Spare yourself card sending drama - Send online greetings for the holidays!

I'm going to do all of you conscious spenders a BIG favor...I am going to tell you now, honestly, that you will not have time to snail mail lots of meaningful paper holiday cards to all the people you care about this year OR you will buy a stack of cards and they will sit on your desk until 2008 and you will feel bad that you didn't have time to send them OR (and this may be the worst scenario) you will just sign the card (BTW, I hate getting a card with nothing but a signature) and stamp it and send the paper cards that have no special message and ends up in the recycle bin (I hope it at least goes into recycle) But don't feel the paper card ick any more...

Say no to holiday paper card lameness! Make a conscious choice to save TIME, TREES and MONEY and send meaningful holiday cards ONLINE with Three Leaf Cards. The owners are both artists, all the cards are custom video cards and the message will be truly meaningful. Plus, you save time, trees and money! It's only $19 for the whole year to send kick-ass online greeting cards (love that!)

With Three Leaf Cards, you can send great memorable cards and custom select the:
-Card
-Quote
-Heading
-Music
-Date (can schedule cards in advance)
-Logo of the non-profit partner who you support (Three Leaf Cards donates to Breast Cancer Fund, Sustainable Conservation, Mountain Institute, Co-Op America and the Conservation Fund.

Save yourself the stress of holiday greetings, be a conscious spender, get a Three Leaf Cards membership and start pre-scheduling those holiday cards now so you can spend more time ENJOYING the holidays! Plus, 10% or more of your membership goes to a GREAT CAUSE...Go!!

5 Easy First Steps You Can Do Today

MSN now has a Green Section Hooray for that! I love seeing large entities take initiative and make a difference!

Check out the new green tips section on MSN AND their link to 5 easy steps you can take to simplify life and make a healthier life and planet

Part of being a conscious spender is being CONSCIOUS, yep, it's that easy. Think about your actions and your can re-train your brain to make savvier choices for a happier, healthier life.

Here's a recap of the 5 easy steps:
1. Bring a canvas or reuseable bag when you shop. I find it's easiest to have a few in my car at all times for grocery, farmers market, nordstrom (yep, I even bag my new clothes in canvas!)

2. Conserve electricity. I have a two light rule at home and I often find I only need one if I am home alone. Candles make a better light and mood at night anyhoo!

3. Save gas. Can you walk to the post office vs. driving there on your lunch hour? If so, DO IT! The planet and your tush will thank you for it!

4. Buy local. The waste involved in transporting produce is insane, support local farmers for healthier produce and to minimize impact. You are what you eat so eat quality!

5. Reduce your plastic water consumption. I say this as I just bought a six pack of Fiji water at the grocery store thinking I rocked for supporting a green water company however, it would have been better to buy larger quantities of Fiji water vs all the little ones.

I have some conscious choices to make too!

Bags of Change

A fellow conscious spender referred me to Bags of Change (thank you for your great feedback!) a way to help alleviate all the plastic bage wastola AND support/get deals at organic, fair trade stores.

You can support your local shops and say no to plastic bags forever with Bags of Change. Even better, their organic hemp-cotton bag award you discounts on local, organic and Fairtrade goods at participating stores.

The organic, Fair trade stores are UK based.

Happy shopping!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's a day of rest and thanks, so all I have to post is this goofy photo (dare me to bake it???) and overwhelming feelings of gratitude. I am thankful for my great friends and amazing family, health and wonderful work partners. I feel hopeful for the planet and the future. Spend time with children, they are the reason we need to be conscious and caring and make better choices so when it's their time to cook Turkey dinner, they can do so in a healthy planet.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Be a Conscious Shopper - Use Reuseable Bags!

I am sure a lot of us are frantically doing last minute Turkey Day Shopping. Before you get in the car, make a conscious choice to use reusable bags to reduce your impact on the planet!

Co-Op America awarded their annual People's Choice Award prize this year to ReusableBags.com, a member of their Green Business Network devoted to helping society overcome its addiction to the ubiquitous petroleum-based plastic shopping bag.

"Our ongoing mission since day one has been to change the status quo of society's use-and-toss mentality by providing sound, practical ideas and products," says Vincent Cobb, founder of ReusableBags.com. "We were thrilled to be nominated the past two years, and are incredibly honored to win this year's award."

In addition to being a GREAT company, the eco-friendly shopping bags are great. They are durable, make transporting goods easier and make the planet less landfill-y (it's late, I made that word up)

Buy a few eco-friendly shopping bags and store them in your car, then you never have an excuse to forget and you will spread the conscious spending love!

Buy Shoes that give back - TOMS

The next time you need a new pair of shoes, buy from a company that gives back - TOMS.

TOMS just introduced their Fall TOMS Collection. With EVERY pair you purchase, TOMS will give away a pair to a child in need.

Companies that give back rock and retail therapy gets a whole new meaning!

Top Ten Green Toys for the Holidays

One of Three Leaf Card's Nonprofit partners, Co-Op America, just released a Ten Green Toys for the Holidays list.

Start thinking holiday conscious spending - buy Green Toys for tots!

Still NUTS over my new cleanut detergent

I am not one to gush over doing laundry, but last week I did a post on my new eco-friendly laundry detergent and I love it so much I want to marry it.

A week later, my clothes smell yummy and are really, truly softer than ever.

I am hooked on cleanut detergent. Vegan detergent, good for skin, organic ingredients. It makes laundry tolerable!

Play a Cool Online Game AND feed hungry people free!

Greetings Conscious Spenders,
For those of you who need a constructive diversion from your day (great diversions include reading this blog too!!!) Check out FreeRice!

FreeRice is a sister site of the world poverty site, Poverty.com. They have two goals:

1. To provide English vocabulary to everyone for free.
2. To help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.

They do the cool site they do because of sponsors who advertise on this site.

What are you waiting for? Go play!

Gifts that make a Difference

Aveda (one of my favorite companies on the planet) is using renewably-sourced paper in their gift sets this year to help brighten the future for families and forests. Aveda stated on one of their gift flyers that:

"Over 20% of carbon dioxide greenhouse gas emissions worldwide are due to forest loss"

You can learn more about the Aveda partnership here in their video.

As a conscious customer, I love knowing that my dollars to Aveda give back.

Little Spending Choices can Light the Way

Hola Conscious Spenders,
I have been reading a lot of articles and listening to people talk about ways we can help make the planet a better place by conserving and making better choices and one pattern I hear a lot is that small, simple choices can make a big difference (if we all take part!)

I thought I'd kick off the weekend with a simple conscious spending tip - when it is time to replace those light bulbs, buy compact.



There was a great article in Fast Company in 2006 Called How Many Lightbulbs Does it Take to Change the World? One.

According to the article:
"Compact fluorescents emit the same light as classic incandescents but use 75% or 80% less electricity.

What that means is that if every one of 110 million American households bought just one ice-cream-cone bulb, took it home, and screwed it in the place of an ordinary 60-watt bulb, the energy saved would be enough to power a city of 1.5 million people. One bulb swapped out, enough electricity saved to power all the homes in Delaware and Rhode Island. In terms of oil not burned, or greenhouse gases not exhausted into the atmosphere, one bulb is equivalent to taking 1.3 million cars off the roads.

That's the law of large numbers--a small action, multiplied by 110 million." (Source: FastCompany.com)

So if Home Depot is on your weekend shopping list, pick the compact fluorescents!

Now Accepting Climb Against the Odds 2008 Applications

Want to make a great New Year's resolution that gives back in a big way?

Join the Climb Against the Odds mountain expedition hosted by Breast Cancer Fund. The event is for breast cancer survivors, supporters and others impacted by the disease —both women and men. They only take 40 climbers on the team, so slots are filling fast.

If you would like to join the inspiring journey for breast cancer prevention, now's the time!

Learn more and apply to climb today »

Event: Climb Against the Odds
Dates: June 15 to 21, 2008
Location: Mt. Shasta, Calif.

Note - the photo is two-time Breast Cancer Fund Climb Against the Odds team member Sherry Miller, 52, of Reno, Nev. She stood on the summit of Mt. Shasta in July 2006 while undergoing her fifth round of chemotherapy. Sherry died May 1 of metastatic breast cancer.

Urge Congress to Connect Diseases with Causes

The information below came directly from the Breast Cancer Fund Newsletter. Help them help you...read below and take action!

125 million Americans live with some form of chronic disease, 3 million with breast cancer. Science points to our increased exposure to toxic chemicals as a contributing factor. Yet there is no nationwide system to track chemical exposures and link them to rates of breast cancer and other diseases.

Senator Hillary Clinton and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi have introduced The Coordinated Environmental Public Health Network Act of 2007 to meet this urgent need.

Their bills would expand what we know about disease rates, the pollution levels in people, exposure to toxic chemicals and how they’re all connected—and to respond so we can prevent breast cancer and other diseases in the future.

Ask your legislators to support the Coordinated Environmental Public Health Network Act »

The average woman consumes one tube of lipstick a year - make it organic!

In a former life, I was a cosmetics manager (a "get my butt though college" job that paid well!) and I recall learning in one of my sales trainings that the average woman consumes one tube of lipstick a year. That stat freaked me out (I wish I could recall the source) but it does make you think....

If you are going to wear lip color and you are going to ingest some of it, you better make it good for you!

I discovered Colorganics Lip Tint It is sheer, organic lip tint that is moisturizing with a slight hint of natural color, perfect actually. It's made with organic castor oil and moisturizing organic hemp seed oil.

For those of you who are really into safe cosmetics, ingredients are below.

Ingredients: Certified organic castor oil, certified organic beeswax, carnauba wax, certified organic hemp seed oil, certified organic jojoba oil, natural vitamin E. May contain mica, iron oxides, carmine, titanium dioxide (non-FD&C natural pigments).

Conscious beauty comes via conscious spending! May your next tube of lipstick be a quality one!

Help Spread the Word About Climate Change

Hey Coolio Conscious People!

Since it's almost that time to give thanks, I thought I'd suggest that we give thanks for nature and the planet and take advantage of the power of the world wide web and:

1. connect with people you care about
2. help spread the word about climate change (it's not going away, awareness is the first step towards conscious change)

Check out the free powerful climate change cards on Three Leaf Cards and the slightly satirical climate change card and send the card around!

Have a great day!
P.S. The "Glacier Guy Free Video" was featured at an NRDC dinner

Nuts Over My New Laundry Detergent

I recently purchased an eco-friendly laundry detergent that that I discovered at the Green Festival in SF last week. It's made with natural and organic ingredients, it's allergy free, and REALLY economical. Only 1 FL oz per load - too coolio!

The products we use on ourselves get into our water systems so we have to be conscious of what we use for our health and the planet.

cleanut has no dyes, no phosphates, it's safe for septic systems and IT WORKS. My clothes are softer and the smell is great.

We can can make easy choices that make for a better planet, respect the planet, respect the products that end up on your skin and support great companies that make good stuff!

Cleanut - The Powerful Soap Nut - Liquid Laundry Detergent - TWO bottles of 25 Fl. Oz. each - 50 LOADS (1 Fl. Oz./load = only $ 0.38/LOAD)

Do you NEED that Thneed? :)

I am still riding my creative retreat high from all the insight I gained from the Co-Op America Green Conference and traveling home yesterday allowed me to reflect on what I learned from all the speakers and attendees about being a responsible customer, business person and community leader and the biggest a-ha and summary on what I can do to make a difference goes back to the basis that I learned from Dr. Seuss:

YOU DON'T NEED A THNEED.

What the heck does that mean? It's really quite simple. I challenge you to go back to life at the age of five and remember the wise lesson from Dear Dr. Seuss in his amazing book, the Lorax.

Dr. Seuss tells the story of the Lorax who wants to save the trees and fights the man who wants to cut down the trees while convincing the masses via savvy marketing that we need "thneeds". After the masses buy these silly thneeds and satiate their consumeristic needs, they end up with a polluted planet and ultimately, a poor quality of life. The little man who fought for what he felt was right in the Lorax is a persona that still exists out there today. These eco-protesters are taking the people and planet issues personally and commit to making their life's work to encourage us to step back and THINK. Yep, think, that's all we have to do to start making a change for the better. Think about the difference between wants and needs and ask yourself when you make purchases if you really need that "thneed" or if you can we re-use something. When we do need to buy something, ask:

1. Where it comes from?
2. Is is made/conducted by a responsible company?
3. Will is last years and years and years?
4. What is the value of the product/service?
5. What are the values of the organization?

The Lorax was right, he is still right, and when you buy that next piece of furniture or bedding or household cleanser or invest in that next fund, ask yourself a few questions first so you put your money into companies and organizations that think first before they produce products and offer services.

If we exercise our thought and take mindful action via conscious spending, we CAN make a difference.

And we all need a darn good excuse to take a healthy retreat back to kidsville, so buy The Lorax and read it to the kids in your world...getting consciuous can also be a hell of a lot of fun!

Green Loop Pre-Holiday Sale

For those of you who need (need as in need, not want, okay, it's Saturday, maybe a little want is okay) Greenloop (Green Life, Green Style) is having a Pre-Holiday Sale on great vendors like Stewart+Brown and Emily Katz. Don't panic, most of the clothes are organic AND beautiful, so get your green clothes shopping on, or buy your green holiday gifts and save a little moolah so you have more to give to great causes this year!!!

Conscious Spending - Period (Literally)

This is probably one of the most un-sexy posts I will ever do about conscious spending, but as a woman and someone that gives a damn about people and planet, I cannot NOT talk about conscious spending choices that relate to our periods, specifically healthy feminine hygiene products (phew, there, I said it)

Okay, getting your period sucks most of the time but what can suck even harder is putting toxic (toxictoxictoxic) bleached products into our bodies in the name of "hygenine". We have choices to make and women owe it to themselves and their families to make healthy feminine product choices.

The Seventh Generation site explains why we need to think and make better choices about feminine care products:

"Most conventional feminine care products are made with absorbent fibers that have been bleached with chlorine, a process which sends dangerous chlorinated toxins – especially dioxin – into our atmosphere, water, and soil. Over time, those chemicals may end up back in our bodies."

Worse, tampons are placed directly into our bodies, so we need to think twice and act by buying chlorine-free care products.

Stores like Whole Foods carry these kinds of feminine care products. Being conscious requires change (conscious awareness) - once you get in the habit of making healthier choices, it will become unconscious and your body will thank you for it.

Happy weekend! :)

Green Festival In SF

My sister (who lives in SF and lived in my hotel room with me while I attended the Co-Op America Green Conference all day and night the last two days) emailed me with the great plug that was on Daily Candy SF for the Green Festival this weekend - If you are in the city this weekend, go!
From Daily Candy San Francisco:
Green Festival
What: Mingle with the ecognoscenti over art, politics, music, and food.
Why: Everything you ever wanted to know about sustainability but were too afraid to ask.
When: Fri., 2-8 p.m.; Sat., 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; Sun., 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
Where: San Francisco Concourse Exhibition Center, 635 8th St., at Brannan St. Tickets online at greenfestivals.org.

In the Co-Op America Inspiration Zone

Greetings conscious spenders...It's been a few days (which is a rare thing for me to NOT have something say, as opinion is my middle name), but since I arrived in San Francisco Tuesday for the Co-Op America Green Conference, I have been on information overload (in a good way!) attending all the great networking events, socially responsible business sessions, break out sessions (great blogging/social media session hosted by David Anderson of Green Options Media) wining (organic wine of course!), dining (vegan and organic) talking to my fellow conference attendees about Three Leaf Cards tree-free holiday greeting cards and getting up the next day to get more green data in my noggin. So, the point of the run-on sentence is to say that all the inspiration has left me a little blog-less to say the least. I am so overwhelmed with excitement about being a part of this industry and now have so many new tidbits of great information to share, that I think I simply am at a loss of where to start!

I always attend events like these with no expectations, as half the excitement of attending conferences is that you never know who you will meet. I have met green decorators, green media companies, socially responsible business consultants, eco-friendly food companies, organic cosmetics companies and much, much more.

I plan to go through all my notes when I leave San Francisco and share all the conscious spending wisdom that I have collected. Stay tuned in the next few weeks.

The biggest overall takeaway so far from the conference is how important is to support companies that are working to make a positive impact to help people and the planet and that we have NO (I'll say it again, NO) EXCUSE to not make conscious spending choices because there is not a lack of any socially responsible service or product provider out there, it's just a matter of empowering ourselves to know who they are and support them.

Three Leaf Cards supports great non profit organizations that are truly making a quantifiable impact. Co-Op America is one of the companies that a member can choose to donate 10% of their funds to, and after seeing the team in action, I am beyond proud to support them as well as all of our great Non Profit partners

Companies are out there making a difference, I cannot wait to share all the great companies I have stumbled upon to keep conscious spending fun and impact-ful.

For anyone in SF, go to the Green Festival this Friday - Sunday and see for yourselves all the great green companies that you can consciously support!

How you can stop junk mail and save trees

I did a post a few weeks ago on how to stop junk mail (after you click, scroll down) and since then, I have been taking the advice of 41pounds.org on ways to reduce my carbon footprint and stop the gastly inconvenience of junk mail.

I wanted to share some information that I didn't know until I had the help of 41pounds and wanted to pass along the wisdom....

#1. We have rights - we can stop junk mail. We just have to contact all the companies that send us junk mail and ask them to stop, or better yet, get companies like 41pounds to help you with the contacting (they make it really easy!)

#2. If you move, ask for a mail forwarding form NOT a change of address, as the post office sells your new address information (I feel so slimy thinking about that!) but really good to know huh?

#3. Supermarket club cards are an instant way to poof out that mailbox, they track our habits not to give us great savings (ok, maybe that's some of it) but they use it to market and cram our mailboxe full of landfill crap. No club cards anymore conscious spenders!

#4. When you donate, you have to request that they do not sell, share or rent your information as they most likely will.

Help save the planet, be mindful when you spend and know that as a conscious customer you have choices and there are great services to help stop junk mail

Green Guide

National Geographic offers a GREAT and free online green guide that offers eco-friendly and conscious spending green living tips. I stumbled upon them when I was searching for Green Athletic Shoe Makers

They also have a web-only special on Smart Conscious Shopper's Cards that
helps conscious spenders make product choices that are healthier and/or ecologically improved. Their web listing cards have easy to access ingredients to avoid, labels to look for, recommended products, or the like.

Get your conscious savvy shopping on!