WALL-E is green

DisneyWALL-E, the Disney film, has a great message for all of us. In the movie, the humans have moved to space.

Why? Because after years of not taking care of their garbage, trash has taken over the earth.

Wall-e is a trash compactor and he continues his job on earth by scooping garbage, making it into cubes and creating buildings with those cubes. It must reek like nothing you or I have ever smelled before.

“Why is there so much garbage?” My seven year old whispered loudly, when we watched it in the movie theater.

“Because they didn’t recycle,” I answered.

Yes indeed. Dramatic perhaps, but a great example of WHY we must make changes in our lives to implement green living and sustainability.

Wall-E is happy scooping and packing because he has not known anything else. But then he meets Eva, a probe sent to earth to determine if life could be sustained there once again, and things change. He falls in love, and when Eva shuts down and is later removed from Earth, he moves mountains to go with her. All of the sudden, garbage isn’t so satisfying after all.

On the planet that humans now live in, they are fed and clothed while sitting (and being transported) in their chairs. Everything happens at voice command and they continually have a screen in front of their face with media and pictures. Some have the screen removed during the movie and realize there is actually life around them. A couple discover that there is a swimming pool and that talking to another person is actually pleasant.  Each one of the humans are fat because they don’t move, and their muscles can’t take standing.

The movie is both a message of green and a message of inactivity and where it could lead. Inspiring on both accounts.  It’s not so hard to take care of our world so that our Earth’s landfills don’t take over. And it’s not so hard to make a commitment to take our faces out of media each day and MOVE-enjoying the planet that we do have.

Do this and reap tremendous results. You will feel better. Demand this of your children too, and someday they will thank you.

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Paper alternatives

amazon-rain-forestIt’s scary really.

Rainforests used to cover abour 14% of our world.  Now Rain-Tree estimates that they cover only 6%.

Why? Because in the world of development and “progress”, they are only considered as valuable as the timber enclosed within the forest.

We are still using trees at an alarming rate. Although there has been true progress in finding other options for paper products in particular, we still buy the ones from the trees, and to make those they take wood from the forests.

I used to think that trees, as a natural resource, could be replanted, and therefore it was OK to use them for anything and everything.  (I do think that replanting should be a requirement). But I have since realized that trees take many years (about 30) to grow to the point where they are valuable-and the rate of growth does not keep up with the rate that we cut them.

Here are some alternatives to using trees for paper. I hope that you will consider purchasing and supporting the companies who make products from tree alternatives.  If we don’t buy the ones made from trees-they won’t make them. Period.

  1. Recycled Paper-Look for companies with green processes. Less chemicals are used for them.
  2. Hemp- Regrows in abotu15 months.
  3. Kenaf- A high-yield plant that grows extremely well.
  4. Agricultural By-Products- According to Information Distillery, paper is also made from agricultural byproducts left over from the harvesting and processing of sugar cane, bananas, coffee, tobacco, lemons, and other fibres.
  5. Elephant Dung- Yes, it sounds weird. But it is viable and it doesn’t even smell.

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Julie Bonn Heath is a freelance writer, author and public relations/marketing professional who has three kids, four pets and lives on the Oregon Coast. Follow Julie on Twitter.

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Grow your own greens

avocadoGrowing your own garden can save you money and insure that you are feeding your family in a healthy matter.

I was uncomfortable with chemicals and what-have-you on our veggies. I grew tired of wax on apples and carrots that tasted bad no matter how many times that I washed them.

My taste runs green, as you know, and I set out this year to make my garden more green. More environmentally friendly, that is.

  1. I purchased a compost bin and am adding everything to it that I can.
  2. I grow our food organically.
  3. I refuse to waste any food. If there is too much at one time for some reason, I get it to someone else who needs it.
  4. I bartered food for needs- a friend built me another planter box to plant veggies in and we are sharing veggies with their family as payment for it.
  5. I am using environmentally-friendly materials. My garden stakes are bamboo.
  6. I am picking off and relocating snails instead of using chemicals.

It’s not too late to sow some seeds and reap some benefits.  If you haven’t done it before, start slow and small. It’s OK to just try one planter of lettuce or other easy-to-grow crop. Sweet peas are another easy one to try.

And then make a goal next year to try a little more.

Eat green! It’s worth it! And yummy!

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Green Mother’s Day Gifts

Top eco-tips for Mother’s Day

1. Don’t assume you know what mom wants to do or as a gift. She may prefer a picnic over brunch in a fancy restaurant.

2. When buying gifts, think locally made.

3. Avoid using wrapping paper. Substitute fabric wraps you make yourself from scarves or other fabric you have on hand, or purchase from a mom-owned company like Bobowrap. These can be used over and over again.

4. Give the gift of yourself. Whatever you can do for mom most certainly will be appreciated whether it’s washing her car, cleaning her gutters, or sorting and organizing old photos. Find something you can do that costs nothing but your time. Repeat once a month for a year!

Top eco-picks for Mother’s Day

1. Many moms appreciate receiving gifts that give. Give her a gift card from www.tisbest.com and she can donate to any of more than 300 non-profits.

2. Organic flowers are best for mom and the planet. Order from a local farm or online from www.OrganicBouquet.com

3. If you don’t have a store nearby that offers sustainable gifts, try any of these:

About the authors:

Lynn Colwell and Corey Colwell-Lipson are mother and daughter and co-authors of Celebrate Green! Creating Eco-Savvy Holidays, Celebrations and Traditions for the Whole Family, available at www.CelebrateGreen.net

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Tumbleweed Compost Tumbler by Clean Air Gardening

garden09-004I was so excited to get started on my garden this year. In the interest of helping to green our earth, save money on groceries and more, we have doubled the size of our garden this year. Another green move-we bought a real compost bin.

I have composted in the past somewhat but developed a real passion for it this past year after I realized that much of the scraps we were throwing away could be both returned to the earth and benefit our future harvest in great ways.

But I ran into challenges.

I have medical issues with my back and as a result, I have always had to adapt my gardening. For instance, my garden beds are in waist-high boxes so I don’t have to bend when weeding, planting, etc. The boxes are quite a bit of work (for someone else) to build, paint and fill with dirt but it’s garden09-011the only way that I can garden so it is worth it to me.

So as you can imagine, hand-turning compost contents with a shovel is a no-no for me. And therefore I was excited when Jayme at Nest in Style reviewed a compost tumbler by Tumbleweed. All you do to break down the compost is spin the barrel.  It’s rust resistant, which I need here in the Northwest, and it has openings at both ends to add and remove the contents. The bar that runs through the middle assists in breaking matter down.

We assembled it yesterday and it is already halfway full from what I had saved to compost. We have already added water a couple of times and tumbled it several times. And it is already well mixed. I can’t wait to add it to my plants.

You can help green our earth too by composting and using the result to enrich new growth. To get the best mix, you need layers of both green and brown colored items. You can compost:

  1. Paper after it has been shredded
  2. Produce scraps, skins and seeds
  3. Eggshells
  4. Mowed grass
  5. Shrub and tree trimmings (cut small)
  6. Leaves

Stop throwing it away! Compost instead and enrich the earth for all of us.

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Highlights of the Better Living Show

I had am amazing time at the Better Living Show in Portland, Oregon a couple of weeks ago. What a great time! There was such a kinship in meeting new people with common goals and even seeing friends. I knew I was in for a great show when there were over 500 people in the lobby before the doors even opened.  It turned out, opening hours were the best time to find people and chat. The afternoons were packed and of course, Saturday was the busiest. I was delighted to see the attendance and I learned so much.

Among the highlights:

Lynn Cowell, Julie Bonn Heath, Corey Colwell-Lipson

Lynn Cowell, Julie Bonn Heath, Corey Colwell-Lipson

Celebrate Green- I finally got to meet Lynn Colwell and Corey Lipson-Colwell, the wonderful authors of “Celebrate Green“. These green-savvy and style-savvy ladies were an absolute delight to have tea with and chat about our green goals. And then they taught a great class on ways to take your green goals into your celebrations all year around. What hit me the most was the mantra “plan ahead”. This is hard for me at times but I agree with them that with planning ahead, you can make most anything green and more eco-savvy.

I know the candy manufacturers are counting on me scrambling at the last minute for Easter baskets (because I usually do) and packing them with candy. But although I have been busy this week and last, I have already put some thought into how to make our baskets more eco-friendly this year.

Biodegradable Bags- Earth-Centric LLC in Portland makes 100% biodegradable bags from cornmeal. They gave out samples at the show and I am very impressed with them. They are not only biodegradable but they are also durable and they have many options including garbage and shopping bags. They also make bowls from sugar cane and a variety of additional products.

National Garden Clubs, Inc- I spoke for a long time with Linda Nelson, Third VP of National Garden Clubs Inc. What an great lady. She is insightful about the industry and so kind. She, her kind “booth-mate” and I chatted a long time about gardening, marketing and getting the word out about the support that there is out there for gardeners-especially those in the organic industry. Thanks ladies for meeting with me!

It was a great show! I was very impressed with the vendors and attendees. I loved seeing new products and atttending the seminars as well. I will definately return next year!

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Excess Packaging for Melster Chocolate Eggs

melstereggs

The Easter candy has already hit the stores. And with it, a ton of plastic! I LOVE Melster Chocolate and Marshmallow eggs but I continue to be disappointed that they choose to package them in Styrofoam egg cartons that are way to large for what they are placing inside. Last year I sent them an email and this year I sent them another one.  Won’t you please join me in encouraging them to think of more eco-friendly packaging? Email Melster here

Here is a copy of my email:

Dear Melster-

I LOVE your Melster marshmallow chocolate eggs in the egg carton packaging! Yum! But I feel like your packaging is such a waste of space. We buy a ton of your candy every year but I am reconsidering this because after cartons are shifted, the eggs end up in about a quarter of the package space. This tells me that you could package with SO much less landing in our landfills. Also, something made without Styrofoam would be more recyclable.

The marketing person in me loves the egg carton, but how about an egg carton that is about a quarter of the size with spaces that actually fit the eggs and are made of cardboard? More and more people are buying with a Green/Eco-conscious eye and more likely to buy candy that has more eco-friendly packaging. Taking care of our world is important to me and I hope that it is important to you, as well.

Thank you for listening and considering changes for the better that will impact all of us!

Julie

UPDATE- On 4/13/09, Melster responded:

Dear Julie,

Thank you for reporting your concerns regarding Melster Candies Chocolate Marshmallow Eggs packaging concerns.  Please accept our apology for any inconvenience this has caused you. We at Melster Candies Inc., appreciate feedback from our customers especially in regards to improvement of product quality.

We are looking at changing the packaging for next season to make it more uniform with the actual piece size of the candy.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to contact us.  We appreciate your loyalty to our products and hope the next purchase will be to your satisfaction.

Best regards,

Customer Service Specialist


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Julie is a PR and Marketing Pro who works with a variety of companies, including several eco-saavy entities. She is passionate about green and seeks to better the world in all that she accomplishes.

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Eco-Friendly Weddings

Here are some great ideas for green weddings from the authors of Celebrate Green.

1. Choose invitations, place cards and thank-you notes from 100% recycled or treefree alternatives.twoofuscrpped1in

2. Seek out eco-friendly venues and assign someone the task of follow through with eco-activities like recycling.

3. Whether for the wedding itself, or events before and after, avoid using disposable paper goods such as napkins, table cloths and tableware unless they can be composted.

4. For favors, choose consumables or zero-waste items such as beeswax or soy candles, live seedlings or seed favors, or make a donation to a worthy cause in the name of your guests.

5. Rings, attire and accessories are available in an array of sustainable choices. But consider making old new again (and instilling some extra meaning in your day) by giving heirloom rings, dressing the bride and her attendants in vintage gowns, and using accessories that have been handed down from loved ones. (Lynn used fabric from her wedding gown to create custom accessories for Corey’s wedding.)

6. Disposables of any kind are bad news for the Earth and cameras are no exception. Instead of purchasing an individual disposable camera for each guest, consider renting from www.camerarenter.com. Guests’ photos will be uploaded to your own online album. From there, you can download and share the memories.

For more ideas on green weddings, email Lynn@CelebrateGreen.net or call 425-793-3590.

Lynn Colwell and Corey Colwell-Lipson are mother and daughter and co-authors of Celebrate Green! Creating Eco-Savvy Holidays, Celebrations and Traditions for the Whole Family, available at www.CelebrateGreen.net

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Biochar and how it helps our world

nw09-140Have you heard of biochar? It’s an ancient technique that uses our own resources to better our soil for planting and help with our environment and I was pleased to read more about it this month in Mother Earth News. The article was by Barbara Pleasant.

You can make biochar by burning woody material plus plants that have seeded in a low oxygen environment instead of dumping them somewhere.

It’s a smoky option as you dig a ditch and burn the weeds covered with some dirt BUT it helps our environment by slowing climate change, so many say. There is some debate on that issue and there is a biochar report that explains more of that.  The general gist is that it does slow climate changes as well as produce some “bio-oil” and “syngas”, both of which can be further refined into fuel but it seems that implementing biochar production on a large scale creates massive issues–which of course makes sense when you think about the process.

I suspect that in this land of opportunity that those issues could be dealt with and I hope that the scientists researching it will also find a way to see if it would be beneficial enough on a larger scale to implement more production of biochar.

How can we help in this effort? Please comment and leave your ideas.

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Mucking About with Joe Gardener

joeI just spent some very cool days at the NW Flower and Garden Show where the theme this year was “Sustainability”.  Of course, I was thrilled to hear that when they made the announcement. As part of their line-up of great speakers, they invited Joe Lamp’l (Joe Gardener), who is not only an amazing speaker (I tease him that he should have been a preacher) but also an incredibly personable and down-to-earth (pun intended) person.

Joe and I first connected over a year ago when I read his book “The Green Gardener’s Guide“-a book I still reference to this day. Truly, if you saw my copy you would be amazed that it is still holding together. (That is, if you can get past all the bookmarks and the underlines to actually look at it).

As you know, I am passionate about Green. I felt the responsibility early on to grow our own veggies-after Igreengardenersguide had washed carrots from the store twice and still tasted the chemicals on them.  I couldn’t believe that my kids were eating that JUNK and I vowed that it wouldn’t happen again. But then of course the next question is always “How?”

I spent the next several years struggling to grow organically. Also to grow year-round, since we live in the Northwest. Well, just in time, Joe rescued me with his book. Whew. Thank goodness for someone who understood the in’s and out’s and had “been there”.  And I was so grateful, that I asked if I could write about him on a gardening blog. He was thrilled with the article and since then I write about him every chance that I get. I believe in his message (which by the way, is not just about gardening green but living green and reducing water waste, etc.) with a complete passion and am anxious to help him get the word out.

So it meant a lot to me that he wanted to meet up at the show. He, his business partner (lovely lady!) and I went out to dinner and he made me talk the whole time. LOL. Looking back, I should have asked more questions and talked less.  It was a total blast. I went to his seminars the next day and as always, learned a ton. For instance, did you know that we waste half our water? Holy smokes. That’s just sad. But of course, it also means that we can FIX that and Joe has a wealth of ideas on how to do it.

More on that next post!

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