10 Tips for a Greener Christmas

Don’t give gifts or cards, that’ll help the environment, but it could also make you unpopular, so perhaps not. Instead there are a whole load of things that can be done in the name of reducing waste, resource and electricity use, that don’t make you look like Ebenezer Scrooge.

Here’s our top ten favourites:

1. Cut up old Christmas cards to create gift tags, or recycle them after Christmas

2. Decorate your house using ethical or fair-traded decorations and raid the garden or those of friends for fresh plants or flowers to create a Christmas bouquet.

3. Get a Wollemi Pine for your Christmas tree and plant outside or look after it in its pot to use again next year.

4. Select cards made from 100% recycled paper or even better send e-cards, or create your own greeting and email it out.

5. Buy presents made from recycled, renewable or ethically produced materials and with minimal packaging.

6. Use newspapers or reuse wrapping paper to wrap gifts and reduce waste, or go for wrapping paper which made of recycled paper and which has a low impact on the environment.

7. Remember less is more, if buying for kids, buy fewer better quality presents that will last, rather than lots of cheap disposable presents.

8. Purchase services rather than products. How about a massage gift voucher, tickets to an event or alike instead of another Christmas jumper?

9. If you have bought or received a gift that requires batteries invest in some rechargeable ones, they will save money in the long run and the environment.

10. When picking up the food for your Christmas BBQ or turkey roast, select produce which grown locally to reduce food miles, and go for organic and fair-trade if possible. Don’t forget to take the reusable shopping bags. Most importantly of all make sure you relax and enjoy the Christmas break! Discover more great tips about sustainable living, renewable energy and ways to reduce your carbon footprint .

Cedar Offers 'Green' Benefits

Protecting the environment in our daily lives -; also known as "going green" -; has become something that's on everybody's radar these days, even when it comes to constructing a house. If you're considering building a log home, two of the major factors to consider are the effects your home will have on your wallet and the environment.

When researching the types of wood available for building, people don't always realize the many "green" advantages that cedar has to offer. Cedar is grown and harvested in a naturally sustainable manner -; unlike plantation-harvested pine, which requires large expenditures of fuel, fertilizers and insecticides to produce timber ready for harvest. With cedar, the wood's natural resistance to rot and insects eliminates the need to treat saplings in the forest, which drastically cuts down on harmful environmental toxins that are used to produce many other kinds of wood.

Cedar also requires less fuel when being milled. Maine-based Katahdin Cedar Log Homes harvests its logs from nearby forests, then air-dries them to a desirable low-moisture content of 12 to 14 percent. Katahdin has also discovered other "green" practices to reduce fuel consumption in its milling process, such as a biomass boiler, which uses waste sawdust to heat the mills and reduce fuel consumption by almost 90 percent.

You'll also save fuel when building with cedar. The thermal mass and insulating R-factors are much higher for cedar than for common pine because cedar has more tiny, insulating air pockets and a drier composition. Katahdin offers an optional insulation package for no extra charge that maintains the look of cedar log walls inside and allows for more efficient interior wiring than a traditional solid log wall.

Saving on construction labor and time when building your log home will not only make the environment a better place -; it will also help put a little green back into your wallet. For more information, call toll-free (800) 845-4533 or visit www.KatahdinCedarLogHomes.com/green.

(NewsUSA)