Bloodthirsty mosquitoes spread disease like the West Nile virus and cause major skin irritations, yet the most powerful insect repellants contain the chemical DEET, which may be responsible for insomnia, mood disturbances, epidermal reactions and impaired cognitive function. DEET melts some plastics, so perhaps putting it on your skin is not the best idea.

Rather than produce fire-safe cigarettes, a clandestine group of cigarette lobbyists organized the National Association of State Fire Marshals, which over the last several decades has successfully pushed an agenda to enforce the use of flame-retardants in many items found throughout our homes including furniture, carpeting and electronics. This has led to extremely volatile chemicals such as PBDEs (polybrominated diphenylethers) producing toxic dust that can make us extremely sick. With all that we know about chemicals including pesticides and the plastic polymer, bisphenol-A, there are more reasons than ever to make efforts to minimize flame-retardant exposure in your home.

After they’ve finished keeping your eggs safe, most egg cartons get relegated to the recycle bin. (Please, not the trash!) As a weekly essential in many refrigerators, that’s a lot of disposed egg cartons. Put your leftover egg cartons to good re-use with these five nifty (and crafty!) ideas.

Trying to kick the sugar habit? Aren't we all… and it just may help if you begin to see sugar not as a food (as if it ever really was!), but as a DIY-lover's ingredient. You can do quite a few things with your stashes—white or brown—and turn that once-awful nemesis into a friend worth keeping around. Here are our seven favorite non-food uses for sugar.

Vegans everywhere rejoice! After years of bringing granola bars on every vacation just in case you can't eat anything on the menu, sitting uncomfortably on leather resort furniture and looking the other way as your travel companions sample non-vegan delicacies you can't stomach, there is finally a place where you can eat everything on the menu, and enjoy yourself without the slightest hint of guilt.

Show some love for honey bees in June by participating in Honey Bee Awareness month! To raise awareness for dwindling honey bee populations, Whole Foods Market has designated June as Honey Bee Awareness month. They'll be offering activities, events and classes at their locations in the southern Pacific region of the U.S. throughout June and July to promote awareness of the importance of honey bees. If you don’t live in that area, you can still make changes in your life to help support those vital buzzing insects!

Whether you're planning a casual dinner party or mapping out your dream wedding, you want your mailed invitation to stand out (and to stay out of your buds' recycling bins). Also, with the high number (and cost!) of little cards, envelopes and printed papers begging guests to, "please -- please -- RSVP," you want to use eco-friendly supplies, right? Luckily, there are many companies that create invitations with eco-friendly ink and recycled or handmade plantable paper.

While the DIY-eco-minimalist lifestyle is certainly gaining more and more traction in American homes, the opposite is also true as we see in extreme examples like the television show, Hoarders. With so much stuff in the world, it's easy to find ourselves overwhelmed with too many things not quite ready for the landfill. And you can credit companies like Wal-Mart and Target for demanding cheaper products from their suppliers, which ultimately means a quicker need to replace those items once they start to self-destruct. But not all needs to go to the landfill… and not all needs to clutter up your home, either. So which goes where? How can you reuse without hoarding?

After a big bash at your place, your recycling bin is likely brimming with beer bottles. While recycling certainly helps keep all those leftover bottles out of the landfill, you can do one better. Upcycle your post-party surplus of bottles into new (and useful!) items for your home and garden. Give these five ideas a shot!

The sight of a few ants outside is totally fine. But when you spot those same tiny pests marching across your kitchen counter, or swarming your beloved pet’s food bowl, you start to get angry.

It’s time to assemble natural ant control methods, build a few contained ant traps, and declare an ant-free abode.