Add a Little Eco-Chic to Your Valentine’s Day: Green Up V-Day

Improve your love life, and protect your mother (Earth).

Img cred: RefineDesigner.Wordpress.com

As I’ve mentioned before, I choose not to celebrate Valentine’s Day to a various number of reasons. Namely, I don’t like the combinations of pink and red. And the overabundance of hearts and shiny red and pink things induces bile. Lastly, my dating anniversary with my husband is a mere 10 days away, and it seems pointless when the most important day of our lives is round the corner.

However, don’t let my non-celebratory mood deter you from having a fete of your own! But let’s try to have a better, more wonderful holiday of love, by showing some love for our planet at the same time! what can be better than celebrating a day with your tasty-treat of the moment, your soulmate or your life-long companion than giving back to the life-giving world you live on? It’s a pretty romantic ideal, I think!

This year, you need not get lost in a sea of stale candy hearts, red plastic packaging and wilted white flowers. Instead of a blizzard of unsatisfying consumerism, follow these suggestions to enjoy a more meaningful, and planet friendly, holiday.

The average consumer spends just over $100 on Valentine’s Day, according to the National Retail Federation, with total sales approaching $14 billion. That buys nearly 214 million roses, $2.5 billion in jewelry, 180 million cards, 36 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate, tons of stuffed animals and more. All those resources can really add up, especially when you consider that conventional flowers are raised with tons of toxic pesticides, the mining industry has left open scars and polluted water across the planet, logging has created barren wastelands, and chocolate harvesting has resulted in toxic, substandard working conditions.

Here are some suggestions to keep the fun in Valentine’s Day, and go a little greener:

• Give her sexy green lingerie, and she’ll enjoy the comfort of organic and natural materials all year long.

• Give organic and fair trade flowers, the latter of which are now even available at Sam’s Club!

• Savor organic and fair trade chocolates.

• Pour organic and biodynamic wines.

• Consider eco-friendly jewelry.

• Send an e-card or greeting on recycled paper.

• Buy organic or local flowers.

• The way to most hearts is through the stomach: Make your lover a home-cooked meal with local or organic produce from your neighborhood grocery store, or if you can’t boil water, take him or her out to a restaurant that focuses on local, seasonal, sustainable or vegetarian foods.

• Drink wine. Not too much. Mostly Californian.

• Get an organic couple’s massage or spa treatment.

• Staycate or vacate (with style).

• Give Eco-Lux gifts for the more “STYLISH” Valentine.

More ideas here:
Share your green heart with friends and loved ones. Also get Everything You Need for a Green Valentine’s Day
Creative Ideas for Valentine’s Day Gifts
Organic flowers
5 Greener Ways to Say “I love you”.
Green Your Love Life

Tips, images credit: Refinedesigner.wordpress.com, The Daily Green, Ingle & Rhode Ethical Jewellers

Feb 12, 2010 | Eco, Go/Do | 4 Comments »

Maeko Loves News #1

Ain’t no big thing, being Green!

I’m a self-professed Eco-Nazi… obsessive and addicted, but without that whole oppression/genocide thing. Like that soup Nazi from Seinfeld, but with eco-activism.

Maybe it’s no secret. If you work with me, you’ve seen me rooting through the trash, picking out Styrofoam computer packaging, cardboard lunch containers, plastic bottles and soda cans, etc, and packing it in her car to take to the recycling center on the way home… all with the occasional freak out if an errant drip of food or old syrupy beverage makes its way onto her work clothes or beloved shoes. Yes, I will admit it, I am that girl. But I can’t help it!

It’s a sickness to try to change everything I can around me for the greater ecological good of the planet. I try to be my best. (**Extra points for anyone who knows where that quote is from!) I try to reduce packaging when I have to buy new, and I try to buy products with as much post-consumer recycled content, I reuse as much as I can. I’ve banned almost all the paper towel usage in our house, I mix my own cleaning supplies (if you need a recipe or six, just ask me… I have tons!), eat organic and local as much as possible, reduce my daily trash output, recycle about 90% of what I throw away, even though our condo complex has no curbside recycling program, I try to cook meals at home and take lunch to reduce carbon emissions by driving to and from restaurants for take out. We even recycle our old small appliances instead of throwing them out (e-waste!). If I do something wasteful, I am wracked with eco-guilt nightmares for a few days… it’s a sickness.

But admittedly, I wouldn’t change myself at all. If anyone else adopted this sickness, imagine how much greater our local environments would be!

Anyway, that said, there is recent local and global GREENish news that tickles and prickles me:

#1.) Tickled. Michigan Clears the Air.

Come May 1st, Michigan will be the 38th state to go Smoke Free in public. Finally, after a more than decade long fight to clear the air, the bill passed through the stalemated Michigan legislature, with a promise from Governor Jennifer Granholm (D) to sign the bill into law last Thursday.

The ban affects restaurants, hotels, bars and clubs, but exempts smoking/cigar bars and non-American Indian owned casino game floors. First time offenders will be fined $100, and then $500 for subsequent violations.

Img. Susan Tusa via Detroit Free Press

Though this makes a lot of people (like me!) elated, there are a number of opponents who have helped block this legislation for years, and are extremely unhappy the resolution passed. Small business owners believe this will kill their business. And sports fans and smokers balk at the ban. Others oppose the ban because they think of it as government meddling in people’s personal lifestyles.

While business owners may see a downturn in their revenue, we have to keep in mind that 1.) The majority of Michiganians oppose smoking in public places, 2.) they will begin to come out to support businesses they did not frequent due to indoor smoke, 3.) other cities like Chicago, New York and Columbus did initially lose a percentage of their revenue after a smoking ban, yet bounced back much stronger after a small amount of time.

My own personal reaction to this is: GET OVER IT.

Smokers always feel entitled to a sense of freedom, while they do not consider the entitlement of non-smokers who have their own right to breathe clean air! “I have an American right to do whatever I want, smoke where I want, so fuck off,” is the attitude I often come across. I guess I could rebuttle that I have a right to breathe oxygen untainted from nicotine, tar and other carcinogens. “I have a lung condition” I should say! My lungs are currently in perfect condition, and I want to keep them that way!

In addition, people who have auto-immune diseases and other health problems like cancer have a compromised immune system, and second hand smoke further weakens their immune systems making them prone to infection, sickness and in some cases, serious illness which could lead to death. In my case, second hand smoke in clubs has often caused me to lose the ability to walk, or searing pain in all my joints for days at a time.

While I believe in your right to smoke almost anywhere, I do not believe in that right when it compromises essential functions for many people to live a normal, healthy life–

You love your smoking, right? Like devotion and love for anything else, you will do whatever you need to do in order to carry on the habit/addiction/love. Businesses that want you around have and will invest in things that will allow you to frequent their establishment while still accomodating your… devotion. Like that club in Dearborn that cleared part of their parking lot, installed insulated tents with couches, heaters and an outdoor hooka lounge/bar. If you love smoking, you will make it work. You smoke outside your office despite snow and freezing weather, and you smoke out of a cracked window in your car during a rain storm, why should restaurants or bars be any different? Isn’t it only fair that while you get to take 15 minute breaks every hour and hog up all the great restaurants, that people like me who love food but literally can’t take smoke finally get our time to breathe while we eat and dance?

And on the Beauty Note: cigarette smoke, being a pollutant, actually contains free radicals in the tar, and also in the the smoke in the form of gas. These free radicals are those pesky atoms that lose an electron, and frantically search around for a free floating electron to become a stable molecule… Free radicals form when external factors disrupt the stability of a molecule. Free radical production is what causes aging.

Here is the basic summary: pollutants = free radicals = aging. No smoke in public places = less free radicals = less aging.

This is good news for Michiganians who care about their skin. This also means we can save money on those expensive anti-aging tonics and serums. Seriously, how is this not good news?

I believe this spring will be a happy spring in Michgan indeed!

The Reality:

Twins: Non-Smoker vs Sun-loving, pack & a half a day Smoker

Why does the fashion industry glamourize smoking? It sure makes for great photography, but there is nothing glamourous at all in getting older faster, vomit-breath, and dirty, stained teeth! Fashion + smoking sends a message that smoking gives you an instant chicness, while omitting the disgusting, truthful deets: there are dire health and beauty consequences for sustaining a smoker’s lifestyle. /end rant.

Original Article here:Freep.com

Img Cred: ~tale-like-me @ DeviantArt, Style by Me, Dan Martensen via Refinery29,Shizuka NY, Susan Tusa via Detroit Free Press.

#2.) Prickly, Tenuous Tickle: Hopin’ in Copenhagen.

Deforestation aids drought & Global Climate Change, study finds (via All Voices.com)

NY Times reports that negotiators at the World Climate Summit in Copenhagen, Denmark are close to completing an agreement that compensates contries for preserving natural landscapes, like forest, swamps and fields, which help to curb climate change.

…forests are efficient absorbers of carbon dioxide, the primary heat-trapping gas linked to global warming. Rain forest destruction, which releases the carbon dioxide stored in trees, is estimated to account for 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions globally.

The agreement for the program [called REDD, or "Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degredation"], if signed as expected, may turn out to be the most significant achievement to come out of the Copenhagen climate talks, providing a system through which countries can be paid for conserving disappearing natural assets based on their contribution to reducing emissions.

The final draft of Redd was to be given yesterday to the Climate ministers of almost 200 countries. However, final agreement could be compromised in part because little progress has been made on many other issues at the summit… and recently, the UN Climate Summit President Connie Hedegaard resigned, amid rumours of a negotiating text drafted by the richer nations to be pushed through talks under Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen…

While this potential program would be a huge leap forward in the fight against climate change… it seems shaky at best. Going to have to keep watching to see if this REDD program gets through all the beaurocracy!

Original Articles Here: NY Times.com, & UK Guardian.

Img. cred: All Voices.com.

**Line from Dollhouse, uttered by Dolls, in their Doll-state, when the memory and brain map of engagements have been wiped clean, in response to reason for living.

Dec 16, 2009 | Confessional, Eco, Health | 12 Comments »

Maeko Sez: Waste Not, Want Not!

Maeko Sez! “I’ma help you. Trust.”

In honour of Thanksgiving, I’m posting a few things that:

1. Are awesome and save you $,
2. Save you $$ while you get people (or yourself) stuff,
and 3. Help save the world (in a way).

Firstly! Save money, get stuff!

Shop Ruche is having a sale on Black Friday (11/27) and Cyber Monday (11/30). You get an extra 15% off their already immensely affordable (and organic!) selection of bohemian and sophisticated clothing. So rush to the store and get your extra bucks saved… And stimulate that economy while you’re at it!

Just use the code below!

Secondly! Stop wasting stuff this holiday!

Every Thanksgiving Holidaze, there are thousands and thousands of pounds of waste that go into the garbage without a second thought (in addition to the thousands and thousands of calories that end up going onto our bellies!). This waste wrecks havoc on the ecosystem, while at the same time the mass consumption and immense amounts of product packaging contribute mightily to our climate change problem!

Try to waste less this year… and your waist may thank you for it, too.

Follow this tip from Ideal Bite.com:
Go on a trash diet – just follow a few easy waste-reducing tips

The Benefits:

Doing something matters:

Guess what:
If 10,000 people eliminate their average food waste this holiday season, we’ll save enough cash to buy and donate 13,939 organic, 20-pound turkeys to less-fortunate folks.

Now that’s thinking smarter…

Tip Credit: IdealBite.com, Img Credit: The Daily Green

Thirdly, Save $ and save the planet.

5 Easy things from The Daily Green – That save you cash money.

1. Reusable Shopping totes.
When you go out shopping, bring your own reusable bags. This preserves resources by cutting down on the huge number of paper and plastic bags that are discarded after a single trip.

2. Save money on power.
2. Save on Electricity
There are many ways to trim those electric bills. Wash your laundry in cold water instead of hot, line dry your linens, and use a toaster oven for small heating needs instead of a bigger electric stove. Open windows to let the light in, turn off unneeded lights and appliances, and unplug unused electronics to counter the ‘energy vampire’ effect.

(Personally speaking: I have my computers, entertainment equipment and kitchen appliances plugged into power strips. When I’m done using them I shut the strip off to keep the surge from idling. And I unplug my phone charger, unused lights, personal electronics from the outlet when not in use… This has cut my average energy bill by over $15 each month!)

3. Save fuel!
Every gallon of gasoline you burn produces 19 pounds of carbon dioxide, so it pays to conserve (in more ways than one). Your car will work more efficiently if you obey the speed limit and avoid rapid, unnecessary acceleration. Keep your tires properly inflated and get regular tune-ups. Forget warming up under most conditions.

4. Do the Farmer’s Market thing.
Shop at your local farmers’ market. This will help support farmers in your area, so they won’t be forced to sell off their land for development, and it will decrease your food miles, meaning less fuel will be used to provide your daily meals. Your food will be delicious and better for you. And you will be stimulating local economy, helping to retain regional jobs!

Eat as much local and seasonal food as you reasonably can. Your meals will be fresher, and will require much less fuel to transport, store and refrigerate.

5. Better water.
Drink water from the tap, instead of buying single-use bottled water, which requires much more energy to produce, store and transport. Barely 20% of those plastic bottles end up getting recycled, and most are made out of petroleum. Use filters if you are concerned about your local water supply.

Buy a reusable bottle to take with you on the go, so you can always refill it from a tap and avoid buying bottled water. Stainless steel is a good choice, because you don’t have to worry about the potentially toxic chemicals that can leech out of many plastics over time.

For more eco and moolah saving tips, check out the The Daily Green here: “30 Surprising Ways to Save MOOLAH by Going Green!”

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Read on, read on!

Maeko Loves #1 – See what Maeko loves this week! Lots of stuff.
A Saturday in the Life – Take a trip through a magical Saturday with me and my husband N.

Nov 25, 2009 | Be/See, Eco | 1 Comment »

Steez Post: Darkness Looks Good On You! Just Turn Out the Lights! (Earth Hour)

What’s sexier than an hour of darkness and seeing the twinkling of a pristine sky, unpolluted by bright lights?

The Greenness of it all!

The second annual International EARTH HOUR is on Saturday night!

Here are 8 sexy tips on how to spend Earth Hour:
8 Sexy Ways to Spend an Hour in the Dark

My personal favourite: Candlelit physical examinations… Or Stargazing…. or.. …

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Mar 27, 2009 | Eco | 1 Comment »

Green Tip of the Day: Eco Land-Lording

**DID YOU KNOW: If 10,000 landlords of high-rise apartment buildings make Energy Star-suggested changes, the energy saved each month could power 1,235 elementary schools for a year.**

Mar 23, 2009 | Eco | 3 Comments »

Green Thursday: Writing a Big Box

**I encourage all of you who have a voice and who care about the environment to WRITE companies to encourage THEM to “GO GREEN”. In most cases, going green on an individual level ends up being fiscally responsible as well, which is a huge bonus, considering these uncertain economic times!**

Why would we want THIS green earth to degenerate?!

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Dear Target Corp.,

I’ve been loyal to the Target stores since I began earning my own money. Due to ethical issues and fiscal irresponsibility on the part of management, I refuse to shop at Wal-Mart, and opt for the more attractive qualities that Target stores offer. Target has always been a favourite and top store on my list of shopping staples, due to the brands, types of merchandise, and even clothing quality the stores offer.

However, in the age of growing awareness of global Climate Change, and in the face of a growing global financial crisis, people like me are learning that we have to be environmentally responsible as well as fiscally conservative. Conserving precious natural resources goes hand in hand with learning to conserve in the home–with personal products as well with energy. If people in households are starting to learn to conserve, product-wise and energy-wise, to benefit the planet, shouldn’t corporations that provide the products we use also learn to preserve and conserve?

I have noticed that while Target stores do stock green options, the options are not as widely advertised nor offered as well as they could and should be.

*

Target brand should start to be more competitive on the green industry. The public doesn’t understand the impact of global climate change and environmental degradation if big companies don’t make it easy for them to have green choices. I notice there is Method and Seventh Generation, but no equivalent by Target Brand to stay competitive on the green front. With the threat of job loss and credit crunching, many people have to rely on buying generic brands rather than name brands in order to save money. While stocking several green product lines such as Clorox Greenworks, Method and Seventh Generation, I think offering a green generic brand alternative would encourage many of those people, like me, who have to be conscious of each penny they spend to still be ecologically responsible. It encourages people to opt for the green choice, because they would help the planet while yet helping themselves.

I also have noticed that there are a few brands out there, like GLAD trash bags, which try to be environmentally responsible, but there are hardly any other bags that offer that same sort of eco-responsibility. Producing plastic uses precious natural resources while at the same time releasing countless tons of pollution into the air, for a relatively small output of product. Target should try to focus more on bringing sustainable, ethically and environmentally responsible choices to its stores.

Target should also try to stock on items that have recycled and post-consumer recycled content. I notice that a lot of the brands of paper products such as paper plates, toilet paper such as Kleenex, Charmin, Quilted Northern, and paper towels such as Viva, Bounty, etc, are made from virgin trees and have absolutely zero recycled paper content. As a result, I NEVER buy paper products at Target, including paper and plastic plateware. Seventh Generation offers recycled toilet paper and paper towels, and I also believe it has a higher selection of cleaning products than what Target generally offers. I find these on Amazon.com. Recent studies released have concluded that forest trees are dying at twice the normal rate, and therefore are less likely to be able to refresh the planet’s oxygen supply quickly. Trees are not 100% sustainable despite many companies claims, because seeds take years and years to develop into mature trees, and forests, once dead, take decades to regrow, before they can make an impact on the ozone.

It would be easier to buy these paper products at Target rather than buying them online. If you make green products more available to the public, your shoppers will become more aware of the impact their daily spending has on the planet as well as on their wallet and they will be more likely to learn to conserve as well as preserve earth for generations to come.

Please consider helping the American public combat climate change by providing these options to them and broadening your Target Generic Brand to include green options.

Thank you.

*Image credit: TreeHugger.com

Feb 12, 2009 | Eco | 1 Comment »

Green Tip of the Week: Go Mobile Wi’ Cho Bad Eco Self!~ Eco-Texting

I’m thinking of posting Green tips on a specific day, but I haven’t decided which one is the best! Sunday? Thursday? Errrr.

The Bite

Ooh yeah, it's such a rush. Saving resources with free cell phone text services that tell you the greenest options makes you feel so fine. 

The Benefits

• Getting down for free. These services cost nothing - you just pay your carrier's usual texting fees (usually ten cents per message).
• Global healing. Get info on the go – which foods have the lowest CO2 footprint, the most sustainable fish species, and the companies with the greenest corporate policies.

Personally Speaking

The listings of the foods lowest in CO2 at the Eat Low Carbon Diet Calculator are pretty extensive, but (and we tried) it doesn't include escargot or Spam.

Wanna Try?

• Bon Appétit Eat Low Carbon Diet Calculator – text 69866 with the message lcd, followed by the name of the food (say, omelet) you're considering, and it'll send back a carbon rating and lower-carbon alternatives.
• Blue Ocean Institute FishPhone – text 30644 with the message fish, followed by the variety you want to know about (example: tuna), and it'll fire back sustainability info on that species.
• Climate Counts On-The-Go – text 30644 with the message cc, followed by the name of a major company (starbucks), and it'll let you know how well that organization scores on climate issues.
• Bonus: Google Mobile – text google (466453), enter your starting address, then to, then your destination, and it'll send back directions – no printouts necessary.

*Personally speaking* – If being green were this convenient, I would have started this a LONG time ago. Who knew carbon responsibility could be within reach? (Literally!)
Tip: Credit Ideal Bite.com.
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Links:
Take a look at my “12 X 12: Midnight to Midnight: A Day in the Life” post! Take a look at my life in 24 hours.

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Look at my latest outfit shots and give critique I so badly need.

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Listen: Don’t be a Mofo: Resolution for 2009. *Explicit language warning*

Jan 20, 2009 | Eco | 2 Comments »

2009 Green Resolutions

The world is deteriorating at a faster rate in this new Century than ever before. Here are some simple, effective and cheap resolutions to adopt to do your part to slow the effects of climate change and planet degeneration!

Be Greener in 2009!! SAVE THE PLANET!

1. Switch to Reusable Towels

Cost: $6-10

No matter how you look at it, paper towels create waste. During your next trip to the grocery store, buy some reusable microfiber towels, which grip dirt and dust like a magnet, even when they get wet. When you are finished with them, toss the towels in the wash and reuse them again and again. They are even great for countertops and mirrors. When you absolutely have to use disposable towels, look for recycled products. If every household in the United States replaced just one roll of virgin fiber paper towels (70 sheets) with 100 percent recycled ones, we could save 544,000 trees.

2. Run a Full Dishwasher Load
Cost: $0

If you have dishwasher, use it. Running a fully loaded dishwasher — without prerinsing the dishes — can use a third less water than washing the dishes by hand, saving up to 10 to 20 gallons of water a day. Simply scrape large pieces of food off your dishes and let the dishwasher handle the rest. And by using the air-dry setting (instead of heat-dry), you will consume half the amount of electricity without spending a dime.
*if you are in the market for a new dishwasher, make sure you look for the Energy Star logo and check the labels for the energy efficiency statistics of the model.

3. Turn the temperature down in your fridge

Cost: $0

As one of the biggest appliances in your kitchen, the refrigerator is also one of the most power hungry, accounting for 10 to 15 percent of the average home energy bill each month. Get your fridge running in tip-top shape. First, set the refrigerator thermostat to maintain a temperature between 38 and 42 degrees (F). This temperature will protect your food from spoiling while saving electricity. Twice a year, clean the condenser coil at the back of your fridge. Condenser coils tend to get dusty, making them less efficient.

4. Stop buying bottled water

Cost: $14.98 for aluminum water bottle

Did you know that it takes 26 bottles of water to produce the plastic container for ONE one-liter bottle of water, and that doing so pollutes 25 liters of groundwater? Don’t leave a trail of plastic water bottles in your wake! Stop buying bottled water. Use reusable water bottles instead made from materials like stainless steel or aluminum that are not likely to degrade over time. If you choose a plastic water bottle, check the number on the bottom first: Plastics numbered 3, 6 and 7 could pose a health threat to you, so look for plastics numbered 1, 2, 4 or 5.

5. Turn down your thermostat–put on a sweater, throw on a blanket, or snuggle with a roomie or lover, to stay warm!
Cost: $0

Electric power plants are the country’s largest industrial source of the pollutants that cause global warming. By snuggling under a blanket on the couch on a snowy winter night instead of turning up the heat, or enjoying the breeze from a fan in the height of summer instead of turning up the air conditioning, you can save pounds of pollution, as well as some money off your utility bills. Set your thermostat in winter to 68 degrees F (20° C) or less during the daytime and 55 degrees F (13° C) before going to sleep or when you are away for the day. And during the summer, set thermostats to 78 degrees F (26° C) or more.

More tips below.
(more…)

Jan 05, 2009 | Eco | 1 Comment »

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas GREEN!

How to be green this Holiday!

I haven’t given anyone a big green tip in awhile, so let’s take this beaut of a tip from Earth911.com.

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Deck the Halls

If you were out shopping this weekend, we don’t need to tell you that there were a lot of people out purchasing not only gifts, but Christmas trees too (30 million evergreens to be exact). In fact, these millions of trees help to offset enough carbon to make a big impact – the equivalent of taking 4,960 SUVs off the road for one year. So before you let holiday stress get the best of you, take a deep breath.

With Boughs of Holly

Gathering round ye olde Noble Fir for some good ol’ caroling and merryment? Ok, so you might not be having an old-fashioned Christmas, but you can make your own ornaments and decorations that are recyclable or compostable. That way when you take them down, you wont have as much to throw away.

Fa-La-La-La-La

It may be hard to think of now, but soon it will be time to take your tree down. After you’ve used Earth911’s search to find a treecycling event near you, you’ll have joined the 93 percent of consumers who recycle their Christmas trees each year. Your tree can be used for a number of projects like ground cover for playgrounds, rebuilding wetlands and restoring coastlines. And to think you were just going to toss it in the trash…

More ways to be green this Holiday Season:
20 Tips for having a Sustainable Holiday
5 Tips to Green your Tree!

Dec 24, 2008 | Eco | Comments Off

Green Tip of the Week Round-Up!

Stuff the Coal Industry doesn’t want you to know, Stuff both campaigns aren’t saying about Coal energy… How to cut down on daily waste with your coffee run.

Latest email from The Daily Green… Seriously, Coal isn’t clean, and that’s not what the Coal Industry heads or either Campaign for the presidency want you to hear.

The Truth About Coal: A Skeptic’s Guide to the Coal Industry’s $40 Million Advertising Blitz

An excerpt from the article:

…Coal is neither clean, nor cheap, nor abundant, nor a good liquid fuel replacement for oil, nor is it needed at all… Emissions from coal plants are leading causes of smog, acid rain and the U.S. contribution to global warming…

It also has a video from the Sierra Club, America’s largest, Environmental activist organization, which outlines the argument against coal technology. You should watch it. It’ll open your eyes about this dirty energy source.

Secondly:
Your daily cup of java is ruining the environment, did you know that?

If you buy your daily cup of coffee in a disposable container, you are generating about 22.75 pounds of waste per year. That’s troubling, because polystyrene takes hundreds of years to break down, and is made of nonrenewable petroleum.

In addition… Scientists have also discovered carcinogenic compounds leaching out of polystyrene, possibly even into your hot drink!–Your disposable cup of coffee is poisoning you daily, and you don’t even know it!! Does Starbucks have a vendetta against you? Hmmmmm…

To side step the environmental impact of all of the above, consider using a refillable mug made from stainless steel or ceramic. Not only are you saving the environment, you’re saving yourself! The only con would be that you have to do your own dishes! :)

Oct 22, 2008 | Eco | Comments Off

Green Tip of the Day: Bang for Your Bar

More like Green Tip of the Month or… Season… I haven’t been posting these very often.

BANG FOR THE BITE

If 10,000 Biters buy a bar of soap instead of a container of the liquid stuff, we'll avert the weight of eight paralegals in packaging waste.

The Bite

The bar soap, that is, 'cuz the verdict's in: Bars are eco-friendlier and cheaper than liquid latherers. Plain(tiff) and simple.

The Benefits

• Eco-friendly evidence. In terms of weight, packaging waste accounts for 31% of the waste we send to landfills. Bars use way less.
• Saving to pay your law school loans. Bar soaps cost less than their liquid equivalents.
• An injunction against germs. Studies have found that bar soap (even when you share it with others) keeps you just as clean as liquid.

Wanna Try?

• Skinnyskinny Soap Set – gift-y set of six bars (many made with food-grade ingredients such as exfoliating black pepper), packaged in a zero-waste, book-shaped reusable box, with soaps wrapped in pages of discarded tomes ($48).
• SoapRocks – superlong-lasting, gemstone-inspired soap hunks ($15).
• Sappo Hill Glycerine Crème Soap – inexpensive and made with glycerine and coconut and palm oils; order without packaging for less waste ($2).

Personally Speaking:
I use soaps made by this African American company. I can buy them 4 for $10 at the Detroit Eastern Farmer’s market. The packaging is minimal, and made out of cardboard, which is recyclable. This is another thing I can do for the planet that minimizes my own individual impact on it.

What can you do?

Oct 08, 2008 | Eco | Comments Off

Beauty is Earth Deep; What I Wore Today: pop of colour, bit of nude

I purchased a light pressed powder at the local beauty store for my upcoming vacation to Hawaii to use in lieu of my usual SPF pressed powder foundation. My face is a combo skin type, with an incredibly oily T zone. The oil that surfaces on my nose by the end of a non-made up, non-blotting day is so slick and shiny, it could probably power your engine for the next three months and much cleaner than those synthetic special concoctions designed for Premium engines they try to pawn off on you. Yes, it is that bad.

Anyway, I’m a loyalist. I’m like those women who used to purchase from Mary Kay back in the day when the company used to make those gold and pink compacts out of PVC plastic, and it wasn’t to support Breast Cancer research. Loyal. Brand loyal. My mum used to swear by Mary Kay and then when she found out that they’re not that great and stopped selling them (who could, when everything they gave their sales reps was pink or an unflattering pastel fake snake skin mauve?), she signed onto the gospel of Clinique, and then later onto M.A.C., for its vogue, sleek midnight packaging, and the promise of a new lipstick with every six used containers brought back. She is still a loyal M.A.C. and Clinique girl, and she will never go back to anything else. She is old school like that, loyal to a fault, unwavering in her support, and unfaltering in her faithfulness.

Though her motivation for switching to M.A.C. makeup was the lure of a freebie, I praise her inadvertent Green-ness in her beauty choices. M.A.C. pretty much was using this bait of a free product to hook new customers and keep them, however, this programme was popular and advertised by any M.A.C. counter attendant before being “Green” was a trend. Bring back any 6 used/empty M.A.C. cartons, containers and get a free lipstick or something. What an idea! The used containers would go back to the manufacturer to be re-fashioned into new ones made of out of like, 40% post consumer recycled content.

Bravo! Unfortunately, I hate MAC products, the consistency and the way the MAC “Experts” at the counters pile the shit on my face. I hate the way the make up feels against my horribly combo skin and by 8PM, the powder I’d applied at 8AM has congealed. Nope. I switched.

Enter Stila Cosmetics. While they do not have the obtrusive and self-promoting green-washing problem like a lot of cosmetic companies do, I did notice that all of Stila cosmetics do come in 100% recycled brown paper boxes. It doesn’t say anywhere on the website that it is an eco-conscious company, but many of their products are re-fillable and made from a recyclable plastic or metal.

Now, this company actually makes colours that compliment my hard-to-match, hard-to-shop-for darker Asian skin. To go to another would entail hours and hours and hours and lots of wasted dollars on testing out other manufacturers, which would thereby entail my heart breaking and my mouth cursing everyone in the world with easily matchable skin (i.e., white people) for whom the majority of make up is made. No, no, no. That just wouldn’t do. So, in my constant quest to make ecologically-conscious and responsible choices, I had to write Stila to ask them if they had a programme similar to MAC’s, so that for the most recent purchase, I could return the plastic to them in order for the circle to be closed, as I couldn’t reduce or reuse it, so it would have to be recycled.

Good afternoon,

I noticed Stila’s packaging is made from recycled paper. Some of your products are not reusable, such as a the pressed powders or blushes, and I was wondering if Stila has a program to send back used, empty makeup containers (like MAC’s recycling program), so that we can all be pretty but ecologically conscious.

I am a loyal Stila customer/user, and would like to be eco-conscious/responsible in all areas of my life including my beauty routines and products.

Could you kindly advise if Stila, Corp. has such a program?
/etc, etc.

You get the idea.

To me, beauty is also earth deep. It isn’t just about what you put on your face, or how you package yourself with your clothes. I think beauty should be about the greater good you try to affect on the world. How you carry yourself should also resonate with greater consequences in the world around you. This life you’re living isn’t just about you. Even in small choices we make, it takes us a step closer to ugly or a step closer to beautiful. If I spend this much money and put this much effort into my face, the least I can do is make sure the money I pump into my face doesn’t damage the planet, but in fact, gives back to it in some way. We are all connected, and I think the highest extent of this connection is that we’re all living on Mother Earth, and how we treat her and each other reflects what level of beauty or ugliness we have within us.

That said, my outfit today was made out of cotton, a highly renewable source and… my outfit was not green. :(

I thought I’d be a bit funky today and not match any of my accessories at all. Plus, I don’t have a nude coloured belt, so it doesn’t work, anyway. I really adore this tent dress, I do. It’s got give, and it flatters me, even though I’m a waif with a larger than average chest. The material is soft and airy, but thick enough that I can wear it into Fall (which I can’t wait for), and it’s got unexpected details that thrill me (i.e., bold pleats at the neckline, hidden pockets). The slash painted plaid is pretty bold, but I really like it for its assertiveness without being aggressive. The length is longer than I like, but when I put on a cinching belt, it goes back to being work appropriate, so I might just have to forgo the whole tailoring thing until I’ve finished working that job.

It was cold this morning, about 64F, so I threw on a lightweight scarf and some sheer tights, which came in handy inside, though the temperature soared up to just sub 80F. I threw on my nude shoes to break them in for the wedding during the up-coming Hawaii excursion. They’re more of a Fall trend, nude shoes with jewel tones or an LBD, but I figure, hey, they match my skin colour almost exactly, who the hell cares, really?

A potential back to school outfit, but considering most of my classes are held in a sweltering dungeon with no AC (yeah, attending classes in an old historically marked building is totally ace and by ace, I mean sucks donkey balls), I might not be wearing this until late October, when the weather in Michigan cools considerably. (And shortly thereafter becomes so frigid, it is considered unwise to go outside without pants, closed toe shoes, socks, and a hefty coat.)

Dress, Vera Wang VS. Quilted belt and scarf, H&M. Zen jade rose ring, Urban Outfitters. Nude Frill platforms, Jeffrey Campbell.

Aug 19, 2008 | Eco, Fashion | 7 Comments »

Snapshot of the world: Sobering Numbers On the Environmental Situation

Open your eyes. In a recent email I received from one of my many “Green” sources today… It is sobering….

A Look At Leading Environmental Indicators

–The Seventh Generation Index

If every picture tells a story, every statistic paints a picture. And usually it’s worth a thousand words. With that in mind, we’ve collected some facts and figures that we think say a great deal about where we are today and where we need to go tomorrow. Introducing the first Seventh Generation Index, a snapshot of leading environmental indicators that paint a portrait of the state of our world.

* Number of people employed worldwide in the renewable energy sector: 2.3 million
* Percent increase in production of solar cells last year: 51
* Number of people expected to be employed in the solar energy sector alone by 2030: 6.3 million
* Number of minutes of sunlight hitting Earth needed to meet global energy needs for a year: 1
OH MY GOD: * Size of the patch of desert needed to meet all U.S. energy using concentrated solar power: 92 x 92 miles
* Percent of global energy needs that could be met by wind power: 3,500
* Cost to build wind power generators to meet 20% of U.S. electricity needs: $1.2 trillion
* Amount of money spent on foreign oil in the U.S. every year: $700 billion
* Number of volatile organic compounds emitted by six common deodorizing and laundry products: 100
* Average number of new chemicals being created each day: 5
* Percent of total U.S. energy use dedicated to producing food: 19%
* Percent of total U.S. energy use that would be dedicated to producing food if everyone was vegetarian: 13%
* Average number of coal-fired power plants being built in China every week: 1
* Percent of air pollution in the western U.S. that originates in China: 15
* Percent reduction in U.S. atmospheric sulfur dioxide levels since 2000: 14
* Percent reduction in U.S. ground level ozone levels since 2000: 9
* Percent drop in total toxic releases in the U.S. from 2000 to 2005: 39
THIS IS SAD AND DISGUSTING * Number of floating pieces of non-biodegradable plastic per square mile of ocean: 46,000
* Number of days it takes new plastic developed by Mississippi scientists to biodegrade in seawater: 20
* Percent of U.S. household waste currently being recycled: 33
* Percent of U.S. household waste that could be recycled: 75
* Cost per ton of garbage collection in the U.S.: $70-$200
* Cost per ton of curbside recycling in the U.S.: $50-$150
* Number of jobs created per 10,000 tons of waste incinerated: 1
* Number of jobs created per 10,000 tons of waste landfilled: 6
* Number of jobs created per 10,000 tons of waste recycled: 36 – HELLO!!

We could save money, save the planet and give people more jobs if Americans could learn more how to recycle and if the government and other agencies bolstered the alternative energy industry. What is wrong with this country!

We could change so much if we just learned to focus these things in the right direction. See what you can do in your daily life to change what is going on with the world environment.

– Garbage in our oceans!

Related Articles:
The giant garbage patch twice the size of Texas floating in the Pacific Ocean:
Plastic Ocean: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, CDNN news
Continent-size toxic spew of plastic fouling swath of Pacific Ocean, San Francisco Chronicle
Giant garbage patch floating in Pacific, Physorg.com, Science and Tech news

Aug 14, 2008 | Eco, The World | 2 Comments »

Randomness: Thoughts on Into the Wild Weekend, Running, Fashion and other things of late.

My lack of updating doesn’t stem from a lack of time, that’s for sure. Now that I am no longer attending the summer term at my uni, I am decidedly free agent with my time. I’ve been using it ever so wisely by catching up on the heaping huge sleep debt I’ve accrued during the school year; half-heartedly reading National Geographic, WIRED, Good, and Marie Claire magazines and an assortment of books by Nabokov, Murakami, and Oscar Wilde–two of which, sadly, were assigned at some point in this summer term; lazily browsing fashion blogs; only half-hearted searching for recipes to neglect in the kitchen that’s been missing me; running every now and again when the nagging of my beloved grows to an incessant but surprisingly upbeat verbal poking.

There’ve been several things in development and happenings lately that I should expound upon, because I feel they are incredibly important to the evolution of who I am as a woman. I will be back date posting these in chronological order, due to the laziness of some readers and the hating of long posts by others.

Please be sure to read backward from here on out, because I will be posting these as I finish writing my lengthy article.

Jul 31, 2008 | Eco, Fashion, happenings, inward, run | Comments Off

Into the Wild [Weekend] (Long running/discussion article)

The week of July 21 was probably the worst week in history of my job, and I would rather develop a weeping, pussy ulcer on my inner thight that has to be drained on a daily (a la King Henry VIII of England) than ever experience that again. My job is one such that there is only one position of my title per sales team in my business. Each team consists of 8-9 sales consultants, who, upon selling a deal, will throw the paperwork (or email it, depending on what type of product was sold) on my desk for audit and transmission to the Main Office for setup and processing. Due to the structure of only having one such person per team and 6-7 teams per region, if half of the Me-Types take a vacation at the same time, the few remaining Me-Types are burdened with processing and auditing cases for the rest of the sales teams out there, which effectively doubles or triples our work.

Now, my job is by no means easy. Though it doesn’t require a Bachelor’s Degree to obtain this position, it does require a hefty knowledge of technical/administrative programs, a good skill for business math, a handle on creating complex Excel spreadsheets for analysis, tracking and testing, and a talent for tight-lipped but open-eared gossip/complaint empathy. I mean, it’s not an easy thing to do. On top of processing and auditing, we must also troubleshoot any problems with these retirement services before the client ultimately gets the benefit engaged. It’s a very length, complex job description, and I needn’t go into it with you. just believe me, it’s complicated and tough. When one must complete one’s own job in addition to the jobs of two others of the same job description, the time one spends at work also triples, as does the frustration, stress and all-round hating of work life. In sum: it sucked, I hated life until I got home, and then hated life some more because I’d have to do it again the next day. I didn’t run at all, and it was just a bad week.

I spent the first 4 days skipping lunch and working until 7. That’s pretty much an 11 hour day, 4 days in a row. Friday, I left the office early for what would be the ultimate erasure of the Worst Work Week in MK History.

N picked me up in a Bosch Deisel Powered 5 Series, and we hiked up the Interstate up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, which, truth be told, is so completely different from the landscape of the Mitten (Lower Peninsula), that it could qualify as its own state, geographically and culturally speaking. After 7 hours, we reached our destination and picked up our race packets. We were there for a trail marathon and 10K. I think you can guess who did the 10K and who did the marathon (that is, if you don’t read me on a reg).

(more…)

Jul 28, 2008 | Eco, run | Comments Off

Indulgence in Vanity

Yesterday or two days ago I posted something about how the best cure-all for a work-day gone horrendously amiss is shoes. At least, it is, for me. This is a terrible indulgence, I know–especially for someone who has professed time and time again the gospel of being eco-conscious and green, a self-proclaimed Eco-nazi. I know, I am a paradox. Reality is a cruel mistress.

I can’t help it. I love fashion! I love being green. Besides fiction and all things Internetty, these are my two biggest passions: fashion and the planet. Are there two things in the universe more at odds with each other? The world of fashion only promotes usage, love and hoarding of–albeit deliciously aesthetically pleasing–material wealth. Being green means reducing, reusing and learning to live with less in order to save the planet from a horrible and decidedly dirty demise. While those who are fashion-conscious spend countless hours in stores and malls browsing racks, our Earth-conscious sisters are attending rallies, starting recycling drives, initiating green revolutions in the work-place, promoting habits to reduce our wear and tear on the planet, fashioning new things out of old discards. They ban China, wear organic (because of the way cotton is grown, millions of gallons of pesticides absorb into the ground, polluting run offs into streams, rivers, lakes and eventually our oceans, killing fish, small animals and poisoning our food sources (again fish) with bad amounts of mercury) and bamboo, and carry around Sigg metal water bottles in their enormously handy shopping bags made out of 100% post-consumer recycled waste.

Only until recently the fashion world didn’t really embrace the green movement. Only those with the heftiest wallets have up to now been able to shovel out the necessary dough to pay for Green Fashion. Eco-Conscious clothing is also usually hard to come by. It is expensive, hardly fashionable, and in limited selection. The best looking eco-fashion can cost upwards of $300 for a nice blouse or $199 for a pair of organic, all-American jeans. For those amounts, I might as well shell out the dollars for a great Nicole Miller or Nina Ricci, or even grab a pair of J-Brands or Cheap Mondays. Hell, it’s less expensive. But then I run the trouble of eco-guilt plaguing me in my sleep for not doing the conscionable thing. I actually have have eco-guilt ridden nightmares, and woken up in the middle of the night!

Of course, for the more economically-minded, there is the ubiquitous and trendy American Apparel. It’s made in America, is owned by Americans, is manufactured in factories by well-paid, happy Americans in clean and bright factories. But Jersey Cotton and muslin can only get you so far. Try rocking Jersey cotton at your next board meeting! (Oh, and it isn’t 100% organic, either, so those dyes still contain toxins, and the cotton farms still use pesticides that pollute our water supply.)

Point is…we can all do a our part to help the planet by changing our habits, but for those who love fashion, the Green world sadly hasn’t caught up. It’s a disappointing reality, and a confusing, saddening puzzle for those of us who want to do more than just “go organic” or stick a plastic bottle in a recycling bin. (more…)

Jun 27, 2008 | Eco, Fashion | 1 Comment »

He is Evil, and He Must Be Stopped.

How dare he!!

Evil, evil, evil. Look what he is doing.

>>>

Report: Bush Muzzled Climate Scientists
Administration Acted as If On Behalf of Oil Industry

The Committee on Government Oversight and Reform has published a damning report about the Bush Administration and its alleged efforts to both downplay and obscure the importance of global warming as an issue.

The evidence before the Committee leads to one inescapable conclusion: the Bush Administration has engaged in a systematic effort to manipulate climate change science and mislead policymakers and the public about the dangers of global warming.

The list of offenses will be familiar to any one who has followed this story over the years: Scientists have been kept at arm’s length from the press, public testimony and reports have been heavily edited, and overall the message has been to emphasize uncertainties in science, even if they don’t exist or aren’t endorsed by the vast majority of experts around the world.

In 1998, the American Petroleum Institute developed an internal “Communications Action Plan” that stated: “Victory will be achieved when … average citizens ‘understand’ uncertainties in climate science … [and] recognition of uncertainties becomes part of the ‘conventional wisdom.’” The Bush Administration has acted as if the oil industry’s communications plan were its mission statement. White House officials and political appointees in the agencies censored congressional testimony on the causes and impacts of global warming, controlled media access to government climate scientists, and edited federal scientific reports to inject unwarranted uncertainty into discussions of climate change and to minimize the threat to the environment and the economy.

Surely, this report is part political theater. The chairman of the committee, Henry Waxman, is a Democrat, as is the Congress. And its release coincides with the United Nations meeting in Bali, where the United States stands mostly alone against the world’s efforts to ramp up action on global warming by cutting back on greenhouse gas pollution. Even if it has elements of political theater, it also demonstrates one very important thing: Congress is fulfilling its watchdog function for the first time in the Bush presidency, and that means that – at the least – the administration now knows the public is watching.

It should also be noted that some federal climate scientists, most notably NASA’s James Hansen, have heroically refused to be muzzled. It is because of them that we know just how hard it is to speak plainly about the risks scientists have defined.

News from The Daily Green.

Jun 11, 2008 | Eco | Comments Off

Daily Green: Facts about Fish, Tips for saving $$$, How to Be Eco-Chic Pretty!, Bonus Tip: Green for Your Hands

from email: Daily Green.com. LOTS OF ECO TIPS!~

Can You Hear Me Now? Ocean Fish Are Collapsing: Millions of People at Risk of Losing Major Food Source – This Generation

Here are the facts, still startling even if increasingly familiar, that came out of the Global Conference on Oceans, Coasts, and Islands in Hanoi this week, as reported by Agence France-Press.

“Warming seas are bleaching corals, feeding algal blooms and changing ocean currents that impact the weather, and rising sea levels could in future threaten coastal areas from Bangladesh to New York,” experts said, according to AFP.

Overfishing and water pollution also remain serious and ongoing problems: “North Atlantic cod fisheries collapsed in the 1990s, anchovies previously disappeared off Chile, herring off Iceland and sardine off California,” AFP reports.

By the numbers:

20%

– Amount of humankind’s protein intake that comes from fish

75%

– Fish stocks already fully exploited or depleted

Millions

– Number of people whose nutrition is at risk

64%

– Ocean areas outside national jurisdiction
(more…)

Apr 14, 2008 | Eco | Comments Off

Count Down to Earth Day, Day 1

If only we could understand more about Earth Day and how we impact the place we live in the small and large habits of our daily life.

What Is Earth Day?

Earth Day falls every year on April 22, in celebration of the importance of the environment and to encourage action. It was initiated in 1970 by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson, who started a “teach-in” to protest the government’s environmental ignorance. This eventually led to legislation including the Environmental Policy Act (1969), the Clean Air Act (1970), the Clean Water Act (1977) and fuel efficiency standards for automobiles.

How is Recycling Involved?

Green TreeRecycling is one of the easiest ways for people to take action on behalf of the environment, a way to Make Every Day Earth Day™. Recycling reduces the amount of waste in landfills, and prevents hazardous materials from leaking into our soil and water systems. Consider the following:

    * The average person generates 4.5 pounds of trash every day
    * The EPA estimates that 75 percent of solid waste is recyclable, while only about 30 percent is
    * As of 2006, there were approximately 8,660 curbside recycling programs
    * An aluminum can is recycled and back on the grocery shelf to be purchased again in as little as 60 days; a glass bottle takes as little as 30 days
    * One gallon of improperly disposed motor oil can contaminate one million gallons of fresh water

Earth 911, Credit for tips.

Stay tuned for more tips daily while we count down to what I think is the most important day of the year. (Besides my birthday, of course.)

Mar 31, 2008 | Eco | Comments Off

Green Call to Action! Lights Out!

Is 7 minutes in the dark long enough?

The Bite
Only if you’re an awkward, slobbery teenager. Otherwise, turn the lights off for a full hour tomorrow starting at 8 p.m. your time, and you’ll join millions of people around the planet coming together for a cause even greater than a teen’s first kiss: global warming.

The Benefits

* Immediate impact. Last year’s Earth Hour, which happened only in Sydney, Australia, had the effect of taking 48,000 cars off the road for an hour. This year’s event is global, so savings will be even bigger.
* Long-term impact. Earth Hour organizers are also raising awareness by promoting energy-efficient lighting.
* Fun in the dark, without being stuck in a closet. (But hey, if you wanna spend 60 minutes shacked up with your linens, it’s your call.) Get together with friends, and make a night of it.

If 10,000 households worldwide turn off 10 lights tomorrow night for just one hour, we’ll avert the CO2 created by an average apartment in a whole year.

Let’s do what we can!!!! Grab some candles, a snuggle-buddy, or a good book and a lantern, and lights out, world!!!!!

Mar 28, 2008 | Eco | Comments Off

Green tip of the Day: YOUR BLING!

The Bite

Tarnished jewelry. OK, we exaggerate, but if you want your jewelry to really shine, it needs a good polish from time to time. Bring back the twinkle faster than you can say "Here's Johnny" with with nontoxic eco-methods.

The Benefits

• Avoiding horror-inducing chems. Some conventional jewelry cleaners contain ammonia, which is a lung irritant.
• Eco-gleam. Less body-harming chem production means less chance of those chems harming nature. Ammonia, for example, can be toxic to aquatic life.
• Effectiveness. These options shine things up like the pros.

Personally Speaking

Our favorite thing about newly polished baubles? It makes them look a whole lot bigger.

If 10,000 people opt for an 8-oz bottle of eco-cleaner instead of conventional cleaner, we’ll avert enough potentially harmful chems to fill almost half an elevator

Tip credit: idealbite.

Mar 13, 2008 | Eco | Comments Off

Green Tip of the Day: Water/Plastic

Is an unsafe bottle repressing your thirst?

The Bite

Time for some bottle therapy. It used to be practically a requirement for the eco-conscious urbanite to lug water in reusable hard-plastic bottles, but it turns out those bottles can leach toxins. Choose lined aluminum, stainless steel, or glass instead.

The Benefits

• Health-consciousness. Polycarbonate plastic used in bottles by Nalgene and other companies leaches bisphenol-A, which is linked to birth defects, miscarriage, and prostate cancer.
• Less waste. Plastic water bottles require 1.5 million barrels of oil each year to make.
• America’s landfills collect 2.5 mil water bottles per hour!!
• Hydration. Experts recommend we drink six to seven glasses of H2O per day, so keep a bottle handy.
• Hipster appeal. Metal and glass options now come in supercool colors and designs.

Wanna Try?

• Biter Bottles – the lightest, highest quality reusable option is our very own resin-lined aluminum SIGG bottle, in silver and gold ($20).
• Kleen Kanteen Water Bottle – made from dishwasher-safe stainless steel and holds 27 oz ($18).
• SIGG Kids Series – get lil' Biters started down the healthier path ($18).
• VOSS – its water comes in cool-looking reusable glass bottles; buy one, and use the bottle for life ($3).

Why is toting your tap water better than buying bottled? Check out yesterday's tip.

>>Tip credit: Ideal Bite. — Subscribe for daily Green tips!

Feb 28, 2008 | Eco, happenings | 1 Comment »

Green Tip of the Day: Water

Can we save the planet, please? Okay thanks.

>tip, Credit of: Green is Universal.

Feb 27, 2008 | Eco | 1 Comment »