I made a trip to Wal-Mart the other day and found a few green products worth blogging about. First was the dish detergent. I was out of our traditional Electrosol powdered detergent and had planned on picking up the same product. However, when I saw a liquid dish detergent by Palmolive called Eco I knew I had to try it. To my surprise it was a few dollars cheaper too. So I tried my first load last night and guess what...it worked great! I didn't notice any difference from my old Electrosol. So I guess I've found my new product. It's phosphate free so it won't extra nutrients into the water system. The next item was a total surprise, especially at Wal-Mart. They had a display of environmental themed t-shirts. Not only do they have a good message on them; they are also made from organic cotton. How cool is that? And for a total of $6 it couldn't have been a better deal! I picked up one that said, "Green is the new black!" for myself. This adds to my new eco-tee ... [ Read More ]
Happy New Years Eve
It's almost here, 2008! Looking back at 2007 I have made a good effort to make small changes in my everyday life that will benefit the environment; or at least lessen our impact. So what are going to be my environmental resolutions for 2008? I'm in need of a new vehicle this year; so I'm going to research hybrid cars and other non-hybrid alternatives to the regular car. I promise right here to stay with something mid-sized and not but a gas guzzler! My first home project for 2008 is to remodel our guest bathroom. I am going to try to find a reuse for many of the items that I am replacing; at the very least I am going to find a way to recycle things like the tub, toilet, and vanity. Also when purchasing the replacements I'm going to think green. I resolve to use my green bags more often at the grocery store (and other stores as well). I want to start a small garden in the back yard. With that garden I also want to start a compost pile and a rain barrel. My garden is ... [ Read More ]
Can you really ClickGreener?
Are you an online shop-a-holic? Why not help the environment next time you decide to shop online. There are tons of sites just like this already out there...but not that benefit the environment. ClickGreener will donate 51% of their referral fee from the purchases made when you click to a vendor from their website to a non-profit partner for the environment. Right now their non-profit partners include World Wildlife Federation - Canada, Carbonfund.org, Canadian Wildlife Federation and Tree Canada. Obviously the founder is probably in Canada. It's a great idea, I wonder if there are any other websites like this that will benefit other non-profit organizations. I'm adding ClickGreener as one of my favorites next time I decide to do some online shopping. ... [ Read More ]
Green Your Black Friday!
I won't have time to post tomorrow since I'll be enjoying Thanksgiving with my family but I wanted to give you some tips for how to Green your Black Friday shopping! The first time I experienced Black Friday was several years ago while I was working in the retail industry. I had to arrive at work at 4:30 in the morning to see hundreds of crazy shoppers looking for the bargins. After 3 yrs of being behind the counter I decided to actually try this one year...as a shopper. Everyone is in a good mood first thing in the morning, it's not until later in the day that all the grumps come out. Anyways...this year I wanted to give you some ideas on how to buy environmentally responsible gifts for your loved ones. 1. Consider buying gifts that are made of renewable resources or made from recycled materials. For the chef in your family consider a new set of bamboo cutting boards. 2. Remember when buying those electronics to look for Energy Star products. 3. Look for gifts that ... [ Read More ]
Bag It!
Next time you are at the grocery store (or any other store for that matter) why not bring your own bag. We've all seen the green fabric bags that some grocery stores sell for you to tote your goodies home in but how many of us really use them? I had two friends this week tell me that they brought (and/or bought) their own bags to the grocery store. I guess I've been rubbing off on some people...but I need to try this one myself. So what difference will it make? There are some really neat websites out there that go futher into the debate over paper-vs-plastic and which one is better for the environment however, both choices use natural resources that are intended to be used once and then disposed of. While many of us have reuse options for these bags (cleaning the kitty litter box, carrying our lunch to work, bathroom trash can liners, etc) I would have to say that most of us have more bags than we have uses. ... [ Read More ]