(Hartford Courant: HANDOUT / February 22, 2010)

Hartford, Connecticut Law Firm Showing Off It’s New $4m ‘Green’ Renovation

http://www.courant.com/business/hc-propline0223.artfeb23,0,2257077.story

via Hartford Courant

Eco Ettiquitte: Is Wasting Food a Sin?
by Jennifer Grayson

Citing the fact that the average American family throws away 14% of it’s groceries, this article offers 7 tips for smart shopping, storage, cooking, and reuse tips to help you not waste food!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennifer-grayson/eco-etiquette-is-throwing_b_465133.html

Via: Huffington Post

The Green Train Project is a 10-week, 28-state concert series that promotes environmental awareness with the help of what is being billed as an A-list group of musicians, athletes, artists, writers, personalities, and media professionals. The organizers of the whistle-stop tour, inspired by the political campaigns of previous presidents,  intend to teach and inspire people to use simple, everyday strategies to help reduce our carbon footprint. Led by a biodiesel, solar-powered train, this concert series starts April 2010 in Portland, Oregon and will end, appropriately, in our nation’s capital.

According to The Green Train website, The tour will be made up of two kinds of concerts, major cities and smaller towns and will include “top named celebrities along with environmental speakers and video satellite feeds in between the music, educating us all on how to live GREEN”. The Green Train will include two flat bed acoustical stages totally run on GREEN energy.

Concert information such as lineups, venues and start times are not yet posted, so keep an eye on The Green Train website for more info…

According to Military and Intelligence analysts, “The changing global climate will pose profound strategic challenges to the United States in coming decades, raising the prospect of military intervention to deal with the effects of violent storms, drought, mass migration and pandemics”…Read all about it in this week’s Green Article of the Week…

Article of the Week:

New York Times: Climate Change Seen as Threat to U.S. Security

While in Elkhart, Indiana on Wednesday August 5, 2009, President Obama announced 48 new advanced battery and electric drive projects that will receive $2.4 billion in funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. With the hopes of further accelerating the manufacturing and deployment of electric vehicles, batteries, and components here in America, and creating tens of thousands of new jobs, President Obama said:

“If we want to reduce our dependence on oil, put Americans back to work and reassert our manufacturing sector as one of the greatest in the world, we must produce the advanced, efficient vehicles of the future”.

According to whitehouse.gov, The new awards cover the following areas:

• $1.5 billion in grants to U.S. based manufacturers to produce batteries and their components and to expand battery recycling capacity;
• $500 million in grants to U.S. based manufacturers to produce electric drive components for vehicles, including electric motors, power electronics, and other drive train components; and
• $400 million in grants to purchase thousands of plug-in hybrid and all-electric vehicles for test demonstrations in several dozen locations; to deploy them and evaluate their performance; to install electric charging infrastructure; and to provide education and workforce training to support the transition to advanced electric transportation systems.

For a full list of award winners, click HERE.  For a map of their locations, click HERE.

Via: Whitehouse

Organic groceries can be costly as compared to their non-organic counterparts, but it is difficult to deny the health and environmental benefits of eating natural and organic foods. One way of making organics more affordable is by using coupons. One way to obtain     coupons is directly from the manufacturers’ websites. Many manufacturers offer special discounts, coupons and free samples if you sign up to receive their newsletters. I maintain a separate email account that I use specifically for this purpose, so that I am not bombarded by these “special offers” when I go to my personal inbox.  I regularly check this email account, which I jokingly refer to as my “fake email”, when planning trips for the week to see if there are any new offers available. Some manufactures will even allow you to print coupons directly from their own websites. Here are a few manufacturer’s websites that are offering great discounts now:

• http://www.organicvalley.coop/coupons/ Coupons for organic milk, cheese, eggs.
• http://www.stonyfield.com/coupons/signin.cfm where you can choose from a generous selection of coupons to print.
•  http://www.seventhgeneration.com/coupons , where you can receive valuable coupons for items for home and chlorine free diapers and wipes for baby.
• www.scojuice.com for Santa Cruz Organic. Currently they offer a 50 cents off any 3-pack of juices and 75 cents off a jar of peanut butter. Keep in mind that many stores will double coupons up to 99 cents, so a 75 cent coupon is really a $1.50 off!
• If you are a meat-eater, you can go to www.colemannatural.com and receive a 5 dollar coupon for completing a short survey. 

Many local health food stores also allow you to print coupons from their website. These “Health-E-Coupons” can be redeemed at any retailer since they are manufacturer coupons and are generally for national brands. For example, one health food store, Thyme and Season, located in Hamden, Connecticut provides coupons from their website: http://www.thymeandseasonnaturalmarket.com/.

Mambo Sprouts is a coupon distribution program that provides consumers in the Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore/Washington, D.C., Chicago, Denver/Boulder, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles metro areas with value-packed booklets for a wide range of brands such as  Kashi, Clif Bars, De Boles pasta, and Organic Valley products. You can print coupons directly from their site at: http://coupons.mambosprouts.com/online_coupons.
You can also sign up to receive their booklets in the mail (definitely worth the minute of your time) or  find out which stores in your area distribute these booklets. Another coupon booklet is distributed by Organic Earth Day  www.organicearthday.org. Check back soon to receive information on their annual booklet in April!

Other coupon sites that you may find useful include:

• http://www.couponsinc.com/corp/source/cp_clientlist.asp , a site that links to coupons for many national brands (and if you like the product, you may print it twice if you use the back button).
• http://www.couponmom.com/  is an  invaluable resource for those learning the ropes on using sales and coupons to their advantage, and where you can even compare deals before you shop at the major chains. It’s Supermarket Shopper even will alert you where you can redeem coupons to receive items for free!
• Do not overlook  traditional coupon sites such as http://www.redplum.com/ and http://coupons.smartsource.com/, I have found many great coupons for many natural organic brand names, such as Cascadian Farms, Barbara’s Bakery, and Muir Glen.

Another great way to obtain coupons (and lots of them) is to perform a Google search for  coupons for products you love or check out the company website. If there are no coupons or offers available, don’t hesitate to contact the manufacturer via email or snail mail and politely ask them if they have any coupons that they would be able to mail to you…I have done this on rainy days or when my daughter was sleeping, and have been pleasantly surprised by what they had to offer! Including coupons for free items! Speaking of free items, for a limited time, Kashi is sending coupons for a free frozen entrée. You may fill out the form here http://www.kashi.com/picturehunt to request your free meal.

When it comes to organic produce: If you are on a tight budget,  but are still concerned about toxins and pesticides , check out the Environmental Working Group’s website: http://www.ewg.org/ and learn which fruits and vegetables make the “Dirty Dozen”, a list of  fruits and vegetables that are best purchased in their organic form, and which crops aren’t as heavily sprayed.

If organic produce is an absolute must for you, you could always grow your own at a relatively low cost. Home-grown organic produce results in the least impact on the environment as there are no carbon emissions from the transportation of the goods. Also, check out your local farmers market, or even support a local farm. You can learn more about supporting local agriculture by visiting the site, http://www.localharvest.org/ The site also has a link to CSA programs (Community Supported Agriculture) where you can purchase a share of a local and/or organic farm at the start of the season and receive a basket of fresh produce each week (a real bargain in many cases). One share of a local organic farm with a variety of goods was listed at $475 a share for a 15-week season…so that’s 15 baskets of fresh organic produce will be available for pick-up at a reasonable price and you’d also be supporting local, organic, green agriculture. (Note: Just as some risk is assumed when purchasing stock, the outcome/ benefit of purchasing a share of a farm will vary depending on  the success of the growing season.) Some of the farms even have a working share program where you can volunteer a few (about 3) hours a week in exchange for their produce.

Are you Gluten-Free? We know that healthy foods for those with dietary limitations can be quite costly. Our friend Jennifer over at Gluten-Free Inspired recently posted some great tips for being a Savvy Gluten-Free Shopper.

We hope you find these money saving tips helpful; it really is possible to save some green while being green! If you have any of your own tips and tricks for saving money on healthy and environmentally friendly products…please feel free to post them in our comments section!

This past fall The X-Ray Vision-Aries posted a list of the Top 100 Environmentalist Blogs. We were honored to be listed as #6 on the list (it’s always nice to be near the top of a list like this)…and to be in such good company. According to the site, “X-Ray Vision-aries is a healthy and green living blog designed for non-health nuts. We hope that by looking at health and the environment in a non-technical and light-hearted manner that makes learning about and improving one’s health, environment and life accessible to everyone, we can all learn a thing or two…”

Thanks to blogger Sarah Scrafford for the honor…here is the list:

The Top 100 Environmentalist Blogs

News
Keep your ear to the ground on environmental news with these blogs.

1. environmentastic!: Environmentalist A. Caleb Hartley’s environmentastic! offers a refreshingly positive look at environmental news and developments.
2. Green Times: Find the latest news and issues for environmentalists on this blog.
3. The Environmentalist: Check out this blog for news on climate change, politics, and other important issues in environmentalism.
4. Greenzone Online: This blog serves up a well-balanced mix of environmental topics.
5. Fort Awesome: Find out what Fort Awesome says about peak oil, urbanization, and more on this blog.
6. The Everyday Environmentalist: Follow this environmentalist on a journey to go green every day.
7. Eco Beat: Neil Katz’ Eco Beat is all about environmental activism in the news, offering green technology, pollution, politics, and more.
8. Down To Earth: On this blog, you’ll find environmental news and information about sustainability.

Gardening Environmentalists

These environmentalists take their work outside.

1. Flatbush Gardener: Read along with this environmentalist who specializes in organic and native plant gardening.
2. Earth Friendly Gardening: Check out this blog to see sustainable gardening at work.
3. GardenPunks: Check out the blog of this family that attempts to live as organically as possible.
4. Green Bean Dreams: Follow this mom as she works to create a sustainable, environmentally friendly life for her family.

Climate Change

Learn more about global warming and what we can do to stop its effects on this blogs.

1. Global Warming is Real: On this blog, you’ll find discussions of climate change, politics, and energy.
2. cooltheplanet: This blogger aims to collect a wide variety of useful information for organizations who are working to address climate change.
3. It’s Getting Hot in Here: Follow the youth movement in climate change on this blog.
4. Global Warming Emergency Blog: Follow this blog along a campaign to stop global warming.
5. Climate of Our Future: This blog offers a discussion on global climate change with the latest news, resources, and information on what’s happening.
6. Climate Changer: This blogger is on a mission to stop climate change and global warming.

Energy

These blogs offer in-depth discussions on oil, alternative energy, and more.

1. Brighter Energy Solutions: SolReka shares strategies for free energy, solar cooking, and useful eco-geek gadgets on this blog.
2. Boiling Spot: Boiling Spot features information on alternative energy and beyond.
3. fuel-it-forward: Check out this blog to find out how we can all cut down on our fuel consumption.
4. Citizen Power Alliance: On Citizen Power Alliance, you’ll find news about regulating and improving upon energy and environmental policy.
5. Clean Break: Clean Break focuses on clean technology and clean energy in particular.
6. Vertigro: Follow along as this blog tracks the advancement of a highly useful biofuel.
7. Eco Friendly Driver: On this blog, you’ll read the latest news and developments in environmentally friendly driving.
8. Seacoast NRG: Blogger Adam discusses issues in energy, conservations, climate, and more.
9. The Energy Collective: Read about power, policy, and climate as it relates to energy on this blog.
10. EcoModder: Find hypermiling, fuel economy and ecomodding on this blog.
11. Damon Clifford: Damon Clifford’s blog focuses on current events in energy, political energy policy, and more.
12. Gas 2.0: Follow the biofuel revolution on this blog.
13. Beyond Petro: Beyond Petro discusses life beyond peak oil and what we can do to live without cheap energy.

Lifestyle

Take a look at how these environmentalists live their daily lives.

1. Urban Subsistence Living: Follow this family as they embark upon a project to generate more than 90% of their living needs with environmentally friendly methods and materials.
2. Greenfellow: On Greenfellow, you’ll find a celebration of sustainability in everyday life.
3. Halcyon Green: This “creative environmentalist” discusses the art of making crafts with minimal footprint.
4. Green Cotton: See how sustainability and fashion intersect in this blog.
5. An Urban Plot: This urban gardener chronicles her quest for organic self-sufficiency.
6. Off Grid Living: Learn about strategies for living off the grid with solar, wind, and geothermal energy on this blog.
7. Sustainable Motherhood: This “recovering consumer” offers an ongoing look at her quest to be more sustainable.
8. Victoria Everman: Victoria’s blog offers loads of resources for enlightened living.
9. Green Globetrotter: Take a peek into the world of eco-friendly travel with this environmentalist globetrotter.

Advice

These environmentalists will help you to be more eco-friendly.

1. Focus Organic: Focus Organic is a repository for all sorts of advice for living in an environmentally friendly way.
2. The Lazy Environmentalist: Josh Dorfman explores easy, stylish, and convenient ways for everyday people to go green.
3. Jolly Green Blogger: Check out this blog for great advice and products for going green.
4. Neutral Existence: On neutral existence, you’ll get advice on how to help theplanet and save money at the same time.
5. Practical Environmentalist: On this blog, you’ll find environmentally friendly advice that’s practical and useful for the average person.
6. It’s the Planet, Didiot!: This environmentalist serves up a variety of useful tips for saving the planet from its inhabitants.
7. EcoMerge: These budding environmentalists at Portland State University practice EcoMyth Busting, debunking bad eco-advice so that you can live a truly environmentally friendly life.

Conservation

Learn a newfound respect for our world in these blogs.

1. Izmet’s Dream: Izmet has a passion for nature, and discusses how we can all practice conservation in order to save our world’s natural wonders.
2. Treasure Nature: This environmentalist discusses how we can nurture nature, offering a look at issues in biodiversity and beyond.
3. Coffee and Conservation: Learn how sustainable coffee and other products can have a positive impact on the world.
4. Get Wise about Energy & Water Efficiency: Check out this blog that discusses energy and water conservation, and what people are doing about it.
5. Protecting Our Environment: Gina’s blog is full of resources, news, and information on environmental conservation.
6. The Only One We Have: This blog encourages readers to think of their environmental impact.
7. Endangered Spaces: Find out what you can do to protect our “endangered spaces” on this blog.

Reducing, Reusing & Recycling

These environmentalists focus on stopping the growth of our world’s landfills.

1. The Earth is Not a Trash Can: Barbara Mathieson considers the life of trash that others have left behind.
2. Every Day is Earth Day: Sarah Mint discusses a variety of ways you can reduce your energy consumption.
3. Trash Watch: This blogger encourages readers to do something about all of the trash in their neighborhood.
4. Car Free Family: Read how this family survives without a car in Minneapolis.
5. My Recycled Bags: This blog is dedicated to making crafts from recycled materials.
6. Look what I found!: Check out the journey of this blogger who designs her life and craft products using materials that others have cast aside.
7. Technocycle: Find information on technology recycling on this blog.
8. Recycleholic: Read along as this man tries his best to recycle everything he can.

Health

These environmentalists will ask you to consider the connection between the environment and health.

1. Asthma Mom: The Asthma Mom discusses how air quality and other environmental issues can affect children’s health.
2. Beyond Pesticides: This blog features posts on the health and environmental hazards of pesticides.
3. EarthForce Health and Wellness: Visit this blog for safe and natural ways to greate a safer, healthier planet.
4. Healthy Child: On this blog, you’ll read about what people are doing to create a healthy world for their children.

Development

Check out these blogs to learn about green development and how humanity’s growth intersects with the environment.

1. Building Seattle Green: On this blog, you’ll find loads of news and information about green building in Seattle and beyond.
2. Habitat OR Humanity: Visit this blog to see what’s happening to our world as we continue to develop.
3. My Green Home: This blog offers a guide to green and healthy homes.
4. Jetson Green: Stay on top of the latest in the green building revolution with this blog.
5. The Landscape Blog: On this blog, you’ll find news and information about issues surrounding lanscape architects and urban planners.

Consumption

These environmentalist blogs will help you consider the impact of the things you buy.

1. The Daily Green: This blog offers great advice for green consumers.
2. SaveChange: SaveChange asks readers to consider how their money impacts the world.
3. 100 Mile Diet: Follow this challenge to eat healthy and save the environment.
4. UseGreen: UseGreen highlights the choices you have when it comes to being green.
5. Envirovore: On this blog, you’ll learn how you can eat for environmental sustainability.
6. Design^Sprout: Check out Design^Sprout to find loads of innovative and environmentally friendly designs.
7. The Alternative Consumer: Here you’ll find news, product reviews, and information to help you be a more environmentally responsible consumer.
8. Fake Plastic Fish: Beth Terry Warns us that we need to stop consuming plastic, or the only fish we’ll have left will be plastic.
9. Eat Local Challenge: This blog offers a challenge and advice for eating locally.
10. Diane’s Big Green Purse: Diane encourages consumers to shop in an environmentally friendly way.

Activism

These environmentalists are pouring their passion into eco-friendly projects.

1. Califauna: Read this blog to see how eco awareness and art education are being brought into California’s schools.
2. WhatGives!?: This blog discusses and connects people to worthy social and environmental causes.
3. My Yellowstone Wolves Blog: Read about how this environmental activist in the Northern Rockies defends wolves.
4. 2 Wheels 4 Water: This couple is riding scooters across North and South Carolina to raise money and awareness for HydroMissions.
5. Ripples of Improvement: Blogger Cathy Crovis is on a mission to turn her life of occasional activism to one that consistently makes a difference.
6. Inca Kids: This project supports peruvian artisans, affording them a sustainable, environmentally friendly life.
7. Eco-Libris: The Eco-Libris blog discusses books and their crusade to balance out the paper used for books by planting trees.

Business & Politics

See environmentalism at work in these blogs that highlight green legislature, marketing, and more.

1. Green Advertising: Check out this blog to find out if companies are truly green or if they’re touting their credentials to sell.
2. Triple Pundit: This blog aims to bring people, the planet, and profits together.
3. Green in the Face: This marketing major discusses green marketing.
4. Environmental Leader: For the latest in green business, be sure to check out this blog.
5. Green Car Congress: Check out this blog for the politics of sustainable mobility.
6. Hill Heat: Watch environmental policy at work in legislation on this blog.
7. Sustainablog: Sustainablog regularly delivers the best information on sustainable business, environmental politics, and more.

Miscellaneous

Read about even more important issues in environmentalism on these blogs.

1. SurfaceTension: Surface Tension takes a clarified look at renewable energy, environmentally friendly teachnology, and energy alternatives.
2. EcoGeek: This blog explores technology aimed at improving the environment.
3. Dismantle Civilization: This environmentalist recommends that we radically change direction in order to save the earth.
4. Chemistry for a sustainable world: James Bashkin offers a professional view of green chemistry, and provides a view of what really helps our environment.
5. The Green Skeptic: This environmentalist challenges common assumptions about environmentalism and living.

We’re back! After a long hiatus EverydayEnvironmentalist.net is back with a BRAND NEW LOOK and plenty of new and exciting features up our sleeves…

We plan to continue to focus on the many ways we can live a more environmentally conscious lifestyle everyday but we also plan to add many new features including several that focus on saving money while trying to live greener lifestyles during these challenging economic times. We believe it’s possible to save some green ($) while living green. Look out for upcoming posts on low-cost green fashions, saving money while shopping for organic foods, reclaimed and recycled furniture and homegoods, as well as resources for shopping for locally made and locally grown products.

We plan to share even more green home improvement tips and ways to make your home more energy efficient. Additionally, we’ll even be sharing delicious ”green” recipes that use organic, natural, seasonal, and locally-grown (even home-growable) ingredients. We will also continue to bring you green product reviews, news and events, giveaways, and other great tips for being an Everyday Environmentalist.

We also plan to be inviting guest authors to join us here at EverydayEnvironmentalist.net to post news, commentary, and a whole lot more…so if you’re interested in becoming a contributor, email us at email@everydayenvironmentalist.net. We want to hear from you!

These are just some of the great new features we will be adding in 2009….we hope you’ll join us!

We’re taking a short break and ramping up for a bunch of new features in Spring 2009…stay tuned!

We recently discovered a great online store called www.LetsGoGreen.biz. LetsGoGreen.biz sells a wide variety of green products for your home, everything from BPA-free water bottles to low-flow shower-heads to biodegradable utensils and picnic sets. I was surprised at the selection of everyday-use type products that LetsGoGreen.biz sells, eco-friendly versions of products that we use all the time. It’s truly a great resource for those who wish to make simple changes with a big impact toward reducing ones carbon-footprint…the selection is vast and the prices are VERY reasonable!

The owner of LetsGoGreen.biz was gracious enough to send us a sample of their Natural Value EcoSafe Degradable Tall Kitchen Bags and Large Trash Bags for us to try out in our own home. They come in 13 gallon and 33 gallon sizes. Unlike conventional trash bags which can take up to 1000 years to fully degrade , the EcoSafe bags take only 12 to 24 months to totally fragment and disintegrate drastically reducing the amount of material filling up our landfills and helping to reduce the amount of plastic litter that finds its way into our environment.

We replaced our plain-old white plastic tall kitchen bags with these EcoSafe bags. It was a little bit of a surprise to see the deep green color and translucency of these bags in our trashcan, at first I had to keep checking to make sure there was actually a bag in there as our actual garbage can has a black liner, after adjusting to the color I was astounded by how durable these bags actually are. Our old white kitchen bags never quite fit in our garbage can correctly and would always come loose and come partially detached, the EcoSafe bags seem to stay put in the garbage can and don’t slip out at all….you can even push the trash down to make more room without causing any stretching or tearing of the EcoSafe bag itself. Overall, these bags are surprisingly durable! Although they’re much thinner than the bags we had been using, they are much much stronger and I really like knowing that they will start to degrade as soon as they hit the landfill allowing the trash inside to degrade faster as well.

The Giveaway (who doesn’t love free stuff?):

As a result of our very positive experience with the EcoSafe bags we’ve teamed up with www.LetsGoGreen.biz to bring you our first ever green product giveaway! Our new friends at www.letsgogreen.biz will send the winner of our giveaway contest a 200 count box of Natural Value EcoSafe Tall Kitchen Bags for you to try out in your own home.

There are two ways to enter:

Post a comment to this blog post or sent an email to email@everydayenvironmentalist.net answering the following question: 
Name a specific product or type of product that you use on a regular basis that you wish there was a more eco-friendly alternative to? Why?

Be sure to include your email address so that you can be contacted if you win.  You must enter by Friday, August 8th in order to be eligible. The winner will be chosen randomly and will be announced right here at www.everydayenvironmentalist.net. Then check out our friends at www.LetsGoGreen.biz and you very well might find the product that you’re looking for!

LGG is also providing a special discount to readers of The Everyday Environmentalist. If something at LetsGoGreen.biz catches your eye (and I’m sure several things will)…use the coupon code FRIEND at checkout and they’ll take an extra 25% of your purchase!

Want to do something really great for the environment tonight? Try swapping out your normal burger or steak dinner for a meat-free alternative. By reducing your meat intake, you are also reducing the use of fossil fuels, rainforest depetion and pollution to our water and oceans as well. Here are some not so obvious links between meat consumption and the environment:

Think of all the energy required to produce crops to feed the animals, to harvest and transport grains from crops to feedlots, then trasport the animals from feedlots to slaughterhouse, then trasport the carcasses trucked in refrigerated trucks to another processing plant before it is transported to a grocery store. It has been estimated that more than a third of all fossil fuels in the US are utilized for animal agriculture. The production of one calorie of animal protein requires more than ten times the fossil fuels as a calorie of plant protein, and ten times the amount of CO2 is emitted as well.

A vegan diet reduces more emissions than driving a hybrid car! You could drive a car twenty miles with the energy needed to produce a single hamburger. It has been estimated that driving a hybrid conserves over a ton of carbon dioxide per year. A vegan diet consumes one and a half tons less than the average American diet.

Animal production consumes as much water as all other uses of water in the US combined. One pound of beef requires approximately 2500 gallons of water, whereas a pound of soy requires 250 gallons of water and a pound of wheat only 25 gallons.

The pesticides and nitrates used in fertilizers and manures seep into our groundwater and spill out into our oceans. Expansive areas known as “Dead zones”are created where the water is too toxic for any plant or animal to survive. You can see these dead zones from space in places including where the Mississippi River dumps into the Gulf of Mexico.

Every sixty seconds, a land area equivalent to seven football fields is destroyed in the Amazon. Every year, The United States imports about 200 million pounds of beef from Central America, where each burger requires the destruction of 55 square feet of rainfoest. Here in the US, more than 260 million acres of forest have been clear-cut for animal agriculture, and we can only expect more deforestation in the future.

We’re not suggesting that you eliminate animal products from your diet altogether, especially not without consulting your doctor first. Certainly a vegan or vegetarian diet is not right for everybody, but ocassionally ordering that baked potato and salad instead of the burger and fries can vastly reduce your personal carbon footprint and may help to better your overall health in the process.

When you walk into your average grocery super-duper-mega-store you’re first confronted with a large selection of colorful produce…but if you take a close look at the stickers on those fruits and veggies you’ll see that the majority of them are grown in states (and often countries) hundreds or thousands of miles from your where you live. Most produce in the United States is picked as much as one week prior to being placed on supermarket shelves and they are shipped an average of 1300-1500 miles, and that’s just the produce grown in the US.

Considering the great distance most “fresh” produce is shipped, it should be no surprise that as fuel prices have skyrocketed, so too have the prices of your apples, oranges, and bananas…to name just a few. According to CNNMoney.com, the recent jump in food prices is the highest increase in nearly 20 years. Fruit and vegetable prices rose 2% in April alone and milk is 13.5% more expensive than it was this time last year.

In addition, the great cost to our environment in the form of massive carbon and methane emissions which result from industrial farming and agriculture is as much a consideration as the strain on the average American budget. According to The Independent Science Panel (www.indsp.org), industrial agriculture is responsible for 25% of the world’s carbon emissions, 60% of methane gas emissions, and 80% of nitrous oxide all elements which contribute to global warming. With fossil fuels coming closer and closer to “running dry”, industrial agriculture simply is not sustainable in it’s current form.

Small, local farms generally use less resources than the large industrial farms which grow the produce that go to the mega grocery store chains, local growers tend to use fewer or no pesticides, and often use organic growing methods. Far less fuel is used to transport local products to nearby farmer’s markets, and because farmer’s markets are usually outdoors they use less energy and resources to “power” than do the giant supermarkets. Finally, Buying locally helps to put money in the pockets of people who live in your community, and not in the pockets of wealthy corporations. Generally, less than 20 cents of each dollar goes to the growers of the produce you buy at the big chain supermarkets, where 80 to 90 cents of each dollar goes to the farmers who sell the fruits (and veggies) of their labor at your local farmer’s market.

So today we took a family trip to a local open-air farmer’s market at a nearby community college. We bought strawberries and a watermelon grown only 7 miles from our home, and my wife purchased natural lip balm made by a local artisan and we only spent about 10 dollars! I find that because local produce is often fresher at the time of purchase it tastes much better and lasts longer than the grocery store equivalent…and more cost effective. It was an enjoyable family outing and a rare opportunity to meet the people who grow and harvest the produce with their own hands. Another benefit of shopping locally is that the products are all fresh and healthy fruits, vegetables, homemade breads, natural products, etc…so you wont be inundated with the easy-to-prepare pre-packaged processed foods that are so prevalent in the American diet…instead you’ll be enticed by the smells, colors, and tastes of foods that we all know are good for us.

Not sure if there is a farmer’s market near you? Check out www.localharvest.org, where you can search by zip code to find one close to home! You may be surprised how many there are!

Okay, so it may seem that half of the posts on this blog have been about paper cups lately…but this is my last cup post for a while, I promise…

My colleague Jennifer spotted this eco-friendly cup in the “green” section of a gift shop in Northampton, MA over the weekend. Decor Craft Inc. out of Providence, RI manufactures and distributes these as a part of their “green” line. These cups may look like the same cup you get a ”Grande Frappuccino” at Starbucks, but they’re actually made of white porcelain with a silicone lid.

The “I am not a paper cup” cup is dishwasher safe, so it’s another great re-usable alternative to the little white paper cup that we all use at the office. This product retails at about $20, so it’s not exactly cheap but it will certainly last longer than the Styrofoam or paper alternatives, and because it is made of porcelain rather than polycarbonate plastic, there no risk of exposure to the controversial Bisphenol A (BPA) that everyone seems to be talking about these days.

Decor Craft Inc. also distributes other green products like bamboo cutting boards, cork pencil holders, and a clothespin trash can…..Thanks to Jennifer for the great tip!

Lately we have been discussing the possibility of doing some updates to our kitchen. When we bought our condo we immediately replaced the ugly yellow dilapidated 1980’s energy-suckingappliances with stainless steel Energy Star appliances, but we couldn’t afford to replace the counter-tops at that time. So now we’re taking a second look at some options for re-doing the kitchen in a more eco-friendly way.

First, we’ve decided to paint rather than replace our kitchen cabinets. This way, we’ll know that our old cabinets aren’t taking up needless space in a landfill somewhere, and we’ll save thousands of dollars in the process. Currently our cabinets are a blend of wood and composite material, they aren’t too pretty but they are solid but are a less-than-modern honey-pine color. We purchased a great bright white semi-gloss low-VOC (low in volatile organic compounds) paint from Sherwin-Williams. Low-VOC and no-VOC paints have almost no odor are durable and come in a variety of finishes and colors like most other latex paints, but are safer for the environment and help to reduce the amount of indoor air-pollutants. Soon our honey-pine cabinets will be a bright white and we will only spend the cost of paint and painting supplies. We like it when being green saves some green!

The only problem with the beautiful newly-painted white cabinet is that it will only accentuate our outdated cream colored 1980’s Formica counter-tops. Certainly the trend in kitchen remodelling of late is granite counter-tops, but granite is absolutely NOT a renewable resource regardless of how nice it looks. So there are some options: 1) We can replace our counter-tops with one of several more sustainable options…I found some examples here: Sunset.com – Eco-friendly kitchen counters…or 2) we can actually paint our old Formica counter-tops! So you might be thinking, “Um…you probably shouldn’t try painting Formica counter-tops”…but I’ve found several resources and testimonials on the web recently highlighting the great results some people have had with painting their counter-tops. In many cases people have been able to paint their laminate to look just like granite. See for yourself!

We’ve yet to decide which options we’ll go for…certainly painting the counter-tops will save yet another large item from the landfill, and will save a lot of money too, but purchasing an eco-friendly replacement counter-top would most likely be the less time-consuming and more guaranteed-to-be-aesthetically-pleasing option. So we have some options to consider. We will keep you posted on our progress and post some before and after photos once we’ve made the changes.

This week we’ll be focusing primarily on green-home and green-renovation topics since home-updates have been on our minds a lot lately.

Green Fact: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency studies found levels of about a dozen common organic pollutants to be 2 to 5 times higher inside homes than outside, regardless of whether the homes were located in rural or highly industrial areas. Additional TEAM studies indicate that while people are using products containing organic chemicals, they can expose themselves and others to very high pollutant levels, and elevated concentrations can persist in the air long after the activity is completed. (www.epa.gov)

If you haven’t notice, we’re just taking a little break. We’re working on some new features, so expect new blog postings to begin this weekend.

Thanks for your patience!

Recently I blogged about my obsessive re-use of the same paper cup for drinking water while at work. That same paper cup lasted for a total of 3 weeks and 4 days before it started to fall apart at the seams…so today I finally brought in a reusable ( and washable) polycarbonate water cup. This permanent solution has found it’s new home next to my coffee thermos on my desk. (thegreenguide.com)

Now I understand that there is some concern with regards to the safety of #7 polycarbonate plastics due to the use of the chemical compound bisphenol-A (BPA) in the production of these plastic materials. Because the jury is still out on the safety of these products I am just going to be happy that I am not filling up the landfills or killing additional trees by drinking out of this cup and I’m just going to continue to make sure that I don’t drink water that’s been sitting in the cup for too long (which I wouldn’t do anyway, because that would be kind of gross).

According to Alternet.com’s Environmental Page, “North America uses 60 per cent of the world’s paper cups, 130 billion of them per year. Those cups require about 50 million trees and 33 billion gallons of water, which could sequester 9.3 million tonnes of CO2 and quench 550,000 drought-stricken citizens of the state of Georgia”

So for now I will stick to my polycarbonate cup and keep my eyes peeled for a nice BPA free stainless steel alternative!

In the market for a new car, or feeling crunched by $4.00 a gallon gas? Maybe you’re considering a more fuel efficient or more environmentally friendly alternative?

We stumbled upon the following article which highlights some of the greenest vehicles on the market today!

Article of the Week: Greenest Cars of 2008: 12 Vehicles with the Lightest Environmental Impact @ msn.com

Living green has never been so stylish or functional with these homemade grocery bags that you can make by recycling an old T-shirt! The standard “green bags” sold in grocery stores are no doubt better than plastic, however still require the use of natural resources to produce and transport. On a recent trip to a popular chain grocery store, I was surprised to see how much packaging these bags were shipped in, and then displayed and sold in clear plastic bags…Who needs a bag to carry a bag?? These T-shirt bags are a fun project for a rainy day.

Here’s how:

1. Take an old T-shirt, turn it inside out and line up bottom and secure with pins.
2. Stitch along bottom seam.
3. Cut off sleeves and ribbing around neck of shirt (as if you were making a tank). Try to cut through both layers at once so it comes out even.
4. Fold back and pin along cut edges to make a new seam. Run an iron along new seams to make sewing easier (just be careful when ironing pins with plastic heads so they don’t melt).
5. Finish sewing bag to reinforce handles and bag opening.
6. (Optional) Embellish or turn your bags into a fun art project for kids by letting them paint or stencil, and learn about the importance of recycling.

The best part is that you can fit a ton of groceries in these bags, they don’t rip like their plastic or paper counterparts, they are soft to the touch so they don’t hurt your hands when you carry them in the house, and they can be used for a variety of purposes…not just grocery shopping…. Not to mention, if they get dirty you can just throw them in the washer and dryer and use them over and over again.

Green Fact: “Plastic bags start as petrochemicals, which are transformed into polymers and are, in turn, heated, shaped, cooled, flattened, sealed, punched, and printed on, all of which require energy. But still only 0.6% of plastic bags are recycled, with the USA throwing away 100 billion bags a year.” (1001 Little Ways to Save the Planet; Small Changes to Create a Greener, Eco-friendly World by Esme Floyd)

We’re watching the exclusive sneak preview of Discovery Network’s new sustainable living television network…on the Discovery Health Network right now!

Get more information here: http://planetgreen.discovery.com/

Nova: Car of the Future…on PBS right now…

It’s a great documentary about the search for a more environmentally friendly means of transportation…

Watch the rest of the documentary after the jump…
Read the rest of this entry »

In many ways, it is more environmentally friendly to live in a condominium than a single family home. There are several reasons for this, including the fact that more families can live on a single acre of land, less energy is used due to shared heating and cooling of a single building, and the close proximity of amenities such as pools, clubhouses, and friendly neighbors reduces the need to travel long distances for fun and socializing. One clear downside of living in a condo is the inability to own land for gardening. Some condo complexes have shared gardening space, but our particular complex does not provide such space.

We feel pretty strongly about sustainable agriculture and have been pretty bummed about our inability to grow our own vegetables…so we’ve decided to conduct an experiment. A few weeks ago we purchased an upside-down tomato planter and are attempting to grow tomatoes and other vegetables on our balcony. So far, the plants seem to be doing really well (although our neighbors have been shooting perplexed looks in the general direction of our “tomato tree”. Supposedly, we should have harvest-able tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash in as little as 2 months. We’ll keep you posted on our progress and hopefully you’ll be seeing pictures of some delicious, home-grown, organic vegetables on here very soon. Our next experiment will be balcony-grown strawberries!

Green Agriculture Fact: Researchers from the Department of Economics at the University of Essex put the annual cost of environmental damage caused by industrial farming in the United States at $34.7 billion (www.sustainabletable.org)

If you’re interested in getting your own upside-down tomato planter or other condo and apartment friendly gardening equipment and ideas, check out www.topsyturveys.com

For this week’s Green Article of the Week, we thought we’d point you toward one of our favorite green resources at the Environmental Working Group’s website…

This Week’s Article:
The Environmental Working Group: 10 Everyday Pollution Solutions

Like most offices, we have a water cooler and a single-cup coffee maker in my office building…it’s just a few steps outside my door, so it’s pretty easy to stay hydrated (and caffinated) around here. For a while there I was mindlessly taking a new paper cup every time I got up to get a drink of water. Maybe I decided I would get some water on the way from one office back to my own, or maybe it had been a few hours since last I filled up and I just forgot that I already had an empty once-used cup sitting on my desk? A couple of weeks ago while peeling an orange I looked down at my office garbage can and noticed about 5 nearly pristine empty paper cups staring back up at me…

“Five cups?” I thought to myself. “I couldn’t possibly have used five cups between now and noon…could I have? Surely the custodian simply forgot to empty my trash yesterday”, I insisted to myself…

Unfortunately that was not the case, i had actually used five cups in that short period of time…pretty bad for someone developing a blog all about living green, right?!

How could I remedy this sin? Well…I made a vow to myself that I would use the same paper cup for the next two weeks…yeah, yeah I know that’s kind of gross, but I rinse it out with hot water once a day (I’m only using it for water, I have a metal thermos or ceramic mug that I use for coffee) and it’s held up really surprisingly well. I just don’t have the heart to throw it out now…but maybe I should just bring in another thermos (one that doesn’t perpetually taste and smell like coffee)…

I think this is just an example of one of those little changes that can make a big difference. Condsidering my average, I could use (and throw away) as many as 1,500 paper cups in a year…and that’s just me, there are over 20 people in my small office building alone….you do the math.

–brian

To kick off Everydayenvironmentlist.net we thought we’d start with our first Green Article of the Week post!

For this series we will search the web for useful articles related to everything green.
 

This Week’s Article:
Green @ MSN.com: Which Green Upgrades Are Worth the Extra Expense?

Our motto is…”It’s actually pretty easy being green…” whether that well known frog believes it or not!

So much more is coming soon…stay tuned….