Archive for the ‘Green Products’ Category

Green Shopping can be fun and  eBay is a great source of Eco-Friendly products. Whether you are looking for a gift for your environmentally conscious friend or just something for around the house.

By using Vintage or Used products you are giving those products a new lease on life and at the same time reducing the use of new raw materials and the energy needed to produce them.

Look for items made from recycled, organic or sustainable materials like hemp, soy or bamboo. If you are feeling adventurous look for items that artists have given a second life to, like bags made from candy wrappers or soda can pop tops.

Don’t forget to look for items that can help us reduce our use of resources like solar powered phone chargers, or hybrid energy efficient computers.

Don’t overlook refurbished electronics, if you are not a slave to the “latest” fashion in electronics, you can often find great deals in refurbished electronic and at the same time keeping those materials out of the landfill.

bibi

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I love it when I find ideas about taking things that would otherwise end up in the garbage and turning them into something useful.

I came across this site that does just that: it’s called FaveCrafts: Discover the Crafter in you. In it you’ll find a section called Green Crafting that has several articles that cover reusing materials from used wine bottles to old jeans, tin cans and trash that can be used as crafting materials. If crafting is your thing they also have a blog you can follow at www.FaveCraftsBlog.com.

Especially in these tough economic times, some of these ideas can come in handy when folks are looking for ways to keep the cost of gifting down. Some of these articles can be used to teach our children the importance of taking care of the environment and reusing as many materials as possible. The younger we teach them the more ingrained it will become.

Here is a list of some of their articles:

10 Ways to Reuse and Recycle Trash for Crafting

15 Homemade Christmas Ornaments: Recycled Paper Ornaments

Green Crafting Tip: Dress Up Wire Hangers

Homemade Cork Board

Recycled Market Tote Bag

Recycled Tin Can Luminaries

Turn Old Jeans into Pot Holders

Vinyl Record Bowl

Enjoy!!!

bibi

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If your in Atlanta the weekend of November 14/15 go check out the Broadcast Atlanta ENVIRO EXPO USA. It will be held at AmericasMart Convention Center. This environmental event is free.
Enjoy…

BroadcastAtlanta ENVIRO EXPO USA
Nov. 14-15, 2008
AmericasMart
240 Peachtree Street N.W. Building 3
Atlanta, GA 30303

Attend the region’s most diverse display of eco-friendly products and services, and hear experts share how to live a green lifestyle. Experience eco-friendly food, apparel, cosmetics, household, furniture and lawn and garden products. Indulge in organic food and home products, including olive oil, baby food, chocolate, honey, fresh herbs, seasonal vegetables, granola, and organic soap at the region’s most diverse display ofeco-friendly food, apparel, cosmetics, furniture, and lawn and garden products. Learn about green businesses in the water, energy, transportation, remodeling, recreation, and green-financing industries.

Attend University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service gardening demonstrations.

The Broadcast Atlanta ENVIRO EXPO USA will also feature:

• Green Hall Meeting- Learn how to Green It Up with community sustainability leaders, a town hall-style discussion with sustainability experts from the Environmental Protection Agency, local government agencies and area environmental organizations on Saturday, November 15^th from 1:30 – 3:00 p.m.
• More than 20 expert speakers discussing topics ranging from eco-conscious landscaping to everyday water conservation.
• Activities for kids including, an appearance by the Radio Disney Street Team from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Also, children can participate in a bicycle-recycle relay, a Nike shoe throw and learn how Nike turns recycled shoes into basketball and tennis courts.

The Green Hall Meeting- Learn how to Green It Up with community sustainability leaders, is being held in conjunction with the Broadcast Atlanta ENVIRO EXPO USA on Saturday, November 15, from 1:30-3:00 p.m. in the atrium of the AmericasMart facility. This town hall-style discussion gives attendees an opportunity to ask questions of and learn from sustainability experts from the Environmental Protection Agency, local government agencies and area environmental organizations. The Green Hall Meeting will focus on identifying the issues that Atlantans face on local, state, and national levels in terms of creating a more sustainable environment and identifying the key resources that can solve those issues. Lynette Young of Sustainable Atlanta will moderate the discussion, which will include:

· Joe Bassista, City of Atlanta,

· Randy Hartmann, Georgia Department of Community Affairs

· Shana Udvarsky, Atlanta Water Department.

Join in the family fun and activities. Children can participate in a
bicycle-recycle relay and a Nike shoe throw, and they can see how Nike
turns recycled shoes into basketball and tennis courts. They also can
watch UGA Coop Extension Service gardening demonstrations to learn how to  make compost.
Free and open to the public. Visit www.enviroexpousa.org or call 770-517-0447

bibi

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And the winner is Reusable Bags… Have you ever put any thought into the implications of your answer? Now you may say to yourself, what’s the big deal, its just a couple of bags. But the big deal is that millions of bags, paper and worst yet, plastic bags end up in the landfill and rivers and oceans . Not to mention the natural resources that are being wasted in order to make these bags that will more than likely be used only once. Let’s look at the statistic: (source WallStreet Journal/ SFGate)

• A family of four in the US goes through 1500 plastic bags a year
• All together we discard 100 Billion plastic shopping bags in a year
• Less than 1% being recycled
• Plastic bags can take up to 1000 years to decompose
• 490,000 gallons of oil to produce 100 million non-degradable plastic bags
• 4-5 trillion Plastic Bags used Worldwide
• Making paper bags consumes millions of trees and it actually takes more energy to make paper bags than plastic.

Now some cities have started to do something about this problem, by just simply banning the use of plastic bags altogether. San Francisco and Oakland in California, were the first cities in the US to do this, and now a dozen other cities are planning the same. Internationally, Taiwan has banned both the use of plastic bags and plastic utensils. Here’s a list of cities and countries that have already banned the use of plastic bags or are planning a ban. (source: cbsnews.com)

• IN THE UNITED STATES

Cities that have adopted a plastic bag ban:

• Oakland
• San Francisco

Cities Considering action on plastic bags:

• Annapolis, Md.
• Austin, Texas
• Baltimore
• Berkeley, Calif.
• Boston
• Fairfax, Calif.
• Maui, Hawaii
• Malibu, Calif.
• New Haven, Conn.
• Portland, Ore.
• Phoenix
• San Jose, Calif.
• Santa Cruz, Calif.
• Santa Monica, Calif.
• Seattle

• INTERNATIONALLY

Countries that have adopted a plastic bag ban:

• Bangladesh
• China
• Rwanda
• Taiwan
• Tanzania
• Uganda
• Zanzibar

Cities or countries considering action on plastic ban:

• Australia
• Singapore
• London

What about “Reusable Bags” as the first option?

No it’s not a new idea, it’s an old idea, we just went away from it because we became a society of convenience. But it is still a very practical, and a very “good for the environment” idea.

If you pay attention, all the business are jumping on the bandwagon of selling reusable shopping bags. Everybody has them, from your local supermarket, to Home Depot, Lowe’s, Ikea, and other smaller companies that have taken off with the idea of reusable shopping bags and put a twist on it like Chico Bag, who makes them small enough to fit in your purse or glove compartment. Or people like Cyndi at MyRecycledBags.com who takes the time and effort to recycle those plastic bags and turn them into something beautiful and useful. On her site she also teaches people the Craft of making Bags out of recycled materials.

Plastic bags have been around for about 25 years. Which means that our mothers and grandmothers can still remember going shopping, with their own Reusable Bags. If they could do it, I think so can we…

paper bags paper or plastic? plastic bags recycle reusable bags

bibi

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Browsing through You Tube, I found this unbelievable video of a product invented by a group of people interested in doing good for humanity, and the environment. They put together a pedal powered Mobile Filtration Vehicle called the “Aquaduct”, which transports and most importantly filters and safely stores water, while pedaling. This is ideal for developing countries where the infrastructure is not there yet and people often have to carry water for miles from watering holes, and where the risk of water contamination is high.

This vehicle won a contest called “Innovate or Die” put on by Google and Specialized. The challenge of the Contest was to come up with a pedal powered machine that would have an environmental impact.

See what else Google.org is doing for the environment…

I cannot imagine the impact this invention could have if it is widely distributed in the developing world.

Check out this video…

 

aquaduct clean water developing world environment innovate or die contest mobile filtration vehicle

bibi

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Most of us have the basic ingredients for making our own Eco friendly cleaning products already in our cabinets, we just don’t know how to put them together.( source: Home and Garden Magazine: Living Green/ and Recipes from Green Clean)

• Baking Soda:
  
  • Can be used for scouring, and it’s a natural deodorizer. It works best at cleaning grease, proteins and Animal messes.
• Distilled White Vinegar:
  Can be used to clean soap scum, dissolves scale and works well on mold. It also works well on stains from coffee, tea and rust.
• Soap:
  • Castille Soap made with Olive Oil or Vegetable based soaps attach to soil at the molecular level.
• Recipes:
  • Soft Scrub:Mix a 1/8 cup of Baking Soda and soap to a creamy mixture.
  • Appliance Cleaner: Dry Baking Soda will shine up small appliances.
  • Toilet Cleaner/ Deodorizer: Put 1/4 cup Baking Soda and 1/4 cup Vinegar into the bowl and clean with brush.
  • Oven Cleaner: Sprinkle Baking Soda on stains in oven the sprinkle with water. Let sit for several hours or overnight. Then scrub out stains and rinse with water.
  • Hardwood Floor Cleaner: Mix a 1/4 cup of Vinegar with one gallon of warm water. Mop wood or linoleum floors then rinse out.
  • Glass Cleaner: Mix equal parts Vinegar and Water and put in a spray bottle. this mixture can also be used for cleaning countertops, lightly soiled range surfaces and backsplash areas.

eco friendly cleaning products homemade cleaning products

bibi

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Organic products, though normally dominated by small companies, are being brought out by larger companies. Federal standards require that all raw materials are guaranteed organic, but the same standards also leave those material to be used in wide open interpretation. Now all organic product companies have doubtful consumers who are questioning the sincerity of the products. Because of the big companies joining a smaller company industry, the question of what really is organic has arouse. Co-founder of the Cornucopia Institute, Mark Kastel, believes that the majority of organic companies follow the federal standards but worries because this industry still remains an honor system, few may be acting unhonorably. Even though this is a problem, entrepreneurs in the organic industry are dealing with an even bigger one, supply and demand. Local suppliers would be ideal for organic companies, but they seem to be nonexistent. Like Brian Chossek, president of Seven Oaks Ranch, sourcing the organic materials can be an issue, importing raw materials from other countries is their only choice when materials run low. According to Kastel, the problems will resolve one of two ways, companies who act honorably will find new ways to brand their products or consumers will boycott against companies that show themselves has unworthy.

Read More: Emtrpreneur.com: Shades Of Green

big business consumer distress Organic Companies organic products

mercedes

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Porche comes out with a prototype of a Cayenne Hybrid that will be ready by 2008.

 

Read More: Motor Cities.com: 2008 Porsche Cayenne Hybrid - First Official Information

bibi

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bibi

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Welcome to our Green Site. Hopefully we can share our ideas and motivate each other to make a difference in this world.

We can begin by sharing our favorite sites, articles and blogs on how to take small steps towards making

Green Living the norm.

 

bibi

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