Gaiam

Living in a city doesn’t usually go together with making your own compost, but there are plenty of city dwellers with small gardens, rooftop gardens or even just a tiny scrap of backyard or balcony to grow a few pots of tomatoes and herbs, who would love to be able to turn kitchen scraps into rich fertile compost. Yet it seems like such a cumbersome messy process. This spinning composter takes all of the hard work out of it and promises to produce compost in a month, or just a little more, when used correctly. The easy spinning motion aerates the compost, adding oxygen and speeding the decomposition. It’s perfect for urban gardeners and for those of us trying to reduce the amount of refuse sent to landfill sites. If you make more compost than you can use it’s easy enough to give it away to gardening friends or even sell it! The capacity isn’t huge, but it’s enough for a small family. Many users plan to get a second one so that compost making is continuous.

Priced at $199 at Gaiam
(plus $18 for compost activator to get you started)

These pretty solar lanterns are wonderful for creating a romantic atmosphere in the backyard, for entertaining or just for every day satisfaction. They glow a golden harvest moon colour and look magical hanging from the branches of trees or from the porch eaves. They look like paper lanterns but are actually made from a durable weatherproof nylon, so can be left out through rain and weather. They have a solar recharging panel on the top of the lantern. This works well when they are hung in a sunny postion, but if they are in full shade you will need to take them down to charge, which could be a nuisance if you want to hang them high in a tree. They fold flat so it is not a problem to charge them when they are not hanging.

Priced at $79 for three or $29 each at Gaiam

Composting is great for the garden and great for the environment but sometimes not so great for the kitchen. Let’s face it, little bowls of peels and fruit bits waiting to go out to the main compost bin get smelly pretty quickly, especially in the summer. And they soon start to attract fruit flies and other bugs. The answer is to have a mini compost bin in the kitchen to collect the bits in, so that you don’t have to run out to the main bin in the back yard every time you peel a potato. This affordable lidded compost bucket has a carbon filter in the lid which allows ventilation but prevents odors. Because the air can get in, things can start the compost process without getting stinky and the flies don’t even know it’s there! The carbon filter lasts for 8 months or so and is replaceable (a pack of three filters costs $5.99).

Costs $19.95 at Amazon

If you’re truly green maybe you put up with bugs as a vital part of the eco-system… the rest of us who want to be green, but can’t cope with being chomped alive on beautiful moonlit nights, can use these cleverly designed solar insect zappers to deliver a green and eco-friendly doom to those undesirable biting dusk visitors. The solar panel charges by day, to power the UV light and zapper for up to 8 hours at night. It turns on automatically at dusk and starts zapping those mosquitoes immediately. A great way of getting free of chemical bug sprays and strong smelling insect repellants so that you can enjoy the moonlight in peace.

Costs $99.95 for a set of four at Hammacher Schlemmer

Decorating your home for the holidays can send the electricity bills soaring and can trouble the eco-conscious with all that energy use wasted just on decorations. Now you can enjoy the holiday season in sparkling style with these solar powered lights. For outdoor use only, you simply plant the solar screen in a sunny spot and it charges during the day, to shine your glimmering, glittering lights at night. It comes in white or multicolored lights.

Cost $24.99 for an 8 ft length at Sears.com