Now that cool weather has arrived, I can think about falling leaves and preparing for winter weather. How about you? Read below for some seasonal living green tips. Don't forget to grab a sweater and have fun in a leaf pile, too!

Prepare for heating season: Tips for maintaining the efficiency of your system

October usually brings cooler weather and reminds us to turn on the heat in our homes. When you finally do, be sure that your system is running efficiently. Here are five things you can do now to prepare for the heating season:

1. Clear off around your vents or radiators. You may need to move couches and beds or disassemble radiator-top bookshelves.
2. Get with the program: Plan on lowering your thermostat while you are out of the house or sleeping. A programmable thermostat will do the job for you. Install one this month and you can save about $150 every year in energy costs.
3. Schedule regular professional service for your furnace or boiler. Find out what maintenance is required to keep your heating system operating efficiently.
4. Change your furnace filter (see video) before heating season begins, and monthly throughout the winter.
5. If your system is old or inefficient, it may be time to replace it. Look for EnergyStar-rated systems and learn moreabout incentives and rebates for high-efficiency heating systems.
   

Rake it or fake it: What do do with autumn leaves

When the leaves fall from your trees each year, consider them a resource—they contain nutrients that your lawn or garden needs! After playfully enjoying your leaf pile, here are a few eco-friendly options:

• Bag up dry leaves to use as a carbon source ("browns") for your backyard compost pile in the coming year.
• Use leaves to provide a protective winter layer of insulation for shrubbery, either bagged or loose.
• Use a mulching mower to break leaves into tiny pieces and leave them on your lawn.
• Compost your yard waste at home or at a county compost site.
• A note for folks who bag their leaves: beginning January 1, 2010, residents in the Twin Cities area who bag their yard and organic waste will be required to put their waste out for pickup in compostable bags—either paper or compostable plastic. (Minneapolis residents have until 2013 to make the switch.) Learn more at RethinkRecycling.org.

You can also help keep our water and air clean by what you don't do with that pile of leaves:

• Don't throw yard waste in the trash. Mixing yard and tree waste with your trash is illegal in Minnesota.
• Don't rake leaves onto the street or sidewalk. It washes too many leaves, and therefore nutrients, into our lakes and streams. If you own shoreline, don't rake additional leaves into lakes or streams, either.
• And last, don't burn large piles of leaves. Unnecessary burning of twigs and yard debris releases large amounts of air pollution in to the atmosphere. 

The best bag is the one you bring (we'll help remind you with this free cling)

At the 2008 and 2009 Eco Experience, 40,000 people made a commitment to use a reusable bag for shopping. Visit reduce.org to see pictures of these reusable revolutionaries! 

Having so many new bags on the scene is great, but they don't do much good if they don't get used.

Do you have trouble remembering to bring a reusable bag to the store? Drop by our web site and we'll send you a free window cling to remind you that you've got more than enough shopping bags to do the job.

Days of our green lives: Community events and resources

• The self-guided, public Minnesota Solar Tour features 50+ exemplary homes, businesses, and institutions that have incorporated renewable energy into the design and operation of their buildings. Look for tour sites near you! October 3, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

• You'll get tasty, green cooking advice at Do it Green! Minnesota's low-carbon cook-offs, where local chefs demonstrate cooking techniques and judges choose the lowest carbon dish. You can taste test the creations and learn how your food choices affect the environment, October 3, 10 a.m. at the Northeast Minneapolis Farmers Market and November 21 at noon at the Green Gifts Fair (Minneapolis).

• If you or your children go to school, celebrate Walk to School Day on October 7 and promote safe walking and bicycling throughout the year.

• Save on your water bill by collecting, storing, & using rainwater to care for your garden & yard. Make a rain barrel to take home at Happy Dancing Turtle's Rain Barrel DIY, October 13, 6-8 p.m., Hunt Utilities Group Campus (Pine River).

• The 4th Annual Northland Bioneers Conference seeks to inspire individuals to utilize natural systems in developing and restoring communities, October 24-25, Willey Hall, University of Minnesota (Minneapolis).

Look for more events on the SEEK and NextStep calendars.

Missed an issue? Read past newsletters in our online archive.