixel+ resolutions).

And it’s very simple. Instead of photocopying, everyone takes photos.

Technologists can develop foldout A4-sized cameras specifically for academics to easily take snapshots of multiple pages. Students can apply for funding for these devices, along with eBook readers and more conventional camera equipment. Departments can produce all their reading material in a digital format, confident in the knowledge that everyone will be geared up to read it. And everyone will, because that will be the official line.

But – libraries will lose a lot of revenue. My workplace will probably go out of business. And they’ll blame me.

It’s a dilemma. What do you think?

Image: ssh

In an ideal world, all consumer electronics would be repaired, refurbished or reused. Or at least recycled. But unfortunately, it’s not an ideal world.

According to the EPA, less than one-fifth of obsolete electronic gadgets are recycled. Most are simply thrown away and end up sitting in landfill leaking toxins and chemicals into the soil which then percolate into the groundwater.

This is mostly due to lack of knowledge and information on what to do with unwanted electronics. But now, thanks to the PCMAG’s The Electronics Recycling  Superguide, you’ll find a one-stop online resource guide to help you figure out how to recycle used electronics through manufacturers and local electronics stores.

PCMAG researched all the major electronics manufacturers from A to Z and created a guide that provides details about what kind of recycling program each manufacturer offers, whether they charge a recycling fee, which geographical regions they service and even if they provide cash in return.

The next time you or someone you know is thinking of upgrading that iPhone or Blackberry, check out the guide and find out what to do with the old one first.

Image: Bah Humbug

I’m a pretty sore loser at tennis, especially when my husband rockets those serves toward my face and I want to throw my racket at his head. But my arm never aches after as it does with the Wii tennis video game.

I notice I emulate the real motion of the swing with my remote while my daughters execute abbreviated swipes at the screen to place shots, serve and return. They’re so aggressive, if it were the real thing, I’d take them out of school and put them on the circuit to support our family. But truth be told, I fear too much time spent with this year’s holiday gift will result in those Wii-related sports injuries on the rise- everything from tennis elbow to sprained ankles and severe eyestrain.

This week on Good Morning America, GiGi Stone coined the phrase “Wii-habilitaion” in her piece featuring a woman whose shoulder injury from boxing sent her to an orthopedic surgeon. A doctor told ABC News he is seeing 10 to 12 new Wii injuries per month and attributed the epidemic to “exuberant overuse.”

In other words, both kids and adults get hooked fast and play for several hours at a time. Gone are the days of exercise in the great outdoors. Since the virtual sports aren’t as strenuous as playing for real, you don’t feel the fatigue that signals it’s time for a break. The strain results from repetition. (As with any exertion, doctors recommend stretching before and after playing.)

A condition called Wii-itis first surfaced in a report by the New England Journal of Medicine in 2007 when the Nintendo game was gaining popularity. This holiday season it sold out nationwide (reports of the Wii being bad for the environment have yet to score big points). Nintendo says it provides plenty of guidelines with the equipment to prevent injuries.

At a site called Wiiinjury.com, victims from unstrapped remote accidents share their sob stories: black eyes, bruised cheeks, shattered wine glasses. There was even a bogus class action lawsuit in 2006 in which the plaintiffs argued the remote straps were faulty and caused injuries. Nintendo says when used properly, the remotes stay affixed to the wrist and don’t go flying into faces. The company’s precautions also suggest how far to stand from your opponent and from the TV screen.

Apparently, Wii humans aren’t the only ones who can take a beating from ignoring guidelines. The most reported accidents involve smashed televisions.

The other day I saw an advertisement for The Digital Recipe Reader. Kinda cool, as it has a 7″ touch screen, holds up to 2,500 recipes and not a single tree was hacked nor CO2 emission spent delivering cookbooks. Sold through Neiman Marcus, the ad said that owners have access to a gaggle of exclusive NM recipes in addition to the few hundred preloaded ones. The Reader also syncs to an online database that can be customized. Pretty nifty – this, too, can be yours for a mere $300. I did a little research to see if anyone had test-driven it and found a wonderfully snarky review on Wired.com. Writer Jose Fermoso had me laughing at the headline, which reads:

Digital Recipe Reader Copies iPhone UI, Scams Grandma

After a few paragraphs he goes on to say: “The problem is that [The Reader] is $100 more than the cheapest iPhone (8GB), which could easily serve as the main kitchen helper and access thousands of recipes online. (Did anyone say Epicurious?) The only apparent difference between the devices is that this one is ’splash resistant,’ and of course, doesn’t make calls, play movies, or have hundreds of interesting other online applications, like the steak cooking timer.”

But as I gazed at the advertisement and saw the perfectly art-directed image of the reader, one thing became very clear: a simple recipe for spiced red lentil stew was displayed as an example of what a potential owner could expect. It was free. And delicious.

Spiced Red Lentil Stew
1 cup red lentils
1 carrot coarsely chopped
1 onion coarsely chipped
2 cups peeled and cubed butternut squash
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin (I used 2 tablespoons)
2 small garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon chopped parsley or cilantro (I had none)

Cover lentils with water in a bowl and stir. Drain, rinse, rinse and repeat until the water is clear. Place lentils in a pot with 3 cups of water and bring to a boil, skimming off any foam that develops on top (I had none). Reduce the heat and remaining ingredients. Partially cover and cook over low heat until the stew is thick and lentils are soft, 45-60 minutes. Garnish with parsley or cilantro.

Food, water, shelter – the most basic requirements to sustain human life. Thanks to catastrophic global agflation, one of these is in widespread turmoil. Lack of food is causing terrible suffering. Meanwhile in the developed world, good food is ending up in landfills. The world is out of balance.

WHAT CAN I DO? Buy only the food you use. Keep a shopping list, and aim to process all your fresh food within a week of buying it.

HOW WILL THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE? At least a quarter of American groceries go to waste. In Britain it’s an estimated one in three bags of edible food – some $20 billion of groceries each year. If you buy only the food you use, you save money and someone else gets that food. If you’re sceptical about the food reaching the people who really need it, then look at what you’ve saved in grocery bills at the end of the month, and donate a portion of that money directly to a charity or micro-loan provider.

 

It clogs our rivers and seas. It suffocates wildlife and lingers in landfills. It’s a modern scourge- and it’s become known as urban tumbleweed.

WHAT CAN I DO? There’s two things to do with plastic supermarket bags – work around them and work against them. The former is as simple as remembering to carry a tote bag when you go shopping. In the latte case, don’t ever use the plastic bags provided by your local supermarket. Drop them a note (perhaps in their suggestion box) asking why they’re still using them when they’ve been banned for over a sixth of the world’s population. There’s no need to be strident: politeness sinks the message deeper.

HOW WILL THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE? Katharine Mieszkowski’s article at Salon covers it nicely.

Getting into the car seems a matter of instinct for much of the modern world, and particularly in the U.S. – in 2001, 90% of Americans were using their car to get to work. The US auto industry relies heavily on subsidies and bailouts when things aren’t going well…and with the state of global oil reserves, things are unlikely to improve. Domestic American ethanol production couldn’t even meet a tenth of the ravenous fuel demands of cars currently on the road. The only way forward is to kick the auto habit ““ and every little helps.

WHAT CAN I DO? Here’s a good way to start. Whenever it’s practical to do so – walk. (Or cycle). Particularly for short journeys. Factor in an extra ten minutes travel time, and use your legs.

HOW WILL THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE? Last year, How to Live a Low-Carbon Life author Chris Goodall calculated that driving to the shops uses less carbon that walking. This statement is well-argued, logical, and completely useless to anyone but advocates of the automobile industry (it’s a damning statement on food prices, not the eco-friendliness of driving, as Goodall himself notes). Driving very short distances is fuel-inefficient: starting your car is around as much energy as idling it for one minute. Anything that reduces American consumption from a whopping 21 million barrels of oil a day is good for the economy and for the environment. And what about your own health?

When the sun falls below the horizon, modern society fights the dark. In keeping our cities and roads illuminated, we squander our precious energy reserves skywards in a blaze of candlepower we simply can’t afford. Light pollution is bad for the environment in ways we’re only just beginning to understand.

WHAT CAN I DO? At night, dim the lights and rediscover the dark.

HOW WILL THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE? By dimming their lights for Earth Hour 2008, Toronto residents saved an estimated 434 Megawatts (MW) of electricity – for comparison, standard nuclear power stations generate from 500 to 1000 MW.

Going green is about communing with Nature, leaving the modern world behind and harking back to a happier, more eco-friendly era when humans lived in perfect harmony with the landscape – right? Except it’s not that simple. Take the “wild” moors of Britain – many of them result from deliberate deforestation during prehistoric times. We’ve always made our mark on the planet with technology – yet recently it’s reached a scale where our ecosystem can’t adapt itself fast enough. So now it’s up to us to make amends. Should we throw away the best tools we have to do this?

WHAT CAN I DO? Buy a programmable thermostat and save 10% on your heating bills. Buy CFLs for now and LEDs later, and save energy when lighting your house. Upgrade your home, 21st Century style. Spend quality time with a crank or two! Buy and use your gadgets wisely, and keep a constant eye on the technological cutting edge of green.

HOW WILL THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE? Take renewable energy – it’s all about using the best technology science can provide. And look at the results of doing so.

Contrary to what some would have you believe, a sustainable lifestyle is not about vowing to never buy anything “non-essential” ever again. Shopping is green ““ but only if it’s done right.

WHAT CAN I DO? Eco-artisans and fair-traded products deserve your custom, from the beads of Project Have Hope to the fresh produce of the Milkweed Mercantile. By buying products that have an unambiguously eco-friendly component to them, and by closing your ears to the greenwashers (and their twins, the greenscourers), you can prevent profits triumphing over ethics.

HOW WILL THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE? The Fair Trade movement, for all that it should be called “Fairer Trade”, gives producers a better deal without compromising on social and environmental standards. It’s a success because shoppers often choose to buy Fair Trade over cheaper, more readily available items. It’s a great start.

Next month, the United States has a new president. He’s already been unprecedentedly vocal about his commitment to the environment – and, like all politicians, it’s his job to listen to what people want. He needs feedback to do his job well.

WHAT CAN I DO? A green lifestyle is a politicized one. You don’t have to march in endless rallies or pore over The Economist every week – but you should have a read around the most pressing issues facing your governments, federal and local. Your voice deserves to be heard – if you’re doing everything possible to live in the real world. Sustainability is pragmatic: there’s no room for unthinking dogma in today’s eco-political climate, and the best way to approach green issues is with open ears, open eyes and an open mind.

HOW WILL IT MAKE A DIFFERENCE? Because, more than ever, Washington listens.

Remember when you were a child? Your optimism and determination knew no bounds (I’ve fallen over? Well, I’ll get up again). Everything was endlessly fascinating, and nothing wasn’t worth learning about. You had more energy than you knew what to do with. Wouldn’t it be great to experience the world like that again?

WHAT CAN I DO? A thriving green lifestyle is: optimism about the effects of your personal choices, determination in the face of contrary commercial pressures, fascination in scientific innovations that will clean up our environmental impact, a willingness to learn new skills and relearn old ones, and applied energy and enthusiasm in adapting to an ever-changing modern world. Sound familiar?

HOW WILL IT MAKE A DIFFERENCE? By giving our children the future they deserve. 

Main image: Wrap

But what are these cell phones actually doing to our cells? Human studies aren’t conclusive, but I used to have a phone that would make the side of my head hot after a few minutes of conversation. I knew that couldn’t be good.

Since you’re probably not willing to give up your cell phone, the least you can do is buy a safer model. An earpiece is essential, but even a phone on your belt is still emitting radiation. Cnet reviews different brands and models on radiation levels, so you can make wise purchasing decisions. Buy safe.

My name is Luanne and I’m a webaholic. Okay, now you say “Hi, Luanne” cause you should probably be in a meeting, too.

If you’re like me, you’d wear a cyber patch if there was one on the market. For instance, right now the old cat is howling cause she’s starving and craving her morning salmon, but I’m busy writing this blog so she’ll just have to wait.

While I’m not prone to immoderate gaming (why bother when you can amuse yourself with Craigslist ads), I do exhibit several of the symptoms experts identify as an increasing computer dependency.

When I return home from a long day, I rush to greet my best friend and check new messages, even before greeting my husband. “Hello, lover,” I say to P.C. “I’ve missed you sooo much.” One time, when my best friend got a nasty virus, I  just about lost it, feeling completely detached from the outside world. I regarded the technician who repaired it as a superhero, as valuable as an organ transplant surgeon. I kept telling him he saved my life.

Also, because of my dependency, I have cast aside invaluable resources of the past, such as the dictionary, maps, paper invitations and thank-you notes, the Yellow Pages, city newspapers, daily calls to friends and photo labs. Enter Google, Mapquest, Adobe, Huffington Post, Facebook and Evite. Lazy, hurried people unite!

While there are scant Betty Ford-style clinics for people like me, it’s clear there’s a burgeoning need. In fact, Dr. Maressa Hecht Orzack, Ph.D. of Harvard University, says we’re just seeing the tip of the iceberg in society’s dependency on computers for information, fun and entertainment. Anyone who’s visited a computer cafe at night knows she’s right. Guests sit alone, sipping wine or coffee, substituting their notebooks for human dates.

Orzack (above) founded the Computer Addiction Service at Harvard’s McClean Hospital to treat what she calls Internet Addictive Disorder or Cyberaddiction, which she likens to pathological gambling or compulsive shopping. “Like those other addictions, it affects other people – family, friends, and co-workers,” she points out.

The trend, she says, affects all ages starting with computer games for kids (my girls, included) to chats for the vulnerable adult. The darn Mac or PC can even split up a family. She says compulsive use can be a major factor in divorce, especially when couples split because one of them finds someone else on the web. Colleges report excessive computer use is associated wtih academic drop-outs. That’s kind of a catch-22. Who can get through school now without one?

Orzack guesstimates between five and ten percent of Web surfers suffer from a Web dependency. Are you one of them?  Don’t lol. Take a peak at some of the symptoms:

Psychological symptoms

A sense of well being or euphoria while on the computer
Inability to stop the activity
Craving more and more computer time
Neglecting family and friends
Lying to employers and family about activities
Problems with school or job

Physical Symptoms

Carpel tunnel syndrome
Dry eyes
Migraine headaches
Back aches
Eating irregularities
Failure to attend to personal hygiene
Sleep disturbances

Orzack believes that like any addiction, this one can be best treated with Cognitive Behavior Therapy, which provides coping skills to prevent a relapse. Sometimes medication is even necessary. I’m pretty sure that’s the case with my obsessive friend, Diane, who can spend 10 hours hunting down discounted Oilily clothes for her daughter on Ebay. Talk about a gaming problem.

Can Orzack treat addicts on-line? “I’m licensed in Massachusetts, not in cyberspace,” she says. Guess not, unless you live near Harvard.

Still, there are more treatment resources surfacing, such as Internet Addiction Help in Santa Barbara, and  ICA Services (425-861-5504), a 12-step program for computer addiction based on the Alcoholics’ Anonymous approach to recovery.

For me, there’s a bit of irony to all of it. I rely on the computer to connect me to the outside world, yet it is adding to my isolation. I doubt that’s what Bill Gates and his ilk ever had in mind.

Image: Stefan Friedle

In the mad dash to go green, grow green and glow green, some  energetic gadget makers are marketing devices that are so darn friendly, we might as well ask them to move into our homes. Plug into these and see:

Philips Eco TV

A 42-inch, flat-panel LCD, this TV broadcasts power-saving features, such as a backlight dimmer the viewer controls for darker scenes. It also has a power-saving mode for capping peak light output. It retails for around $1,400 at Amazon and other electronics suppliers. (Shown above.)

Bamboo Laptop

How chic can a computer get? The green batteries in the Asus boast a 35 to 70% longer life. The bamboo exterior houses all the usual extras of a notebook. Check it out at Ecomoves.

The Studio Hybrid Eco-Friendly Small Desktop

Ideal for the little green home office that could, this engine has optional upgrades to include built-in Wi-Fi Blue Rayâ„¢ and a wireless keyboard and mouse. This PC is Dell’s greenest and most powerful desktop to date, using 70 percent less energy while arriving 80 percent smaller than a typical desktop minitower.  Beginning at $499, it’s available in cool color options. It gets a 4.0 Energy Star rating with packing material made from 95 percent recyclable material.

Jonta LED Flashlight

Described as one of the best “human powered” flashlights, you can recharge this wind-up toy by cranking it to your heart’s content. Keep one handy in your nightstand drawer, the kitchen cabinet, in your kid’s room. Let it shine the new fashioned way. $49.99 at Green and More.

Solar Christmas Lights

If you are inclined to deck the halls and the roof, opt for these solar lights from Eco Geek Living, $39.97 for a set.

Spin-X Spindryer

This will cut down on drying time so much, it will make you dizzy. It costs $599.95 (plus shipping) but saves an estimaed $1,104 in three years. I believe it. The Spin-X can remove one quart of water from clothes taken out of your machine. The extracted water goes into a storage container. It also removes soap, detergents, perfumes and chemicals into the container. You can order one at Spin-X.

Helios Solar Grill

Invented by Sean McGreevy, this energy-efficient outdoor grill (great for that Thanksgiving turkey in Miami) has a coil inside that heats up like the hottest coal. The dish looks like it should be receiving your favorite show, Top Chef, but instead it collects the solar power while you cook away. Fire up your curiosity at Coolest Gadgets.

Eco Fan 800

No batteries, cords or chargers required for these blades of glory. The Eco Fan generates its own electricity using the heat of your wood burning stove. The thermo-electric module inside acts as the generator, letting you cut down on those insane power bills. $119 at Northline Express.

Barbar Ceramic ECO 8000 Blow Dryer


A hair greener than other styilng tools, the ceramic ECO Dryer is equipped with a low EMF heating output, negating radiation while keeping your locks soft and shiny. $109 at Beauty Choice.

Kill-A-Watt

It’s the favorite gismo of Alter Eco’s Darren Moore. This tool lets you test how much energy is being sucked out by your appliances, helping you to calculate and cut costs. $23.89 at Smart home.

Where would you be without your USB?

These ports are used to power an array of gadgets and gizmos.

The USBCELL company’s mission to provide ever-eco-friendlier energy solutions has been bolstered by its line of USB rechargeable batteries. Batteries have been slow to achieve a greener status, giving their disposable nature and a lack of options for recycling. With an estimated 15 billion batteries needlessly discarded each year, the problem looms large.

The solution? Recharge!

USB ports are omnipresent and easily-accessible in our home and work lives, and USBCELL wants to exploit them to conveniently recharge batteries. For those of us eco-tech-fashionistas, the gadgets are now available in an ultra-pretty pastel series, with models capable of recharging basic alkaline batteries, and a host of cell phone and pda-device batteries.

Enjoy your greener, prettier USB ports!