Sierra Club Green Home

LOS ANGELES— Homeowners in Los Angeles County have the exciting opportunity to cash in on a $2,000 rebate for environmentally friendly upgrades that also improve their homes’ property values! GreenPoint Rated offers an upgrade system that not only helps Los Angeles residents make their homes more environmentally friendly and energy efficient but, as a third-party sustainability certification, increases the market value of homes. (Photo courtesy of Build It Green)

DocuSign has partnered with the Arbor Day Foundation, a nonprofit focused on the conservation of trees globally. DocuSign anticipates that their growth of 150,000 signed documents and over a million pages of documents processed each day will help them reach their goal to preserve one million square feet of rain forest. (Screenshot via DocuSign.com)

Did you know that soy is being used for some surprising new purposes, including home insulation and car seats? Although Sierra Club Green Home was excited to learn that some companies were exploring greener materials, a closer look at these products shows that their sustainability merits are questionable. Before embracing or rejecting the soybean, read SCGH’s investigation into soy foam products. (Photo by M. Nash, National Soybean Research Laboratory)

I finished the 100 mile drive through Big Sur feeling relaxed, but in serious need of coffee. Monterey, California brought a wash of caffeine into my consciousness, along with a surprise. Next to the coffee shop was a large health and fitness expo at the Monterey Conference Center. As an avid runner, I could not resist heading inside to mingle. I was pleasantly surprised to find I had planned my road trip on the same weekend as the Big Sur International Marathon. (Photo by Courtney Hayden)

There are many benefits to incorporating walking into our lives. Take the example of walking kids to school. It is a great way to get kids moving, and makes kids and adults alike feel more connected to their surroundings. According to America Walks, parents driving children to school comprises 20-30 percent of morning traffic congestion in urban areas. So organizing a “walk your kids to school” program would improve morning traffic, ensure that kids get their exercise for the day, and help people get to know their neighborhoods better. (Photo by Nestor’s Blurrylife, Flickr)

Within 90 minutes of searching I’d unearthed three plastic candy wrappers, six broken plastic bottle caps, eleven newspaper ties, one straw wrapper, five pieces of fishing line, ten pieces of unidentifiable broken plastic, one fast food container, ten Styrofoam pieces, one Styrofoam cup, one large woven plastic bag, nine cigarette butts, and one cigar tip! (Photo by Courtney Hayden)

By knowing where the coffee process begins and ends, you as an individual can ensure that you are drinking coffee that was produced in a way that is sustainable and does not harm rainforests. (Photo by Shaun McRae, Wikimedia Commons)

Sierra Club Green Home traveled to Sonora, Mexico to investigate the fisheries that provide America’s favorite seafood. We found that shrimp is quickly becoming one of the most environmentally and socially destructive parts of our diet. But how is this so? Where is our shrimp coming from, and why should we care? Most importantly, what can we do about it? (Photo courtesy of Kino Bay Center for Cultural and Ecological Studies)

SAN DIEGO — GE is on the road selling cities on the benefits of high efficiency lighting. Their goal: upgrade offices, homes, street lights, parking lots, retail stores, and other buildings with lights that last longer, save energy, and cut power bills. (Photo by Max Havins)

In celebration of Earth Month, over 5,400 schools across the country participated in the Green Your School Challenge through DoSomething.org. Since February 1, students have been given the opportunity to participate in green projects, such as increasing their school’s recycling rate, starting a garden and growing their own produce, and encouraging their school’s administrators to adopt energy-saving practices. (Photo courtesy of DoSomething.org)