As more Americans get interested in sustainability and reducing their carbon footprints, future university students have started assessing prospective schools based not only on their academics and recreational offerings, but on how green they are. Universities have responded in a range of ways, with some schools striving for carbon neutrality, some creating sustainability strategies, and many fighting to come out as the clear eco-friendly choice. There’s even been enough eco-activity at universities that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) started to rank them by renewable power purchases in 2006.

But now the quest for a greener school is starting to shift to an even younger demographic—the primary and secondary set—and the EPA has released their first ever list of the Top 20 Green Power Purchasers in the K-12 category.

In total, the EPA found that K-12 schools purchasing renewable energy are helping reduce to the equivalent of the carbon emissions from the electricity of 11,000 Americans homes in a year, and that Texas and New York are both home to multiple high ranking green schools. In fact, the Austin Independent School District ranked number one for their large purchases of biogas and wind energy (New York’s first appearance on the list is in the number three spot with the Rochester City School District). Click here to read more

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Most of the time a trip to the ATM means draining money from your bank account, but if it’s a visit to the newly debuted EcoATM that you’re planning, you could actually end up with more money to your name. The EcoATM doesn’t withdraw cash but instead accepts used cellphones (we’ve all got one in a drawer somewhere), assesses their secondary market value, and offers up gift cards, trade-ups or charitable donations for the device.

The idea isn’t so different from the take back programs that are now being offered at some major electronics retail stores like Best Buy, but EcoATM hopes that the convenience of being able to visit a machine, get a quick estimate on value, and receive tangible rewards for the effort will convince more consumers to recycle their cellphones. And if they’re successful, the positive environmental effect could be huge; more than 100 million cellphones are thrown away in the United States every year and they leach toxic chemicals into landfills. Worse yet, the components that need to mined to make cellphones are wasted, instead of being reused by manufacturers who can avoid further mining—a problem EcoATM could be instrumental in solving. Click here to read more

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San Francisco, the famous city by the bay, is hoping to soon be sending out significantly less physical government mail every day. The city—along with Newark and New York—is participating in a trial program with Zumbox, a company that’s hoping to move much of America from traditional mail to paperless online mail.

Through Zumbox’s new “paperless postal service” San Francisco residents can opt to access their municipal mail online without having to receive it through their everyday e-mail address. Instead, SF dwellers visit the Zumbox website and use their name and physical address (work or home) to access an online mailbox. The move could result in significant savings for the city if the service becomes popular, as Zumbox has made sending the mail free for municipal and state governments (receiving mail as a consumer is always free).

Although the financial benefits of the switch are an undeniable motivator in trying the new technology, all three cities involved have cited the environmental ramifications of traditional mail as a key reason for the change. In San Francisco, a shift to paperless mail could be crucial in the city’s goal of reaching zero waste by 2020. It’s not hard to imagine the positive effect that could follow in the trial cities through reduced paper and fuel use, especially if many residents are willing to alter their postal habits. Click here to read more

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If you’re needing to send out some “big deal” cards in the near future—whether they’re for a recent graduation, a baby on the way, or a wedding in the works—you’ll be hard pressed to find anything more unique to you than the personalized cards from Britt Benjamin for Red Stamp. All of the cards feature a hand drawing of you based on a photo you send in; not in exact portrait style, but in a fun, playful way that’s reminiscent of caricatures drawn at carnivals or park benches.

We love the Personalized Graduation Announcement for all those who’ll be departing high schools and colleges this month and want to give a quick update to everyone on their plans (as well as perhaps raise some funds for future endeavors), and the Personalized Belly Girl Baby Shower Invitation is cute enough to get any girl excited about playing games involving diapers and baby bottles. For the recently engaged, the Personalized Save-the-Card card would perfectly match a couple focusing their wedding on all things fun, and for the recently married a Personalized Wedding Note Card would be a great platform for thank you notes. Of course, you don’t really need any occasion at all, a basic Personalized Calling Card never goes out of style. Click here to read more

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An organic t-shirt or an eco-friendly lip gloss might not be the first thing that attracts you to the hot guy or girl across the room, but it might factor in to how successful your relationship will be long term. So if you’re single and looking for a man or woman who could potentially live a sustainable lifestyle with you, it might might be time to ditch Match.com and sign up for EcoDater.com instead.

The just launched dating site aims to make eco-conscious love matches. The online dating community says it caters to all kinds of singles within the natural, holistic world–vegan, vegetarians, organic farmers, outdoor enthusiasts, yoga practitioners, hardcore environmentalists and more. Like most dating sites, you can use some features for free, but if you pay you’ll have access to more features. The cool thing here is that you can feel better about paying for dates because EcoDater will donate a portion of your membership fee to charities like the National Resources Defense Council, American Forest and the World Wildlife Fund. Click here to read more

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