While green lawns aren’t necessarily a natural fit with desert living, many of us have them and want them to be green and lush at most any cost.  Oftentimes that means polluting the air, ground and water to maintain them.  But a new lawn service says the environment shouldn’t have to pay the price for us to have green grass and lush landscapes.

EcoGreen Lawn & Tree Co. is putting the green back into Las Vegas - one yard at a time.  That’s what it says on their eco-friendly mobile trailer, with two unassuming solar panels sitting on top!  Parked outside in the sunshine all day, the panels pull enough amps of energy to keep battery-powered lawn tools charged and running from sun up to sundown.  Then excess power is stored in batteries so it never runs out. 

Nick and Tim Militello started the business with the desire to use safe enviromental methods in their gardening.  They say it’s only natural for gardners to care for the environment where they make their living.  Natural nutrient-rich compost, organic fertilizers and weed killers keep chemicals out of the water stream.  Battery-powered lawn mowers, edgers and blowers work quietly to keep polluting gas fumes from filling the neighborhood air.  And while the solar panels weren’t cheap - the Militellos say they will pay for themselves within the first year of business.  There aren’t many start-up companies who can brag about that.  Why aren’t there more yard services using these methods?  It seems only natural to me.

It looks like a puffed up Alka Seltzer tablet BEFORE it becomes a moistened paper towelette.  It’s called the Ec’o Towel (not a typo - “Ec’o” is the right spelling of this product) and I think you’ll be amazed at how a few drops of water can produce a handy little wipe in a matter of seconds. (See demo.)  Pour a few drops of water on this hydrolic-processed thick nickel-sized pellet - and voila! - it grows into this moistened 10″x8″ handy wipe, ready for use to clean up whatever you’ve got - wherever you are!  I loved it.

The Eco’o Towel was discovered by a woman named Gertrude, who thought it was a fantastic product that could help clean up our footprint on the planet by cutting back on using paper towels, napkins, wipes, etc.  The little white wipe is 99% lint-free and it’s totally reusable.  You can wash it and use it again… and again.  When you do throw it away, it’s bio-degradable so it breaks down in the landfill. 

The towel is darn convenient, too.  You can carry it in your purse, your pocket, the briefcase, a lunch kit, the golf bag or the diaper bag.  I think the price is affordable for the convenience; $4.95 for a 10-pak and $8.95 for 24.  Check out Gertrude’s website for ordering and some other nifty products.  She also carries bio-degradable doggie poop bags and kitty litter pan liners by Bio-Bag.  Neat stuff to keep our planet a little cleaner.

Are you looking for some fun, new art to hang on the wall?  A lot of local personalities, organizations and even well-known celebrities have created one-of-a-kind decorated masks that can be yours - all to help raise money for a local school.  The Innovations International Charter School of Nevada is a bilingual K-12 Clark County school with a creative mind for learning. 

Donny & Marie Osmond, Patricia Arquette from CBS’ The Medium, Mayor Oscar Goodman, Disney’s Lion King, Terry Fator, Channel 8’s George Knapp, and even “The Donald” Trump (his mask is made of dollar bills!) are all helping to increase the mind power of the kids over at Innovations.  The school’s fundraiser is called “Unmasking the Mind Art Auction & Gala” and it’s this Saturday night at The House of Blues at Mandalay Bay.  Tickets are $60 to the event. 

Before the event, you have a chance to contribute by bidding on these beautiful, unique and even funky masks created with their own message in mind.  My son, Ethan, and I created our mask with the Living Green theme (up top) and naturally - I hope you’ll bid on it!  We spent a lot of time on it and it was great fun!  Bidding starts at $50 for all masks and the on-line auction is going on now until Wednesday, Oct. 21 at midnight!  So sign on and get in a bid.  I hear George Knapp’s mask has a hidden camera in it, so be careful where you hang it in the house!  Just kidding.

It’s Green Consumer Day and it may be a good time to reflect on our buying habits.  Many of us consider ourselves to be eco-conscious, but are we true eco-consumers?  Do you consider the resources used to make a product before you buy it,  and even if you knew - would it change your buying habits? 

A recent video called, “The Story of Stuff” shares a theory on how consumerism is stuffing our eco-awareness away in the closet, while we go do more shopping.  The video was produced by a group called, ”The Story of Stuff Project” and definitely has strong political views of how our buying of stuff has spun out of control.  Whether you agree with the point of view or not - just watching this video did make me think about how voracious our appetites for stuff has become and how readily available more and more stuff is all the time.   

And could we really change the cycle of the way stuff is produced, consumed and disposed of simply by demanding earth-friendly products from manufacturers and retailers and becoming more vigilant in reusing and recycling our own stuff?   I may not agree with everything in the video - but I sure wanted to clean out my garage after watching it!

Las Vegas is the halfway stop of a 16-city tour for the Living Zero Home.  All American Homes, GE, and Planet Green are showing off the eco-home featuring Energy Star products, with technical help from the U.S. Dept. of Energy. 

MGM Mirage - which has its own program for employees called, “Conservation Begins at Home” - is hosting the Living Zero Home to help educate the Las Vegas community on energy savings.  The Home provides hands-on demonstations of energy-efficient lights, insulation, windows, appliances and more in a real-life home setting. 

You can get info on tax credits, construction incentives and applicance rebates available for homeowners who make energy-saving changes in their home.  Check out the link to NV Energy with all of the energy-saving rebates available to Southern Nevadans right now.  There are some good savings to be had.

You can also sign up to win a 42″ LCD HDTV that will be given away at the end of the tour.  (Sheesh, I hope you don’t have to be present to win or you may have to fly to Saginaw or Kissimee to pick it up!  Just kidding.) 

The home will be open Thursday, Sept. 24 through Saturday, Sept. 26 from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.  Look for it sitting on the strip, in front of the Luxor, on the northeast corner of the property.  Just don’t say, “Avon calling” when you ring the doorbell; that’s so overused.

The eco-chat group, “Green Drinks” meets tonight at the Arts Factory downtown.  The subject of discussion tonight is the film, “The Story of Stuff.”  It’s an interesting look at how we’ve come to be a consumer-driven culture of mass-production, over-consumption and horrible waste habits.  It just may change the way you look at all of your stuff!

The group meets at 6:30 at Studio West in the Arts Factory, located at 107 E. Charleston, Suite 250.  Some treats are provided for a small price, but there is no cost to attend the chew-n-chat.  You can RSVP on their Facebook page.  Now where did I put that weblink… I know it’s here in my stuff somewhere… oh - got it!

Have you ever heard of a “smencil?”  Me neither.  You can’t eat it, but wait ’til you smell one!  Cotton candy, root beer, cinnamon, and very berry, to name few flavors.  You can find them at a really cool earth-friendly website called, “Stubby Pencil Studio.” 

Kate Rosenthal started the site about 3 years ago, when her twin daughters were two years old.  She wanted to find safe, eco-alternatives for art supplies for her girls.  She started with adorable Color ‘n Kids note cards - printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper and cholorine free!  And things took off from there.  Before she knew it - she found items like Beeswax crayons, Banana paper notebooks and monkey pencils.  What a wonderful menagerie of eviro-conscious creative stuff for kids!

There are things like O’Bon pencils, made from 100% recycled newspapers with rainbow and wildlife patterns.  Who knew you could roll old newspaper into pencils?  (Jeans into carpet was an eye-opener for me.)  But this is fantastic!  Then you take a great idea like that and make it even better by adding yummy smells like chocolate, watermelon or peppermint - and you have one gourmet-licious writing utensil.  They’re affordable, too; a set of five costs $5.95.  The peppermint Smart Smencils actually enhance your kids’ learning power by stimulating their concentration.  Seriously - research says peppermint is a great brain booster and kids who smell it - get better test scores!  That school tool gets an A+!

A must for little kids - is crayons, of course!  Don’t you have about a thousand of them all over the house and under the backseat of the car?  Well, Stubby Pencil Studio carries crayons so cool that I bet the kids will keep them in a safe place to use over and over again.  Soy crayons by Prang, don’t flake like regular petroleum wax color sticks and are made with pure soybean oil.  Eight crayons for just $1.00 - that’s very affordable.  And crayons made out of beeswax and vegetable oils with natural pigments for color?  What a honey of an idea.

Check out all the earth-friendly ideas for your budding artists - and YOU - at Stubby Pencil Studio.  (I didn’t even get to the Banana, Coffee and Tobacco fiber papers and notebooks.)  It’s a whole new world of green creative fun!  P.S. Kate says she can ship within 2-3 business days.  Yipee.  I can almost taste my grape smencil now!

You have to search store shelves and the web for eco-alternative school supplies - but they are out there!  Most of the time - but not always - they are a little more expensive.  Here’s what I found.

At office supply stores - like Office Depot and Office Max - I found laser printer paper made with 30% post-consumer waste, 100% recycled filler paper, and pencils made with 100% sustainable wood instead of wood harvested from rainforests.  Office Max also carries Fellowes brand mouse pads which are made from 100% recycled rubber.  Both carry the At-A-Glance notebook and desk calendars that are 100% recycled paper.  They carry EcoVue 3-ring binders that are made from 70% post-consumer waste and are 100% biodegradable.  And on their clearance shelf - I found pens made corn, recycled pencils and colored pencils and coffee paper - both stores carry Post-It notes with 30% to 100% recycled content.  At Office Depot, I also found Pentel RSVP pens made with about 60% recycled plastic.

I didn’t find much of anything really eco-smart at Target, except a nice contemporary 3-ring binder by The Greenroom.  It’s made from 100% recycled fiberboard and printed with soy-based ink.  Smart.

How about glue?  You can find washable, non-toxic glue by Elmer’s and other off-brands.  But it’s still far from enviro-friendly.  On treehugger.com, I found a totally natural paste and glue stick made in Italy by Coccoina.  It’s almond paste and tastes like marzipan - for those little paste-eaters in your house!  Only $3 for the glue stick.  That’s much cheaper than a visit to the emergency room!

 Clark County School District students who have completed an intense six-week summer program studying our water resources will unveil an initiative Friday encouraging their peers to switch to reusable water bottles and help the environment.

More than 80 Clark County School District children – many of them from Title I schools — were selected from throughout southern Nevada for their academic potential to paticipate in the summer program sponsored by the Alexander Dawson Foundation.

They will hold a grand finale for the program Friday, including an unveiling of promotional videos created by the students to promote their water bottle program.

The Dawson Foundation is helping the students set up a 501(c)3 to allow them to approach local businesses for donations of reusable water bottles and to visit local middle schools to distribute the reusable water bottles.

The students’ goal is to go to every middle school in the Clark County School District this year to spread their message on how disposable water bottles leave a carbon footprint.

For the past six weeks, the gifted CCSD students have engaged with business leaders, government officials, ranchers, environmental activists, journalists, engineers, scholars and attorneys on water issues in the summer program, “Water: Science and Culture in a Changing Climate.”

This is the first year of the summer program sponsored by the Dawson Foundation. The Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving education in Las Vegas. The summer program is based at the Alexander Dawson School at Rainbow Mountain.

As we head into the hot summer months, who isn’t looking for ways to cut back on their power bill?  It might be that energy leaks in your home are costing you more than you think.  There are ways to find those leaks and tools to keep your energy use low.

ProEnergy Consultants is a local home energy audit company.   They will come into your home with tools like a thermographic scanner to find the abnormally warm or cool spots around windows and doors - even walls where insulation may be too thin - to help you identify where you may have energy leaks and why your bills may be higher than you’d like.  Eillen Ruiz, a ProEnergy consultant will be at the Green Outlet in the Arts Factory on E. Charleston for First Friday, June 5.  She will have solution products like a solar attic fan, which is installed on the roof and uses sunlight to power a fan that pulls warm air out of hot areas of your home - like your garage.  (Eileen likes to call it the “man cave.”  Very fitting.)  Also something simple with a big name - radiant barrier - is simply foil-like material placed over your attic insulation to reflect the heat from the sun.  It helps keep more heat out and ultimately the house cooler.

Find Eileen at First Friday and check out a lot of other neat ideas she’ll have with her at the Green Outlet in the Arts Factory.  Otherwise check out their website if you’re interested in an audit.  By the way, home audits go for about ten cents a square foot.  And after they identify the problem areas of your home - you can take their ideas to improve energy savings and do them yourself, or they put you in touch with the right people who can install energy saving products for you.  If you’re looking to lower your power bills - it’s a cool place to start!