Next time you send a "green gift" to a Facebook friend, think about this: "are you actually doing any good or just taking part in an almighty distraction exercise?" Facebook is not to blame, the users are.

Floyd Sherburne never asked to be honored as a Hero; he just did what he thought was the right thing to do -- live a sustainable retirement in an ecologically sound home in the Iowa woods. Floyd is 98: he plans to return to his old home when he is 100.

The cold, wet spring has finally yielded to warm sunny weather. Maybe my four small cherry tomato plants will get planted outdoors before they grow spindley in the shelter of my house. I jumped the gun when I bought them...

From my teen years I'd sewn garments and dabbled in crewel and needlepoint, and I even hooked a rug (which I'll NEVER do again). Knitting and crochet had thus far eluded me, and I wanted to try them. I also wanted to make them as "green" as possible...

Most of you interested in helping the environment have probably tried a footprint calculator available on any number of websites. I found them unhelpful. However, Redefining Progress has an outstanding footprint calculator featured on Green Seniors...

I have always enjoyed making soup - not with a recipe, but just by taking leftovers and other things I find in the fridge, and cooking it all up with dried beans. There is something so old fashioned, so comforting, so sustainable in this soup making.

A simple device that saves energy and cuts the risk of cancer. It must be the highest tech piece of high-tech known to humanity, and surely something we don't have yet, mustn't it? Nah! It's a steamer.

Since I've been cash-poor lately, I have double cause for shopping in thrift stores. First, I can afford it. Second, it helps recirculate merchandise without causing the manufacture of new. On both counts I can do it with a clear conscience.

What is particularly exciting about Cohousing, is that is offers a chance to turn away from the selfish attitude that seems to be encouraged by the consumer culture, and take part in something far more in tune with our natural instincts.

When I was in elementary school, we walked to and from school almost every day when the weather allowed. The bane of my existence was the (in my eyes) Everest-like hill on Hull Avenue on the east side of Des Moines.