Quick Tip #2

Use your phone for quick notes or grocery lists! The iPhone and Android phones have really handy notepad apps that let you jot down your thoughts or to-do lists. Using your phone will save paper and give you unlimited space to write down all the details and your notes will also be all in one place. How convenient!

charity:water September Campaign

charity:water is turning 5 years old this September! For those of you who have not heard about charity:water before, they are a nonprofit organization that aims to bring clean drinking water to people in developing countries. They reach out to countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and more. Since its establishment, charity:water has provided clean drinking water to over one million people.

I first heard about charity:water a couple years ago when I started supporting them through SocialVibe.com (see previous posts). I think they are a great charity to support and that is why I am spreading the word about their September campaign.

Every September, charity:water sets a goal they want to reach and people are encouraged to donate or fundraise for the organization to help them reach their goal. This year's goal is to raise $1.2 million to buy a drilling rig with the capacity to drill 80 wells each year. 80 new wells will mean clean water for 40,000 people. The drilling rig will be put to use in Northern Ethiopia to provide full water coverage for years to come. Tigray, in Northern Ethiopia, currently has only 3 drilling rigs which makes 100% water coverage 14 years away. Another rig will speed up this process by four years!

So this September, I urge you to help fund this project through donations and/or fundraising and help charity:water meet their goal of buying a new drilling rig for clean water wells!! Maybe pass up your Starbucks latte one day this week and donate that $5 to charity:water.

For more information, visit http://www.charitywater.org/september/

Peace, love, and clean water.

Quick Tip #1

For all the paper you use that is nonrecycleable, buy a paper shredder and shred it to use as packaging material.

CHANGE

'Uh, save the earth?' is Featured!

"Uh, save the earth?" has been featured in a fellow blog, "Students For the Environment" run by the Women and the Environment Organization (WATEO)!! They aim to share the work and views of students on environmental issues to "explore how they influence our world."

Check it out HERE.

If you have something you would like to submit to them, email them at info@wateo.org.

Food For Thought

America's First Zero-Packaging Grocery Store

When I first heard of this, I have to admit I was pretty skeptical. It seemed to good to be true or that it had to have some sort of catch. But see for yourself...Austin, TX will be opening the first ever packaging-free grocery store, named in.gredients, in the US. Pretty revolutionary.

For more news on in.gredients, check out this news article from The News Feed.

Your Carbon Footprint

WWF has a great program that measures your carbon footprint-- Eco Guru!
It is very simple because you only have to answer 11 questions. And if you don't have time for that then...well.. your life is sad.
Eco Guru tells you how much energy in "planets" you are using with respect to us only having one planet available for our use. They also compare your results to others worldwide and from your country of residence.
And then the best part...they tell you how to green your lifestyle! And we all know that's what you were ultimately looking for, right? OK good.

So keep calm and green on.

Eco Guru: http://ecoguru.panda.org/#/home

Recyclart: Lids

The artist of these amazing masterpieces is Rodger Shultz. He had his friends send him lids for one year and the art pieces he made took 3 months of work. You can find more information about the art pieces and the artist at  Recyclart.org or his blog.

I've never seen a more beautiful recycled piece of art. Way to go Rodger.

Happy 4th!

Happy Independence Day! Time to roll out the grills and celebrate American style. 

Here are some green tips to help make your 4th of July better in even more ways:

• Barbecue with sustainably produced charcoal made from reclaimed scrap wood. Propane burns cleaner but it is petroleum derived.
• Don't use lighter fluids.
• Compose your picnic using organic and locally produced foods.
• If you need disposable cups or plates for a party, buy biodegradable ones.
• Compost and recycle as much waste as possible.
• Ask your town to buy biodegradable fireworks that are free of gunpowder and if you can, avoid buying your own fireworks.

Hope you have a wonderful 4th!

source: "365 Ways to Save the Earth" by Philippe Bourseiller

GoodGuide

Recently, I stumbled upon www.GoodGuide.com and it caught my attention because of its clever and easy navigation of green products. What it does is rates products on three major impact categories: health, environment, and society. It makes it easy for consumers to find "green, ethical products according to scientific ratings." You can find ratings and information about anything from food to apparel to appliances on www.goodguide.com.

For example, I learned that Green Works Natural Dishwashing Liquid, Free and Clear is the best choice for dish soap. It has an overall scientific rating of 8.1. A rating of 10 was given for health because its ingredients do not raise a health concern, a rating of 7.5 was given for environment because of the company's water management, and a rating of 6.8 was given for society because the company scores well on workforce diversity. Below each product rating is a list of top alternatives, expanding the environmentally-friendly options for all different kinds of consumers.

So before your next shopping trip to the grocery store, mall, or basically anywhere, make sure to consult GoodGuide!

source: www.goodguide.com

Recyclart: 5000 Guitar Picks

UK mosaic artist Ed Chapman has created a mosaic of Jimi Hendrix using 5000 guitar picks. It was auctioned off in February at Cancer Research UK's Sound & Vision event at Abbey Road Studios for 23,000 english pounds! Now that is some smart reusing of guitar picks!

Source: http://www.recyclart.org/2011/03/hendrix-portrait-with-5000-guitar-picks/

Happy Father's Day!

Dedicated to those Dads who love golf:

ECO-FRIENDLY GOLF BALLS!!
According to Socialvibe.com, over  300 million golf balls are discarded every year. To help offset the impact this has on the earth, check out Dixon Earth golf balls!
Dixon Earth's golf balls are made from 100% recycled materials and do not contain any heavy metals such as lead or cobalt. They also provide the same level of high performance as the other classic golf balls.

Check out http://ecofriendlygolfballs.com/ to order your "green" golf balls so you can hit up the golf course with Dad!

Reuse Old Clothes

It's summertime!
And time to go through your old winter clothes for pants and long sleeve shirts that are too small for you and cut or donate them. I personally like to cut my old pants into shorts or make tank tops out of old long sleeve shirts. A bit of sewing knowledge is helpful to really make them nice but then again, the ragged look may be coming back into style.
Another option is to donate your old clothes to places like Goodwill, etc.

Cleaning out your closet is the perfect summer activity that will declutter your clothes and give you a fresh start to the new season. And you might even get "new" clothes out of it!

For the experienced seamstress:
Another fun idea is to make a tshirt quilt out of old tshirts. That way, the tshirts are put to good use instead of sitting in a box or taking up space in a closet. For example, my friend made a tshirt quilt out of all her tshirts that she had collected from races and marathons. She didn't want to just stash them away because they meant something to her so she sewed them together into a cute quilt!

Reusing or donating old clothes can help the environment because new clothes that use a lot of energy in their production will not be bought as often. REUSE is a key green mantra that is part of an ecofriendly lifestyle.

I'm BACK!!!

So as sad as it is that it has been almost a year since my last post, I have decided to finally revive my blog! After taking a year off from my blog to focus on school, I now have the time to dedicate myself to my blog. Sorry for the unannounced absence but to make up for it, here is an AMAZING time lapse of the Milky Way I found. :)


The Mountain from TSO Photography on Vimeo.