When will the weather make up its mind? First I’m wearing a sweater, then I’m stripped down to my sundress and sweating bullets. Summer is such a fickle time. Living in an old apartment building, we don’t have air conditioning, so keeping cool is its own daily challenge. Don’t get me wrong – I enjoy eating ice cream and fresh-cut salads to try and stay cool. Nevertheless, I don’t think I’ll be able to look at spinach the same way again (or that pint of chocolate chip cookie dough in the freezer).

How do you maintain your eco-intentions without melting into a muddle during a heat wave? It all starts with turning off your A/C (if you have one). I know, I know – you think I’m crazy, but trust me, this is going somewhere. Each A/C unit can release more than 2,200 pounds of carbon dioxide every year, according to Gretchen Roberts in Natural Health Magazine’s July/August 2008 issue.

There are a number of other ways to keep your home (whether you’re in a house, condo or apartment) cool during the warm season. Here are a few to put into place:

1. Use the microwave instead of the oven, so you don't unnecessarily heat the house up. (Hello, Amy’s frozen dinners!)

2. Add light colored window treatments. (Time for stylish curtains!) The U.S. Department of Energy says you can block out as much as 40% of summer heat with them. The pale colors help to reflect light away from your home, whereas darker colored will absorb the heat and displace it into accompanying rooms.

3. If you haven’t already, replace your light bulbs. Incandescents release 90% of their energy as heat – “not cool” during those warm summer evenings. Replace them with CFLs or, better yet, LED lights.

4. Use a ceiling fan – though it won’t do much to cool your rooms, it will cool you off. Human skin can cool down by up to 10 degrees with a breeze blowing on it. Don’t have a ceiling fan? Small room fans are a great alternative.

5. Open the windows in the evenings and leave them open until morning, allowing cool night air in: close windows during the day (especially those facing the sunny side of the street) to keep the cool air inside.

Navigating the world of green toothpaste is a little like trying to find a good handbag at a discount store - lots dodging of formidable land mines (aka ladies) who are determined to find that $50 Kate Spade, even if it means blowing up a few people along the way. So why bother? Well, because it's not considered a food, conventional toothpaste contains lots of potentially harmful stuff, including artificial colors, flavors and sweeters that are known to cause cancer in lab animals, like saccharine. Not to mention fluoride, which many natural health advocates insist is bad news. Since 1997, the FDA has required that all fluoride toothpastes carry warning labels. Don't believe me? Check out your tube. Mine reads "If more than used for brushing is accidentally swallowed, get medical help or contact a Poison Control Center right away."

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I get it about recycling. How many times do you spend the week carefully separating plastic from your cardboard from your glass, only to bring it down to the containers and find your 90-year old neighbor has dumped a dried floral arrangement from 1976 right in the middle of the bin?

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