Just because a house is made from gingerbread doesn’t mean it can’t be green! We want to see how you incorporate green design ideas into your gingerbread house this holiday season. Submit your video responses explaining and showing everything that makes your gingerbread house a green one!
Video Rating: 4 / 5

There are two main philosophies around the treatment of illnesses. The conventional approach looks at disease as the actual problem, whereas the holistic approach, which utilizes herbal remedies, sees the disease as an outcome of systems dysfunctioning within the body. In conventional medicine, the illness is treated as a series of symptoms seen as a result of the illness that unfortunately occurred within the body. Medicinal treatments function to soothe these symptoms and enable management of the disease. Unfortunately, these “medicines” are wrought with negative and uncomfortable side effects. This is because treatment usually involves poisoning and killing the bad bacteria, cells, mold, or whatever that has been identified as bringing on the illness. However, this also means that the good cells, bacteria, and so on, which are the very components most needed during illness, are also killed, casualties of the treatment. The result is that such treatments further weaken the systems within the body, leaving it even more susceptible to illness, which often create a vicious downward spiral of illness followed by treatment, followed by more illness, and possibly death.

Another philosophy, the holistic approach, uses natural healing methods, including herbal remedies, which enable the body to heal itself. The practitioner doctor looks at the body as a whole, viewing all systems working harmoniously together to run the amazing machine that is our body; this is where the word “holistic” comes from. When there is a breakdown within one or more systems, the doctor looks for the cause of the breakdown, such as the body being exposed to too much continued stress and over-tiredness, resulting in a shortage of certain vitamins or minerals, all which contribute to the system lacking the materials needed to run efficiently. Herbs can be chosen to add needed vitamins and minerals to gradually and gently balance deficiencies within the body. The above is just a simple example of how herbal remedies can be incorporated into care. In many cases, herbal remedies can be used to augment specific areas within the body. An example would be the body suffering from an invasive virus causing cold or flu. Eating large amounts of raw garlic will quickly stop the virus in its tracks. This is because garlic, called the number one antibiotic for herbs, contains allicin, a strong antibiotic agent, and sulphur compounds, which strengthen the immune system as well as fight infection. An antibiotic remedy, called the “Enhanced Garlic Formula”, calls for 1 part each of garlic powder and powdered calcium ascorbate (form of vitamin C) mixed with ¼ part Cayenne powder (L. Thomas, 1992).

One of the benefits around the use of herbal remedies is there are almost never any negative side effects, when used correctly. Carefully chosen herbs work gently on the body, and are not intrusive. Also, because it is natural, herbs tend to complement the body’s systems, instead of working or fighting against them. Herbal remedies can be used as both a preventative measure as well as a way to help balance the body when it has broken down and is suffering from chronic illness, such as cancer, stroke, heart attack, or high blood pressure. For example, hawthorn- dried berries, leaves, or flowers- is the primary herb for toning and strengthening the heart and cardiovascular system. It is a very safe internal herb for the heart, and can be used for congestive heart failure and angina, among other conditions. Hawthorn increases blood flow to the heart muscle itself, counteracting death resulting from heart attack, which is from lack of blood flow to the heart. The recommended dosage of hawthorn for those with heart disease is 300-450 milligrams every day. As a preventative measure, 100-150 mg will do. Of course any treatment should be overseen by a qualified doctor well versed with the actions and interactions of herbs, and may be used jointly with conventional medicine. However, many have found herbal treatment to work well enough on its own, when care is being properly directed from a qualified person.

Many conventional drugs used today to treat various illnesses originated from the natural healing properties found in herbs. A good example is aspirin, which was originally derived from willow bark for its salicylic content. Through the years, scientists found ways to isolate beneficial compounds found in medicinal plants and create them synthetically in a lab. This was done for multiple reasons. It was more cost effective, as plants vary in potency depending on where they are grown, as well as the growing conditions, which, when these compounds are simplified and copied, can be controlled. With synthetic production, risk of contamination from wrongly identified plant specimen or even contamination from pesticides and other conditions can also be eliminated. And most important, it was economically advantageous to isolate – and patent – individual components of the medicinal herbs seen as beneficial to combating illness.

However, with the introduction and predominant use of synthetic drugs on the market, other unforeseen issues cropped up. The main drawback to these synthetics is its very unpleasant and frequently dangerous side effects that range from mild allergic reactions to poisoning the body’s systems to the point of shutdown. The culprit is usually the result of synthetic medicines using potent compounds that were initially isolated from plants, but were not copied over in entirety. (Remember the patent approach). A simplified example is vitamin C, which has only recently been found to work incompletely within the body because, among other things, was missing flavonoids. Scientists still are far from having a complete understanding of the human body, and as a result, synthetic medicine can have unforeseen and long-lasting destruction on the body. The best that medicine can be expected to do at this time is manage the effects of disease and illness, with the hope that enough of the negative cells and bacteria are eliminated before the whole body system collapses.

The holistic approach centers on prevention and identifying at-risk areas of health before it becomes a problem. Conventional medicine has become little more than disease management. Conventional medicine may be beneficial for acute injuries, such as a car accident, broken bones, heat stroke, frostbite, and the like; however chronic conditions such as the flu, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer can all benefit from a more holistic approach that incorporates herbal remedies into a regimen of care.

The Green Room on the Discovery Channel featured AGCO on their Earth Day Special on April 22, 2010. John Holden, host and environmental correspondent, tracks down the movers and shakers of green living who are making a difference in environmental stewardship in this cutting edge, magazine style program. Learn more about this event and see behind the scenes pictures here: www.bit.ly/GreenRoomFBEvent

Just imagine it, coming home after work, putting your feet up on the couch, television on, stereo blaring and all the lights on in the house… now imagine you don’t feel any guilt about the impact your having on the environment or the pain in your wallet doesn’t exist. Welcome to living off the grid.

More and more householders are moving to homemade solar power in their attempts to be independent from the power grid and save a heap of money at the same time.

I guess some of you may be asking, isn’t all that energy consumption irresponsible? well it would be if we weren’t using homemade solar power to supply our appliances. Solar energy is an extremely clean form of energy, no pollutants or emissions to worry about here, whilst the sun hangs up there in the sky solar energy is a renewable energy, best of all solar is free once you have your system installed and running.

So whats the catch I hear you cry? well currently purchasing a traditional solar power system and having it installed is ridiculously expensive. Enter the new wave of DIY solar power kits. All over the internet you can find guides which show you how to build your own diy solar power kit and produce your own free homemade solar power.

Whether you are looking to totally convert to solar energy of compliment your existing supply, the bliss that is living off the grid and the satisfaction of giving it to the man! is now within reach, no longer will your power be regulated by government bodies, you will be free to use as much as you want.

These Homemade Solar Power guides are amazing in the fact they are so simple to follow. You will have your diy solar power kit assembled and up and running in no time. You get an ebook and videos to follow along in a step by step process. It even shows you how to sell excess energy back to the power grid!

So do you and your family a favor and stick it to the man! read more about Homemade Solar Power – Living off the Grid

Like most things released in this format there are some products to avoid, [Click Here] for a review on the best DIY Solar Power Kits available on the web.
Jon Elsdon is a Solar Energy – Homemade Solar Power Consultant and Environmentalist. Jon is editor of DIY Solar Power.

Watch the Audi commercial featuring Cheap Trick, the Green Police, and the Audi A3 TDI® clean diesel, Green Car Journals 2010 Green Car of the Year®.
Video Rating: 4 / 5

A green workplace can mean a productive and healthy place for working. Whether you are the employee or the boss, whether your place of work is already green or still needs natural light, several practical steps can certainly set the basis for a green, healthy and low impact office. If the question of office green concerns you, follow worth considering tips to go green.

The first tip is to work more and consume less energy. For a large number of individuals, computer is the main tool of working. Optimizing energy settings for computers or other devices is the modest way to save energy. If possible set the computers in your office to energy saving settings as well as do not forget to shut them down while leaving or going out of the office. Through plugging the hardware in power strip with off/on switch, it is possible to turn off the entire desktop setup at once. Plug in scanners, printers or other peripherals only when used.  

Another tip to keep your working place green is digitizing. The current age is the digital age, but still individuals consume loads of bleached tree pulp, mashed up that gets used only couple of times and afterwards recycled or tossed. The best green paper is to utilize no paper, thus keep things dematerialized and digital, whenever probable. Save files on computers rather than in the file cabinets plus review documents onscreen instead of printing them.

Additionally, when purchasing printer paper, it is feasible to look for recycled paper with high percentage of post consumer content and least chlorine bleaching. The recycled paper also gobbled up good amount of energy, chemical resources and light during its processing. While using actual stuff, print on every side of the page and do not forget to use misprints in form of notepapers. If possible, choose photocopiers and printers, which do double side printing. In case, your workplace ships packages then reuse the boxes and utilize water paper as the packing material.

One more noteworthy go green tip is to green the commute. A large ratio of people spends loads of their time in commuting and thus waste gallons of gas. It is better to ease this strain through talking the public transit, carpooling, walking, biking or creative fusion thereof. Consider getting electric vehicle, hybrid, scooter and motorcycle. 

Also, redesigning the workplace is a nice idea. Begin with nice furniture, good ventilation and fine lighting. Make office furniture from the recycled material and make sure to make it recyclable. Replace the incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents or LED desk lamps, which utilize the least amount of energy. Create space from where natural light can enter in your office. Air quality of the workplace is also imperative, thus arrange for good ventilation but keep it natural.  

Share these going green tips with your co-workers and colleagues and make all the efforts that you can to keep your working space green and of healthy environment. Eliminate the usage of items that can harm your surrounding environment. Embrace environmentally friendly architecture, attitude and supplies in your office.