by Liz
Here is a very interesting infographic on poop. I found it here. Read it.
Posts tagged green
Black and Orange and GREEN Halloween!
by Liz
Halloween is probably my favorite holiday. I spend months thinking of my costume and getting it together. Last year I was Roberta Bondar, the first Canadian woman in space. This year I am dressing up for the Night of Neon which raises money for the Christie Fund which helps people with cancer. If you would like to donate to our team, the link is here!
Roberta Bondar and Dolly Parton (most of the costumes were made by things we already had)
Ok now that I have self promoted let’s get down to the nitty gritty; Green Halloween! Halloween is awesome so why don’t we make it even more awesome by making it good on the environment too!
The most important is the costume! It is very easy to buy a costume at a store or online. Granted some of them are funny and creative but there is a problem with almost all of them. The problem is that they are often used out of plastics that cannot be broken down easily. So what I suggest is you make your own costume. Old clothes, materials from around the house, natural makeups and I bet you can make an amazing costume that will really impress coworkers or friends or other trick or treaters!
As far as treats go, try to get treats with minimal packaging and natural flavors. Or go above and beyond and join the Reverse Trick or Treat movement! Global Exchange has created this fantastic idea where as kids are out trick or treating they also bring along fair trade chocolate with an explanation card and give it to the person handing out candy at each house. You can get these kits here or at your local fair trade store.
Buddy Holly and Lady Gaga (all materials from around the house!)
Other tips for a green Halloween:
- Use reusable bags to get candy with. My favorite is actually pillow cases because they are more sturdy and can collect the optimal amount of candy and then can just be washed after!
- Reuse your Halloween decorations year after year.
- Use candles (beeswax or soya) to set the mood and save some energy.
- Use wind up flashlights while trick or treating.
- Head on over to www.greenhalloween.org for more tips and ideas to make a truly green Halloween!
Happy Halloween!!
Big Green Festival
by Liz
I have been getting busier here in England. I didn’t even get to post a Friday Fun post… but I also blame it on the lack of internet I had for 3 days. So to all you active followers out there (thanks Mom!) you will have to wait until next Friday.
Well one thing I have taken up since I landed across the pond is volunteering for a Big Green Festival. We had a volunteer meeting last week and I learned a lot more about the festival and it sounds pretty awesome. It is one day and has workshops for people of all ages to help live a more sustainable lifestyle. There are bands, a fashion show, a bike parade around the area all in the name of helping to save the environment! You can click here to learn more about it or watch the video below of last year’s festival.
I will definitely write about the big day, which is April 16, 2011, after it happens.
Happy St. Paddy’s Day!
By Liz
Happy St. Paddy’s Day!! This is one of my favourite holidays of the year. I have already begun the celebrations as Manchester’s Irish Festival kicked off on March 5. I went to go see the St Patrick`s Day Parade on Sunday which was ok, but the beer tent was fun! Anyhoo tomorrow is the actual day where everyone wears green and drinks Guiness.
Since everyone is wearing green why don`t we all act green too? Take Belfast, Ireland as an example. For their St. Paddy’s Day celebrations their theme is greening the environment. It will feature the lowest fuel emission car (powered by runners!), street performers with recycled instruments and cleaning the streets with “Belfast Dust Busters”. The city is taking this chance to educate and promote greener living.
St Patrick's Day Parade in front of Belfast's City Hall
Now what can you do to be more green on St Paddy’s Day? Well if you are like me you like to drink in the day time to celebrate, or right after work. That means you will be possibly outside and drinking beer. If that is the case, make sure you recycle the beer cans/bottles. That is an obvious and easy one. A not so obvious way to be green is to drink local beer. Each major city usually has a local brewery that sells delicious and often organic beer. To find one click here. So before you head out looking for a Guinness, try doing a little looking around for some local beer! Also you may be interested to know that draught beer is the most sustainable, then bottles, then cans.
Well what are you going to wear? Some people don’t own too much green in their closet so a cheap and easy way to show your Irish spirit is to find some second hand green clothes. Hit up your local thrift store and find a sweet green shirt. Maybe even some cheap green jewellery. I used to go to the dollar store and get some cheap crap and just throw it away but buying used stuff is a much better idea.
Well I hope some people take these tips and truly have a green St. Patrick’s Day!!
Fun Fridays: Adrien Grenier
By Liz
Adrien Grenier is not just an actor with piercing blue eyes. He considers himself an unconventional environmentalist. He is most well known for his role in the TV show Entourage but is lesser know for his eco-friendly side. As said in an interview with Tiny Green Bubble (http://www.tinygreenbubble.com/eco/celebrity-activists/item/1323-adrian-grenier-not-your-conventional-environmentalist), Adrien Grneier explained, “I consider myself more of an explorer – wanting to explore all of the new and better ways that we can live on the planet, embracing a better quality of life through better technologies. I’m working with SHFT constantly looking at ways to push forward the message of more awareness and more sustainable choices. It’s my daily job, my daily pleasure, to live and engage on that level.”
Along with SHFT Adrien create dthe show Alter Eco on the Discovery Channel, Planet Green. Unfortunately I have not been able to catch the show but I keep searching the internet for it! According to the website it says Alter Eco is, “an eco lifestyle and makeover series presented by Adrian Grenier and his team of green activists, experts, and friends. As all work and no play makes for a dull show, Adrian always concludes Alter Eco with a meal or a gathering where he and his green team celebrate their accomplishments for the week.” (http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tv/alter-eco/alter-eco-show-info.html) Some of the accomplishments made on the show include creating eco initiatives on the set of entourage, creating LEED certified headquarters and homes, helping high schools become more green and spread the word on the evils of plastic bottles.
Outside of television Adrien has also been part of a campaign to bring awareness to overfishing and has asked that everyone to stop eating sushi to preserve the bluefin tuna species. He is also known to wear eco-friendly clothing. He even insulated his home with old jeans! I think it is fantastic that Adrien Grenier is using his celebrity to promote eco-friendly life decisions. I hope his ideas spread!
Fun Fridays: Natalie Portman
By Liz
I figure by Friday after a long work week most people want to shut their brains off a little. This is what this new weekly post will be about. Mindless entertainment. It is a spotlight on a celebrity who is actually trying to do something to help our earth.
The first person I’d like to tell you about is Natalie Portman. She has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Harvard University and took graduate courses at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She was even a guest lecturer at Columbia University talking about terrorism. Right now she is very pregnant and has always been a big environmentalist.
Natalie Portman is a fashionable vegan and even had her own brand of vegan footwear! It was available only at a boutique in NYC in 2008.
Her engagement ring is also eco-friendly. It was made with an antique stone and conflict free diamonds. Even the platinum setting was made of recycled materials.
Her non fashion related accomplishments with the environment also produce a long list. She teamed up with Jack Hanna to film the documentary Gorillas on the Brink to bring the declining gorilla population some awareness. Natalie has also teamed up with various groups such as Environment America to help limit mercury pollution and joined up with FINCA (Foundation for International Community Assistance) to help women and children in third world countries. These are just some of the things that Natalie Portman does and now that she is about to have a child I would assume that she will just get more involved in making the world a better place for her child.
More Green Blogs
by Liz
Neither Erica or I are parents but I am a teacher and we both believe that the earlier kids learn about the environment the better. Our Earth is in such disrepair that our kids are the ones that will be dealing with our actions. Press the link below to see what some blogging moms are trying to be green with their family and what they are teaching their children.
http://www.talesofthewife.com/2011/01/green-mama-blog-hop.html
Laundry Update
by Liz
Remember that friend I mentioned who never really washed her jeans? Well turns out she was not wrong to do so! Turns out wearing jeans for up to 15 months without washing them is fine and they won’t pose a health risk whatsoever! The only problem is the jeans might start to smell but apparently all you have to do is put them in the freezer for a bit and it takes away all of the odours. So never washing your jeans is environmentally friendly and not as gross as you originally thought.
Read more about it here:
Let’s Talk Laundry
by Liz
Let’s talk laundry. It is unfortunately something we have to do. One person I know saves the environment a tiny bit by washing her jeans maybe twice a year. I, unlike her, like to wash my clothes after I wear them once or twice depending on how messy I am that day. If the clothes don’t look dirty and smell fine, why wash them? Anyhoo, I have some tips on how you can wash your clothes and stay green! First thing is first, wash in cold water. BC Hydro says, water heating accounts for 90% of energy consumption in washing machines. So just turn that dial to cold and put your clothes in that washing machine. Another benefit of doing this is that your colours stay brighter and there is less shrinkage! Also don’t wash your clothes if the machine isn’t full. That is just common sense (well I hope!).
Next laundry topic: soap. You don’t need a lot of soap. Many labels say that you need more soap than you do. All of the soap is concentrated and come on, how dirty are your clothes? Besides if you have a newer washer they are designed to suds up your clothes better than older ones.
Now your clothes need to be dry. When I lived in Australia the dryers sucked and there was sun for 300 days of the year, so I hung up all my clothes to dry. Clothes outside and underwear inside, because who wants their undies on display? I do not. My problem now with outdoor clothe drying is the fact that I live in Canada. It is cold for at least 5 months of the year and rainy for 6, so that gives me one month of hanging to dry weather. Take advantage of it when you can, but when you can’t, you can use the dryer. When you are using the dryer make sure the lint trap is lint free so that your clothes can dry faster and use less energy. Another big thing to do is to fold your clothes as soon as the dryer is done. This ensures wrinkle free clothes and not having to use an annoying iron. Ironing is one of the energy escaping culprits of the planet and it is a pain in the ass to do it. So if you can avoid ironing, I suggest doing so. Or maybe it is just me that has a huge aversion to irons.
These are some easy things that you can do without changing your life too much, which is what we are all about.
Feminine Hygiene Products vs. THE ENVIRONMENT (support the Diva Cup!)
By Erica
Ahhh that special time of the month that everyone hates (well my boyfriend, I personally think, looks forward to it so he can blame all my irrational behaviour on PMS and not accept the reality that he does, in fact, merely have a crazy girlfriend). Back in Jane Austen’s day, when a young lady had her “monthly courses”, she was given an awkward belt and some linen, which her maid would get to wash. While I would much prefer to not wear a giant diaper made out of my bed sheets, those fashionable ladies of the past did have one thing over us, man did their periods produce WAY less garbage. Tampons and pads are like Subway sandwiches, they have far too many layers of wrapping. And of course, you throw out the used product in the end. The amount of waste produced by tampons and pads is exponential (my math professor would yell at me for that one, the waste is not accumulating at an exact rate of squaring itself every second or whatever, but you get the picture). Solution: THE DIVA CUP. For those of you unaware, the Diva Cup is a great little alternative to the tampon, where you insert the cup into your lady parts, and when it is full you dump and rinse, reuse. If you have not heard of this before, your reaction is probably a big EW. I attribute this reaction to a fear of the unknown. Is it really worse than a pad or a tampon? I think we can all agree that there is nothing pleasant about a period, and had the Diva Cup already existed, and someone introduced a diaper to catch your blood, that you then sit on all day, called a “pad”, I am sure that you would answer with an even bigger EWWW. Bottom line: no feminine hygiene product is ‘un-gross’ for lack of a better word, so you might as well not only help the environment, but also save massive amounts of money on not having to re-stock your supply every month, and purchase the Diva Cup.
