What Happens When the Landfills are All Full?

According to recent figures, the United States is considered as the number 1 garbage-producing country in the planet. The Environmental Protection Agency or the EPA, states that the United States has 10,000 municipal and 3,000 urban landfills. The sad thing is that most of these landfills are tightly sealed, to prevent the garbage from leaching and contaminating nearby rivers, lakes, streams or seas.

The tight sealing of these landfills though effectively inhibits the natural degradation of organic wastes. What happens once our landfills reach full capacity? 

Because environment advocates and government planners worry about the threat of a full-blown garbage crisis, more and more programs are now being implemented to prevent the overflowing of our landfills. More states and counties have now adopted a wide array of recycling and waste recovery programs.

How to be energy efficient and save money as the heat rises

(ARA) - With temperatures - and therefore, electric bills - rising, American homeowners are looking for the most effective ways to make the biggest dent in their energy bills, but many may be overlooking some of the most important energy-saving strategies.

Homeowners are more likely to do simple things around the house to conserve energy, according to the Lennox Home Energy Report Card Survey. These steps include changing air filters in a heating and cooling system on a regular basis, swapping out incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs, and turning down the temperature setting on a hot water heater.

While these activities can certainly help save energy and money, Brandon Chase, an energy efficiency expert and product development manager at home heating and cooling manufacturer Lennox, says homeowners need to take a close look at how they heat and cool their homes if they truly want to make a substantial dent in their energy bills.

"More than half of a home's energy costs comes from heating and cooling the house," says Chase. "If you can heat or cool your home more efficiently, then you'll be well on your way to seeing lower energy bills."

How to Have a Fun and Frugal Eco Earth Day Party

Earth day was first celebrated April 22, 1970 and has steadily grown each year since then. If you’ve never really observed Earth Day, this year would be a great time to do so. Use some of these ideas for having a fun and frugal Earth Day.

Decide the best date and time to have your Earth Day Party. You can have it the week leading to April 22 or a little bit after. Check to see what activities are planned in your city so your party won’t conflict with things your friends might like to attend.

Rather than sending printed invitations, send them online. Websites such as Evite.com will often make donations to earth-friendly charities when you use their service. You can also make recycled invitations by using old Christmas cards. Try to find invitations printed on recycled material and with soy-based inks if it is necessary to send traditional invitations.


Encourage your guests to carpool or share public transportation. This will reduce their carbon footprint because everyone won’t be arriving in their own vehicles. Your neighbors might appreciate this effort, too, since your guests won’t block the road.

Decorate using natural items. Add Christmas lights to potted trees to give ambiance to your party. Use dried seasonal plants or live flowers as the centerpiece. You can also use green and blue as the colors for your party. Find old maps or atlases to use as decorations or laminate them to create ‘place maps.’

Get smart about your living environment: Five trends that will make your home truly your own

(ARA) - If you're looking to purchase or remodel a home, you likely are building a long list of "must-haves," "must-dos" and "must-includes" for your new space. There's no question the housing market is in a different place than it was as recently as five years ago. Of course, a tough economy has been the prevailing factor, but other things - an aging population and a tough job market - are influencing how people are living today and possibly into the future. If you're like most home seekers and remodelers, you may find that your requirements fall in line with these five growing trends:

Bigger isn't always better: As interest grows in living more efficiently, people are building smaller homes. In fact, new homes are now 7 percent smaller than they were the previous year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Just my style: Homeowners are aiming to make their home fit their personal visions of the best investment on the dollar, and 20 percent of new homes are currently custom-built, according to the American Institute of Architects. This trend to customize is in part made possible by the parallel trend to build a smaller home. Smaller spaces free up dollars to put toward the products that fill it. Color, decor and products that help make a home feel one-of-a-kind versus one-of-many are becoming king.

Raising children to be environmental heroes

(ARA) - For modern families, being eco-friendly can be a big priority. That's why it's important to plant the recycling seeds in children early so their love for the environment grows as they do. However, because students spend significant hours in the classroom, teachers must partner with parents to develop habits that are relevant at home as well as at school.

The United States generated more than 243 million tons of material waste in 2009, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. However, Americans recycled only 34 percent of that waste. Statistics such as these present ample opportunities for teachers and parents to implement recycling programs  through which young children can make real contributions to saving the planet.

Here are a few tips to get started:

What's your water footprint and why is it critical for you reduce it?

(ARA) - What's the one natural resource you rely on most in a day? If you think about it from the first things you do in the morning, to the chores you do, to the last things you do to wrap up your day, you'll likely conclude it's water. We use it for showering, brushing teeth, flushing the toilet, washing dishes, cleaning, cooking, drinking and more - without water, we'd be lost. The problem is, high demand is leading to concerns about water shortages. With fresh water supplies diminishing because of misuse and pollution, the worldwide water crisis will eclipse many other environmental issues in the coming years. That's why it's so important to learn what your water footprint is and how you can begin reducing it now.

Your water footprint - how much water you use on a daily, weekly or monthly basis - might be a lot bigger than you think. If you tend to go about your daily activities without considering how much water is literally going down the drain, it's likely that there's room for improvement. The good news is that there are plenty of easy fixes that can help you reduce your water footprint.

Here are a few ideas to help you get started:

Looking to make your home more livable and still save money? Rely on natural light

(ARA) - Wild seasonal temperature changes and the high utility bills extreme temperatures can cause - no wonder a change in season can make many Americans feel down, or even outright depressed. Maybe we all just need to lighten up - literally.

You can use natural light to enhance your home's livability, not to mention your mood, this winter. Bringing ample natural light into your house can also help trim utility bills by reducing your dependence on electricity to power artificial lighting, and gas or oil to heat your home.

Designers bring daylight into a home through decorating techniques like light-colored, reflective walls and architectural details like skylights. Updating your decor can be cost-effective if you don't have the budget for a remodel. If you are willing and able to spend just a little bit more, installing a traditional skylight or tubular version can yield remarkable results for a relatively small investment.

Here are three areas to focus on when using light to improve your home's livability this winter: