Adding just one of these suggestions to your holiday celebration can make a difference.

On a small lot tucked between conventional homes on Boise Avenue in Boise, Idaho, Mark Lung is hard at work stacking bales of straw and mixing mud.

Did you know that cranberries are one of the few fruits native to North America? And only five states grow the majority of cranberries in our country - Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Oregon, Washington and New Jersey?

As warmer temperatures threaten to devastate plant species across the globe, scientists are taking the lead by relocating plants to safer grounds, according to a recent New York Times article.

I never used to roll my eyes when gardeners talked about their compost, describing texture and smell of their "black gold."

Dear EarthTalk: I don't understand why many people oppose wind power just because they have to look at the turbines. If you ask me, wind turbines are much nicer-looking than coal-fired, waste-to-energy or nuclear power plants.

My reusable Built wine bottle carrier's always gotten me compliments - while saving those rather useless little brown paper bags grocery store baggers like to put bottles in. But I just watched a video that now makes my reusable wine bag seem rather shabby.

Most people use disinfectants to keep from getting sick.

Q: What's the deal with cloth diapers and should I use them?

Dear Bill: I keep reading articles and hear people talk about lumens from a light bulb and watts from a light bulb. I'm told that if I buy a compact fluorescent lamp, that swirly light bulb, that I have to get the right watts or lumens. What's the difference between watts and lumens on a light bulb?

Can't say the notion of laying our sleepy head onto a pillow of recycled plastic pop bottles made us want to dive into bed. So, natch, we got an 8-year-old to give it a romp. Well, he gave it a nod, all right. Plopped down his noggin and snoozed the night away. Nary an odd, once-fiZZZy dream all night.

We all have them: leftover jars from spaghetti sauce, mustard, jams. Sure, you can recycle them, but can't you use them for something?

AKRON, Ohio Home builder Lance Schmidt hears it all the time: Green building costs more.

Dear Bill: I'm considering putting solar panels on my home and I've been told that you can sell your excess electricity that your solar panels produce back to the utility company. I've heard that this is not true but I'd like to know for sure since it will determine the size of the solar array system I install on my roof.

- Shirley G., San Luis Obispo, Calif.

Dear EarthTalk: I'm a travel agent and our firm has several clients wanting to go with green vendors, including for travel (airline or rental car) and lodging. Our company is supportive so would like to know which airlines, hotels and car rental agencies are going affordably green?

This tip comes from The Road Less Traveled (www.roadlesstraveledstore.com) owner Delilah Snell.

I always knew cigarette butts were nasty, but now it seems they're even worse than I thought. New research - albeit funded by anti-cigarette groups - suggests they could qualify as toxic hazardous waste.

Dog won't stop barking? Throw a new eco-friendly bone its way and see what happens.

Every journalist needs a good source for ideas. Thanks to this fancy thing called the Internet, I've got tons. Here are a few of my favorite go-to sites:

Royal Caribbean Cruises recently launched the massive Oasis of the Seas, a 1,181-foot, 225,282-ton cruise ship (by comparison, the Titantic was 882 feet, 46,000 tons) with a capacity of 5,400 passengers and 2,165 crew. The ship has been in the works for years and was first commissioned when the cruising business was in better shape than today.

Naturally we in the Cidade Maravilhosa are delighted to have beaten out the Windy City and snatched the 2016 Olympics from under the nose of the not-quite-glamorous-enough first couple of the United States: even Obama can't compete with Copacabana when it comes to wowing Olympic committees.