Green Talk

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq7FSYYVMEU&NR=1[/youtube]

In article by Natural Moms Blog, I was informed that my own state, New Jersey was on the brink of requiring additional vaccines for children. With all the controversy surrounding vaccines and autism and learning disabilities, I was horrified by the prospect of additional vaccines. Well, wouldn’t you know it. The vaccines were approved!

The New Jersey Alliance of Informed Choice in Vaccination provides the following information regarding the approved vaccines that will go in effect September, 2008:

• “The flu shot for children 6 to 59 months as a requirement to attend daycare or pre-school, 90% of flu shots contain mercury, and there is no clear evidence that it provides any health benefit to children under 2.
• The Pnuemococcal (Prevnar) series shot for children 2 months to 59 months enrolled in pre-school or daycare
• A Diptheria-Pertussis-Tetanus booster for sixth-graders
• A menigococcal shot for sixth-graders, many of which contain mercury.”

What can you do if you live in New Jersey:

Today, (February 27, 2007) the New Jersey Alliance of Informed Choice in Vaccination is urging people in New Jersey to do the following actions:

(Note: that if you are unable to call today, please call or sign the petition below another day. The purpose of the calls today is to obtain a surge of calls before the assembly meets tomorrow encouraging the legislators to discuss what their constituents think. Every call matters no matter when.)

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Photo of Lunch Saks by permission of Project Kool

Want to stop global warming? Just ask a kid. More specifically ask Hunter Gross, a 12 year child from Long Island whose desire to save the Earth resulted in the creation of Project Kool’s Lunch Sak. These canvas lunch bags were created to reduce the endless stream of plastic and paper attributed to children’s lunches.

Global warming lessons are as common in the schools now as peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are eaten during lunch. In Hunter’s case, this lesson struck a cord, and he knew that he wanted to do something to help stop global warming. This wasn’t just a whim of the day like many children have. He was serious. So, the Gross household brain stormed, and the end result was the creation of the Lunch Sak, an all natural cotton canvas washable lunch bag with a Velcro closure. Extremely kid friendly.

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Photo by Yogi

I just received an email from one of my friends who listed numerous tips about using household ingredients to help around the house written or sent by “Evelyn.” Some of these suggestions I have never heard of, but I thought it would be fun to discuss. If any of you know if these suggestions work for the stated intended purpose, let me know. Here goes:

“1. Reheat Pizza: Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.”

(Green Talk’s note: My kids hate reheated pizza via the microwave. We usually use the toaster oven or oven to heat up the pizza. Since I have been doing this, I have thrown less pizza away. Just think, less leftovers going to a landfill.)

“2. Easy Deviled Eggs: Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.”

(Green Talk’s note: If anyone knows how to accomplish this without using a plastic bag, let me know. I wonder if you can use a canvas pastry tool? Just in case you can’t substitute, when you are done, wash the zip lock bag, let it air dry, cut off the zip lock part, and then recycle it where your grocery bags are recycled. Also, don’t forget to either compost your egg shells, or use them in your planting holes. Egg shells are a great source of calcium for plants.)

“3. Expanding Frosting: When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.”

(Green Talk’s note: Look for a cake frosting that does not contain any Trans fats, if there is such a product. Anyone have a suggestion of store bought healthier frosting?)

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Green Link Central is the newest environmental search engine to step up to the plate to help make it easier to finding answers to your environmental questions. It is one of the partner sites of Link Central, a group of human edited search engines. Link Central offers 25 topic–specific search engines ranging from automotive to travel.

Why offer a green search site among the various search engines on Link Central? According to Larissa Tuttle, co-founder of Link Central, one of the goals of the Company is to donate to important animal and environmental causes. Both Green Link Central and Pets Link Central were included in Link Central in hopes of making a difference for both the environment and animals.

How is Green Link Central different than all the other green search engines available today?

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The world loves sneakers. How many of you have more than one pair? Sneakers help you do amazing things. Do you think Michael Jordan can jump that high without his Air Jordans? Even Superman had red sneakers to help him take off. Er. Maybe those were boots.

I love my sneakers and can’t live without them. I prefer them any day to regular shoes. Consequently, I wear mine out a lot. Actually my sneakers look a little shabby chic right now (short for pretty trashed.)

Let’s not forget our children. When my children were younger, I must have bought 2 to 3 pairs a year for them. When I was not so green, the salesman would always offer to take my old sneakers and dispose of them. I use to hand them over without thinking. Later, out of necessity, I started to keep the sneakers because my kids would always step in the biggest mud hole or puddle there was or play in the grass after a monsoon. Do you know any kids who do not like puddles or mud? Their shoes and socks would be soaking wet and they would be forced to wear their good shoes until their sneakers dried out.

A couple of years ago, my youngest started to outgrow all of his brothers’ old shoes. I thought it was a shame to throw out the shoes. They were not gently worn by any stretch of the imagination. More like trashed and soleless. (My kids take wearing out their sneakers as a serious sport.) At the same time I was pondering what to do with the old sneakers, I also had to find a religious school project for one of my children. Why not start recycling sneakers, I thought? Who would want worn out sneakers?

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Photo courtesy of GreenPrint

Free Software, printing green, and saving trees and a few bucks too? For a frugal tree hugger like me, I have died and gone to heaven. Where do I sign up? (Thanks, Jason for this tip from your site, Scream to Be Green.)

Let’s start at the beginning. How will this free software for your home make your life greener? (Note, this software is not available for Mac users yet.) According to the Company’s recent press release,

“GreenPrint software eliminates waste before printing, saving paper, ink, and reducing greenhouse gasses. It does this by analyzing each page of every document sent to the printer and looking for typical waste characteristics (e.g. pages with just a URL, banner ad, logo, or legal jargon) and then highlighting and removing them before they are printed. GreenPrint also allows users to remove images from a page with a single click before printing, resulting in significant savings in ink or toner. GreenPrint saves the average user over $90 and 1,400 wasted pages per year and quantifies the ecological and cost saving benefits that result in easy to read report.”

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National Geographic will be airing, “Six Degrees Could Change the World” again on February 14, 2007 at 8pm eastern time or 9 pm pacific time. According to a spokesperson for National Geographic, the premiere reached over 6 million people. This film portrays a hypothetical look at the devastating effects to our planet as if continues to heat degree by degree from our lack of emission controls. It will bring home that we need to change our ways. Tape or Tivo this movie if you are unable to watch it tonight. (Then of course, unplug the device…)

See this video at 4 degrees hotter than today.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skFrR3g4BRQ[/youtube]

 Anyone who has seen this movie or will see it tonight, I would love feedback as to what you thought. 

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Photo by Jon Rawlinson by permission

Valentine’s Day is tomorrow. Perhaps buying flowers, candy, or presents for your cutie is not your thing. Maybe your sex life is hot enough that you don’t need the items listed in my article, “10 Tips for a Hot Green Valentine’s Day.” What else could you do? Jason Crawford, the author of Scream to Be Green, suggests for those who do not wish to buy anything to cook a nice dinner for your loved one. Very romantic and an excellent idea.

Here is another suggestion, how about curling up with your Valentine and watch a romantic movie? Go out and rent a movie from your local video store, which supports your local economy and you are reusing something that is already used. Pretty green. Perhaps you have a romantic video or can catch one on TV at your house. Even greener!

Add some Eden organic popcorn with the recipes listed here and maybe some organic free trade chocolate or cocoa for hot chocolate. Throw on a java log and you are good to go.

Perhaps to offset your carbon footprint for the evening, consider making your own heat with a few soy candles …Sorry once you write a post like I did about sex toys, bondage, and lubricant, it is hard to forget…

Back to the movie and out of the gutter. If I had to name three romantic movies that I like along with my favorite lines from them, they would be as follows:

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Photo of my collected cell phones from my cell phone fundraiser

Do you change your cell phone as much as your underwear? I hope not! I swear there are some people I know that must have a new phone every time I see them. Many of these compulsive sufferers could be our friends, neighbors or family members. It is not limited to “boys with their toys.” Take a look at how many “cool gadget” sites there are on the web. Face it, we like our big people toys.

According to CITA, the international Association of Wireless Telecommunications, more than 230 million Americans have cell phones. By year 2011, 75% of the world population will own a cell phone up from almost 50% presently, as stated by Portio Research LTD., an independent UK research company specializing in the mobile and wireless sector.¹ Instead of keeping up with the Joneses, it has become keeping up with the Jetsons. Remember, “my son, Elroy, and his dog, Astro?”

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Photo by permission of Oliveira Textiles featuring the Anemone red fabric design

Art imitating life is how I would describe Oliveira Textiles’ newly designed sustainable fabric collection. Their new series, “Ocean,” is fluid, vibrant, and graceful reminding us of Dawn Oliveira’s inspiration, the ocean, in memory of her late fisherman father, who called the sea his office. The Ocean collection can be used for drapes, pillows, and light upholstery.

Each of us has a defining moment in our lives that causes us to diverge into an unexpected path. Unfortunately, the untimely death of Dawn’s father from cancer, changed twin sisters, Dawn Oliveira and Deborah Olson’s, lives forever. This moment in time fast forwarded Dawn’s dream to start her own design company, and brought her home to Rhode Island from a successful designing fashion career in NY. As a tribute to their father, Dawn and Deborah decided to form Oliveira Textiles combining Dawn’s artistic flare with Deborah’s business acumen.

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