Here are some great reasons to be conscious of your choices when choosing among the many travel options:

You’ll Save Money: Being green saves you green by using fewer resources (fewer plane trips, public transportation, etc).

It’s Good for You: Walking, instead of taking a car or bus, is healthier for you and for the environment.

You’ll Forever See Things Differently: Attempting to live and/or travel in a green way opens up opportunities to gain a new perspective; it expands the mind!

You’ll Get to Know People: If you choose accommodations such as hostels or Bed and Breakfasts and partake in the common meals or cook in the common kitchens you will most certainly have an opportunity to visit with other travelers. This is a great way to connect with your fellow man (or woman)…and get some great tips on things to do in the area.

You’ll Have a Richer Experience: By walking or riding public transportation, staying with locals, and purchasing goods from local markets you will be presented with more opportunities to rub elbows with the locals.

It’s Tré Chic: We don’t normally promote trendy behavior but this is definitely a good one–everybody wins with this trend!

It’s Good for Your Children and Their Children and So On: Venice is sinking and in the end this may simply be nature’s way of cycling but many places on earth are threatened by humans who individually may have good intentions but collectively can leave a small wreckage in their wake. Think about it…especially if you have children and/or grandchildren.

It’s Good for the Planet: Enough said?

Gardening experts agree that composting is arguably nature’s best way to improve your soils - instead of using toxic and expensive commercial fertilizers. The good news is that compositing is extremely EASY to do with just a few tools. You already have the raw materials in your yard to get started.

How Natural Compost Helps Your Soil

It is no secret that composting helps your soils by improving the structure, texture and aeration of the soil composition. Additionally, it helps your soil hold water - which is essential for your plants and grasses to have the time to soak up your waterings. This helps root development greatly.

Beyond the soil itself, composting helps provide food for those essential micro-organisms that we cannot see. These critters do an excellent job of keeping the soil in balance naturally by producing nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous.

What this means for you is that you will never have to do more for your soil than to mix in some compost. Nature takes care of the rest. I am sure that the companies who sell fertilizers don’t really want you to hear that!

How to Get Started with Composting

If you can create a pile of something (like your dirty laundry), you can start composting - that simple! The easiest place to find the dark carbon-rich organic materials would be from your yard clippings, kitchen scraps, and other organic waste.

Keep adding to the pile and turn it every so often to mix up the nutrients. Depending on your climate, you can expect a good pile of compost in a month or so.

Products and Accessories to Help with Composting

In order to avoid scaring your neighbors, you may want to pruchase a compost bin. These cleverly designed enclosures help you manage the compost and keep your yard looking neat. We will look at different features in upcoming posts.

You may want to invest a small amount of money in a compost thermometer to help you keep the right amount of organic waste in the mix during the composting process.

That should get you started with composting. We look forward to providing more in-depth information to help you refine your composting skills in upcoming posts.

In their case, they were lucky that the battery held out. I bet they were wishing that they had included a portable solar charger in their gear that day. With today’s vast array of electronic gadgets on our body at all times, more people are finding it helpful (and lifesaving) to add a tiny solar charger to their bag for just such occasions.

I remember many years ago thinking how cool portable solar chargers were and wanted to add one to my outdoor gear, in case my car battery died or I wanted to write an article on my laptop in the middle of nowhere (like a beach!). The were expensive, rigid and too bulky and heavy to add to my gear list.

Portable Solar Chargers are Inexpensive and Essential

Today, the major manufacturers of portable solar chargers have re-designed them into small, stylish and folding power centers that you can take anywhere. Because the price of solar cells has dropped, you can have a portable solar charger for a minimal price (for the small ones).

Backcountry adventures are not the only place that a portable solar charger can be essential. It is easy to run your cell phone or iPod batteries down during an afternoon at the ball park. If you can’t get to an electrical outlet or your car charger, your portable solar charger will keep your devices going all day.

Being Prepared in the Outdoors Can Save Your Life

Being an outdoor enthuisast, I am looking forward to buying a larger portable solar charger and keeping it in my emergency kit for those unexpected times when my battery runs out and there is no one around for a jump start. This is a case of convenience.

In the case of life-threatening scenerios, I think that a portable solar charger can make the difference. As with the Alaskan hikers, I have now come to depend on my cell phone as a critical piece of outdoor essential gear. The one weak point is the battery - so having a portable solar charger in my pack gives me peace of mind that I always have my number one mode of communication working for emergencies.

If you like to be prepared, like I do - a portable solar charger is the new essential accessory to add to your purse, pack or car.

Not so anymore with the proliferation of inexpensive and very attractive solar lighting sets and accessories. Now, you can light up the yard or that dark passageway at night with abandon (check those neighborhood covenants, though), without harming the planet or your electrical bill.

Today’s outdoor solar lighting marketplace offers an amazing array of options for your lighting needs, including solar pathway lighting, solar flood lights, motion-sensing solar security lights, and colorful solar globe lights. Some solar lights even have built-in bug zappers! (see picture)

Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) Revolutionized the Solar Light Industry

Outdoor Solar lights became a better option when the manufacturers started using Light Emitting Diodes (LED) lights in them instead of the power-hungry incandescent lights we have been using for centuries. Before LEDs, the solar lights used to fade out within an hour or so.

LEDs use a tiny fraction of the power an incandescent light uses and generates very little heat (which is usually what runs your batteries down). You have probably noticed that LEDs are the standard now in traffic lights and new automobile tail lights. They also last indefintely…so you will probably never have to replace them.

A Host of Solar Lighting Options for Your Home

So, let’s take a look at what options are out there today for your solar lighting.

1. Solar Light Sets: These sets are usually the best value for people looking to light up a pathway or a landscaped section of their yard or lawn. Generally the solar light sets included up to 15 lights in an affordable package and are designed to light up the ground around the light. You can even mount them to your deck posts (with attachment accessories).
2. Solar Flood Lights: If you are looking to light up a wall or tree, solar flood lights can do the job and are a relatively new addition on the store shelves. This is because the lights demand more power…and that was not available until recently.
3. Solar Garden Rock Lights: These are a very cool new addition to the solar lighting community ( I am going to order some!). Tiny LED lights are embedded into faux rocks and look great…if you are looking for a more natural look. Check them out here!
4. Solar Garden Ball Lights: These lights are great for bringing a “new age” look to your back yard (or front, if you dare!). Take the typical glass garden ball, and put glowing colored light in it…very cool.
5. Multi-colored Solar Lights: Finally, if you want to add a splash of color to your yard, you can find sets of different colored lights or even lights that change color. These make great party lights as well.

That should get you started on your solar lighting adventure. Remember that solar landscaping lighting is good for the planet and will add some pizazz to your home and garden. They are also cheap enough now to experiment with the vast array of options. Enjoy!

By visiting this site, you are making the first critical step that we all must make to achieve a level of harmony with our environment…you are expressing an interest! So, congratulations to you…fellow human. Together, we will explore ideas, products and solutions for a better world. Many decades from now, we will be considered the “Positive Visionaries” who started the revolution for change to regain our natural planet.

This Site is a Beacon of Hope and Ideas - Not Doom and Gloom!

This site will NOT be a critical expose of all the wrongs we as humans have done, but a beacon of hope and expectation for a brighter and cleaner future. I am not one to dwell on the past, but prefer to design and offer solutions to our challenges. This is what GreenPlanetLiving.com is all about.

Besides, we have the conventional media to bring us all of the bad news in the world. Why should we propagate more negativity? You catch my drift?

We will Explore All Things Available to You to Increase Your Green Factor

As the editor of this site, I want to provide you the reader with ideas and options for living the best life that you can, while being in harmony with Mother Earth. We will explore all aspects of technology, products and lifestyles to see what we can apply and use. Nothing is out of bounds and no ideas are too fringe.

So sit back, read a post or two - maybe subscribe to the site to get the latest information delivered to your inbox. I promise that we will “enlighten” you!

~ Brad Roberts
The Editor