Green Is The New Black Volume III

The "five green tips" series continues!  To see volume I click here.  Volume II in the series can be found here.

It truly is easy being green.  Anything you do to improve your carbon footprint is a win!  You don't need to go "off grid" and become a vegan to live lightly. It's all about making good choices that are easier on the earth. Regular people like you and I with busy lives, children and careers who have been entrenched in a society that promotes consumables and waste CAN make a difference! Here are some more easy ways you can help:

11. Meatless Monday's. Eat just one less meal that contains meat per week and save 300lbs of CO2 per year.  You don't need to become a vegetarian, but if you replaced one steak dinner per week with a meatless alternative, you would not only save CO2, but you'd save 40,200 gallons of water in a year--that's roughly equal to the water used to take 1300 showers. For more information you can visit the Meatless Monday website.

12. If every North American citizen recycled only half of their annual waste, we'd recycle a 280 million TON mountain of trash--the equivalent of 550 Empire State buildings.  Here are some quick stats on recycling to explain the benefit: recycling just one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a 100 watt bulb for 20 hours, a computer for 3 hours or a TV for 2 hours. (EPA, 2008). Glass can be recycled forever.  Americans throw away enough glass bottles and jars every week to fill both the former world trade centre towers...imagine the impact to our landfill sites.  Plastic is also prime for recycling.  If every North American recycled just one out of every 10 plastic bottles, it would keep 200 million pounds of plastic out of landfill sites. 

13.  Paying bills online saves time, postage and trees.  If everyone switches to online banking, we could cut 2.1 million tons of CO2 a year!

14. Use cloth shopping bags. Over 500 billion petroleum-based plastic bags threaten wildlife, waste energy, pollute oceans, and clog our landfill sites each year.

15. Install ceiling fans to keep you cool in the summer. When winter rolls around, run the fans in reverse to push the warm air down and conserve heat. Remember, a two degree adjustment to your thermostat can prevent a TON of CO2 per year!

Do you have any ideas or tips, leave a comment and let us know about it! You can also tweet with us on Twitter.

Carbon Brutal To Carbon Neutral In 4 Easy Steps

I just posted a new article on Squidoo about living a greener life.  You can check it out by clicking on the title of this blog post. Let me know if you find it helpful!

Green is the New Black-Is Back! (More Tips for a Green Lifestyle)

Here are a few sticky notes off my wall with tips I've come across for living a greener life.  To see the first five tips click here.

As always, we'd love to hear your tips for living a greener lifestyle.  Please leave us a comment or chat with us on Twitter.

ANGeLRoX Partners with EcoStylish!

We are so very excited to share with you the launch of ANGeLRoX products at EcoStylish!

The ANGeLRoX collection is designed by Roxi Sugar who is, by the way, an absolutely delightful and brilliantly talented lady.

Not only do we love her beautiful designs, but we are delighted that Roxi is so committed to sustainability and the impact of her clothing on the environment. Her designs are timeless in a way that transcends the wasteful fashion engine that encourages consumers to buy trends for one season.

Her fabrics are naturally derived bamboo, and organic cotton fibres that are sumptuous on the skin and also biodegradable. Most of the collection is made in Brooklyn, NY using locally sourced fabrics. The few imported items in the collection are made in sweat shop free facilities that guarantee fair wages.

Roxi is committed to philanthropy and has a solid portfolio of charities that ANGeLRoX supports. With her collection, Roxi hopes to inspire people to treat themselves, others and the planet with equal respect and harmony.  We can't think of many goals more worthy than that one!

Green is the New Black!

You don't have to wait until Earth Day to make some relatively small changes to your habits that can have a big effect!  Here are a few of my favorite "green" tips:

1. When you are in the market for a new computer, why not consider a laptop.  It saves space, is portable, and uses 5 times less energy than a desktop!

2. This is one of my recent favorites! Instead of sending your old rugs to the landfill, check with local animal shelters to see if they can use them. Old towels, blankets and sheets are also appreciated.

3. Buy shade grown coffee. It's grown naturally right under the rainforest canopy, preserving forests from clear-cutting and leaving more trees to absorb CO2.

4. The power of one: If every North American home replaced just one light bulb with a CFL bulb, we'd save more than enough energy to light 3 million homes for a year!

5. Washing clothes in cold water eliminates 2lbs of CO2 per load. In my household full of kids, that really adds up over the year!

Do you have any green tips you'd like to share? Please leave us a comment or chat with us on twitter.

Gifts That Give Back!

My family is slowly beginning to understand my desire to be a socially conscious consumer and it shows in the gifts I received this year!

I'm a gadget geek and the number one gift on my list this year was an iPod touch.  Not only do I love Apple's intuitive designs and cutting edge technology, but I wholly support their mission to report the environmental impact of their products in a comprehensive manner. I can easily pull up the CO2 emissions created in the manufacture of my iPod and offset accordingly. My iPod is highly recyclable when it reaches it's end of life, has a mercury free display, is PVC free and is made with power-efficient components.  On top of all that, my family gave me a Novothink Surge hybrid solar charger. Not only are these great gadgets, but they reflect a definite focus on respecting the environment on behalf of Apple and Novothink.

Another socially responsible gadget I received this year was a teeny tiny camcorder.  Not only is the Flip Mino HD a hip little gadget, but they have this amazing program called "Flip for Good".  In conjunction with Cafe Press, they've created a crazy variety of designs that can be printed on your Flip in order to support one of 17 different non-profit charities. A portion of the proceeds from my flip ($10USD) will support "Go Campaign" work for orphaned and vulnerable children around the world. Now THAT is something I can really feel good about.

It's easy to find socially responsible and earth friendly gifts that your family will love.  Every choice we make can have a positive impact.

Would you like to share your story about a socially responsible gift you gave or recieved this year? I'd love to hear from you.  Please leave a comment below or connect with us on twitter.

Four Fun Facts About Recycling (That Just Might Surprise You)!

I've heard a lot of statistics this year about recycling and some of them are outright jaw dropping.  Here are a few that stand out:

1. An aluminum can that ends up in a landfill site will still be an aluminum can 500 years from now. Recycling that very same aluminum can save enough energy to power a TV for 3 to 4 hours. Wow.


2. If all Americans recycled just 1/10th of their newspapers, it would save 25,000,000 trees a year. No kidding.

3. 4000 years.  That's the minimum length of time it takes for a modern glass bottle to decompose.  The energy saved by recycling that same glass bottle can power a 100 watt bulb for 4 hours.

4. 38 Million.  That's a very low estimate of the number of disposable water bottles that North Americans use each year--most of which end up in landfill where it can take up to 700 years for them to decompose. Recycling just five 2L PET bottles makes enough fiberfill to stuff a ski jacket. It's not hard to see that recycling is the better solution.

Have you read any fun recycling facts you would like to share? Please feel free to leave a comment or to connect with me on twitter.