May 2008 Archives

Greenpeace Australia is running a super cute campaign against Japanese whaling where you get to make a virtual origami whale and send it swimming to the Japanese Prime Minister. More and more questions are being asked in Japan about why tax dollars are being spent to hunt for whale meat that nobody seems to want. Greenpeace has been at the forefront of trying to stop this practice fro may years. Now you can help. There is  a running tally on the website I'm number 13,103.

Even though it's Greenpeace Australia you can help too. Just click the button that says "I don't live in Australia" and away your whale swims.

We know it's ridiculously expensive to buy food nowadays, let alone all organic food...Whole Paycheck Foods, anyone? But there is a significant benefit to picking those foods that are the most likely to be chock full o' pesticides, hormones, chemicals and other ick-factor additives and choosing just those, out of everything, to spend your hard earned cash going organic.

Here are a few suggestions to help you do the picking.

• The obvious offenders: Meat (including chicken, beef, pork) & Milk Products - both are highly susceptible to pesticides, steroids, antibiotics, and bovine growth hormones, including rGBH or rbST.

• From the veggies: Bell Peppers, Celery, Lettuce & Potatoes - they all have thin skin that soaks up pesticide poison and offers the innards zero protection.

• From the fruities: Peaches, Apples, Strawberries, Grapes & Tomatoes - these little guys all have super delicate and permeable skin, which means no amount of washing will rinse the pesticides off...cuz they're in. Yikes.

• From the necessities: Coffee - it's true, most countries where they grow our beloved beans do not regulate chemicals or pesticides. So spring for the organic and Fair Trade beans.

For more info on organic stuff, check THIS out.

I know we've covered this topic before, but I think it bears repeating: No more plastic bags, even  if you save them just to pick up after your doggy friend! I've found a little something to replace those skanky plastic bags that don't biodegrade no matter how many times you use them. (It's easy to fool one's self that just because you're using a plastic bag twice means you're on the road to re-freezing the polar ice caps.)

From Simply Out, I bring you their Waste Pick-Up bags. Totally biodegradable, sturdy and available at your neighborhood Target. No mail order required. I just  picked me up a gaggle o' bags during today's weekly pilgrimage to The Target.

It's still not as dignified as teaching the pooch to use the toilet, but what else ya gonna do?

What's that old saying? One mans junk is another mans treasure. For many of us that have picked up that perfect dresser at a garage sale or fell in love with a sweater from vintage clothing store we know this to be true.

A friend and fellow blogger let me in on a really great idea. A website called FreeCycle. What is FreeCycle you ask? It's a website that connects you to people that need what you are getting rid of and in turn maybe you can find something you need.

It's a grassroots and nonprofit movement of people who are giving and getting stuff for free in their own towns. Membership is free.

It's made up of local groups; a local volunteer moderates each local group. Join a group and post whatever it is you don't need or use anymore. Other members get your post and if it's something they need they make arrangements to come and pick it up. And you can do the same. This is such a fab premise I can't wait to give it a try. Every year I inevitably have stuff I no longer need, that I would love to go to a new home.

Think of it as a free cycle of giving. And a huge bonus, it keeps a bunch of stuff out the local landfills.

There are over 4 thousand communities and almost 4 million members according to the FreeCycle group. Why not give it a shot.

The folks at Heal The Bay have released the results of their annual Beach Report Card, rating 517 So Cal beaches on water quality using a simple grade scale of A-F.  What are they looking for?  Well, poo actually.  They measure the level of raw sewage year-round to check the level of fecal bacteria pollution levels in the surfzone. YAY!

So if you surf, swim, dive, fish or stick your tootsies in the Pacific this information is for you.

The good news: California as a whole enjoyed its best dry-weather beach water quality on record in 2007-08. During the high-traffic summer beach going season, 93% of beaches statewide received A or B grades, meaning very good to excellent water quality. That figure marks an 8% improvement from the previous summer.

The bad news: For the third straight year, Los Angeles County had the worst overall beach water quality in the state, including five of the 10 lowest-rated beaches in the survey. There continues to be a great divide between water quality in dry weather vs. wet weather. This year, 46% of monitoring locations statewide received fair-to-poor grades during wet weather, with 26% receiving failing grades. Dry weather conditions differ from rainy weather in that when it rains all kinds of ick washes to the ocean through the storm drains.

What to do if your beach is skuzzy?  "County health officials and Heal the Bay recommend that beach users never swim within 100 yards of any flowing storm drain, or in any coastal water during a rainstorm, and for at least three days after a storm has ended. Storm drain runoff is the greatest source of pollution to local beaches, flowing untreated to the coast and often contaminated with motor oil, animal waste, pesticides, yard waste and trash. After a rain, indicator bacteria densities usually far exceed state health criteria for recreational water use."

"Heal the Bay believes the public has the right to know the water quality at their favorite beaches as soon as possible, and is proud to provide Californians this information in an easy-to-understand format. We hope that beachgoers will use this information to make the decisions necessary to protect their health," says HTB.

Can you guess which beach takes the "Beach Bummer" crown, for being the most polluted?   Shockingly, it's Avalon Harbor Beach on Catalina Island.  Whoa, make you re-think paradise.

For the full list of "Beach Bummers," to read more about this year's results and for more on the beach report card program, check out Heal the Bay.

We get that switching your old school cleaning product for new more environmental friendly cleaners and soaps can be a headache. You don't know what will fit your needs and it's a tad bit more expensive, so you may not want to take a chance on a product you've never tried before. We are gonna break it down for you all. Here's our list of the green products we use, because they work great, and why we love them. We know the market is starting to get flooded with companies that are not so environmentally "clean" making green products. If you want to use those, that's cool too. Like I always say every little change makes a difference.

Roxanne's list

Laundry detergent:
Seventh Generation natural laundry detergent
This stuff not only works great, just as well as your regular detergents, but it boasts all this as well. It's non-toxic, biodegradable, hypoallergenic, contains no phosphate or petroleum based cleaners.

Fabric softener:
Method Fabric Softener
I like all the method products that I have tried so far and this one is no different. It's phosphate free, biodegradable and not animal tested. The Water Lilly and Aloe scent smells great.

Dishwashing liquid:
Ecover Dishwashing Liquid
I love this stuff and I love this company, I would recommend anything they sell. The dish soap has plant-based ingredients, leaves no chemical residue on your hand or dishes, is biodegradable and safe for marine life.

Dishwasher detergent:
Ecover Dishwasher Tablets
This just work great my dishes come out spotless and all the same great things as dishwashing liquid apply to the dishwasher tablets. Give them a try.

Cleaning Wipes:
JR Watkins All Purpose Wipes
Now I know that using wipes is controversial to the eco-crowd, but that being said...sometimes you need wipes for one reason or another. Most of the time I use my sponge with soapy water for cleaning surfaces. But like I said sometimes a wipe or two comes in really handy. So, these are plant based, phosphate free, non-toxic, biodegradable and is not tested on animals.

Or I like I have said in the past. Good old white vinegar and water works great for a lot of surface cleaning, it clean glass very well. Or a baking soda and water mixture is also good if you need a bit of abrasion.

Stacy's List

Here's the thing...I love stuff that smells great.  Good smell means clean to me, for whatever that's worth!  I'm especially hot for all the yummy scents in the super green Method line of cleaning products, like naturally scented "fuzzy peach," "fresh lychee" and "rice milk and mallow" to name just a few. Plus the packaging is sexy.  Having said that, here are the products I keep in my home religiously. 

Laundry detergent:
Method he Compatible Detergent
This detergent in "Sweet Water" rocks my world.  It's biodegradable, super-concentrated and perfect product for your "high efficiency" washer.

Dishwasher Rinse Aid:
I do love me some Ecover and they have a great rinse aid that gets your dishes all shiny and streak-free but in an all-natural way.  It's biodegradable and plant-based, as opposed to petroleum-based, and it's save for marine life should it get washed into the environment.

 Dryer Sheets:
NOOOOOO!  Not the dryer sheets!  On our last beach clean-up we picked up 9,472 dryer sheets that had been washed to the shore.  So I've been turned on to Dryer Balls!  Sounds like what it is: reusable, nubby rubber balls that soften your clothes without any other product at all.

Glass Cleaner:
Or as Method calls it "Best in Glass." HA! Get it?  Anyway...it's  ammonia-free and made from corn alcohol and a     biodegradable solvent, among other natch ingredients.  The big selling point is the minty fresh scent.  That's right - it smells like mint.  Makes me want to do the windows right now.

We hope this helps you in your quest for a greener home. We're off to scrub something!
 

Ever left the lights on when you've left the room? Ran a single pair of underpants in the washer? Flushed a single tissue in an empty toilet?? I know who you are and I know where to find you.

Brought to you from our British eco-friends at Together.com, finding "easy ways to fight climate change."

Two mere days after my angry airline rant, I get the word that JetBlue Airlines announces  they are soon to be JetGreen.  While it would be heartwarming to think I'm just powerful  enough to inspire sweeping airline policy, I have the sneaking suspicion that this has been in the works for a while.

Here's the plan:
For starters, reduce that honking airplane carbon footprint and find ways to safely reduce fuel burn and greenhouse gas emissions. HOW?

• Using one engine to taxi to and from runways
• Connecting the aircraft to ground power at the gate rather than using the engines to power air-conditioning, etc.
• Deploying state-of-the-art technology to develop efficient routings and reduce flying times
• Equipping aircraft with winglets to increase fuel efficiency
• Installing lighter aircraft seats and LED lighting

At JFK in NYC, the home of JetBlue, they have a whole "reduce & recycle" plan for all the garbage generated in the terminal and on the tarmac.  Goes a little something like this:

• Recycle spent jet fuel and oil and oil/fuel filters, which means the recycling of approximately 1,500 gallons of fuel and oil and some 600 pounds of steel, each month.
• Work with concession providers to recycle or re-use cooking oils (not for human consumption).
• Using de-icing chemical reduction techniques to minimize the environmental impact. (They are approved to use state-of-the-art infra-red technology in de-icing to reduce de-icing fluid usage.)
• Reduce paper by eliminating paper tickets, ticket holders and large boarding documents and offering small, simple boarding passes.

AND they started the "One Thing That's Green" campaign to teach employees and customers the value of being a proud treehugging fool and the opportunities that exist to do so. (Check out the eco-love gift bags they gave to flyers on Earth Day!)  This also includes hosting NYC's largest volunteer tree planting, with 500 volunteers including JetBlue employees, during which they all planted trees and flowers as part of the MillionTreesNYC campaign.

Good stuff, JB! You got my business.  It's a positive move in the right direction...now how's about that onboard recycling?? ;)  I just won't give up!

Think globally. Hoop locally. That's what's on the new environmentally friendly recycled basketball called Rebound made by Wilson.

The ball's surface is made up pf 40% recycled rubber. In terms of environmental impact, every 70 Rebound basketballs that Wilson produces is the equivalent of one less tire ending up in a landfill according to the Wilson website.

In addition to the composition of the ball the display box is over 75% post consumer cardboard.

Every little bit helps and it's nice to see big business finally making small steps toward a more environmentally conscience way of thinking. Wouldn't it be cool is if they could take those old tires that end up in the landfills and make balls out of the rubber. Now THAT would be recycling.     

We've established that I love me the online shopping...and so much the better if it's shopping for all things green and eco-fuzzy. There's this fab shopping site, specializing in home decor, dubbed BranchHome.com that stocks not just products crafted from sustainable materials but also cutting edge in style.

Witness if you will the snugly, hand crafted "Family Pillow No.1" featuring a one-of-a-kind rendering of you, your family and your fuzzy friends on a shell of 100% organically grown hemp. (Alternate style "Family Pillow No. 2" is similar, but rectangular.)

Or the sexy lines of full-length chaise lounge fashioned from cork, a.k.a. reclaimed waste material from the bottle-stopper industry. I'm picturing myself all stretched out chaise-style on the sun porch already.

I beseech you to go and poke around the site. You'll find treasures big and little...bits like towels made from 100% sustainably harvested beech wood fibers, the elephant puppet hand-knit by women who belong to a collective of knitters in rural Kenya and organically grown bamboo bowls. Be sure to check out the full line of wacky, yet stylish furniture.

So says the folks at BranchHome: Just as the willingness of a once-small number of consumers to seek out (and occasionally pay a premium for) organic produce is now changing the face of food production and consumption, we believe that we - and more importantly, you - can drive meaningful change in the world's product-consumption habits, purchase by purchase.

So says me: if you're compelled to buy, buy responsibly.

Tickets are still available for the final taping of the new Planet Green series Battleground Earth. It culminates with a rock N rap concert starring Tommy Lee and Ludacris May 28 at the Greek Theatre. It looks like it's shaping up to be a pretty fab show with Train, Switchfoot and Velvet Revolver joining the bill.  

If stargazing is your thing you can come early and check out the green carpet sure to be full of all your favorite eco-celebs.

The best part of the concert for me is that all the proceeds are going to a fund created to restore Griffith Park from the devastating wildfires last year. So it's a win-win a night of good music and good deeds.

To purchase tickets click here, FYI they are not cheap. Discovery's Planet Green will launch June 4 and Battleground Earth airs in August.

I went to check out the Rogan for Target line this weekend. And I have a mixed review. The majority of the items were in fact organic cotton or silk. But there was a handful of stuff mostly bathing suits that were nylon and spandex.

The line has some cute tops and dresses. I actually purchased a cute summer dress for $34.99 that I am wearing as I write this post. They have kind of a casual safari vibe to them.

The thing that bugged me the most was all the pieces are made in China. Now I assume that they are produced under fair wages etc. But I have not been able to get any confirmation at this point. When I do I'll let you know.

So should you buy? Why not? My new dress seems well made and should stand up to years of wear. Plus it's organic cotton. The line should be in Target for the next six weeks.

Warning: I feel a world-class, Grade A rant coming on.

This weekend, I traveled from coast to coast in several different airports, in two different countries no less, and in each airport I noticed something that sets each and every hair on my head on end: an appalling lack of recycling bins in a heavily trafficked and disposable environment.

It started at LAX. As I stood in the security line, that literally stretched to the next terminal, I was sucking down a can of soda that I knew wouldn't make it through security. When I arrived at the doors to the airport I looked around for some place to discard the empty can and found nada. Well, there was an over-worked trashcan...a trashcan overflowing with water bottles, juice bottles, newspapers and soda cans. It was all I could do not to scoop it all up in a moment of insanity and recycle it my damn self.

So I stuffed my can in my bag, thinking for sure there would be a recycle bin in the terminal. I got settled at the gate and took a look around. I found an old school trash can and a recycling bin for newspapers only, but nothing for the two bazillion plastic bottles, plastic take-out containers, Starbucks cups, paper food bags, magazines and all the other travel survival paraphernalia that is inescapable in every airport in the world. Took the can on my first flight.

Right before the in-flight movie, I asked the passing flight attendant if she could take the can. "You'll recycle it, right? I mean, the airline has a recycling program for the few hundred cans used on this flight alone, right?' I said, eyes wild.

"Um, no." She said apologetically.

"It's cool, I'll just hang on to it," I smiled, again fighting the urge to go aisle to aisle and pick up the oogie, empty cans and bottles myself. I think she thought I might have lost my ever-loving mind.

Landed in Pittsburgh. No airport or airplane recycling. Landed in Montreal. Same bat channel. Back to Atlanta. And on and on it goes. Needless to say I ditched the can, and the other assorted recyclables I used enroute, in Canada, which has a plethora of recycling bins in the city itself (including a bank of bins separated into glass, plastic, paper and organic...for apple cores, etc!).

My point, and I do have one, is: "HEY YOU, AIRLINE INDUSTRY! AND YOU AIRPORTS TOO...GET WITH THE FREAKING PROGRAM AND RECYCLE ALREADY! YOU'RE GIVING ME HIVES!" 

Seriously, I know it's more complicated than simply putting out a plastic bin that says "recycle" on it...but how about an attempt to make a dent in that ginormous carbon footprint those planes leave in their wake in the first flippin' place??  JEEZ. 

Did I mention they also lost my bag?  This rant brought to you by the letter 'R'.

Editor's note: Apparently Delta is stepping up. So I guess I'll fly Delta.

Rogan for Target hit the stores this week. I have yet to see the line but more to come when I do. Check out my previous post.

I have a couple dogs and I have been known to take them on long walks from time to time. Any pet owner knows when you take a dog for a walk no matter if it's long or short it always means one thing. Doggy poo. This is one of the handful of excuses, yes I said excuses that people use to continue getting the eco-disastrous one-time use plastic bags. Well I guess in this case it would be two-time use.

When I broke the plastic bags habit I had to find a collection device for the souvenirs that my pooches leave on the neighborhood grass. I did some research and found PoopBags.com and they work great. They biodegrade within 60 to 90 days. Which is much faster than plastic grocery bags which are not biodegradable, they photo-degrade which means they break down into little toxic pieces. That can contaminate soil, water and harm wildlife

So today I'm cruising the interweb looking for cool eco-stuff and I come across something new. Doggy waste bags called Flushadoo, cute name. The premise is bags that can be flushed down the toilet. Hm? The website claims that they are strong, safe to flush, non-toxic and biodegradable. Sounds good. I made an effort to contact a company rep to find out what they are made from, but as of now I have not been contacted. So do ya feel lucky? They seem to be worth at least a second look; maybe I'll buy a sample pack.

Arbor Day LA
Sponsored by Million Trees LA
Griffith Park at the Park Center
Sat May 17 10am to 2pm

Kids activities, planting workshops, tree distributions and entertainment. Free to the public.


Nothin' But Sand Beach Cleanup
Hosted by Heal The Bay
Saturday, May 17, 2008
10am to Noon
Rose Avenue Storm drain
Venice at Rose Avenue
Venice Beach, CA
Meet at Rose Ave and Ocean Front Walk

From all locations below, take Rose Ave until it dead-ends. There is a pay parking lot ($1 for volunteers) at the end of Rose Ave.


Beach Green Picnic celebration
Sun May 18 11am to 2pm
2030 Ocean Ave, Santa Monica

Bring your lawn chairs, blankets, picnic baskets and sunscreen for a day of family fun in the sun as we celebrate Santa Monica's newest eco-forward Beach Green

Beach Green is more than a patch of grass. Nearly an acre of asphalt was removed to create this new park that will stop pollutants before they enter Santa Monica Bay while it reduces heat given off by traditional parking lots.

Cuz it's Friday, and I'm feeling both wacky AND seriously environmentally intense, I bring you the Blue Man Group's thoughts on the environment...can the Green Man Group be far behind?

It's official! The polar bear has been given a listing of threatened under the Endangered Species Act. It would seem as though it's the first animal to be listed under the act due to loss of habitat because of climate change.

A listing of threatened, means that a species is at risk of becoming endangered in the near future. It is listed as endangered when it faces imminent extinction.

The polar bear now comes under federal protection, but officials were vague about what that would mean in practice, and said there would not be a stop to oil and gas drilling in the bears' habitat.

"While the legal standards under the ESA compel me to list the polar bear as threatened, I want to make clear that this listing will not stop global climate change or prevent any sea ice from melting," Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said in a news conference.

"Federal protection represents only the tip of the iceberg if Americans want to save the polar bear," said Betsy Loyless, senior vice president of the National Audubon Society.

As of now the US have no plans toward a policy shift to attack global warming.

I've decided in an effort to alleviate the gas crunch in my purse and on the environment, I will now only shop online. Of course, that means someone has to bring me my stuff. I feel much better knowing it's going to be UPS in their big brown, yet now green, vehicles and those sassy brown shorts.

UPS calls their collection of eco-friendly delivery trucks the Green Fleet and they are expanding from 50 hybrid electric trucks to 250 (the largest commercial order of such trucks by any company) and the CNG-run fleet will increase from 800 to 1,100 as well. Additionally, UPS is ordering 500 more hybrid and compressed natural gas (CNG) delivery vehicles.

This will save 176,000 gallons of fuel annually and 1,786 metric tons of carbon emissions each year--the equivalent of removing almost 100 conventional UPS trucks from the road for a year. That's no chicken scratch.

"Alternative fuel research and development is just one of the ways that UPS is mitigating climate change risks," said Bob Stoffel, UPS's corporate sustainability officer. "We also are focused on aggressive conservation programs and improving network efficiency to cut fuel use."

To learn more about UPS and they're eco-fuzzy policies, go HERE.  And go ahead, spend the afternoon on eBay...UPS is on the job.

Malibu seems to be ahead of the pack on the Ban The Bag issue. Probably because a large amount of trash, most of which is plastic ends up at the beach. The Malibu City Council voted unanimously Monday night to ban retailers from distributing single-use plastic shopping bags within city limits.

Malibu's bag ban is the most aggressive action to date on plastic bags by any Southland city, and will apply to all retailers, from grocery stores to small boutiques. It forbids the distribution of both plastic and compostable carryout bags.

Grocery stores, food vendors, restaurants, pharmacies and city facilities have six months to comply with the ordinance. Smaller sized retailers have one year.

"The city of Malibu should be commended for taking decisive action to protect the environment and improve residents' quality of life," said Sarah Abramson, Heal the Bay's director of coastal resources. "Hopefully other cities are taking notice and now realize that the writing is on the wall for plastic bags."

This is one of my causes and pet peeves. The damage that single-use plastic bags cause is well documented. It's cost the taxpayers, the environment and the entire planet. It's one of the easier things to change in your life. Jump on the bandwagon, get off the plastic bags and use reusable shopping bags.

If any of you would like to see the impact of plastic and other trash on our beautiful beaches. Stacy and I are hosting our second beach cleanup on June 6 at Zuma beach from 11 to 1. All are welcome, just send me an email at roxanne.kotzman@dailynews.com and let me know you want to help. More info on the cleanup will come shortly, you still have time.


Much thanks to Heal The Bay.

Nokia has started a recycle program for old cell phones the
We: Recycle Program allows you to send in old cell phones to be properly recycled. It's so easy, Nokia will mail you a prepaid envelope so the process is completely cost-free.

Way too many old cell phones find their final resting place in a landfill, where hazardous chemicals pose a threat to the environment and wildlife.

There are so many recycle programs, please use one of them.
    

Of course bunnies have carbon footprints. Maybe we can all learn something from the buns.

Talk about making lemons into lemon-aide...deep in the Midwest a town called Wilmette in Illinois is making the best of an environmentally grumpy situation.

See in Wilmette, located about 20 minutes outside Chicago, there's a mass infestation of emerald ash borer killing the city's abundant ash trees. As of now, there's no real "cure" for the ash borer and once the tree is infested, the only solution is to reduce the trees to chips and trash it.  BUT what if the wood could be used for something...something wonderful?

"Last year, the ash borer was found in Wilmette, and when we first met with federal officials, the only thing that can be done is to bur and chip the ash trees. I said, 'That is unacceptable,'" recalled Chris Canning, Wilmette president. 

So Canning joined forces with a couple of local businesses and had an "everybody wins" solution.  The idea was to use the treated wood to make more than 100 Little League baseball bats dubbed the Wilmette Wonderboy, named after the legendary stick toted by Robert Redford's character in "The Natural."  Saved from the chipper, the lumber is sent to local bat craftsmen Bats By Buck, and simple, wonderful billets are crafted by sight, sanded, painted, and engraved. Good old fashioned wood bats that make that satisfying *crack* sound instead of a *ping*.

This spring, the Little Leaguers were presented with their very special bats and boy, do they love 'em.  One kid reminisced that his own departed ash tree used to have a tree swing in it, so he thought this was a pretty good afterlife.

"I think along with business, there's a community responsibility," said Tom Royce, owner of Bats By Buck. "There's a duty to try to help solve some problems if we can."

Yup - we agree.

A little bit of good news is coming out of China after the horrendous earthquake that has killed at least 10,000 people.

A wildlife preserve at Chengdu research center near the worst hit part of the massive earthquake is reporting that the 60 giant pandas that live at the center are safe. But there was no word yet on the fate of pandas at another research center at Wolong, near the epicenter of the quake, according to Reuters.

Don't think me callous about the human tragedy because I'm not. I'm sure everyone knows that the giant panda is one of the world's most endangered species and is found only in China.  

I have this "thing" for comfortable shoes.  If you're like me, you have a collection of shoes that have never made it out of the house because they are so ridiculously painful. I'm not saying I need like orthopedic comfy, but appropriately fitted, lots o' cushion, flexible...did I mention cute?  Yeah, cute makes me the most comfortable of all. So let's talk super cute AND eco-friendly sneakers. 

Simple Shoes, the self-titled "nice little shoe company" from Santa Barbara, has designed tennis shoes for the comfort hog, the fashion victim AND the environmentally responsible person in you! All of their designs are made with sustainable or recycled materials. So green.

My fave, the Carousel skimmer in blue polka dots, is fashioned together with hemp uppers, certified organic cotton lining, recycled tires and comes with 100% post consumer paper pulp foot forms.  In addition to those fantastic bits and pieces, Simple Shoes also uses cork, crepe, jute, bamboo and recycled PET plastic bottles (to make the laces)....all to make YOU some rad shoes! They have men's shoes, women's shoes, kids' shoes and bags. All your little heart could desire. And all of their products are shipped Simple Shoes' totally "start-of-the-art/back-to-the-future post-consumer recycled box."

To feel all proactive about buying your shoes, check out Simple Shoes acts of environmental bravery in business HERE...then go get yourself some shoes.

When you think of American Idol, if you ever think of it at all. Do you think, oh, let's say cheesy singing competition or eco-friendly? This year it's both. This season the American Idol two-night finale shows will be powered by alt energy.  

Fox is working with the LADWP for the massive undertaking. The L.A. Department of Water and Power will provide a combo of solar, wind and hydro energy through its Green Power for a Green LA Program.

To boost the juice, I'm sure a takes a ton of power to produce that show, a solar panel system from E-Village, Inc. is being installed in the media arrivals area and then donated to a California school after the broadcasts.

According to Fox, these eco-friendly initiatives will reduce the carbon footprint of the American Idol finale, as part of Fox's ongoing effort to reduce its impact on the world's climate and become carbon-neutral by 2010.

So is going eco a reason to watch a long night of goofy medleys and big stars selling out? I don't know, how much do you like Simon? :)

It's ok if you walk by the Sanrio store in the mall and chuckle at the Hello Kitty luggage, Hello Kitty Fender guitars, Hello Kitty jewelry, Hello Kitty waffle irons, Hello Kitty tampons (kidding, but wouldn't that be hilarious?)...but don't giggle too hard at the Hello Kitty solar powered charger.

Yup, Japan's favorite moon-faced pussycat has gone green with the introduction of this small gadget that recharges your mp3 player, ipod, PDA, digital camera and mobile phone with pure, clean solar energy. The portable charger is equipped with large 1200mAh Lithium battery so you can charge your gadgets to full capacity with 6 hours of sunlight or use plain old DC on a cloudy day and get a full charge in an hour.

Want one? Me too. The price for solar powered electronic responsibility isn't cheap at $160.00, but think long term...it harnesses solar power and saves oodles of electricity by default.  Plus, it's just cute.  To pick one up, go HERE.

Could this be the very first puppy to join the eco-movement. He was even born green!
OK, I know. But it's Friday and it's been a long week. Puppy's are cute no matter what color green, black, brown or white.

Are you looking for something to do this weekend? How about a festival? WorldFest boasts to be the largest Earth Day festival in LA.

Woodley Park in Encino is the setting for a combination of music, speakers, environmental, humanitarian and animal welfare non-profits, kid's activities and of course plenty of food. The whole shebang will be solar powered!

The event takes place Saturday May 10th, from 10AM to 6:30PM. Admission is $7 and kids under 12 are free. This is a pet friendly event so go ahead and bring the pooch. If you need a pet they will also be hosting pet adoption.

Pay no attention to the fact that Earth Day was last month. It's always a good time to remember the planet.

I'll admit it, I hate junk mail. By the end of the week I end up with a huge stack of envelopes, notices and catalogs. Then comes the task of taking that pile sitting in front of the TV and separating it into smaller piles. Recycle pile, shred and recycle pile and the tiny pile of stuff I actually need of one reason or another. Usually because I have to pay it!

There is a company called GreenDimes that wants to put me, and people like me, out of my weekly misery. And it's free! Not only is it free but also they will send you a dollar just for signing up. Yep that's right. When you go to the website and sign up for the service to stop junk mail they give you several options, one of which is the addition $1 to your net worth.

Basically what you do is set up an account and choose which plan you want. They have 3 to choose from. And one is free. It takes about 5 minutes I just did it. And FYI I picked the "plant a tree" option. I like putting my money to good use.

Just in case you think junk mail is simply a daily nuisance, let me give you a bit of info.
More than 100 million trees are chopped down each year for unsolicited mail in the U.S. Five percent of the waste we send to landfills is junk mail, 44 percent of which gets thrown away unopened. The average household receives over 100 pounds of junk mail a year, making up the majority of household waste.

Since it's inception in 2006 GreenDimes claims to have stopped almost 4 million pounds of junk mail, stopped 624,388 catalog's and planted 1,062,200 trees. These numbers are updated in real time on the site's running impact counter.

Yeah, according to a new survey done by the National Geographic Society and Greendex, America and Canada are at the very bottom of the list in terms of environmental responsibility.  Wow, when we fail, we fail BIG.

Rather than measuring each nation's environmental impact, the Greendex compares the behaviors of individuals in four key areas: housing, transportation, food, and consumer goods. The survey spanned 14 countries, representing more than half of the world's population and about 75% of its energy use.

Wanna know who came out on top? Brazil and India tied for the win with a score of 60 on the sustainable-consumption scale.  They were followed by China, Mexico, Hungary, Russia, a tie between Great Britain and Germany and Australia, Spain, Japan, France, and finally Canada and the United States.

The U.S. was ranked at the bottom or next to last in all four categories. The society admits that the high scores of developing countries are likely a product of necessity rather than choice. It's interesting to note for example that while China ranked high in transportation, their ubiquitous bicycles are a necessity due to the economy and culture.  

Here's what I have to say about all this...for whatever it's worth: I think we've become way too blasé about an eco-friendly lifestyle.  There's so much green static in the air that it's easy to convince one's self that clearly with all the eco-chatter, we're not so bad off. We tend to tune out and think, "Well, as long as someone else is carrying the green flag I can slack off a little."  If there's one thing we want to hammer home it's that everyone's efforts count...no matter how small.  The key is consistency, y'all.

Cindy Crawford is doing the morning television circuit toting her new obsession: the aluminum water bottle. Yes, aluminum is like the super model of water containers.

Given all the plastic bottle drama, Crawford says that by switching to a reusable aluminum bottle she has eliminated 6 plastic bottles a day she used to use...that's 2,190 plastic bottles a year. Dude.

It's not all in the name of self-sacrifice, Crawford has teamed up with PUR water filters to launch "Thirsty for Change," promoting the use of home filtered water, reusable bottles and encouraging Americans to give up their bottled-water habit. I'm totally on board.

OH AND when you buy a limited-edition aluminum bottle, designed by the supermodel herself, 100% of the proceeds go to Children's Safe Drinking Water, a program that helps prevent water-related disease in developing countries. Every Swiss engineered "Thirsty for Change" bottle purchase provides 450 liters of clean drinking water - enough water for one child for seven-and-a-half months.  That's a lot of water for a lot o' folks for just $19.99.

Drink up and do good.

Are you looking to treat your mom to a great day and still stay eco-friendly? Bless your big green heart!  Here are a few places that you may want to take a look at.

FLOWERS
For beautiful, local, organically grown flowers arrangements that are better for both mom and the planet.
Jasmine Blue Flower Shop
13607 Ventura Blvd.

Sherman Oaks, CA 91423 
818-986-0333


CHOCOLATE
Indulge mom's sweet tooth with chocolates made with organic, market-fresh ingredients and wrapped in recycled packaging.
Compartes Chocolatier
 912 S. Barrington Ave.

Los Angeles, CA 90049 
310-826-3380
 
SPA TREATMENTS
Pamper mom at a sustainable spa, and treat her with Chaz Dean Studio's all-natural private line of products.

Chaz Dean Studio
6444 Fountain Ave.

Los Angeles, CA 90028 
323-467-6444
 
BRUNCH
Invite mom for a healthy, organic brunch at the Interim Café, where you can dine on organic juices, coffee and healthy meals.

Interim Cafe 530 Wilshire Blvd.

Santa Monica, CA 90401 
310-319-9100

This list comes to us via Greenopia Los Angeles, the independently researched guide to all green services and business in L.A. Check out the Greenopia website for all kinds of news and tips for better living.

So what happens when the Arctic ice melts and Grizzly Bears are able to move north and Polar Bears move south? Scientists are suggesting a hybrid species called the Grolar Bear. The constant effects of climate change means the hybrid bears could become more common as their habitats increasingly overlap.

A story in the London newspaper The Sun, claims this is already starting to happen. According to biologists, in April 2006, a white bear with brown patches was shot in northern Canada and DNA tests confirmed it was a Grolar Bear. They believe the bear was fathered by a male grizzly and a female polar bear.

Biologist Dr. George Divoky, has worked in the Arctic region for over three decades and claims to have seen a number of Polar - Grizzly hybrids.

So essentially the Polar Bear genes would carry on in the Grizzly population. But the sad fact is the Polar Bear is still in severe danger of becoming extinct due to loss of habitat from global warming.

Do you want to honor both mother earth and your mom this weekend? No better way to do both than helping to plant some trees There are two tree planing events happening this Saturday in the SF Valley. In Encino you can help plant 26 cherry blossom trees from 9:00 to 12:30. If you live on the west side of the Valley maybe you would like to help out in Chatsworth to plant native oak trees in an undeveloped section of the city park from 9:00 to Noon. To participate you must register; contact Lisa Sotelo at (818) 623-4879 or volunteer@treepeople.org.

If you need a reason to spend a bit more cash for organic free-range eggs.

Warning don't look if you're squeamish.

ALERT: Sunday is Mother's Day! Tell me you're at least going to send a card. If you haven't had a chance to pick one up, yet...let me steer you towards Whole Foods.

This Mother's Day, Whole Foods has teamed up with Hope for Women, a fantastic Fair Trade eco-friendly greeting card company, to sell cards hand-crafted by artisan women in the Himalayan regions of India for the purpose of providing sustainability and a better life for these women and their families.

Approximately 50 Indian artisan women are the creative and artistic force behind the cards. The majority of women use the income to provide for their children's education, securing hope for their children's futures.

The cards are made on post-consumer paper and feature individually designed arrangements using hand-pressed flowers, herbs, and grasses found in the particular regions that are home to the artisan women and their families. The four beautiful collection lines currently include designs depicting Garden, Valley, Mountain, and Meadow visions and they are just breathtaking, if I may say so.

So go over to Whole Foods and get your mom a card already. It's the least you can do.

One of my pet peeves is plastic bag use. They are so damaging to the planet and it's so easy to switch to reusable bags. This is a list of the many reasons to break the plastic bag addiction and start using reusable bags. Maybe one will strike a nerve.

• Californians use more than 19 billion disposable plastic shopping bags each year
• 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.
• Plastics are not biodegradable, they photo-degrade which means they break down into little toxic pieces. That can contaminate soil, water and harm wildlife.
• Approximately 60 to 90 percent 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 the big problem. They stay on the planet 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.
• Using a reusable bag for one year saves 300 to 700 plastic bags.
  

No breaking news, just an update on the state of my compost. I have to say, even though it won't produce any compost to use in our garden for months, I love it. Why? Between all the recyclables and all scraps that go into the compost. I have hardly any trash at all for the black bin. I cannot believe what a difference it makes.

I had my first official encounter with the pile over the weekend. Up to this point "the dude" has been the one tending the pile. But I was adamant that I was going to do it, stink or no stink. So there I went into the backyard, container in hand, full of all my "green" matter (fruit and veggie scraps, coffee grounds, egg shells etc.) I stand there for a second composing myself for the stench and boom I open the lid and...Nothing. No smell, no gross out factor just some old stuff at the bottom. Oh, this is not so bad. In goes my "green" matter and my "brown" matter (dried out leaves and grass clippings etc.) and that's it I'm done. Woo Hoo, Success on my first trip to "the pile".

It's the little things in life right?

Ah, Mother's Day. My mom calls it a "Hallmark holiday" but secretly...come on...who doesn't want a day of adoration for doing the whole "birth" thing. I hear it's painful.

But what to get mom? She certainly doesn't need another lame card or a bunch of flowers... although a nice plant for her garden might do the trick. But I'm looking for something lovely that both shows her I learned so much from my upbringing and does a little good on planet Earth.

That's when I stumbled on the OxFam America Unwrapped.

 Oxfam International is a confederation of 13 organizations working together with over 3,000 partners in more than 100 countries to find lasting solutions to poverty and injustice. They're superheroes. And this latest incarnation, OxFam America Unwrapped, provides us regular people a chance to buy items like sheep, fair trade honey, the supplies to plant a garden, bicycles, a can of worms, seeds, trees, camels and all kinds of wonderful things to be distributed in the most needy of places. The kinds of places that can be lifted out of the most desperate poverty with small gifts of sustainability, gifts that maintain humanity in otherwise inhumane conditions.

I'm getting my mom a dozen baby chicks for a $40 donation. They're cheaper by the dozen. This gift provides HIV/AIDS-affected households with a starter flock of chickens: a dozen chicks to produce eggs, generate income, and improve nutrition. With my order, OxFam will send a card that I can personalize, explaining to mom what the gift means. 

Other ideas:
A goat is the gift of sustainability, which means fertilizer and food for families--especially those living in areas that cannot support less durable critters.

How about school uniforms: In many communities, students are required to show up for school in uniforms. The gift of two school uniforms means that a young boy or girl from a poor family will always have clean clothes for school.

 For only $18, you can provide children with books on a wide range of practical topics from agriculture to peace-building. By helping someone open a book, you can open a mind, too.

And as for the aforementioned camel, camels are hard-working animals that save lives. Camels can survive extreme weather conditions over long periods, produce valuable resources like milk and dung for fuel and fertilizer, transport large volumes of drinking water, and be used to move families when they have to flee a disaster-stricken area. 

Go check out the site HERE and poke around in the different categories. It's the most fun you'll have filling a shopping cart. They even have a "Green" section, although it doesn't get much greener than a camel.

Seriously, your mom doesn't want another coffee cup. Send a donkey from your mom to another mother who desperately needs it.  Moms helping moms.  Now THAT'S Mothers' Day.

One of the green trends I have been slow to convert to is eco-fashion. Except for a few organic cotton and bamboo shirts, I have been pretty resistant to this part of going green. It's mainly because there are not a lot of stores that sell a wide range of eco-clothing and I prefer not to purchase clothes online. Fit issues and such. Also for a gal on a budget these lines are pretty pricey.

One of my favorite guilty pleasures, Target, just might make it easier and less expensive to dress a bit greener. Designer Rogan Gregory has teamed up with Target and Barney's to launch Go International this month an eco-friendly clothing line for the mass market. The designs will use organic cotton, linen, hemp and bamboo. And will range between $15 and $45. I will definitely take a peek. Just to add to the hip and cool factor, Gregory has designed for Edun.

So...Does this mean that "going green" has jumped the shark? I don't think so, anytime and anyway you can make people think a little more earth conscience with their purchase power I think it's great. No matter where it comes from.  

At one time it may have been a cow pie in the sky idea. But now cow manure is being used to produce electricity. Cow power is being used in Chino, CA to clean up the water in the Chino basin.

Located in the Chino Agricultural Preserve, the Inland Empire Utilities Agency (IEUA) digester facility receives manure from several of the over 300 dairies in the area to operate an anaerobic digester facility that processes the manure and recycles it as electricity. The facility also produces compost that is marketed as fertilizer.

Anaerobic digestion is a biological process that decomposes organic wastes, using bacteria to produce methane gas. This seems to be an environmentally beneficial, and cost-effective solution for dealing with the cow poop. Using this methane helps reduce greenhouse gases.

Its no secret that cows produce a lot of pies, over 100 pounds per cow each day. This new technology is being used so that these cows can be used to generate power not just pies and the electricity is helping to clean the water in the area.

That's one way to take a dirty problem and turn it around to make a positive impact.

The largest annual citywide community service event in America, Big Sunday, is this weekend and they are looking for volunteers. Actually it takes place over the entire weekend.

Big Sunday mobilizes and organizes volunteers all over the city to do an array of projects. There are so many different events to volunteer for from helping to paint a neighborhood school, planting a vegetable garden for troubled youths to helping out at the regional food bank.

At least 50 of these Big Sunday projects will be specifically targeted to helping the environment. So...Green Sunday. Sounds great!

There are events all weekend long all over the city from downtown to Acton. Please go to the website and sign up to volunteer. When you volunteer you get as much as you give, I speak from personal experience.

We all have one thing in common, no matter who we are. We all need to eat! If you are trying to choose more organic and sustainable food choices like I am you know that sometimes it just aint easy.

You read labels and shop at farmers markets and still sometimes you just are not sure. Fish in particular can be difficult. I love fish I eat it all the time but I know that some species are over fished almost to the point of extinction. And other fish has a bit more mercury that I want to eat on a regular basis. So what to do?

Now you have help from Blue Ocean Institute. The folks at BOI have set up a Fish Phone. What you do is sent a text message to 30644 from your cell or PDA with the word FISH and the name of the fish in question. They will send you back a text with their assessment and a better alternative.

Blue Ocean's Guide to Ocean Friendly Seafood is also available online. Download a copy of the guide to view it anytime.

To read more click HERE.

Standing in line at the post office today, I let my eyes wander over the plethora of mailing product displays...you know, the priority mail envelopes, the express mail packs, mailing labels, stamp collections...wait, what's that? Whatever it is, it says "recycle." I must investigate.

It turns out that US Postal Service has launched a brand new program to recycle customers' small electronics for free. Green and free? Tell me more.

All you have to do is pick up a free, postage paid envelope in the lobby of any post office, pop in your old cell phone, PDA, MP3 player, inkjet cartridge or any old small electronic that has outlived its usefulness, close up the envelope and stuff in the nearest mailbox.  No excuse, now!

According to a statement from the USPS: "Postage is paid for by Clover Technologies Group, a nationally recognized company that recycles, remanufactures and remarkets inkjet cartridges, laser cartridges and small electronics. If the electronic item or cartridges cannot be refurbished and resold, its component parts are reused to refurbish other items, or the parts are broken down further and the materials are recycled. Clover Technologies Group has a 'zero waste to landfill' policy: it does everything it can to avoid contributing any materials to the nation's landfills."

And not to toot their own horn, but they also mention "The Postal Service recycles 1 million tons of paper, plastic and other materials annually...The nation's environmental watchdog, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded the Postal Service eight WasteWise Partner of the Year awards, the agency's top honor."

So even though, Rox and I were just griping about the lack of recycling bins near the post office boxes, it seems as if the Post Office is good green wackiness for all. For more information, check out the USPS press release.