Connecticut Green Living

Yesterday I began this list from the bottom up. Today I'll roundout my top 10 eco-friendly staples. #5 #1 Cafe Bustelo This supertasty espresso coffee in bold yellow and red foil bags is addictive. And at a modest price (as cheap as $4 at Walmart) it won't break the bank. Do not buy the Kpods (the opposite of eco-friendly) but brew it yourself in either a single Melita #4 filter over a Fino Coffee-Brewing filter cone or in your coffeemaker of choice. You are supporting an original concept, a homespun business from Harlem with its tentacles and heart in Latin America, South America and Cuba. #4 Kiss my Face Triple Action toothpaste with tea tree oil & aloe A recent discovery, I am in love with the fresh, naturally minty sensation after brushing. Cursed with teeth like an eighteenth-century British Low Life, I will take all the enticement I can get to BRUSH. Its tube touts "100% vegan, triclosan and SLS free, BPA free, no artificial colors or flavors. Buy it at Elm ...

Bravo, Connecticut! We shine in the latest WalletHub rankings. Although, weirdly, Maryland ranks one above us overall, we are numero uno for climate change contributions! Carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and fluorinated greenhouse gas emissions are all lowest in our great state. The other two metrics used to judge greenness were environmental quality and eco-friendly behaviors. Senator Bernie Sanders' beloved Vermont ranked first for eco-friendly behaviors and Hawaii, not surprisingly, boasts the highest environmental quality. Connecticut came in 8th for environmental quality and 11th for eco-friendly behaviors. Blue states overall are far greener, the study shows. Democratic-led states rank 14.92 on average for greenness, while Republican states come in at an average of 36.08. The lower the number, the greener the category or state. Other sub-categories examined water, air, LEED-certified buildings, percentage of renewable energy consumption and energy consumption. One of ...

California has long been touted as the most progressive state, but arguably it is also the greenest . It is therefore not surprising that a startup from Santa Cruz has developed a solution to all that coffee-making waste. Steeped Coffee is aptly named. According to the company release, "Brewed similar to tea, Steeped Coffee’s nitro sealed Steeped Bags, along with their guilt-free packaging made using renewable and compostable materials, achieve the unthinkable: freshly ground specialty coffee in a single-serving." When I lived in London , I had a kettle in my room to make my own coffee. It was common there to make single-serve coffee. When I saw these little bags, it reminded me of that. Then when I tore open the first bag, called "DRIFTWOOD", I was hooked. The intoxicating aroma rivals any other including fresh beans in the grinder. I DO think one needs to steep the maximum amount of time if he wants a stronger brew. I am used to two or three cups of piping hot...

As a half Jew, half Christian, I was immediately intrigued when I received the promo from Take My Face Off . Also, it's a pretty cute name (and trust me, this time of year there are plenty of days when I'd love to take my crusty old winter face off.) But I'm rather picky about how I remove my makeup. Traditionally I've favored petroleum jelly or Noxema with a tissue. My mother used to use cotton balls but I have found that those shed and then I have stringy cotton enmeshed in my foundation (ok, I rarely wear foundation). The thrust of Take My Face off's solutions is they are environmentally friendly by virtue of being washable, but also smooth to the face. No messy tears. Nothing in the waste bin. Happy Hanukkah Called The Mitty Mini Menorah Gift Set, the kit comes with (obviously) eight disposable washcloths shaped like flames, along with the cardboard menorah for placement. Pockets in the back mean they slip easily over the cardboard prongs or your fingers. The...

I am not a scientist or even an expert on the effects of preservatives called parabens on the human body, but increasingly I have become worried about all the deoderant I use. My late mother rarely broke a sweat, but I did not inherit that gene. Perhaps due to a slight thyroid disorder (still indeterminate) coupled with being slightly overweight, I have a harder time staying as sweet-smelling as a lady should. That said, I have resisted so-called 'natural' deoderants. I tried one from Whole Foods, maybe it was Tom's (a perfectly good brand), but it did not do the trick. I jumped ship and returned to my Suave roll-ons. In London, where I attended grad school, I became addicted to the spray version of Suave (I do not think it's as dangerous as the old-school aerosol varieties). However, as a green living writer I began to realize I was a hypocrite, and I did not like how this smelled one bit. Problem solved, more or less: CRYSTAL Mineral Deodorants are paraben-free and ...

UPDATE: I feel silly, but I had not read the directions for the SoapStandle prior to using it, so was confused because the soap stuck to it. Turns out, it was meant to work that way ! ( See tutorial.) The soap and stand are meant to stick together. Here, then, is my edited version of the original review: I love the premise of using a soap "standle" - that all the plastic waste from those disgusting pump liquid soap dispensers is killing ocean life. However, if one is more inclined to use a soap dish, as I have become accustomed to, it may seem a little odd when the soap sticks to it. That said, there are clear benefits to the SoapStandle, and I'm all for greening my bathroom. The publicist for SoapStandle tells me via e-mail that in the green home movement there is a trend to turn away from liquid soap. She claims that "during a typical trip to the sink, we use almost 7 times more liquid soap (2-3g) than bar soap (0.35g). That means more chemical feedstocks, more ...

Energize Connecticut is more than a mantra we shout during a thunderstorm, for United Illuminating in conjunction with Eversource has sponsored a competition to promote sustainable homes in the state. This year, the seventh annual competition, the Energize staff cite 17 remarkable green Connecticut homes that were entered in the competition, and each touts an inspiring story about how it became what's called "zero energy" (one hundred percent sustainable). Some placed a large emphasis on renewable energy and others on highly efficient design, says Energize Connecticut . Five winners have been plucked for the statewide design and build competition for single and multi-family homes. This year’s competition featured homes from across Connecticut built between June 1, 2016 and January 31, 2017. In this national initiative, participants built high efficiency homes that consume little to no energy by using sustainable building practices. “With new renewable energy techn...

WalletHub, a personal finance website, has lauded our state with green praise once again. We've ranked fifth in the union overall for environmental practices, even tops for water quality. Analysts culled data on everything from rate of waste recycling to soil, air, and water quality. While we weren't high on every criterion, our overall rating was superb. Rankings in order were: #1 Vermont, #2 Massachusetts , #3 Oregon, #4 Washington, and #5 the Nutmeg State . The worst rating on the green scale was Wyoming. I got a chance to send some questions to one of their analysts, Jill Gonzalez. Following is a transcript of that discussion: Jill, explain to me, please, what methods you all used to determine these scores and can you quantify them? We compared the states across three quantifiable categories: 1. Environmental Quality, 2. Eco-Friendly Behaviors and 3. Climate-Change Contributions. These categories were evaluated using 20 relevant key metrics. We then calculated the o...

Whether you are single, married, or something in between, Connecticut has something to offer you this Valentine's Day. And let's be honest, it's not just a day. Some of us have been collecting our little conversation hearts since January 18th. While some may say, "Oh, it's just a day and Valentine's should be every day," we know those are the cheapskates who'd rather snore their way through any holiday (remember their lame excuses for not putting up a Christmas tree?) So here you go. Enjoy the holiday and the Valentine's weekend: 1. Putnam - Fire and Ice fest : February 11. Downtown Putnam will boast ice sculptures, horse and carriage rides, live music, ice luminarias, fire torches, fire dancing performances, fantastic food, live entertainment and as they say, much more. 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. 2. Willimantic - Romantic Willimantic 13th Annual Chocolate Festival : February 11. Organizer say, "The day begins with the Cupid Made Me Run road rac...

Connecticut consistently ranks as one of the nation's most educated states. From Yalies to proud UConn alums, we've an embarrassment of intellectuals here. So why is the state so dumb when it comes to tapping public transportation? Although Hartford ranks pretty decently -- in 2010 an estimated 21.1 percent of its residents regularly chose public transportation -- the state pales overall. On the same annual ranking, a city that has no excuse not to be on the bus or the train, a dismal 13.3 percent were onboard. In 2012, the U.S. Department of Transportation reported that over 78 percent of our residents drive alone in their cars to work. This examiner wholly believes that the greatest impediment to getting more folks to share a ride, or get on the bus or train is reversing a stigma. Being a bus rider is even fodder for comic effect in movies. Women walking to the bus in the 'burbs sometimes get propositioned as ladies of the evening! It's the bus, people, not a meth d...

This has been an astounding election season. At once nauseating as shocking, despicable as hilarious. Yes, if you don't have a sense of humor, your nerves and stomach won't survive this final stretch. But through it all, whatever your feelings about Hillary Clinton in particular, you must vote for her. To vote for a candidate who denies the existence of climate change is a vote for ruining the planet. Think of it: every day, Americans board planes, confident that the laws of science have allowed that plane to take off and get them safely to their destinations. And adventurous souls, from the SpaceX astronauts to National Geographic explorers to simply weekend backpackers, rely on physics, astronomy, geology and other disciplines to inform their every move. When a high school friend was killed during a rock climb of Half Dome in the '70s, it was a scientific principle that killed him, not the will of God or magic. When there is a tragic train accident, science is behind the...