Seventh Generation paper towels? Check. Dr. Bronner’s peppermint soap? Check. Stocking your pantry with green products is a start, but there are plenty more ways you can make your home even eco-friendlier. Check out recyclable and energy-efficient – and best of all, stylish – stuff for your house at the PlanIt Greener showcase at the Home & Garden Show, this Friday through Sunday at the Nassau Coliseum. Admission is $10. coliseumhomeshow.com
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If you want to live a greener life, live a simpler life – by spending and consuming less, especially when it comes to your home. “The Simple Home: The Luxury of Enough,” by architect Sarah Nettleton, showcases houses that embrace this ideology – including an 1,800-square-foot Brooklyn row house where minimalism triumphs over extraneous details, a Seattle farmhouse where materials and services were purchased locally, and a solar house in Taos. Nettleton offers strategies for building green, including using recycled, reclaimed and eco-friendly materials, and shows how good design can result in smart, earth-friendly living. Taunton Press, $40.
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Paint it black, or “Blue Echo” or “Anjou Pear,” with Benjamin Moore’s environmentally friendly Aura paint. It’s got a low volatile organic compound (V.O.C.) formulation – under 50 grams per liter. Translated: Less fumes are released into the atmosphere. It also promises excellent coverage and pure color, which means fewer coats. Which also means fewer fumes. About $55/gallon. myaurapaint.com
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When you buy tickets to see Guster at the Beacon Theater, you’ll get a hearty dose of environmentalism with your sensitive alt-rock. Guster’s Campus Consciousness tour features the “Shift Consciousness Pavilion,” an area of booths and exhibits where fans “can feel, taste, smell and hear the latest in environmental innovation.” And while you’re there, try a sample of Stonyfield Farms’ new organic energy drink, Shift. Because nothing says rock ‘n’ roll like yogurt. April 13 and April 14. guster.com
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Do-gooders unite – and get boozy! Every second Tuesday of the month, eco-conscious New Yorkers share environmental concerns and cocktails at the networking event Green Drinks. The group has met at some rather groovy spots, including The Park in Chelsea and The Lucky Cat in Williamsburg. There’s a $10 suggested donation, but if you bring your electricity bill and sign up for wind power, you’ll get free admission. greendrinks.org
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Say hallelujah and pass the wheat germ! The 66,000-square-foot Whole Foods Market inside the Avalon Chrystie Place complex is finally opening this month and bringing all its organic virtue to the Lower East Side. When the crowds storm the doors next Thursday at 8 a.m., they will be shopping in one of the city’s greenest markets – from the eco-friendly refrigerating system to the recycled materials used in its construction to the “source-separation of organic waste for composting.” Ah, so that’s what they do with bean sprouts…. Houston Street at Bowery.