Check out the newest wave of daily doses: Ideal Bite. Ideal Bite is "bite-sized ideas for light green living" that arrives daily in your inbox with smart little tips on how to live well and live green. Ideal Bite is surprisingly relevant, fun, and au currant. You can subscribe to your city's edition or get a taste of the green life across the country. Try a bite. The Green Bug
The first signs of spring (read: resort) are popping up in stores these days and tempting us with the promise of crisp whites, navy's, and warmer weather. While we wait out boring, snoring January - take an hour this weekend to purge your closet and make way for a new look. As you make your "to go" piles, feel good about the fact that your castaways will find a second life in valuable use to textile recyclers. Only about 10% of donated clothes ever end up for resale, the rest are sold to textile recycling companies to be recycled into cleaning cloths and other industrial items. The charities receive a nice profit in exchange. It's a perfect example of renew, reuse, recycle.
Thanks to Eco-Expert Danny Seo for the tip.
It's a learning curve- to bring the bag into the store. You left it in the car. You left it on the counter. You mean well, but it's another eight plastic bags stuffed into that container under the sink again. Cut your loss and put a bag in your bag. The Baggu Bags are a saving grace to cityfolk and soccer moms alike. Throw it in your bag, briefcase, or backpack and forgo the plastic. Smart, simple, and perfect for stockings. The Green Bug
It's becoming very clear that you are in fact, what you eat. With antibiotics, hormone injections, pesticides, chemicals, and other nasty things popping up in our kitchen staples it's clear that we must eat green. Find your local Whole Foods and embrace it. And if you've got a little extra in your monthly budget, you might think about buying stock in this growing company in addition to your weekly groceries. We all know that dairy, meat, fruits, and vegetables are on the Must Buy Organic List, but here are a couple that you might not have guessed:
Potatoes - A staple of the American diet, the potato accounts for 30 percent of our overall vegetable consumption and commercially-farmed potatoes are some of the most pesticide-contaminated vegetables. A 2006 U.S.D.A. test found 81 percent of potatoes tested still contained pesticides after being washed and
peeled, and the potato has one of the the highest pesticide contents of 43 fruits and vegetables tested.
Peanut butter - More than 99% of peanut farms use conventional farming practices, including the use of fungicide to treat mold. Note: More acres are devoted to growing peanuts than any
other fruits, vegetable or nut, according to the U.S.D.A.
Ketchup - For some families, ketchup accounts for a large part of the household vegetable intake. About 75 percent of tomato consumption is in the form of processed tomatoes, including juice, tomato paste and ketchup. Also,recent research has shown organic ketchup has about double the antioxidants of conventional ketchup.
Research courtesy of K.O. for President and the New York Times Blog. The Green Bug
Hybrid sales are up 49% in the first seven months of this year, due in large part to a boom in the Midwest. With a significant increase on the West Coast, Northeast, and South, hybrids are a bright spot in a U.S. market that is otherwise down. Reports predict that total U.S. hybrid sales will exceed 300,000 this year, or more than 2 percent of all sales. With gas prices and environmental consciousness on the rise, there's no reason not to go green when you buy your next car.
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1. Austin, TX
2. Berkeley, CA
3. Boston, MA
4. Chicago, IL
5. Minneapolis, MN
6. New York City, NY
7. Philadelphia, PA
8. Portland, OR
9. San Francisco, CA
10. Seattle, WA
Information courtesy of www.treehugger.com. The Green Bug
Neither rain nor hail nor sleet nor snow nor unsustainable materials...shall stop your mail from getting through. The United States Postal Service has announced that they are going green! Once their current supply of mailing envelopes and priority boxes is exhausted, the organization will implement a program utilizing materials made from 100% recycled product. Each year the Postal Service hands out 500 million envelopes and boxes free of charge for Priority and Express mail. "By making those packages with recycled materials and using less ink and more biodegradable adhesives, the service hopes to keep more than 15,000 metric tons of carbon emissions out of the air." Nice move Mr. Postman.
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Calling all green New Yorkers with style. If you're in the neighborhood next weekend, plan to stop by the Farmer's Market for something delicious and head over to the Haute Green exhibit in Union Square. They have some amazing pieces of innovative green technology and design - sure to open our eyes to the wonder of sustainable style. Saturday, May 19- Monday, May 21st at 33 West 19th Street (between 5th & 6th Ave).
For more information, visit www.hautegreen.com. (And thanks to the brilliant Dr.Ross for the recommendation.)
As the season of graduations, showers, and weddings approaches, here is a fresh idea for what to give: trees. At Arbor Day, you can invest in the future of our planet by repopulating the depleted forests. 10 trees for $10. Further, there's a significant return on your investment. "Over the course of 50 years, a single tree can produce $31,250 of oxygen, provide $62,000 worth of air pollution control, recycle $37,500 worth of water, and control $31,500 worth of soil erosion."
As we face a global climate crisis, it just may be about time to stray from the registry.
Visit www.arborday.com for more information on how to contribute. The Green Bug
Who doesn't love this quirky little step stool! Made of vintage yardsticks and old soda pop crates, this would be such a fabulous accent piece in a kitchen or kids room. And though it's a bit hard to see in the photograph, the chair would be perfect in a home office! Raising the bar with recycled furniture...
For more excellent, eco-friendly products, go to www.vivaterra.com. The Green Bug.
Brilliant news from the U.K.!
Ecoigo is a British taxi/car service providing transportation in and around London with a completely hybrid fleet of cars. The company is dedicated to reducing carbon emissions while providing a highly stylish and environmentally conscious travel alternative. I'm hoping that New York will be the next city to catch on. Wouldn't it be fantastic if the yellow cabs of Manhattan went green?
In other news from across the pond, J.K. Rowling is publishing the 7th and final installment of Harry Potter with an environmentally friendly green printing for the entire 12 million first edition. The paper will contain "a minimum of 30% post-consumer waste fiber.” The "deluxe" edition of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will receive a first printing of 100,000 copies on 100% post-consumer waste fiber.
Eco- we all go!
Check out the fantastic chauffeur service at www.ecoigo.com and get excited for July 21 when H.P. hits the shelves. The Green Bug 
Oscar night was wickedly long and surprisingly entertaining. Highlights include the wholeheartedly human and hilarious Ellen, a phenomenal chorus of sound effect talent, and the luminous Helen Mirren and Diane Keaton who are bringing sexy back in a very real way.
But the big winner of the night was the environment. Hollywood is kicking off a campaign to put the fight against global warming in the spotlight. The green bug was everywhere! From the Hybrid cars to the energy conscious set design- there was Leo, Melissa Ethridge's Best Song, and the man of the hour: former Vice President, Nobel Prize nominee, and newly minted Oscar winner Al Gore. Being green is not at all inconvenient. Here are 10 little ways to make a big difference.
1. Change a light bulb. Replacing one traditional bulb with a compact fluorescent bulb will save 150 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.
2. Drive less. Walk, ride a bike, or take public transportation. You will save one pound of carbon dioxide fore very mile you don't drive.
3. Recycle. You can save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide a year by recycling half of your household waste. No excuses.
4. Check your tires. Keeping your tires properly inflated can improve gas mileage by 3%. Every gallon of gas saved keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.
5. Use less hot water. It takes a lot of energy to heat water. Wash your clothes in cold, keep your showers short (better for the skin as well!), and install a governor on your faucet. You'll save 500 pounds a year just doing the laundry.
6. Avoid products with a lot of packaging. You'll save 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide a year by cutting your garbage by 10% Do your grocery shopping on the outer aisles of the market and help yourself to a helping of health.
7. Plant a tree. A single tree will absorb a ton or carbon dioxide over its lifetime. Go to www.arborday.org and see how easy and affordable it can be.
8. Adjust your thermostat. Move your thermostat 2 degrees up in the summer and 2 degrees in down in the winter and you will save about 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. If nothing else, it's a great reason to buy the cashmere sweater you want.
9. Turn off your electrical appliances. Unplug your unsightly cell phone charger. Turn off your DVD player, I Pod, and printers. Use only what you need when you need it and save thousands of pounds a year.
10. Get the word out! Watch the movie, read the website, and spread the word. Have a green party. A very good idea for tomorrow's post...
For more information and resources: visit www.climatecrisis.net.
Take Action steps courtesy of An Inconvenient Truth and climatecrisis.net. Get The Green Bug.
