It’s the time of the year when I feel a strong yearning for spring and the fresh greenness of vegetation. I’m hatching plans to bring more of the beauty of plants inside and outside my home. I may try a scaled down version of a living wall.

Green or living walls can be seen worldwide in and on buildings, adding bursts of unexpected plant life, particularly in urban settings where gardening space is at a premium. The vertical gardens designed by Parisian Patrick Blanc, an innovator in this area, are often elaborate, huge undertakings.

To add greenery at home …read more of Bringing Green Walls to your Home here

At this stage in the game, you’ve hopefully bought almost all of your presents and are wrapping them up. If you’re stuck without recycled gift wrap (I’m ever the optimist), here are some quickie green wrapping ideas:

Use the Sunday comics. They’re colorful and fun. Try to pick some strips for the outside of the package that you know the recipient will appreciate.

Can it. For a small gift, you could cover an old soup can with a scrap of wrapping paper and stick in your gift. Stuff tissue paper on top so the gift won’t fall out. Or if you have a kid handy, have them create some artwork on a piece of paper, then cut the paper to fit the can’s exterior. Glue or tape it on.

Grab an old napkin. If you have a small gift like jewelry or a gift card, you could use a cloth napkin. …read more of Last Minute Green Gift Wrapping Ideas here

Our oceans are taking hits left and right, between the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, overfishing, ocean pollution, and red algae tides. Now there are huge, smelly, mucus-like blobs floating around the Mediterranean Sea.

Besides their eeew factor, the blobs, which are called mucilages, can contain viruses and bacteria, including the potentially dangerous E coli. They also can harm fish and suffocate sea life when they settle to the ocean floor.

These blobs are nothing new. They were first observed more than 200 years ago. Mucilages are made up of large amounts of marine snow, tiny bits of living and dead organic matter. …read more of Watch out for the blob! here

Summer’s afterglow is barely gone, but retailers are poised to unleash their steady onslaught of holiday catalogs. If you don’t want your mailbox to bulge with glossy catalogs and other annoying junk mail, read on.

1. Cut the catalogs you receive with Catalog Choice if catalogs are your bugaboo. More than a million people use this free online service which is a sponsored project of the Ecology Center. I’m a member and I find it quite easy to use. Also, their site now has a bunch of icatalogs you can peruse.

2. DIY if you have the time and like the feeling of accomplishment you’ll experience after making a round of calls to companies whose mailing lists you don’t want to be on anymore. …read more of Five Ways to Stop Junk Mail here

I’ve dipped into the natural deodorant market from time to time over the years wanting to find a way to keep body odor at bay without possibly putting my good health in peril.

Chemicals typically found in antiperspirants that I’d rather do without include aluminum-based compounds, propylene glycol, steareths, and triclosan. The worry is that these ingredients applied daily year after year may cause cancer.

While the National Cancer Institute, the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration know of no conclusive evidence to link antiperspirants to the development of breast cancer, if I can find what I believe is a safer, effective alternative, why not go for it? …read more of 5 Natural Deodorants Tested. How Did They Fare? here