“Every year, tons of electronics are thrown in the garbage, creating a severe worldwide e-waste problem. Still, most of us love our gadgets and pine for the newest versions when they’re released.”
What should we do with our tech leftovers so we don’t contribute to the dilemma?
Here are some ways to re-purpose your old PC, Smartphone or monitor that will help you get more life out of it while taking care of Mother Earth.

Make a Media Center —Your PC or laptop isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer anymore, but it can still be a useful media storage device. Back up your pictures, music and videos to your old machine, then install software that allows you to easily stream content to your home theater, like Plex (www.plexapp.com). Voila! You’ve got a server from which you can watch movies through a network connected Xbox or Blu-ray player.

Make a Hot Spot — Having trouble connecting to your wireless network from the back bedroom of your house? Turn your old laptop into a Wi-Fi hotspot using Connectify (www.connectify.me). Simply connect your Wi-Fi-enabled system to your router with an Ethernet cable and follow the instructions. Connectify will use your laptop’s Wi-Fi card to boost and re-broadcast your Internet signal.

If the kids get online downstairs and you suffer from dropped signal upstairs, you could move the router and cause your kids to revolt when they lose connectivity. Instead, run one Ethernet line upstairs to the old laptop and have it act as a Wi-Fi range extender. Install Connectify on the old system and it broadcasts a Wi-Fi signal to the surrounding area. ...Keep On Reading!

Do you find it odd that we dedicate full days, or weeks, to celebrate things like General Pulaski Memorial Day and National Dairy Goat Awareness Week?

When I was younger, I viewed Earth Day in a similar fashion. Sure, I’d recycle bottles and cans, but only if it was convenient and I certainly wasn’t going to pay more or go out of my way.

Now that I have a family of my own, the idea of finite resources has more impact. Unfortunately, my need for things to be easy and cost-effective remains, perhaps more so now that it’s driven by necessity more than laziness. Earth Day gives me a feeling of guilt and malaise — how can I possibly have an impact on such a huge issue? Lucky for me, there are a multitude of online resources to help me, and you, discover small, achievable changes to make a difference.

Worldwatch Institute has put together a great list of 12 easy changes that anyone can implement. While you’ve probably heard of all of them, it’s presented in a format that makes you think, “Oh yeah, I could totally do that.”

Instead of just a list, it gives a suggestion for how to easily put each step into practice. For example, under “Plant a Garden,” it recommends planting lettuce seeds in a window box because they are “cheap and easy to find, and when planted in full sun, one window box can provide enough to make several salads’ worth throughout a season.” ...Keep On Reading!

By: Andrea Eldrige.

I have a lengthy list of things I should do but don’t get around to, such as cleaning out the garage. A little monetary persuasion pushes me to action.

With the approach of Earth Day (April 22) and the fact that I really need to get on with reducing, reusing and recycling, I’ve found some technical solutions for going green that sometimes even make some greenbacks.

Recylebak

First stop is Recyclebank.com, website of a New York-based firm that awards points for recycling, participating in contests, watching videos with eco-friendly tips or taking surveys from sponsors such as the gift site Uncommon-Goods and cereal-maker Kashi. ...Keep On Reading!

One of the more inefficient habits that I can’t seem to break myself of is stubbornly maintaining a paper trail in a digital world. I print confirmations of online purchases, email correspondence, even documents sent to me electronically.

I can’t explain it. If pressed I readily admit that it’s unnecessary and less secure, and yet I’d probably print out our email conversation, just to have it on file.

However, as portable electronics become more popular and cloud-based applications get more integrated into our day-to-day lives, printers will surely go the way of fax machines.

Here are some ways to wean yourself gently, so that when your granddaughter looks puzzled when you ask her to print something it won’t be such a shock.

Even I have to admit that printing emails is rather silly. Internet-based email providers such as Gmail and Yahoo give users a huge amount of storage space. Emails are accessible anywhere you have Internet access, and aren’t susceptible to loss from fire, theft or random acts of accidental shredding. ...Keep On Reading!

So now that you’ve untangled the rats nest of wires, and you’re down to one remote, you look over at your keyboard and it looks like you’ve got a crumb factory EEK! Well DON’T put your keyboard in the dishwasher (like some suggest) use these neat tips and tricks to make your tech sparkling clean again! ...Keep On Reading!

The easiest, little known secrets to recycling.
Recycle, repurpose, and  resell.

In this video Andrea talks about the best local recycling resources. She shares about some companies who will even pay you for used merchandise.

Local resources covered in this video include:

• Epa.gov
• Ecosquid.com