By John DeFore

Though bibliophiles instinctively recoil at the idea, the fact is that some books are good for nothing: outdated science texts, surplus copies of bestsellers everyone owns, current-events hack jobs by disreputable writers looking to make a quick buck. If you can’t even give a book away, what’s to be done with it?

While it is possible to recycle old books, you likely can’t do it in your curbside bin: The glues and binding materials don’t play well with the machines used by most municipal programs. If you’re graduate designer Laura Cahill, you make furniture out of them.

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By Catherine Girardeau

So you need to replace your mattress, and you want to do the green right thing, for your health and for the environment. You may be trying to reduce your overall carbon footprint, or perhaps to choose a product that’s better for your health. Ideally, you can do both.

Unfortunately, there is a plethora of “natural,” “green,” “eco-friendly” mattress solutions out there, some with a hefty price tag. How’s a consumer to know what’s worth springing for – and what’s not?

Conventional mattresses are very likely to contain chemicals, some potentially toxic to humans and/or harmful to the environment. One way to go green is to choose a mattress with fewer chemicals or no chemicals.

My husband and I went the less-toxic, rather than 100 percent chemical-free, route.

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By John DeFore
“Critical mass” may not be the most comforting metaphor to use about coverage of radiation in kitchen countertops, but it’s hard to resist. After stories by such high-profile outlets as The New York Times and Associated Press, long-simmering concerns about granite counters have become sufficiently mainstream that Stephen Colbert can joke that, [...]

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By Barbara Kessler

Wal-Mart Stores is joining the Global Forest & Trade Network (GFTN), World Wildlife Fund’s initiative to save the world’s most valuable and threatened forests. The giant retailer also announced this week that it is moving toward making some of the jewelry it sells meet standards for sustainability and social responsibility.

Both steps are aimed at aiding the environment, with dual goals of assisting wildlife in jeopardized forests, and in the case of the jewelry, mitigating human rights issues in mining operations.

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By Barbara Kessler

Looking for a safer sunscreen? It’s not easy to find.The Environmental Working Group looked at almost 1,000 brand-name sunscreen products and found that the majority contain chemicals that either potentially pose health hazards or inadequately protect skin from damaging sun rays. Here’s their list of the top safe sunscreens:

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By John DeFore
In the future, employing solar energy won’t necessarily mean mounting big black panels on your roof or buying from a utility with a solar farm. It might just mean pulling the curtains shut for a while.

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By Michele Chan Santos

Check the label before you spray insect repellent on your kids this summer, and you may find that many insect repellents marketed for families and children contain DEET. Although the American Academy of Pediatrics has approved the use of DEET on children, the Academy recommends only applying these products once a day, and not on children younger than 2. So here’s our list of less toxic bug repellents:

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By John DeFore
Solid-wood furniture is pricey and obviously involves harvesting trees, but the alternatives aren’t necessarily much more appealing: Particle board, while transforming waste materials into something useful, is usually glued together with resin containing the carcinogen formaldehyde. A newer innovation, the “zBoard,” hopes to supplant particle board and MDF in a wholly eco-friendly [...]

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By John DeFore

Becoming a new parent presents untold challenges, not least to those hoping to find the greenest path through unfamiliar territory. Cloth or disposable diapers? Store-bought baby food or homemade?

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By Harriet Blake

The future is green, judging by products endorsed by some 2008 college grads.

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By Harriet Blake
You can always tell a garment that has come back from the dry cleaners. There’s that faint smell that seems to linger on the item, and in the closet, until that shirt or jacket gets worn again. The smell comes from the solvent used in the dry cleaning process, and chances [...]

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By Harriet Blake
When it comes to dry cleaning, there is a greener way: At Green Apple Cleaners, founded in 2002, liquid carbon dioxide is the cleaning method of choice. The liquid is biodegradable and recyclable, and avoids the use of the more controversial toxic chemical Perchloroethylene.

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