green products
A Great Green Festival Weekend
Last weekend I had the pleasure to attend the Green Festival Seattle 2010. Upon first walking into the event, I was overwhelmed with over 300 exhibits, excited to see all of the friendly faces, and ready to learn a lot about everything green. The Green Festival took place June 5th and 6th in the Washington State Convention Center. I attended the festival on Saturday, June 5th, and volunteered there on Sunday which was a fantastic experience. The staff of the event were knowledgeable, friendly, organized, and most of all excited to be a part of, and provide, a wonderful weekend for many individuals and families. One thing I noticed while I was volunteering: a large percentage of the people coming to attend the event had free passes which had been given out at Verizon stores and other places. The Green Festival is completely focused on trying to provide as many people as possible the opportunity to spend the weekend learning about living green and green products, and that is a great thing.
Here are a few products and companies I learned about while I was there:
Marcal Small Steps – Marcal is a company with a ‘green culture.’ Being the oldest environmentally friendly paper product distributor in the US since 1950, their mission is to provide affordable and recycled paper products to families. Their Small Steps line was created in 2009 and consists of recycled bath tissue, napkins, towels, and facial tissue. Because their products are 100% recycled, no trees are used in their manufacturing and they have already saved 23,720,740 trees and counting. › Continue reading
Crayon Health Bars
There are many fantastic and interesting inventions out there, with new ones happening every day. (Even paper chips!). One that really caught my eye is a remarkable idea for a health bar – a crayon. Luxirare (a combination of Rare and Luxury) is a weekly, elegant, webzine that focuses on portraying the beauty of fashion and food. The webzine concentrates on one item at a time and spends a lot of time towards executing the creation and presentation of that item. In this case, Luxirare has created crayon health bars, and captured the attention of many.
Luxirare created the crayons out of colorful foods, all listed on the back of the box, and many of the ingredients are very healthy and an appealing change from normal fruits and vegetables. The yellow crayon, for instance, includes processed corn, nuts, yellow Fruity Pebbles, dried bananas and bee pollen (which is super healthy). Luxirare separated many different types of foods in small containers and captured the creation process and end result in many striking photos. › Continue reading
Green On The Go
With life becoming increasing more busy, many people simply don’t have time to think about what they can do to help the environment, or the steps they can take to start living green. Here are some easy tips and items for an on-the-go lifestyle that won’t hurt the planet.
Buy in bulk – Buying in bulk and stocking up on sale items saves money and decreases the amount of packaging used. Also, you won’t be scrambling to buy new paper towels or soap when you frequently run out. Of course, make sure you have places to store all of your bulk items!
Totes Eco-brella - This umbrella is made with 70% recycled materials and is great 
for rainy Seattle weather. The canopy is made from 100% recycled PET bottles and the frame is made form 70% recycled aluminum. The Notch/Runner is made from 100% recycled Nylon. The handle is made from bamboo and has a waxed hemp strap for holding. For an added bonus, it comes in environmentally friendly packaging and proudly displays the recycled symbol within a raindrop on both the canopy and tie strap and can be purchased in many different colors! › Continue reading
Green Festival Seattle 2010
My favorite thing about eco-friendly products and green living is that there are so many expos, conferences, and events that provide fun and easy ways to learn more about green companies. I was really excited when I saw a flier for the 2010 Seattle Green Festival and just completed my registration to volunteer for the event. Green Festival also takes place in San Francisco, Chicago, and Washington DC and struck gold when it was here last year.
The festival is a joint project by Global Exchange which aims to create green economies that embrace diversity and Green America which promotes economic power and sustainability around America. The festival is Saturday and Sunday, June 5th and 6th. Saturday from 10am to 7pm and Sunday from 11am to 6pm at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center.
The Cups I See Everywhere
Beverage cups at Mariner’s baseball games, parfait cups at the University of Washington, and cold or hot coffee cups, everywhere I turn the Cedar Grove Composting label seems to be there as well. Now it’s become a fun game to point out every label I see.
Cedar Grove is a leading organic recycling company in the Pacific Northwest which started way back in 1938. They even proudly state that Cedar Grove Composting has grown to become the largest single dedicated yard waste composting facility in the United States. They provide 100% natural soil amendments, soil blends, and mulches. Also, the cups I’ve been seeing everywhere are 100% compostable and will break down into quality compost. Cedar Grove also provides recycled paper sandwich bags, cutlery, straws, and cold or hot food containers. On July 1st, Seattle will require that all single-use service ware be either recyclable or compostable. Cedar Grove is assisting this movement 100% and will make it easier to save money on waste costs going to a landfill and protect the environment by enriching the soil with nutrients from food and service-ware waste.
UW’s Earth Day Fair
Is the day after this Earth Day called Green Friday as opposed to Black Friday? Either way, I learned a lot on Thursday while at the University of Washington’s Earth Day fair on the HUB lawn. With many booths, people, and brochures, the Earth Day event was definitely an educational success. The event included signing up for contests and giveaways, planting a small plant, trying to guess what a typical garbage bin has accumulated and many friendly people to share ideas with about how to live green. Here are some of the companies and groups I got the pleasure to learn more about on our sunny Earth Day!
The University of Washington Environmental Stewardship & Sustainability.
This group is involved with many different projects around UW including the Climate Action Plan which is an institutional plan toward becoming neutral towards our climate. Some other projects they are involved in are the CFL Exchange Project to exchange all incandescent light bulbs on the Seattle campus with energy savings CFL bulbs, Earth Club at UW, and Project Earth at UW Tacoma. Their website also includes great information on what you can do to reduce your footprint on the Earth. At their booth on Earth Day they handed me a Greenlite light bulb which uses 75% less energy, saves $68 in energy costs, and 1 Greenlite = 12 standard bulbs!
Eco-Chic Expo Seattle
Now for a local, small business and community centric alternative to the Seattle 2010 Go Green Conference. Seattle’s Eco-Chic Expo is being held on Saturday, May 1st, at the Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center located in Northeast Seattle. A self described “interactive green lifestyle event”, the event is put together to provide the general public with an interactive day of tips, tricks and products to help people live greener, yet fashionable, lives. The Expo is free to the public and features a number of local companies dedicated to sustainable lifestyles. › Continue reading
Get The Stamp of Green Approval
I used to be a rice bag! Well, not me…
With the weather improving (I’ll take 65 degrees any day!) and it finally feeling like Spring, girls are dusting off their sundresses and flip flops to match. If you are looking for that perfect pair of flip flops, make sure you try on the unique I Used To Be A Ricebag collection from BC Footwear. They are made with love and stamped with approval, featuring an imprint that says “I Used To Be A Ricebag” surrounding a recycle symbol. It’s another type of reusable bag that will definitely gain you a lot of compliments.
The eco-friendly shoe, just like the title says, is handmade from used rice, detergent and various other storage bags. Previously intended to end up in a landfill somewhere, these bags can now show off their unique colors and patterns walking down the street. They feature a cushioned insole and rubber sole and fit true to size. BC makes two types of these chic sandals, the Danke Ricebag and the Earthquake Ricebag. › Continue reading
Keep Your Agenda Green
The Equology Series of recycled paper planners from Quo Vadis
As you organize your homes during Spring cleaning make sure to think of organizing your everyday events as well. A personal planner is the perfect way to decrease the quantities of sticky notes around your desk, and manage information about your upcoming commitments in one vital place. Choosing the right planner, however, can be daunting. While trying to search for the perfect one for myself, I ran across planners made by Quo Vadis. They are extremely useful and chic, while also being environmentally friendly.
Quo Vadis works with the Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) which is the largest forest certification program in the world. More than 6,000 companies have obtained forest certification through PEFC standards, and they also offer tens of thousands of PEFC-certified products globally. Forests certified by PEFC are bio-diverse, socially beneficial, and based on the sustainability of present and future generations. To learn more about how PEFC is teaching forest owners, companies and consumers how to manage, produce and buy responsibly, visit the the PEFC website.
The Big Business of Organic Foods
Who owns your favorite organic food label? Think most organic products and companies are independent- think again. Odwalla = Coca-Cola; Green and Blacks Chocolate = Cadbury; Cascadian Farms = General Mills. The list goes on and on. In fact, if you see it at a chain grocery store, your favorite organic or natural foods product is probably owned by a big corporation. See the graphic below for your favorite organic brand and their parent company.
It is the natural progression of business. In 2005, US organics accounted for 2.6% of the food market, growing at a rate of 17-20% a year resulting in a $52 billion industry in 2008.
The plus side
- Organic food is easy to find, is plentiful and the costs are reasonable.
- The food is predictable in quality, flavor and taste. Often smaller producers have a smaller production line and work in small batches with less strict ingredient or quality controls. While this can add to the uniqueness, it occasionally can produce unexpected results.
- It can expand the organic market, adding and converting farmers and updating practices to the mainstream.
The Environmental Impact of Everyday Things
Kotex Ad 1941
Now before I get into this topic I want to address the readers who might be cringing here. While acknowledging that public discussion of menstruation is a bit on the taboo side socially, environmentally it does have an impact. As such it needs to be discussed openly. For something that happens to half of the human population, the whole process and associated products are treated with a bizarre amount of shame and secrecy. Fact is, it’s a big issue. It’s expensive economically, can have serious health effects and produces a lot of waste. When it comes to environmental issues, pretending like it doesn’t happen or doesn’t have an environmental effect is a problem in and of itself.
So girls, and guys who know girls, this is important. No snickering. Pay attention. Thank you.
Commercial tampons were introduced to the public in the US around the 1930′s. Tampax was the first brand to be sold with an applicator in 1936. The basic design and concept has more or less stayed the same ever since. The main selling points of the products revolved mainly around comfort, ease of movement and athleticism, discretion, coverage and absorbency. For a brief period in the early nineties, the brand Tampax advertised their product as “environmentally friendly” urging women to “think green” by buying the brand with a biodegradable applicator.
But how “green” are these products, really?
Environmentally, there are two main issues at stake: the impact of production, and the impact disposal. A typical woman can use anywhere between 8,000 to 17,000 tampons in her lifetime. › Continue reading
