Mind expanding New Year resolutions

We all need the injection of energy that the start of a fresh year brings.  It’s hard to avoid the reminder to stop the wheel of life, re-group, tweak priorities and chart a course for exciting new destinations.  There’s something about opening a fresh diary, that same feeling of writing for the first time in a crisp new exercise book back in school days. How about pencilling in those blank pages

Mind expanding New Year resolutions

We all need the injection of energy that the start of a fresh year brings.  It’s hard to avoid the reminder to stop the wheel of life, re-group, tweak priorities and chart a course for exciting new destinations.  There’s something about opening a fresh diary, that same feeling of writing for the first time in a crisp new exercise book back in school days. How about pencilling in those blank pages

Sustainable Flooring Ideas for Being Eco-Friendly During Your Home Redesign

There are actually plenty of ways you can live green. It should be noted, however, that not too many of them are as fundamental as when you’re getting ready for going about a house redesign. One way to do this is by going with sustainable floor coverings.

A Few Great Reasons for Choosing Earth-friendly Floors

Compared with many of the materials you’ll select while in the process of the redecorating, floor covering is a factor in each room in your house. Regardless of whether you are fixing up your home for a higher likelihood to sell, getting around to that one room you’ve forgotten about for a while, or you’re merely working on a more beautiful decor, your flooring can be a necessary element in designing a sustainable house.

Because so many different supplies are being utilized in the redesign, being certain that these are recycled building materials is more than a little crucial for reducing your negative footprint. Natural flooring will make a huge difference in how green your revamp is. Selecting the wrong materials is not only not being green, and it’s not just being less natural : it is damaging, and downright wasteful.

Your Environmentally-responsible Flooring Design Options

Please don’t feel that you have to sacrifice beauty to avoid causing damage to the environment. You’ll find alternatives that are elegant and legitimately green.

As one example, natural hardwood flooring is a bit more costly than its less earth-friendly alternative ; however, it’s definitely more lovely. Many people don’t realize how many options lie right before them.

An acceptable list of your options is comprised of Earthy-friendly cork, bamboo, linoleum, hardwood, and tile. Top of the line natural flooring can easily be matched to suit your preference, style and overall layout.

No matter if it’s hardwood made from green materials or natural cork with a low price and good usability, you’re certain to find an option that’s great for your needs.

Looking past natural flooring, you should also buy natural glue if you choose to put down tile or linoleum. Remember , many of the standard adhesives come with a copious amount of formaldehyde — which is good for neither you nor the environment.

This information comes from Green World 365. Check out this insightful blog to discover the nuances all-natural wool rugs.

Spending for positive change

For all of us concerned about the earth’s precious and limited resources, Christmas time really stretches and strains our conscience.  We think carefully about the purchases we are making, about whether they are necessary and whether they are responsbile.

At Biome Eco Stores, we agonise every year over finding the balance between participation in the consumerism of Christmas and operating a

Essential oils for Christmas

Tea light candle holders made from Australian Banksia seed pods

Diffusing essentials oils in your home at Christmas will not only help with creating a lovely festive aroma, but they can encourage a calm and relaxed state of being – a special gift at this busy time of year!

Although we have a hot Christmas in Australia, we still love the warming and woody oils traditionally associated with

Employ a “Green” Architect to your “Green Residential” Home

What you think of when you think of “green”? Certainly, there’s the color, but today, green means a whole lot more than that. Today, green architects are becoming ever more popular, such that green residential living is a new focus. All architects, of course, focus on having a home be aesthetically beautiful and fit the surrounding environment, as well as the occupant’s personal lifestyle and habits. However, today, green architecture also focuses on treating the planet as gently as possible and on saving money, too.

Green architects are ever more demand, focusing on building green residential homes that are aesthetically pleasing and environmentally friendly at the same time. There’s a lot of competition out there, and it may be difficult to find a green architect that’s going to fit your needs perfectly. There’s a lot of new competition among green architects, because green residential living is a new focus these days. There are new products and ideas on the market on a daily basis, changing continually. Green architects focus on building houses that use natural environmental heating and cooling capacities, and can build houses so that homeowners can actually save thousands of dollars over the life of their home in energy costs and in other costs, too.

If you’re new to green residential living, take a moment and consider it. Do you want to live a healthy life that respects the environment, focusing on wind, solar and other alternative energy sources? If you do, take a look at what green architects do. Doing a little homework at the start will go a long way toward pointing you in the right direction to the architectural firm that will do the job right for you.

True green architects will be U.S. Green Building Council (LEED) Accredited. The LEED program regularly recognizes outstanding companies that are creating a greener future for homeowners and public facilities. Checking through past awards and ratings of green architects is a great place to begin your list of possible companies.

Europe has actually been developing green architecture and resources for several years, such that they may already have designs available utilizing alternative energy sources as a matter of course. Therefore, when you’re looking for green architects, look to European countries as well as American ones. For example, someone from Germany or Switzerland may have experience that an American green architect isn’t yet going to have developed. Green technology in America is in its first stages of development, while European companies, by contrast, may already have the latest developments not yet available in the US. It may also be true, for example, that European green architects can get products at less cost to you as compared to US companies.

If you want to help the environment, save energy, and save money, green architecture can’t be beat. You can cool or heat your entire home through green energy sources, utilize green materials that focus on conserving energy, and build your house with “green” materials. Save money, help save the planet, and get your house built based upon your own lifestyle and needs, too. The architect you choose will need to sit down and analyze all of these things thoroughly, so that you get the best design for your lifestyle and needs. Green architects, too, should focus on customizing their designs to you, just as any architect would.

Green residential living has become “in vogue” in recent years, although it’s always existed to some extent for the last several decades. Choose from among green architects who have enough experience and can show you a portfolio of previous work such that you’ll be comfortable hiring them. Ask detailed questions during your interview, such as what exactly they do to make their designs more “green” friendly, what materials they use, what methods they use, and so on. Ask questions, and if you’re not sure about something, have the architect in question clarify.

There are many excellent green architects in the marketplace today but also a few that will try to slap the name on their business in order to compete. Finding a competent and knowledgeable company that can create and build your green residential home to your expectations will provide you with an abundance of cost savings and a healthier way of life.

For those who found this data useful you will find more descriptive expertise and also articles at Eco Building and really should the main topic of Green Architects be of much more use for your requirements please feel free to take a closer search.

Teenage skin care

We’re thrilled to introduce Harmoni’s Kiss Certified Organic*, Australian-made skin care for teenagers.

Melissa Lowe developed Harmoni’s Kiss teenage skin care out of
concern for the chemicals her three daughters were exposed to.  She wanted personal care choices that were gentle yet effective, without compromising
on fashion or fun.

Harmoni’s Kiss has carefully selected
ingredients to

Recycling, the art of re-invention

 
A gorgeous new product we have in store at Biome has inspired this post for Planet Ark’s National Recycling Week being celebrated right now.

Made from reclaimed cotton shirts, this little recycle yourself doll on a key fob is accompanied by a booklet that tells its story from cotton on the bush transforming to a smart business shirt, then to a discarded shirt, before its re-invention

Six reasons we love Goodbyn lunch boxes

Six new colours, six reasons we love Goodbyn…

(1) In our house, Goodbyn are the only lunch boxes we have bought for two years, which I feel makes them great value. The children have used theirs every day for school for two years and they are still going strong.  The plastic is sturdy but flexible, and there are no hinges to break.

There is no need to buy a new lunch box each year. The

What is a super food?

What is a super food? And why are we interested?

At Biome, we have a little belief statement that guides all we do and offer to our customers.

We believe in…
the power of simple choicesrespect for all who share our planetplants, not petrochemicalssun-grown, not synthetichand made with hearthonesty in labelling 
a 2nd useful life for everything, and
nature having the answers … if

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