New Mexico

Patrick and I are in New Mexico. Here are just a few reasons why we all need to be better about saving the earth...

Off to New Mexico

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know I did, thanks to my awesome family.

Patrick and I are headed out to the airport in a few minutes. We're flying to New Mexico. We'll have a laptop with us so if the wireless signal is strong enough, we will be blogging from our hotel.

Have a nice weekend!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Patrick and I are off to a very festive Thanksgiving gathering at my aunt's house. Thanksgiving at Aunt Sandra's is THE BEST. This will be Patrick's first time since we had other plans for the past two years. I can't wait for him to be able to share the experience with me.

We also want to wish you a very happy and healthy Turkey Day. Try not to eat so much that you'll regret it but hey, it's Thanksgiving...how can you not? I know I will.

Keeping true to the intent of this blog, I will leave you with a few easy ways you can try to make your Thanksgiving green:

1. If you're traveling to someone else's home, try to carpool with someone else who may be going.

2. When decorating with flowers, opt for fresh and live and even organic if your budget and planning will allow for it.

3. Serve organic and/or local wine and try to make sure the bottler uses natural cork.

4. If you don't have enough reusable plates for everyone at dinner and you must use disposables, opt for biodegradables made from recycled materials such as Chinet.

5. Have lots of leftovers? Divvy them up between all guests to enjoy the rest of the week. We freeze ours so we can indulge even longer. Great tip - throw everything in a large mixing bowl(yes, everything - including the cranberry sauce), add some chicken broth, put it in a pie dish lined with ready made pie crust, top it with another crust and pop it in the oven until the crust looks golden brown and crusty. Now you have a Thanksgiving pot pie! If no one wants the leftovers, try to donate them to a local food bank or soup kitchen. Just don't let the food go to waste.

Most of all, have fun and enjoy being with the ones you love!

Fruit Fly Trap

Another blogger, Beansprouts, recently posted a solution to pesky little fruit flies that seem to come out of nowhere and hover around forever. You can find her tip on her site here and give it a try for yourself. We started earlier this evening and already have one fly down.

Great Green Site for Book Lovers

If you love to read then you love this blog. Brought to you by Eco-Libris, you will find green title recommendations and helpful tips on how to give back to nature when you purchase books. Each year about 20 million trees are being cut down to produce books for Americans. Just imagine what the global impact is. Find out what you can do to help (aside from going to the library, of course).

Mom & Tot Transportation

For all you active moms out there, I saw this article on Treehugger this morning and couldn't resist sharing with you.

Red Meat Not Really Red???

I woke up this morning to my usual routine of watching the news and reading up on the latest green goings on and this is what I hear - Red meat may be treated to look red and fresh! Jeez! We buy the meat based on the best looking cut, then we bring it home and stick it in the fridge but if it turns brown in the meantime, most of us would toss it, right? Well, your meat could be bad and you don't even know it because it still looks healthy and beautiful!

Some red meat is being treated with carbon monoxide to keep it looking red and fresh, according to the Wall Street Journal. What, I ask you, is NEXT?

What is Organic?

Organic (awr-gan-ik)- natural, nonchemical, without additives, unadulterated, pure

Organic refers to the way agricultural products- food and fiber- are grown and processed. It is an ecological system that at its core relies on a healthy rich soil to produce strong plants that resist pests and diseases. Organic farming prohibits the use of toxic and persistent chemicals in favor of more “earth-friendly” practices that work in harmony with nature. In the case of livestock, antibiotics are prohibited, opting instead for preventative measures for keeping animals healthy and productive. Organic production also prohibits the use of genetically modified organisms (GMO’s).

100% Organic means the product must contain only organically produced ingredients. The USDA seal or other certifying agent may appear on the package.

Certified Organic means the product must consist of at least 95% organically produced ingredients. Any remaining ingredients must be on the approved USDA/NOP National List. The USDA seal and the certifying agent may appear on the package.

Made With Organic Ingredients means made with a minimum of 70% organic ingredientswith strict restrictionson the remaining 30%. The product cannot carry the USDA seal but the certifying agent may appear on the package.

You go to the USDA website for more information.

Stonyfield Farm - All Organic

Stonyfield Farm is now ALL organic. They've had many organic products for years now but Stonyfield finally made the switch to all organic.

Organic is better for you and for the earth so when shopping for dairy, shop Stonyfield Farm. Their products are available in most grocery stores.

PS - They make ice cream, too!

Have You Shopped IKEA?

I keep hearing and reading about how wonderful IKEA is not only for their great, inexpensive furniture and household items but also for their environmental awareness. Danny Seo is often blogging his treasured IKEA finds.

I, personally, have never been to an IKEA store (gasp). The nearest one is at least half an hour away and off the NJ Turnpike...not exactly convenient. Of course I could do a little online shopping but that's not as fun. Have you shopped at IKEA? What unique, useful, eco-friendly items have you found? Would it be worth the trip for me to spend a day travelling and shopping?

Just a Reminder - Recycling Takeout Containers

Patrick's mom and I went out to dinner last night and, of course, the entrees were bigger than we could handle so we had leftovers. The containers we took home were the kind with an alluminum bottom and clear plastic top. I've written about these before but I want to send out a reminder that these "doggie bags" are recyclable. Just rinse them off (they don't have to be 100% clean), crush the alluminum up and toss it along with the plastic top into your recycling bin.

The following containers are all recyclable



This type of styrofoam container is NOT recyclable








Chinese food containers are technically recyclable if you can get most of the food off, but I know that can be difficult. I like this idea, though, and I'm going to give it a try next time I get my hands on one of these containers.

Green Week on NBC

All week NBC Universal is engaging in a green campaign to raise eco awareness. I'm a huge Days of Our Lives fan so while watching, I noticed the NBC peacock symbol on the bottom of the screen is green and the characters in the show are throwing a "Save the Earth" party. Actors are making public service announcements during commercial breaks and you can check out other green news on their site, www.greenisuniversal.com.

Carnival of the Green #102

Head over to Natural Collection for Carnival of the Green #102.

Blog Hiatus

I was away from blogging for about a week so I have a lot of catching up to do. Two weekends ago, Patrick and I went to Cape May for their annual birding festival. We had a great time and I'll write more about it in another post. However, we were supposed to have wireless internet access from our hotel room but it didn't work so that's when my blogging absence began.

The following weekend (this past Friday) was my sister's wedding. I was not only the sister of the bride but also a co-maid of honor with my other sister. Needless to say, I was quite busy all of last week so I barely touched the computer with the exception of creating the ceremony programs for the wedding.

Anyway, I'm back and overflowing with ideas for posts. I hope you'll keep checking back for more easy eco info.

Global Warming Myths Vs. Facts

The following myths and facts were taken directly from the Yahoo Green site a discovered just a few minutes ago. More to come on Yahoo Green soon.

Myth: The science of global warming is too uncertain to act on.

Fact: There is no debate among scientists about the basic facts of global warming.The most respected scientific bodies have stated unequivocally that global warming is occurring, and people are causing it by burning fossil fuels (like coal, oil and natural gas) and cutting down forests.
The U.S. National Academy of Sciences, which in 2005 the White House called "the gold standard of objective scientific assessment," issued a joint statement with 10 other National Academies of Science saying:

"the scientific understanding of climate change is now sufficiently clear to justify nations taking prompt action. It is vital that all nations identify cost-effective steps that they can take now, to contribute to substantial and long-term reduction in net global greenhouse gas emissions." (Joint Statement of Science Academies, 2005)

The only debate in the science community about global warming is about how much and how fast warming will continue as a result of heat-trapping emissions. Scientists have given a clear warning about global warming, and we have more than enough facts — about causes and fixes — to implement solutions right now.


Myth: Even if global warming is a problem, addressing it will hurt American industry and workers.

Fact: A well designed trading program will harness American ingenuity to decrease heat-trapping pollution cost-effectively, jumpstarting a new carbon economy.Claims that fighting global warming will cripple the economy and cost hundreds of thousands of jobs are unfounded. In fact, companies that are already reducing their heat-trapping emissions have discovered that cutting pollution can save money.
The cost of a comprehensive national greenhouse gas reduction program will depend on the precise emissions targets, the timing for the reductions and the means of implementation. An independent MIT study found that a modest cap-and-trade system would cost less than $20 per household annually and have no negative impact on employment.

Experience has shown that properly designed emissions trading programs can reduce compliance costs significantly compared with other regulatory approaches. For example, the U.S. acid rain program reduced sulfur dioxide emissions by more than 30 percent from 1990 levels and cost industry a fraction of what the government originally estimated, according to EPA. Furthermore, a mandatory cap on emissions could spur technological innovation that could create jobs and wealth.

Letting global warming continue until we are forced to address it on an emergency basis could disrupt and severely damage our economy. It is far wiser and more cost-effective to act now.


Myth: Water vapor is the most important, abundant greenhouse gas. So if we’re going to control a greenhouse gas, why don’t we control it instead of carbon dioxide (CO2)?

Fact: Although water vapor traps more heat than CO2, because of the relationships among CO2, water vapor and climate, to fight global warming nations must focus on controlling CO2.Atmospheric levels of CO2 are determined by how much coal, natural gas and oil we burn and how many trees we cut down, as well as by natural processes like plant growth.
Atmospheric levels of water vapor, on the other hand, cannot be directly controlled by people; rather, they are determined by temperatures. The warmer the atmosphere, the more water vapor it can hold. As a result, water vapor is part of an amplifying effect.

Greenhouse gases like CO2 warm the air, which in turn adds to the stock of water vapor, which in turn traps more heat and accelerates warming. Scientists know this because of satellite measurements documenting a rise in water vapor concentrations as the globe has warmed.

The best way to lower temperature and thus reduce water vapor levels is to reduce CO2 emissions.


Myth: Global warming and extra CO2 will actually be beneficial — they reduce cold-related deaths and stimulate crop growth.

Fact: Any beneficial effects will be far outweighed by damage and disruption.Even a warming in just the middle range of scientific projections would have devastating impacts on many sectors of the economy. Rising seas would inundate coastal communities, contaminate water supplies with salt and increase the risk of flooding by storm surge, affecting tens of millions of people globally.
Moreover, extreme weather events, including heat waves, droughts and floods, are predicted to increase in frequency and intensity, causing loss of lives and property and throwing agriculture into turmoil.

Even though higher levels of CO2 can act as a plant fertilizer under some conditions, scientists now think that the "CO2 fertilization" effect on crops has been overstated; in natural ecosystems, the fertilization effect can diminish after a few years as plants acclimate. Furthermore, increased CO2 may benefit undesirable, weedy species more than desirable species.

Higher levels of CO2 have already caused ocean acidification, and scientists are warning of potentially devastating effects on marine life and fisheries. Moreover, higher levels of regional ozone (smog), a result of warmer temperatures, could worsen respiratory illnesses. Less developed countries and natural ecosystems may not have the capacity to adapt.

The notion that there will be regional “winners” and “losers” in global warming is based on a world-view from the 1950’s. We live in a global community. Never mind the moral implications — when an environmental catastrophe creates millions of refugees half-way around the world, Americans are affected.


Myth: Global warming is just part of a natural cycle. The Arctic has warmed up in the past.

Fact: The global warming we are experiencing is not natural. People are causing it.People are causing global warming by burning fossil fuels (like oil, coal and natural gas) and cutting down forests. Scientists have shown that these activities are pumping far more CO2 into the atmosphere than was ever released in hundreds of thousands of years. This buildup of CO2 is the biggest cause of global warming.
Since 1895, scientists have known that CO2 and other greenhouse gases trap heat and warm the earth. As the warming has intensified over the past three decades, scientific scrutiny has increased along with it. Scientists have considered and ruled out other, natural explanations such as sunlight, volcanic eruptions and cosmic rays. (IPCC 2001)

Though natural amounts of CO2 have varied from 180 to 300 parts per million (ppm), today's CO2 levels are around 380 ppm. That's 25% more than the highest natural levels over the past 650,000 years. Increased CO2 levels have contributed to periods of higher average temperatures throughout that long record. (Boden, Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center)

As for previous Arctic warming, it is true that there were stretches of warm periods over the Arctic earlier in the 20th century. The limited records available for that time period indicate that the warmth did not affect as many areas or persist from year to year as much as the current warmth. But that episode, however warm it was, is not relevant to the issue at hand. Why? For one, a brief regional trend does not discount a longer global phenomenon.

We know that the planet has been warming over the past several decades and Arctic ice has been melting persistently. And unlike the earlier periods of Arctic warmth, there is no expectation that the current upward trend in Arctic temperatures will reverse; the rising concentrations of greenhouse gases will prevent that from happening.