November is well underway and another cold winter is looming for most of us, and that means more than just chilly temperatures—it means spending more money. The average American household is spending more than $2,000 a year on energy bills and almost half of that is from heating and cooling. While AC in the summer can be avoidable, depending on where you live, there are many who have no choice but to reach for the thermostat once the temperature starts to plummet.

Making the (small) investment for a programmable thermostat, however, can help you lower your monthly energy bill and reduce the carbon emissions that result from your energy use. One of our favorites is the Clairion Eco-Save Programmable Thermostat, which is truly an easy investment at $48. The Eco-Save Thermostat connects to your gas, oil or electric heating and/or cooling system and can than be programmed to meet your heat needs as they vary. Different settings for weekdays and Saturday and Sunday mean you won’t be blasting the heat while you’re away at the office or going without when you’re stretched out on the couch on Sunday afternoon (all without you having to change the thermostat). Click here to read more

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This Sunday is America Recycles Day and there’s no better time to get started (or get serious) about recycling. Celebrating its 12th year, America Recycles Day was designed to encourage all Americans—that means you too—to recycle and to buy recycled products, and you can use it as a reminder about your own recycling habits.

On the America Recycles website you can find out Dos and Dont’s of recycling, search out an America Recycles Day event near you, sign a pledge to improve the planet through recycling efforts (and be reminded of your promise), and even play around with something called “The Conversionator”, which will show you the benefits of everything you recycle—like how recycling two glass jars per week saves enough electricity to power a CFL for 40 hours.

If you’re already pretty advanced with your recycling, use America Recycles Day as a reminder to integrate more recycled products in your must-buys (from clothing to cutlery, there are recycled content versions of almost everything). Or, if you’ve been meaning to start recycling but keep putting it off, make Sunday the day you start. Click here to read more

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If your idea of eco-friendly bedding only includes lightweight organic cotton sheets (in earthy tones) and pricey bamboo sets, it’s time to expand the list. Why? For one thing bamboo is heavily debated as eco-friendly bedding. There are certainly some bamboo options that are made without heavy processing and those would get a green stamp of approval, but there are also versions that have been so chemically-processed to get to their soft state that it’s hard to say if they’re any greener than their conventional cotton counterparts. And when it comes to organic cotton, if you think a variety of patterns and feels don’t exist, you’re missing out.

As things get chillier, one of the best under-mentioned eco-friendly bedding options is organic flannel, which is made from woven organic cotton. It’ll hold up to colder temperatures and help you resist the urge to reach for the thermostat (and every time you say no to that you’ll save big bucks). The Organic Charcoal Flannel Bedding from Gaiam is one of our favorites for its luxe materials and its far from New Age-y look. Click here to read more

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Living in a small space (read: any apartment that’s Manhattan-sized or similar) may be better for the environment, but it doesn’t always feel great. Maybe you want to separate yourself from your roommates—two in a one-bedroom seemed like such a good (and cost-effective) idea when you moved in—or maybe you just don’t want to look at your kitchen sink while you’re in bed in your studio apartment. Either way, being a renter means you’re limited on renovation options. And if your trying to save a little cash with your small space, chances are you’re limited in the budget sense as well. Enter the Bamboo Screen from Gaiam.

We’ll admit that at $299 the bamboo room divider isn’t the cheapest thing on the market—especially if most of your furniture was picked up by the cheap and green method of scouring the sidewalk—but it’s worth the extra money. This room divider is made from eco-friendly, pesticide-free bamboo stalks and can conform to any space, meaning you can curve it around that any weird features of your apartment or just arch it to create a pseudo-bedroom. And because the bamboo screen is so flexible (and strong, like bamboo itself) you can roll it up and store it if you want a break from the look. Click here to read more

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With the real estate market down it’s not a bad time to pick up a condo, but if your budget is down like the dollar, you may want to look for something a little smaller, say a condo for bees. Sure it won’t have the features that you’d look for in a new home, like stainless steel kitchen appliances and insulated windows, but it will support the survival of the dwindling bee population and even the agriculture of the United States.

Bees have been a buzzword in the world of environmental causes lately (even Haagen-Dazs has a bee campaign) and that’s because their populations are shrinking so suddenly and in such shocking numbers (bumblebees are lingering near the endangered list) . Scientists haven’t been able to determine the cause yet, but it’s thought to be a number of factors, with global warming and pesticide use as two main concerns. The weather variations caused by global warming can prevent flowers from blooming and, in turn, bees from surviving. Rampant pesticide use, on the other hand, results in pesticides accumulating in the layers of the honeycomb and has been linked to reduced longevity for bees. Click here to read more

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