I want to know if you experience the same frustration as me when using my own sacks at the grocery store. I have five Chico Bags from Greenfeet.com. I bring them with me when I shop. At the mall it is no big deal. At the grocery store they act like I am really putting them out for using them. I go to the same checker, if he is there, because he seems to deal with them the best. The other day the manager was checking and she looked at me like I was crazy. I really thought she had not encountered anyone using their own bags before. Am I really the only one carrying around bags?

The one checker that I usually go to slips my bags on the little wire thing in front if him and just sacks as he rings up stuff. The sacks don't fit the wire thing all that great. That makes me think there might be a better sack out there that the checkers would find easier to use. I live in Fort Worth and the town just to the east of us is Arlington. Arlington is going to ban all plastic grocery sacks starting at the beginning of the year. I thought that was very forward thinking of them. Why then is Fort Worth so different?

Just wanted to know what others are doing.

Recycla emailed back to let Jeanette that she doesn't usually have problems when she uses her cloth bags. That said, it occurred to Recycla later that a couple of years ago she did have semi-regular problems with grocery store baggers who were resistant to change, but that hasn't happened in a while. In fact, she recently went to Walmart for the first time in months and, when she handed the cashier a cloth bag for her purchases, the store employee didn't even hesitate. Now THAT is progress.

Recycla is curious about other Eco Warriors' experiences. Are you using cloth bags (the answer should be YES) and, if so, have you had any problems?

For a round up of great places to buy cloth shopping bags, click here.

                  Don't you thing we should  fight against the danger caused by global warming ,don't you thing we should reduce the amount of carbon dioxide released to the atmosphere,We can certainly do it.As every friends of environment say why don't we use bicycle's for short distances ,use the transport system ,why do we depend upon  our private vehicles? . Fuel prices are also high ,it has gone up at a huge rate . Why should we bring our cars to colleges  why can't we enjoy the student's concession in private buses it will only cost us the price of a liter petrol for a month we can also save our environment and also our money.

Why cant we be  Eco Friendly?    

                                                              Reduce Reuse Recycle

Zinio is a digital magazine provider that gives you access to the full content of 20 current magazines at a time. Currently, they're offering everything from PC World to Penthouse - just don't get caught reading the latter at work.

Recycla will fully confess that she is not a Zinio subscriber at this time, as she absolutely adores getting a magazine in the mail and then settling herself into a comfortable chair to enjoy an hour or so of reading pleasure. When she's finished with her magazines, she passes them on to other people for them to enjoy too.

Scrapbooking is one of the hottest hobbies in the U.S. While Recycla personally does not scrapbook, she appreciates the creativity and effort that go into each page. Unfortunately, scrapbooking produces a lot of paper waste.

The good news is that there is an eco alternative -- digital scrapbooking. Scrap Girls provides all the necessary online tools to help you put together some very creative scrapbook pages. You just browse the templates, upload your photos, and add your captions. All without using a single piece of paper or needing to purchase special scissors or having to hunt down the perfect stickers!

If any of you Eco Warriors have tried this, please let the Eco Women know what you think.  And for those of you who are scrapbookers, have you found any other ways to green your hobby?

Yay Target!

• Keep your fridge full -- Refrigerators and freezers use one-sixth of the energy in the average American home. Every time you open your fridge warm air flows in, forcing the appliance to readjust its temperature. The more items in the fridge and freezer, the less the temperature changes when the door opens, which cuts down on overall energy consumption.
• Use your microwave -- Microwaves use 50-65% less energy than the standard oven. For reheating or steaming, opt for this instead of turning on the stove.
• Use a dishwasher -- Just because doing the dishes by hand feels virtuous, doesn’t mean you’re saving the earth. You can reduce your water consumption by 37% by using the dishwasher. Don’t pre-rinse, as it uses more water -- just load load dishes dirty. Make sure to run the dishwsher only when the washer is completely full. Also, keep your hands off the heat-dry button; let dishes air dry.
• Invest in your cookware -- You’ll find yourself consuming less, if you pay a few extra dollars for cookware that lasts. Swear off Teflon and stick to stainless steel or cast iron pots and pans, use high quality wooden spoons, and cloth towels instead of paper.

That's the list Recycla came up with.  Can any of you think of others?

Fast Fact courtesy of The Daily Green.

1. Eliminate bottled water.  Instead of buying cases of bottled water for functions, invest in a 2 or 5 gallon beverage dispenser.  Instead of selling bottled water at concession stands, sell team logo water bottles that players and families can reuse--or find a donor to supply them to your local teams at the ballpark or soccer field at the start of the season.

2.  Make the environment part of your organization's mission.  Host a trash pick-up day at school or at your public park as an event and follow it up with a potluck picnic.  Invite families to plant a tree or flower in a public park--a lot of nurseries will donate supplies for free or little cost.  When people invest themselves in a place by cleaning it up and beautifying it, they're more likely to keep it looking nice.  Adopt an abandoned lot or stretch of road for an annual garbage pick up. Ask your city council if abandoned properties might be better used as community garden space.   After each game, ask your Little League players to leave the ball diamond looking nicer than when they arrived.

3.  Raise money through environmentally friendly fund raisers.  Instead of selling more "stuff," sell consumable things like soy candles, garden plants, or birdseed.  Sell services like babysitting at a kiddie corral.  Sell your labor--lawn care, window washing, car washing, gutter cleaning.  Service fundraisers have little or no overhead, meaning 90% profit or more for your club or organization.

4.  Keep your fundraising local.  Contact local shops and manufacturers and sell their products instead of catalog goods made in China and shipped out of California.  There's a cheesemaker down the road?  Find out if they'll sell coupons for certain items and share the profits with your group.  There's a grocery store?  Ask if they'll let you have a hamburger or chicken barbeque stand by their entrance on a Saturday--and help supply you with charcoal, buns and meat.  Invite local crafters sell their products at a fair and collect an admission or booth fee--combined with concessions and some local entertainment (magician, musician, kid talent show) and you'll have a fun day everyone can enjoy and profit from.  Host a dessert buffet with local restaurants participating.

5.  Reuse supplies from year to year.  Most kids have more team t-shirts than they know what to do with.  Collect them at the end of the season and store them for next year's players.  Hold a collection drive for used and outgrown equipment--shin guards, balls, bats, and shoes and distribute the gear to coaches and players at a tournament or the first week of practice.

6.  Reduce your organization's use of paper by communicating via email or website.  You'll also save money on postage.

7.  Double your efforts by working with another organization and increasing your manpower while not adding events to your calendar.  A high school sports team doesn't have concession sales during their games or tournament?  Ask them if they'll profit share if your group works their event.  Split the popcorn and Gatorade sales 50-50 (or 30-70) and both organizations benefit.  A local theater production might desire concessions made available at intermission.  PTA members might enjoy cheap onsite childcare while attending a meeting.  Enviro-Girl would gladly pay a group of Girl Scouts or National Honor Society inductees to babysit her younger children at a kiddie corral while watching her oldest play his Little League games.

Suggesting one "green" method for fundraising or managing your organization can send a BIG message to others and make a SIGNIFICANT change in your environmental impact.

1. Make a terrarium -- For how-to's, click here.
2. Make a bird feeder -- Use a knife to cut two holes at the bottom of the bottle large enough to slide a stick through for a bird perch (perfect use for a disposable chopstick). Next, cut a few holes above the perch for retrieving seed. Finally, fill with seed, tie a string around the top and hang.
3. Flower pot. Decorate the bottom half of the soda bottle and plant a flower (or replant your terrarium population).
4. Conserve. Fill the two liter bottle with water and place it in your toilet tank to use less water with every flush.
5. Water your veggies -- Cut the bottom off and then bury most of the bottle upside down next to a tomato plant. When you water, pour into the 2 liter bottle and the water will go down to the plant's roots.

Tips courtesy of The Green Daily.

Use less CRAP, people! Reuse your crap! Recycle your crap!

~ Sarah H

: : : : : : : : : : :

All statistics in this video are true and based on real reports from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Diapers really do make up only 1.4% of the waste stream, while paper products and yard waste make up 47%. NO, paper and yard waste do NOT decompose in landfills. Landfills are designed to be a "dry tomb" environment; waste becomes mummified due to the lack of moisture and air flow.

What's in your landfill?

REDUCE - REUSE - RECYCLE

For more info, visit http://www.epa.gov/msw/facts.htm

~ Sarah H

: : : : : : : : : : :

On average, each American uses a staggering 2,200 paper napkins a year, none of them recycled. Why not reduce waste (and deforestation) by choosing cloth instead?

Recycla's family uses cloth napkins with dinner almost every night. Recycla has collected a variety of napkins over the years, and her daughters like to choose which napkins they use each evening. Not surprisingly, the girls skew toward florals.

Recycla particularly loves the selection, quality, and prices of napkins at World Market. A locally-owned shop nearby sells Ten Thousand Villages products -- a wonderful source of Fair Trade goods from all over the world, including some beautiful napkins. One can also find a large selection at Target, which is where Recycla found her favorite striped napkins.

Other inexpensive ways to purchase cloth napkins:

• Scout out thrift shops and other second-hand stores.
• For fancier meals, check out local antique stores for old linen napkins.
• Does your grandmother have any old napkins she'd like to share?
• Make your own: If you have any fraying shirts, such as oxford cloth men's shirts, cut out squares and you're ready to roll. Hemming the edges is optional.

Some people would argue that using cloth napkins uses resources too -- the napkins have to be washed. True, but the overall use of resources is less and the napkins don't add much bulk to one's laundry. And, of course, the napkins don't have to washed after each use. And, no, Recycla does not iron her cloth napkins.

Recycla must confess that her family only uses cloth napkins during dinner but not during other meals. Yes, Recycla knows her family should use cloth all the time, but she's not perfect and she's trying to make easy changes where possible. The family uses Seventh Generation 100% Recycled Napkins for breakfast and lunch. These napkins aren't pretty, but that's not the point. By using napkins made from recycled paper, Recycla feels slightly better about her wastefulness.

If the idea of switching from paper to cloth seems a bit much, ease into it. Use cloth napkins for one meal per week, such as Sunday dinner. Doing so helps cut back a little on waste and we all know that every little bit counts.

Maintaining the pitcher is easy:  Every three months, Recycla uses the water in the pitcher to water her plants.  She washes the pitcher and adds a new filter.  But what to do with the old filter?  Can it be recycled in any way?

If Recycla lived in Europe, the answer would be YES!  Germany has a Brita filter take-back system in which the filters are reused and recycled.

Here in the U.S., however, the answer is NO. When the filter comes to the end of its life, it goes into the trash, thereby leading to more potentially recyclable materials ending up in landfills.

That may soon end.  A group of U. S. Eco Warriors has started the Take Back the Filter Campaign to encourage Clorox (the company who owns Brita in the U.S.) to start a recycling program similar to the one in Germany.

It's easy to show your support:

• Visit the site.
• Sign the petition.
• Send your used filters to: Take Back the Filter, 5245 College Avenue, Box 815, Oakland, CA 94618
• Spread the word.

This may seem like a little thing, but remember that it's the little things that make a difference!

Seven other ways Enviro-Girl has found to reduce, reuse, and recycle on a dime include:

1. Reusing shopping bags -- (yes, she knows she harps on this incessantly can you say obsessive?) Most stores will give you 5 or 10 cents' credit for each bag you reuse. That's equivalent to a 50 cent coupon when Enviro-Girl makes her weekly trip to the grocery store.

2. Reusing plastic bread bags (or bagel or bun -- you get the drift). Instead of buying Ziplock bags, use these empty sacks for storing chex mix, sack lunches, or homemade baked goods.

3. Reusing plastic food containers (from margarine, yogurt, sour cream, etc.) for food storage. The plastics used to make these containers are fragile however, so DO NOT HEAT THEM IN A MICROWAVE. But for cold food storage (salad dressings, jello, marinated cucumbers) they can't be beat. Enviro-Girl also keeps these on hand for meals she gives away to other families because then she doesn't have to worry about getting her containers back!

4. Buy a water bottle and use it instead of buying bottled water. Ditto for travel coffee mugs.

5. Don't overlook your inheritance. Enviro-Girl has some top-notch cookware and kitchen utensils straight from her grandmother's kitchen. Her ice cream scoop is over 70 years old and it's made out of some heavy-duty metal. Ditto her measuring cups and serving spoons. Back when Grandma stocked her kitchen, things were made with quality and craftsmanship. When Grandma died, Enviro-Girl was happy to take on her used dishes, pots and pans while her cousin shunned them, desiring matching stuff from Crate & Barrel and Younker's instead. Sure, Enviro-Girl's cousin's kitchen matches, but she's also had to replace half that stuff because it wasn't built to last. She also spent a lot of money buying new while Enviro-Girl reused for free.

6. If you can't inherit, reuse by buying used at a thrift shop or rummage sale. Glassware, pots, pans, utensils, dishes, casserole dishes and can openers can be had for a song and buy buying used, you can have an easy conscience that you didn't contribute to landfills with packaging or manufacturing waste. Enviro-Girl has a cunning set of 8 cordial glasses that cost around $3.00 -- new they'd cost her $30.00.

7. Cook your gifts! Instead of buying a new mother yet another sleeper or rattle, prepare her a meal that she can eat that night or freeze for a future day when baby won't sleep. That new mother will appreciate the break from kitchen duty far more than more clothes or plastic toys made in China. For teacher appreciation gifts, bake up banana bread or chocolate chip cookies instead of buying an "I Heart Teaching" coffee mug or Avon lotion. Save your money on a housewarming gift and give a new neighbor a basket full of muffins ala Bree Van De Kamp!

Recycla doesn't like to take the car out for only a one-mile round trip drive, so she decided to also run errands and make more efficient use of the car. As the fridge in Recycla household was echoing in its emptiness, Recycla felt the time had come to go to the grocery store. She grabbed her cloth shopping bags and headed out the door with her children.

Recycla wasn't really thinking about saving the earth while she was at the grocery store. She was just there to get milk, cereal, apples, and other necessities so that her children wouldn't starve. She did put her fruits and veggies in her reusable produce bags, thereby eliminating the use of approximately four plastic bags. She also opted not to buy cookies for her children, knowing that she could bake something far yummier and for less money and waste. (Now if only Recycla actually bakes those cookies...) And, of course, Recycla had her groceries bagged in the cloth bags she brought from home. Recycla was at Whole Foods, which does not offer plastic grocery bags, so she figures she DID NOT use about six paper bags. If Recycla had been at a different store that does offer plastic bags, she WOULD NOT have used approximately ten plastic bags.

As Recycla was stowing her groceries in the trunk of her fuel efficient car, another car pulled into the space next to hers. The lady shopper got out and, briefly, the two women made eye contact. The other shopper glanced over at Recycla's cloth bags and said, "Oops, forgot my bags." She then reached into her vehicle and pulled out her own pile of cloth bags.

At that moment, Recycla felt a warm glow in her heart -- probably entirely unrelated to the coat she was wearing -- and realized that she had just made a difference. A small difference, true, but it doesn't matter. Because all it takes is for everyone to make one change. Use one less bag today and next week that bag won't be in a landfill or, worse, next month in the stomach of an animal that mistook it for food.

Now extrapolate a bit. Imagine if everyone eliminated just ONE bag every week. Or FIVE bags every week. Think about how many bags that is over the course of a year. Now, if you haven't already, go find your cloth bags and put them in your car, on the passenger seat next to you, so that you'll remember to use them the next time you shop. If you don't understand the reasons why you should cut back on your use of plastic bags, or you need to know where to buy some, please click here.

It's going to be a good day.

________________________________________________________________
Hoje, dia 22 de abril é o Dia da Terra, que diga-se de passagem, deveria ser lembrado todos os dias. Afinal, ela nos abriga, nos alimenta, além de nos oferecer recursos essenciais para a nossa sobrevivência. Mas a nossa relação com a Terra está um tanto desequilibrada, porque recebemos dela muitos benefícios, mas em troca exploramos demasiadamente seus recursos naturais, geramos muito lixo, poluímos sem qualquer controle e vivemos em uma cultura de excessos e desperdícios.

O Dia da Terra foi instituído em 1970, por um senador norte-americano em protesto contra a poluição, e a partir de 1990, passou a ser celebrado mundialmente. De lá para cá, a situação só piorou, aumentando cada vez mais o desequilíbrio da relação homem x Terra. Parece que ninguém se lembra que uma vez os recursos esgotados, não temos como repô-los. Já pensou o que pode acontecer às gerações futuras? Nosos filhos, netos e bisnetos?
Sim, há muito o que ser feito pelos governantes e empresas, a consciência deve ser global, mas devemos agir localmente, começando por nossas casas.

O que podemos fazer?
Lembra do conceito dos 3 Rs? Isso mesmo, mantenha ele sempre em mente, pois ele pode ser aplicado para todas as nossas atitudes e escolhas do dia-a-dia. Outras dicas importantes são:

CONSUMO CONSCIENTE:
Dê preferência a produtos com menos embalagens e de empresas que possuam responsabilidade sócio-ambiental. Use a sua criatividade para comprar cada vez menos, reutilizando o que você já possui.

REDUZA SUA EMISSÃO DE POLUENTES
Faça uso de transportes alternativos ou públicos sempre que possível, substituindo o carro. Procure conhecer o destino do seu lixo, devidamente separado, encaminhando-o à cooperativas de reciclagem. Use sacolas retornáveis e cuidado especial com o descarte do óleo de cozinha, pilhas e qualquer produto eletrônico, como por exemplo celulares, computadores e seus componentes.

NÃO DESPERDICE OS RECURSOS NATURAIS
De olho em tudo que gasta energia à toa, como carregadores e aparelhos eletro-eletrônicos em "stand-by" que ficam ligados direto na tomada, "roubando" energia enquanto não estam em uso, e utilize a água com inteligência. Lembre-se por exemplo que dá para escovar os dentes com um copo d'água sem ter que deixar a torneira aberta e nada de banhos longos. Eu me ensabôo com o chuveiro desligado já faz algum tempo!

Pode ter certeza que a mudança dos seus hábitos cotidianos fazem muita diferença, mesmo ao final de apenas um mês. Imagine então ao longo de um ano...
Não esqueça também de levar a consciência ambiental para a sua comunidade, amigos e familiares, informando-os e dando o seu exemplo.

A Terra agradece!

Este artigo faz parte da blogagem coletiva pelo Dia da Terra, uma iniciativa do Faça A Sua Parte.

Guardate come si sono organizzati i coreani!

While Recycla could tell you about how she's going to offset her carbon use by donating to a worthy cause, she is instead going to tell you about the EASY green steps she has taken in preparation for this trip.

First of all, before leaving the house, Recycla and her family will unplug most electronics so that there will be no unnecessary use of electricity during the family's absence. Recycla's husband will turn off the hot water heater and turn down the heat. They will then drive their fuel efficient Mazda 3 to the airport two hours away. (Bet you thought the family's ride was a Prius. See, they're normal superheroes, just like you and are green even without a hybrid car. )

The family tried to pack light and have only two medium suitcases, for all four of them, but then Recycla checked the weather forecast in London and added more sweaters to the pile, which lead to the addition of another suitcase. When packing, instead of buying small sample sizes of the family's toiletries, Recycla instead poured shampoo and other products into small, reusable travel bottles that she's had since the 20th century.

Recycla and her family will not be buying junk food at the airport in anticipation of all those hours of captivity and near starvation on the airplane. Instead, Recycla will pack snacks, some of which will be healthy (raisins, nuts, granola bars) and others of which will be less so. (Chocolate goes a long way toward keeping children well behaved on a plane.) Rather than buying single-use packages, Recycla will pack the snacks in reusable containers that will come in handy during the vacation.

It's a well known fact that airplane air is dry and that everyone should drink lots of liquids while en route. Since the TSA has decreed that no one can bring liquids through security, Recycla and her family will have empty reusable water bottles. Once they've gotten through the long painful ordeal that is American airport security, they will go to the closest food court and fill their water bottles with water and ice.

Once Recycla and her family land in London, their plan is to walk or take public transportation as much as possible. Why add another car to London's already congested roads? They will be renting a car for their days traveling through the countryside, but they made a point to rent a smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicle.

In hotels and B&Bs they'll be staying in, if given the option, Recycla and her family will opt not to have their linens changed daily. Since they packed their own toiletries, they won't use those little sample bottles.

As for food, the plan is to visit markets to stock up on fruits and veggies for snacking and some lunches. For meals out, the family will choose local restaurants and pubs instead of international chains or the American stand-by -- McDonald's.  Recycla loathes McCrap.

Beyond that, Recycla doesn't have any other definite plans about how she's going to save the planet while on vacation. She'll figure things out as they happen -- recycling when possible, not getting plastic bags when she makes purchases, and so forth. Mostly, she's just looking forward to traveling and experiencing another culture. She plans to observe British eco practices and share then with you when she returns.

Photo and facts courtesy of Green Daily.

Currently, the list of Crocs retailers that will accept your used Crocs and then send them on to be recycled is quite small, but SolesUnited is working to change that. In the meantime, there are two addresses where you can ship your old Crocs. Before you do so, Recycla suggests you ask around and see if any of your friends or neighbors have old Crocs they're planning to get rid of; you could save on shipping costs and minimize use of resources by mailing multiple pairs of shoes at the same time.

Whether or not Crocs are a good or bad fashion statement is a topic for another day.

The Environmental Protection Agency has joined forces with top cell phone service providers and retailers, and it’s now embarrassingly easy for you to give your old cell phone the gift of reincarnation.

The program is part of the EPA’s PLUG-IN to eCYCLING campaign, which has recycled more than 142 million pounds of electronics since 2003. You may already have seen some of their recent ads: “Recycle Your Cell Phone. It’s An Easy Call.” Thousands of convenient cell phone drop-off spots are set up all over the country; click here to find one near you.

And if you start to wonder if it’s worth the effort, remind yourself that if we recycled the more than 100 million cell phones no longer being used, the energy saved could power 194,000 U.S. homes for a year.

Fast Fact courtesy of Plenty.

So, how was Earth Hour '08? Did you do it? (Turn off your lights, that is.)

Recycla and her family turned everything off, including appliances and even the hot water heater. They lit a few soy candles and enjoyed the flickering flames while they talked about this, that, and the other.

Let the Eco Women know if you participated in Earth Hour '08 -- either partially or completely -- and how it went.

Planet Earth at night.

Reminder: Earth Hour '08 is tomorrow from 8-9 p.m. local time.

Want to know what the rest of the world is doing? Click here.