Hot off the press: Hui O Koolaupoko's "Hawai‘i Residential Rain Garden Manual" is out.

It's available for download at this link or also from Hui O Koolaupoko for $20.

The manual offers homeowners the information they need to build a rain garden to capture and infiltrate storm water from their property. Rain gardens — flat-bottomed depressions in the ground that capture excess water and pollutants from rooftops, driveways, sidewalks, parking lots and streets — are low-cost, effective ways to participate in ocean protection.

Students recently built a rain garden on the slopes of Hawaii Pacific University's windward campus next to the Nursing Annex.

Cities like Seattle actually offer a rebate for installing cisterns and rain gardens.

Ko‘olaupoko residents are also eligible to participate in Hui O Koolaupoko's Rain Garden Co-op program, which covers the costs for rain garden materials and recruits volunteers to build one at your home. Visit their website for more information.

Plant a koa tree as a gift that will continue growing and giving. Visit www.legacytrees.org. Photo courtesy of Walczuk Productions.

You have seven more days to go until Christmas. Looking for more green gift ideas? Here are some ideas that go beyond the conventional gift — but have an impact that is far-reaching and long-lasting.

Plant a Koa Legacy tree: For $60, you can plant a koa legacy tree on Hawaii island, whether in honor of an individual, event or to memorialize a loved one. The trees are tracked with a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag with GPS tracking that provides a unique signature and includes the sponsor's name, honoree, date planted and location of the tree. You may visit the trees you have planted (with 2 weeks of advance notice). Price is $60 (with $20 going to the charity of your choice) Another $1 goes to The Nature Conservancy in Hawaii . Visit www.legacytrees.org.

The Upena Hi/Lo Dress inspired by Hawaiian throw nets from Kealopiko. www.kealopiko.com

Kealopiko Creations: Ke alopiko translates to "belly of the fish," and offers custom apparel from Hawaii Nei, including shirts, shorts and dresses with unique prints of plants and sea animals. The apparel is made up of 100-percent organic cotton, with eco-friendly dye methods and designed in Hawaii. Visit www.kealopiko.com or find them at Native Books/Na Mea Hawaii or Flowerchild Boutique on Kapahulu.

Waterkeeper bracelet: Make a $50 donation to the Waterkeeper Alliance (The Voice of the World's Water) based in New York and receive a handmade Agate Bracelet with a stamped charm. Waterkeeper's mission is to provide a way for communities to stand up for their right to clean water as well as the "wise and equitable use" of water resources, locally and globally.

This holiday season, you won't have to look far for "green" gift ideas. Here are a few suggestions on items that someone can use for the rest of the year — and longer — that help reduce the use of disposable plastics and paper.

* S'well bottles. The S'well reusable beverage bottles have a sleek, elegant design and can be used for both hot and cold beverages (which is great, because I know a lot that can only be used for one or the either). They're double-walled, made of stainless steel and come in seven cool colors. By the way, Oprah loves them, too. $35. Spotted at Lanikai Home + Style. Visit www.swellbottle.com.

These S'well bottles are good for both hot or cold beverages, and fit in most car cupholders.

* ChicoBags. This is a great Secret Santa gift for anyone who goes shopping because you know he or she can definitely use it. The ChicoBag is a reusable bag that you can easily tuck back into its drawstring to put in your purse or pocket. This one caught my eye - it's part of the Solstice Collection — with a colorful, custom-designed "flower burst" print on a reusable should-style bag. $12.99. Found it at Down to Earth. Visit www.chicobag.com.

This Chico Bag has a custom-designed print from the "Solstice Collection" and can easily be tucked away in your purse or backpack.

* L.I.F.E. jackets. This is the perfect stocking stuffer at just 99 cents, but it goes a long way. These reusable coffee sleeves are handmade in Kenya by a special group of women, providing them the opportunity to provide for their families. Each jacket is screen-printed. Reduce your use of cardboard coffee sleeves — you won't need one with this reusable one. Available at Whole Foods Markets for just 99 cents if you purchase a cup of coffee. Visit www.ctcinternational.org.

The L.I.F.E. jacket helps women in Kenya support their families. You reduce your use of disposable cardboard coffee sleeves.

The Tesla Model S has arrived in the Hawaiian islands. Photo from Teslamotors.com gallery.

The Tesla Model S electric sedan has arrived in Honolulu and will be introduced at a presss conference Tuesday morning (Oct. 9) hosted by the Blue Planet Foundation and Volta Industries.

Concerns over limited travel range, limited seating and "sexiness" were all adressed in the new Tesla Model S, which travels up to 300 miles per charge (at 55 miles per hour), seats up to seven and accelerates from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 6.5 seconds.

The Tesla S interior features a 17-inch touchscreen with WiFi-enabled control center. Photo from teslamotors.com.

Prices start at a more affordable $49,000 (with federal tax incentives up to $7,500). The Tesla Roadster, by contrast, starts at prices over $100,000. There are also battery options that include 40, 60 and 85 kilowatt hours. Inside the Model S offers a 17-inch touchscreen with a WiFi-enabled control center.

They come in signature red, black, silver and white.

Hawaii commuters currently drive a total of 29 million miles a day, burning an average of $5.4 million in gas, emitting 13,500 tons of carbon dioxide pollution, according to Blue Planet. Electric cars offer an alternative.

Hawaii is on its way to reaching an expected milestone of 1,000 registered EVs this month.

Tesla's first run of the Model S included 3,000 vehicles. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company plans to manufacture 20,000 of the Model S for 2013. Reservations are available at www.teslamotors.com/own.

Plastic carryout bags are expected to be banned in Honolulu starting in 2015, if the mayor signs it into law. Star-Advertiser photo.

Honolulu City Council passed a bill on Wednesday banning nonbiodegradable plastic bags at checkout starting July 1, 2015.

Well, it's about time, given that the neighbor isles (Maui, Kauai and Hawaii island) have already passed plastic bag bans. Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle still has to sign the bill.

So what if there's a plastic bag ban in Honolulu?

The first reaction you get from most folks opposed to the ban is — what am I going to line my wastebaskets with from now on, and from dog owners,  how am I going to pick up my dog's poop? I've had this conversation at the dog park, and there are some owners who are really resolute about their right to a plastic bag just for this very reason.

Finding alternatives to line your wastebasket with is tricky, I'll admit. I do reuse stray plastic bags (that somehow get sneaked into the house) to line the wastebasket.

But for the last two to three years, I've  been bringing my own bags to the grocery store and more and more, to other retail stores as well — or sometimes, simply saying, "No Thanks." I never really understood why you would need a small, plastic bag if you were simply buying a candy bar or bag of potato chips — couldn't you just take the receipt and put it straight into your purse or backpack?

As the owner of a Springer spaniel named Kona — and as the official dog walker in the family — yes, I do have the unglamorous task of picking up her poop. I haven't really found it difficult since switching to reusable bags.

The bag ban would not affect the bags used to package loose fruit, vegetables and nuts, nor does it affect newspaper bags.

We have a newspaper delivered to the door every morning, sometimes in just one bag and sometimes two. These bags actually are the perfect size for picking up dog poop – I find grocery bags to be more unwieldy, with a flyaway effect.

Bread bags also work — every time we go through a loaf of bread, I save the bag and reuse it.  It still probably isn't the greenest choice — maybe someone some day will invent a new way to pick up dog poop.

There's such a plethora of plastic bags in our lives that honestly, it's not a big deal to give up plastic checkout bags. It's nice to get rid of the plastic  bag monster under the sink.

If it came down to it, I suppose using biobags would be a greener option — they do cost money, but they work fine.

Still, the detrimental effects of plastic in the ocean is far greater than the inconvenience. I'm not just talking about choking up turtles — I'm talking about the health of the ocean's ecosystem and in turn, the health of humans who are interconnected with that ecosystem.

Now, we could have considered a fee for plastic and paper checkout bags, which was effective in Washington DC. The bill in the state legislature seeking to place a 10-cent fee on plastic and paper checkout bags stalled this session, though it had the backing of both retailers and environmental groups like the Surfrider Foundation and Sierra Club Hawaii.

But really, we can live without plastic (and paper) checkout bags. Just bring your own bag.

Here's the typical weekday takeout lunch waste in a trash can at Restaurant Row, which includes single-use Styrofoam cups and clamshells and plastic bags (and plastic utensils). Lunch probably took about 30 minutes, but these will take 100s of years to break down. Surely we can reduce this with a few simple lifestyle changes. Photo by Nina Wu.

Here are 7 more personal lifestyle changes you can take to make Earth Day every day.

1. >> Plant native. Go for native plants in your front or backyard. Contrary to what most people may think, native plants are not tropical plants like birds of paradise, ginger or heliconia. There are plenty of native plants to choose from, whether pohuehue or pohinahina for ground cover, the fragrant na‘u (gardenia) or several kinds of kokio (native hibiscus) to add color to your landscape. Naupaka also makes a nice hedge. Hui Ku Maoli Ola sells native plants at various events and Home Depot, which is a good place to get started. Visit their online catalog for a list.

2. >> BYOU. Bring your own utensils. This is one of my own personal goals because I usually buy lunch on work weekdays and oftentimes end up with the single-use plastic forks, knives and spoons that they give you for takeout. You can either bring your own silverware from home and wash it, or buy a cool, portable bamboo set to reuse.

3. >> Compost. Whether it's a worm compost, pile compost or bokashi bucket, you would be doing the earth a favor by letting food waste break back down into what nature intended — soil. You'll also be doing your garden a favor. To learn more about the bokashi bucket, visit eachoneteachonefarms.com/bokashi.

4. >> Avoid Styrofoam. Sunetric recently launched a "no Styrofoam" campaign and is acknowledging restaurants like Duke's that do the same. Styrofoam, or Polystyrene foam, takes hundreds of years to break down, cannot be recycled and is toxic to marine life. Unfortunately, you will still see a lot of Styrofoam when you buy coffee or takeout lunch. Try to request an alternative if possible or patronize places that opt not to use Styrofoam.

5. >> Recycle bottle caps. While we can throw plastic water bottles and plastic soft drink bottles into the blue bin for recycling, or redeem them for 5-cents each, there's no money for plastic caps. Yet they, too, can be recycled. Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawaii (B.E.A.C.H.) is collecting plastic caps and lids from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 5, at Ahuimanu Elementary School, 47-470 Hui Aeko Place in Kaneohe and from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at Kaimuki Middle School, 631 18th Ave. on Saturday, May 12. Visit the non-profit's website to learn more about which caps and lids can be recycled.

6.>> Clean green. Choose biodegradable, plant-based cleansers and detergents to wash your dishes, toilet and bathtub with. Many of these alternatives (which don't include harsh chemicals like chlorine or ammonia) are now available — brands include Seventh Generation, Mrs. Meyers, Ecover and Method. My favorite dishwashing liquid is Eco's Ultra Dishmate, pear, though I also use Ecover sometimes. This link from livstrong.com lists the top 10 natural cleaning brands. Look for the Green Seal. You can also make your own cleansers at home using baking soda, vinegar and water.

7.>> Buy recycled products. As a consumer, choose recycled products, whether it be post-consumer recycled paper towels (available at Costco, by the way) or office paper. You can also buy gently used items instead of brand-new products at your local garage sale, places like Reuse Hawaii (lumber, hardware and construction materials) and on craigslist.org.

Seventh grade students from Ewa Makai Middle School have started a community garden at school and are hosting "Community Gardening Night" on Wednesday (March 7). Courtesy photo.

The seventh grade students at Ewa Makai Middle School have not only planted their own vegetable garden out of recyclable materials, but are excited to share the joys of gardening with the community.

They've grown lettuce, zucchini, tomatoes, onions, parsley, corn, basil, mint, kalo, lavender, swiss chard, dill, carrots, broccolis, even watermelon. The students have shared the fruits of their labor by making salads, soups and Kale chips to give away to students and teachers.

Now the students want to share their love for gardening with "Community Gardening Night."

From 4 to 6 p.m. on Wednesday (March 7), the students want to help the Ewa community grow vegetables in their yard, too.

The students have planted four types of seedings — lettuce, onion, radish and tomato — to give away to the first 200 families, along with soil to get you started. Please drive into the campus and follow signs to receive your free seedlings and soil to plant a garden in your backyard.

What a great idea! These students are not only the next generation of gardeners, but future community leaders.

Here is my Bokashi Bucket, filled with apple and banana peels, old rice and macaroni.

Since writing about Throw To Grow, I've decided to give the Bokashi Bucket a try.

The Bokashi Bucket, in case you haven't heard of it, is an anaerobic composting system that ferments your food waste (including meat, dairy and bones) into rich, gardening soil. It's basically a 5-gallon bucket tucked inside of another one with a spigot that you can keep indoors in your kitchen.

Each One Teach One Farms entrepreneur Jim DiCarlo sells the bucket systems at Haleiwa, Ala Moana and Hawaii Kai Farmers' Markets. You can also find them at Kale's Natural Foods and the North Shore Organic Gardening in Waialua.

If you're handy, you could probably pick up two buckets from Lowe's, Home Depot or City Mill and make the system yourself, except for the activator mix (basically bran mixed with molasses and microorganisms), which is a more involved process. Jim sells a jar of the mix for just $5 at farmers' markets.

What I like about it, so far, is that it seems easy to use.

I keep my bucket on a little step stool in the kitchen, next to the trash can. Once a day, or once every other day, you take your food scraps, open the lid up, toss them in and close the lid again. When the food scraps are at about three inches, you take your jar of bokashi activator mix (basically bran mixed with microorganisms and molasses) and sprinkle some on top.

I wouldn't say it's completely odorless. Hopefully I'm doing it right, but there is definitely a sort of sweet and sour, pickled smell every time I open up the bucket.

It's not pleasant, but it's not horribly unpleasant, either. My husband says he can tell every time I open the lid, because he gets a whiff, but it usually goes away after we turn on the kitchen ceiling fan for a few minutes.

So far, I've thrown all kinds of stuff in the bucket — orange peels, avocado and banana peels, apple cores, celery, ginger, egg shells, old pasta, old rice, a whole head of lettuce that went bad, a whole box of granola cereal (that some ants had gotten into), a whole rotisserie chicken carcass and salmon skin.

The word "bokashi" has turned into a verb in our household. Now I say, "Are you done with this? Should I bokashi it?"

My bucket is about half full, so far. When you open up the bucket, you won't see any transformation of the food yet. Apparently that happens after it all goes into the ground.

So far, so good.

Some things that are good to know: You want to only add fresh, not rotten (or moldy) food or it will smell. It's a good idea to place a paper or ceramic plate on top to basically compress all the air down. It's best also to keep the bucket away from sunlight.

For more tips on using the Bokashi Bucket, go to eachoneteachonefarms.com/bokashi.

We have a worm composting bin, as well, in the garage, and usually I put on gloves to open the lid, move aside the shredded paper, before tossing in food scraps. Separating the worms from the vermicompost is a messy chore in itself (I make my husband do it). What's nice about the worms is that you can throw moldy stuff in there. What I find challenging is that we usually have way more food scraps than the worms can process (since we just started with a small starter kit, which took a year to grow into a small bin). I often wonder whether it might be good to invest in  a Can-O-Worms system that can take more food waste.

The bucket doesn't take up a lot of space, but seems to be able to handle the volume. So far it's not too much of a hassle to throw the food scraps in there. My dog sniffs the bucket lid with interest every time I open it, but she's not too interested in digging through it (thank goodness). I can't wait to see how this all works once the bucket contents go into the ground. Will keep you posted.

Here's a cool video from Kasha Ho at Kanu Hawaii explaining how she tried out her Bokashi Bucket: Bokashi "Unbucketing" from Kasha Ho on Vimeo.

Design by surf-inspired painter Ned Evans.

If you're looking for a fashionable way to bring your own bag, check out Envirosax's water-inspired collection for the Surfrider Foundation. They can be found under the graphic series and cost $10.95 each.

These three designs feature artwork from the Foundation's artist friends Ned Evans, Robb Havassy and Melinda Morey (who grew up on Kauai).

With the collection, Envirosax and the Surfrider Foundation hope to raise awareness of the issue of single-use plastics in our marine environments.

Envirosax is donating 50 cents from every  bag sold to the Surfrider Foundation's Rise Above Plastics campaign.

Design by Melinda Morey, who grew up on Kauai.

"Our oceans, lakes and waterways are beautiful elements of nature we want our children and grandchildren to enjoy," said Envirosax CEO Belinda Coker. "We hope to inspire everyone to reuse. One tiny change is like a drop of water into a pond – it has the power of creating a big ripple effect..."

Two bills pending in the Hawaii State Legislature — House Bill 2260 and Senate Bill 2511 — propose requiring businesses to charge a 10-cent fee for every single-use checkout bag (paper and plastic) provided to a customer.

Design by California surfer artist Robb Havassy.

A percentage of the fees are supposed to go to a "natural area reserve fund" towards the state Department of Land and Natural Resources' watershed initiative. The bill does not include produce bags (which you use to put apples and vegetables in), newspaper bags or dry cleaning bags.

Maui and Kauai counties already passed a ban on plastic checkout bags, in effect for about a year, with Hawaii county planning to follow suit next year. Honolulu county is the only county without a plastic bag policy in place.

The Oahu chapter of Surfrider Foundation supports the bill, along with the Sierra Club and supermarkets such as Safeway and Times.

Last year, Washington D.C. passed a law charging 5-cents for every plastic and paper disposable bag customers use when buying food or alcohol. In December, the Seattle City Council took a different tact, voting unanimously to ban plastic bags and set a 5-cent fee for paper bags. Seattle initially proposed a 20-cent fee on paper and plastic bags three years ago, but voters rejected the initiative.

Whatever happens in Honolulu, if you want to make it a personal habit to bring your own bag, you can do so any time. Supermarkets like Foodland, Down To Earth and Whole Foods currently offer 5-cents credit for customers who bring in their own bags at checkout.

My favorite reusable bags are lightweight, easy to carry in a pocket or handbag (if you roll them up like an umbrella) as well as stylish. You can use them to carry groceries home or as beach bags and lunch totes.

Visit www.envirosax.com to find more designs.

Students and volunteers at Kainalu Elementary School celebrate a boost in funding from Kaiser Permanente for their school garden program and a summer conference. Through Aina in Schools, the students can participate in an after-school Garden Club where they learn to tend to plants and compost, and enjoy a weekly salad bar in their cafeteria. Photo courtesy of the Kokua Hawaii Foundation.

Aside from the challenge of getting kids to eat their veggies, parents sometimes have to educate them about where they come from other than in a plastic bag from the supermarket. Many kids have no idea — do carrots grow on trees or peas sprout from the ground?

Making an effort to change all that is the Kokua Hawaii Foundation's ‘Aina in Schools, a farm-to-school program aiming to connect children to their land, waters and food for a healthier future.

A total of 12 public elementary schools on Oahu participate in the program, so far. Students learn how to garden as well as get a lesson in nutrition. Four schools have salad bars, and four participate in a fresh fruit and vegetable snack program.

Kaiser Permanente recently presented the Kokua Hawaii Foundation with a grant to fund two projects: A school garden food safety certification pilot program and this summer's Hawaii State Farm to School Conference.

Food safety certification for school gardens is a major hurdle for schools to get produce grown on campus into the lunch program, according to Dexter Kishida, Kokua's school food coordinator. So this is a first step towards getting some of those garden greens on to students' lunch plates.