Living Green

Hydros Bottle: Providing Clean Water On The Go And Where There Isn't Any Yet Available

Clean water rocks.

Drinking clean, filtered water usually requires a sink-mounted or pitcher type filter, but you could free yourself from your home filter by grabbing a water bottle that does the filtering for you.

Here at The Fun Times Guide to Living Green, we've been fortunate enough to test to test two filtered water bottles, over the past couple of weeks.

Last week, I reviewed the WaterGeeks stainless steel filtered Water bottle, a bottle that filtered water as you drink it. But this week, our buddies over at Hydros Bottle were kind enough to let us try their Hydros water filtering bottle.

The Hydros Bottle differs from the WaterGeeks bottle in that it filters water as you pour it into the bottle, not as it comes out. Hydros Bottle is also committed to providing clean water where there isn't any currently available, not just to thirsty consumers.

Continue reading: Hydros Bottle Review

How Much Does Your Commute REALLY Cost?

A big part of being green is using green transportation. And, as I’ve discussed many times before, using green transportation is not just good for the environment, it’s good for the green in your pocketbook, for your health, and, I would even argue, for your personal happiness.

Interestingly, a lot of people don’t consider the transportation options at a house or apartment in much depth before choosing to live there.

Continue reading: Commuting Costs

A Guy Walks In To a Bar and Orders a Pharma-Chemical Laden Water...

Water has become the "civilized" world's new wonder drug...and most of us don't even realize it. The ever-talented Joe Mohr paints the picture in such clever style:

Joe says,

Between 2006 and 2007, the Southern Nevada Water Authority in Las Vegas screened tap water from 19 US water utilities for 51 different compounds. The 11 most frequently detected compounds are highlighted in the cartoon and described below.

Continue reading: Pharmaceuticals in Water Cartoon

WaterGeeks Filtered Water Bottle Review

It’s the end of the summer, hot outside and everyone is looking for a little extra water. I don’t know about you, but I prefer drinking filtered water.

Those filtered water pitchers are great but most people drink the majority of their water away from the home, making them unavailable when needed. The people at WaterGeeks saw this problem and came up with a solution, a stainless steel filtered water bottle.

Continue reading: WaterGeeks Water Bottle Review

Biodegradable Poop Bags That Actually Biodegrade

Being a dog owner can easily morph you into  a planet fuc....messer upper. And reducing your pup's carbon pawprint isn't as easy as you'd think.

Consider poop bags if you will. What are they made of? Plastic.

We spend a lot of time around here talking about all kinds of ways to rid your life of plastic bags (and bottles), so why not let rid your pets' lives of them as well?

Continue reading: Biodegradable Poop Bags

7 Reasons Public Transit Is Cool

Getting around by means of public transit gets a negative rap in the U.S. But I think there are a lot of cool things about public transit that could get more people into it.

Here's a list of 7 cool things that come to the top of my mind...

Continue reading: Public Transit Is Cool

The Trek Lime: A Bike Anyone Can Ride

There are many great reasons to commute to work on your bike...including some super secret ones you've never realized. If you've decided to join the fun world of bicycle commuting you will definitely need to make sure to have...a bike.

Genius eh?

If you're somewhat new to the biking world, dont' worry, because I've discovered the ultimate bike for beginners...the Trek Lime.

Continue reading: The Trek Lime

5 Hidden Benefits to Bike Commuting

You’re driving home from work in stop and go traffic and a cyclist passes you and proceeds up the line of cars. This makes you wonder, “why don’t I commute on a bicycle as well?” Your mind starts reeling with all of the other well-known benefits of bike commuting:

• It has no carbon footprint
• saves you money
• Helps you lose weight.

In addition to those popular reasons, biking helps reduce your carbon footprint by lowering the amount of air pollution since you’re not driving your car. Water pollution is also reduced by not having brake fluid, antifreeze, etc  produced that would typically drip from a car.

Commuting to work will also save money by not having to pay for the ever increasing gas.

But what about those hidden benefits that no one thinks about? They’re almost more exciting than the ones I just listed.

Continue reading: Secret Bike Commuting Benefits

Don't Buy a Lawn Mower, Rent a Goat

Mowing the lawn is a very time-intensive and also energy-intensive activity. I've heard of people using goats for this job, which seems like a cool and more sustainable way of trimming your lawn and dealing with weeds, but how many people have goats to use for such a task? And it doesn't make much sense for most of us to get a goat just for trimming the grass.

Nonetheless, where there's efficiency, there's money to be made, and some creative, environmentally caring entrepreneurs have decided to start goat rental services in some cities to capitalize on this green-friendly alternative.

Continue reading: Goat-Powered Lawn Mowers

The ThinBike: Amazingly Simple Bike Design You Wish You'd Have Thought Of

Have you ever tried to maneuver a bike in tight spaces such as a subway, crowded street, office, or apartment building? Yeah, it's pretty difficult.

Well Graham Hill, the founder of TreeHugger.com, has come up with a new bike design that will solve urban cyclists problems everywhere.

Derek Markham says,

[Graham's] latest foray into problem-solving, a collaboration with bike manufacturer Schindelhauer bikes, has resulted in what he calls the ThinBike -- a full-sized urban bicycle that all but disappears when brought indoors.

What do you think of the design?