Editor's Pick, Sustainable Living

A Story of Tragedy: What Some Soldiers Face When Returning Home

This is a story of one of the soldiers who came home to find things are just not the same as they use to be. We often find it easy to love people who look good. However, we also often don’t like people who can be an inconvenience to us. The real war for soldiers begins when ...

Troy Oakes

Soldier sitting with hands clasped. together sitting on sofa.

5 Natural Ways to Purify and Freshen Your Home

Keeping your house smelling fresh is not as simple as it sounds. Using air fresheners — such as plug-ins, gels, aerosols, candles, or incense — are common ways to purify the air and freshen a house around the world. However, while they smell great, evoking feelings of contentment and even nostalgia, they also come with some disturbing consequences. ...

Raven Montmorency

Open shelving in a kitchen.

Hardest Wood in the World: How Is It Measured?

Trees are a fundamental part of our ecosystem, and there are an estimated 73,000 different tree species on Earth. Different trees have different kinds of wood suitable for various uses depending on their characteristics, qualities, and hardness. So what is the hardest wood in the world? Particular tree types with needle-like leaves such as cedar, ...

Arianne Ayson

Larch tree timber logging in autumnal forest setting.

This Startup Creates Beautiful Furniture by Repurposing Used Chopsticks

People habitually use certain accessories in the kitchen and dining table that end up in the trash. One such example is chopsticks. First used by the Chinese, they later spread to other East Asian cultural sphere countries, including Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. As ethnic Chinese emigrated, chopsticks as eating utensils for certain ethnic food took ...

Emma Lu

Furniture made with ChopValue.

3 Influences of Well-Groomed Mothers on Children

What impacts do well-groomed mothers have on their children? Ms. Zhou and Ms. Zheng live in the same community and coincidentally both have a son and a daughter.  This year, Ms. Zhou’s eldest son is in the second grade and her youngest daughter has just started kindergarten. Every morning is the busiest time, getting up ...

Helen London

Young mother standing by a crib reading to her daughter from a picturebook.

7 Hacks for a Zero Dollar Garden

Have you always felt like having a garden at your tiny apartment or house, but the required cost and effort proved to be a deterrent? Like millions of people, spending a lot of time and money on the plants in your garden may seem tedious for you. Did you know there are hacks for growing ...

Raven Montmorency

Plants planted in plastic jugs.

How to Cope With Financial Stress

According to Verywell Mind: “Financial stress is emotional tension that is specifically related to money.” Financial stress can happen to anyone but is more often found in low-income households. Financial stress can trigger anxiety and depression and cause friction amongst loved ones.  Financial stress can also cause physical symptoms like insomnia, headaches, and fatigue.  Some signs that ...

Katrina Hicks

Woman sitting on the floor surronded by bills and a calculator, sitting with her dog.

How Will You Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions in 2022?

A resolution is a formal decision to do or not do something. Many people follow the tradition at the beginning of making New Year’s resolutions with which they resolve to continue good practices, change undesired traits or behaviors, accomplish personal goals, or make other improvements to their lives or environment.  Resolutions are many and varied. Some people plan to change a bad habit , such ...

Katrina Hicks

Notepad with list for New Year's resolutions sits on a desk with a cup of coffee, a blue alarm clock, colorful rubberbands, and various colored markers.

For Dreamers and Realists: Self-Sufficiency in the Country

There are so many people who can’t think of living without the amenities of urban life and who love the technological marvels that have made human life so comfortable. Self-sufficiency isn’t even in their vocabulary. However, the reality is that technology is a sword with dual edges. With rapid urbanization and a lifestyle dependent on ...

Armin Auctor

A dirt road leading to a farm.

Can You Power Your Business With 100 Percent Renewable Energy?

Like any company, HP (Hewlett-Packard) faces challenges from competitors. However, the company has set a challenge for itself by joining RE100, a public commitment to using renewable energy. HP’s first step — having 40 percent renewable energy by 2020. Worldwide, companies and nonprofits are setting deadlines for their conversion to renewable energy, and HP is a recent ...

Armin Auctor

HP office.