If you’re looking for those proven to purify pollutants, see How to Grow Fresh Air. But for our purposes, begotten by much trial and error, behold three indoor plants with high marks in effortlessness.

Air plants (aka Tillandsia).

These delicate beauties live in air, so there’s no soil or planting required. That’s right, no dirt. But they do need water.  Spritz every day or so if you keep yours in a moist bathroom or soak in a bowl of water once or twice a week to keep them happy elsewhere. (We love this hanging air plant terrarium kit from Flora Grubb. And that augury’s etsy shop will send you three tillies for three months of surprises! )

Snake plant.

Succulents like snake plant require little water and less attention. They also release oxygen at night, making for a great boudoir choice. Fertilize spring and summer and they’ll really thrive.

Eternity Plant (nickname: Zeze).

Thick, shiny leaves make the eternity plant a classy number. Even better, it will live practically forever on neglect, hence the name. Wait to water until soil is completely dry, wipe dust from leaves with a damp cloth every once in a while and you’re good to go forever and ever. Almost.

Any other effortless indoor plant recommendations? Do share!

(Note: some plants are poisonous when ingested, so it’s best to keep them out of reach of pets or tykes.)

Image via Pinterest and Orla Kiely

Related Articles

• Who Needs A Yard?
• Green Thumb Not Required
• Grow Fresh Air Inside

1. Have a hot pack on hand. My favorite is this organic cotton neck pillow filled with cherry stones I warm up and put over my shoulders during the day or under the covers at night. (It smells subtly of cherries and can be hand washed to boot.) DIY version: I used to make my own out of a (new) organic cotton sock filled with uncooked rice.
2. DIY a drafty door stopper. Not Martha posted these instructions a few years ago for a simple pillow to slide under old doors. No more cold drafts sneaking in.
3. Drink tea. Hot tea is my beverage of choice no matter the season, but in cooler months it’s indispensable for keeping warm while working indoors. My staples? Chamomile with fresh ginger, white tea (also good for hydrating skin) and the amazingly tasty herbal coffee substitute made from dandelion and chicory roots, Dandy Blend.
4. Keep moving. Stretch breaks are good for all kinds of reasons, including the one that gave them their other name, “warming up.” A brief walk outside also does the trick.
5. Bundle. Scarves, wrist warmers, vests. Dressing for the outdoors in will seal the deal.

If you’re still feeling frosty, there’s always cuddling. Or, as this piece from Shareable recommends, build a fort!

Images via Flickr users h & L metz and elena {pretty light}.

Related Articles

• Warm Things Up
• Green Appy Days Are Here To Stay
• Add Some Heat To Your Playlist

We love it when people are up to something interesting and even more when they share it with the world. So here are five women doing something green in Los Angeles, and blogging about it.

On Snob on a Bus, Jacquelyn dishes about her experience as a self-described snob who never saw herself taking public transport but now is carless and a regular bus-rider. However, her posts don’t sound snobby to me—just honest. It’s a kind of journal, each entry starting out with what she’s wearing and the weather at her usual stop in front of the 711 convenience store. She then goes on to give an account of bus happenings once it pulls up—wishes and woes, wonderings and wins. Most engaging are her interactions with people—the guy who holds the bus for her, the funny exchange with the driver. It’s a wild ride.

We know Jessica from her work at Heal the Bay (and these recommendations on being an eco-dog owner), but now she’s got a new passion: Chew-Gooder. She confesses, “everything I grew up thinking about food and its heath implications, both towards my body and the planet, was wrong” (can I ever relate to that!). But now, living in L.A., land of agricultural plenty, she’s exploring what it means to do right by the world and yourself in what you choose to chew.  She experimented with being vegan for a month, reported on the restaurant in Santa Monica serving endangered whale meat and shares recipes, local beers, and green food fare weekly.

Consumption:

You met Angela from My Year Without Spending in this YDT interview. And she’s still at it. After a year of The Compact, buying nothing new and instead bartering, buying used or foregoing purchases altogether, she’s extending her commitment to cut down on stuff into the future.  She fesses up to her (very limited) food waste on Fridays, features other people’s Thrifty Threads secondhand clothing scores on Thursdays and takes baby steps toward a greener life all the time.

What do you get when you combine mad crafting skills and a fashion budget of 365 dollars for the whole year? New Dress a Day where Marisa takes a vintage find every day and makes it into something magical. (Needless to say she’s a big fan of Jet Rag’s Sunday sidewalk sales.) No new purchases necessary for her wardrobe! See what happens when you pay five bucks for fabric and sew your own purse for prom—you have a lifetime ahead of you to awe and inspire the rest of us to DIY our closets.

..

Sara at The Daily Ocean is on a mission to do her part for cleaning our beaches of debris, one day at a time. You don’t have to make cleaning up your community (and hers is Santa Monica) official. She told Green LA Girl: “Who needs an organized cleanup? Just grab a bag, go to the damn beach, and pick some stuff up.” And that’s what she does, for twenty minutes everyday. She’s collected over 400 pounds so far this year! And it’s amazing what she finds on those daily rites: toothbrushes, beer cans, straws, fast food packaging, flip flops. lighters, makeup…the works.

…….

Inspired? I know I am.

What other blogs inspire you?

Photo courtesy of  Etsy

Related Articles

• Five L.A. Women Bloggers Up to Green Good
• Women of the Green Generation
• Green Back To School 2010

As we enter the holidays and plan for next year, stuff is everywhere. But in the face of the recession and years of more, more, more in the mainstream, many people are rethinking their relationships with stuff, with shopping, with want and with waste.

It turns out minimalism could be the next big thing—and that it just might make us happier too. (At least that’s what The New York Times is saying.)

Here are joyful minimalist endeavors from which you might take a creative cue:

Wear it on your sleeve:

Draw inspiration for your closet from the many minimal fashion projects of late. You could buy no new duds for a year like Free Fashion Challenge.  Take inventory. Get thrifty and crafty like New Dress a Day. Try on a 30 for 30 Remix and wear only 30 items for one month. Or go tiny with just Six Items or Less.

Downsize:

Getting rid of stuff is liberating. One Guy Named Dave got rid of everything save 100 things.  You could whittle down to that, or to whatever you feel comfortable with. Rowdy Kittens has some advice on how to streamline. And I love this idea of photographing your possessions as Exile Lifestyle did.

Join a movement:

Many a word describes a more mindful way of consuming—or not consuming—or not consuming as much. See if one tickles your fancy: Uncomsumption, Minsumerism, Nonconsumer.

Borrow, Lend, Trade:

Collaborative consumption is a new, old practice, also known as sharing. It looks like this: hold a swap. Go in on a tool or gadget with a friend. See about carsharing. Or check out The Mesh directories to find an online site where strangers share services and stuff.

So tell us, how are you approaching consumption this holiday and New Year? Is there anything you’re taking on or giving up?

Image via Flickr user alanhynes and Etsy

No related posts.

Consider these 10 local nonprofits for your green and good gifting.

It’s the Season of Giving and perhaps one of the soundest, sweetest (and most eco-conscious) ways to do it is by donating to a nonprofit in someone’s name. Or to get more people skipping stuff and saving pennies from the mall, a giving circle where friends, family, coworkers or neighbors pool what they can for a shared contribution in lieu of personal gifts really adds up. And of course, volunteering is just as valuable!

Food & Farming

Food Forward is a leader in “fruitanthropy.” Harvest excess oranges this winter to be delivered, fresh, to local food pantries. Or donate to help keep the picking ticking.

At SoCal Harvest in Long Beach, donations are in the form of fruits and veggies from your own backyard, collected and shared with local families who need them. It’s a beautiful thing, sharing the bounty.

Shelter & Support

We wrote about Upward Bound House’s green renovation for its newest facility here. This agency provides housing for “homeless families with children and very low-income seniors.” A worthy cause indeed.

For over twenty years, Beyond Shelter has provided housing and much more to L.A.’s homeless families. This week there’s a holiday toy drive and there are many other ways to contribute on your own or as a group.

Ocean & River

It was from Algalita Marine Research Foundation I first heard about the problem of plastics in our oceans. Now in its 15^th year, you and your friends can be part of the solution to plastic pollution by supporting Algalita’s work.

Friends of the L.A. River is our river’s best friend and good hope. FoLAR tours it, restores it, advocates on its behalf, cleans it and dreams big for it. And you can too by becoming a compadre.

Reading & Writing

826LA in Venice and Echo Park are the most innovative tutoring centers around. Who wouldn’t want to hang out in the Time Travel Mart?

Named nonprofit of the year 2010 in CA, WriteGirl is where women writers help their youngers find their own voice. And use it!

Near & Dear

We mention them often, but still no L.A. nonprofit roundup is complete without the green, good work of TreePeople and Heal the Bay.

Are other community organizations near and dear to you in Southern California? Give them a nod in the comments!

Images via Salvation Army Collectables and Flickr user robgividenonyx.

No related posts.

The organizer, Krisha Hernandez Pruhs, had a penchant for clothing swaps when she was a student at Pasadena City College. When she transferred to Cal Poly Pomona, she wanted to take swapping with her. And to a whole new level.

I gave some books, clothes and home accessories and walked away with vintage teacups and a belt. But it was about more than just the stuff. Everyone got a tag with a service they could trade and there were demos (think chickens, bikes and zines) and music throughout the day. I met a fellow writer and had some conversations with people, including an older gentleman whose tag read “handshakes” and who’d picked up Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

According to Eagle Rock Patch, a few hundred people turned out for the event.

There will be more freestores, so if you missed this one, stay tuned for the next one at the LAfreestore facebook page.

And check out the video Eagle Rock Patch made of the event.

Images courtesy of Danielle Davis.

Related Articles

• Serving up a Slice of Free
• Angelenos Bike To Work

You’ve got your reusable totes and bottles and sandwich bags, and every time a bulb burns out, you replace it with a CFL. (You’ve even taken to hopping on your bike instead of gassing up the car.) So what’s the next green gizmo that’ll deliver bang for your buck to save precious resources—like water, power, and money?

Here are a few simple green tools we think you might really put to use.

Low-tech

The Smart Strip. This oldie but goodie does more than organize your cords. It prevents phantom drain by shutting off juice to electronics plugged into certain sockets when they’re not in use, keeping them truly turned “off.” We don’t know how it works—psychic powers?—but it does.

Saved: vampire energy and money on your electric bill.

Conserve  Socket. How many of us charge our cell phones when we go to bed? That leaves at least a few hours when the charger is sucking power after the phone is ready to roll. With this tool, you set a timer to automatically cut energy flow after a half, three or six hours. Works for other small appliances too.

Saved: more phantom power, more money.

Low Flow Showerhead. I got a low flow a few years ago and have never looked back. Now, there are so many on the market that retain their luxuriousness and are compatible with a chlorine filter to keep you chem-free while you suds up. (Aerators are inexpensive and easy to install in your sink faucets to conserve even more.)

Saved: a few gallons of blue gold per minute and some coins from your water bill.

Clothesline or drying rack. Even in the winter, the sun is often strong enough to dry clothes, sheets and towels in no time. I’ve used both line and rack and eventually opted for an umbrella style number. The result? Dry, fresh, sun-kissed laundry. (I use towel racks inside when it’s raining.)

Saved: cranking up the fourth biggest energy user in the house, according to LADWP, and a few spins of your electric meter.

Shower bucket. If you can’t tolerate a cold shower, especially during cooler seasons, consider gathering up the water that would be wasted while you wait for it to heat up. That’s right, grab a bucket you already have or get one designed for the task, collect your cold water and use it to douse your plants or wash some dishes once you’re dressed for the day.

Saved: buckets of water and a splash on your water bill.

Please tell us if you use any of these tools already and add any we may have missed to the comments.

And now, we sit back and wait for those next generation LED light bulbs to hit stores.

Images courtesy of Simple Blueprint, Lisi Design, and Apartment Therapy.

Related Articles

• Green Tools For Technophobes
• Five Fab Eco-Tools for Summer
• Here’s The Deal, Pure And Simple!

I stopped in for my first visit and came out with hemp protein powder and calcium pills. But that’s just the beginning. Its shelves are filling up and I’m told the bulk bin and juice bar will be finished in the coming weeks.

You’ll find Silver Lake Natural Food Market at 2829 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, 90026. (213) 908-6730.

Images courtesy of Danielle Davis and Flickr user x-ray delta one.

Related Articles

• Silver Lake
• Green Glamour Pops Up in Silver Lake
• LA Farmer’s Market Guide