What really strikes me is that the US national average greenhouse gas emissions are 27 tons per person and the worlds average is 5.5 tons for a 1-person household. Holy cow! I understand most Americans live dramatically different than the rest of the world but maybe we can begin to understand some basic principles in how to reduce our own carbon footprint. The world has a fixed amount of natural resources and as our population grows we strain these finite resources so we need to preserve what we have so that our children and grandchildren can enjoy the same standard of living we have enjoyed.

A great place to begin is to find out what you or your family’s carbon footprint is. The Nature Conservancy has a great Carbon calculator that is easy to use. Once you have an idea, you can get busy doing some easy things to help our climate.

* The first thing you can do is to turn it off, if your not using it! Lights, TV, DVD players, computers, etc…

* You can save around 10% a year on your heating and cooling bills by simply turning your thermostat back 10°–15° for eight hours. You can do this automatically without sacrificing comfort by installing an automatic setback or programmable thermostat.

* Turn down the water heating setting. Just 2 degrees will make a significant savings!

* Fill your dishwasher and washing machine with a full load – this will save you water, electricity, and washing detergent.

* Hang your wash on a line instead of tumble-drying it. You can do this indoors or outdoors. I have a wooden clothing rack that I dry all my shirts and jeans on indoors. Drying clothes costs around $0.50/load of laundry done in an electric dryer or around $0.45/load of laundry to dry in a gas clothes dryer. The gas dryer costs around $0.04/load for electricity and $0.41/load for the gas. The average family will do around 6 loads of laundry a week, which is 312 loads of laundry a year! So if you are using an electric clothes dryer you will spend around $156/year just from drying your clothes. If you are using a gas clothes dryer, you will spend around $140.40/year to dry your clothes! (gogreeninyourhome.com)

* Travel less. This is a joke in Los Angeles because most of us have no choice but to drive on our freeways, however, if you are mindful of this idea there will be opportunities to make a carbon footprint friendly choice from time to time! Carpool, use the bus, or train, walk or cycle, and reduce the number of flights you take.

As well as your primary footprint, there is a secondary footprint that you cause through your buying habits. This is where my family and I started when we wanted to take being green seriously. It has been a slow and evolving commitment but we do not even think about these things because they are a part of our everyday living. We just do it!

* Don’t buy bottled water!!! Purchasing a reusable bottle is easier than ever. Tap water is safe!!!! Save yourself a lot of money and buy a water filter and fill up your own reusable bottle. This is a no brainier! More plastic bottle facts found here.

* Use reusable bags when at the store. There is a bag for every personality type out there. It depends on when and what I am shopping for but I always have two Flip & Tumble bags in my purse for those last minute occasions when I have to run to the store. They are the best!! Keep reusable bags in your house and in the trunk of every car so you have one no matter what. For more sobering plastic bag facts, go here.

*Buy local!!!! Folks, we all can find a farmers market close to our homes now. I know not every community has one but most do now a days. It is so much better. I love going to markets and knowing who grows my food. I love talking to the families who take great pride in traditional farming methods unlike most of the conventional farming that is ruining or food supply. Please take the time to learn more about commercial farming and the horrible conditions that take place. More resources found here.

* Buy organic when you can. I know this is not possible for everyone but if you can, please do. Pesticides are not helping our bodies.

* Reduce your consumption of meat. I am a meat eater. I grew up on a farm and what can I say…I love meat. The commitment I made is to only eat red meat once a week. That works for me. Maybe you can start meatless Mondays. Cows, pigs and other livestock are a big part of the climate change problem; estimates vary, but between 18 and 51 percent of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming come from livestock production. As bad as the air pollution is, the effects of animal feces on water may be even more immediate and troubling.

* Don’t buy over packaged products.

* Recycle as much as possible. The city of Los Angeles collects all plastics 1-7, cardboard, magazines, paper and all clean dry paper, glass bottles, jars, aluminum, tin, metal, bi-metal and styrofoam. We are lucky, most communities only collect plastic and glass. Call you local government to find out what you can recycle.

This all comes down to being mindful of your actions and how you move through your life. If we continue to walk around with our eyes closed to our responsibilities we will wake up one day and ask, “What the hell has happened to our beautiful country?” Start with one thing. Get it down. This takes time when you’re converting an entire family. They will rebel sometimes. When you accomplish that first goal, pat yourself on the back, and pick your number two goal. Just start! This is what will make a change. All of us making these changes together make a difference!!!

The idea was conceived one morning while rushing around to pack their kid’s lunches in the morning. Every item they were grabbing needed to be kept cold so they ended up putting it all away instead of putting it in the lunch sack. They realized that it did not make sense to put back the items that were the healthiest. So the next thing you know, a business was born.

Preparing your meals at home is healthier for you, your family, as well as a money saver. 100 million plastic bags a week go into a landfill and Packit is a great way to help reduce this number. They come in 4 great colors at the moment with more to come in the next few months. Get yours now and save 10% until August 31st, 2010. Use the promotion code: PackIt at check out. Go Green!!

I sliced the zucchini about ½” thick.

Mixed up some fresh-diced garlic, olive oil, Celtic Sea Salt (the best!!), a little pepper and some beautiful Herbs of Provence that were a gift from my friend while traveling in Europe.

My Granny taught me, yes I’m from the south, to always mix with your hands because it makes everything taste better because it’s mixed with love. Mixing with your hands also helps to coat all the sides evenly.

I placed the Zucchini in rows on a grill rack. I usually break this baby out when I am grilling fish but it also works great when grilling veggies.

Grill for about 5 minutes each side on a piping hot grill and voila! You could easily sprinkle some feta to finish or leave just as is. It was so very tasty and we enjoyed every bite. A very plain recipe but it was so much more knowing that we grew it ourselves. Real satisfaction that I cannot explain until you do it yourself!!

The space is approximately 20′ x 25′. The first step made with our garden was to deal with the soil. As the saying goes: “Feed the Soil and the Plants Will Take Care of Themselves.” It is probably a great idea to test the soil in a new area to determine how much nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium you have in your soil and what the pH is. We were familiar with some of the other gardeners and talked with them to get an idea of the soil quality. So no soil testing for us, we jumped right in!

We ended up renting a rototill to turn the soil over. Once this was accomplished we added worm poo (castings). I have been worm composting for about a year now. The great advantage of worm composting is that this can be done indoors and outdoors allowing year round composting. We had prime castings ready to be mixed into the soil after the tiling process. Nothing better than digging through worm poo!

After the soil was amended we had a split of seeds and seedlings. Seedlings are much easier to start with but we all wanted to see if we could start seeds in the soil and get something to grow. The depth you plant your seeds depends on their size. They only need enough soil to cover them and supply moisture for germination. Seeds buried too deep may not be able to struggle through the soil to the surface. As a rule of thumb, seeds should be covered up to twice their diameter at their largest point. After you’ve set the seeds at the correct depth, firm the soil by tamping it with your hands or the end of your garden rake. This will improve contact between the seeds and the moist soil. For the seedlings we just dug a hole and placed the plant in the hole and filled in around it and firmly pressed down with fingers to pack it in.

We get our seeds from Abundant Life Seed Company. Their goal is to offer true-to-type open pollinated varieties grown using only certified organic or biodynamic farming methods. Abundant Life has pledged that they will not knowingly buy or sell genetically-engineered seeds or plants. Growing GMO free products were a must for us.

After the planting, we stood around and looked at the garden and all hoped for the best. Of course a little watering needed to take place. Vegetable plants need 1 – 2 inches of water each week especially from mid June to mid August. Too little water will not let the plant roots grow deep and strong. They need to be able to do this to gather nutrients for good growth. Too much water will saturate the soil so it’s all about observation. Get to know your soil conditions. I think its best to water before 10am or after 5pm. We are here in sunny California and have plenty sunshine so if your watering more towards the evening time the plants have plenty of time to dry off before dark. This is important because if plants are too moist they can get fungus or disease.

We planted watermelon, squash, zucchini, beets, peppers, hot peppers lettuce, swiss chard, arugala, and 5 varieties of heirloom tomatoes. Everything in the garden is growing and looking great. We were surprised that the arugala grew so fast and we are eating it now. It is soooo yummy. I’ve had it in salads and on sandwiches. A very rewarding feeling. We are so ready for everything else to start producing. We actually lucked out with the weather being a bit cooler because we ended up planting a large amount of different lettuce varieties and we planted a little too late. But hey it worked out. It’s all a big experiment!!

I encourage you to start a little garden in your back yard. It relieves stress and it’s pleasant knowing that you grew your very own food. When we get more veggies from the garden I will update you all and share some recipes. If you’re in the Los Angeles area, I have a friend who grows over 67 varieties of heirloom tomatoes. Her name is Laura Taylor and she teaches tomato growing classes and cooking classes. She will be selling her lovely tomatoes this summer. Such a great person and an even more amazing gardener. Check her blog out for more information. TomatoMania is another amazing resource for everything tomoatoes.

Here’s to a happy garden!!

This project is the result of great people coming together to do a wonderful thing! The badge above is a link to purchase the album. Click on it and get yourself a great album! You’ll get 41 songs for just $9.99 or you can always buy them individually for $0.99.

The artists:

1% for the Planet exists to build and support an alliance of businesses financially committed to creating a healthy planet. All Green Things is a proud member of One Percent For the Planet. We strive to be good citizens within our industry, community, and the environment. That’s why when you shop with us; we give back a portion of all net profits towards causes in support of the arts, community, and environment. When people and businesses band together, 1% of hundreds of businesses’ profits amounts to a whole lot of good that can be done.

1% for the Planet promotional video – members mentioned from 1% for the Planet on Vimeo.

Did you know the National Gardening Association expects 43 million American households to grow their own fruits, vegetables, herbs and berries this year. That’s up 19 percent over last year, according to a 2,559-household survey. Mike Metallo, spokesman for the National Gardening Association, says a $70 investment in a garden will yield $600 in produce for the year. That is a pretty awesome savings!! I would think this is truer for someone who really knows what he or she is doing. My team and I will be learning as we go. I am confident we will turn something out that can be shared by all. It will be two very dear friends, my hubby and I sharing the responsibilities.

My goal to grow an edible garden is to teach myself a life skill that I really should know. You never know when it might come in handy! I think community gardens can strengthen bonds and create recreational and therapeutic opportunities for us, and hopefully provide some really great food to be shared with family and friends.

So welcome to my edible garden journey! I look forward to sharing my knowledge and growth with you all. Oh, and recipes too!!

Thank you Harold, Mary, Jodi & Jeremiah for making this happen!!

A zero energy house or zero-energy building (ZEB) is one that generates energy provided by on-site Renewable energy sources that are equal to the amount of energy used by the building. So if you could achieve a zero-energy building you would never use power from the grid, which means you would need a very good battery system to store energy captured during the day for energy use in the evening.The next best thing is net-zero energy and this means that although you may be using power from the grid at night (when there is no sun for your pv- Solar photovoltaic) the amount that you generate during the day is typically more than you use (the meter will spin backwards when you are generating power) and the rest goes back into the grid– give some, take some –at the end of the day your at net-zero energy. “This kind of home is healthier, more durable, and absolutely essential for saving large amounts of energy and effectively curbing climate change”, say the Schwolsky’s. I have now learned the difference between a “Green” house verses a “Zero-energy” or “Net-Zero energy” house. A green home may be certified green but this does not mean that it has an emphasize on zeroing the usage of energy. Don’t get me wrong, a “Green” home is great and it uses less water, energy, materials, and provides better indoor air quality but does not have an emphasis on zero-energy. So what I now understand is that both are important and should be a combined effort when building or renovating a home or commercial property.

The Zenergy House was created to implement the expertise known by the Schwolsky’s. Not only have they created this project but also they are the founders of REAS (Residential Energy Assessment Services). This is where I get even more impressed! The list of services that they provide is extensive and they have the knowledge to go with it. They provide Comprehensive Energy Audits, Energy Efficiency Retrofits and Green Remolding. They are  HERS, LEED, and GreenPoint Rated Certified. Why stop there? They offer Eco-Broker Real Estate and Green Financing Programs. This is what I call one-stop servicing!!! I think the most important point is that they are trustworthy, reliable and the most pleasant people you ever want to meet.

The Zenergy House, located in Studio City, CA, is a one-story home with 2450 sq ft of living space. It was built in 1950 and has 3 bedrooms and 3 baths. This prototype is a whole house remodel and was created to show the benefits of a high performance home. This includes improved health, safety, comfort and the ability to protect property values from rapidly escalating energy costs. You can take a peek here at what the property looks like:

When the project is complete they will host open home tours. The mission is to help homeowners recognize what truly determines a green home and to provide a roadmap for creating our own Zenergy House!! I took a sneak peek just before the Holidays. It’s a beautiful home and has inspired me to strive for zero-energy in my home. Stay tuned for more information on when the tours will begin.

In the near future REAS, Inc. will offer training curriculum for emerging green job markets.

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Disclosure: All Green Things is a Zenergy House Sponsor

Carry in your hand or over your shoulder. Holds the contents of 2-3 plastic grocery bags. 14” Wide / 23” high / 5” deep. Folds into a flat 5” by 5” pouch. Holds 50 lbs. 100% Ripstop nylon. Machine washable.