The Monthly Newsletter of greenlight magazine

Will Easter's Peeps come back to haunt us in landfills in the 22nd century? (At least one "scientific study" demonstrated that Peeps are indestructible.) Each day and season brings us new green dilemmas – and opportunities.

We'll let you decide whether or not your seasonal celebrations include any legendary marshmallow treats or if you'd rather get delicious hoppies in your easter basket. Read below for other less controversial spring opportunities, such as how and what to clean. And, of course, you'll see how to celebrate one of America's great holidays – Happy Earth Day!

—Bill Marken, editor in chief, greenlight magazine

• Spring (ugh) cleaning
• A natural lawn
• Turtles racing for their lives
• A greener office

One of the season's less welcome associations involves the tradition of spring cleaning. If your home and family are like mine, the question is, where to start? There's so much to do. The good news is that there are now many safer, earth-friendly products and techniques. Let's start with a few that are important to me and perhaps to you.

• GRILL: After limited winter use of the grill, I get out the good old Simple Green for most clean-up chores, such as removal of ancient grease and general touch-up. This is a great product to keep near the grill and use after each time you barbecue.
• GRANITE: A new product from Method is designed specifically for granite and marble counters and other surfaces.
• ALLERGIES: My allergist told me to get serious about dust mites in the bedroom -- I feel like the boy in the bubble. Eco-Terric has a number of safe, achievable steps, including a healthier mattress and a spray to control mites.

As with many new green alternatives, we wonder: How effective are they? To get ratings of green products, check Consumer Report's green section.

Do you have tips to share for greener spring cleaning? Click here and let us know.

By now, most of us know that a lawn is not the most earth-friendly way to cover ground around your house – it's sort of like growing a mega-ag corn field in your front yard, demanding lots of water, powerful chemical fertilizers, and scary pesticides. But lawns have their virtues, and we're not suggesting you switch cold turkey to gravel or let nature take its course. Instead, look into more natural ways to maintain a lawn. Help has arrived with a new nonprofit called Safelawns.org.

Safelawns offers a number of tips for a greener lawn, including:

• Obtain a soil test. Never spend money on any fertilizer or soil amendment without first consulting the results of a soil test.
• Grow the right grass. The most common lawn grasses in North America, Kentucky bluegrass and Bermudagrass, also need the most water and fertilizer to grow well. Other species such as perennial ryegrass, fescue, seashore paspalum and centipede grass may be better for your region.
• Water deeply and infrequently so the roots of the grass learn to go deep. Morning watering is always recommended so that the surface of the lawn dries off during the day.
• Mow properly. Recycling your grass clippings by leaving them on the lawn will provide approximately half of your lawn’s fertilizer needs for the season. Keep your mower blades sharp. Depending on the species — Bermudagrass and seashore paspalum are the exceptions — lawns should be mowed no lower than 2.5 inches, even higher in the summer.
• Avoid synthetic materials. Fertilizers manufactured in a laboratory often burn lawn grasses and soils. Fertilizers and soil amendments should come from materials that were once living plants or animals, or mined minerals such as lime or sulfur.
• Add compost, which contains all sorts of beneficial microorganisms that add life to the soil. These organisms will interact with the organic fertilizers to provide a healthy lawn. Compost in liquid form, known as compost tea or extract, should be used in combination with dry compost because the liquid form is available to the soil and grass more quickly. This is especially important during the years of transition from a synthetic system.
• Overseed regularly. In nature, all plants produce seed to reproduce themselves. In a lawn system, where we mow regularly, grass is not allowed to reproduce and even the healthiest plants get tired. By overseeding in spring or fall, you are introducing robust young plants that will fill in bare areas and compete aggressively against weeds.

For more tips and much else, see Safelawns.

Knowing my friend Mark's marketing creativity (getting interviewed in his boxer shorts on CNBC, for one thing), I wasn't surprised at the ingenuity of a new fund-raising project he's involved in: The Great Turtle Race. It's a model for ways to involve major-league corporate sponsors and to put a spotlight on an overlooked environmental cause. And it's fun.

Sign up on the race website and you can track 11 leatherback turtles (a magnificent threatened species, "going faster than you think") as they swim from nesting grounds in Costa Rica to the Galapagos Islands. You can also pick your favorites and contribute to turtle protection.

After we saluted Adobe's green office building in our February newsletter, Pam – one of our typically conscientious readers – shared her suggestions on actions to make her workplace more earth-friendly:

1. Turn off lights when conference rooms are empty.
2. Print double-sided on my personal printer.
3. Use junk fax sheets or confirmation sheets for scratch paper.
4. Re-use a plastic salad container (since I eat salad often at the cafe at work).
5. Carpool and walk between co-buildings when I can (rather than use my car for short distances).
6. Bring my bike to work in good weather and use it as transportation between co-buildings or for errands at lunch.
7. Order recycled paper or goods from the office supply catalog.
8. Recycle plastics and paper. Give boxes and packing materials that have been shipped to me to Mail Services so that they can re-use for another shipment.
9. Encourage my co-workers and company to make green choices -- if the context is there for me to work it into a conversation.

Thanks, Pam. Let me add a good source of office information I recently discovered at the NRDC web site on how to use less paper. 

Bank of America offers breaks to green small businesses. 

Latest Harry Potter book will be printed on recycled paper.  

Crate and Barrel offers a handsome sofa with a wood frame certified by Sustainable Forestry Initiative. 

For one day, at least, on the New York Times web site, an article on vanishing honey bees attracted more visitors than an article on Anna Nicole Smith.   

San Francisco bans plastic shopping bags. 

Even drinking water at restaurants is going local.

In the Winter issue of greenlight magazine: Great Green Gifts · Save Money on Energy Upgrades · Reality Check on Electric Cars · A Movable Fireplace · Smart Gift Wraps · Ski Where It's Green · Best Gift Books (for Kids Too) · Click to Read!

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Editor's Picks

Celebrate Earth Day

Take part in the "National Day of Climate Action" on April 14.

Send a digital card that serves a greater good.

Looking for organic cotton bunnies and other eco-Easter gifts?

Learn about water-efficiency around your home from Santa Monica's pioneering program.

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