Greenwala has created a list of top green travel destinations. All of them are equally amazing but bring different ‘green’ factors to the table.
1. Botswana
2. Belize
3. Galapagos Islands
4. Coral Bay, Australia
5. Kaikoura, New Zealand
6. Dubai
7. Laos
Head to Greenwala to read the full article.
Thank you to everyone who came by our booth during this year’s Sial show in Montreal. The show was a success and it was great meeting with current and potential clients. A big shout out to Catherine, one of our superstar account executives, on her hard work throughout the show.
We hope you managed to pick up the complimentary reusable bag we produced and sponsored in conjunction with Chile Tourism, Sial Canada and Set Canada. Through the power of Twitter and Facebook, we were able to see the bags being put to good use.
We always enjoy the atmosphere of the Sial show and look forward to seeing everyone again next year!
One of our favourite blogs- Oh Happy Day- has posted a great DIY water bottle chandelier. We love the creative repurposing of old plastic bottles and the beautiful colours they used to transform them.
Check out the full post here for detailed instructions.
Check out these great water-saving tips via Ecoki:
Many defaults on dishwashers, surprisingly, aren’t the eco-option. Take a look to see if it is in its “eco” mode. Additionally, shut off the dryer setting and let them air dry, instead.
Wait until you have enough laundry to run a full load for your washer. Same goes for your dishwasher – don’t run it until it is completely full. Both options will save water and your appliance runs more efficiently.
When you get home from the grocery store, fill a medium bowl with water. Clean your vegetables and fruits by swishing them around in the bowl instead of of rinsing them under a tap that is constantly running. Reuse that water for houseplants.
Commonly sold in and about your city in the springtime, rain barrels placed below your gutter downspout will help capture water and save it for another use. How much? For every square foot of your roof, it will gather a little more than half a gallon of water during a one-inch rainfall. Then use this to water the garden.
When it’s hot during the afternoon, never water your garden or lawn – there is too much evaporation that is lost in the air. If the area you live in is very hot or dry, water in the evening. If it is moist, opt for the mornings instead.
Consider that what you eat accounts for about half of your water footprint, eating less meat will help reduce it. This is because of all the that is water needed to raise the livestock. Some food for thought: it takes 1,857 gallons of water to produce a single pound of beef.
Creating paper creates waste and takes its toll on the water supply. In fact, about 28 billion gallons of water are used to produce it. One way to help this? Contact companies and get yourself off of their junk mail lists.
Let’s be honest, it isn’t really necessary to grab a fresh towel every day. Consider using the same one for a week.
Sounds obvious, right? You might already do this when you are brushing your teeth, but try to think of it in other circumstances, too, such as washing your dishes.
Another obvious option, but here is the fact: reducing your shower time by just one minute will save 2.5 gallons of water.
To figure out how much water you really use, go to the Water Footprint Calculator or download the Waterprint iPhone app (Free from itunes .com).
You know the saying, “if it’s yellow, let it mellow… if it’s brown, flush it down”? Consider this: if you stop flushing down your pee, a family of four could save 45 to 55 gallons a day!
Test out your shower head by placing a one gallon bucket under the faucet. If it fills it in less than 20 seconds, consider a new one. Regardless, if the shower head drips, you should opt for an upgrade, anyway. Go for on that is labeled EPA WaterSense, which could save more than 2,300 gallons annually.
Sodium hydroxide, and other toxic chemicals, are laced throughout conventional drain cleaners. A much better solution to flush into our waterways? Pour equal parts baking soda, white vinegar, and boiling water down the drain. Let sit for half an hour. Rinse.
To conserve water in your toilet, place a plastic pop bottle filled with sand or stones inside the tank of the toilet. This will displace some of the water, so you’ll end up using less per flush.
If you have a toilet that is constantly running, you might be using up about 200 gallons (or 40 flushes) every day. Instead, get it fixed or buy a new one, specifically ones that have been given the WaterSense label. This label certifies that the toilet efficiently uses 20 percent less water than conventional ones.
Gross as it is, harmful bacteria from dog feces can easily make their way into storm drains and pollute our waters.
Compost, bonemeal, peat, and other natural options add nutrients and don’t expose our produce and plants to the toxic chemicals found in conventional alternatives. Even more, the conventional types can seep into the ground and contaminate our water supplies.
A quick way to clean up might be with a big spray down of our driveway, porch, or patio, but save water and use a broom instead.
To check to see if your toilet is leaking, put a few drops of food coloring in the tank and check the bowl after 15 minutes. If the color has seeped in (and you haven’t flushed) there is a leak. Fixing this leak will save about 200 flushes a month, is easy to fix, and helps conserve water and energy.
We already know the plastic is bad, but 3 liters of regular water go into making just one liter of bottled water. Go for the stuff out of the tap, instead — just double check local water drinking regulations. If you can’t? Buy a reusable bottle and opt for a water filtering system instead
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Everyone is familiar with the plastic bags that the Cast of Vices Corner Store Leather Totes mimic, but as I’ve come to learn over my first six months in Manhattan, New Yorkers have have an even deeper connection to these little plastic totes. New York’s healthy population of bodegas, delis and mom-and-pop takeout joints keeps a steady stream of these bags flowing into use in the city, and where suburbanites might find themselves using a Target or Kroger bag to line their bathroom waste baskets or carry their lunches to work, in New York, the odds are that it’ll be one of these generic designs instead. (Or a Duane Reade bag, but I try to pretend Duane Reade doesn’t exist.)
I’m willing to bet that people living in other urban areas have a similar experience, which makes these leather versions (down to the openings in the handles so that they can be racked for quick dispensing) all the more familiar and clever. The embossed black leather give the remade design a decided punk aesthetic, which means that I would absolutely carry one of these bags, even if they are a novelty. I’m just not sure exactly how much I’d pay for one, but if the leather’s as thick and soft as it looks in these photos, then the price isn’t necessarily unfair. Buy the “thank you” or“smiley face” versions through ShopBop for $240 each.
November has rolled around quickly which marks the return of Starbucks’ festive red cups. While the cups are really cute and festive, they are still single-use and disposable. Starbucks offers incentives for bringing your own mugs in as do many other large chains. Reap the benefits economically and environmentally by bringing your own!
Here are some of our favourites:
Double wall to go cups (available in red and grey) via CB2, $5.95/each
Made Greener Tumbler, made with 30% recycled material- via Starbucks, $12.95
Birds on a Wire- via Etsy, $24
Wooden Travel Mug- via Etsy, $38
Great news! Another county, Carbondale in Colorado, is bringing about positive change in their community by banning plastic bags. The new law would prohibit the use of plastic shopping bags and imposes a 20-cent fee for each paper bag. They are hoping to changing the habitual pattern of consumers.
Read the article below, taken from Glenwood Springs-Post Independent:
CARBONDALE, Colorado — Town trustees here have followed Aspen’s lead, opting for a ban on plastic shopping bags at local grocery stores, rather than a fee for their continued use.
The Carbondale Board of Trustees voted 5-1 Tuesday night to adopt the ordinance, which will take effect in May 2012. The ordinance closely mirrors one passed by Aspen City Council earlier this month.
With the move, Carbondale’s board also hopes to lead the way for other area municipalities, including Basalt and possibly Glenwood Springs, to follow suit.
“We ought to step up to lead on this, not follow,” Carbondale Trustee Frosty Merriott said in making the motion to adopt the ordinance now, rather than waiting to make more revisions.
“This is one thing we can do to help change lifestyles,” Merriott said, adding he personally would prefer a total townwide ban on both plastic and paper shopping bags.
That and other possible amendments to the ordinance can be taken up later, he said.
For now, the new ordinance applies only to bags provided at grocery stores larger than 3,500 square feet, which would only include the existing Carbondale City Market store.
It prohibits the distribution of plastic shopping bags to customers and imposes a 20-cent fee for each paper bag shoppers opt to use.
The ban does not apply to other types of plastic bags provided by grocery stores, such as produce and bakery bags and meat wrappers.
Trustee John Foulkrod called it a strong message to send to consumers about the dangerous health and environmental impacts from petroleum-based plastics, as well as over-consumerism in general.
“We’re the worst consumers in the world, and we tend to do what we want because we can,” Foulkrod said. “And recycling is just a way for people to consume and feel good about it.
“You’ve got to take a step somewhere to do better, and this is one way to do it,” he said of the bag ban.
All of the trustees agreed that a bag ban is better than the previously proposed customer fee for both plastic and paper bags.
Basalt’s town board has adopted a bag fee, but is expected to consider a ban as well. Glenwood Springs and Snowmass Village have been waiting to see what action the other Roaring Fork Valley municipalities take.
Carbondale Mayor Stacey Bernot voted against the ordinance, but not because she disagreed with the ban.
“I don’t feel like this should just be on grocers,” Bernot said in support of a townwide ban that would include other retail stores that provide carry-out bags for their customers.
Bernot said she also was concerned that the 20-cent fee for paper bags was too high, and that the enforcement provisions of the ordinance were unclear.
Under the ordinance, grocers would keep a portion of the fees to cover administrative costs. The remainder would go into a fund to provide education and outreach on the issue, support recycling efforts and provide reusable cloth carry-out bags.
One amendment to the Carbondale ordinance will allow for grocers to provide biodegradable polymer- or starch-based bags in place of plastic or paper bags.
A handful of citizens weighed in on the proposal before the vote was taken.
Carbondale resident Mary Boucher showed up at the meeting with City Market bags hanging from her arms and neck and carrying a large barrel that read “Recycle Plastic Bags Here.”
“I have four kids and go to the grocery store four times a week, and we use probably 20 bags each time we go to the store,” she said in opposition to the fee proposal.
The ban is even more disconcerting, she said.
“I am heated up about this,” Boucher said. “My kids take their lunch to school in the plastic bags …
“We reuse them, and when they get holes we bring them back to the store and put them in here,” she said, pointing to the recycling barrel.
Evan Cree of Carbondale supported the ban, however, and said the issue comes down to changing consumer habits.
“A lot of the opposition I hear is habitual opposition,” he said. “This is the right thing to do for the environment in the end.”
The various municipal ordinances came about through the efforts of the Community Office for Resource Efficiency (CORE), which initially proposed a uniform bag fee ordinance aimed at curbing the use of disposable shopping bags.
