It's Easy Being Green

A creative communications company has developed a new, eco-friendly font that will help you use 20% less printer ink.  SPRANQ, a Dutch design firm, developed Ecofont to inform consumers about the impacts of their use of printer paper and ink. Designers were convinced that a font could use less while ink while still maintaining a professional look and of course readability.  SPRANQ began testing and ended up choosing a design based on the Vera Sans font.  When Ecofont is printed at around size... (more...)

Winter can be a tough time to keep up your vitamin intake but it’s essential to stave off sickness and any sort of infection that might come your way.  One of the best ways to make sure you’re getting enough vitamins is through some good whole, natural foods.  This recipe for a vitamin-rich soup is a great way to change your dinner routine, warm yourself up on a cold night and help your body and immune system by getting a nice dose of vitamins.  It’s great made in the crock pot... (more...)

It seems like most portions of the midwest and northeast are gripped by Old Man Winter this week.  I know here in Indiana our temeperatures are down to 18 degrees with wind chill right now and we’re supposed to be down to -10 tonight.  That’s cold but not near as cold as our neighbors to the north of us dealing with -40’s in some places. While it’s cold outside, it can also be cold inside.  You might feel a winter chill moving through the windows of your house or even the... (more...)

Here’s another timely set of home remedies I pulled from the Reader’s Digest book Homemade.  It’s also cold and flu season and if you’re like me, you hate pouring money into over the counter medicinal products that may or may not work and cost a ton of money.  Try some of these quick fixes to relieve your symptoms.  If you like these recipes then you might want to consider picking up the book for your library.  It’s chock-full of recipes from meals to drinks to desserts... (more...)

By now several areas of the country have dealt with a crippling round of ice storms and with salt in short supply, de-icing in some parts of the country has been rather difficult.  If you haven’t been able to find de-icer, you might want to put together this homemade de-icer mix.  You’ll just need access to a couple of chemicals to make it work: 6 cups of rock salt 12 cups of ammonium chloride 6 cups of magnesium sufate Place all the ingredients into a bucket and mix well.  Sprinkle... (more...)

Engineers at Toyota are apparently working to build a completely solar powered car.  It will be a few years before the solar powered vehicle will be ready for sale but it’s a move the auto manufacturer hopes will help turn it’s business aound.  Toyota, just like most other auto manufacturers, have been hit hard by a slumping globabl economy and reduced demand for their products. Sources say the car will be equipped with solar panels on the roof and will also be able to be recharged... (more...)

If you’re looking to green up your New Year’s celebration with some eco-friendly bubbly, the selection is still pretty slim.  Not many in viticulture (growing grapes for wine) have jumped on the eco-bandwagon.  But there are a few lines out there that might be worth a shot.  Look for these options at your local wine shop: 1)  Dom. de Montbourgeau Cremant du Jura – $21.99 Hand-harvested grapes come from an eight-hectare farm run by the founder’s granddaughter. 2) ... (more...)