ShareThisKitchen Counters. Purchase natural materials for countertops, such as natural stone or wood instead of using laminate-style tops. The natural varieties use less energy to produce.X...X...XCabinets. Select cabinets made with sustainable woods, such as eucalyptus or bamboo, or ones made from salvaged or recycled wood. You also can save wood by only updating the cabinet doors instead of replacing the whole cabinet.X...X...XUse Recycled Hardware. Flea markets or secondhand shops offer a wide variety of used or vintage knobs, door handles and hinges for cabinets. Reusing existing hardware reduces waste.(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
Paying taxes unites us. It also divides us. People can pay five and even six times more in state and local taxes than other folks in similar circumstances making similar incomes.
Who's got your number?
In one of the fastest-growing forms of identity theft, crooks are stealing tax refunds by swiping personal information and using it to trick the Internal Revenue Service.
Sustainable bamboo?
Bamboo's phenomenal growth rates are only "sustainable" if you dump lots of fertilizer and pesticides on them, and knock down competing vegetation with herbicides. In addition, natural forests are being cleared for bamboo plantations, and bamboo's transport from the other side of the planet negates any environmental benefit you might think you're getting. Eucalyptus is grown in tropical plantations. Nothing wrong with that, but why not choose naturally sustainable, abundant hardwoods from the U.S.? We have more than twice the standing timber volume we did 55 years ago (check the latest USDA Forest Service statistics), we operate with some of the toughest environmental regulations in the world, and hardwood forests regenerate naturally, with no inputs of fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides...all the while providing clean air, clean water, wildlife habitat, recreation and aesthetic beauty. The greenest product you can choose is right in your own back yard!