If you are in the market for a new washing machine, make sure you get a front-loading model, which uses a third less water, heat energy and detergent than standard top-loading designs.

Front loaders are more effective and efficient designs, and they have been working hard at laundromats across the world for decades. These days, major brands (such as the Frigidaire pictured) are offering that efficient cleaning power in models made for homes, and many boast the latest in electronic features, cool colors and more. Other leaders include Bosch, LG, GE, KitchenAid and Kenmore.

Make sure your new machine is certified by the EPA's Energy Star program, which signifies high energy efficiency. According to GE, the average family will save enough on energy bills with the company's Energy Star washer and dryer to pay for the appliances in just 12 years.

Find the top-rated models, as rated by the Good Housekeeping Research Institute, at goodhousekeeping.com.

It's cold season and runny noses are making their annual appearance. The most eco-friendly way to blow your nose is to use the old-fashioned handkerchief. However, if carrying a used hankie in your pocket adds a stomach ache to your symptoms, look into the option of purchasing tissues made with 100% recycled paper.

According to the Resource Conservation Alliance, each American uses approximately 800 pounds of paper per year. By using paper products made from 100% recycled material you not only help protect forests by lowering the demand for trees, but you also help lower the formation of toxic dioxins and furans in the environment by avoiding products bleached with chlorine.

Greenpeace has been waging a public, and recently successful, campaign to get major manufacturers of disposable paper products like tissues to stop using wood from old-growth forests, particularly in the vast Canadian boreal forest.

Here is a list of some of our favorite recycled tissue brands:

Related: 11 Ways to Save Trees ... Without Planting One

• Seventh Generation ($13.25 for three boxes at amazon.com)
• Green Forest ($46.21 for a 24-box case at amazon.com)
• Natural Value
• Small Steps by Marcal ($33.29 for a 30-box carton at sears.com)

For more options, consult this handy Greenpeace guide to recycled paper products (you can even download an app, or print a pocket guide). Or if your ready to give the old hankie a try, check out this pack of reusable organic cotton tissues from Better For Grownups. Just throw them in the wash when your ready for a clean one.

Related: The Benefits of Recycled Toilet Paper

At health food stores like Wild Oats/Whole Foods, community co-ops and even many supermarkets, you can often get foods from bulk bins, whether that's candy, bagels, rice or honey. Choosing this option will save packaging waste, and you can get exactly how much you want.

Packaging materials make up more than 30% of all consumer waste, according to the EPA. So making a dent in all those boxes, cans and piles of plastic wrap will have a real impact. Ideally, bring your own reusable containers to the store and fill up with what you'll need. You can even bring a measuring cup so you don't have to eyeball it.

For the best in fresh, healthy eating, ask the bulk bin manager how often the stock is replenished. When you get home, store your dry goods in airtight containers in a cool, dry place.

Seasonal eating is easy in summer, when produce at the local farmers' markets is abundant. But in winter, across wide swaths of the U.S., the options tend to dwindle after the fall harvest. But with a little creativity, you can create wonders with those familiar seasonal ingredients – root vegetables, winter squashes, kale and other winter greens, along with preserved foods and maybe some sustainably raised meat.

Conveniently, many winter vegetables are natural health foods – rich in Vitamin C, Vitamin K and beta carotene that promise an immunity boost at a time when the common cold and the flu are circulating.

And, thanks to a proliferation of CSAs and local farmers' markets (16% growth in the U.S. in 2010 alone), locally grown winter produce is increasingly easy to find. Trend-setters have embraced the movement, as celebrity chefs develop winter recipes to inform and inspire us.

After decades during which society generally demanded the widest variety of foods, no matter what the season, where or how they were grown and how many miles they where shipped, the tide is turning. (See which foods are least fresh and travel farthest to reach U.S. supermarkets in winter.) Don't let winter be a barrier to seasonal eating. Try a new winter ingredient, warm up with a soup, try a new winter recipe and embrace the surprising abundance of even the coldest season!

The U.S. water supply is considered to be among the safest in the world, with all but 15 million Americans receiving treated tap water from public water systems.

For those 15 million relying on drinking water from private wells, though, regular testing or a water filter may be the only protection from contaminants that can be colorless and odorless, but do real harm. Many rural water supplies are safe because groundwater is naturally filtered, but shallow wells or nearby sources of pollution may compromise their integrity. In some areas, contamination can come from the ground itself, if naturally occurring arsenic or fluoride deposits are nearby, for instance.

Many who drink public water also may want to use a filter because certain contaminants may still be flowing along with the treated water.

Along with removing that chlorine taste that often accompanies treated water, the right filter can remove the disinfection byproducts that flow through the tap. The Environmental Protection Agency, which sets the standards for allowable levels of contamination in drinking water, and the testing procedures water plants must adhere to, has cracked down on the allowable levels of disinfection byproducts in tap water, as science reveals health risks. But not all watchdogs have been satisfied with the EPA targets, and a recent Government Accountability Office study found that many water quality and water testing violations go unreported.

Another contaminant of concern is lead, which can enter tap water from the pipes in older homes long after the water has flowed from a municipal water treatment plant. Cooking with and drinking only cold tap water after opening the tap long enough to flush water that has been standing in pipes will generally prevent exposure, but some filters can also remove lead.

For a home that has particular contaminant concerns, use Environmental Working Group's water filter buying guide to find the best model. Prices range from $80 or less for a basic well-rated carbon filtration system like the Culligan RC-EZ-Change 4 to $670 for reverse osmosis system like the Water Factory SQC-4 Reverse Osmosis System, or several hundred for a combination carbon-reverse osmosis filtration system.

If you aren't quite ready to trade up your old storage hot water heater for a high-efficiency tankless system, then at least give a thought to some added insulation.

Hot water accounts for 13% of the typical utility bill, so improving the efficiency of your heater can go a long way toward saving energy and cutting down on carbon emissions.

Consider wrapping your old heater in a layer of insulation. For the nominal cost of about $15, an insulating jacket can reduce heat lost through the walls of the tank by 25-40%.

Make a dent in holiday waste this year by "recycling" your fresh Christmas tree after you are done celebrating.

Instead of taking up valuable space in landfills, where decay is painfully slow because of a lack of oxygen, Christmas trees can be readily ground into wood chips or made into useful compost. Considering that nearly 29 million households opted for a real Christmas tree in 2006, that's a lot of wood chips!

To make it easy, the industry group National Christmas Tree Association has teamed up with Scottsdale, Arizona-based conservation group Earth911 to point consumers in the right direction with their trees. On their Website, you can enter your zip code to find the nearest of 3,800-plus spots nationwide that accept old trees.