The Las Vegas Prom Closet is a local program which collects gently used evening wear and gives them to high school girls who might otherwise miss their prom because they can’t afford to buy a dress.  The organization started about seven years ago and has since provided about 1000 dresses, with shoes and accessories - for free - to help girls feel like a princess for that special day thanks to generous donations from closets like yours!  If you’d like to donate your contemporary, gently used dresses and/or accessories - here’s a list of locations with some history of The Prom Closet.  A couple of other easy locations to drop off dresses are the Humana Guidance Centers on the east side, 215 & Green Valley Pkwy. (Smith’s shopping center) and on the west side, Charleston & Rampart (behind Claim Jumper).  Village East dry cleaners has generously donated dry cleaning services to spruce up the garments.

Volunteers staff, organize and run the closet each year.  This year’s event will be Saturday, March 27 from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at UNLV’s Cox Pavillion, next to the Thomas and Mack, in the Practice Gym.  CCSD school I.D. will be required.  Parking is free.  And so is the evening wear!  If you know of a deserving student, pass along the info.  Who knew something as simple as reycyling and reusing could make someone’s dreams come true?

The beautiful wavy gold, silver and bronze medallions for this year’s Winter Olympics and Paralympics were made with a conscience to reduce their carbon footprint.  Tech Resources Limited, out of Vancouver, British Coumbia, took used metal extracted from old cathode ray TV tubes, circuit boards and computers that would have otherwise wound up in the landfill and through a process called “smelting” combined it with precious metals of gold, silver and bronze.  While the amount of e-waste was very small in comparison to the real thing - only about 1 to 2% - it’s still a small leap in the green direction.

The medals are also the heaviest in history, weighing in at a little more than a pound a piece!  And the undulating form represents the moving ocean and the snowy mountains, while the design on the front is taken from an artist’s artwork of an Orca pod for the Olympics and a raven todem pole for the Paralympics.  The medals are just part of Vancouver’s initiative to have greener games this year by also doing things like recapturing waste heat, among other sustainable practices during and after the olympics.  I guess that makes the environment a true competitor for winning first place this year in the Winter Games!

Disney hopes to inspire at least one million people to volunteer in their communities during 2010 by signing up through a participating organization like United Way’s Volunteer Center of Southern Nevada.  You must register your hours to earn your ticket.  There are so many opportunites here locally working with seniors, animals, food drives, and other environmental events - to name a few.  Check it out.  Giving is good for the soul and thanks to Disney this year - it’s good for the fun meter, too!

America’s Greenest School contest is put on by IC Bus - the country’s largest school bus manufacturer - claiming to make the first truly green hybrid school bus.  While the average gasoline-powered school bus uses over 1,700 gallons of fuel annually; the hybrid school bus uses around 600 gallons.  Using a lithium battery, IC says their hybrid bus can improve fuel economy by up to 30% and reduce emissions by up to 40%.

To win, just submit an entry explaining what you’d do if you were in charge of making your school a greener, more eco-friendly place.  Your entry can be in the form of a photo collection, music, a video, an essay, or photos of a diorama, collage or piece of artwork. But no matter what form it takes, it must tell the world how you’d make your school experience the greenest in the country.  Check out last year’s winner.  I know one of our schools can beat that!

The top 10 finalists will be chosen, then all of America will be invited to vote online for the ultimate champion. Students of any age can enter (although a parent or teacher will need to sponsor students under 13 years of age). Group or class entries are also encouraged.  March 8 is the entry deadline. See full rules for all the details.

The prize money includes a LEED certfied audit and green makeover for your school valued at $20,000!  There’s even a $3000 scholarship for the winning student or class and $500 in classroom supplies for your teacher!  Check out the rules and get your best green entry together right away!  Wouldn’t it be cool to see a school in the desert take America’s title for going green?  Get busy.

Southwest Gas is offering cash back when you buy qualifying models of Energy-Star and energy-efficient models of gas washers, dryers, water heaters and tankless water heaters from now through the end of November 2011.  Even some programmable thermostats and low-flow showerheads have money-back incentives.  Of course the larger the applicance, the bigger the rebate.  The conservation rebates save you money when you buy the appliance, and the energy efficient equipment helps save money on your gas bill from then on. 

The rebates do come with rules.  So it’s best to go on-line and check out the requirements before you go shopping.  The main one is that because Southwest Gas is offering the rebates, you must be a SW Gas customer and the equipment will be installed and used in your home.  Unless you’re a builder, then that’s a different set of rebate rules.  Check it out.

The list of name brands is super long, so chances are you’ll find an appliance you like that will qualify for the rebate.  Even if you’re not ready to head to the appliance store today, do some research and be prepared.  So when the hot water heater does blow, or the washer does go kaput - you’ve had time to pick out the appliances you would buy when the time comes and you won’t have to make a panic purchase!  Print the list and take it with you when you’re shopping to see if the model you like qualifies for the rebate.  You have until November 2011 - or until the program money runs out - whichever comes first.  So hopefully you’ve got time to make a plan to save money!

The Las Vegas Springs Preserve is once again asking Southern Nevadans to bring their used holiday trees to any one of more than 20 drop-off sites located throughout the valley.  The trees will be chipped and made into mulch, where the pulpy mix will be placed in gardens and flowerbeds of city parks and used at the Springs Preserve.  The cities of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, & Henderson have set up sites at many local parks and other locations including the Nellis Recycling Center, UNLV’s Rebel Recycling Center on campus, and R.C. Willey in Summerlin.

 You can also drop off your tree at The Springs Preserve and see how the mulch will be used.  Annalisa Helm, Education Specialist for The Preserve, says the program is about 10 years old now and becoming very successful with thousands of trees turned in.  She says people realize the benefit of keeping the trees out of the landfill and putting them to use back into the ground, just in a different form.  The hope is that maybe even next year, you will be able to trade in your tree for mulch to take home and use in your own yard.

Many people think that re-using an artificial tree year after year is the best gift for the environment, but a live tree is actually more beneficial in many ways.  Forests are not cut down for Christmas trees.  Instead, Christmas tree farms (about 500,000 trees growing in the U.S. alone) absorb billions of pounds of harmful carbon dioxide and give off plenty of clean fresh oxygen for us to breathe in return.  They also provide habitat for wildlife.  And while fake trees will eventually be thrown into the landfill, real trees can be chipped and put back into the earth to complete the life cycle of the tree when they’re no longer wanted .

Trees must be free of all ornaments, garland and any other foreign materials.  Anything left on the tree - especially made of metal - could damage the chippers.  Flocked trees can NOT be accepted.  The program is absolutely free and runs until January 15th, with many sites open 24 hours.

If you can’t take your tree to a drop-off site yourself, there is a service which will come to your home and take down your tree for you.  They’ll even vacuum up all the pine needles before they leave.  The fee is $30.  Call 1-800-GOT JUNK.  The tree will be delivered to one of the recycling drop-off locations.  

Giving your tree a life after the holidays may be one of the best gifts you give this year!

Light-emitting diode - or L-E-D lights - are constructed from tiny solid-state chips which convert electricity to light without the use of a filament or glass bulb.  Without the filament, there is nothing in the bulb to “burn out” and there’s very little heat produced… unlike the incandescent bulb, where roughly 90% of the electricity used by the bulb goes to heat that’s produced by the bulb.   

So because LEDs don’t produce heat, they use 90-99% less energy than regular holiday lights, but the technology makes them burn up to 10 times brighter.  They are also safer because they are cooler to the touch, hence cooler to whatever surface you string them to or wrap them around, and they practically last forever!  LEDs have a 50,000-plus hour bulb likfe outdoors - and indoors it can be up to 100,000 hours or longer!  Provided the dog or cat doesn’t chew on them between treats.

Incandescent mini-lights use 10 times more energy than LED minis, and the larger ones use 100 times the energy of the LED version of the same size.  So, here’s the real payoff.  A household using a string of 1000 LED lights for 6 hours a days spends only 50 cents a month to power them.  While the same number of regular mini-lights would cost about $5 a month in electricity and the larger C7s or C9s would run up an extra $50 or more on your monthly power bill. 

And here’s another bonus, when and IF one of the LED bulbs does go out, the rest of the string stays lit, unlike the old kind where you have to endlessly search each and every little socket until you find the faulty bulb!  I know you hate that as much as I do!  To me - that’s worth the extra money right there.  What a bright idea for the holidays!

The Clark County Water Reclamation District is urging all of us to not pour our used cooking oil and gunky grease down the drain into our pipes and out into the sewer system.  Julie Chadburn, with Water Reclamation, says you may not see the problems that can be caused once that fat, oil, grease and grit (or F.O.G.G., as it’s called) goes down the drain, but clogged sewer lines often happen because people don’t think about what they’re putting in the sink.  Their “Don’t Be a Pain in The Drain” campaign is trying to bring attention to how Southern Nevadans to can help prevent it.

That’s why the county is once again offering a used cooking oil & grease recycling program.  So if you’re thinking of doing that deep-fried turkey this year and don’t know what to do with all that peanut oil after you’re done - you can can pour if off into a container and take it to any one of the county’s recycling drop-off locations starting Nov. 27.  The oil actually gets turned into biofuel, which is used to run fleet vehicles like buses and trucks.  (Remember the RTC’s french fry bus that runs on cooking oil?  It’s the same thing.)  Their website gives the locations and hours.  Republic Services transfer stations will take used oil yearround.  Their stations stations are on the list, too.

Greasy gravy and meat scaps on plates should go into the trash can - not the sink!  For the normal weekly bacon or fish fry, that cooled congealed grease can be scraped off into a can lined with newspaper.  When the can is full, simply pull out the paper and throw it in the trash.  Then line the can again and start over.  You can even get cute little cans through the county program or use a coffee or veggie can from home.  So however you do it - just Can It! when it comes to greasy, oily gunk and your drain.  Your sink will be happy and so will your plumber because he’ll get to finish his turkey and his football game on Thanksgiving!

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.