Green Mother’s Day Gifts
What are some ways to be Green on Mother’s Day? Start by giving handmade, local, organic, Fair Trade, and eco-friendly gifts. Choose organic local flowers. Most flowers are mainly grown in other countries that use harmful chemicals and pesticides. Who wants to bring that into their home?
Green Mother’s Day Gift Ideas:
• Make your gifts. Be creative and have fun. Your mom will feel special to receive a custom made gift.
• Make a terrarium for your mom.
• Shop at local craft fairs for unique handmade goods.
• Shop vintage, antique stores, and flea markets
• Instead of giving a material object, try giving her an experience such as a class, event tickets, a membership, make a donation, spa or massage.
• Cook a special meal for her at home.
• Use recycled cards or plantable seed paper cards. Although, the best form of holiday cards are always e-cards.
Have a Green Mother’s Day!
Green Valentine
As most holidays, Valentine’s Day is not so green. There is a lot of waste, consumerism, and hype. What are some ways to avoid this? By giving handmade, local, organic, Fair Trade, and eco-friendly gifts.
Choose organic local flowers & Fair Trade organic chocolates. Most flowers for Valentine’s Day are mainly grown in other countries that use harmful chemicals and pesticides. Who wants to bring that into their home? If you’d like to give chocolate, please choose Fair Trade organic chocolate. Most of those mainstream heart shaped boxes of chocolate, come from unethical child labor cocoa fields. If you want to give jewelry, then please choose sustainable jewelry, such as: Christy Robinson, Liza Shtromberg, and on Etsy.
Green Valentine’s Gift Ideas:
• Make your gifts. Be creative and have fun. The recipient will feel special to receive a custom made gift.
• Shop at local craft fairs for unique handmade goods.
• Shop vintage, antique stores, and flea markets
• Instead of giving a material object, try giving them an experience such as a class, event tickets, a membership, spa or massage.
• Cook a meal at home along with some eco-friendly, local, organic wine. Light some soy candles to set the mood.
• If you are planning to give your Valentine a card, please consider recycled cards or plantable seed paper cards. Although, the best form of holiday cards are always e-cards.
Have a green Valentine’s Day!
Remembering Martin Luther King, Jr.
I hope you are remembering Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. If you have or have not seen his “I Have A Dream Speech” then today would be the perfect day to check it out:
Recycle Your Christmas Tree
It’s that time of the year where there will be several dead Christmas trees on the side of the road. It is very sad and wasteful. Instead of tossing your tree to the curb, please recycle it and turn it into something useful such as mulch or wood chips. Go to earth911.com to find out where to recycle Christmas trees in your area.
Gifts That Make A Difference
My family lives across the country, so I usually have to mail gifts to them during the holidays. Sometimes I make gifts for them and sometimes I shop online. Every year I have to figure out what gifts I can get for my family that are meaningful.
I don’t like to get toys for the children unless they are eco-friendly and educational. It is tough to shop for children and not be the lame relative who gives lame gifts. This year I decided to shop for gifts that donate a portion of the proceeds to a charity.
Here are some charitable online shops:
• The Nature Conservancy: http://www.nature.org
• Arbor Day Foundation: http://www.arborday.org
• The Rainforest Site: https://www.therainforestsite.com
• The Animal Rescue Site: http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com
• Ecojoia: http://www.ecojoia.com
Green Gift Ideas:
• Make your gifts. Be creative and have fun. The recipient will feel special to receive a custom made gift.
• Create a “Go Green” gift basket for someone to encourage the use of eco-friendly products. Include items such as: a reusable tote bag, green cleaning products, a CFL or LED light bulb, a stainless steel water bottle, an eco-friendly handbook, cloth napkins, a glass or stainless steel straw, reusable bamboo to-go utensils, and biodegradable kitchen waste bags.
• Shop at local craft fairs for unique handmade goods.
• Shop vintage, antique stores, and flea markets
• Instead of giving a material object, try giving them an experience such as a class, event tickets, or a membership.
• If you are planning to give holiday cards, please consider recycled cards or plantable seed paper cards. Although, the best form of holiday cards are always e-cards.
These are some ideas that I hope you found helpful. Have a wonderful holiday season!
Recycle old Christmas lights in exchange for LED lights
If you have some old Christmas lights, please don’t throw them away. There is a recycling program that will let you exchange your old Christmas lights and give you a coupon towards a purchase of LED Christmas lights.
You can mail them in to HolidayLEDs.com Recycling Program or look for a local collection site. The best thing to do is coordinate with your friends, neighbors, co-works, social groups, church groups, or other organizations when possible to collect lights and send in one bulk shipment (this reduces shipping costs for everyone and reduces environmental impact of shipping.)
When I purchased my LED lights a few years ago, the only option was bright white. Now, they offer warm white and various other colors. Generally speaking, LED Christmas lights are safer than incandescent holiday lights. The primary cause of Christmas light related injuries and property damage is fire.
LEDs are safer especially for homes with small children and pets. This is for two reasons. First, because the bulbs are cool to the touch they will not burn the hands of curious children. Second, because LED bulbs are make of shatter proof epoxy plastic and not glass there is not risk of children or animals cutting themselves or hurting them selves by chewing on broken glass.
Go to HolidayLEDs.com to learn more.
Tips for Being Green on Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is in a few days, so remember to be green! Be thankful for this beautiful planet and help preserve it. Here are a few tips for being green on Thanksgiving:
- If you aren’t vegetarian/vegan and must have a turkey, then buy from a small, local, organic farm.
- Shop local, farmers markets and buy organic veggies.
- Plan ahead and use portion control. Don’t waste food.
- If you are going to someones house, then bring your own reusable glass containers. If someone is coming to your home, ask them to bring reusable containers for leftovers.
- Please carpool, walk, bike, or use public transportation.
- Try to avoid disposables and use real plates, silverware, glasses, and cloth napkins. If there are any single use items, please recycle.
- Compost food scraps.
Have a Happy & Green Thanksgiving!
Be Green this Halloween
Photo by: http://notjustcute.com/2009/10/30/pumpkin-drum/pile-of-pumpkins-seppics/
I love Halloween and everyone who knows me looks forward to my costumes. I usually make my own costumes with whatever I have laying around the house combined with thrift store finds. Some items are inevitable to purchase from a Halloween store, but what are some ways you can be green on Halloween? The first thing would be to host a costume swap. Rather than letting costumes sit in storage year after year, why not give it a second chance? Will you really wear it again? If the answer is no, then swapping is a great way to be green.
Skip the plastic treat bags by using pillow cases and reusable shopping totes instead. Decorate the pillow cases or tote bags with simple, fun, Halloween themes. This can be a fun activity for your family.
Use natural decorations such as pumpkins, corn stalks, and real leaves. This will add a lot of character and look much better than fake plastic decorations. You can also make your own decorations to add a personal touch.
Avoid plastic wrapped candy. Boxed candy is a better alternative. If you can splurge a little more, organic candy is the way to go. It may be more expensive, but just give out a couple pieces rather than handfuls of cheap candy.
Be creative and Green this Halloween!
National Costume Swap Day is Oct 13th!
National Costume Swap Day is October 13, 2012! Save $, reduce waste & have FUN! Swapping half the costumes kids wear at Halloween would reduce annual landfill waste by 6, 250 tons, equal to the weight of 2500 midsize cars!
Find free swaps near you at:
Honoring Labor Day
| I hope all of the hard working folks enjoy a day off. |
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| Learn about Labor Day: http://www.history.com/topics/labor-day |
