Super Seltzer
Date: December 18, 2008 | Category: Lifestyle, Stores & Resources
Last week in Splendora’s newsletter, we were pleased to see eco-friendly wrapping paper make the “What To” List. They spotlighted Seltzer, which creates hilariously creative greeting cards, graphic tees, gifts and stationary. Founded in 2005, the New York-based company uses 100 percent organic cotton, 100 percent post-consumer FSC-certified recycled paper and veggie-based inks. (more…)
Do The Green Thing
Date: December 12, 2008 | Category: Lifestyle, Media, Stores & Resources
A little burnt out on all the doomsday dialogue about climate change? Have you been trying to get your friends and family on board the sustainability train but just can’t seem to get them interested with yet another lecture link or news article forward? Well, we have just the (Green) thing for you.
A public service that inspires people to lead a greener life, Do The Green Thing is a free site filled with funny videos and inspiring stories from creative people and community members around the world. Dedicated to mobilizing people against climate change using imaginative digital strategies, Green Thing focuses on seven things you can do to lead a more conscious life – and enjoy yourself while doing it. (more…)
Calling All Recyclers
Date: November 14, 2008 | Category: Events, Lifestyle, Stores & Resources, Tech
Does figuring out how to dispose of your old cell phone responsibly make you want to dial “F” for frustrated?
According to a global consumer survey from Nokia, 44 percent of old mobile phones are lying in drawers at home and not being used, nor recycled. But there is some good news: 20 years ago, only about 1,000 curbside recycling programs existed in the United States; today there are more than 10,000 across the nation. And we can now recycle more products than ever, including our old cell phones. While you can’t put them in the curbside bin just yet, there are programs in place that make it easy to keep them out of the landfill and often getting them in the hands of people who actually NEED them.
In honor of America Recycles Day on November 15th (that’s tomorrow!) we ask that you save a cell phone from a life of neglect or the dreaded trip to a landfill. Call your friends, take the recycling pledge and head to one of the nearly 5,000 recycling drop-off points around the globe. And if you absolutely can’t make it to a center, you can download free postage online and mail your phone. It’ll be worth the trip if you can alter the destiny of just one phone.
Top Ten Sites for Holiday Shopping
Date: November 14, 2008 | Category: Featured, Holiday & Gift, Lifestyle, Media, Stores & Resources
With our holiday gift guide just around the corner we wanted to give you a sneak peek. Here is our list of the top ten sites for easy ecofabulous holiday shopping. Enjoy!
1. Amazon Green
Giving Water a Voice
Date: November 6, 2008 | Category: Events, Food & Drink, Kitchen, Lifestyle, Stores & Resources
Water’s been getting a bad rap lately due to its connection with the wasteful plastic bottle industry. Last week, ecofabulous attended an event in New York where PŪR gave water a voice by inviting a panel of experts to discuss the effects of the water bottling industry and release breakthrough technology in the field of water filtration.
While many of us have adopted the recycling regime, an astonishing 38 billion plastic water bottles are still thrown away each year. Even if we reach the point where we are recycling 100% of the plastic bottles, the production process still requires a huge amount of energy. The U.S. requires more than 1.5 million barrels of oil each year in order to meet the bottle-making demands of Americans – that’s enough to fuel 100,000 U.S. cars for a year. (more…)
Soleful Mission
Date: October 31, 2008 | Category: Fashion, Men, Shoes, Stores & Resources, Women
When in need of a quick pick-me-up, we often find ourselves indulging in retail therapy as a pastime. A genuinely rough day may call for a beeline straight to the shoe department. But all too often the pendulum immediately swings back and we are stung with shopper’s guilt (how can I possibly justify these? Even if they are eco-friendly?). Now you can offset your inner Carrie Bradshaw splurge by donating a pair of outdated shoes for every new pair you buy. (more…)
Gadget Management System
Date: October 14, 2008 | Category: Lifestyle, Stores & Resources, Tech
Balancing the need for electricity with a yearning to lead an eco-friendly life has been the bane of many a geek’s existence. All those gadgets need to be juiced up to keep working, which puts a real kink in any attempt to lower your carbon footprint.
To get a grasp on how much power your various devices consume consider investing in the Kill A Watt, a product that allows you to assess how efficient your appliances and toys are by measuring how much electricity they consume. Just plug them into the device and an LCD display counts consumption by the Kilowatt-hour, the same way utility companies do.
In addition to helping you monitor your electrical expenses by the hour, day, week, month or even by the year, Kill A Watt will allow you to determine which gadgets are the biggest electricity hogs - read, unplug these when they are not in use.
This is a gadget to help you manage your gadgets (a.k.a. an eco-geek’s dream realized.)
An Encore for Equipment
Date: October 8, 2008 | Category: Kids, Stores & Resources, Toys, Travel & Leisure
Most kids need lots of sports equipment but unfortunately they quickly either outgrow the gear or lose interest in activities quicker than most of us can run a lap. If your hall closet is anything like most Americans, there is a pile of gently used rackets, clubs, bats and mitts in your closet or garage that are in perfectly good condition.
Since most discarded sporting goods will wind up in a landfill if they are thrown away, a better solution is to get them into the hands of children who will rack hours of play time to your family’s otherwise useless stuff.
In the spirit of reusing and recycling, here are two eco-friendly options: Play It Again Sports, is a company that buys and sells gently used sports and fitness equipment for adults and children. You can send in your child’s unneeded lacrosse stick and get a hockey stick. Or replace your too tight ice skates with some that actually fit.
Alternatively, if you are feeling philanthropic, you can donate your items to SportsGift.org, an organization that will redistribute your child’s used equipment to needy kids around the world who otherwise would not be able to afford the equipment they need to play sports.
Either of these options seem like a win-win, both for your hall closet and for the environment.
Improving Your Giftprint
Date: October 2, 2008 | Category: Featured, Food & Drink, Holiday & Gift, Lifestyle, Stores & Resources
At ecofabulous, we love presents. But gifts should be thoughtful, right? Thoughtful of the recipient and thoughtful of our little planet.
So TREAD Light Gifts gets our thumbs up. From the Tiny Tikes Snack Kit to the Welcome Home Kit, the Get Clean Kit and the Ultimate Happy Hour assortment, TREAD Light has pulled together some excellent combinations to construct packages for all of your friends and family - from the mildest to the wildest.
Everything is either organic, all-natural (yes, this one is always the most ambiguous), recycled, sustainably produced, fair-trade or manufactured by companies who contribute back to the earth and or their communities. In addition, their kits are packaged in 100% organic cotton totes and come with a no-waste, plantable gift tag that will bear beautiful wildflowers (think of the tag as a little bonus). Time to think inside the box, or bag in this case.
A One-Day 101 on Brooklyn Green
Date: September 16, 2008 | Category: Events, Food & Drink, Lifestyle, Stores & Resources
Calling all New Yorkers! If you’re in or around Brooklyn this coming Thursday (September 18th), the 4th Annual Green Brooklyn Event put on by The Center for the Urban Environment will be packing in a full day fair and symposium where attendees can get the lowdown from local experts on socially conscious investing, solarizing one’s building, choosing non-toxic home products (and of course where to buy them), how real urbanites compost, shopping eco-chic, and what New York City is doing to create a more sustainable future. And alongside a farmer’s market will be booths where you can make art from recycled products, catch a film, and more. How we wish we could hop on a plane for this one…we hear algae-based ethenol is coming to airfield everywhere soon. Then we might have gone!
