By Lori Bongiorno

Packaged salads are certainly convenient, but they’re not nearly as clean as their "pre-washed" and "triple-washed" labels suggest. Ready Pac Foods recently recalled more than 5,000 cases of bagged greens in 15 states because E. coli bacteria showed up in tests. Consumer Reports’ tests found bacteria “that are common indicators of poor sanitation and fecal contamination” in many of the packaged salad greens it tested last year.

No one is suggesting that you stop eating salad. Just take some of the precautions below to make sure you're eating the safest greens possible:

• Always wash salad greens, even if the bag says "prewashed" or "triple-washed." Rinsing won't remove all the bacteria, according to Consumer Reports, but it may remove residual soil. Washing with plain water works as well as anything else, says Nestle. There's no need to use detergent, vinegar, or special produce washes.
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• Buy packaged greens as far from their expiration

By Trystan L. Bass

Most Americans love a burger, but we also know there can be too much of a good thing. Studies continually point out that eating a lot of meat leads to heart disease and cancer. Plus, worldwide livestock farming creates 18% of all greenhouse gas emissions -- that's a little bit more than the world's transportation emissions. But it's pretty easy to improve our health and the planet's and still enjoy our food.

The Johns Hopkins School of Public Health suggests we go meatless on Mondays. Just one day a week without meat can reduce your consumption of saturated fat by 15% and reduce your chances of heart disease. Scientists estimate that if every American lowered meat consumption by just 20%, it would lower greenhouse gasses as much as if everyone in the country switched to driving Toyota Priuses (and think how much cheaper and easier eating less meat is!).

The Meatless Monday website is chock full of tasty recipes and tips for making healthy meals based

Computer power switchBy Lori Bongiorno

It's well-known that most electronic devices in our homes are sucking up energy even while they are turned off. But for all the information out there, many questions remain. People have heard about this "vampire power" usage, but they're not sure how big a deal it is and what they should do about it.

Below are answers to the five most common questions about vampire power:

Which electronic devices waste the most energy when they are turned off but still plugged in?

Set-top cable boxes and digital video recorders (DVRs) are some of the biggest energy hogs. Unfortunately, there's little consumers can do since television shows can't be taped if boxes are unplugged. It also typically takes a long time to reboot boxes.

However, some of the other major consumers of standby power are more easily dealt with: computers, multifunction printers, flat-screen TVs, DVDs, VCRs, CD players, power tools, and hand-held vacuums. The Lawrence Berkeley National

Green is the grass and tree. Sky in the dark becomes blue. So many mistakes humans make of this planet Makes me want to scream green until my life is through. Like this poem? I wrote it because there is only so much a person can do in one day. As I was driving along the highway, some one had lost about 50 pounds of garbage. Over two weeks I went by and still nothing was done. So I got some gloves and sunglasses. I put on the oldest nasty clothes I could find, parked way off the road for safety and picked up their trash. I think 300 cars and trucks passed me by.

I live in Texas. People love to throw stuff out of windows here. We have burned road side fires from people throwing out the filter of ignited carbon monoxide inhalers. People throw beer bottles at road signs for fun. I am speaking of grown men. We have paid people who go out and clean up.

We have too many rules. We have to call and get government permission to burn old wood piles out here in the Country. Too much government

By Melissa Breyer, Care2

Did someone say cold and flu season? Just as sniffling and sneezing is beginning to invade schools and offices across the land, a new series of tests in six major U.S. cities reveals the dirtiest surfaces Americans touch. The results, released by Kimberly-Clark Professional, show which surfaces are most likely to be highly contaminated, potentially exposing people to illness-causing bacteria.

The testing was conducted by hygienists in busy locations in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, and Philadelphia. Using a device commonly used to monitor sanitary conditions in industry, hygienists tested the objects to measure levels of Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP). Everyday objects with an ATP reading of 300 or higher are considered to have a high risk for illness transmission. In all, more than 350 separate swabs were taken and analyzed.

The percentage of public surfaces tested and found to have high levels of contamination (an ATP count of 300 or

By Lori Bongiorno

Shopping online can save you time and is much less stressful than battling the crowds at the mall. It's also better for the planet than making a dedicated trip to the store, but it can be a real hassle to get rid of the resulting packaging, which can really pile up.

As much as halfof the 85 million tons of paper products Americans consume every year goes toward packaging, wrapping, and decorating goods, according to Earth 911.

Here are some tips for tackling it with a clear conscience:

Bubble wrap

You have many options for reusing bubble wrap. Set it aside for another time when you need to ship something fragile, if you have the room to store it. Or give it to someone who has a use for it now. Try listing bubble wrap on Freecycle or in the free stuff section of Craigslist, or bring it to your local mailing center (such as the UPS Store or Mail Boxes Etc).

Otherwise, try clever ways to reuse bubble wrap such as keeping produce fresh longer,

By Trystan L. Bass

Everybody loves a roaring fire in the winter -- the picture is immortalized on holiday cards, and the smell of wood smoke evokes the season for many people.

But can a wood-burning fireplace really heat the house? Will you save money by stoking the flames? What about that smoke filling the air? Get the facts before you pile on another log.

Fire is humankind's oldest form of heat, but that doesn't mean it's the most efficient or cleanest. According to an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) study, about 27 million American homes feature conventional masonry fireplaces. But this study (PDF) found that these traditional fireplaces are the least effective means to heat a room.

A conventional open radiant fireplace has a thermal efficiency of a mere 7%. Most of the heat escapes straight up the chimney. Various estimates show that firewood costs more one to four times more than electricity or natural gas per 1,000 BTUs of energy created. The traditional

Are Homemade Solar Panels Possible, Economical, and Useful?

With energy prices rising steadily over the last few decades and no reason to think they'll fall anytime soon, many homeowners are exploring the option of powering their homes with renewable, or "green", power systems. The two most common home green energy systems are wind turbines and solar panels. Of these two, solar energy panels have emerged as the most popular, due to their solid-state nature - meaning that with fewer moving parts, they require less maintenance over the years.

Unfortunately, installing a solar power system in your home can be prohibitively expensive. Having pre-made solar power panels professionally installed costs at least $3000 - and the price tag only rises quickly from there. To reduce this huge cost, many homeowners are exploring the possibility of building and installing their own homemade solar panels. You may be one of them.Read Full Story>>>