After an extended, gray winter, Seattle is now enjoying the kind of summer that reminds us why we live here.

As the long-awaited sunshine pulls us from our fleece cocoons and recharges our vitamin D levels, THIS SPACE is here to remind you that sunshine also offers one of the simplest, low-investment opportunities for saving electricity -- the solar clothes dryer. You might recognize this energy-efficient technology better as a clothesline.

Hanging clothes to dry used to be a commonplace event, but largely disappeared with the arrival of affordable, convenient appliances.

That convenience comes with a cost, which you can turn into a savings. More...

Turns out, going green doesn’t just mean staying comfortable in your hemp socks. Sure, you can dip your toes in the green pool and see how it feels for awhile but eventually you wind up getting sucked into the whirlpool of changes. The craziest part is that you know that’s where you belong.

In my first year of consciously living greener I made quite a few changes, some more challenging than others but nothing quite as dramatic as say, giving up something I really, really love. Like Red Robin’s Whiskey River Burgers. Or bacon.

But, it’s a new year and I find myself committed to the cause, for better or worse. So when EcoMetro readers Diane and Bonnie suggested I examine how my eating habits impact the environment, I had to take a closer look. More...

The holidays can be a tricky time to please everyone gathered at your table. Tofurky, started in 1995 in Hood River by the Turtle Island Foods Company, came into existence to meet the need for holiday foods for vegan and vegetarian guests. Check out this history of Tofurky, Where's the Beef?, in Good Magazine online. Tofurky is made with organic, non-GMO soy beans and is available at most of our grocery merchants with coupons.

Turtle Island and the Humane Society run a program called Tofurky Tuesday to encourage American families to eat less meat starting one day a week. Meat production has a significant environmental impact. According to the Tofurky site, "If you reduce your meat consumption by only 20% (only 6 meatless days a month!) the energy saved will be equivalent to that saved when you switch from driving a sedan car to a hybrid vehicle." The Tofurky Tuesday package includes vegetarian magazines and coupons for meatless products. Sign up here. More...

Your iPod has been a faithful travel companion, guardian of your most sacred digital music and status symbol among today’s technorati. So what will you do when it reaches its golden years and the screen begins to flicker or the battery begins to fail? Repair or Upgrade? You have more options than Apple might like you to know. More...

Thanks to companies like Credo Mobile (formerly Working Assets) and recyclers like CollectiveGood.com, environmentally conscious consumers have long been able to choose a socially responsible cell phone plan and recycle their phones when they’re ready for a new one.

But consider that surpassed 3.3 billion last year (equivalent to about half the world’s population). That’s a lot of cell phone handsets. And when you think about how often people upgrade their phones without recycling that’s a lot of handsets heading to the trash. In fact, more than half a billion cell phones are already in landfills.So it’s a relief to hear that Nokia, the world’s largest maker of cell phone handsets, is trying to create a greener cell phone. At last weeks Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas (nirvana for any tech junkies like me), Nokia debuted a non-working prototype of the Eco Sensor Concept they announced last year. The concept is a hybrid of eco friendly materials, energy efficiency and - get this – “a wearable sensor unit which can sense and analyze your environment, health, and local weather conditions.” Now that’s allotta phone. More...

An estimated 23% of landfill debris comes from construction sites, so remember to not only reduce your waste, but also post your own leftover materials on the swap forums for someone else to utilize or donate to one of the following stores. More...

Looking for a hiatus from consumerism? Join others in the region through the Compact, a network of individual groups committed to not buying new products of any kind for a 12-month period. More...

Reducing consumption, buying things that last, buying used and recycling all your waste are great goals that are more and more achievable, particularly with the amazing resources in the East Bay. In addition to this book, check out the Bay Area Green Business Program  for a list of businesses in the region who have been certified for conserving resources and following good recycling practices. More...