how to get extra life from a printer toner cartridge: black tape

Don’t you hate having to replace the toner cartridge, especially when the printing seems to be fine? Surely, there must be more life in the toner.
Well, here’s a workaround in the spirit of responsible consumption: use up what you have fully to reduce waste, and, in this case, save money.
The tip is from a forum [...]

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how much plastic trash waste in a week?

Take the Plastic Trash Challenge to find out.
I’m starting today.  I don’t think I generate much plastic trash, but actually, I have no idea how much.
Similar to guessing how long I shower, I had only a vague notion until I started using a shower timer a few weeks ago. Now that I can see how [...]

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could you wear the same dress for one year?

Sheena Matheiken is! 1 dress. 365 days. But then she has a strong creative sense of fashion, and an apparently bottomless collection of accessories in her closet to make it work.
Not only is this a creative experiment and inspiration, The Uniform Project is also a good-cause fundraiser.
Starting May 2009, I have pledged to wear one [...]

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tetra pak: good or bad?

Every time I finish a box of soymilk, I sigh. Because I have to put it in the landfill-bound trash.
But, according to this analysis of the sustainability of tetra pak,
All in all, Tetra Pak figures that its packaging has a smaller carbon footprint than polyethylene terephthalate (PET), high density polyethylene (HDPE) or glass. A 32-ounce [...]

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kids after my creative-reuse heart

Alexandra Lehrer, 5, and her classmates at Beginnings Nursery School in New York are my kind of people!
“I like building stuff,” she said. “If you throw everything away, there will be just a big pile of garbage, and you won’t have anything to make collages with.” (From the New York Times, Where One Man’s Trash [...]

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home green home (house cleaning)

The Seventh Generation newsletter recently shared this news about a new healthy house-cleaning service:
We recently launched a new and innovative partnership to help you maintain a clean and healthy home called Home Green Home. We are working with our good friends at Women’s Action to Gain Economic Security (WAGES) to launch an environmentally-friendly residential cleaning [...]

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when was the last time you vacuumed your refrigerator?

NEVER, probably.
At least that was true for me until recently, when I cleaned the heat-exchange condenser coils, which are what cool your refrigerator by releasing heat. If the coils are covered in a blanket of dust, the refrigerator has to work harder. You’ll hear the motor kicking on often and for a long time.
Refrigerators [...]

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Google, please map my bike route!

SIGN THIS PETITION if you, too, want Google Maps to add a “Bike There” option to their maps. 47,000 people already have. I wonder how may they need to be convinced? Or maybe they’re already working on it…?  I’m excited about the possibility of bikeable Google Maps, since I’m committed to riding my bike as [...]

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cities -> economies of scale -> greener

Really enjoyed this New York Times column on Math and the City which uses mathematics to connect cities with organisms; i.e., cities are living things. 
I especially liked this paragraph that describes how city size affects things like infrastructure, specifically gas stations.
For instance, if one city is 10 times as populous as another one, does it need 10 times [...]

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10% water use reduction: what does that mean?

Here in drought-reality California, we’re being told to reduce our water usage, voluntarily. I’m all for water conservation, but what does a 10% reduction look like?
My household of two uses 145 gallons per day*, so 10% means 14.5 gallons per day, which is equal to, daily:

9 toilet flushes (at 1.6 gallons/flush)
7 minute shower (at 2 [...]

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