greenlagirl

Clean air lovers rejoice: Cars in the U.S. are going to get a lot more fuel efficient. Earlier today, President Obama -- along with automakers -- announced new fuel economy standards. As NPR reports, "The agreement pledges to double overall fuel economy to 54.5 mpg by 2025, bringing even greater under-the-hood changes to the nation's automobiles starting in model year 2017. Cars and trucks on the road today average 27 mpg."  Read more >

Of course, when you focus on tackling those bigger problems -- childhood obesity, say -- they can seem so vast that you get discouraged from ever getting involved in finding solutions. Still, changing what you eat in your own home is a relatively simple task that clearly has much bigger environmental and health consequences. If you've made personal changes -- whether it's to eat more fresh veggies, to seek out more local produce, or to opt for organic products whenever possible -- you're already part of the solution.  Read more >

For scrappy upcyclers and would-be renaissance women alike, Erin Bried's DIY book, How to Sew a Button and Other Nifty Things Your Grandmother Knew, serves as a savvy guide to financially savvy, self-sufficient, and sustainable living. But why would a girl stop at just learning just what her grandma knows when she can pick up her grandpa's hard-learned lessons too? Thus, How to Sew a Button got a sequel of sorts: How to Build a Fire and Other Handy Things your Grandfather Knew, a more boyish set of DIY tips for the well-rounded modern man -- or woman!  Read more >

Have you ever wondered why, no matter where you go, bananas always look so -- similar? That's because all those bananas are genetically identical. A single disease could easily wipe them all out. Thanks both to our penchant for monoculture farming and the threat of climate change, the future of many of our staple foods is uncertain. This uncertainty is worrying enough that scientists have kicked off a search for wild relatives of our most commonly consumed foods. The idea is that by revisiting our crops' past, we'll be able to ensure their futures.  Read more >

If my kitchen were only half its size, would I still be able to eat healthfully? That was one of my biggest fears, moving from a relatively spacious apartment to a less than 400 square foot studio earlier this month. With little cooking space, and pretty much no counter space, would dining in get too difficult -- or even impossible?  Read more >