The Living Green exhibit just passed through the  Los Angeles Home Remodeling Show in the L.A. Convention Center, and Los Angelenos got to see some practical and beautiful ways to make their homes more sustainable. Better Homes and Gardens and Green Works, a new line of natural cleaning products from Clorox, created a touring 2,500 square foot Green home, which has been making a 15 city journey across the United States to show people how to incorporate sustainable practices, materials and fixtures into their homes with style-- without breaking the bank.

In June, 2007 Gayle Goodson Butler, Editor in Chief of Better Homes and Gardens started the Living Green section of the magazine.
Curious about how the idea for the traveling tour came about, I spoke with Kitty Morgan, Executive Editor in Chief of BH&G, and she explained, “We believe that a tipping point has been reached in the US- that the general public feels [environmental stresses] are affecting them. They can see it in their gas, food and utility bill prices. It’s what’s in the news. Their kids are coming home from school bringing messages about sustainability- being encouraged to recycle, learning lessons about global warming, etc. And kids get information from each other in such a way that it’s kind of hip to be eco-friendly.

We felt that ‘reduce-reuse-recycle’ would resonate with our readers. They are mainstream Americans who are resourceful, thrifty, love to salvage stuff, and hate to throw things out. They know that trash adds up. And in their own homes is where they can make a difference.”
BH&G wanted to give the public something more interactive and tangible to experience in variety of categories. Something they’d relate to which they could picture in their homes.

Steven J. Whittle, renovation specialist and host of the Living Green Tour said he was asked, “How do we make a house and take it on the road ?” He brought in interior designer Libby Langdon, whom he met years back when the two of them helped create an episode of ABC’s The View, with an extreme kitchen makeover in 5 days.

“The biggest challenge for me was that I didn’t know a lot about Green design, though I wanted to learn about it.”, Libby told me. “I went on the internet and was so excited to discover how passionate people are about Green design and enjoyed learning about the products they were creating.” One favorite Green product that she discovered is EnviroGlas. “They make the neatest countertops, out of crushed bits of just about any recyclable material you can come up with. Everything from old bottles, to toilets, bathtubs, windshields and mirrors; they break them up into little ¼” – ½” chips, mix them in with a resin (you get to choose the color and there are tons to pick from) and create slab countertops. They also make the material in Planks that can be used for flooring.They are so incredibly cool and super stylish!”

The Living Green tour Kicked off in Hartford, CT on February 28, 2008. Since then it has traveled to Greensville South Carolina, San Francisco, San Diego and Las Vegas. Tour host Steve Whittle told me that although it is recognized and that people in various parts of the country differ in some ways from each other, he was surprised that the quality of the questions thruought the states has basically been the same. “Everyone wants to conserve their own resources, spend less money and make wise choices about what they consume.”

To  check out where the Living Green tour will stop next, click here.