Archive for June, 2009

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Viable Alternative: Bags That Decompose Monday, June 29th, 2009 In an earlier blog post, I wrote about composting. “If you are a bit squeamish, keep in mind that compost is proven to be the best mulch and soil enrichment; it’s a fantastic way of reducing the amount of waste going to the landfills and it saves you money by reducing your fertilizer and landscaping bills.” For the neophyte composter, like myself, storing food scraps before tossing them into a compost bin is not all that enticing, (although it is the ecologically right thing to do).  Regular plastic bags are not an option since they do not decompose over time.  I came across a company, based in my old stomping ground, Palm Harbor, Florida, that manufactures the ultimate solution: BioBag Food Waste bags .   “BioBag kitchen waste bags are primarily used for the collection of food scraps and other biodegradable waste for home or community composting.”   The thin bags are made from corn and will decompose within 10-45 days once they hit the landfill or compost pile.  The bags even lessen the overbearing odor that often comes with composting.  This is perfect, then: collect your compostable food scraps in the Biobag and once it’s filled, just pitch the sealed bag into your compost bin!   BioBags has a variety of bags to choose from: • 3 gallon food waste bags • 13 gallon tall kitchen bags • 33 gallon lawn and leaf bags • Dog waste bags • Cat pan liners   You must visit the BioBags website and read about their certifications and technologies behind their products.  And kudos to BioBag: they are even recommended by Oprah and Martha Stewart! So where do you purchase BioBags?  There are many online retailers like Amazon or drugstore.com  that sell it as well as most natural food stores like Whole Foods. Although I bring my own bags to the store when I shop, I must admit, I sometimes accept the polyethylene plastic bags to use for my trash cans.  I know they can take thousands of years to degrade.  It’s a convenience issue.  Ok, then, this is my new earth promise: to use 100% biodegradable bags such as BioBags.  Not only will it will reduce the amount of plastic that goes into the landfills, but you will know you are reducing the production of these lethal polluters that contribute to air pollution and energy consumption. Tags: biodegradable, biodegradable bags, carbon footprint, change, changes, climate change, compost, decompose, earth, earth promise, earthpromise, eco-friendly, energy, environment, environmental, environmental footprint, environmental issues, global warming, green, green changes, green future, green hour, green living, green practice, green practices, green revolution, green tips, landfills, Martha Stewart, nature, Oprah, organic, outdoor, plastic bags, polyethene, reuse, whole foods Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Reuse What Mother Nature Provides Thursday, June 25th, 2009 Living in south Florida, it is the norm to have a downpour at some point during the day in the summer months.  I leave my watering cans out so they can catch the raindrops, giving me ample water to quench the thirst of my plants.  This, then, allows me to reduce my consumption of water and saves money!   Collecting rainwater  in a small bucket and/or watering can is a great example of a how a small change can make a big difference.  On a larger scale, you can attach a rain barrel and position it under a downspout.  According to Harvest H20.com, “Lawn and garden watering make up nearly 40% of total household water use during the summer. A rain barrel collects water and stores it for when you need to water plants or wash car. Rain barrels provide an ample supply of free “soft water” containing no chlorine, lime or calcium making it ideal for gardens, flower or the potted plants.” There are many varieties of rain barrels to choose from.  Listed below are some sites that I thought were worthy of sharing: • Bargain Outfitters  has a rain barrel that  hold 50 gallons of water • Green Culture sells an Eco-rain barrel that holds 55 gallons and is made from recycled food and liquid containers • Northern Tool and Equipment  offers a large variety of water collecting systems, ranging from 50 to 104 gallons Rain Barrels are realtively simple and inexpensive to construct.  If you are the home-project type, then these links are for you: • EcoGrrl Network • Southwest Florida Water Management District • DIY Life   Whether you purchase a rain barrel or make one yourself, these rain harvestors are a fantastic way to recycle what Mother Nature provides. Tags: carbon footprint, change, changes, climate change, earth, earth promise, earthpromise, eco-friendly, energy, environment, environmental, environmental footprint, environmental issues, global warming, green, green changes, green future, green hour, green living, green practice, green practices, green revolution, green tips, nature, organic, outdoor, rain, rain barrel, rain recycling, rainwater recycling, reuse, summer, summer ideas Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

It’s Time To Curb Those Greenhouse Gases Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 The sweltering heat in D.C. forced reporters and President Obama to hold the infamous Rose Garden speech indoors yesterday. Speaking to fervent reporters (who feel the need to enlighten their audience 24/7) President Obama made it quite clear that a bill to curb greenhouse gases needs to be top priority for Congress.  It comes at a price, though.    According to The Daily Green , “The Congressional Budget Office has examined the costs — and rebates — being engineered into the Congressional climate solution. The result: The average household will pay about $175 a year. The richest among us will pay more, about $245, and the poorest will get rebates enough to make $40 in the bargain.” NPR also has an informative article explaining how this bill is both an economic and environmental opportunity we cannot overlook. They quote President Obama, “The nation that leads in the creation of a clean energy economy will be the nation that leads the 21st century global economy,” he said. “That is what this legislation seeks to achieve. It is a bill that will open the door to a better future for this nation. And that is why I urge members of Congress to come together and pass it.”   Be sure to read both articles in their entirety! Tags: carbon footprint, change, changes, climate change, congress, earth, earth promise, earthpromise, eco-friendly, economy, energy, energy efficient, environment, environmental, environmental footprint, environmental issues, global warming, green, green changes, green future, green living, green practice, green practices, green revolution, green tips, greenhouse, legislation, make a difference, NPR, Obama, President Obama, reduce energy, Rose Garden Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Cosmetic Recycling Helps Our Landfills Look Prettier Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 Here’s the scenario:  you finish your moisturizer, eye-shadow or lipstick and look for the chasing arrows to see if it can be tossed in with your other recyclables.  You find nothing (most of the time) so unfortunately it ends up in the landfill.  An earlier Earth Promise post on Aveda’s recycling cap program  advised you to bring solely bottle caps to your participating Aveda. “This includes caps that twist on with a threaded neck such as caps on shampoo, water, soda, milk and other beverage bottles, flip top caps on tubes and food product bottles (such as ketchup and mayonnaise), laundry detergents and some jar lids such as peanut butter.”  What a great idea.  I continue to make  stops to drop off my handful of caps to help keep the landfills cap-free.   MAC cosmetics is yet another company making a difference.  How can you not love their free lipstick promo for bringing back your empties?  “Because we share your commitment to the environment, M•A•C accepts returns of its primary packaging through the Back to M•A•C Program. By returning six [6] M•A•C primary packaging containers to a M•A•C counter or M•A•C Cosmetics online, you’ll receive a free M•A•C lipstick of your choice as our thanks to you.”   Origins is going a step further and will gladly accept the entire cosmetic packaging from containers, bottles, jars, lipstick covers, and tubes regardless of the brand.  Start cleaning out all those finished and unused makeup containers and bring them on over to your nearest Origins store. According to the website, Origins launched its Return To Origins Recycling Program in March 2009.  450 participating Origins retail stores and Origins department store counters have recycling receptacles to drop off your empties and “All returned packaging will be sent back to a central location where products will be recycled or used for energy recovery.” Bringing in your cosmetic recyclables is a great Earth Promise to make!  Be sure to add it to your list of promises, or sign up  to create your list now. Tags: aveda, bottle caps, carbon footprint, change, changes, climate change, containers, earth, earth promise, earthpromise, eco-friendly, energy, energy efficient, environment, environmental, environmental footprint, environmental issues, global warming, green, green changes, green future, green living, green practice, green practices, green revolution, green tips, hansen's, landfills, lipstick, MAC, make a difference, make-up, nature, origins, reduce energy Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Change the World One Pair of Jeans at Time Monday, June 22nd, 2009 My daughter was reading through her National Geographic Kids magazine and suggested we send in our old jeans to help set a Guinness World Record.  You know how kids just love Guinness World Records; the books have striking photos combined mind-blowing facts.  What a great way to captivate an audience! I figured the sending in of our denim was to make the largest pair of jeans in the world.  Well, I got the superlative correct: it is to make the largest, but the world’s largest collection of clothes to recycle into natural housing insulation for homes that have been damaged or destroyed by natural disasters.  The jeans will be donated to the Cotton. From Blue to Green program.  The National Geographic Kids website has a great video detailing the process of making the jeans to recycling them into the Ultra Touch insulation. According to the Cotton. From Blue To Green website, it takes about 500 pairs of jeans to recycle enough denim to insulate one average sized US home.  The donated jeans must be received by June 30th to help set the Guinness World Record, so quickly dig though your closets and click here  to see where to mail your items.    Be sure to visit the entire Cotton. From Blue to Green website and learn about the program’s history.   If you are interested in your child’s school getting involved (pre-school through university) the site has information how to get started to “Change the World One Pair of Jeans at Time.” Tags: carbon footprint, change, changes, climate change, cotton, denim, earth, earth promise, earthpromise, eco-friendly, electrical waste, energy, energy efficient, environment, environmental, environmental footprint, environmental issues, global warming, green, green changes, green future, green living, green practice, green practices, green revolution, green tips, Guinness World records, jeans, make a difference, National Geographic, national geographic kids, nature, organic, reduce energy, Ultra Touch, world records Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Save the World One Flip Flop At Time Thursday, June 18th, 2009 If you read yesterday’s post, you recognized that StyleSubstanceSoul has much to offer.  I decided to save their recently launched goodwill project for today’s blog.  Under the Save the World  tab, (on the StyleSubstanceSoul site) I came across an interesting link, Formerly Flip Flops .  The familiar chasing arrows…oops, I mean flip flops definitely caught my attention.  Formerly Flip Flops is a rubber sandal donation venture launched by StyleSubstanceSoul in collaboration with UniquEco:   “A while back, we featured a story about UniquEco – an award-winning African company that was turning discarded flip flops into innovative pieces of art and jewelry. It was a story that resonated with our readers, who immediately wrote in from all around the country, asking where they could send their old flip flops. It seemed natural that we should become UniquEco’s first collection source in the U.S. After all, we are StyleSubstanceSole – oops, Soul. We’re all about doing good. And because we live in Southern California – the land of flip flops – what better place to make a real impact? We could actually help reduce landfills one flip flop at a time.” After watching UniquEco’s lengthy, but quite educational video clip  I wanted earthpromise to get involved, too, as another collection source.  Why not?  We’re here in South Florida where flip flops are donned 12 months a year. StyleSubstanceSoul asked one of the oldest surf shops in San Diego, Hansen’s, to be their collection site.  If you live in the San Diego area, just bring in your used, worn out flip flops and they’ll kindly give you a discount on your next purchase.    To learn more about Formerly Flip Flops and UniquEco in more detail, click here.  Also, if there is a business you believe would like to come on board, be sure to contact StyleSubstanceSoul. Tags: carbon footprint, change, changes, climate change, earth, earth promise, earthpromise, east africa, eco-friendly, electrical waste, energy, energy efficient, environment, environmental, environmental footprint, environmental issues, flip flops, global warming, green, green changes, green future, green living, green practice, green practices, green revolution, green tips, hansen's, make a difference, nature, organic, reduce energy, rubber, San Diego, sandals, soul, style, StyleSubstanceSoul, substance, UniquEco, women, women's community Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

This Site Has It All: Style Substance Soul Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 Being a blogger, I come across some incredible websites.  I can spend endless hours (yikes!) getting lost in cyberspace.  I start off with an agenda, which then leads me to additional browsing as a result of link-clicking on articles of interest.  It always guides me to places I’ve never ventured to before.  One such site I inadvertently came across is StyleSubstanceSoul. This women’s  (not to say men can’t visit) website’s tag line is “Look good. Feel Good. Do Good.” You can just feel the enthusiasm. “We are four friends who are mothers of teenage daughters. Watching our girls grow up in a world which focuses solidly on style has made us keenly aware of the need to throw some substance and soul into the mix. Our daughters have seen us yell back at the TV news, cry over the state of the world and call each other to rant about the latest political mess. We decided to set an example for them and take action.” Visiting StyleSubstanceSoul is like entering a cozy, yet sassy girlfriend’s home.  The founders are all observably concerned about humanitarian and environmental issues worldwide. They take action by calling out to all women.  Whether it be via product reviews, promoting women’s sites and bloggers, or a click a day for charity through charitable sites, their agenda is genuine: getting like–minded people to join and take action who can make a difference in the world. I cannot even begin to explain the plethora of options StyleSubstance has to offer; but of course I’ll entice you with a sampling. The set up is unique: as if you are leafing through a gilrfriend’s journal, visitors don’t feel like visitors, but rather part of an intimate women’s community.  Across the top of the virtual journal are tabs inviting us to socialize, showcase, save the world , style, substance, and of course, soul.   You can also subscribe to their newsletter, but you get so much more.  Once  joining, you become a member of a real community.  Here you can “express yourself, share with and ask questions of other women just like you.” I knew here at earthpromise we wanted to somehow be involved with StyleSubstanceSoul .  When you click the Showcase tab, I’m excited to say you will find earthpromise listed both under green products and blogs. Be sure to come back tomorrow to read about a recent project launched by StyleSubstanceSoul  …a definite do-gooder! Tags: carbon footprint, change, changes, climate change, earth, earth promise, earthpromise, eco-friendly, electrical waste, energy, energy efficient, environment, environmental, environmental footprint, environmental issues, global warming, green, green changes, green future, green living, green practice, green practices, green revolution, green tips, make a difference, nature, organic, reduce energy, soul, style, substance, women, women's community Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Wow Dad With These Green Gifts Monday, June 15th, 2009 Father’s Day is coming up quickly; this coming Sunday, June 21st to be exact.  You not only want to please your dad, but the earth as well.  Listed below are some classic and unusual ideas that are worth checking out. • Neckties. Do people still buy these for Father’s Day?  Well here’s a twist, RECYCLED NECKTIE & SUIT WALLET from Uncommon Goods. “Designer Laura Skelton who finds potential in unwanted suits and neckties and turns them into something useful and fresh. Full of character, charm and history, these wallets are clean-lined, simple and unique without being over the top.” • For those dads who still dress in full suit and tie to go to work, here are two sites that sell ties made from hemp.  Rawganique and Blueridge Eco Shop • Made primarily from discarded highway billboards, Green Guru Gear sells messenger bags, portfolio covers, snowboarding bags and wallets. •  Eco Express  sells this ultra-cool solar messenger bag which allows dad to charge any cell phone, iPod/iPhone or PDA with high efficiency. •  Solio stores power from the sun or socket; freeing you to recharge your mobile phone, iPod and other handheld devices anywhere, anytime. • Fair Trade Sports is “excited to bring North America the world’s first line of sports balls for soccer, football, basketball (and more!) that are certified green and certified Fair Trade. Our eco-certification refers to the rubber that makes up 70% of our sports balls. Our rubber tree forests in India and Sri Lanka have been third-party certified as sustainably managed. committed to donate all profits after taxes to children’s charities, both domestic and international.” Here at earthpromise we’d love to hear about any other typical and/or atypical Father’s day gifts. Tags: carbon footprint, change, changes, climate change, dad, earth, earth promise, earthpromise, eco-friendly, energy, energy efficient, environment, environmental, environmental footprint, environmental issues, father, father's day, gift, gifts, global warming, green, green changes, green future, green gifts, green living, green practice, green practices, green revolution, green tips, june21, make a difference, nature, necktie, organic, presents, tie, wallet Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

The Beauty of Plastic Bags Friday, June 12th, 2009 We’ve heard the mantra: no more plastic bags!  I came across the site, Quazen that provides clever crafty ideas (with how-to video clips) on how to reuse the ubiquitous plastic bag.     If you ask me, I think the best thing to do is first reuse the bags sitting at home for all your shopping – carry your own bags, don’t add any more to the waste. If they are not usable anymore then recycle them. If you want to get creative and save some green then instead of buying a bag for grocery, create your own recycled shopping bag from the existing ones. How? You’ll see. But before that I’d like to share some other really simple green flowers with you.   Click here  to read the article in full and get inspired to reduce and reuse those non-biodegradable polluters! Tags: art, carbon footprint, change, changes, climate change, crafts, crochet, crochet plastic bag, earth, earth promise, earthpromise, eco-friendly, environment, environmental, environmental footprint, environmental issues, fabric, global warming, green, green changes, green crafts, green future, green living, green practice, green practices, green revolution, green tips, kite, make a difference, nature, organic, plastic bag, plastic bag fusing, plastic bags, plastic grocery bag, plastic yarn, polyethene, polyethene bags, project, recycle, reduce, reuse, rising gas prices, trash, trash bags Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Green Stay-cation Ideas Thursday, June 11th, 2009 Where are you going this summer? Staying home and visiting local attractions? If you do decide to venture on the popular “stay-cation” due to the difficult economic times and rising gas prices, then there are many earth promises you can make to benefit the earth. With more people in your house over the summer (kids home from school, visitors) the amount of electrical waste can be staggering.  Here are ways to reduce energy usage around your house: • If you live in a climate which will allow the windows to be open, turn the air conditioning off as much as possible and use fans.  Being that I live in South Florida, not using the air conditioner is simply not an option.  I try to set the air conditioning temperatures between 76 to 78 degrees.  If you leave the house for the day, be sure to raise the thermostat to 85 degrees. That way, you’ll reduce the need for air conditioning and you will save energy. • Make sure all lights and fans (if using air conditioner) are turned off when room is not in use. • Close your blinds, shades or draperies during the hottest part of the day. Install white window shades or mini-blinds.  Mini-blinds can reduce solar heat gain by 40-50 percent.  You will use less electricity which will save you money. • Cook outdoors, use your toaster instead of the oven for smaller amounts of food that need to be heated up and cooked, or prepare cold meals to avoid heating up the kitchen and adding moisture to the air. • Avoid cooking during the hottest part of the day. • To cook in bulk and store in the refrigerator or freezer to lessen the frequency of using the stove. • Be sure that everyone turns off computers, videogames, when not in use • Take showers instead of baths.  You’ll inevitably use less water and less energy. • Pool pumps should only be operated during evening hours. This eases electric demand during peak usage hours. Check water quality frequently. • Air-dry your clothes when weather permits instead of using the dryer Having your kids be a part of the green brigade will make them more aware of how much waste occurs on a daily basis.  They can create a green check list to ensure everyone in the family is helping to make their footprint a bit smaller.  Each week there can be an energy monitor- -someone whose job it is to make sure lights are out when a room is not in use; make sure that electronics are turned off when not being used.  If there is a light, fan, electronic device that everyone forgets to turn off, make a sign to hang that reads “Lights Out!” or “Don’t Forget!” What other earth promises  can you think of that will help greenify your stay-cation? Tags: carbon footprint, change, changes, climate change, earth, earth promise, earthpromise, eco-friendly, electrical waste, energy, energy efficient, environment, environmental, environmental footprint, environmental issues, foot protection, gift, global warming, green, green changes, green future, green living, green practice, green practices, green revolution, green tips, make a difference, nature, organic, reduce energy, rising gas prices, stay-cation, vacation Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

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