Eco-Romance: Green Gifts for Guys

Whether you've been dating for years or just a few days, finding the perfect gift for a boyfriend or a spouse is almost always a challenge. Men are difficult to shop for in general, and it's even harder to find something that expresses your romantic feelings. If you want to show your beau how much you care and give him something that won't cost a fortune or harm the environment, consider making him a personalized gift.

A homemade gift often means more than a store-bought one.

Memories
There's nothing more romantic than a gift that will remind him of you. Decorate a picture frame with a photograph of the two of you, personalizing it with a quote about love or a lyric from your song. If you enjoy crafts, make the frame yourself from recycled materials or use an unusual object to hold the picture, like a wine bottle or a soccer ball. Another item you can make to memorialize your relationship is a memory box. This can be as simple as decorated cardboard, or it can be as intricate as hand-carved wood. Put mementos of your relationship inside, such as ticket stubs from movies you've seen together, playbills from a show you watched, or a matchbook from a restaurant you frequent.

Nature
If your boyfriend is an outdoorsman or an environmentalist, make him something that appeals to his nature-loving side. Purchase a plain terra-cotta pot and decorate the outside with a poem you wrote, a quote from his favorite song, or a photograph of the two of you. Plant a flower or a shrub in it, selecting a specimen that corresponds to his personality. (I.e., don't buy him a delicate African violet if he's never going to remember to water it.)

You could also sew him a grocery bag so he doesn't have to use plastic or make him soap using all-natural ingredients.

Baked Goods
The way to a man's heart is through his stomach. To entice his taste-buds and his heart, bake him a cake in his favorite flavor and decorate it with something unique to his personality. For instance, if your boyfriend loves playing basketball, bake the cake in the shape of a basketball or turn the top of the cake into a basketball court. Alternatively, bake a batch of uniquely flavored or specially shaped cookies, delicate macaroons, wispy meringues or a special pie. If he doesn't like baked goods, you could also make him a personalized ice cream flavor, uniquely flavored chocolates, a jar of special cocoa or hand-dipped chocolate fruits.

Useful Objects
Practical birthday gifts are always appreciated, especially when they are handmade. Make him a clock from an object that reflects something about his personality, such as an old record for a music lover or a Dali print for an artist. Make him a personalized keychain if he really likes his car, or a planetarium lamp shade that casts the constellations if he loves astronomy. You could also construct a chessboard and chess pieces from found objects or scrap metal, decorate a reusable coffee cup or a water bottle, sew him a pair of fuzzy slippers or make him a personalized mouse pad.

Personal Time: Upcycling Clocks with Beads

If you're looking to redecorate, don't rush out to buy a new clock. Instead, spruce up an old timepiece with an assortment of colorful beads. Personalized beaded watches and clocks also make intriguing, economical and useful gifts.

Beaded Designs
Draw designs on the face of the clock with glue. You could write over the numbers, make a spiral, draw a wreath of flowers -- whatever suits the room or the recipient. Let the glue dry a bit so it gets a little tacky, then place your selected beads on the glue. For an elegant effect, use different shades of a single color or a mix of black, gray and white; use mismatched multi-colored beads for a funky, hip look.

Face of Beads
Cover the face of the clock with glue and pour tiny beads all over the face of the clock so that it is entirely covered, smearing them out and making sure that the beads don't block the hands of the clock. Put larger, decorative beads in the places where the numbers used to be. Try using all black or all white beads with a tiny bit of color on the face, then putting rich azure, emerald or scarlet beads in place of the numbers to create dramatic contrast.

Melted Beads
Thread plastic beads of your choice on a long, thin piece of wire. Wrap the wire in a spiral, or wrap several lengths of beaded wires in concentric circles. Set the threaded spiral or circles in a pie tin, and put it in the oven for 10 minutes at 350 degrees. You can also simply pour a medley of beads into the pie tin, smoothing them out to create an even layer. The beads will melt together, creating a solid clock face. Let it cool for several hours, then pop it off the pie tin. Poke a hole in the center with a nail. Take another clock apart for the hands and time-keeping mechanism, or make your own, and attach them to your new clock face.

Hanging Beads
Thread any beads of your choice on ribbons or wire. Put a larger decorative bead at the bottom, or space out several large beads with smaller, solid colored beads in between. Tie off the ribbon at the bottom or pinch off the wire so that the beads don't fall off. Glue these pieces on your clock at varying intervals and with varying lengths. Make sure that they don't hang in a place where they will interfere with the hands of the clock.

Watch Band

Find an old watch face and thread beads on a piece of ribbon or string to attach to it. 

Other Ideas

Earrings, necklaces, keychains, bookmarks, bottle openers...

Solar Panel Safety

With a flurry of recent solar panel related fires, some would-be solar buyers are wondering if these alternative energy products are safe enough for their homes and businesses. While these fears are largely misplaced, solar energy is not without some inherent risks, as is almost any product, especially if it is not properly installed. However, the few hazards posed solar panels are easy to avoid through regulation and education.

In order to understand the potential dangers of solar panels, it helps to know what one is. Essentially, a solar panel is a grid of wafer-thin disks called photovoltaic cells, which are usually made of crystalline silicon. When photons of sunlight bounce off the surface of these highly-polished "PV" cells, they knock electrons out of their orbits. The electrons then pass through a special converter called a p-n junction diode, which essentially turns them into electrical energy. PV cells are connected with wire conductors and spread on a special layer of thermally conductive cement, which helps keep the panel from overheating. A layer of glass or faux glass usually protects the cells on both sides.

Although solar panels have protective measures to prevent overheating, they must still be installed with caution. There is little danger of panels spontaneously combusting, but solar panels should be elevated off of surfaces so that air can flow and cool them. It is also better to install solar panels high off the ground so they receive unobstructed ventilation.

Faulty wiring is frequently the cause solar panel fires, so if this isn't your forte, have a professional wire the system. If you do choose to wire things yourself, make sure wire is big enough to handle the power in your system, that it is well insulated, and that it is either grounded or tied to the grid to protect against lightning strikes.

Solar panels are relatively easy to maintain, but they can get very hot. Any organic materials that touch a solar panel could potentially burst into flames. Always keep combustible materials away from your solar panels, and trim back any nearby tree branches - this will also help keep your panels out of the shade and make them more efficient. Keep your panels clean by hosing them down or wiping them off with a rag and some glass cleaner. Monitor your wiring for potential insulation flaws, melting or gnawing from rodents. Install a fuse to protect against shortages, and do not try to replace a fuse or a breaker if you do not know what you are doing.

In 2010, a house in San Diego caught fire, and it exposed a significant problem with solar panels for firefighters. Most houses do not have a switch to cut the power from the panels in an emergency, so firefighters cannot put out the fire as quickly or effectively. Moreover, solar energy systems that are used for heat are different from those used for electricity, so they pose a different set of problems. As such, it is imperative that every solar panel system be clearly marked, and that the system have a remote disconnecting switch.

In addition to fire hazards, solar panels also pose potential chemical safety risks to the environment and human health. When solar panels are not properly disposed of, they leak dangerous chemicals, and when raw materials are improperly extracted to make panels, miners are exposed to severe health risks. Furthermore, chemical spills that occur at panel-producing plants endanger the surrounding population and environment.

Like all energy products, solar panels do carry some risks. Without proper installation, maintenance and construction, solar panels can damage the environment and threaten human life. However, the potential dangers of solar panels can and should be easily circumvented by strict regulation and extensive public education.

Mushroom Hunting

Preparing a meal with wild mushrooms that you picked with your own two hands is a deliciously gratifying experience. Many prized varieties, including morels, chanterelles, wood ears and oysters, grow in abundance across the United States. So instead of spending a fortune on a few wimpy specimens or some dehydrated space food, take a relaxing walk through the woods and find yourself a fresh feast of fungi.

Morels tend to grow around the base of trees.

Of course, consuming wild mushrooms can be dangerous, even lethal, if you cannot adequately distinguish the edible from the poisonous. Although there's no single, easy method for discerning fungi friends from foes, if you familiarize yourself with the varieties in your area and learn how to identify them, you can safely collect wild mushrooms and bring them to your dinner table. 

Chanterelles like mossy, coniferous forests.

Before you head out into the woods, purchase a mushroom identification book with spore prints and full descriptions. Focus at first on the most common edible mushrooms and the most deadly varieties, especially the Death Cap and the Destroying Angel.

After you've gained a little knowledge, it's a good idea to go on a foraging expedition with an expert mushroom hunter or a foraging group. They'll be able to show you the best places to start your search, and they will be able to point out mushrooms to avoid. Search for mycological societies in your area: they frequently offer beginner courses on mushroom hunting, and they're almost always excited to see a new face.

Oyster mushrooms are some of the few known carnivorous fungi.

When you're out on the prowl, always practice safe and proper collection techniques: wear gloves, avoid rubbing your eyes or lips, and use a walking stick to gently push aside foliage, trying not to disturb local flora and fauna. When you find a mushroom, cut it with a knife and make a note of where you found it, including what it was growing on. Some poisonous mushrooms closely resemble edible varieties, and you may need information about its habitat to distinguish it. Try to select young, fresh mushrooms without insect damage: older mushrooms can change color, making them harder to identify correctly. Carry your mushrooms in a porous sack or a basket so that the spores can leak out and grow a future fungal generation. If you are foraging with a group, let others know when you find a mushroom trove - it's proper etiquette.

Never try to identify mushrooms in the field. Instead, bring them home and compare your live specimens to the pictures in your field guide, consulting the descriptions to match the habitat of the mushrooms you found. In the beginning, it's safest to show your mushrooms to a mushroom expert - even if that means sending a picture through email. As you continue to see and hunt mushrooms, you will learn how to recognize safe and unsafe varieties.

If you're having trouble identifying a mushroom, make a spore print by cutting off the stem of the mushroom and put the cap gill-side-down on a sheet of white paper with a sheet of black paper taped to the back. Cover the cap with a jar or a bowl and let it sit for 12 hours. The spores will settle, and you will be able to see their color, which you can match to the spores in your field guide.

For the serious mushroom lovers out there, consider growing your own mushrooms. Several companies have begun selling spore starter kits - all you need is a dark, damp place and a nice moldy log.