Green Tips

Ever wondered how you can stop getting junk mail, flyers, coupons and mail spam in your mailbox? If you're in Canada, you CAN stop some of it being delivered to you.

Did you know that, at least in the USA, junk mail is a big source of carbon?

Since the Canadian Government is offering Grants to make your home more efficient, now is a great time to have an energy audit done of your home to find out what you can do to save energy.

At the Green Living Show last week we bumped into the folks from GreenSaver, a non-profit organization which offers energy audits and retrofits for homeowners in the GTA. Having an energy audit of your home before and after your renovations can help you qualify for a Natural Resources Canada grant (more information on the NRC website).

Vladan Veljovic, President & CEO of GreenSaver, was kind enough to answer some questions for us about their program, the environmental benefits, and about the money that consumers can save on utility bills after an energy audit.

Effective April 22, 2009, Ontario has banned the use of more than 250 pesticides, and over 80 pesticide ingredients for cosmetic use. The ban, which is now law across the province of Ontario, bans the sale of pesticides "for cosmetic purposes on lawns, gardens, parks and school yards, and includes many herbicides, fungicides and insecticides".

Find out more about how this ban might affect you as a homeowner, and how you take care of your lawn this summer without pesticides.

The EPA Energy Star program offers these helpful tips on how you can save energy and money by taking some simple steps in your home. Did you know that the energy use of an average home can generate over twice the greenhouse gases of an ordinary car? Here's some easy things you can do to cut down on greenhouse gases - right in your home.