Green Thinking Blog

Before I begin this post, I just want to say THANK-YOU to all the people in my life.  It amazes me sometimes how inspiring some person you see day-in-&-day out can be.  Just when you think you know everything there is to know about that person, SNAP, out of the blue they turn from a co-worker to a muse.  Thank you.

That being said, this posts’ credit is due to two co-workers at my “day job,”  one of whom is a stronghold on our pioneering “Green Committee” and whom I am eternally grateful to work with so closely.  We were informed today that a greeting card round-up will take place all the way through the first full week of the new year…

“What kind of rodeo round-up is that?” you may ask your Self.

Your answer would be, “Self, the purpose of this collection is to gather old greeting cards that have been sent as holiday cheer to those around the world & provide them to the St. Jude’s Ranch.”

“What would St. Jude’s Ranch want with them?”

“Oh, thank you for asking.  The children of St. Jude’s Ranch remove the backs of the old cards, add new recycled paper in its place & sell the cards for new holiday cheer around the globe.  The profits then are given to the children who made the cards to teach them about “going green” and as payment for their work. (For those of you who do not know, St. Jude’s is a haven for neglected and abused children)”

“I received about 700 Christmas cards from people who forgot to read the article on GTB.com “Shipping Goes Green,”  I am so happy there is a way to reuse all that paper & spread more joy!  How do I go about this recycle-card program at St. Jude’s?”

Visit:  Recycled Card Program

I was so happy to see this Public Service Announcement re-aired the other night while watch t.v.  My first thought was “huh, some 70s flashbacks are on late night t.v.”  then I realized this was an original Public Service Campaign that focused on litter.  Amazing that the message was put out back then still rings true over 30 years later…

I found this commercial and others at the Keep America Beautiful website, kab.org.  It is an excellent resource to beautification and litter prevention.

I have been fortunate enough to receive some gifts even before the holiday I celebrate!  These are my faves to give & receive thus far…

1. Gift received:  A dreidel.

    Last night, Laurel & I attended a friend’s Hannukah celebration.  This was a fantastic introduction to an otherwise foreign holiday, complete with food & fun!  Latkes, or a version of potato pancakes are delicious!  If you haven’t tried them before, I recommend making a fresh batch for tasting.  Check out Epicurious.com for all Hannukah menus.  Later we played a rivoting game of dreidel. Our hosts, Lauren & Mike, provided each guest with their very own driedal to play this traditional game.  Here are the rules for your very own game!

2. Gift received: A tree.

(Isn’t this tree beautiful? It looks like a dancer!)

A friend at work today gave me what I thought was a Christmas card.  When I opened it, to my happy surprise, it was actually a tree dedication from The Arbor Day Foundation.  It was such a happy surprise! and so thoughtful! Laurel had mentioned this idea in a previous post, and as a recipient, I am can honestly say this is a perfect gift to give!  Visit ArborDay.org/giveatree for details.

3. Gift given: Granola satchels.

I was trying to think of a healthier gift to give to my co-workers.  We have a plethora of cakes and cookies to choose from, so I thought granola would be a nice alternative… According to my co-workers, I was right!

I made one big batch & handed it out in little, reusable, chinese-take-out-resembling, cartons.  Here is the recipe:

4 cups of Old-Fashioned tradional oats

1 cup veggie oil

1 cup honey (or maple syrup)

3 cups sliced almonds

11/2 cup of roasted soy nuts

2 cups dried cranberries

2 cups golden raisins

1 tsp of salt

Mix oats, soy nuts, & almonds.  Whisk oil & honey (or maple syrup).  Pour oil/honey mix over oat mix to coat.  Spread over a covered cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes - BE SURE TO STIR THROUGHOUT to avoid burning.  Once done, stir in cranberries & raisins.  Let cool completely before distributing amongst containers….Mmmmmm

If you try it, let me know how it turns out!  You can add all sorts of different goodies for your own take on a delicious give-away treat!

If any of you are like me, you had all intentions of finishing your holiday shopping in July…but it just didn’t happen.  Instead you are running around spending 3.5 hours with everyone else in the world at Target with a cartload of useless crap you are sure your friends & family will hate & you will be paying off on your credit card for eons….

Can you tell I am freakin’ out.  Well, here are some things that got me through today & will hopefully work until this is over!

1. When feeling stressed at the store, call a reliable source.  Lucky for me, I had one of my bestest buds, Cecily on hand for advice & ideas.  I would send her a pic from my camera phone & await her response.  Lucky for my mom, she wasn’t available today :)  Sorry Cec.

2.  Keep a smile on your face!  I can’t tell you how that helps.  All of a sudden other suckers in your same position smile back at you.  They will no longer run you over with their shopping cart, but even lend you the extra change you may need at the checkout.

3.  Go home & do some yoga.

4.  After yoga…drink some wine.  In this instance, preferably organic:  meaning the grapes have been organically grown & there are no sulfites.  Delicious.

5.  After organic wine…make a New Years’ Resolution to finish your shopping in July for next Christmas.

Good luck to you all & wishing you the very best Holiday ever!

Have you heard that some states are building synthetic reefs by dropping old subway cars into the ocean? It sounds crazy and even detrimental to dump huge metal cars into our oceans…but actually, its a wonderful technique to help provide protective habitats for the fish. I only learned about this technique a week ago, but its been going on for a few years now. These artificial reefs are popping up all over the eastern U.S. in the Atlantic Ocean, and the fishing community couldn’t be happier. They provide safe havens for many different varieties of marine life such as oysters, blue mussels, and fish which are attracted to the hard surfaces of the cars.

Greg Hall, President of the Ocean City Reef Foundation in Maryland, says “its pretty amazing to go back to reef sites and see the area covered in mussels and swarming with marine life, even as soon as six months after initial placement.”

But this new technique is becoming popular among some states, and there’s actually some stiff competition to claim the donated subway cars from New York City. Jeff Tinsman, the artificial reef program manager for Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, said that he sunk an old tugboat and a decommissioned Navy tank last year when the subway cars ran out. Tinsman describes the artificial reefs as “luxury condominiums for fish.”

Check out the video on NYT’s Dot Earth blog where you can see a simulation of the subway cars underwater. Very cool!

Focus Organic just featured our article, “Christmas Tree, O’ Christmas Tree” post on their Volume 29 Eco Blog Carnival.

Check it out if you have a few, there are some great articles and ideas there!

Thanks for reading!

This morning I posted some Healthy Gift Ideas over on my health food blog. The ones I listed there are strictly food items, but I had some great green ideas too. On Saturday I drove over to the new Whole Foods store…and believe me it was gorgeous and immaculate! I got inspired with all kinds of present ideas and wanted to share with you.

Feed Bag w/ Fruit - Pick up a “Feed 100″ bag (available at Whole Foods stores) and fill it with in-season organic fruit. The purchase of each bag buys “100 nutritious meals to hungry school age children in Rwanda through the United Nation World Food Program’s School Feeding Program.”  If you can, buy local-made produce.

A Better Bag w/ Organic Beauty Care - Give a girl some new natural beauty products to try in A Better Bag or a canvas bag you have at home. Browse your local health food store for whatever products she might like best.

South of France Bar Soaps - These soaps are made from pure, natural ingredients and smell just divine. My sister and I picked up the Mango, Shea Butter, and Gardenia soaps and couldn’t put them back. The check-out lady even went crazy over the smell. They’re about $5 or $6 but you get 8.8oz and it will surely last a long time. Plus, bar soaps are great because they have minimal packaging (find them at Whole Foods or Amazon.com).

Local Tree - Check out the outdoor stores for locally-grown trees or bushes that you can give as presents.

Green Cleaning Kit - Pick out some eco-friendly products like Meyers or Seventh Generation and make a green cleaning kit for someone who is planning to move in the near future.

Wild Bird Treats - I actually got this idea from Publix Greenwise Magazine. You can make this bird food for any friends and family that enjoy the outdoors or spend lots of time in their yard. Just mix the ingredients together, chill overnight, and cut up into squares to put in a bird feeder or hang from a tree. Get the recipe here. Here’s a picture of the ones I made before I cut them up.

Happy Holidays! I’d love to hear your green gift ideas if you leave me a comment.

MSNBC.com did a really interesting cover on the Rockefeller Christmas tree in New York City.  This 84 foot tree, a Norway Spruce to be precise, gets decorated every Christmas with over 5 miles of lights.  Can you imagine how much electricity that is to be lit all day long?  5:30am - 11:30pm to be precise.

This year, the Rockefeller tree is replacing the traditional lightbulbs with  the LED Energy saving variety.  This small conversion will save daily the amount of electricity used monthly in a 2,000 square foot house!

Not only that, but after Christmas the tree with the lovely branches, will have a second chance at life.  This beautiful beast of nature will be turned into lumber that will be used to build houses with Habitat for Humanity. 

I was online window shopping last night when I came across the gift sets on the Pangea Organics site. Pangea’s gift sets hold organic body care items such as bar soap, lip care, shower gel, body lotion, and facial scrub. They come in pretty, colorful packages so you don’t need any additional wrapping paper. But the best part about Pangea’s gift sets this year? They come in 100% compostable, biodegradable, and plantable packaging. So, I’m pretty impressed.

When your friends and family are done with the gift box, they can plant the box in their yard and it will grow into a spruce tree. For reals!! Check out Pangea’s gift set page for the easy seven-step instructions on how to go from your gift box to the growing tree.

Pangea Organics is also giving a portion of its profits to the non-profit organization Pangea Institute which provides research and education on sustainable living and business.

FYI: I’m not getting paid to talk about Pangea’s products. I’m just all for promoting a company that’s doing something right.

I read about a cool new invention in the December-January issue of Plenty Magazine (p. 22). Aresa, a research company from Denmark, created a genetically-modified tobacco plant that they’re calling the BioSenser. The BioSenser changes color from green to red when it comes in contact with nitrogen oxide from decaying underground explosives. Scientists can drop BioSenser seeds from a plane and return 10 weeks later when the plants are growing. Any sign of red leaves will let alert them to land mines that need to be removed.

The UN reports that over 110 million active land mines exist underground in 68 different countries (I read 78 in a different source). Aresa’s new plants provide an eco-friendly detection method. Previously, mines were detected by digging up big plots of land to search for them or by a person accidentally stepping on one.

It’s fun to read about inventions like these. Cheers to Aresa for developing a new eco-friendly method that will keep harmful chemicals out of the ground and prevent accidental explosions.

Check out MineAction.org for more information on worldwide efforts to remove landmines from the ground.