So why is Ecover doing so well in the eco friendly market? They do a large variety of cleaning products such as Dishwasher tablets, washing up liquid, laundry liquid, surface spray, bathroom spray, toilet cleaner, hand soap, and more for all your cleaning needs. Best of all, these cleaning products all work, there is no compromise with natural products. Just because a product does not have a harmful symbol on it’s packaging doesn’t mean it’s not tough on dirt.

Eco friendly cleaning products like these leave no chemical residue on your eating utensils and they are non toxic which means they are safe for the environment. These products are plant based with no harmful chemicals. You don’t have to go out of your way for eco friendly cleaning products; many large stores stock these types of products now as well as specialist health and organic stores.

Natural eco friendly cleaning products aren’t just beneficial to the environment they are also good for us too. Personal care products are kinder to skin, suitable for sensitive skin types and with a neutral PH balance. There are no petrochemicals involved, just natural refreshing cleaning.

Ecover in particular also have refill schemes in many stores that stock their product. Once you have bought an Ecover product you can keep the bottle and bring it in to refill it in the store. You then pay for the refill, not the packaging which saves you money.

Solar water heating systems include storage tanks and solar collectors. There are two types of solar water heating systems: active, which have circulating pumps and controls, and passive, which don’t.
Most solar water heaters require a well-insulated storage tank.

Solar storage tanks have an additional outlet and inlet connected to and from the collector. In two-tank systems, the solar water heater preheats water before it enters the conventional water heater. In one-tank systems, the back-up heater is combined with the solar storage in one tank.

Three types of solar collectors are used for residential applications:

Flat-plate collector
Glazed flat-plate collectors are insulated, weatherproofed boxes that contain a dark absorber plate under one or more glass or plastic (polymer) covers. Unglazed flat-plate collectors typically used for solar pool heating have a dark absorber plate, made of metal or polymer, without a cover or enclosure.

Integral collector-storage systems
Also known as ICS or batch systems, they feature one or more black tanks or tubes in an insulated, glazed box. Cold water first passes through the solar collector, which preheats the water. The water then continues on to the conventional backup water heater, providing a reliable source of hot water. They should be installed only in mild-freeze climates because the outdoor pipes could freeze in severe, cold weather.

Evacuated-tube solar collectors
They feature parallel rows of transparent glass tubes. Each tube contains a glass outer tube and metal absorber tube attached to a fin. The fin’s coating absorbs solar energy but inhibits radiative heat loss. These collectors are used more frequently for U.S. commercial applications.

There are two types of active solar water heating systems available:

Direct circulation systems
Pumps circulate household water through the collectors and into the home. They work well in climates where it rarely freezes.

Indirect circulation systems
Pumps circulate a non-freezing, heat-transfer fluid through the collectors and a heat exchanger. This heats the water that then flows into the home. They are popular in climates prone to freezing temperatures.

Hot water ‘free’ from the sun. That’s using our environmental assets to our own benefit and you can’t get better than that !

Another idea is to exercise for charity. There are many cycling and running events our there to help various causes so get involved in them more rather than signing up to a gym. If you do sign up to a gym, don’t drive to it! Try to find a gym closer to home and run or cycle in to it to cut down on pollution and get fit the eco way on route. If you can’t get to one close to home, organise a car sharing trip with friends or colleagues or take public transport.

You could also consider eco-running if you do normally participate in running regularly. Take a couple of carrier bags with you on your run and where ever you see trash that shouldn’t be there such as cans or bottles, pop them in your bag as you jog past and throw them in the next bin you see. This not only keeps you fit and works out your legs it’ll work out other areas of your body too and actively helps the environment and your local area.

When it gets to the time when you have to change your exercise gear such as clothes or trainers, find some eco friendly clothing or purchase clothing from a local charity shop.

There are some great technological advances that really make a difference for eco friendly homes. Installing solar panels for instance can be a great way of reducing your electricity bill. More often than not the solar panels you encounter will be hot water panels. These heat the water directly around the system and then pump it into your hot water tank for use. These can however be costly and cost can go into the thousands.

For a more available alternative why not check your house insulation? There is a large range of housing insulation available that can dramatically reduce not only your heating bill but also your carbon footprint as well making an excellent first step towards eco friendly homes.

Switch your normal bulbs for energy saving ones! This technology got off to a rough start as the bulbs had problems with both price and the time it takes them to reach full brightness. This is no longer the case, they are still more expensive then regular bulbs but they last much longer and will save you money in the space of just one year. The bulbs available today react speedily and reach full capacity quicker then the original energy saving bulbs.

Make your self a compost heap at the back of the garden. Getting into a regular routine disposing of your kitchen waste to the compost heap will provide you with nutrient rich soil for growing your own home grown fruit and vegetables.

Shopping Bags
Store any used shopping bags you get while out and about shopping for a variety of uses such as small bin liners for waste paper baskets, or for when you just need to carry something over to the neighbour. You never know when an old plastic bag may come in handy.

Old Greeting Cards
Cut out pictures and shapes from cards to use for arts and crafts with your children. Make them into gift tags, bookmarks or paper chains. If you don’t have want to do this, or don’t have children you can give them to schools, play groups or art centres for children to make collages and other crafts. This is the most popular of our 5 ways to re-use household items.

Glass Jars
Reuse glass jars for storing dried food stuffs in rather than using open packets that have a tendency to spill out. Or store them for making homemade jams and marmalade. You can also use them for holding water when painting.

Old or Chipped Mugs
Mugs that no longer have a use for drinks can be reused as pen holders, paint brush holders or even as pots for small indoor plants on your windowsill.

Yoghurt Containers
Use yoghurt pots as plant pots by cutting a hole in the bottom, placing a large pebble in the bottom and then filling with soil ready for a plant. You can cut the bottom out and use them to protect small plants in the garden in harsher weather.

Old Salad Bowls
These are to be used to photograph an adorable baby. Do you need any more reason?

You may come across all manner of things that you haven’t used in a long time. If this is the case, unwanted cutlery, dinnerware, saucepans can be put aside for charity outlets or, if you are up to it, you can list them for sale on eBay.

Now is the time to go through your furnishings. Make an inventory of furniture items that are outdated and need replacing. Maybe you feel the need for a change in decor - adding new colors and complimentary soft furnishings. You may have spotted an item of furniture that you feel would look great in your sitting room. Upgrade other tired items of furniture. If you plan to offload some pieces of furniture to make way for new furniture donít take it to the local tip if it is in reasonable condition and either ring a local charity outlet to come and pick it up or, if they are small furniture items that you can handle with ease, personally take it in to your local charity store outlet.

Go through your wardrobes and if you have not worn an article of clothing for 12 months, it is obvious you arenít going to wear it. Maybe you will find some items of clothing that just don’t appeal to you anymore, or you have lost or gained weight and they don’t fit you anymore. Gather them aside and bag them up. Go through every wardrobe in the house and get rid of tired clothing that is not used anymore. Even clean worn underwear can be bagged and handed to your nearest Opportunity Shop where they can be sold off as rags.

Go through your linen cupboard and put aside tired bathroom towels, bed linens, and even blankets, which the moths have got to minimally, can be sold off as Pet Bedding. Why would you take anything to the dump when a worthwhile charity could make some money on it?

Old magazines that you have neglected to throw out you may like to take to a nearby doctor’s surgery or nursing home where someone will benefit by reading them.

Children’s toy boxes can be gone through whilst they are at school, to avoid any dramas of toys being removed because, they are sure to kick up a fuss about any toy being taken away from them, even though it has parts missing or they have just outgrown them. Unwanted toys can be taken to your nearest Children’s Hospital where they will be sure of being appreciated.

Again, it is all about recycling. You would have heard that saying ‘One person’s trash is another person’s treasure’.

Maybe you could arrange with some friends to have a community garage sale.

Only use your washing machine when you have enough soiled clothes to make up a full load. When buying a washing machine look for the star rating energy efficiency sticker. Buy a washing machine that has a water saver i.e. a pump that allows you to recycle your washing water and apart from saving on water you will be saving on laundry detergent as well.

Recycle grey water to water your garden or lawn.

If you have a fish tank you will know how important it is to change 1/3rd of the water on a regular basis to keep the flora of your fish tank healthy. Be sure to use the discarded water to good use because it contains nutrients that are beneficial to both potted and garden tanks.

Install an energy efficient showerhead and faucet aerators. There are now available 4 minute shower timers.

When you brush your teeth don’t leave the tap running and fill a tumbler with enough water to rinse out your mouth.

Make sure your garden hose has an adjustable jet feature and preferably brass for longevity over the plastic ones. When washing your car use a bucket and a sponge. When rinsing your car make a point of using a hose with a fine jet and turn off the tap after rinsing your car. Donít just throw the running hose on the ground whilst you are washing your car. The environment would benefit if you could go to a car wash where water is recycled.

When planting trees or shrubs in your garden, install a length of black poly-pipe beside the roots, so that it extends marginally above ground level, to allow you easy access, before you fill in the hole. This will enable you to apply water to the roots of shrubs and plants, where it is needed and will prevent water run-off.

There are now available - crystal water beads that you can place within your pot plants to maximize water content and prevent pot plants from drying out.

Install a water tank to save precious rainwater from just running away.

The conservation of water has become a major issue with governments in relation to climate change. You too can do your bit in conserving water and if you have young children and practice active water conservation - they in turn will do the same. Children learn by example, so be a responsible water conservationist - because without sufficient water - our planet will cease to exist and, if our planet cannot sustain us, we too will cease to exist.

Wool
While wool itself can be a fantastic resource, little to no eco friendly clothes will be made of wool today. Factory farmed sheep live in appalling conditions and cuts are common in efficiency driven farms. Wool has a much larger carbon footprint.

Cotton & Organic Cotton
Contrary to popular belief cotton is not typically an eco friendly product. People usually think that because the cotton is natural it is also naturally eco friendly. Cotton is responsible for around a third of the world’s use of pesticides. It is difficult to obtain real organic cotton. Most organic cotton has no bleaching agents used on it but still has a large proportion of pesticides used. Be on the look out for the Soil Association logo to prevent purchasing a wrongly labelled product.

Hemp
Hemp plants grow quickly, densely and have a natural resistance to pests so the use of pesticides on them is generally not required. They are the fastest growing eco friendly clothes material on the market today because of their benefits. It requires no irrigation and the minimum of processing which means its carbon footprint is significantly less than other materials. It was traditionally used as naval rope due to its fantastic ability to resist water and therefore rot. Clothes made from Hemp are made to last.

The commentaries about the Beijing Olympics highlights a very disturbing problem that is clearly visible to all of us with the naked eye - smog, air contaminants, and pollution.

Manufacturers of light and heavy industries are not only the culprit and have their unique fossil fuel emissions to deal with.

We, the majority of the population - classed as consumers, also contribute to this global problem - we drive cars driven by fossil fuels - petrol, diesel and a variety of oils from transmission fluid to engine oil.

Car pooling with fellow work associates is one way we can lessen the pollutants that are emitted into the atmosphere.

A lot of people are now converting their cars to being driven by LPG gas and the cost of an LPG conversion is paid for within months, should that car still be running on petroleum based gas, at the price it is today.

LPG is a cleaner fuel specifically:-

• LPG produces 33% less CO2 emissions than petrol and 45% less CO2 than diesel
• LPG vehicles produce up to 82% less Nitrogen Oxide pollutants than petrol and 99% better than diesel
• 63% less Carbon Monoxide
• 40% less Hydrocarbons than petrol and 70% less than diesel
• 50% less particulates than petrol and 98% less than diesel
• LPG reduces the cost of vehicle maintenance

At present, the energy that goes into production of other bio fuels such as bio diesel and soy based fuels is substantial and the full environmental impact has not been calculated by the experts.

Although there has been a lot of media attention on electric cars the carbon footprint is enormous. The raw materials are mined in remote parts of the world and then flown to specialist refining plants before being flown to the car plant.

Recharging of cars may also require the use of mains power. Electric power generation has its own ecological problems that are well known. Unfortunately, this will move the problem elsewhere rather than tackling the root cause.

Using public transport is even a better way to do your bit for the environment. Commuting to work on electric trains and natural or LPG fueled buses has to be a better alternative both for the environment and our hip pockets, with the price of fuel skyrocketing.

Although standing in crowded buses and trains at peak hour may not appeal to the masses, it is an effective way to reduce fossil fuel pollutants entering the atmosphere. Peak hour traffic is anywhere from 7am to 9am in the mornings and in the afternoon and evening from 4pm to 6pm.

Motor coaches produce carbon emissions of only 56 grams per customer mile compared to 371 grams for a single passenger vehicle.

If you want to avoid peak hour traffic buses and trains are not the only modems of transport affected. Privately owned cars and trucks can be seen at bottlenecks where our very inadequate infrastructure is busting at the seams with over congested roads and highways. And the road works in progress to help alleviate traffic congestion, causes us even more congestion and hassles.

With this scenario and the cost of fuel, it makes you wonder why anybody would use private transport, transporting just one person, the individual from home to work and back again. Car pooling is not going to address the problem, but it will reduce fossil fuel car emissions marginally from being pumped into the atmosphere at the rate it is now.

If everybody looked outside the square they live in they would realize that they, as an individual, has to be responsible for the pollutants that contaminate every city, world wide.

We humans have to be sustained, clothed and transported. We as humans have caused this pollution problem and, only we can address it and only we can initiate change - a change that is going to effect and benefit every person on the planet. All it takes is for “you” to take the first step.

A valid eco tourism package adheres to the principles of ecotourism. These include minimizing impact, providing a mutually beneficial experience between tourist and host, ensuring direct benefits for conservation and sustaining the host’s political, environmental and social climate.

It is important not only to choose a good eco tourism package, but also to actively behave in an environmentally responsible way during your travels. Why not try cycle and walking holidays rather than driving or motor home vacations. Choosing train journeys instead of planes where ever possible and cycle over cars can help us to cut down holiday pollution. In the case of train travel, you can slow down and enjoy the journey itself. Take the time to enjoy the scenery as you travel to your destination. If you are after a family holiday, you can visit one of the many Green Festivals where events are sponsored by ecological companies and environmental concerns that actively reduce the festivals carbon footprints and promote eco tourism.

It’s always worth researching a particular destination you are interested in vacationing to. What is the real impact of tourism on this area? Has it helped the area economically or has it just destroyed its natural resources and environment? You could also choose to go on a Volunteer Holiday which is becoming increasingly popular for eco-conscious travellers who can enjoy an idealistic setting while helping the local community.