apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

When ideas gain speed in the marketplace, marketers take note. So when the natural food movement became popular, we all noticed more "All Natural" stickers popping up on our grocer's shelves. Likewise with eco-products, greenwashing soon became a phenomenon. Now, there's another phenom to look out for: Localwashing...

A few months ago, sewing became the new "it" thing in our house. Pillowcases, simple bags, and... well, more pillowcases were sewn with upcycled fabrics. Now we have another goal for our new hobby: making patchworks of any shape and size. The idea came when a favorite shirt with an interesting print on the front became worse for the wear...

Pardon the pun, but these creative dog feeders found on Etsy totally bowled us over. With stainless steel removable bowls nestled into vintage wooden crates, they make the perfect accent for the right space. But that's not all you'll find at Juliacuster's shop: there are eco-conscious collars, too...

We balk if there's a little visible pollution in our beautiful Texas skyline, or bottles floating in the lake—but we can't imagine living in one of the most toxic places on the planet. Jump below for the Mother Nature Network's list of the most polluted places on earth, and find out what you can do to help...

In prepping for a weekend of holiday crafting, we came across our random collection of buttons. Over the years, the collection has amassed all varieties —from flat and colorful to big and bulbous, all found in thrift shops, grandma’s attic, and sometimes on the floor. Buttons always seem to be left behind, and many crafters have kept every stray or interesting button they've come across. So here are a handful of tips to put all those buttons to use. Or re-use, assuming they’ve already lived at least one life as a fastener...

Meet Fernando, who will live his entire life on a farm in rural Texas.

It's encouraging to see so many people vocally concerned with their food choices. People are turning toward local foods and organics, and there's a heightened awareness about factory farming and its effect on our environment. Now Jonathan Safron Foer's book Eating Animals is forcing people to ask the question: "Should we eat animals at all?"

Who knew there was a day set aside nation-wide to concentrate on home weatherization? Well, the U.S. Department of Energy has declared that today's the day, so be sure to take a good look at your home's weatherization. We've compiled our best tips to help you out —click here to find out what all you need to do.

While we wait patiently for climate change legislation to move through the halls of the U.S. Congress, it's easy to think there's nothing we can do. But thinking that is wrong! Chances are you've got city and state elections on November 3, and there may be some ballot measures that affect how green your local community is...

We spent a few hours helping clean house last weekend for the 'rents, and room after room of wood floors meant we used the Swiffer to our heart's content. But tossing the cleaning pad and reaching for another one made us feel wasteful... So we searched for an alternative. And oh yes, there are alternatives...

Our kitchen has been "Cured" a couple of times—both with Apartment Therapy and on solo missions. We've pared things down to the true essentials, and that means we have one bamboo cutting board that gets a lot of action. And guess what? We despise hand washing it every night. Enter the dishwasher-safe bamboo cutting board....

Growing up, our mother tried desperately to teach us how to cook. Back then, even scrambled eggs were a challenge. Now that we're all grown up, we're finally catching on. (Mom's so proud.) Recently, we realized that heeding two of her tips have actually been saving us energy and money. These two stovetop tips can be employed every time you cook, so while they may not do much on their own, their aggregate green value is definitely worth it. Are you ready?

If we happen to lapse on taking our reusable totes to the store, which isn't very often anymore thanks to this post, we ask the cashier to pack our groceries in paper bags. Even though there's still a debate on which is greener, we find that we're more able to reuse the strong paper bags than their plastic counterparts at home, in oh-so-many ways...

We love mosaics for two reasons. From a design standpoint, they make a stunning visual impact with the use of patterns and pieces. From a green living point of view, though, mosaics make use of small pieces that may have otherwise been tossed. Jump below for some of our favorite uses of mosaics inside and outside the home...

We know that large-scale farming as it exists today presents all sorts of problems, ranging from the mass-producing scale to soil and resource depletion. Which is why Wes Jackson's work at the Land Institute is so important: he and his team are working on ways to fix what climate change and population increases have done to our food supply.