Caring for the environment doesn’t always cost money. Your concern for the environment can actually bring you cash. There are ways to earn money by going green without leaving your home.

Going green can refer to engaging in any activity that helps protect the environment. By engaging in green activities, you will not only be able to reduce pollution and the pressure on Mother Earth, but you will also be able to save up on your monthly bills and earn money as well.

You could start by carpooling. This will not only reduce your energy consumption, but will also help you save on gas. If you take the public transportation instead of driving your own car, you can save on maintenance and fuel costs while reducing the carbon dioxide being emitted in the atmosphere (your carbon footprint).

Here are some additional ways you can help the environment and earn money in the process.

Opt for green energy

Instead of relying on the non-sustainable energy from the power company, why not make use of wind or solar energy to power your household? There are people who save up to 80% on their energy bill by using green energy. Some even sell back the excess electricity and earn income in the process. Consult with your local power company to see which renewable energy source you can opt for.

Segregate your garbage

Don’t put all your garbage in one bin. Put your vegetable peels and other waste that can be composted into a different bin, so you can create compost for a natural soil conditioner and fertilizer. Recyclable waste like bottles and plastics should be placed in different bins to be sold to recycling companies later on. In addition to your county recycking program, there are small businesses that buy different types of waste for recycling purposes. Check them out if you want to earn and turn green at the same time.

Sell your old batteries

Some batteries are very toxic. You should never throw them into the trash. If you no longer have a use for them, look for shops that buy old batteries. If your car batteries are no longer working, there are recycling stores that buy old batteries or get them in exchange for a rebate for new batteries.

Energy Rebates

The government often has rebate programs that will pay you to add insulation to your house or convert to wind or solar energy. These programs allow you to earn money over and above the energy savings you will earn in future months.

These are only a few of the many ways you can help protect the environment by reducing waste and consumption and earn some income or benefit in the process. You can be creative and think of other ways you can be green and enterprising. The next time you start making important decision that will require you to use energy or consumer products, ask yourself if there is a way to do this without harming the environment.

Nothing ruins a happy home, yard, and garden like uninvited guests – by which I mean destructive critters that thwart your efforts to build and maintain a household and home. Worse is that most of the pest-control “solutions” out on the market are toxic not only to the pests but to you and me and our pets and the environment too! What’s a green redneck to do?

Thankfully, there’s a good old fashioned green home remedy for most pest problems just like there are for pretty every other household problem. Here are several of the most commonly useful:

• To make all your plants as pest and disease resistant as possible, grow them to be as strong and hardy as possible. Use good (natural) fertilizers – like your own homemade compost – rich soil, etc. Healthy plants are naturally pest and disease resistant.
• Add to the pest and disease preventing power of your garden by interplanting too – that’s planting all different things together in the same area rather than “monocropping”, where you grow each crop in a separate patch. Since different pests gravitate towards specific plants, it will be hard for any one pest to propagate when its dietary options are so spread out.
• Then, after harvest, rotate your crops – planting different crops in different patches each season. Rotating crops reduces the likelihood of a pest infestation to pass over from one season to the next in any given patch.
• There are also natural pesticides like neem oil and insecticidal soap.  These aren’t as effective as some chemical pesticides, but they will kill bugs without leaving a harmful residue on foods.
• Diatomaceous earth is a dry powder derived from the shells of marine organisms. It can be used to deter and kill crawling pests.

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A while back a company was making “Barnyard Tea” in actual tea bags. According to sites selling the stuff:

“A Canadian company has devised a method of drying organic manure, preserving the nutrients and removing all odors. Then they package it in standard tea bags. Being made from a blend of cow, chicken, pig and horse manure, it is great for fertilizing house plants, seedlings and transplants.”

The stuff looks way too much like herb tea for my “taste.” I wonder how many boxes were sold and then used as practical jokes? Move over whoopee cushion.

That failed product has not stopped another company, “Authentic Haven Brand” from selling somewhat larger bags of poop that are designed for the same purpose. These bags are significantly larger, and much less likely to be confused with the kind intended for human consumption. You can even choose between cow manure, horse manure, and alfafa – the latter intended for roses. It looks like some really high-class sh.. stuff too. According to Annie Havens their tea is “pure manure tea. Harvested, sun dried, Eco-hand packaged from the by-product of Haven raised grass fed livestock only.” She goes on to say

“It’s not the manure I am selling as much as it is the purity of the Manure I’m selling! We’re the real Green Deal here. Do you know what the cattle and horses have been fed, that your manure comes from, chances are No! Have they been medicated, wormed, antibiotics fed to them?”

Okay, so it’s not just high class, it’s really green too.

Manure tea, by the way, is an organic plant food. It’s the organic gardener’s version of Miracle Grow. Organic gardeners (and others) use it in the garden and on container plants. It adds good stuff beyond what you get from chemical fertilizers.

You can also make your own manure tea, of course. This is what I recommend (even though Annie makes a good case for knowing what the animals ate). Real rednecks make their manure tea from scratch. Here are two articles that will teach you to do this:

• Bruce Zimmerman’s recipe uses a pillowcase to make large batches of the stuff.
• Willi Galloway suggests that you just dump the manure in a bucket full of water, and then strain it later.

If you don’t want to get your hands dirty, try Annie’s product.