Santa Barbara Green Spot is now GreenFixes

Many of the conscious spending blog readers are also fans of Santa Barbara Green Spot, so I wanted to let you all know that Crystal's bitchin' blog has officially been changed to GreenFixes, located at http://www.greenfixes.blogspot.com/.

This blog has a national focus in environmental issues, thus the name was changed to best communicate/fit the solutions presented in the blog.

If you were a subscribed reader, please change your saved website link to the new one.

Green Fixes is for all things related to sustainable business industry trends and best practices.

The green fix blog and business goal: Uniting businesses with our natural environment by allowing them to value the services provided by a rich and diverse natural environment while still remaining profitable, competitive, and valuable to shareholders.

:0)

The Impact of Plastic Bags

My fabulous friend Samantha emailed a great link to me today - remember to be conscious when you use those eco-icky bags and watch this!

It's very important to understand what plastic bags are doing to our environment and the health of the planet. When you watch this link and you will be amazed...We need to kick the plastic bag habit!

I know many of our blog readers are already "converts" and try to no longer use plastic bags, but we can always have further convincing...

Many countries around the world and some cities in the USA have banned the use of plastics bags. If your town doesn’t have a ban, get one!!!

Please forward these photos and information on the damage to our earth and its life caused by plastic bags (made from an oil by-product).

4 Ways to Reduce E-Waste

Co-Op America emailed out a GREAT checklist on easy ways to reduce e-waste!

1. Check your television. – Many TVs made after 2003 were equipped with digital tuners. Look for a label that says "Integrated Digital Tuner," "Integrated Digital Receiver," "Digital Receiver Built-in," or "Digital Receiver Built-in." If you have a digital tuner already, you're all set.

2. Use a converter box. – If you don't have a digital tuner, a set-top converter box can still keep your TV from becoming e-waste. Each household is eligible to receive two vouchers, valued at $40 each, to use toward purchase of a converter. Check out www.dtv.gov for more information.

3. Recycle your television – If you must purchase a new television, make sure your old one isn't simply carted to a landfill. The Basel Action Network provides a list of recyclers who have pledged not to export hazardous e-waste. Also, Sony is offering a free take-back program for all Sony electronics in the US.

4.Speak out about the e-waste nightmare -- Finally, take our action to tell the FCC that you're concerned about the coming deluge of e-waste that may be triggered by the digital switch. Tell the FCC to require manufacturers to follow Sony's lead and take responsibility for their products throughout their entire life cycles.

BONUS ENERGY-SAVING STEPS: If you must purchase a new television, look for an LCD (liquid crystal display) model, marked with the Energy Star label. LCDs use six times less energy than plasma screen models. You can cut your energy use further by unplugging your TV (and its attached appliances) when you're not watching it; this prevents your electronics from consuming electricity even while not in use.

Please forward this blog post to all your friends and family. We need as many people as possible to understand how to reduce the impact of the digital switch, and we need a groundswell of pressure on the FCC and the electronics companies to manage the e-waste problem better.

Send an e-mail to the FCC today and visit our Responsible Shopper.org to find contact information for major electronics manufacturers, and links to the TV TakeBack campaign.

Great Green Tips - Love the Daily Green!

The Daily Green has great green tips and we love the one easy thing section.
Latest tip: Inflate your tires to increase your fuel economy and help le planet...

Earth Hour will be the largest voluntary power down in history

Tonight, March 29, the world will take a stand. Millions of people from Australia to America and buildings including the Sears Tower and the Golden Gate Bridge will turn off their lights for one hour to show how working together we can make a difference in the fight against climate change. Staring in Christchurch, New Zealand, Earth Hour will roll through 14 time zones, wrapping up in the Pacific Time zone representative San Francisco, CA. Traversing more than 25 cities in 10 countries, Earth Hour will be the largest voluntary power down in history.


Please consider participating in this effort by, that's right, shutting off your lights tonight from 8-9.


Who's Involved?

World Wildlife Fund

Sports Teams and Corporations

Phoenix Suns

Chicago Bears

Hewlett Packard

Esurance

National Geographic Channel

McDonald's will turn off its golden arches in over 480 locations in Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana.

Flagship Cities

Aalborg, Denmark

Aarhus, Denmark

Adelaide, Australia

Atlanta, United States

Bangkok, Thailand

Brisbane, Australia

Canberra, Australia

Chicago, United States

Christchurch, New Zealand

Copenhagen, Denmark

Dublin, Ireland

Haifa, Israel

Manila, Philippines

Melbourne, Australia

Montreal, Canada

Odense, Denmark

Ottawa, Canada

Perth, Australia

Phoenix, United States

San Francisco, United States

Suva, Fiji

Sydney – Australia

Tel Aviv, Israel

Toronto, Canada

Vancouver, Canada


Find out more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Hour


Spread the message.

Push Large American Mutual Funds to Use their Clout to Push Companies in Climate Change

Co-op America needs our support...help them help you by pushing some of the largest mutual funds in America to use their biggest weapon (their wallets!) to push companies on climate change.

This just in from Co-op America's email:
"Mutual funds like American Funds, Morgan Stanley, Pioneer, Vanguard, and more have a history of abstaining or voting against climate resolutions. Tell them with us that the time to act is now.

Push mutual funds to act on climate change »"

NO PLASTIC WATER BOTTLES!

Yep, you heard me...no plastic water bottles :) I committed to not buying plastic water bottles as part of the no Plastic Water bottle Challenge hosted by the Brooklyn Green Team and that is my story, and I am sticking to it!

I am 11 days into my commitment and it's been no problemo. I even walked my desk-ridden bum down to the water dispenser (a few blocks away from the home office) this week with two gallon jugs and paid my 60 cents to refill them then walked home. Eco-friendly, low cost workout for a healthy planet and healthier body!

Your future Brooklyn green friends (SIGN UP) send reminders once you commit to the challenge and I love the great tips. Here's one from this week:

"Remember to use a ceramic or glass mug for your liquids throughout the day and when you need water on the go, look for a #1 or #2 plastic to avoid leaching. OR try Swellz a company that makes water sacks, hand-made in Spain (the original birthplace of water sacks) using latex interiors hand sewn with soft leather with a handy-strap for carrying. They're good for hot and cold and they age like a favorite baseball glove."

Three Leaf Cards is also supporting the challenge by donating a free one-year e-card membership every week until Earth Day for individuals who join the challenge. Our eco-cool cards are nature-inspired online greeting cards (tree-free!) and we donate 10% each of annual membership fees to nonprofit organizations.

Erase waste, reduce, reuse, recycle! And join the no water bottle challenge - I DARE YOU!!!

JOIN THE CHALLENGE NO DISPOSABLE WATER BOTTLES
Kick the Disposable Lifestyle this FEBRUARY - APRIL
To Join, email brooklyngreen@gmail.com and write SIGN ME UP! (please include your first and last name or at least last initial)

A GreenSage Guide to Indoor Air Quality

Elaine Ireland did a great post for GreenSage.com, Where Every Issue is a Green Issue (love that!) on Indoor Air Quality.

Did you know that one of the WORST places we can be for toxins is inside and worse, in our homes (eeek!) We have to think about this stuff...environmental issues are not just political, they are emotional because they impact our health!

Per Elaine's post:
"Thousand of pollutants are found indoors. Chemicals, particulates and biological contaminants can wreak havoc on occupants. Indoor exposure concentrations are one to five times, and sometimes as much as 100 times, more polluted than outdoors. Here's the Guide to what these pollutants are and what you can do."

Check out the GreenSage Guide to Indoor Air Quality

Consciousness starts with awareness - pay attention to your environment (and I'm not just talking about outside!!!)

Santa Barbara Sustainability Blog

A super cool Santa Barbaraian, launched a Santa Barbara Sustainability Blog that we wanted to share - it is a blog with passion and purpose:

"This project is to educate and inform while providing consultation and "green" ides to companies so that they may make better strategic business plans that include "go-green" eco-friendly ideas that will support our surrounding environment and will save companies money."

The blogger, Crystal, is a student at Antioch University in Santa Barbara, Ca. It is so cool to see great resources like sustainability blogs pop up online! Bookmark this blog babes - this blog will be a wealth of information!

The Story of Stuff - You HAVE to watch this!

One of my super great friends just sent me the link to the Story of Stuff - so cool!

The site http://www.storyofstuff.com/ explains the video well:

"From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever."

You owe it to yourself and family to watch this and be a conscious consumer!!!

Tell America's Banks: Clean Energy Now!

Co-Op America, one of my favorite non-profit organizations on the planet (that serves to help the planet!) is urging us to tell America's banks that we want clean energy now. We CAN make a difference and sway the organizations we support to continue to serve our wants and needs.

The tide is turning for coal, which is a devastating environmental call (if you have ever seen a coal plant live, it is the most disgusting thing ever!) Good new is that three of America’s biggest investment banks – Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and J.P. Morgan Chase – announced that they have developed new “Carbon Principles,” calling for increased investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy, and limited investments in coal.

The door is still open for these three banks to invest in coal – if it can be shown to turn a profit – and their new standards don’t go far enough in limiting other polluting technologies, or in funding green energy solutions, so we need to communicate our desire as customers of all institutions that we won't settle for pollution.

A recent study released by Ceres ranked the world’s banks on their commitment to addressing carbon emissions, with European banks taking the top five slots in their survey. And compared to community investing banks and credit unions nationwide, which set the standard for lending that helps communities and the environment, America’s largest banks are in the dark ages.

Help Co-op America help you as a banking and financial services customer, to reach out to four of America’s largest banks – Citigroup, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Wachovia – and tell them they need to do more on climate change. They need to end all financing of coal, set targets for the reductions of CO2 emissions for all their borrowers, and set targets for investments in energy efficiency and renewables.

A few years ago, 150 new coal-fired power plants were proposed across the country. Co-op America’s members and e-activists raised their voices to say to no to the utilities that propose coal plants and the banks that finance them, and in the last two years, 15 plants opposed by Co-op America have been canceled – with dozens more canceled after local and national opposition. We need to keep the momentum up to convince banks that coal is never a good investment.

TAKE ACTION SEND YOUR LETTER NOW!

Day One of No Water Bottle Use

It is day one of my no water bottle usage committment. I would like to thank my new friend Amanda from the Brooklyn Green Team (how eco-hot are they, by the way?!!!) for emailing me back so fast when I pledged my committment. Y'all rock!

Day one is off to a good start. I have this old Starbucks almminum mug that is going to come with me everyhere to spare any desire to buy or use a water bottle.

Right now it is full of coffee, but nonetheless, I have not used a water bottle yet.
I will also commit to bringing my own pre-filled water bottle to they gym to spare any desire to buy a plastic water bottle.

If you haven't signed up for the NO WATER BOTTLE CHALLENGE, get on it! Every little thing makes a BIG difference!

WATER BOTTLE CHALLENGE

Laurie David, one of our eco-heroes and founder of www.stopglobalwarming.org, sends a superb enewsletter (if you are not on the list go to www.stopglobalwarming.org and get on it)

One of her email topics was proposing that we commit to NOT USE WATER BOTTLES between now and Earth Day. The following is straight from Laurie's email:

"Inspired by our friends at Brooklyn Green Team, who are running their own "No Disposable Water Bottle Challenge," we would like to challenge our virtual marchers to give up disposable water bottles. Start with a commitment not to purchase any plastic bottled beverages between now and Earth Day (April 22).

Every year, Americans throw away over 22 billion plastic bottles, the majority ending up in landfills. Across the country, only 10 percent of plastic water bottles are recycled, says a report from the New York state Department of Conservation. Bottle production requires millions of barrels of oil, and the bottles create toxic air pollution as they are incinerated with regular trash. As the Brooklyn Green Team puts it, it's time for us all to "kick the disposable lifestyle."

I am ready to try this out...it's just me and my aluminum bottle baby! Anyone else who is in, please post a comment to this blog. If we get a strong response, we'll donate free online greeting card memberships as prizes to support the No Disposable Water Bottle Challenge!

I want to see some support!!!!

Patagonia Walks the Talk with Freedom to Roam Initiative

Patagonia is one of our favorite companies.
1. They have AMAZING outdoor products that we use when we are shooting photos for our online greeting cards
2. They are a socially responsible company (Three Leaf Cards is a member of 1% for the Planet)
3. They are an environmentally active company.

They have an initivate called Freedom to Roam that is dedicated to establishing migration wildways for animals between protected areas. Patagonia’s partners in Freedom to Roam include other companies, conservation organizations and recreation groups.

I got this email from Patagonia that explains the purpose and passion:
"Climate change threatens to drive more than a million land species to extinction, according to the Extinction Risk from Climate Change study. Habitats for mammals, birds, reptiles, frogs, and butterflies will become warmer. If these species remain trapped in warming habitats due to human development, one-quarter of them could disappear by the end of this century.

Providing species (like this grizzly) with greater freedom to roam between shifting habitats can do much to support their survival. In North America, this means protecting and restoring wildlife corridors along the Pacific Crest, the Continental Divide, the Appalachians, and several other smaller, but equally important, locales.

Freedom to Roam is a partnership of conservation organizations, recreation groups and corporations dedicated to establishing migration corridors between protected areas."

Learn more about the Freedom to Roam partnership and SUPPORT COMPANIES that CARE!

You can vote with your wallets conscious spenders!!

Conscious Hotelling

Greetings from the Georgia Tech Conference Hotel in Atlanta (it snowed here today!) I had a conscious moment when I checked into my room...

So much of the toiletries go to waste..do we REALLY need to open soaps in the shower and bathtub?

Help minimize your hotel consumption:

1. Only use one soap during your stay (it won't kill you to pick the soap up from the sink and take it to the shower!)

2. If the hotel has a linens program where you can request that they don't clean your linens daily, opt for that!

3. Turn off all lights when you are not in the room!

Nature Rocks

Nature rocks...literally. See some photos from my recent trip to Utah where I took to the open road and enjoyed time in canyons.
When you spend time in nature, it really makes you appreciate the environment...PROTECT IT! :)

Here's to a GREAT 2008!

Wildfires Consume California

We are all aware of the devastating situation with the wildfires in Southern California. I¹m sure there are a lot of factors contributing to the destruction by this super fire, including overgrowth of plants in the area, high-population density and the intense winds. With crazy gusts over 50 mph, the wind is helping to spread the fire quickly and creating a very dangerous environment, which includes the now famous Fire Tornado.

Now, area residents are being warned to stay indoors as the air quality continues to decrease. These types of fires emit very dangerous, and tiny, soot particles that can cause extreme health concerns, especially for the younger and older populations.

I was in Denver during the Heyman Fire, and the skies were an eerie orange glow and their was ash constantly falling on my patio; and that fire was a good 50 miles out of town. I can only imagine how intense and crazy this urban fire is and the kind of havoc it is wreaking in this densely populated region of the US.

Our thoughts are with the residents, both those in danger and those 500K displaced people, and hopefully Mother Nature will lend those brave firefighters a hand.

Conscious Spenders – Get on Green Dry Cleaning!

I felt like I was pretty green when it came to dry cleaning. I do not get plastic bags over my garments (which is easier said than done), I recycle my hangers, and I wear my dry-cleanables as many times as I can before I have to take them in. However, after I read Co-op America’s article today about Green Dry Cleaning, I am realizing that there is a lot more to the equation….

Part of the Green dry cleaning equation is about the waste, but is it very much about the chemicals that are used to “clean” the clothes too - chemincals that are dangerous to our health and the environment (which of course, impacts health, all cyclical)

According to the Occidental College’s Pollution Prevention Center, 85% of dry cleaners in the US (over 35,000) use perchloroethylene (also called perc) as a solvent in the dry cleaning process. This is a toxic chemical that is not good for people or the planet.

But we are not doomed to perc-cleaning. There are ways to clean clothes bearing a “Dry Clean Only” label without putting toxins into the environment, or bringing dangerous chemicals home or harming the health of the employees working at dry cleaners (thinking about their exposure to all those chemicals freaks me out)

We love Co-Op America’s suggested alternatives to dry cleaning:

Best Bets for Delicate Clothes (from Co-op America)
Our top recommendations for dealing with your “Dry Clean Only” clothes:

• Handwash your dry-clean-only clothes: Green living expert and Care2.com editor Annie Bond offers eco-friendly instructions on safely handwashing silk, wool, and rayon clothing.

• Use wet and liquid CO2 cleaners: Occidental College recently launched a national directory of liquid CO2 and wet cleaners. (The liquid CO2 cleaners listed do not include Solvair cleaners, which use a toxic solvent as part of their process.) Also, keep in mind that some wet cleaners, like Chicago’s Greener Cleaner, allow you to mail in your clothes and will mail them back to you wet-cleaned and pressed. Contact Greener Cleaner at 888/875-8345.

• Avoid hydrocarbon, greenearth, and solvair CO2 cleaning: Though somewhat better than perc, these methods all use toxic solvents.

And because Co-op America rocks, they even condensed all the information in their Real Money green dry cleaning article into a portable dry cleaning alternatives wallet card you can take with you. Get your downloadable green dry cleaning wallet card here.

The State Of The Paper Industry

According to GreenBiz.net, we aren't the only people working to limit our consumption of paper in the office and in business in general. On average, 42% of industrial wood harvest goes to paper.

The State of Paper Industry report produced by the Environmental Paper Network, takes a first-of-its-kind look at the paper consumption world, from recycling to forest depletion, within the context of climate crisis.

With "Reducing Your Carbon Footprint" becoming a common topic for more and more companies in North America, businesses are waking up and becoming more aware of their carbon footprint. They are taking steps to help alleviate their impact on global warming and the ever-threatening climate crisis.

Just a couple of key findings from the report include:

* Paper manufacturing is the largest consumer and polluter of our fresh water resources

* The paper industry is No. 4 contributor to greenhouse emissions.

You can read the full article and download the report by visiting GreenBiz.net.