Archive for Uncategorized
January 31, 2008 at 5:10 am
· Filed under Going Green, Green Living, Healthy Living, Live Green, Organic, Sustainability, World of Green, environment, green, green gifts ·Tagged gifts for valentines day, green gifts for valentines, green gifts for valentines day, Valentine, valentines day
Want to wow your valentine and save the planet? Try a few of these gifts. They’re sure to impress.
Valentine’s Day. For most it conjures up fond memories of romance, chocolates, sweet cards, flowers… and a bit of pressure. We’ve all felt the pressure to get a one-of-a-kind Valentine’s gift without breaking the bank and (for all of us eco-conscious folks out there) not hurting the planet. Fellow Valentines, have no fear. We have a few options for you to Green Your Valentine. Just make sure you order in time to avoid the Valentine’s Day rush!
CHOCOLATE
No Valentine’s Day would be complete without chocolate. But chocolate has a not-so-romantic history which is why it is important to buy your chocolate organic and fair trade. Fair Trade ensures that your chocolates come from farms that support the human rights of their workers and Organic ensures sustainable farming practices for the environment. For the chocolate lover in your life, we highly recommend the following: Theo Chocolate. A few suggestions for every price range: (3400 Phinney Nib Brittle Dark Chocolate Bar ($3.25 each), 6 or 12 piece collection box of confections, ($12 to $24) or the Aphrodisiac Confection Collection ($40) created especially for the Valentine’s holiday.
FLOWERS
If your special someone is fond of gifts of a more floral nature, we suggest Organic Bouquet. Organic Bouquet’s selection of flowers, plants and gift baskets is strictly devoted to organically grown, sustainable and environmentally friendly gifts. Consider giving a plant (a miniature Tuscan olive tree, $64.95) or flowers in a bulb bowl (Paperwhites in a bulb bowl $16.95), to add an extra dimension of sustainability to your gift.
CANDLES
If candles are what your sweetheart wants, consider Novica’s artist from Thailand Kasarin Krisanamis, whose original and thoughtful designs will please and inspire any Valentine. We particularly like Cinnamon Parade ($24.95) and Wonderful Blue Corner ($62.95). Novica specializes in gifts from artisans around the world which are brought to market in a sustainable, ethical and fairly traded fashion.
If you are still stumped for gifts for your sweetie, nothing beats time spent with your loved one and a good, old fashioned card (preferably a homemade or recycled paper card) with a few sweet sentences attached. In fact, no matter what you do, make sure that quality time with your loved one and some heart-felt appreciation is part of your celebration.
Written by Penelope - the Newbie at We Can Live Green
Permalink
December 14, 2007 at 4:37 am
· Filed under Allie - Reporting Green, Climate Change, Going Green, Green Building, Green Living, Healthy Living, Live Green, Sustainability, environment, green ·Tagged , california schools, california schools go green, green schools, green schools summit, green technology, greening our schools, safe schools, state of california
Green Technology, in conjunction with the state of California, held the first California Green Schools Summit last week. The Summit, aimed at furthering Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s green building initiatives in California schools, brought together state officials, environmental leaders, green products and services companies and a host of celebrities in a three day summit held December 4-6, 2007 in Pasadena, California.
The summit featured:
- 75 educational workshops and sessions
- an exhibition floor complete with a model green school building and more than 200 companies offering green products and services
- a special “Student Summit” featuring green-school projects for California high school students
- keynote speakers
- an awards ceremony to celebrate sustainable schools throughout the state.
As Secretary Rosario Marin and State Architect David Thorman wrote in a recent commentary for the Summit, ” A school is not just a building, as any parent or teacher can tell you. Our schools provide an environment that fosters learning and provides young people with knowledge and experience that enable them to imagine their futures.” Indeed, it is no minor task to create a school that facilitates learning and provides a safe and healthy environment for students to learn. Add in the moral mandate we all have to build in an ethical, sustainable and socially responsible fashion, and one can quickly ascertain that the task set before Californians for greener schools is an immense challenge.
But it is not an impossible challenge, as evidenced by the tremendous number of exhibitors, state officials, educators, students and community members who participated in this event. California has set the pace for other states in recent legislation titled Proposition 1D, which allocated $100 million to assist the process of greening California’s K-12 schools.
Never one to shy away from leading the rest of the country, California is setting the pace once again.
For more information on the Green Schools Summit, please go to Green Technology.
Allie - Reporting Green for We Can Live Green
Permalink
December 3, 2007 at 2:43 am
· Filed under Chase - Die-Hard Greenie, Going Green, Green Living, Healthy Living, Live Green, green, green gifts, green holiday shopping ·Tagged , environment, green Christmas, green gift, green gift guide, green gifts, Green Living, greenie stole chrismas, holiday gifts, holiday traditions, holidays, LED lights, living Christmas tree
I may be a little too hard-core green for mainstream America on this one, but I’m going to give it a shot. I happen to think I’ve got some great ideas that aren’t too crazy and will make a huge impact on the planet.
Take Christmas. I may sound a little cynical from time to time, but the truth is, I am a sentimentalist just like many others out there. I love the holidays. I love the feeling in the air that permeates cities, towns and homes - the laughter, the songs, that general feeling of merriment.
But the thing is…I love planet Earth even more than any given holiday. And many of our holiday traditions are wasteful and harmful to planet Earth. So, I’m proposing people forgo the following activities this holiday season. Here are a few ideas:
1. Don’t put up holiday lights this year. I’m not putting up lights this year. Call me grinch if you want to. If you can’t imagine the holidays without lights, please use the more energy-efficient lights called LED lights. They are now widely available across the United States.
2 If you must have a Christmas tree, buy a living Christmas tree. Take care of it throughout the holidays and plant it after the holidays are over. You should be able to get your local forestry service to plant the tree, or in Portland, Oregon and San Francisco, California you can rent a living Christmas tree and they’ll take care of planting the tree for you.
3. Make your gifts this year. Back to the sentimentalist in me, those presents are best. Enough said on that.
4. If you’re buying gifts, check out our Green Gift Guide as well as our online directory. If you plan to buy gifts, please buy gifts that are responsible.
When it’s all said and done, each decision we make is either hurting or helping the planet. There is really no gray area here. So, make the decision to help the planet by foregoing a few holiday traditions. Come to think of it, that’s really the spirit of Christmas at work, isn’t it? Maybe this Greenie isn’t trying to steal Christmas after all.
Chase - Die Hard Greenie, We Can Live Green Staffer at http://www.wecanlivegreen.com
Permalink
December 3, 2007 at 1:52 am
· Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , environment, Fair Trade, fair trade coffee, green, Green Living, Live Green, organic products
I am a coffee addict. I admit it. There’s just something indescribably delicious about the warmth, smell and flavor of a freshly roasted batch of morning coffee. For me, it’s like the universe just wants to say “Good Morning, Penelope!”. Those of you who love coffee know what I’m talking about here.
I am also a ‘greenie’. I want to do the right thing. I want to change the world. I want to help others change.
And I want to drink coffee.
For some, there may not appear to be a conflict of interest when I make these statements. Others know the harsh truth. A few quick facts: Coffee is a leading U.S. import. In fact, the U.S. consumes 1/5 of the world’s coffee, making us the leading consumer of coffee. Globally, coffee is consumed 1/3 as much as tap water. Think about that! That’s a lot of coffee. But the harsh truth is that the global coffee industry has a dark (unfortunately not dark-roasted) history of non-sustainable, anti-fair trade practices. Because of this truth, I have made a personal choice to only drink fair trade coffee. (See Global Exchange for more information on fair trade coffee)
Which leads me to ‘the best thing since sliced bread’ - Trader Joes Fair Trade Certified, Organic, Shade Grown, Kosher Ethiopian Medium Dark Roast Coffee, 13 oz, $6.99. You can find a store near you at http://www.traderjoes.com/locations.asp.
It truly is the most delicious, sustainable, ethical, fantastic coffee ever! In fact, I’m signing off for now. I’m going to make myself another cup.
Penelope - the Newbie, We Can Live Green staffer at http://www.wecanlivegreen.com
Permalink
November 19, 2007 at 4:47 am
· Filed under Climate Change, Fair Trade, Going Green, Green Building, Green Living, Healthy Living, Live Green, Organic, Sustainability, environment, green
Welcome to We Can Live Green’s Weblog. The staff of WeCanLiveGreen.com has decided to join the blog community to share their thoughts, struggles, reviews, events, products and ideas for going green via the blogosphere. Each blog entry will be signed by the staffer from WeCanLiveGreen.com.
Permalink
