Solarpunk home aesthetics aren’t about $400 planters. The underlying principles — biological abundance, daylight, vernacular materials, integration — are cheap and apply in a 750 sq ft rental. Here’s where to start.
‘Natural’ cleaners on store shelves often contain quats, MIT, and phthalates. Here’s what to actually avoid, DIY recipes with vinegar / baking soda / castile soap / peroxide, and brands that aren’t greenwashed.
Soap sprays don’t kill caterpillars. Coffee grounds don’t deter slugs. Here’s actual non-chemical pest control by pest type — what Bt does, when to hand-pick, and which beneficials to encourage.
Conventional lawn care relies on synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, and obsessive watering. Organic lawn care works as well at a fraction of the cost, with no barefoot risk for your kids. Here’s the actual playbook.
Plastic in the kitchen sheds microplastics, leaches into hot food, and stains permanently. Here are 14 specific swaps that matter (ranked by impact) — and 4 that don’t.
Oxybenzone causes coral DNA damage at 62 parts per trillion. Hawaii banned it in 2018; reefs are recovering. Here’s how to pick reef-safe sunscreen (mineral filters, non-nano zinc) without sacrificing skin protection.
A 1,400 sq ft roof catches ~870 gallons per 1 inch of rain. Here’s how to design, size, and build a residential rainwater system — from a single 55-gallon barrel to a 5,000-gallon cistern.
Bokashi, worms, counter-top electric, frozen drop-off, or balcony tumbler — five composting methods that work in a 600 sq ft apartment without smell. Here’s how to pick the right one.
Solar panels degrade at a median 0.5%/year, but premium panels do 0.25% and bargain panels do 1.0%. Here’s the actual physics — LID, PID, microcracks, encapsulant browning — and what makes the difference.
Three ways to use solar electricity you don’t immediately consume: net metering (1-for-1 grid credits), feed-in tariffs (fixed export payments), or battery storage. Here’s the economics and policy risk of each.