deck the halls with eco-friendly, falalalala lalalala

I l o v e the holiday season.  Despite the insanity of it all (psycho shoppers, freezing cold, dark at 5 PM, etc), there is so much to look forward to: family, friends, gift-giving, decorations, and FOOD.  

This holiday season, try substituting some of your regular decorations, cooking, wrapping, and cleaning products with eco-friendly ones.  For example, if you MUST buy new Christmas lights, at least make sure they’re LED, like these ones I found on ecofabulous.com: http://www.holidayleds.com/ .  Here are some other nifty ideas to help eliminate the insane amounts of food and product waste:

-use recycled foil (found at Whole Foods or other specialty markets), and try rinsing it out after using it (if it’s not disgusting) to recycle it again.

-make good use of your leftovers (in other words, eat ALL of them).  There are some awesome recipes for leftovers on the Food Network and Cooking Light website.  Wow I’m a nerd.

-store leftovers in your tupperware instead of plastic bags or foil, they’ll stay fresher and will save a ton of unnecessary waste.

-clean up the catastrophe that is your kitchen with products like Method or the magnificent-smelling Mrs. Meyers (my personal fave is the gardenia scent).  This will help keep gnarly chemicals from seeping into our sewers and brains.  Method even has holiday scented cleaners.  Mmm. www.methodhome.com

-please tell me you only run the dishwasher when it is TOTALLY FULL, otherwise I will have to hunt you down.

-as far as wrapping goes, the least you can do is buy recycled paper such as Greenfield Paper products, which have fun holiday designs: www.greenfieldpaper.com (found on GorgeouslyGreen.com).  OR, you can save money AND paper by re-using all the crap you didn’t use last year.  Take all of those annoying scraps that didn’t make the cut in ’08 (anyone get the pun?!) and make your own personal, unique, magical wrapping creation.  Or go to town with your newspapers, magazines, etc.  Maybe even grab a sharpie and test your drawing skills to make your wrapping even more unique.  Go crazy and use a gift as the wrapping, such as a reusable canvas bag or an old tin box.  Be eco-conscious and reuse all your boxes from last year that are shoved somewhere in your laundry room.  The possibilities are endless!

-same goes for decorations – REUSE is your new favorite word.  It is pointless to spend money on new ones when I guarantee you already have some lodged in your attic/basement/storage closet etc.  Especially all those weird objects you made your parents or friends during elementary school.  Like I said, get creative. 

-if you are throwing a party, avoid paper plates and paper napkins.  They are the epitome of wasteful, and wasteful is the epitome of evil.  It will once again help you save your money and your morals.  If you MUST get disposable dinner wear, at least buy biodegradable or recycled ones.  Yes, they are slightly more expensive than the regular stuff, but throw Mother Earth a bone and deal with it.  You can probably find it at your local supermarket, but if not here’s a great website for biodegradables and other fantabulous eco products (maybe even some gifts..?):

www.branchhome.com

-keep tuning into your inner artist and try making your cards instead of buying cheesy ones at Walgreens.  It will be fun and meaningful.  If you do buy cards, make sure they’re recycled.  Check out the plethora of options on greenpromise.com. http://www.greenpromise.com/resources/environmentally-friendly-christmas-cards.php

Also browse through the wide selection of stationary and holiday cards on www.greenfieldpaper.com

-make your traditional meals even more delicious by using organic ingredients.  Humor your market’s produce dude by asking him what’s in season – you know they could use some company, they always look bored.  Try baking some tasty treats with seasonal fruits or making some side dishes with seasonal veggies.  Test your cooking abilities and try making stuff from scratch!  Pair that with organic wine and friends or family and you’ve got yourself a party.

Here’s a link to 5 healthy holiday foods (may help prevent one from chunking up on sugar cookies):

http://www.cookinglight.com/eating-smart/smart-choices/5-healthful-holiday-foods-00400000001519/

-R E C Y C L E - E V E R Y T H I N G you possibly can.  Buy every recycled product you possibly can.  Reuse everything you can.  You know you want to.

-about 8 months ago I decided to stop eating meat, so my mom is a little confused about the whole Christmas dinner situation.  People don’t realize that it’s easy and just as delicious (plus now I just get to pile on all the scrumptious side dishes, which I am more than OK with).  Check out some mouth-watering recipes for vegetarian holiday dinners on the Food Network website: www.foodnetwork.com.  Cooking Light is also one of my favorite foodie sites and magazines: www.cookinglight.com.  Save a turkey, pig, duck, chicken, or cow, and have a very happy, very green holiday.

IndoSole - the earth's new fave sandals.

The masterminds behind IndoSole are taking eco-friendly shoes to a whole new level.  Their sandals, manufactured in Bali, are made out of tires from Indonesian landfills and other natural materials like banana leaf, burlap, vegan leather, and Indonesian grass.  As it states on their website, 2 pair of IndoSole sandals can be created from 1 landfill-polluting tire.  Even the packaging is sustainable – the shoes come in reusable shopping bags made from rice sacks, and the boxes are made from 100% recycled cardboard.  Indos are handmade –which means zero pollution- by happy, fairly paid Balinese workers in clean factories.  I know what you’re thinking – it is possible that these sandals could get any cooler?!  ‘Tis. 

Not only are the sandals eco-friendly, they actually look and feel awesome.  I would know, since I had the opportunity to meet with the founders of IndoSole a few weeks ago.  Faye and Kyle are the definition of down to earth; they are friendly, interesting, have meaningful values, and created a unique, quality product.  The sandals are super sturdy, so you know they’ll really last.  The various braided or woven upper soles are surprisingly soft, especially with the foam inserts underneath.

             

IndoSoles will be sold in stores by Spring 2010, but if you can’t wait till then, men's sandals are currently available online (awesome holiday gift idea!).  Check out their website for more information on these spectacular sandals.  I will definitely be getting a pair for myself, and for my brothers (if they play their cards right).  You should probably do the same.  Also friend them on Facebook!

            

In the meantime, here’s some IndoSole fun facts:
Number of Tires saved To Date: 253 (First ever production order of 506 pair) - 2 pair of Indo Sandals saves 1 tire from the landfill
Number of Rice Sacks Saved To Date:  253 (First ever production order for packaging) - 2 shopping bags with handles are made from 1 large rice sack
Number of people employed in the workshop: 20

www.indosole.com

Green Friday

‘Tis the Season to Go Green.  I unofficially changed Black Friday to Green Friday, and I unofficially changed the date from the day after Thanksgiving to today, the first Friday in December (when the holiday season drops like a ton of bricks).  Since this is the season of giving (among other things, i.e. eating our faces off), I’d like to share some environmentally friendly gift ideas.  Tip: try bulk shopping online to avoid polluting the air by driving all over town, this will also help save your gas tank AND your sanity.  

west(eco)ast Holiday Gift Guide*  

-I know my family sends out at least 100 Christmas cards every year.  Let’s all save some trees by buying cards made from recycled paper, there are PLENTY o’ eco-friendly ones.  Also remember to recycle the mass amounts of cards you receive.  Explore your options on greenpromise.com.

http://www.greenpromise.com/resources/environmentally-friendly-christmas-cards.php

-Gaiam has so many products I don’t even know where to start.  Everything from aluminum water bottles to yoga mats to bath towels, it is a one-stop-shop for gifts.  Plus they offer FREE shipping till December 8^th! 

www.gaiam.com

-Sephora now has an entire section on its website (and in stores) dedicated to natural & organic products.  One of my personal fave makeup brands is Korres. 

www.sephora.com

-Show your girlfriend or significant other you care just as much about fashion (and animals) as she does by splurging on a pair of shoes from Olsen Haus.  They are vegan and faaaabulous.  www.olsenhaus.com

-Check out Preserve products for perfect stocking stuffers. 

www.preserveproducts.com

-Priti NYC non-toxic nail polish has an ungodly amount of colors to choose from.  They also have a non-toxic nail polish remover.  No more nasty smells or chemicals seeping into your nails.

www.pritinyc.com

-Dogeared is one of my favorite brands for jewelry, among other things.  They also have an eco-friendly section on their website with fun trinkets like candles, totes, bracelets, earrings, jewelry bags, the list goes on.  See for yourself, just type “eco-friendly” in the search box. 

www.dogeared.com

-PACT underwear are undergarments with a cause.  With designs for both men and women, they will make the perfect ethical present.

www.wearpact.com

-Green Toys for the wee ones. 

www.greentoys.com

-Organic Play Dough (found on ecofabulous.com)!  Yes, it’s true.  Is it weird if I get some for myself?...

http://organicfundough.com/

-Pacifica has delicious soy candles, fragrances, sopas, and body butters.  Yum. 

www.pacificaperfume.com

-For your creative, stationary-loving friends, check out Yellow Owl Workshop and Hard Cards for cards, stamps, and more. 

www.yellowowlworkshop.com

www.hardcardsrule.com

-Molly M jewelry is unique and eco-chic.  That rhymes!

www.mollymdesigns.com

-Branch has some super cool home items from ornaments to pillows to salad bowls.  See for yourself. 

www.branchhome.com

-Indosoles are my favorite eco sandals for beach-loving friends and family members.  www.indosole.com

-My roommate enlightened me the other night with this website, which is chalk full of glorious gift ideas.  Find the “Eco-Friendly Gifts” option under the Category tab, or type “eco-friendly” in the search box.  You can even edit your findings by price.  Warning: this could wind up occupying several hours of your day.  I’m not kidding.

http://www.gifts.com/

-Here’s some other awesome gifty websites I found on ecofabulous.com:

            www.organicadeluxe.com

            www.organicstyle.com

            www.ecoexpress.com

            www.earthtechproducts.com (for all the techies in your life)

            www.vivaterra.com

            http://www.holidayleds.com/ (for LED Christmas lights!)

While you're perusing the web, take a break from online shopping and watch this funny video of my friend and I busting a move and battling ourselves.

http://www.youtube.com/ihoptowhatship#p/u/0/Fhq2_usJlK0

paper towels: a Thanksgiving challenge.

In honor of Thanksgiving and all the insanity that will potentially take place in the kitchen, I felt compelled to find at least one way to minimize the amount of waste involved in cooking, cleaning, and general turkey-day preparations.  As a person who is thankful for nature (it's the hippie in me), I will no longer be using paper towels on a daily basis.  It’s a total waste of paper; we could easily use regular towels, old rags, or destroyed T-shirts to do the dirty work.  I probably use way too many paper towels myself, so I am giving all of us a fun little test.  I challenge you, on whatever day you read this (if you are feeling particularly adventurous, try it on Thanksgiving!), to use ONLY 1 PAPER TOWEL today.  Think of how much paper you will save if you only use 1 as opposed to multiple.  It's mind boggling.

 If you just can't part from your beloved paper towels, try replacing the regular ones with recycled products.  According to the National Resources Defense Council, “If every household in the United States replaced just one roll of virgin fiber paper towels (70 sheets) with 100% recycled ones, we could save 544,000 trees.”  That’s a ton of trees.  Some products even have chlorine in them to make them brighter – who wants to wipe their mouth on a chemical infused napkin?  Not I.  

 

So remember - when you buy paper towels, TP, or napkins, go for the eco-friendly brands like Seventh Generation or Green Forest.  They are slightly more expensive, but get over it, because I’m sure we could all spare an extra dollar to help the environment.  Have a heart.  And have a very Happy Thanksgiving.

 

Here’s a link to the NRDC website with some great info on recycled paper products - http://www.nrdc.org/land/forests/gtissue.asp

one exception where plastic makes it possible: Plastiki

You have got to check out this website and read about the amazing San Francisco-based project called Plastiki.  I discovered Plastiki on ecofabulous.com and was so inspired I had to spread the word to my fellow (though very few!) readers.  There are so many wonderfully innovative people out there that are making a positive impact on environmental awareness, and this guy is definitely one of them.

The brains behind Plastiki, David de Rothschild, is building a catamaran out of about 12,000 reclaimed plastic soda bottles (one of the ocean’s biggest pollutant), which will eventually be sailed across the Pacific.  They will be using energy bikes to produce electricity for the ship, as well as solar panels to help power the ship and its communications system.  They’ll also have a little fruit and veggie garden and a solar/pump powered water purifier on board, no big deal.  Their mission is “to beat waste by inspiring sustainable solutions and to highlight the ecological damage being done to the world’s oceans.”  That’s my kind of mission.  One of the coolest parts about this project is that their 100 day journey from SF to Sydney, Australia will be filmed; I will absolutely be watching this adventure, and so should you.  Or at least take a look at the website, it has fun graphics.

http://www.theplastiki.com/

Read more about Mr. de Rothschild here, he’s ridiculously accomplished:

http://www.theplastiki.com/content/david/

the wonder that is tea tree oil

I recently bought some tea tree oil after reading about it in Gorgeously Green.  Being the space cadet that I am, I completely forgot what it was used for and how to use it, so I did un peu de research (God bless the internet) and discovered some fun facts.  One of the more fantastic qualities of this oil is its disinfectant ability - add some to water for a miraculous, home-made cleaning solution or bug repellent (no need to buy harmful, chemical-happy crap anymore to scrub your bathroom, among other things).  I have never been so excited to clean!  I wanted to share with you the wonder that is tea tree oil, so here are some uses I found on care2.com:

For Health

1. Use a dab to treat acne.
2. An anti-fungal for treating Athlete’s Foot, eczema, various yeast infections, etc.
3. An antiseptic to be used on cuts and burns.
4. An anti-viral: it may lessen the symptoms of colds and flu. Try using a few drops in the bath.
5. Add to a vaporizer to loosen chest congestion.
6. Add a small amount to shampoo to destroy head lice.
7. A small amount added to your bath can help with persistent body odor.
8. Treating sinus infection.
9. For dandruff and dry scalp.
10. In the form of aromatherapy, tea tree oil is used to treat colds, persistent coughs, acne, toothaches, and sunburn.

For Cleaning

11. To create an all-purpose cleaner, combine 2 teaspoons of tea tree oil in 2 cups of water in a spray bottle.
12. Another version would be 14 ounces of water with 1 ounce of Murphy’s oil soap and 10 drops of tea tree oil.
13. Mix the above solution with kosher salt to scrub bathtub and bathroom tiles.
14. Add a few drops to dishwasher dispenser, then fill with a green dishwashing soap.
15. A few drops added to each load of laundry leave your clothes smelling cleaner.
16. Control mold with a tea tree oil/water spray.
17. Remove mustiness with that same tea tree oil/water spray.
18. To keep germs at bay, spray it on high chairs, car seats, and other high traffic spots.
19. 15 drops in a quart of water can be an effective insect repellent.
20. Be sure to take some with you when hiking and camping to put directly on insect bites or blisters.

Info taken from:

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/20-great-uses-for-tea-tree-oil.html#

bi-rite creamery: everything ice cream should be, and more.

A few weekends ago I went to Bi-Rite Creamery with my fellow dessert-loving, recycling-happy friend, Katy.  She prepared me for something amazing, and it definitely lived up to my expectations.  Delicious, crazy flavors like honey lavender, cinnamon snickerdoodle, and malted vanilla with peanut brittle will make your taste buds do cartwheels of joy.  Bi-Rite rocks because they use local organic ingredients; their organic milk, cream, and eggs come from Straus Family Farm, 45 miles away from San Francisco.  They provide a list of ingredients on their website, of which there are rarely more than 5 in their unique flavors.  Their utensils are biodegradable, they source their ingredients as locally as possible, and even their sugar cones are made from organic ingredients.

Bi-Rite also has popsicles, sundaes, sorbet, ice cream sandwiches, cakes, pies, fresh hot chocolate, and baked goods.  I want it all NOW.

Check out their website and their SF location on 18^th St at Dolores.  Get excited.

http://biritecreamery.com/

trick-or(ganic)-treat

With Halloween just around the corner, I felt the need to embrace my inner geek and look up some organic candy (yes, there is such a thing).  Just because Halloween is a candy-filled holiday, it does not give us an excuse to gorge on only nasty processed junk.  I won't condemn you for eating a Snickers, but there are other alternatives that do not sacrifice deliciousness or festiveness that are worth being explored.  That being said...

I got embarrassingly excited about this website (which I found on GorgeouslyGreen.com), check it out!  Natural and fairtrade Halloween candy!  So many varieties!

http://www.naturalcandystore.com/

*(to learn more about why Fairtrade is so awesome and so important, read the "About Fairtrade" section on this website http://www.fairtrade.net/)* 

I also came across this brand YummyEarth - they have everything from lollipops to gummy bears/worms to fruit drops.  The company was started by two dads who didn't want to feed their kids crap-filled candy, and they provide a list of ingredients on their website.  You can find it at places like Whole Foods, Borders, Toys R Us, Amazon.com, and other health food stores or supermarkets.  Their website also recommends trying Trader Joe's organic candies.  I haven't tasted any YummyEarth products yet, but it's gotten great reviews.  I'm definitely hoping to find it at the nearest Whole Foods so I can hand them out to the kids on Union Street on Halloween.  You should probably do the same.

http://yummyearth.com/

green team

Watching videos online is totally green (as long as you don't leave your computer plugged in ALL DAY ALL THE TIME).  Here are some silly environmental-related ones.

I love Will Ferrell.  This gets extremely inappropriate, so if there are small children in the room – EARMUFFS.

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/fa1420df1f/green-team-from-will-ferrell-adam-ghost-panther-mckay-and-john-c-reilly

Even the guys on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia are jumping on the green wagon.  One of my favorite shows.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGWt9Q9Ktgs&feature=PlayList&p=7366C101F9276491&index=8  

la boulange: rainy day savior, everyday gem

I am a sucker for all things delicious (and French), which is one of many reasons why San Francisco based La Boulange is one of my favorite places in the city.  There is one location conveniently across the street from my work on Union St, and another conveniently down the street from my apartment on Polk St; I somehow have yet to get sick of it.

The founder, Pascal Rigo, opened Boulangerie Bay Bread in 1995, which eventually evolved into La Boulange.  Everything from the bread to the coffee is organic, which automatically makes them awesome.  My favorites are their soy chai latte, homemade granola, tomato soup, mini brie and apple sandwich, open faced goat cheese/roasted red pepper/portobello mushroom sandwich, and the lovely accoutrements (cornichons rock my world).  They are super eco-heroes because they recycle and compost, use biodegradable packaging, and they are making small steps to make their stores as green as possible.  They are also involved in great volunteer and fundraising projects.  YAY! 

Today, in a desperate attempt to find a dry place to sit during a torrential downpour, I found refuge under the awning of La Boulange at Market St.  To my EXTREME delight, they had recently started serving hot apple cider.  They even put a cinnamon stick on top, which made it delicious by default.  It tasted like holiday parties and fall festivities.  I obviously recommend trying this immediately.

Check out their website and support their several SF locations!  Hooray for organic food and biodegradable things.

http://laboulangebakery.com/

greetings fellow eco-enthusiasts

My name is Sasha, and I love all things eco-friendly. I am not a crunchy hippie nor am I a crazy activist, I just love polar bears, clean air, recycling, and the earth. I hope you'll join me on my little adventure through the greening of my everyday life. I'll also throw out some recipes (because food is all kinds of wonderful), eco-friendly discoveries, reviews, the occasional YouTube video, and random thoughts, facts, or observations. I also promise to try and be funny (keyword: try).

I hope this blog of mine can inspire you to make a few changes in your lives that will benefit your body and soul, and will hopefully help keep the planet from overflowing with filthy trash during our lifetime. I hope to help you realize that being a little more green is really not as annoying as it seems. And if making just one small change to help the environment gives you no satisfaction whatsoever, chances are you have a heart of stone. And you're probably lazy. Sorry.

peace, love, and recycle.