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)

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...

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!!!!

Don't Hate Me Because I am Eco-Beautiful

Eco Friendly Fashion never looked hotter! ShopBop.com has three pages of eco-friendly pages which is a great step towards fashion getting green.

Be a conscious spender and wear what is already in your closet. If you NEED anything else, then buy eco-friendly clothing and make a conscious fashion statement!

You can find other eco-friendly fashion on inhabitat.com

and Stewart and Brown - Organic Fashion Pioneers

and if you want to eco-fluff the heck outta your interior design, then Livingreen is a hot shop!

Ernesto Soy Lube for Bikes

Ernesto is trying to build name recognition with a soy-based bike lube. It’s biodegradable, and you can even send the empty bottle back when it’s gone to get it refilled.

If you’re looking to lower the environmental footprint of your bike, this might be the only way to increase your righteousness while winding a cargo bike through streets crowded with SUVs.

A 4oz bottle of Ernesto Lube is only $6.

Kudos to a Santa Barbara Day Spa Owner for Recycling!

I stumbled upon a Busy Working Moms Blog run by a day spa owner in Santa Barbara. Check out her cool tips about recycling.

I LOVE business people that care!!!

Read the Recycling Made Easy Article from the BusyWorkingMom blog and support conscious business people where you live!!!

Conscious Spending Tip - Online Bank Statements!

Quick tip of the day - Save time and trees and make a positive eco-decision today.

Set all your financial statements to be online only!

I received several tax statements in my email inbox today and went and changed all my banks statements to be web only...no more papers to file, no extra mail, one step towards saving trees.

What are you waiting for? Go make the change! :)

Help Share Knowledge - Give to the Breast Cancer Fund by December 31

The Breast Cancer Fund is all about research to aid in Breast Cancer prevention and they need funding to continue their efforts. This is a conscous request to help put any "I want to donate before the end of the year dollars" to a great cause. BCF released a great report called The Falling Age of Puberty in U.S. Girls: What We Know, What We Need to Know by Dr. Sandra Steingraber, and State of the Evidence: The Connection Between Breast Cancer and the Environment.

Any gift through December 31 in support of the Breast Cancer Fund's scientific work will be matched, dollar for dollar, up to $50,000.

Women and Men of all ages are at risk for Breast Cancer and you can help!



Click here to help Breast Cancer Fund Reach the $50,000 Betsy Gordon Science Challenge Grant

Give the gift of Green Clean this holiday!

One of my best friends on the planet is expecting her second baby and the first friend words out of my mouth at lunch last week were questions about the products she uses to clean her house for her 3year old and baby-on the way.

Homes are the MOST TOXIC environments, mainly due to the crap (TOXIC CRAP) that we use to "clean" our homes. Chemicals weaken immune systems, especially infants, kids and seniors (folks with weaker systems)

So, instead of giving a silly gift this year, give the gift of green clean - healthy cleaning products! It's creative, caring and makes a difference.

I lovelovelove www.livingreen.com owned by Ellen Strickland, green pioneer and healthy living advocate extrodinaire. She has stores in Santa Barbara, Montecito and Culver City and now you can shop healthy cleaning products online with them.

Give a great gift this year - help make healthier homes!

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!

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!

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 »

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)

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.

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!

Toxic Costumes? Halloween Goes Green

Not really. Halloween wouldn't be Halloween, after all, if there weren't the staple colors of orange and black everywhere!

But, now your Halloween can be ³greener² thanks to some tips provided by Treehugger.

PVC and vinyl create toxins such as lead, cadmium, and phthalates. Yea, thanks but no thanks.

And if you read our post about how toxic make-up is, then you already know about how toxic these face paints really are. Some of the toxins you will find here include formaldehyde, lead, and other potential cancer-causing agents.

Treehugger suggests getting creative and finding things in your closet or the local thrift store that will turn your children into those Halloween ghouligans!

What about the make-up? Maybe try to make your own this year. Might be
fun. Read more about Green Halloween Costumes

Your Next Home A Tree House?

Every year the car companies come out with these insane concept ideas for cars of the future; and now there is one for homes!

Tree houses aren't just for kids anymore. There is an architectural concept for a house that can be built by, and in, a tree over the period of 5 years.

From future-thinking architects Mitchell Joachim and Javier Arbona, this tree house utilizes vines, roots and the tree itself to build a perfectly "normal" house.

The inside of the home will be plastered with the usual materials and techniques, while apparently the windows are the last point of concern. The architects still work to discover a way to make soy-based windows, or some other natural material, that can continue to grow with the house.

I'm not sure how mud and plaster would grow with the house, but I love this futuristic idea! I love that people are thinking about what our future can be like, beyond flying cars, and living in the skies like the Jetson's.

Check out the house for yourself with this green living tree house video