Green Gab Podcast – Green Homes, Green Living And Green Companies

I’m Marla, the Green Home Coach. Thank you for joining me today for another chapter of my book, Living Green Effortlessly: Simple Choices for a Better Home.  Simplifying has been high on my list right now, and my book can help you make some simple choices for a better outcome!  With the help of my book, we will be covering another set of systems and features of your home to help you make the best of them, either as they are or if you plan to upgrade them.  In this episode, we will be covering Chapter Three: Energy Efficiencies. How Can You Be Comfortable and Get the Most for Your Energy Dollars? I know that is something we are all trying to do, so be sure to stay tuned for more! Where do you start when you want to start greening your home? You should start with whatever is affecting your comfort right now. If you are cold, some of the systems that come into play are the building envelope, the heating and ventilation system, the windows, the window coverings, and even the ceiling fan.  This chapter This chapte

I’m Marla, the Green Home Coach. Thank you for coming to learn about how you can take advantage of all that I have to share with you to make your home healthier, more comfortable, and safer.  This podcast series is about my book, Living Green Effortlessly- Simple Choices for a Better Home.  I wrote the book because I understand that making more educated and better choices about our homes can have a big impact on how we live in our homes. By making some simple changes and better choices, we can have far healthier and safer outcomes.  This series will incorporate my book, and it will cover the basics of all the systems and features of your home. We will also explain how to make the best of all the features. In each session of the series, we will cover another chapter in the book. We will read some excerpts from the book and the stories that go along with them.  Today, we will be covering Chapter Two: Your Comfort, Health, and Safety: Start Where You Live. Stay tuned for more! Between you and the outdoors Betwee

I'm Marla, the Green Home Coach, and I welcome you to the first unit of teaching based on my book, Living Green Effortlessly: Simple Choices for a Better Home. I would like to talk to you about green homes and explain why they are the best homes of all. I'd also like to tell you how easy it is to green your home, and if you want to go all-in and create your own dream green home, we can talk about that too. Are you ready to learn more about green homes and how to have one? Then stay tuned! This series will cover some of the highlights of my book. And it will help you to learn about what you may be able to do in your home.  Today, we will be covering Chapter One: What Is An Everyday Green Home? Life happens in your home Your home is your refuge, and it is also the place where life happens. Our homes have a secret life with all the complexity of modern life. We could unknowingly be living in, building, or remodeling a home that is not in our best interest. It may be something big, like old lead paint or mold, ne

Welcome to another episode of the Everyday Green Home Podcast! This will be my last podcast for the year, and what a year it’s been! When we look back on this past year, my hope is that we are able to see the silver linings that were in amongst all the challenges that we faced in 2020. I’m pulling another great episode from the archives for today’s show. It features my regular guest and co-host, Tony Pratte from The Sound Room, and this podcast will be all about green labels. It’s easier than ever now to have a green household. However, many companies and labels provide misleading information. How do you know if your products are clean? One simple way is to see if it has a green label.  So, in this episode, Tony and I discuss what green labels are and why you should care...spoiler alert, the biggest reason you should care is for peace of mind! That is something we all need right now. We also discuss other labels and companies that provide certified clean and sustainable products and how you can integrate them

Today, Steve Hengsperger, the founder of Tersano, the company that created the iClean, is joining me as my guest for the show.  Steve started Tersano back in 2002, and they work with ozone technology for water treatment.  Ozone has been used for quite some time in water treatment systems on a large scale. Municipalities use it, bottled water manufacturers use it, and it is also in hot tubs and Olympic swimming pools. Tersano has taken that technology and miniaturized it so that it can purify your water at home for drinking.   In 2003-2004, the EPA, FDA, and USDA all came out with their statements about using ozone to sanitize produce and surfaces, so Tersano came up with a quick prototype for a home cleaning and sanitizing system.  Be sure to stay tuned today to find out all you need to know about the small cleaning device that Tersano created that uses ozone technology for cleaning and sanitizing your home. It is chemical-free, completely non-toxic, and works incredibly well!  People were more interested in

Welcome to another episode of the Everyday Green Home Podcast! It’s hard to believe that Thanksgiving is almost upon us again! With all that has happened this year, I feel that it is vital for us to focus on all the things for which we can feel grateful.  I have been keeping a list of all the things I’m thankful for, like my family, friends, and my precious husband! I’m also grateful for resources, my skills and experience, and for the plentiful abundance that I am so fortunate to have in my life. Today, I am bringing back a podcast from earlier this year. It is with my guest co-host, Tony Pratte, from The Sound Room, and it’s about having a no-touch home. I feel that it is relevant right now in the middle of this crazy pandemic because we have all become so much more aware of the things we touch. Having many of the things in our homes automated helps a lot when it comes to cleaning, preventing cross-contamination, and the spreading of germs. It can also be fun, safer, energy-saving, and a lot more convenient

Welcome to another episode of the Everyday Green Home Podcast! I am excited today to have Casey Grey as my guest!  Casey is the founder of The Conscious Builder. It is based in Ottawa and has a podcast and a YouTube Channel. Casey has been in the construction industry for over seventeen years, and he has had his business for a little longer than ten years.  Both Casey and his business have been growing and evolving. Casey has managed to carve out a great little niche in sustainable building that complies with the Canadian Passive House, Net Zero, and R-2000 certification standards, and his business continues to grow in that area. At The Conscious Builder, both their renovations and their custom homes comply with Canadian certification standards. Casey is joining us today to share his story and talk about the building industry, climate change, advances in technology, and what you need to focus on when you are building or renovating a home. Why Casey decided to become a builder Growing up, Casey thought he woul

I am celebrating fall today! So many things we associate with fall, like the fall harvest, and fall food, focus around the idea of community, which in this time of the pandemic, has taken on a whole new meaning.  The source of food has become a hot topic lately, and people are trying new ways to meet their food requirements. I, for one, in my efforts to avoid the discomfort of going into grocery stores, have learned the joys of curbside pickups, supporting the smaller stores in our area, and going to farmer's markets to enjoy the bounty from our local farmers. That inspired me to pull this podcast with Chelsey Simpson from Urban Agrarian out of the archives and put it out into the world again! I know you are going to love it! Chelsey is a local business owner in the Oklahoma City area. She is the co-owner of Urban Agrarian, a delightful non-traditional grocery store that primarily stocks locally-sourced products.  Chelsey tells us all about the stores she co-owns, she explains what it takes to find the very b

I have pulled one of my favorite instructional podcasts out of the archives for today! It features my great gardening friend, Jackie Marie Beyer, of the Green Organic Garden Podcast, as my guest. I do not have a green thumb, and this show has helped me a lot with gardening! Jackie started the Green Organic Garden Podcast in 2015. Her initial motivation was to give her husband, their head gardener at home, a platform for teaching people how to garden. He has a lot of gardening knowledge to share, and when Jackie started her podcast, she knew very little about gardening. Jackie is now my resident expert for all things gardening! Over the last five years, she has done more than 300 interviews on the Green Organic Garden Podcast with some of the most incredible gardeners who have all shared their knowledge! And although Jackie works full-time as an elementary school teacher, she has found that she is spending more and more time in the garden each year. In today’s episode, Jackie will be talking to us about some o

Today, I am excited to introduce you to Autumn McMahon, the Manager of Marketing and Member Relations at Oklahoma Electric Cooperative (OEC).  Autumn has a relatively new podcast as part of her role at OEC. It launched in April this year, around the same time as the pandemic changed the world. Surprisingly, it turned out to be a good time for her to launch a podcast! In today’s episode, Autumn shares how she has been using OEC's "The Current Buzz" podcast to meet her members where they are at and deliver a lot of useful content to them in a short amount of time. She also discusses what keeps her motivated and what she has learned from OEC's members. I am sure you will enjoy our conversation, so stay tuned for more! Content is getting consumed at a much higher rate  Autumn's marketing content is getting consumed at a much higher rate right now than ever before. Because people are at home now, and they are in front of a screen more often. Figuring out new routines Many people used to listen to podcasts while th

For the month of September, I have selected new and past guests on the podcast to showcase women who are making a difference. Today, I’m bringing yet another show that I really loved out of the archives for you to enjoy. This podcast was recorded back in May of 2017 with Suzanne Shelton, the founder and owner of Shelton Group, which is one of the leading marketing communications agencies, exclusively focused in the energy and environmental arena. They are sustainability marketing experts! In our conversation, we spoke about the work that Suzanne’s company does with market research and polls, and how it has given them a chance to gain an understanding of what people are thinking, their perceptions, and what they are doing in terms of energy and the environment. The pandemic has raised our awareness of the health, wellness, and safety issues that we have in our homes. This has become more and more important as we look to support the companies that reflect our values in what they are doing. It is still relevant,

This month, I am enjoying highlighting so many women who have made a difference! My guest for today is Donna Miller, the founder of Purse Power. Donna has made a difference in my life, and also in the lives of many other women!  Donna is a former Human Resources Executive who spent thirty years in Corporate America. A few years ago, she and her sisters came to the blinding realization that women make 80% of all the purchasing decisions. They understood that it meant that if women collectively choose to buy only from the companies that actively promote women, and they could create a funding stream for battered women’s shelters in the process, they could shatter glass ceilings and change women’s lives in a matter of quarters rather than decades. That was how the idea for Purse Power was born. Since then, they have started doing presentations about what they have been trying to create, and they have built a national platform of more than 750,000 women-owned and women-led businesses. And they have also created a

Welcome to the Everyday Green Home Podcast! Today, I’m happy to be sharing a very humorous podcast that I pulled out of the archives. My frequent co-host, Tony Pratte, and I recorded it in St. Louis, back in the spring of 2017.  In this show, Tony and I interview Angie Mendica, who works with Crescent Plumbing Supply in St. Louis. We met Angie through the Homebuilders Association in St. Louis, and Angie and I were also together in the Professional Women in Building Council.  Angie is very funny, and she is a delightful person to have around in any situation! She has been with Crescent Plumbing Supply for about a decade, and her role is to educate people about the benefits of their plumbing products. A big part of what she does is talking about toilets.  Today’s episode focuses on the quantity of water that we use in our homes. We discuss the importance of saving as much water as possible, and we talk about the benefits of having the right kind of plumbing fixtures and a good toilet. And Angie explains how we

I’m excited to share today’s podcast with you! This show originally aired two years ago, back in 2018, and Sheridan Foster, the founder of the digital media company, Elemental Green, is my guest. We have a great conversation today about how Elemental Green makes it easy for you to make sustainable choices that are better for you, which will also enhance your living experience. Going green is a constant learning curve. Sheridan and I are passionate about everything related to green homes, and we both love connecting people with information. We hope you will enjoy learning about greening your home, and discovering how it will improve your health and wellness, and make your life a lot more comfortable! The founding vision for Elemental Green  Sheridan founded Elemental Green with the vision that every home can be a greener home. She created the company as a resource for homeowners, builders, and designers so that they can make every decision, for either a home-build or a renovation, more sustainably. Elemental G

A few years ago, I met Steve Feldman, the Founder, and CEO of Renovation Angel, on a panel presentation at the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show (KBIS). Steve has had an interesting career path with an unusual twist, and in 2001, he stumbled into an incredible market that nobody else was doing at the time. He is joining me on the podcast today to share the fascinating story behind Renovation Angel, and to talk about its process and achievements, his grand vision, and the positive way the project impacts the whole community. Our conversation will give you something new to think about regarding ways to recycle and reuse things in the home. Steve’s colorful background Steve used to be a rock and roll DJ back in 1979. His first job was playing classic rock from eight in the evening until one in the morning, at a radio station in Westerly, Rhode Island. He stayed with the radio station for eighteen years, moving up from a DJ, to Program Director, to Sales Manager, and finally to Senior Marketing Manager for three sta

The desire to create a green and healthy environment comes to everyone from a different place, and for many of us, it was something in our childhood that initially sparked our interest. My guest for today, Sara Ivey, spent much of her childhood playing outside, and gardening, composting, and recycling was the norm in her family home while she and her brother were growing up.  I invited Sara to join me on the podcast to talk about the Oklahoma Green Schools Program, to discuss the role she plays in the Department of Environmental Quality, and to explain the importance of helping our children understand where all their resources come from. About Sara Sara wears several different hats. In her first role, she is the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Green Schools Program, which involves working with schools all across Oklahoma and helping them to go green in a way that best suits each school. In her other role, she is the Education Coordinator for the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, and that meshes

Life has changed in so many different ways for everyone as a result of the global pandemic, particularly in the area of schooling, which has become a big issue for most parents. So I invited Beth Brown and Keri Knutson to join me today to talk about some solutions.  Beth and Keri both have children in school, and they have been doing a lot of work to solve the current problems around schooling. They are with me today to share what they are learning and experiencing and to talk about the innovative ideas that they have come up with for educating children in the best way possible under the present circumstances.  About Beth Beth is a creative person, and she has a background in interior design. She is currently involved in social media management, and she works from home as a virtual assistant.  This year, she has decided to home-school one of her children. About Keri Keri is a teacher by trade, and she has been working in different capacities in the field of education for the last seventeen years. For most of

Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. A couple of years ago, my regular co-host, Tony Pratte, and I did a podcast about these three Rs. The idea behind this trio of actions is to extend the life of an item so that we don’t keep on having to manufacture new ones.  Well, there’s a fourth ‘R’ now, and that’s REFUSE, which gives us the power to refuse to act in any way that will add to the current global crisis. This global pandemic has changed so much about our day-to-day living and almost everything that we used to think normal has changed in some way. In fact, Tony feels that the only thing right now that is normal is chaos! Join us in the conversation to learn how this is the perfect time to look at everything in a different light and to consider doing things in a new and better way.  Tony’s bio Tony is the Director of Builder/Contractor Relations at The Sound Room in St. Louis, Missouri, where he is responsible for building relationships between home builders and The Sound Room System designers to help create the ulti

Companies that pledge to be a force for good! That's exactly what B Corporations do. Gail Garey, founder of Impact 360 Strategies, shares what B Corporations are, and how her love of the outdoors and her corporate background set the stage for her work with B Corporations.     Her mission is to guide and empower business professionals to accelerate environmentally friendly and socially responsible sustainable business practices that improve the bottom line and create positive social change.    Gail provides some tips to assist people in taking the right action. She also shares valuable information about the things that we all can do in our busy lives to make a positive change in the world.  Gail’s bio Gail is the founder of Impact 360 Strategies. Her mission is to guide and empower business professionals to accelerate environmentally friendly and socially responsible sustainable business practices that improve the bottom line and create positive social change.  Gail’s background Gail has worked primarily in th

You can make a bigger difference than you think to the environment by making small changes to what’s on your plate.  We’re talking about food today, and we have Hannah Levbarg joining us to talk about how to green your plate. Hannah will be discussing the benefits of plant-based nutrition, and she will explain the effects of a plant-based diet on the environment. About Hannah Hannah is a realtor in Sante Fe, New Mexico, with Berkshire Hathaway Home Services. In her spare time, she is a passionate amateur in plant-based nutrition, and how the way we eat affects the environment.  Hannah is originally from Austin, Texas, and she went to Oklahoma University. Most of her friends and family are still in Austin.  Health issues in Texas In Texas, there’s a huge population of twenty to forty-year-olds being hospitalized for COVID, and many of them have issues with being overweight, diabetes, and early-stage heart disease.  Hannah’s passion for food Hannah has a huge passion for food, and she’s been an avid cook for al