THE RED AND GREEN SEASON GETS GREENER

Here come the holidays!

I don't know about you, but I am excited! The holidays represent a great time of the year. Time with the family. Nights by the fireplace kept safe from the outside chill.
All great things.
However, the best thing about this time of the year- it's an end to a semester!
If that's not reason for a party, I don't know what is!

You may be attending, or you may be hosting. Regardless, there are ways to keep the planet in mind.

1. If you're inviting, evites are the best option. In a society driven by the convenience and dependence on technology, no one opens mail anymore. It's all about emails! Get on an evite site and create an invitation colorful and fun.

2. Paper plates are tacky!
Class it up by pulling out those nice dishes you never use. Even if your dishes aren't nice, they are nicer to the environment and that is reason enough.
If you must use disposable dishes and cups, make sure to have a sharpie handy. Writing names on cups and dishes reduces waste.

3.That's another thing- don't waste. Recycle.

4. Keep it cozy. Use dim lighting and candles to create an intimate, warm environment for friends and family to relax and visit. They don't need to know that your not really doing it for them. You are doing it to conserve energy.

5. Get it local. Go organic.
Whether you are providing the food or just bringing a bottle of wine, know that you have options. Instead of getting your veggie platter or cheeses from the produce section of the grocery store, get to your local farmers market. The products are better for you, and far better tasting.
As for wines, don't get drunk off pesticides and chemicals. Support you local organic farms. You're buzz will be healthier for you! If that's possible.

No matter what you do at your holiday parties, do it with your health, and the health of your world, in mind.

CORN PROVIDES MORE THAN NOURISHMENT

Good news for all you car- drivers and gas buyers.
Hot off the press!

It has been announced today that a new energy bill has passed through the House of Representatives and is on its way to the Senate. Keep your fingers crossed! This bill will raise auto fuel economy standards for the first time in 30 years to 35 miles per gallon. It will establish a Renewable Portfolio Standard that requires utilities to produce 15 percent of their energy for renewables by the year 2020. It will also implement a Renewable Fuel Standard that will call for 36 billion gallons of ethanol in our fuel supply by 2022, and 15 billion of that by 2015 from corn ethanol.
It seems so far. Better sooner than later, but better later than never.

As it makes it’s way to the Senate, it has been reported that Republicans have threatened to filibuster.
Now, I’m not trying to point fingers at a party, but that is what I have read.
Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid has said he will hold a vote on Saturday to end the filibuster.

President Bush has said he will veto the bill if it includes the tax provisions or the RPS.
Not cool.

I am not the smartest when it comes to political issues, but I know that we need policies in place if we are ever going to make changes. If only I could tell President Bush that. You would think he would know.

HERE'S TO YOUR HEALTH...OR LACK THERE OF

“Just because you are eco-friendly, doesn’t mean you have gone hippie.”
-A quote from MSN Green.

This is a common misconception about environmentalist. I do not consider myself an environmentalist in any way, shape, or form, but I have a concern for the well-being of our planet.

My concern for the environment largely stems from my desire for a healthier and more prosperous society. I link organic products to a decrease in obesity. Hybrid vehicles and electric run buses and subways to cleaner air. Cleaner air could decrease athma, heart and lung disease cases, amongst many other health conditions I presume. Recycling would decrease the use of landfills and mass production of plastics and other harmful materials. Less landfills means less carbon emissions, less impact on climate change, which would result in less of an impact on eco-system destruction. And as I realized recently, more eco-friendly implementations would provide more job opportunities.
The list of benefits goes on and on.

Many people roll their eyes at the discussion of the environment, and I still don’t understand why. Even if you don’t believe global warming is a crisis or even exists, can you not see the smog? The trash that lines the streets of L.A.? Increased health problems? Growing rates of obesity?

The small changes we make in our daily habits should be for more than the planet, it should be for you. For your family.

We search for cures for disease and illnesses. We fund research groups and we cry about health care. Why not decrease disease an illness now so we have less to research, need less medications, and lose less people to unfortunate health conditions? So health care won’t be so difficult to have because there will be less health problems to fund.
Why not?

Why do people roll their eyes at that?

HAVE YOUR COFFEE AND DRINK IT TOO

I love my coffee. I love it every morning. I look forward to it. 

Whether enjoying it while reading my emails, or taking it to go for my morning drive to work or school- It doesn't matter where I have it, as long as I have it. 

I am having some right now, in fact.  

Addiction? 

maybe. 

As I sip away, while visiting a new-found website, I came across a book review that said this:

To bring us our daily cup of coffee, nearly 30 million farmers in more than 50 countries toil in conditions unimaginable for most drinkers. “All of the major issues of the twenty-first century — globalization, immigration, women’s rights, pollution, indigenous rights and self-determination — are being played out through this cup of coffee in villages and remote areas around the world,” writes Dean Cycon in the prologue to his new book, Javatrekker.

I look down at my coffee, and I don't love it so much. I kind of resent it. However, I only have myself to blame.

Dean Cycon is not only the author of this book, he is the founder of Coffee Kids, a nonprofit that uses donations from coffee companies to help children in coffee growing countries. And Dean's Beans, a coffee trading company that does so much more.

I read up on them. I was refreshed to realize that just maybe I can drink my coffee without guilt- if I buy it from Dean's Beans, of course.  

Dean's Beans buys only shade grown coffees to support healthy environments for growers and protect critical migratory bird habitat. Their organic coffee comes only from small farmers and importers that are committed to Fair Trade.

The best part, every pound purchased from Dean's Beans contributes funds to the welfare of the coffee growers and the communities they live in. 

 Now that's Fair Trade!

I have no idea where my coffee comes from, or the conditions it's grown in. Maybe I should. If I buy from Dean's Beans, I will. 

Now I can really enjoy my coffee, knowing that somewhere an entire community is benefitting from it.

GREEN PLANET- GREEN ECONOMY $$

I knew that global warming prevention would give us a healthier environment, provide a world where eco-systems and forests could thrive, but I never realized it would also give us jobs. Duh!

"No magical green fairies are going to come down and put up all those solar panels," said Van Jones, a civil rights lawyer, founder and executive director of a nonprofit organized to ensure that the low income, and working poor have access to "green-collar" jobs."We can make a green pathway out of poverty."

I've never thought of this. New eco-implementations will open new opportunities, call for new jobs, and new skilled labor. I don't believe that it will pull the poor off the streets, but it will provide more jobs for those who are looking and possibly struggling.

 Just one more great thing about going green!

Jobs are hard to find. We can always use more of them. Eco-friendly buildings and LEED designs are rare. We can always use more of those too. It's the perfect combo!

I, personally, have only envisioned the impact of "green" initiatives on our environment- our air,our health, our animals, our planet entirely.  I never realized what it could do for our economy. If global warming was a universal concern, and everyone made a conscious effort, we could change so much. We have to want it. 

Jones says we have to ask ourselves: Who are we going to be? Before we ask ourselves what we're going to do.

Who are we going to be? Well, if we continue with the way we are now, we will be unhealthy, we will be less of a planet.  We already know what we need to do. Maybe we should ask ourselves, who do we want to be?  Then just do it.

FOX ATTACKS ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERN

Fox takes a mocking tone on the increased concern of global warming. Do you think they are attacking the cause, or challenging it? 

They, as so many do, discuss Al Gore. Is it "Planet Fever of PR fever?" Gore followers were awaiting an announcement earlier this year, and when they didn't get it, people have continued to question if 'one day' he'll run again. If so, is this his way of getting the vote, or is it a sincere concern for our environment? 

What do you think? I would like to believe it is sincere, but who knows?

Do you agree with the video? Is Fox lying, and attacking a cause they disagree with or raising questions and discussion? 

Let me know what you think. Just curious.

GIVE A BETTER GIFT

How many times have you been asked "What do you want to for Christmas?" As for me- countless. All year round, there are things I want, things I wish I had, things I wish I could afford. Now when I'm asked, I draw a blank. Well, if any of you are in the same boat, consider asking for something a little different this christmas- something that will bring more lasting affects than a sweater. 

Imagine a cute little lemur, or a goat. A tiger. A mama gorilla and her baby.  Imagine a lush rainforest, green and fresh, where raindrops rustle through trees and animal calls echo- the sound of waterfalls in the near distance. 

Now imagine them gone.

What a boring world.

If you don't know what to ask for, or don't know what to give, donate to a cause that you or someone you know cares about.  Whatever it is. It's more thoughtful than a sweater, jewelry, a  CD, a new tie, or new video game. Think about it. 

If you must give a material item- something you can wrap, look into recycled products and items made by sustainable materials. There's some cool stuff out there. It's a different idea, but also more impactful. It shows you put thought into your purchase, and made an effort to find a product better for them and for the world they live in. What a great gift!

Just think about it. Take a look around. You might really like what you can find.

Check out these sites:

http://betterpresent.org/

http://green.msn.com/Articles/article.aspx?aid=287

 http://green.msn.com/Articles/article.aspx?aid=285