It occurs to me that it has been weeks since the last time I went on one of my plastic bag rants. Plastic bags. Yep, those handy-dandy plastic bags that they pass out at the grocery store, pharmacy and just about anyplace you buy anything are choking the planet one bag at a time.

They're everywhere. Just look around as you walk or drive around the city, you'll see them clogging storm drains and stuck in trees.

Let me give you some numbers to consider.

• Californians use more than 19 billion disposable plastic shopping bags each year.
• Taxpayers spend more than $25 million to collect and dispose of them.
• Over one 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.

It's so easy to switch to reusable shopping bags, I say take the first step. There are so many styles options and sizes to choose from. Click HERE to check some out. You can carry them with no eco-guilt as a matter of fact you will show everyone your great big social conscience, and who doesn't love this planet? Well we love America right? That's what all those politicians keep telling us.

Ebay, everyone's favorite guilty pleasure and online juggernaut, has gone green and fuzzy. Ebay has launched WorldofGood.com, an online trading post that brings together thousands of People Positive and Eco Positive sellers and products all in one place, empowering you to shop in ways that align with your personal values. "Where your shopping shapes the world"

The goal is that you will be lured to buy things made of sustainable materials or products that help other people around the world, and Ebay has put them all at this one-stop-shop spot. Yes, it's consumerism...but it's ethical and responsible consumerism. And it gives you that same great Ebay high.

You can even search the site in four categories based on your ethical priorities: People Positive, Eco Positive, Animal Friendly and Support a Cause.

So what's available on WorldofGood.com?

• Pottery - This stunning, although not cheap, Murano glass vase hand crafted in Brazil

• Clothing - like this hand-dyed, organic cotton baby tee that is cut and sewn by the Fair Trade Zone women's cooperative in Nicaragua.
  

• Jewelry - or this rad bracelet made of colorful, recycled telephone wire by a Fair Trade bunch from South Africa called the Bartel Arts Trust
  

The nice thing about the site is that it gives you loads of information about where your purchase comes from and how it's produced. And of course, "Respected, independent organizations verify the positive impact every product has on people and the planet. Our goal is to ensure that every choice you make here is a good one."

So what you waiting for, kittens? Go CHECK IT OUT...that means CLICK HERE.

I have to say I have my issues with her stand on "social" issues. But as I watched she made a lot of what sounded like pro-environmental claims to me. So being a blogger/journalist I decided to investigate some of her claims. Click HERE and see what I found. Let's just say she is a true politician, and expert at the spin.

• Apple+Honey+Oatmeal
• Avocado+Honey
• Banana+Yogurt+Honey
• Brown Sugar+Milk
• Strawberries+Cream+Honey
• Egg Yolk+Honey+Olive Oil
• Oatmeal+Olive Oil
• Cucumber+Yogurt+Strawberries+Honey
• Blended Almonds+Honey+Egg White
• Baking Soda+Water
• Apricots+Milk
• Lemon+Egg+Honey
  

I'm all about the snacks, mostly of the salty and crunchy nature...and although I've never been a super fan of SunChips, their green initiatives may convince me to give them another whirl. Because SunChips are now created with sweet, clean solar energy, at least in the company's Modesto, CA plant.

The California plant is just one of the company's eight factories turning out the little whole grain munchies, but the only one that is using solar power. The beauty of a small change is that it leads to bigger revelations. Consider it a first step.

For those grungy oil-burning plants, the company buys green energy credits to match 100% of the electricity required to make each and every bag of SunChips snacks. Renewable Energy Credits are used to promote the creation of renewable electricity.

For more information on the solar toasted snacks, check THIS out. To read more about the work in Greensburg, go HERE.

For extra credit: The SunChip is neither a chip nor a cracker...discuss.

The We Can Solve It battle cry: We must save our economy, lower fuel costs, free ourselves from our addiction to oil, and solve the climate crisis. To do this, we must demand that we Repower America with 100% clean electricity within 10 years.

To add you voice to the millions of your fellow citizens clambering for clean, non-oil based energy, go HERE. And pass it on...

So Monday is Labor Day, the last long weekend of the summer. If you are like most of us at the moment, you are hanging at home. So what to do? May I suggest an eco-friendly backyard BBQ/party? Invite a few friends over and enjoy the last day of year that you can fashionably wear white shoes.

Some tips for throwing a green-er bash.

• Shop locally; go to your local farmers market on Saturday or Sunday. You can pick up some great locally grown organic fare. Veggies are especially good from your local growers, but depending on the market in your area local meat and seafood can be purchased for a yummy BBQ.

• Goes without saying, particularly in my crowd, use E-Vites. Or dare I say it call your friends on the tele.

• For your booze needs and lets be honest we have booze needs. Try a local microbrew, some have small bottleing operations. Of course you can pick up a nice variety of organic wines at your local grocery store or Trader Joes. And May I suggest some tasty mixed cocktails made with Reyka Vodka, made at the only distillery powered by geothermal steam.

• Instead of using all those paper plates and red solo cups. Either try using regular old plates and bowls from the house. It doesn't take that much energy to wash them, get your friends to pitch in; after all they just ate and drank for free. Or you can always get more responsible disposables. Try Eco Products it's a good source for all things compostable.

One last thing designate a driver and have fun!!!

Hey y'all...just curious, did anyone happen to check out the naked, nude, in-the-buff Lush protest against product packaging today??

If so, do tell. I want to live vicariously through you...and not because the Lush cuties were bums to the wind. I just love me some Lush and their whole company philosophy, so I'm hoping the demonstration was a wild success.

Last week came the news out of Denver that there simply wouldn't be enough limousines for the gazillions of big-wigs descending on the mile high city for the Democratic National Convention. All I could think, besides the most ladylike way to snort derisively, was "SERIOUSLY?? We're picking a contender for the leader of the free world, gathering the powers that be and no one is thinking beyond environmental rhetoric and actually using reponsible transport??" (Unless of course they're packing pols into limos clown car style and calling it a car pool...)  Trust me, the Republicans will not do better in the Twin Cities at the end of the month. It's both hilarious, in that Jon Stewart kind of way, and sad. 

Well, to that end Humana, a health benefits company, and Bikes Belong, the nonprofit cycling advocacy group, are providing both the Democratic and Republican convention with 1,000 FREE bikes through its Freewheelin bike-sharing program. Anyone over age 18 can check out a bike at one of seven bike stations, use for the day, then return to any station. Use of the bikes is free for everyone, and come equipped with an odometer that tracks distance traveled, calories burned and carbon footprint reduction. They're even providing maps and sanitized helmets for the political domes.

The convention bike-share program kicked off in Colorado Monday, when close to 150 people--led by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and Minneapolis mayor R.T. Rybak--pedaled their sexy selves, in a bicycle parade of greeniness, about 3.5 miles to the Denver Performing Arts Center's Sculpture Park where they were greeted by a large crowd of convention-goers, local residents, media, and a diverse bunch of activists.

On the very first day of the DNC, Freewheelin reports 1,429 rides taken and almost 3,000 miles of pure pedal power logged.  Just think of all the greenhouse gases that never saw the light of day.

If all 1,000 bikes are used at both conventions, the national carbon footprint will be reduced by 4.4 tons. No small difference, kids. With Americans increasingly worried about the state of the world, bike-sharing and bike riding in general offers one effective solution for the environment, the wallet, and our ever expanding backsides.

I'll pay $1 American to the first person who can send me a photo of House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) or Speaker of the House (D-CA) Nancy Pelosi on a Freewheelin bike attending their respective conventions. First rep wins my party vote.

(Kidding about the vote, not kidding about the cold hard cash.) To get the whole scoop on FreeWheelin, check THIS out. 

So why all the public nudity? The brave folks at Lush are leading this cheeky protest in an effort to get shoppers to go 'naked' by purchasing products free of packaging. The nudie nudes will educate passers-by and consumers on the devastating environmental impact of packaged goods sold in cosmetic shops, supermarkets, and other retailers.

Unnecessary packaging includes all kinds of stuff you probably don't notice, stuff like loose fruit individually shrink-wrapped, separate boxes for every already sealed product, plastic bags, plastic trays...ugh, it's everywhere.

The statistics are just as gross: packaging contributes to 2 percent of overall greenhouse gases and plastic uses 8 percent of the world's oil resources. With the U.S. consuming 79.6 million tons of packaging each year, over half of which still ends up in landfills.

Ok, you just want to see the naked people, don't you?

WHEN: Wed., August 27 at 12 p.m. sharp

WHERE: Outside LUSH Beverly Hills, 312 N. Beverly Drive

Lush isn't just about the nude, naked, bare protests, they lead by example. Lush creates naked cosmetic and body products that don't require any packaging at all. No plastic bottles, no excessive shrink wrapping, no boxes, bags or even extra water! By removing the water from the product, Lush's rad solid shampoo bars, conditioners, hennas, massage bars, body butters, bubble bars, and soaps are sold to the customer deli-style, without any packaging. And without water, one truckload of Lush's solid shampoo bars would be enough for 800,000 washes but it would take 15 truckloads of liquid shampoo to do the same job. For more info on Lush, check THIS out.

Just remember: Tomorrow. Naked. Noon. Lush.

Our favorite bicycle-pumping, solar-power advocate, electric-car-driving star of the first eco-reality show "Living With Ed" is moving and shaking again. Ed Begley Jr. has his own line of natural, safe and non-toxic home cleaning products. Now you can clean like the movie stars and, as Ed would say, "live simply so others may simply live." Ed walks the walk, people.

Yeah, I know we've tackled home cleaning products before, but Ed's stuff deserves a mention. Dubbed Begley's Best, so as to avoid confusion, it both by Begley and it's the best!

Begley's Best is your basic all-purpose cleaner with a twist: The natural ingredients are all natural totally BIODEGRADABLE in less than a week.

Made from extracts of pine, de-acified citrus, maize, fermented sugar cane roots, and olive seeds. Begley's Best magical solution dissolves away grease, grime and dirt, quickly, safely and effortlessly. You can use it on any surface that is compatible with water, such as tile, showers, porcelain, counter tops and cupboards, linoleum, plastics, wood, leather, stainless steel, aluminum, chrome and colorfast fabrics.

You can also use it to scrub up colorfast carpets and upholstery. It's the perfect cleaner for use on appliances, large and small, inside or out.

Where do you get the stuff? Well, right HERE of course. (For a complete list of local retailers, go HERE.

And be sure to check out Ed's new book out titled "Living Like Ed." Which is fun, funny collection of easy and awesome green tips for you, your home and your family...and Mama Earth.  All Ed all the time, baby.

So you're still sucking down bottled water because, for some reason, you can't bring yourself to buy one of the many available reusable aluminum bottles. OK, then at least make a responsible choice in the brand of water you buy.

Ethos Water, a late-comer to the bottled water race, was launched in 2002 in response to founder Peter Thum's personal experience working in South Africa. He was bonked in the head by the terrifying realization that there are children in the world who have no access to clean water and he pledged to do something about it.

"Every time you purchase an Ethos product, a portion of the price goes toward our goal of making $10 million in grant commitments toward humanitarian water programs by 2010. To date the brand has helped an estimated 420,000 people around the world and committed more than $6.2 million in grants toward its mission." So say the peeps at Ethos!

For us the fact that cold, fresh water flows from every tap in our own homes is something we take for granted, but around the world the water statistics are jarring: "Worldwide, nearly 1.1 billion people (roughly 20% of the world's population) lack access to safe drinking water. The lack of clean, safe drinking water is estimates to kill almost 4,500 children per day. In fact, out of the 2.2 million unsafe drinking water deaths in 2004, 90% were children under the age of five."

Plus, Matt Damon is the face of Ethos...so there's that.

If the bottle looks familiar, you are probably a regular at the corner Starbucky's, but you can find Ethos in regular old grocery stores, 7-Elev's and anywhere you might find yourself in a buying mood...and thirsty.

Drink responsibly.

Oh, it's almost that time of the year again...BACK TO SCHOOL! Time to replenish your supply of Pee Chee folders, notebooks and the almighty #2 pencil. But does your pencil make the grade, environmentally speaking of course? More importantly, how good is it for California? It is possible to make a more responsible pencil choice...as if you didn't already have enough on your green plate.

I only mention this because recently ForestEthics released a report linking some of the world's largest pencil manufacturers the clearcutting of California's Sierra Nevada. ForestEthics, a non-profit organization charged brining down the powers that be destroying the Sierra Nevada, have accessed all your trusty old-school pencils based on their local environmental impact.

"How were the pencils graded?" you wonder. So glad you asked. The report card grades pencil makers on the amount of pre- and post-consumer recycled content in their products, whether or not their products are made with lumber certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), and whether or not the companies purchase lumber from Sierra Pacific Industries, a company ForestEthics calls "notoriously tone-deaf to concerns about its environmental impacts." Yeee-ikes.

Here's how the grades shake down:

• ForestChoice: A
• Greenline Paper Company: A
• Green Apple: C
• Paper Mate: C
• Dixon/Ticonderoga: F
• USA Gold: F

"Parents don't want their children using pencils which degrade California's landscape, drinking water, or species, and the top companies on our report card show that there's a better way," says Josh Buswell-Charkow of ForestEthics. "Those big companies that earned 'F's, however, are like the students in the back of the class with pencils in their ears and their heads in the clouds while the rest of the class leaves them behind."

A reformed environmental ignorant, Martin was first made aware of the delicate and complicated relationship between the earth and human beans when he inadvertently committed an environmental sin. While landscaping his home in Connecticut, he cut down trees on his property and was immediately fined and instructed to replant. Whoops! Determined to be more environmentally aware, Martin educated himself intensely on global warming and conservation.

"I realized how much I had affected the environment," Martin said. "I realized it was a problem, so once I replanted the trees, I wanted to teach others what I had learned. I chose children because if they can learn from birth where the bottles go -- they go in the blue bin -- then it will be part of them; it will get under their skin."

Among the tips gleaned from the book for the little ones:

• Turn off the lights; when you're asleep at night.
• Brush your teeth, have fun, but don't let the water run.
• Don't throw away your toys; Give them to other girls and boys.

As Crosby, Stills and Nash would say: teach your children well...sing along, you know the words.

The argument then and now: Observing a lower speed limit saves gas and lives. Simply put. "The faster you go, the more you waste," says Tim Castleman, the Sacramento man behind www.Drive55.org.

Of course, there's always offshore drilling to offset our fuel cost...wait what?? Bad news, bears.

Alternately, we suck it up, drive slower, inflate our tires and lose a couple of pounds to curb fuel usage ands save truckloads more gas than offshore drilling would ultimately produce. Don't believe me; check out this easy-to-follow explanation (complete with dry erase markers) from Josh Landis and Mitch Butler of the ''Fast Draw'' team.

For more info on the speed limit roll back, check THIS out.