April 2008 Archives

Let me be perfectly honest, in the interest of full disclosure, I'm not a fan of our current president.  That being said, I made a special effort to catch his press conference yesterday morning regarding the high price of gas and his suggestions for combating the oil crisis.  It's taken me this long to calm down and think clearly.

If I may sum up his statement:  The president is suggesting that he be allowed to rape and pillage a protected Alaskan Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the interest of exploring and drilling for more oil, which he claims would alleviate gas prices.  The assertion being made is that we just use more than is available.  (Side note: we are blowing through the remaining bits of fossil fuels at lightening speed as we speak.) The president has said that we as people can't care about both the environment and the price of gas simultaneously.  He sort of off-handedly mentioned and dismissed ethanol and electric technology as alternatives for transportation power, but hammered home the point that really we need to be ripping the pristine and protected Earth apart for more, more, MORE!!!  Not one flippin' word about conservation or consumer responsibility.

According the Environmental News Network: "The president is using high gas prices as an excuse to exploit the Refuge for what would amount to (only) 4 million gallons of gasoline a day - the same amount the U.S. could save every day if drivers simply inflated their vehicle tires to the proper pounds per square inch.  It would take ten years to get the equivalent barrels of oil out of the Arctic refuge."

In a statement by Cindy Shogan, Executive Director of Alaska Wilderness League, she states "President Bush's claim that drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will have any effect on gas prices is simply not true. The American public isn't fooled; they know that gas prices won't go down even if we started drilling tomorrow...President Bush has blinders on, he does not recognize the fact that oil and gas development leads to global warming. Drilling in the Arctic Refuge will not lower prices; it will only contribute to more global warming and seal the polar bear's fate."

Ticked off?  Yeah, me too. Want something to do about it?  Go HERE and visit the Alaskan Wilderness League to make yourself heard.

Listen, I pay for gas like everyone else, so trust me when I say I would like to see an end to sky-rocketing gas prices. When I have to pay $50 to fill my tiny 12-gallon tank, it frosts me, just like it does you.  (Only up side is that my itty car gets 40 miles to the gallon.)  So if the concept of alternative fuels seems a way off as a nationally, if not globally, accepted way of every day life, may I make a few suggestions?

• Drive less.  Walk more.  Bike more.  Use mass transit.  Be a team player!
• Consolidate errands in the most efficient way.  Hit up your targets in a circular pattern that leads away from home and ends you in the driveway. You'll not only save gas, but time!
• Carpool - to school, to work, to run errands, to social events, anywhere you go that someone you know goes!
• As suggested, keep those tires inflated at the proper level.  Any variation negatively affects gas mileage.
• Traveling at excessively fast rates in low gears can consume up to 45% more fuel than is needed.  Seriously, up-shift...or slow down.
• Drive steadily...you know, like a grown up. That whole "rev-the-engine, slam-on-the-brakes" thing not only make you look like a tool it also wastes fuel. So, also avoid tailgating for all the same reasons.
• Think ahead when approaching hills. If you accelerate, do it before you reach the hill, not while you're on it.  You'll use your fuel more efficiently using momentum instead of struggling with the hill already underway.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. (Tough love, dolls.)

So there has been a flurry of information and I will just say it... Hysteria about Bisphenol A, or BPA. I'm not down playing it, the concern is warranted. BPA is a toxic chemical found in polycarbonate plastic and the resinous lining of food cans.  

Exposure to BPA during pregnancy and childhood could impact the developing breast and prostate, hasten puberty, and affect behavior in children.

So where can you find bottles and sippy cups for the tots, that will not leach chemicals into their itty-bitty bodies. There are tons of BPA free options to choose from. General advice: stay away from bottles that are marked with the number seven, and use clear silicone nipples. Warm bottles in a pan filled with water, not the microwave, which cause chemicals to release into the milk.

Buy glass bottles if you can. In the store, Playtex, Gerber, and Parent's Choice (in Wal-Mart) all have BPA free bottle options always look for the BPA free labels and assume a plastic product has BPAs unless the packaging says otherwise. There are a bunch of newer companies with safe bottles and sippy cups.

• Born Free has bottles, nipples, trainer cups, and drinking cups for infants and toddlers.
• Nurture Pure sells bottles and cups.
• Adiri Natural Nurser, has bottles

Whatever you choose just make an informed choice.

What is flock you might ask? I just discovered it too so don't feel bad. Flock is a "social web browser" which means it has tons of buttons, widgets and news feeds. It seriously has a lot going on.

It's got so much going on it's gone green.  Not in energy use but with preloaded content.  It has bunches of your daily greens including news, photos and video from all your favorite eco-websites.  Flock is built on Mozilla's stable Firefox architecture and is free to download and use for both Mac and PC. This is my first day using it, so I can't really give you a techie review. Besides...I'm not a techie :)  Feel free to give me your opinion.

Want to give Flock Eco Edition a try?  Click here to download.

Since I started this blog I have had quite a few people call, write and walk up to me to inform me that CFL bulbs have mercury in them. And we all know that mercury is toxic to the environment and us.

For the record this is my position, CFL bulbs can and should always be taken to a hazardous waste center. In my view the benefits to the environment far outweigh the issue that comes attached to them.

Let's put it in perspective, we all know that batteries cannot be put in the trash and must be taken to a hazardous waste center. Should we not use batteries anymore? Of course we can't do that and I don't think we can afford to not use CFL bulbs either. Now if you flatly refuse to jump on the CFL bandwagon, you can choose door number two and put dimmers on all your lights to conserve energy. Now I don't know about you, but I would rather take a few trips to the collection center. Those CFL bulbs can last up to 10 years depending on the amount of use.

So now that we have that out of the way. Where can you take your HW? Los Angeles has many collection events; they go on practically every weekend. CLICK HERE for a list of upcoming events. And just for good measure HERE is a second list of places.

While we are on the subject there are a lot of things that cannot go into your regular trashcan.

• Electronic Waste such as computers, monitors, televisions, printers, network equipment, cables, telephones, microwaves, video games, cell phones, radios, stereos, VCRs, and electronic toys.
  
• Household cleaning products
  
• Paint and paint-related substances (solvents)
  
• Automotive products such as oil, antifreeze, brake fluid, transmission fluid, oil filters
  
• Pool chemicals
  
• Garden chemicals including fertilizers, weed killers, pesticides
  
• Car Batteries and household batteries (A, AA, AAA, nickel cadmium, alkaline, lithium)
• Fluorescent light bulbs
  
• Aerosol cans
  
• Medicine

Find out which event is best for your disposal needs and take a ride.

Every evening, as the weather gets warmer and the sun stays out later, a bunch of my neighbors gather in our respective driveways and watch the kids harasses each other, swap neighborhood gossip, chat about the day and talk mad smack about the King Yahoos who drive 100 MPH down our quiet residential street.

It was at last night's street meeting that my next-door neighbor Rosie said "Hey, Ms. Happy Monkey! Guess what we did after the kids' bath time today?" She tells me that even though it took several trips with a bucket, she and the youngins hauled the barely used bath water out to the garden and watered all the plants. You figure, what with the minimal use and biodegradable soaps, it's freakin' genius to use that water again to irrigate the yard. Talk about "reclaimed" water!

Now trust me, no one is suggesting you have to distill your dirty bath water into a nice cool thirst-quencher, but scooping it up and doing double duty outdoors is good green thinking. Not to mention, a little soapy water is the best, non-toxic pesticide there is. So go wild. Alternately, you could shower with the garden hose in the back yard, but this is much better idea.

In the Name of Love: Africa Celebrates U2 is a new compilation featuring African acts covering U2 songs. Of course the proceeds of the tribute benefit the Global Fund, to fight AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. If you want to read more about the fund head on over to the official Global Fund site. If you would like to hear the music you can go to their MySpace page to check out a few tracks.

Ok, so from time to time I have to have a serious sit-down with my printer. It usually goes something like this:

“Pleeeeeeease print, pleeeeeease…I don’t know what you want…ink? Paper? Re-start? Control P, print, Control P, print. Pleeeease…” My dignity aside, there is a reason I’m particularly fond of my HP printer and that’s their new inkjet cartridge made from recycled water bottles. We have the technology, we can rebuild it.

As of now, only HP uses this first-of-its-kind Earth-huggin’ process, turning empty water bottles and old recycled ink cartridges into brand spanking new ones…now numbering more than 200 million strong. This is wild and wonderful news for those of us with persnickety printers that crash every time we try to use a refilled cartridge. Oh and it crashes hard. I think it’s some kind of plot devised by HP to force me to only buy the expensive pack o’ ink…I guess I don’t mind so much now.

The recycled plastic cartridges work just as well as any other made of virgin plastic and HP guarantees that inkjet cartridges returned through HP Planet Partners are never simply refilled, resold or sent to a landfill. The folks at HP say they are committed to using 10 million pounds of recycled plastic this year, double what they used last year.

Of course, if you can, I implore you to refill the cartridges you have now…you can do it over and over and over again saving the energy, power and resources needed to recycle or simply buy cartridges that have be refilled already. Reuse, renew, recycle baby!

The roo is a savior to the ills of methane gas? Um OK. As has been widely reported in the eco-press lately cattle and sheep produce a large amount of methane gas, which is of course harmful to our environment. Eighteen percent of greenhouse effects in the atmosphere are caused by methane. Some research states that approximately 15 to 20 percent of global methane gases are coming from livestock. There is a push to get people to radically cut down on beef eating, I'm sure much to the chagrin of cattle ranchers and Mickey-D's.

Now a new hero is immerging from the fog of methane gas. Kangaroo farts. Yep that's right. Thanks to special bacteria in their stomachs, kangaroo flatulence contains no methane and scientists want to transfer those bacteria to cattle and sheep that emit large quantities of the harmful gas. Researchers say the bacteria also makes the digestive process much more efficient. They say it will take about three years to isolate the bacteria. So in the meantime fart away little kanga, we have our eyes and um, nose on you. You have the only politically correct flatulence.

Memorex scores a few points among the tree hugger club. They have come up with a mini-line of greener products. The Renew line includes a MP3 player, CD boom box and a digital alarm clock among a few other things. What makes these green you may ask? The Renew products are packaged in recycled cardboard, built with recycled plastic, and meet RoHS standards (Restriction of use of certain Hazardous Substances in electrical and electronic equipment, such as mercury and lead)

And the part I really love they will plant between one to three trees for each product purchased, through the Arbor Day Foundation.

Full disclosure, I don't own any of these products. So I can't give you a review of performance. But if you are trying to live a more sustainable lifestyle, check them out. It might be a good option for you.

Sigh. I bought a new water-saving shower head that’s packaged in an impenetrable, impossible to open clamshell plastic bubble. Damn that plastic forcefield. I usually stab at it with scissors, sometimes garden shears, cursing a blue streak and trying not to slash a fingertip open.

There’s a California lawmaker from Santa Monica, Assemblymember Julia Brownley (D), who wants to ban that very PVC plastic packaging. Not because it makes consumers feel homicidal, but because the Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic is downright poisonous and toxic throughout it’s entire lifecycle. Check out the rad little informational video HERE.

Assembly Bill 2505 would make it illegal to use PVC plastic to package or transport many consumer products, including everything from electronics and toys to toiletries, baby bottles...AND SHOWER HEADS! (To identify  PVC plastic, avoid products with the #3 recycling symbol or "V" on the packaging.)

What’s the big whoop, you ask? Isn’t all plastic recyclable anyway? Well, yes and no.

Here are a few PVC plastic info nuggets from the proposed bill:

• Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) packaging poses an environmental and human health risk throughout its life cycle.
• PVC production involves the use of vinyl chloride, a known carcinogen, which may pose a health hazard to those in and around manufacturing facilities.
• Many types of PVC packaging contain phthalates, a class of chemicals that have hormone-disrupting effects on humans.
• PVC packaging has been found by the Toxics in Packaging Clearinghouse of the Council of State Governments and others to have a high incidence rate of lead and cadmium heavy metal contamination.
• The combustion of PVC emits dioxins.
• PVC packaging is recycled at very low levels.
• PVC is a problematic contaminant in the recycling stream of other, more abundant, nontoxic plastic resins, preventing municipalities from accepting greater quantities of packaging for recycling and preventing municipalities from achieving higher landfill diversion rates.
• When disposed of in a solid waste landfill or as litter, PVC packaging may leach its toxins into the surrounding groundwater.
• Recognizing the threat leeched toxins pose on marine wildlife, the Ocean Protection Council recently passed a resolution calling for the banning of vinyl chloride in plastic packaging.
• Alternatives to polyvinyl chloride packaging are abundant, affordable, and are already competitive in the marketplace.

The stuff is so gross that in response to consumer pressure, according to National Geographic,  many companies have recently announced phaseouts of PVC, among them: Microsoft, Target, Kaiser Permanente, Crabtree & Evelyn, HP, Johnson & Johnson and Firestone. They join a host of companies that have already moved to eliminate PVC, including Adidas, Aveda, Bath & Body Works, The Body Shop, Gerber, Honda, Ikea, Lego Systems, Nike, Samsung, SC Johnson, Shaw Carpet, Toyota, Victoria's Secret, Volkswagen and Volvo.

OK, so we’re on board now what? Well, the bill passed through the Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee last week and now needs a little support from you. For more info, check THIS out.

If you are a newbie eco-lover or just a regular Joe trying to do the right thing for the planet as much as you can. You may wonder about the impact of paper towels and napkins vs. cloth. I mean it's not just cut and dry the fabric option does need to be washed and dried.

So here's the deal, I'm gonna break it down for you.

Worst: Virgin fiber, chlorine bleached

Better: Green paper, totally chlorine free and 100% recycled, look for post consumer recycled whenever possible

Even better: Cotton cloth, this is if you don't feel the burning need to wash a dishtowel after only one use. Wait until things are dirty and then don't use hot water to wash them.

The best option: Recycled cloth. You can find good barely used napkins and dishtowels at second hand stores. If you can sew (I cannot) you can make them from old sheets and towels, by hemming the edges.

A few more tips:

• Purchase paper towels made of 100 percent recycled materials.
  
• Look for paper products that contain a minimum of 90 percent post-consumer waste.
  
• Choose unbleached paper towels. If those are unavailable, opt for process chlorine free (PCF) next, or elemental chlorine free (ECF) as a last choice.
  
• Choose paper towels and napkins that have no added pigments, inks or dyes
  
• Select packaging with minimal environmental impact, such as that made of recycled and recyclable materials; imprinted with safe inks; and containing no toxic metals, dyes or inks.
  
• Avoid folded paper towels, it is too easy to use too many of them
  
• If you have a compost pile, paper napkins and papers towels that are made from green paper can be put into the pile

1. It's urgent, the worlds leading scientists agree we should act now.
2. It affects people all over the world, from increased flooding to the spread of disease to the disruption of agriculture and global food supply
3. It's solvable, we make personal choices every single day. What we eat, what we drive, what we purchase to what we demand of our politicians on a local and national level.

We can solve the climate crisis, catchy slogan and also a non-profit and nonpartisan organization founded by Al Gore. The ultimate aim is to halt global warming. To it's members the organization is simply called WE. Based on the theory that "WE" can solve the climate crisis, if we all do our part.

If this sounds like a good idea to you, go to the website and join WE. They are not asking for money just action.

I keep telling you that green is flippin’ FUN and now uber toy conglomerate Toys ‘R' Us agrees. They have introduced an entire line of eco-friendly toys and none too soon, I say.

How can you tell one toy from another in the ginormous, wherehouse of towering, multicolored eye-candy that is Toys ‘R’ Us? Look for the special sticker that shows the backwards R logo with a green leaf, encircled by the words "Recycle, Renew, Reuse, Re-think” signifying good green shopping. Plus, everything comes packaged in earth tone colored boxes. Tres chic.

More than just a cosmetic overhaul, all the eco-fun toys are made from natural materials like good old fashioned wood or unprocessed, unbleached and untreated cotton colored with natural or water-based dyes and the whole shebang is boxed up in recycled packaging (made of at least 70% recycled paper).

They’ve made a slew of fun, functional, cuddly friends for the kids you know or the kid you are deep inside. There’s Natural Cotton Plush Animals including a lamb, monkey, bunny and the classic teddy bear. The dollies are made of organic cotton in two shades of the ethnic spectrum. Just too darn cute.

For the rough, tough & mechanically minded, check out the old school fire engine, trailer truck, racing car, alphabet blocks wagon and way more all made from wood…not plastic. And all that wood has come from well-managed forests, using a system of 10 rules that define responsible forest management. Each wooden product in the collection is marked with an identifiable Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) logo.

Besides having another eco-option when buying your cubs a treat, it provides a wonderful opportunity to start teaching the next generation about planet preservation and warm eco-fuzzies. Always a good start...I believe the children are out future...sing it if you know it.

So I set my DVR to Oprah yesterday. Something I don't necessarily do all the time. Not that I have anything at all against Miss O, but I am a workingwoman with a finite amount of TV watching time. But yesterday was her Earth Day show and my brand new backyard composter was going to be featured so I figured I could get some tips. It turns out Julia Roberts has the same one as me, great minds must think alike. Hmmmm? Anyway...

Along with compost tips I learned something else I figured I would pass along to you. It turns out when you wash our fruits and veggies in water a lot of the pesticides remain. So what to do? Make your own veggie cleaner and get off all those toxins and chemicals.

Combine in a large container:
1 cup of water
1 cup of distilled vinegar
1 tbsp of baking soda
20 drops of grapefruit seed extract (the website says you can purchase it at Whole Foods)

Transfer the concoction to a spray bottle. Spray the cleaner on your produce and leave on for 5 to 10 minutes, then rinse with water. Presto! All that residue gone. So they say, I have not tried this yet, but I plan on making a batch this weekend.

I think it's important for everyone to limit your pesticide intake (buy organic). But if you have kids it's a necessity,  I mean do you want the little ones starting out on the chemicals when they are that young?

Well you know I heart Honey Bees. But even more than honey bees I love ice cream. Shocker right? Well Haagen-Dazs loves the bees too and they are doing something about it, in the form of information and cold hard cash. Get it?  The creamy goodness company is donating $250,00 for a study of the colony collapse problem by Pennsylvania State University and the University of California, Davis, by donating a portion of sales of its honey bee dependent flavors. Check out this H-D site to see what you can do to help.

Even though we think we should live Earth Day every day, today marks a wonderful milestone. As of today, Whole Foods Market officially no longer offers plastic bags as an option for customers. Whole Foods has also launched a customer education program on how to reuse your grocery bags and heralds the cause of BYOBag.

To that we say: YIPPEEEEE!!! Good doings, Whole Foods!

Put this under the heading of you learn something new every day!

Those little stickers on your fruits and veggies let you know whether they are conventionally grown, organic or genetically modified (GM). This is the deal, a four-digit number means it's conventionally grown, a five-digit number beginning with 9 means it's organic, a five-digit number beginning with 8 means it's GM.

If you are like me, trying to buy organic whenever possible this is a big help. Oh and while you squeeze those tomatoes and thump those melons don't forget your, reusable bags. You're putting good things into your body stop putting bad things onto the planet.

Happy Earth Day!!!

My suggestion for today? Commit to one thing in your life that you will change this year to be a little easier on the planet. Here are some easy ones.

• Use reusable bags for all your shopping
• Recycle - everything you can
  
• Wash your clothes in cold water only
  
• Change your light bulbs to CFLs
• Go one day per week without eating meat
• Join a beach cleanup, it will change your outlook
  

These are just the easy ones that take minimal effort and are simple to incorporate into your everyday life. Of course keep reading Green Spirited because Stacy and I have new ideas everyday to make you a darker shade of green. Now go out and enjoy the beautiful day!

I've been investigating eco-friendly products and solutions for my silly old pug dog…who is not just any stinky, rotund, spoiled canine, but The Pie. See I’m a SINK (single income, no kids) so this dog, her name is Pie, is my BFF. And thank goodness, there’s a rapidly growing green pet economy for me and Squatty The Love Muffin over there.

For example, did you know that the material typically used for pooch chew toys is loaded with chemicals, carcinogens and toxins and is not even a little bit recyclable? Yeah, scared the daylights outta' me, too. So when searching for something to satisfy that chomp, something that doesn’t include your lovely new sandals, go for something made with natural rubber, Zogoflex or hemp.

Of course there’s my favorite thing in the world, the Planet Dog Orbee-Tuff Recycle Bone made from recycled of rubber. It’s also made in the U.S.A., non-toxic, recyclable and rinses clean. And if that’s not enough, 2% of the proceeds from every Planet Dog purchase go to the Planet Dog Foundation. The mission of the Planet Dog Foundation is to promote and celebrate programs in which dogs serve and support their best friends.

Even your dog’s stuffed and fluffy friend – you know, the one she carries around all the time – should be full super green materials. There are all kind off snugglies stuffed with organic cotton and covered in earth-friendly fabrics. There are even these seriously fantastic plush toys covered in this stuff called IntelliTex Fabric, which is made from 85% Post Consumer Recycled Bottles.

If you’re that scary person, I don’t judge, who insists on slapping a sweater  on your long-suffering pup, consider natural fabrics only: wool, cotton…yes, even cashmere. For one stop shopping, you gotta check out Olive and their wonderful green goods, including adorable fashions, for your beast. 

Can't commit to a doggy sweater wardrobe? How about simple, cute new hemp collar and matching leash. Cuz they all have to have a collar, and hemp is the wave of the future.

Of course, for low-pro, low-tech fun nothing beats a knotted-up old sock for good times. AND it’s recycling at it’s most fun for everyone! Just ask Pie's brother Gizmo. He loves him some old sock.

Over the weekend I took my yearly spring trip to the local nursery for our garden goodies. But this year was different; it is officially the beginning of my venture into composting. I bought myself a backyard compost, and I'm very excited.

I have been wanting to do this for a while, but procrastination being what it is I put it off and put it off. But now I am putting it off no more. So now that we have it we had to put it together, easy enough. Find the perfect place for it, easy enough, we have the perfect spot for it along the backside of the house. But I hit a roadblock; the informative booklet that came with my composter says that I need a two or three inch layer at the bottom of dried twigs. Oh really I don't have that many dried twigs. Hmmm.

So the story goes, we cleaned up the backyard and put together all the dry leaves, twigs and clippings we could find. We put all our compost ready discards in a plastic container to save for the arrival of those twigs. And now I wait for twigs...

My husband is going to stop by his mom's house today and see if we can "borrow" some twigs. But what if she has no twigs. Plan "C" we start knocking on neighbor's doors. I'm starting that pile today one way or another!

To be continued...

Got any tips for me? If you are a compost expert, please I need all the help I can get.   

I know you have a lot on your mind. Easing global warming, ending world hunger, peace on earth and oh yeah; a nice clean house. The question just might be how to do it in a greener way. This can be a difficult one to tackle we want our homes to actually be clean and that has historically meant bleach, ammonia and tons of other chemicals that I can't even begin to spell.

I'll be honest I'm still on the learning track with this one. But I am phasing out all those harsh cleaning products for ones that are a little easier on the old earth.

For basic all around cleaner try Mrs. Meyers all purpose cleaner, it's biodegradable and has no phosphates. It works on countertops, walls and floors.

If you need to detox. Try Method detox kit, it comes with a nice variety of Method products so you can try them out and see what floats your boat. I personally use Method products they are easy to find, work well and they sell them at Target.

Moving to the laundry room, I like Seventh Generation. It cleans your clothes well and can be used in both high-efficiency and standard machines. It smells pretty good too.

There are a lot of products out there that are safer for you and the environment, you just have to read the labels. Look for things that are bleach free, non-toxic, phosphate free, biodegradable without dyes. You get the picture. Let me know what you use, I'm always looking for new stuff to try out. By the way, don't forget about good old vinegar and water to clean your windows

Many of you know this but it never hurts to give a subtle reminder. It is illegal to throw away your old electronics in your regular trashcan it is considered hazardous waste. So what to do when you get that new TV, computer or cell phone?

Here are a few options but you can always do your own research in your area for other ideas on how to e-cycle.

• First, if it works give it to charity! Or if you feel like it you can always sell it.
• Some companies will take back old electronics that no longer work, particularly if you are purchasing a new product from them. Give them a call to find out.
• You can take it to a city waste center. Click here for locations.
• Drop it off at a Staples. The down side is it will cost you $10 and they don’t take TV’s but they are all over the place, sometimes it's worth paying for the convenience.
• Hold on to it until there is a LA County waste event in your area. For a list of upcoming events click here.

Let the Earth Day festivities begin! Green Drinks LA is hosting a super Earth Night shindig this Saturday, sponsored by Whole Life Times.

Come one, come all and raise an organic wine or beer, have some tasty munchies and check out guest speaker Jonathan Parfrey, Director of Green L.A. (as well as other speakers) during a lovely evening at Whole Life Times’ downtown space and roof-top. There will even be DJs for the dancing! Your $10 suggested donation includes drinks and food. Earth Night proceeds go to Green L.A. and your choice of environmental groups that you select at the door.

* WHEN: Saturday, April 19, 2008, 7:00pm-12:00am
* WHERE: Whole Life Times, 1200 South Hope Street, Suite 300, LA, CA 90028
* To R.S.V.P simply drop an email to LAGreenDrinks@gmail.com. It’s that simple.

Just go. You don’t even have to have a green drink…no reason to suffer through a sickly Midori Sour or a sticky Apple Martini. Get a nice glass of wine and talk green things. Don’t be scared – they welcome all shades of green. No Birkenstocks required.

Green Drinks is a loosely organized bunch of green-loving folk who get together to chat, network, sip a good cocktail & discuss environmental issues. In their own words: Green Drinks events are very simple, informal, unstructured, and self-organizing but help to connect the green network.

You guys in the Los Angeles area, check out the Green Drinks weekly events taking place every Thursday in a different watering hole throughout the Southland.

Go to the Green Drinks website for venue details or to catch an event in your area.

So I’ve got this problem. It’s shameful, really…see, I’m a magazine hoarder. Yup, I have more subscriptions than you could possibly imagine, everything from Los Angeles magazine to Rolling Stone to Cottage Living to Vogue to the Yoga Journal to Entertainment Weekly. It’s sick. Today, as I dig through the mountains of glossy paper, stinky perfume samples and smiling faces, I can’t help but to think “Seriously? What are you going to do with all of this?”

Here are just a couple of ideas for your secret stash o’ mags (No, not THAT secret stash! Yeesh.) : 

• Hi – RECYCLE!! Used up magazines can recycled and turned into newsprint, tissues, and tons of other paper products. I always like to remove those perfumed pages and stuff them in my drawer of delicates. I’ve heard tales of perfume samples tainting recycled paper, for example recycled pizza boxes that now make your pizza smell and taste like a combination of “Drakkar Noir” and “Charlie,” Not yummy. Even the Magazine Publishers of America have started a program they cleverly call: Please Recycle This Magazine. For tons of magazine recycling info check THIS out.

• To stem the tide of magazines in the first place, coordinate with your friends. It’s entirely possible that there are multiple subscriptions of the same magazines among you and yours. How about nixing the extra subs and sharing magazines? Just to make it amusing or annoying, make notes in the margins before passing it on.

• How about donating them? Check with your doctor’s office, dentist's office, your hair stylist, your kids’ schools, libraries, colleges, retirement homes, your gym…anywhere a magazine would be welcome and give them a second life.

• Start a file of stuff you want to save: recipes, home design ideas, garden design ideas, articles you enjoyed or anything that struck your fancy. I have a whole file titled “Stuff I Can’t Afford, But Love To Look At.”

But whatever you do, don’t just trash that magazine. You know better.

It’s finally happening! First it was Whole Foods charging for bags and doing away with plastic all together. Then it was Ikea, beginning in October Ikea will no longer offer plastic bags to their customers. Reusable bags will be sold at all stores.

Then the upscale department store chain Nordstrom jumped on the green bag bandwagon. Starting this month they will begin to transition to 100% recyclable boxes, bags and tissue paper. It's not real clear at this time what percentage of these bags etc will be from recycled materials.

And now Macy's has joined in. The chain announced it would begin a "phase-in" this month of recycled paper shopping bags in the stores. And for online shipments it will use biodegradable packaging. A reusable bag option will be available for purchase in the stores with a portion going to National Park Foundation.

It's a step. But a better and bigger step would be following the Whole foods lead and charging people for bags.

Now if only the other department stores and big box stores would fall in line. The grocery stores and pharmacies are a battle for another day.

Bringing your own reusable bags with you when you shop makes such a huge difference. Take a peek at some of these numbers and you will get it, right away.

In the interest of all that is green and good and in keeping with Rox's wonderful plea for us to live more simply, I wanted to draw your attention to "The Human Footprint" on the National Geographic channel.  Or as they say: "Everything you eat.  Everything you drink. Everything you use.  Your entire life's consumption. In one place at one time." 

It is an absolutely stunning look at how much we use, consume, trash and discard on an every day basis.  What makes it so ridiculously powerful is that they use visual representations to hit home, for example imagine what 12,129 hamburger buns look like...all piled up, smashed together and in one place...like your garage.  That's how many buns we toss down in a lifetime...now imagine how much, wheat, energy, pesticide, water, plastic packaging and processing that takes.  Holy freakin' smokes, right?  And I swear, you'll never look at a disposable diaper in the same way again...or a rubber ducky for that matter.

The Q&A with host journalist Elizabeth Vargas reveals that a dozen "Human Footprint" volunteers spent half a day setting up nearly 30,000 rubber ducks - each squeaky, yellow floatie representing the number of showers each of us will take in a lifetime.  "The ducks started in the second floor bathroom of an average house, went down the stairs, outside the front door, spilling out onto the street, into the neighborhood and eventually down the road to a nearby pond." 

Here's the thing: no one is asking you to go shower-less.  In fact, please don't.  But this serves as a reminder that we can all be way more careful and mindful of the resources we are plowing through and maybe, just maybe you can find a way to cut back.  Even just a smidge.

Set the Tivo, kittens: National Geographic channel - Sunday, April 20 at 1:00 p.m.

In the era of Paris Hilton, giant SUVs and disposable everything. It's hard to imagine a great number of us are finding it harder and harder to make ends meet.

For the past few decades we have been using and abusing everything from ourselves to the planet to our bank accounts in a gluttonous frenzy. Now we are just about used up and looking for a change. Well at least I am.

Our economy demands that we make consumption a way of life. So we buy more shoes when we own twenty pair, we buy a new sofa when the one we own is perfectly fine. We just want more. Or maybe it's because they are having a really great sale at our favorite store. We dutifully go to the mall, credit card in hand and shop til we drop. To make ourselves feel a little better maybe will buy an earth friendly hemp shirt, to put in our reusable shopping bag.

The real green lifestyle is living with less. Doing less. Buying less. When people tell you that you don't have to change your lifestyle to go green it's not true, you do. It's up to you just how much.

I know it goes against everything we have been doing for years. But try if you will, to go an entire week without seeing something new and shiny and uttering these words, I want one of those. I think people should start thinking in terms of need more. You don't have to totally deprive yourself and never buy anything at all. I personally love going shopping. May I simply suggest that you can start thinking more in terms of family and friends and other things in your life that you love and can't live without.

The culture of waste has been ingrained into us over many years. We throw away old sweaters and shirts when they get a small hole instead of repairing them. I actually knew someone that would throw away a shirt rather than replace a lost button. Don't even get me started on the cell phones and MP3 players that absolutely have to be replace every year because the new iPhone came out.

What works for the environment works for your wallet. Don't replace things unless you have to. And when you do replace your things give your old stuff away. Donate them to a homeless shelter or the goodwill. Or if it's broken recycle it properly. Electronics such as cell phones and TV's need to be taken to a hazardous waste recycling center.

Instead of going to a fancy restaurant, make an intimate dinner at home with locally grown fresh ingredients. Instead of going out and partying away a big chuck of change have some friends over and play games or just chat. Instead of going to see that movie that you really don't want to see anyway, rent a classic and pop your own corn.

Take your kids or dogs to the park. Go for a hike. Go for a bike ride. Have a picnic. Reconnect with someone you love. It's not all about the stuff you own or keeping up with the Joneses. It's about living well and leaving a beautiful planet for the ones we love.

Okey dokey, artichokies. Here’s what happened at the Assembly Natural Resources Committee vote regarding the two bills that proposed a ban on plastic bags here in L.A. I got good news and bad news, which do you want first?

Let’s do bad first and end on a high note: The committee voted against AB 2829, the bill that would have imposed a mandatory fee of 25 cents on plastic carryout bags, like the bags you get at the grocery store, drug store, etc. This was the bill most strongly support by Heal the Bay, L.A. County and well…us! It was strong, aggressive and proactive, and maybe that was the problem.

The glass is half full news: The committee DID pass the other bill, AB 2058, authored by Assemblymember Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys), which is a good start but a weaker measure as it sets recycling targets to reduce plastic carryout bag pollution, i.e an increase in recycling programs and the number of recycled plastic bags with an eventual, possible, maybe fee of 15 cents if the future targets are not met. Well, ok.

Another up-side, so we hear from our friends at Heal the Bay, is that “the future looks promising for statewide plastic bag legislation; in negotiations surrounding the hearing, Assemblymember Levine agreed to bring on Assemblymembers Davis and Brownley (D-Santa Monica) as joint authors of AB 2058 and to amend the bill to increase the fee from 15 cents to 25 cents. Assemblymember Levine also agreed to streamline the recycling targets and include language in the bill repealing his previous legislation that preempts local governments from placing a fee on plastic carryout bags.”

So it would seem that we can’t have it all in one fell swoop, but it gives us hope that things are slowly changing. There’s just that much more work to do. I love a challenge, don’t you?

Hard to believe, but it's true over six million pounds of trash was collected in one day on beaches around the globe.

Ocean Conservancy released a detailed snapshot of worldwide beach trash cleanup in a report today. It cataloged nearly 7.2 million items that were collected by volunteers on a single day last September as they combed beaches all over the world. Over 33,000 miles of shoreline were covered and approximately 182 pounds of trash per mile was collected. That's mind boggling to me.

"This is a snapshot of one day, one moment in time, but it serves as a powerful reminder of our carelessness and how our disparate and random actions actually have a collective and global impact," says Vikki Spruill, president of the Ocean Conservancy.

Much of this garbage on the shore eventually will end up in our oceans and has the potential to cause catastrophic damage to marine life. Trash in the ocean kills more than one million sea birds and 100,000 marine mammals and turtles every single year.

On a personal note Stacy and I just hosted our first beach cleanup last month and it was quite eye opening. I would definitely recommend everybody do it at least once. It's a real learning experience it will change the way you look at your everyday use of plastic. We are hosting another cleanup in June if you would like to join in let us know. We would love the help.

Back in the day the biggest worry we had about bees was getting stung. If that were all we had to worry about now we would be in pretty good shape. Unfortunately bees are disappearing in record numbers. Some estimates have a quarter of the country's 2.4 million bee colonies gone. That means a half-a million bee colonies have just vanished.

 

The scientists call it Colony Collapse Disorder. But there does not seem to be a clear answer as to what is behind it. Some of the theories are, parasites, poor nutrition, and high stress in the colonies from transport and chemical residue contamination from certain pesticides.

 

This is not something that will affect us in 20 to 40 years like global warming. Which seems much easier to ignore (although I wish it wasn't) this is going to affect our food supply pretty quickly. Approximately 1/3 of our diet is dependant on bees' pollination.

 

That buzz loving company Burt's Bees is funding research by the Honey Bee Health Improvement Project, which will focus on such things as breeding stock improvements, best practices for commercial beekeeping, promoting forage opportunities and improving nutritional resources

 

If you would like to take personal action you can plant wildflowers that bees particularly like.  Here are a few suggestions, Calendula, Shasta Daisy, Lance-Leaved Coreopsis, Purple Coneflower and Sweet William Catchfly.

 

If you would like to read more about this issue: http://www.honey.com/

So these two lovely ladies, scientist sisters Margaret and Christine Wertheim, are on a mission to save the Great Barrier Reef with their crochet hooks. The Wertheims, and their organization The Institute for Figuring, have been creating a ridiculously beautiful and powerful collection of crocheted organisms, titled the Hyberbolic Crochet Coral Reef, with the help of hook wielding folks everywhere. Think of it as the environmental awareness version of the AIDS quilt. The idea is to raise awareness of the fact that the nearly 135,000-square-mile Great Barrier Reef, and all the unique critters who live there, is disappearing due to pollution and global warming.

The project started more than two years ago on the twins’ coffee table and has now blossomed to more than 3,000 square feet of blooming, flourishing woolen reef dwellers. The traveling exhibit includes lectures, crochet workshops and the conscripting of crochet-doers everywhere.

For more information and instructions for fuzzy reef creatures check out the The Institute for Figuring site. Coral has never looked so snuggly.

Want to calculate your carbon footprint and get some tips to lower it a tad? My score was 70, good luck. Let me know how you do.

Note to self: recycling is good…especially those prolific water bottles…but remember, the CAPS on the water bottles may or may not be recyclable! So when tossing that bottle into the recycling bin, pop the cap off first.

Some recycling centers won’t bother to remove the cap in order to process the plastic bottle and throw the whole thing away…defeating the purpose. If a bottle with a cap goes through the recycling process it takes way more energy to crush it and break it down and it's possible the cap is made from a plastic resin that is different from the bottle plastic. So the cap unwittingly becomes a source of contamination for the plastic being recycled.

Caps off, kids.

What is sure to be one of the largest Earth Day celebrations in America this year is the Green Apple Festival. The live music and education festival will take place simultaneously in eight cities across the country including Los Angeles.

The Santa Monica Pier will host the festival with musical acts including Taj Mahal, Ziggy Marley and Escalera.

Earth Day Network, the non-profit organization created by the original founders of Earth Day in 1970, and Green Apple Festival are organizing the events along with some corporate and non-profit charity group sponsors. According to the website approximately 500,000 people are expected to attend the free public events.

If looking to expand your environmental awareness, listen to some live music and enjoy the beautiful Pacific Ocean this is the place to be Sunday. Admission is free; the festival will run from noon to 6pm.

Our BFF’s at Heal the Bay are at it again…and with our blessings! They’ve teamed up with Los Angeles County endorsing a bill that imposes a mandatory fee on the distribution of single-use plastic shopping bags at all large grocery stores and pharmacies statewide. To that I say: Wheeeeeeeee!

The bill, with the sexy title AB 2829, if passed would mark the most aggressive action by any state legislature to limit the environmental rampage of plastic bags and limit their horrifying impact on the marine environment, local economies and quality of life for everyone…yes, this means you.

The idea is to encourage shoppers to bring their own reusable bags, which if I might add are way cuter and hold way more than a skeezy plastic bag. Store owners would be required to charge 25 cents for each plastic bag requested by shoppers and that money would be directed back to local governments for litter prevention programs and reduction efforts.

“What’s the big deal with the plastic, man?” you ask. Well, here are the facts:

• Californians use more than 19 billion disposable plastic shopping bags each year and taxpayers spend more than $25 million to collect and dispose of them.
• A million plastic bags are used every minute worldwide.
• In the US less than 5% of plastic bags are recycled
• Approx 60 to 90% of marine debris is plastic
• Plastic bags, which resemble jellyfish or sponges, are mistaken for food by seabirds, marine mammals, fish and sea turtles.
• More than 1 million seabirds and marine mammals die each year because of ingestion and entanglement of debris including bags.
• Single-use bags made out of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) are a drag. They refuse to biodegrade and glut the planet for up to 1,000 years.
• It takes 11 barrels of oil to produce a ton of plastic bags.
• Producing 1 million bags generates 13 million pounds of carbon dioxide.

Members of the Assembly’s Natural Resource Committee are scheduled to vote on the sexy measure Monday, so cross your finger and toes…or to be a little more proactive, take three seconds and email a letter of support to California Assembly Natural Resources Committee by poking this button HERE.

How perfect is it that this blog was launched during Earth Month? Just so you all know Earth Day is April 22 and the ever-growing environmental community is ready to celebrate and inform. From small local festivals to big business there is a ton of stuff going on.

One of the cutest things that landed in my inbox is something for the little ones from National Geographic Kids. They have a bunch of stuff on the site to teach your kids how to be good citizens of the planet, while they are still young and impressionable.

The thing that I personally had a lot of fun with (in the name of research of course) is the Recycle Roundup Game. It's an online video game that teaches your kids what to recycle and what bin to put things in etc. The premise of the game is to help a big loveable Gorilla clean up a park.  I love it already! Come on you know you want to check it out, with or without the kids.

For a while I have been trying to change my lifestyle by taking small steps to be more environmentally conscience. I have to admit it's been baby steps one or two things at a time. The more I learn the more things I change. These are truly small everyday acts that are pretty easy and definitely more earth friendly. Now I share them with you.

 

First the obvious, believe me these things may be no-brainers and seem small, but if you do them it makes such a big difference. Number one would be recycle, everything you can. Look at labels you will be surprised at the amount of things that are recyclable.

 

Using reusable shopping bags is easy but keeps so much trash out of landfills, off the streets and out of our oceans. Consider for a minute that one million plastic bags are used every minute worldwide, in the US less than 5% of all plastic bags are recycled and to produce one million plastic bags generates 13 million pounds of carbon dioxide.

 

I am in the process of changing all my light bulbs to CFL bulbs. As each old bulb burns out I replace it with a CFL.  I'm up to about 75% greener lighting. The CFL bulbs use 80% less energy and can last up to ten times longer than regular bulbs.

 

This just might be one of the most difficult for most people, though it was easy for me. Lose those water bottles, buy a reusable water bottle and bring your own. It's cheaper and it's not a big inconvenience. Really just try it. Those bottles are a huge drain on the environment. Between the manufacturing, the shipping and the recycling it's a pretty big problem. Actually a very small percentage of those bottles ever see a recycle facility.

 

Lets talk food. I buy organic whenever possible. I grown my own as much as I can with my limited space, I do pretty well in the summer, and of course no pesticides ever. I shop at the local farmers' markets at least a couple times per month; buying local is a great tip. This one is also a tough one for some people, at least once a week I have a no meat day. I try to do a few no meat days per week but I happen to be married to a real carnivore. But he has agreed to give up the meat once or twice a week.

 

Before I go just a few quick ones that I promise I will write about later. I use eco-friendly cleaning products and detergents. Always (except for a few extreme cases) cold water washes. Absolutely NO dryer sheets, this is a new one. Beach cleanups, they are fun in the sun and you learn a lot. That would be the reason for the no dryer sheet rule.

 

I have a few more but I'll save them for a later post. Let me know some of the everyday things you do that make a difference. I would love some more tips. 

Calling all photographers and aspiring filmmakers. Sundance Channel gives you a chance to make some real green with your green ideas.

Sundance is holding a national contest called "What's The Big Idea?" they invite you to submit a short film or photo that shows your idea for greening the world. You might say your big idea.

The winner gets a whole lotta green $10,000, plus a green home audit. Four runners-up will receive a Sundance Channel Green VIP Bag worth $500. The deadline for entry is May 20. So get moving.

Nothing turns me on more than an expansive vocabulary and free food. Now this genius little web site, www.freerice.com, combines my two loves.

Here’s the deal: Free Rice features a ridiculously addictive vocabulary quiz, one that makes you smarter and cooler at cocktail parties. The added bonus here is that for every word you guess the right synonym, the site donates 20 grains of rice through the United Nations World Food Program to help end hunger.

Now I hear you saying “20 grain of rice? That’s it?” Well, yes, but the longer you play the more it starts to add up. After getting just a few sexy vocab words right it suddenly equals a whole bowl of rice. And seriously, it takes just seconds. I even advocate opening a window to dictionary.com to help you along…it’s for a good cause!

We all need a better stash of words, makes us much more interesting to talk to, and there are folks who desperately need the food. So GO! You know you don’t want to do any real work…so get on Free Rice, expand your mind and expand some tummies!

Having a party or get together soon? Why not try an evite instead of sending out old school snail mail invitations. Save paper, gas and stamps all while reducing your carbon footprint. Plus you look super hip. All the cool kids are doing it.

The largest site currently is, Evite.com, they manage 450,00 invites monthly. Imagine if those were all on paper. The best part, most evites are free. Yep that's right free. You can't get much for free anymore.

Try one of these evite services for your next bash.

• Evite.com - The largest online invitation service, this is the one I use.
• MyPunchbowl - They will deliver your evites and help you plan your party.
• Pingg - Original designs plus they will text a reminder to your friends before the event.

Did you know that it takes more energy for your computer to create a white screen than it does to create a black one? It’s true!

To that end, the folks at Heap Media have generated BLACKLE, a dark screened version of our favorite search engine Google. It runs like the same old Google you know and love, but with a black background and fewer images and therefore sucking up less energy. The site even keeps track wattage saved on a custom counter.

How does this work? I have no idea, I owe everything I know about technology to the Geek Squad. But the peeps at Heap Media assert: “Blackle saves energy because the screen is predominantly black. ‘Image displayed is primarily a function of the user's color settings and desktop graphics, as well as the color and size of open application windows; a given monitor requires more power to display a white (or light) screen than a black (or dark) screen’…We believe that there is value in the concept because even if the energy savings are small, they all add up. Secondly we feel that seeing Blackle every time we load our web browser reminds us that we need to keep taking small steps to save energy."

Give it a whirl every time you search - it’ll make you feel all dark and mysterious while at the same time saving energy. Heck, set Blackle as your homepage!

For way more information, check out: http://www.blackle.com/about/

If you live or work in the northwest part of the Valley and you like farm fresh produce, you're in luck. The Northridge Farmers' Market is back every Wednesday beginning April 9, from 5 to 9 pm. I love farmers' markets it's a great place to get locally grown and depending on the vendors organic fruits and vegetables. In the past this has been a pretty decent farmers' market, lets hope this year will be the same. The market is located in the Tampa Ave parking lot near Borders Books.

Here’s the sitch: Up in Sunnyvale, CA two feuding environmentalist neighbors are fighting…in court no less…over which is more environmentally important – eight mature redwoods or rooftop solar panels.

One family planted the trees about ten years ago, the other family installed solar panels five years ago to generate household energy.  As trees will do, they grew…and now block the sun from the solar panels next door. Solar Neighbor wants Tree Neighbor to cut down those trees.  Tree Neighbor says blow it out your nose.  A real “Sophie’s Choice” for the green-set.

HOWEVER, a 30-year-old California law protects homeowners’ investment in rooftop solar panels and the owner of the trees that block those panels can be fined up to $1,000 a day.  So Tree Neighbor acquiesced a bit and did shear a few of the upper branches off one tree after a kooky ruling in Santa Clara County Superior Court. (For all the dirty details, go HERE.)

Needless to say, the fight continues in court as to who has the right to be the very greenest in the whole world.  What do YOU think??  I say arm wrestle!

Fewer things frost my clams more than litter. I’m not sure if it’s the innate selfishness of it or the “someone else can clean it up” aspect or the sheer stupidity/laziness of someone who just can’t manage to keep a piece of paper, wad o’ gum or cigarette butt three seconds longer in order to place it a trash receptacle!!

Here’s where I’m coming from…went to the bank today, nothing special, using the ATM when I notice the snow drifts of those goofy little receipts the machine spits out. I immediately had two questions: 1) How lame are you that you can’t check your balance on the screen, but need a scrap of paper to tell you what’s going on? and 2) Why can’t you be bothered to throw it away in the little slot with the trash icon on it?? You don’t even have to read the word “trash” to know where it goes!

There’s a part of me that wants to call after the person who dumped their receipt and holler at the top of my lung
“Hey, you forgot something!” And don’t even make me get all crazy and have to mention that you’ve left behind this scrap of garbage that has all kinds of your personal information on it!!

I was airing my frustration on this topic with a friend when he told me a particularly funny littering appropriate story…I think I’ll share it: He was driving with a friend when they witnessed a woman toss an empty can of soda out her car window. They were at a stop light at the time, so my friend got out, picked up the empty can and placed it on the hood of the offender’s car. She was so furious, and I hope humiliated, that she just sat there at the light while it change a few times. They eventually had to drive around her. I hope she's STILL sitting there in abject embarrassment.

So what have we learned today, class? THROW IT AWAY, for crying out loud. It won’t KILL you to carry home that shred of ATM paper until you get home…better yet, decline the machine’s kind offer to give it to you in the first place. Thank you. This has been my rant for the day.

The price of beer is likely to rise in coming decades because climate change will hamper the production of a key grain needed for the brew - especially in Australia, a scientist warned Tuesday. (Via Beverage World)

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Times have changed since stretches of the River Thames were declared "biologically dead" in the 1950s. A colony of seahorses was revealed to have made the London waterway its home this week, joining more than 100 species of fish, dolphins, seals, porpoises and the occasional whale spotted in the murky waters in recent years. (Via guardianUK)

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This just in from National Geographic News: Apparently all the years of all of us going on vacations, slathering on sunscreen and snorkeling around the coral reefs of the world is taking it’s toll and killing coral reefs worldwide. (Via Beach Trading Blog)

Yep it's tomato time, all you backyard gardeners out there. I know there is a bunch of you in the Valley. A great way to save a little on your plants is Tomatomania. Is that anything like Beatlemania you might ask? I don't know it depends on how much you love your tomatoes. Actually Tomatomania is a huge seedling sale happening this weekend at Tapia Farms.

Tomatomania
April 4 to 6, 9 am to 5 pm
Tapia Brothers Farm Stand
5251 Hayvenhurst Ave. at Burbank Blvd.
Encino

There is nothing like the taste of homegrown tomatoes I have been growing my own for years. Organic of course, there is no need to use pesticides when you grow your own. Why not try something a little different this year and pick a new variety.

The Rap n' Roll battle for the planet is on, in the form of a new show on Planet Green an offshoot of the Discovery Channel, called Battleground Earth. Planet Green will take the place of what is currently known as Discovery Home Channel starting June 4. The premise? Tommy Lee and Ludacris attempt to keep their tours on a green path while participating in eco-challenges.

The battle culminates with a green carpet benefit concert at the Greek Theater in Griffith Park. The concert featuring Ludacris, Tommy Lee and many of their musician friends will support the renewal of Griffith Park, which was devastated by recent wildfires.

So who will be the eco-champ? Tune in to Planet Green starting in August. I mean seriously even if you're not all green and crunchy T Lee is uber-entertaining.

Nundies. Nundies? Yeah, so here’s the idea…they call them “disposable underwear,” but in actuality they are black panty liners one would stick to the crotch of one’s pants in lieu of underwear…you know, because underwear is just so last year.

Let’s let that thought marinate…

Are Nundies the anti-green (Anties, if you will)? Hmmmmmm…On the one hand, these thing-a-ma-bobs are disposable, DAILY (I fear), and therefore are amassing in landfills and, assuming they aren’t biodegradable cuz they’re made of nylon & Lycra, glutting the landscape. On the other hand, we use a lot of water, electricity and soap washing our plain ol’ reusable underpants from this millennium. Yeah, I think I’m voting nemesis o’ green on this one using the disposable diaper defense. Thoughts?

My mother offers this compromise: Wash your pantaloons in the water you’ve used to wash your hands, saving the water to then quench your plants. Another suggestion from a friend notes that really, going commando is green. Unmentionable unmentionables.

I’ll admit I’m a soap and water washing, underpant-wearing girl. I like my skivvies the old fashioned way: on my butt, not taped to my Sevens.

You’ll notice I’ve completely ignored the bizarre, un-American notion of bypassing knickers completely and just wearing a freaking slab of sticky fluff as life choice, but that’s a topic for another day.

I’m a reader, always have been…love me a good book. Color me a bookworm. I’m also a book recycler – I trade ‘em, donate ‘em, sell ‘em or just keep ‘em forever and ever. But Eco-Libris goes one step further.

Eco-Libris is this rad website that allows you to plant a tree to replace the tree used to make that book you’re reading right now. Their goal this year is to plant enough trees to counter a half a million books by the end of 2008. According to Eco-Libris, we’re blowing through 20 million trees every year to produce the books sold in the U.S. alone.

The cost to replace those felled trees is minimal…for example, to plant 5 trees it costs $5…but the positive impact on the planet is ginormous. Your do-gooder trees are planted in developing countries, like those in Africa, and Eco-Libris promises “…that your trees will be planted where they provide significant value for both the environment and the local communities, who are very much involved and play an important part in the planting projects.”

I still say this doesn’t absolve you if you simply trash your trashy novels as opposed to giving them a good afterlife, but it’s a good start. I just bought my first trees, to begin to balance out my sagging bookshelves.

Now it’s your turn!

I'm going to play myth buster for a minute. This is something that I have personally wondered about for a while.

 

You see my husband insists that you need to completely clean out cans, bottles and plastic food containers before you put them in the recycle bin. He mostly does it but after a while I bought into it. It turns out, I was right all along. I knew it!

Most of the contaminates get cleaned or burned away during the remanufacturing process. Sweet. You save water  by not cleaning that two-day-old tomato sauce.

That being said don't chuck a container that has mold growing right into the recycle bin. You do need to scoop out the science experiment first, but it doesn't need to be spotless.

My peeps know I love my Crocs. Yes, those wacky rubber shoes all the kids are wearing - although I don’t do the clog style, I rock the ballerina flats. They’re just so darn comfortable…and I can put them in the dishwasher.

I also love my rubber shoes because the folks at Crocs have started this fab new program called SolesUnited by which they donate a recylced pair of Crocs to impoverished people all over the world. Your old shoes are sorted, cleaned, ground up and manufactured into new Crocs! To do your part, simply drop off your worn out pair o’ Crocs at any collection center and they will recycle them into a brand spankin’ new pair for someone else. Just think how useful something like a rubber show would be in harsh third world climates. To answer all kinds of questions percolating in your brain, go HERE.

For participating drop-off retail locations, go HERE. Or if it’s easier, just mail ‘em in:

crocs recycling - west            crocs recycling - east
3375 enterprise ave.              1500 commodity blvd.    
bloomington, CA 92316          lockbourne, OH 43137

Crocs has also revamped their classic “beach” clog and “made it out of 20% recycled material from the donated Crocs shoes, providing consumers a built-in way to give back. For each pair of SolesUnited shoes purchased, Crocs will donate a pair through the SolesUnited program.” It’s like a “Buy one, Give one” sale!

Well, I’m off to walk the dog and wear down my Crocs some more so I can donate ‘em…

xoxo, Stace

So, I’ve taken on the rather massive task of clearing out my CD collection and putting all the good stuff on the Pod. In the process, I’ve figured out that I own a lot of crap that I should definitely get rid of…but what to with the crap I own? The dilemma here is that I can’t just throw it out – CDs do not biodegrade and neither do those jewel cases. (Same rule for DVDs applies, BTW)

So here’s what I found out, for those of you in a similar position…not that I’m saying you listen to crap…you know, just in case you wanted to ditch that duplicate copy of “Olivia Newton-John’s Greatest Hits.” (Hey, don’t judge. I own it AND it’s on the Pod):

You can sell those discs to make a little extra spring cash. I like Amoeba, here in LA, but there are two tons of used CD stores just dying to take those tunes off your hands. Just Google “used CD stores” for one in your area.

For DVDs, you can donate to KidFlicks, a team of young girls who collect used movies to create video libraries for children in hospitals. For donation info, go HERE.

If you just want to get rid of those unwanted CDs, simply so you don't inflict the soundtrack from "Xanadu" on unsuspecting listeners, send them to someone who can recycle them responsibly…and for FREE! Someone like The Compact Disc Recycling Center of America.

Every day I get dressed and think “Self, when will lingerie designers start using recycled pine to make undies?”

Oh ok, I do not, but the French lingerie company with the scientifically mysterious name g=9.8 has set out to create a whole line of organic bras and under-things made from a sustainable textile made from a compound of white pine tree clippings processed with enzymes into fiber. The harvesting of the pine bits is culled by normal tree pruning, so no pine trees were harmed in the interest of upper body support.

If you’re envisioning pokey, scratchy, pine-scented brassieres I’m here to set the record straight! The pieces are delightfully cute, colorful, fun and soft. The company toots it’s own horn by saying the fiber has “the comfort of silk, the feel of cashmere, and the coolness of linen.” Who can do better than that?

The items aren’t terribly cheap, but aren’t tipping the La Perla scale either…and after all; don’t your girls deserve a soft, organic, renewable place to land? ;)

It’s spring…at least it is here is SoCal…and Operation Curb Appeal is officially underway at Chez Stacy. I have arranged my gardening tools in neat little rows, ready to attack the front yard tomorrow morning, to banish the vivacious weeds and dig up the dead, sad annuals from last spring. Oh yeah, and to trim up the Man Eating Bougainvillea.

Since at this point, the front yard is in pretty ugly shape I figured it was time for a complete overhaul. The dead “grass” will be rototilled next week, a cute new fence is going up and scores of new plants will find new spots.

The grass has been a particular thorn in my side, because I sort of flat out refuse to put in a new lawn. A controversial idea, because I’ve been told it’s just plain un-American not to have a nice traditional lawn. But, I live the west San Fernando Valley, which is essentially desert with lots of sprinklers, and during the summer it is not unusual for us to have heat waves during which the temperature soars to 110 degrees. My home’s front yard also has southern exposure, meaning the sun beats down on the front of the house all day long.

That being said, it seems ludicrous to put in new grass. Grass is a freakin’ water hog. I have tried to make careful choices with the rest of the plantings and they’re all heat-resistant and more importantly drought-resistant. And it must be said that drought-resistant doesn’t mean a wall of cactus…I got all kinds of flowering plants with green fluffy leaves. (My newest obsession is lantana – cheery flowers that bloom all year long and the hotter it gets, the more it blooms. I heart it.)

Grass ain’t drought resistant. It takes a lot of water…like, A LOT of water.

So I’ve been pouring over every gardening book in my arsenal looking for cute, hardy ground cover to take the place of grass. I’m looking for drought-resistant ground cover that doesn’t look weird. I think I’ve settled on cheery “freeway” daisies for the median between the street and the sidewalk. (They call ‘em freeway daisies because…well, they plant them on freeways and they are die-hard.) But I’m stuck on that expanse where the lawn is supposed to go. It’s a small yard, so it wouldn’t take much and I’m planning on planting massive drought-resistant plant beds all around, so it wouldn’t take tons of coverage…Any ideas? I’ll keep you posted.

Lesson for today: water less, plant more.

I recycle everything that I possibly can. Up until about a year ago this included my newspapers. Now I know that the truly green thing to do would be to get my news online, but because I work for a newspaper, I neither do nor advocate that idea.

I mean there is no substitute for sitting down on Sunday morning with your sweetie and a cup of coffee and spreading that paper all over the table and talking and reading. There is just something about this ritual that I will always love. 

So.... What to do with those ABR (already been read) newspapers?

Of course you should, if nothing else, throw them in the recycle bin. But there are a few things you can do to reuse them.

• Newsprint is great for cleaning windows and mirrors, get your favorite eco-friendly cleaner and go to town. Vinegar and water work great.
•  Use it for packing material. Instead of those eco-disastrous packing peanuts that will never leave this planet in any form. Try crumpling up old newspaper. They can recycle it on the receiving end.
•  Take it to your local animal shelter. This is what we do with the majority of our newsprint. There is a real need at animal shelters for bedding for the kittens, puppies and small animals waiting for new homes. This is also a perfect place to hand over your old towels and blankets. The shelters don't have a lot of money and they need all the help they can get.