Green Travel

Do you have the travel bug?  Yes, but what about your carbon footprint?  Can you combine your love for travel with your love for being green?  The answer is yes.  Instead of taking a large tour bus around London, try 

London walking tours.  Not only will you decrease your travel carbon footprint, you get a little exercise too!  There are companies that are starting to see the light in respect to eco-travel.  They are thinking smaller groups which means, less transportation, which means less pollution from behind those tour buses.  If you are not into groups, try a London private tour.  With tourism becoming one of the largest industries we all need to think about our own travel practices, try practicing the saying take only pictures leave only footprints.  With a walking tours London you could do just that!  

Nickel Back

On our most recent trip to Target I had a great surprise. We wandered the store picking up the essentials and once our basket was full we went to check out. I, of course, had my reusable cloth shopping bags with me. The girl at the register was very friendly, and chatty. Which is nice, it was like she was enjoying her job. As the transaction was finishing she said "OH yeah, you get a nickel back for using your own bags" I thought this was great. Target has started giving you five cents back when you use your cloth bags. It is nice to see more and more stores doing this to discourage the use of plastic. I guess it is positive reinforcement. I use my back and get a nickel off my bill. I will have my bags handy every time I go shopping for sure! Go to Threadbeaur's Etsy shop and see what sort of bag fits your style. Save the planet in style with a fashionable cloth bag by Threadbeaur.

Full View

Well now that the recipient of the project has gotten it. I can reveal it in full.



This small quilt measures about 45 by 45 and I think will be perfect for a new little girl. It could be a playmat, picnic blanket, or just something to tug around the house. I used the fabric from my stash, the black, which is no doubt vintage, and the fun green with small pink ants crawling around it!
Enjoy!

Get into being green

You can win a fantastic compost machine! This looks like it would be easy to use, and not unsightly! I am going to enter, but you better head over to Pays to Live Green, the contest ends on August 2nd.

This could be your way to break into a greener life. I want to win, because composting looks like fun, and why throw away what would normally decompose and provide you with better soil!

Check it out.

Great video about recycling

When we moved in I inquired about how to recycle here. Our town has a single stream recycling program, and it is awesome. We can recycle so many things, and we throw it all in the same bin.
Interesting how it works. I found this video that shows how the products get separated, and what happens after that. I like this video because it makes the process simple to understand. There are a few chapters to follow so sit back and watch the process unfold.
ENJOY!

Water and Conservation

There are many ways to save water, and in turn save money. One way as we all know is to turn off the faucet when you are brushing your teeth. Or fill up a watering can next time you are waiting for the shower water to turn warm. Recently, though I thought about the toilet, and how much water is flushed away each day. It can be one of the largest water consumers in your house. I am sure you have heard of the low flow toilets, it may conjure up some ideas. The bathroom is one place that you can really start to see the water savings. I don't recommend running out and buying all new toilets, that would be wasteful, and increase your carbon footprint. Instead, there is a dual flush retrofit kit that you can install to your existing toilet.

The retrofit kits are only around $40 dollars, and over a few years, I am sure you will see the savings, not only in the amount of our precious water that goes down the toilet, but in real dollars too! Changing to a dual flush toilet is just one more step that can reduce your water consumption. Such a small thing can really help you go green. Water is our most precious resource, and you can save a few gallons a day with a simple, expensive kit. That is something we can all get behind.

Continued Search for Web Hosting

I am digging deeper in to web hosting. I found this great idea of Green Web Hosting. What is that? Well, the green web hosting are companies that are doing their part to reduce their impact on the earth. They might use alternative energy to run the company and the data centers. If you are a blogger trying to go green I would imagine that you would want to choose a company that is eco friendly.

There are a handful of green web hosting companies that have great prices and provide a lot of features. Some of the sites boast that they have energy efficient servers, and participate in tree planting, and some are even wind powered! It is just one more way that you can reduce your carbon footprint. Use companies that are involved and interested in protecting the earth. You can check out some reviews of the eco friendly web hosts, and see which one is right for you. Look for easy uploads, and upfront pricing, be careful of ad ons. The best thing to do if you are looking into these green web host for your blog is to read the reviews and email them with any questions. That way you can see just what kind of customer service they have to offer!

Seeking Green...Look no further

I recently found Ecovian. They have a fabulous website that provides a listing of services, shops, and resturants that have green practices. I love this idea of being able to search by city on ecovian. There are so many listing categories to choose from from spas to grocery stores and everything in between. Each category has its own standard of green, and on the website you can get the details for each heading. Last night I was scouting out clothing stores in Chicago that are green on Ecovian.

When you search as I did for a clothing shop, the list shows up on the left hand side of all the shops that are considered green. How would you consider a shop green, well, as they say on the website, the stores are rated on how much of their stock is produced in sweatshop free conditions, and how much of the stock is organic/natural. I love this since I am always looking for sweatshop free items, this will be helpful for me! Each listing has a green meter, little green trees. Those trees give you a quick indication how green the stores merchanidise is. With one green tree being the least green (but still green enough to be listed) and 5 green trees being the best.

The best feature on Ecovian is when you click on the store to get the details they provide you with a map, the store hours, and phone number along with the stats regarding the green factor. The store I was looking up had 3 stars for nautral/oraganic clothing and 5 stars, yes 5 stars, for sweatshop free clothing! Time to go shopping! Ecovian has earned a spot in my bookmarks, so that I can scour the pages before each shopping trip!

Green and Clean

That is what the contest over on 1GreenProduct is all about. They are giving away a Eureka envirovac™. This looks like a fantastic product, and who won't be a little more green while you clean. The small motor means a less energy used during your everyday cleaning, that can really add up. The company also has the packaging down to a science, less wasted material and it is 100% recycled and unbleached cardboard! Kudos Eureka!, and thanks to 1GreenProduct for this great giveaway!

Don't forget to head over to grocerymama too for another giveaway!