Sophia Dembling

We were recently introduced to Sophia Dembling on Facebook. Sophia is a writer on The Huffington Post, among other venues; she also blogs at Flyover America and at her own eponymous site. We asked Sophia to please take the Practically Green Quiz, and she did:

Took your quiz–it’s fun and a great idea with lots of useful information, though I ended up feeling kinda bad ’cause I’m a 1 but can’t afford to do a lot of the things that would green us up. (Replace appliances? Nope. Upgrade toilet? Nope. Faucets? Nope. Windows? Nope…)

She gave us lots of helpful suggestions, and we’re working on them as we speak. Sophia pointed out that it’s difficult to be environmentally friendly when you live in Dallas, Texas:

We do have some recycling. But we also have pollution. We live in our cars. I have a supermarket within walking distance, but the sidewalks aren’t decent. It wouldn’t take much for a car to hit a pedestrian.

For mass transit, we have light rail, but it’s really geared to the commuters. I can take it into town, but then I’m stuck if I want to go someplace that’s not walking distance.

Busses run regularly at rush hour but not in the middle of the day. It’s not like New York where you can get where ever you want, whenever you want.

Light rail has been successful here beyond their wildest dreams, but it’s not adequate to give up cars.

Sophia grew up in Manhattan, and last year she and her brother had to clean out her parents’ apartment. This prompted an article about Stuff, which is a favorite subject at Practically Green: we have zillions of actions on it, from Green my take-out one night to Switch to cloth napkins for a week. Sophia has graciously allowed us to reprint an excerpt from “The Burden of Stuff” here. Enjoy.

The apartment

I am recently home from three weeks in New York City sorting through my late parents’ possessions with my brother.

Wow. I have something to say to all you parents out there: If you have a lot of stuff, as a loving gesture to your children, get rid of some, OK? My parents had a lot of cool stuff but they also had a lot of junk. A lot. See the photo? Multiply it by an eight-room apartment. Where they lived for nearly 45 years.

Books. Books. Books. My dad loved books. “Dark brown books,” my mother called them. Hundreds of them. Some might have been valuable if they had been cared for, but they spent their lives in steam heat, drying out. When I visited last year, Dad gave me a book I’d wanted to read, but when I opened it on the airplane home, it crumbled to dust in my hands.

I know that people who love books love having lots of them. “Too many books? No such thing!” I understand the wealthy feeling a full bookshelf inspires. But friends, hear me now: There is such thing as too many books. Really. They are bulky and heavy and nobody really wants most of them. No, not even libraries. Not if they’re old, brittle, out of date. Sure, I took a few of Dad’s books. Not many, though. Just a few. We threw a lot away. We’re not sure what to do with the hundreds remaining. We organized one roomful, more or less, and then grew exhausted and left the rest, and further decisions, for another day….

I am having nine cartons of stuff and several pieces of furniture shipped home and the apartment is still crammed. I barely made a dent.

Back home, my attitude towards my own stuff has changed. I’m not half the pack rat Dad was, but I still have shoes in my closet that are never worn but with sentimental value, a file drawer full of aborted creative endeavors, bric-a-brac kept for no particular reason. I brought two cartons of books to the library yesterday. I have put some clothing on e-bay. I’m just getting started.

For the full story, please click here. Follow Sophia on Twitter @sophiadembling.

We agree that composting is a win-win: good for our garden soil and its produce, good for the local landfill. And, if you play the Practically Green game, you get 50 points for composting. What’s not to like?

After all, the EPA estimates that food residuals account for 11.9 percent of the Municipal Solid Waste stream (or 29.2 million tons) and are the single largest component of MSW generated by weight. Staggering! Schools, conferences, prisons, and supermarkets are among the highest offenders. We don’t want to contribute our leavings to that disgraceful tally. But when Jack objected to my use of BioBags, an ingenious invention that keeps my sleek kitchen compost crock from becoming an oozing stinking slop pail on our kitchen counter, I had to investigate.

Compost crock with BioBag

Gorgeous clean compost crock

I called the customer service at Gardener’s Supply, where I purchased the Bio Bags. In seconds I was on the phone with Janet. I explained the situation as best I could:

My job is to collect the kitchen scraps; Jack’s job is to take them outside to the compost bin. I like to use bio bags, because they cut down on smell and mess. He thinks an unlined container is better. He says his mom never used a bag; he says the bags don’t break down; blah blah; he says the ones he threw into the compost bin five months ago are still sitting there. Shouldn’t they have decomposed by now, he asks me. And, even if they did decompose, Janet, he suspects these bags might be made of plastic that’s harmful to our soil and thus to our future vegetable garden and us. Is it? Could he be right? He thinks we should stop using the bags and go back to the old way: throw scraps into the compost crock and empty it when it’s full, smelly, and/or breeding fruit-flies.

“I really don’t want to go back to the old way, Janet. Can you please settle this?”

“I really don’t want to get in the middle of it,” she replied calmly, but I’ll try to help.”

I could hear gentle tapping on her keyboard at the other end of the phone: “Yes, as I thought: the bags are made of 100% biodegradable cornstarch. They’re totally fine for your garden. But the bags are apparently not breaking down fast enough. You may need to consider the heat in your compost. The more heat and moisture you have in the compost bin, the sooner the bag will break away,” she said.

“Heat?”

“What’s your mix of browns and greens?”  she asked me.

“Huh?”

Janet directed me to “All About Composting,” a superb rundown of how compost happens, including a primer on browns and greens.

From How Compost Happens:

Organic matter is transformed into compost through the work of microorganisms, soil fauna, enzymes and fungi. When making compost, your job is to provide the best possible environment for these beneficial organisms to do their work. If you do so, the decomposition process works very rapidly—sometimes in as little as two weeks! If you don’t provide the optimum environment, decomposition will still happen, but it may take from several months to several years. The trick to making an abundance of compost in a short time is to balance the following four things:

Carbon. Carbon-rich materials are the energy food for microorganisms. You can identify high-carbon plant materials because they are dry, tough, or fibrous, and tan or brown in color. Examples are dry leaves, straw, rotted hay, sawdust, shredded paper, and cornstalks.

Nitrogen. High-nitrogen materials provide the protein-rich components that microorganisms require to grow and multiply. Freshly pulled weeds, fresh grass clippings, over-ripe fruits and vegetables, kitchen scraps and other moist green matter are the sorts of nitrogen-rich materials you’ll probably have on hand. Other high-protein organic matter includes kelp meal, seaweed, manure and animal by-products like blood or bone meal.

Water. Moisture is very important for the composting process. But too much moisture will drown the microorganisms, and too little will dehydrate them. A general rule of thumb is to keep the material in your compost pile as moist as a well-wrung sponge. If you need to add water (unchlorinated is best), insert your garden hose into the middle of the pile in several places, or sprinkle the pile with water next time you turn it. Using an enclosed container or covering your pile with a tarp will make it easier to maintain the right moisture level.

Oxygen. To do their work most efficiently, microorganisms require a lot of oxygen. When your pile is first assembled, there will probably be plenty of air between the layers of materials. But as the microorganisms begin to work, they will start consuming oxygen. Unless you turn or in some way aerate your compost pile, they will run out of oxygen and become sluggish.

Bottom line: Jack and I will be tending our compost better now. Best of all, the bio bags are safe for the time-being.

The best source of information about compost? Easy: any active gardener will have strong opinions on the subject. You can get major points for composting at Practically Green. And, you might want to curl up with one of these books. Especially, this little brief from one of our favorite gardeners, Eliot Coleman.

Let it Rot! Storey Publishing

Starter Vegetable Gardens has lots of compost info

We haven’t even had our first meeting yet (it’s Wednesday), but I’ve already figured out these parents are WAY ahead of the curve.  Led by the dynamic duo of Jamie Scarborough Green and Sun Woo Khang and formed last year, the group has managed to achieve immediate results, including:

* switching from disposable to reusable cups for parent coffees, PTO meetings, etc. One thing I loved is that they asked the whole school to donate old coffee mugs to make this happen–what a great idea!

* switching to compostable disposables for large events ranging from the school fun run to graduation

* developed good relationships and support from Angino Farm (a community farm) and Whole Foods.  The school has a garden supported by students and parent volunteers and Whole Foods helps with composting.

* shared the results of the school’s energy efficiency audit and will assumedly lobby the city for improvements

* set up a Big Tent online community which has parental advice for things like earth-friendly school supplies.  It is also linked with the Greater Boston Green Schools community to share ideas and get inspiration. My personal favorite thing on the site was this video that the kids in the school made to encourage people to reduce, reuse and recycle.

The project plan for this year includes improving the quality of school lunch, tackling pesticides, greening over 15 events, pursuing lots of kid and parent education, and potentially joining in broader events like the Waste Free Wednesdays, Green School Days, and Litter Free lunches–and oh yes, finding a HEPA vacuum to be donated to the custodians.

What I noticed from this amazing, intensive project plan, however, is how many initiatives still need a point person.  If your school has a green team,  I am confident that Jamie and Sunwoo’s counterparts at your school are looking for foot soldiers who are willing to tackle a projects large and small. Imagine what would happen if 10-15 parents picked just one Green Team thing to help lead for their school–whether it’s a big thorny issue like pesticide use or being an event “Waste Warrior.”  That project plan would start having “done” next to lots of items.  And fast!  I’m looking at the list and can see several actions that fit my time, skills and interests, and I’m looking forward to checking my first item off the list.

If your school doesn’t have a green team, there are lots of online resources to help get you started, on sites like Greenschools or Eco-Schools.   If you need one more reason? You can get points on Practically Green for joining your school’s green team!

This post was submitted as part of the Green Moms Carnival.

Martha's Kitchen at her House

You can prowl the archive for hours or make snappy choices. Recipes are organized by ingredient (from A: Apricots to Y: Yogurt) or theme (B: Breakfast Grains to W: Winter Greens) This week’s theme was tomatoes. Next week: picnics. The following: stir-fry (she just bought a new wok). From the intro to “Recipes for Health”:

The easiest and most pleasurable way to eat well is to cook. Recipes for Health offers recipes with an eye towards empowering you to cook healthy meals every day. Produce, seasonal and locally grown when possible, and a well-stocked pantry are the linchpins of a good diet, and accordingly, each week’s recipes will revolve around a particular type of produce or a pantry item. This is food that is vibrant and light, full of nutrients but by no means ascetic, fun to cook and a pleasure to eat.

Martha is a prolific author, including co-author gigs with Wolfgang Puck and Dr. Dean Ornish; she’s given classes all over; she’s great on TV; and she co-founded the professional foodie site Zester Daily. Her newest cookbook, The Very Best Of Recipes for Health, comes out this week. In short, she’s a rock star.

It fits that she has a busy cooking school – in LA. I’m scheming to attend…. It was a treat to have a conversation with her recently — about her column, her life, and Practically Green.

The Times column began exactly two years ago. I want the column to demystify healthy eating and empower people to cook, prepare their own food from fresh ingredients, as opposed to eating out or bringing in. The country has gone astray because we aren’t in control of what we eat! If you have an egg and a vegetable, you can make a meal. The recipes are very simple.

Which recipes have been most popular?

One is the Spicy Quinoa Salad. People seem to really love quinoa. It’s fantastic! The week that Obama was elected, that recipe was #3 on the most emailed list of all of The New York Times! Another recipe people really love is anything with beets. It’s always fascinating to me, but any recipe with beets is popular. [Note: I found 14 recipes for beets.] Sometimes recipes get REdiscovered, and I don’t really know how! One of those is one of the first recipes I did, for oriechetti, tomatoes, arugula and parmesan. It’s just a really great summer recipe.

Spicy Quinoa Salad

I took the Practically Green test and I got a 6 out of 10, and part of that’s because I have a landlord. I don’t know what kind of a dishwasher I have, but I do know that the fridge is Energy Star, because I bought it myself. I composted until my landlord freaked out; he thought it was attracting rats. [Sigh/humph.] I have a garden, and everything about it is organic. And I still compost because we have green baskets in LA – LA’s bureau of sanitation has a great recycling program. If you enter “green bin” in the search box on that link, you’ll get a pdf with the 3 different bins and what you can put in them, including a green one for compost. We put kitchen scraps into the bin that’s there with all the rest on the curb and it’s picked up!

I have a twelve year old. His generation is much more aware. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to eat crap if he gets a chance – he’s a healthy twelve year old. If he’s taking a long shower and I say, “Liam, you’re taking a long shower, it’s time to get out!” nothing happens. But if I go in there and say, “You’re really wasting shower water, Liam,” He’ll get out. They are getting the message.

Aren’t you a little bit hungry now? Motivated? Visit Practically Green for dozens of ways you can make healthy, eco-friendly decisions in your kitchen and at meal-time! Maybe you’d like to start with these three:

• Shop at a Farmer’s Market Each Week in Season (10 points)
• Buy Cereal Without Artificial Colors or Flavors This Week (5 points)
• Eat Meat Only on Weekends (Whoa! 100 points!)

Martha’s website: www.martha-rose-shulman.com Join her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter @MarthaRShulman

This time of the year is always overwhelming. So we here at Practically Green hope to make life a little easier by offering a round- up of all the great green back-to-school ideas we’ve been hearing, our personal picks for eco-friendly school supplies and of course, actions that will earn you points, points, points!

Pencils and Pens.

Let’s start with the small stuff. Staples’ Eco Easy brand offers some great eco-friendly mechanical pencils made from 72% recycled content. They also have pens made from 62% recycled plastic. If you’re looking for something fun, we like O’BON’s colorful fruit pencils made from 100% recycled newspaper. Papermate has cool biodegradable pens and mechanical pencils.

Binders and Folders.

Naked Binder has two-pocket folders and binders made of 100% recycled and recyclable materials and 97% post consumer waste. ReBinder sells folders made of recycled fibers and binders without toxic vinyl material. Staples’ Eco Easy brand has eco-friendly view binders. Check out these folders from Sasquatch with some earthy, interesting designs. Seventh Generation also has great suggestions for writing utensils and notebooks!

Notebooks.

How about a notebook that looks like giant falcon plumage? O’BON has a large selection of eco-friendly notebooks, like the non-toxic Sugarcane Series, which is made from sugarcane paper, soy-based inks. We also liked Ecojot’s spiral notebooks. And if you’re already at Staples, their Eco Easy brand also has recycled notebooks as well!

Paper.

If you’re looking for recycled paper, Staples Eco Easy has some great choices for filler and white printer paper. New Leaf Paper carries lined and copy paper made from post-consumer waste.

Art Supplies.

Feel like drawing? We like O’BON’s Wildlife colored pencils, made of recycled newspaper; and we can’t wait to try Prang Soybean crayons. Our all-time favorite markers are Crayola’s AP Certified Nontoxic, washable markers.

Backpacks.

How about a TerraCycle backpack made from old drink pouches and cookie wrappers! We also like Lands’ End eco-friendly backpack made from 100% recycled fabric. Grist also has great ideas for eco-friendly backpacks and bags.

P.S. Pop some all-natural hand sanitizer in the backpack, and earn 20 points!

We’re fans of the Environmental Working Group for many reasons, and they’ve compiled a handy green back-to-school shopping list. Want to go beyond your children’s back-to-school supplies? Consider joining greenschools, a non-profit organization whose mission is “to create greener and healthier learning environments through education and awareness.”  They’ll help you tackle important, basic stuff like indoor air quality, healthy food and habits, and reducing, reusing and recycling at your school.

Transportation.

Remember that you can also earn points by walking, biking or carpooling to school. All three actions help reduce emissions and are great ways to get exercise and meet new friends.  Remember to load up on the sunscreen! We have several all-natural brands for you to try.

And now, the last tip we can give you for greening your back-to-school is quite simple: Have a healthy, happy and wonderful school year!

Photo Credit: Flikr, O’BON, Crayola, ReBinder, O’BON, All Terrain, Fast Company

Today's Blog Post by: Lindsey O'Connor

My basement had a bunch of stuff that was perfectly good, but that we no longer needed or wanted, so we started creating a pile to drop off at Goodwill. It got me thinking what an absolute marvel, and how totally green, organizations like Goodwill are.  Did you know that:

Last year, more than 66 million people donated to Goodwill. Goodwill accepts your new or gently used items — like clothing, appliances, electronics and furniture — and sells them in our well-known Goodwill retail stores. There are more than 2,400 Goodwill donation locations in the United States and Canada.

The sales of your donations help fund job training programs, employment placement services and other community-based programs for people who have disabilities, lack education or job experience, or face employment challenges.

In fact, donating clothes to a charity is so green that you can earn 20 points for it at Practically Green. But I never really thought much about how much benefit my basement stuff would provide until I got news from an industry friend, Park Howell, about a massive fire at the logistics and operations center for their local Goodwill. Without those donations, the 36 community programs they run don’t have funds so they are doing a MASSIVE drive (if you are reading us from Arizona, please donate!).  I never realized that cleaning my basement isn’t just green, it creates jobs!

Then last night,  I had the opportunity to visit another key player in the re-use market, Gazelle.com. Gazelle gives you cash for your unwanted gadgets (or if there isn’t any value, you can still send them in to be responsibly recycled).  They offer their services directly, but also power trade-in programs at places like Costco and Sears. I got to see part of their “logistics and operations center” and it’s really a marvel (and a perfect home for my box of random electronic stuff). Here are some photos:

First shipments arrive and are packed into bins and contents are verified.

Then each bag is sorted into bins labelled for every kind of gadget.They have bins for everything from Blackberries to iPhones to Camcorders.

Every item is then inspected and readied for reuse or recycling.  The inspection station ensures data is wiped and the product is functioning appropriately.  It then goes into a huge inventory room until someone repurchases the item through eBay or other outlets or it is dismantled and recycled appropriately.

Of course it’s great to get cash for electronics.  But what Gazelle.com has helped create is a way to extend the life of gadgets. This is really green because it combats the issue of perceived or planned obsolescence in technology AND helps keep e-waste from being disposed of improperly. By using Gazelle or services like theirs, you also can get 10 points for recycling your old computer, 10 points for recycling your cell phone, and 10 points for recycling other electronics on Practically Green. The final “feel good” benefit? These services makes technology available to people who might otherwise not be able to afford it.

So–one eco-friendly basement-cleaning later, and I’ve created jobs, battled planned obsolescence, kept e-waste out of landfill, helped someone access digital technology, and cleaned up our indoor air quality. And oh yes, earned 50 points on Practically Green!  Who knew basement cleaning could be so rewarding?

]]> http://blog.practicallygreen.com/2010/08/how-cleaning-your-basement-can-create-jobs-save-energy-reduce-waste-and-improve-health/feed/ 0 http://blog.practicallygreen.com/2010/08/pg-picks-cool-clothing-store-green-product-design-contest-recycle-everything-and-new-easy-way-to-clean-your-water-bottle/ http://blog.practicallygreen.com/2010/08/pg-picks-cool-clothing-store-green-product-design-contest-recycle-everything-and-new-easy-way-to-clean-your-water-bottle/#comments Fri, 13 Aug 2010 20:19:25 +0000 Leah Luchetti http://blog.practicallygreen.com/?p=822 News Picks:

Think Green and Young: Children’s clothing and toy store Area Kids has a fabulous collection of eco-friendly duds for your little ones. The store is in Brooklyn, but offers products online. You shouldn’t have to sacrifice the “style” part of your “green lifestyle.”

Calling all Green Entrepreneurs: YouGoods is a design contest that challenges you to submit a product idea that is “practical, unique, and eco-friendly.” Act quickly, submissions are due on the 19th!

Are Chemicals Speeding up Your Daughter’s Childhood? There has been much talk in the news lately about exposure to chemicals such as BPA disrupting girls’ hormones. Hopefully the Safe Chemicals Act and the Toxic Chemicals Safety Act will help to put a stop on this disturbing trend. Click here to get PG points for your chemical free-cleaning.

Mulit-Media Pick:

Save That Stuff can help your business with its recycling needs by providing cost-effective alternatives to traditional waste disposal. See the video below for astonishing visuals of all the waste they recycle! The video is a little long, but everything worth seeing is in the first three minutes. Get PG points for recycling your stuff. Enjoy!

New and Cool Pick:

No more shoving a sponge into your Klean Kanteen: This cool brush made from recyclable materials will save you some serious time and effort. It’s hard to clean sticky drinks out of your eco-friendly reusable water bottle (my water STILL tasted like apple juice for at least three re-fillings), but this nifty brush makes it a breeze. It cleans both the inside and the outside at the same time.

Can you guess what it is?  Cork!

Yep, that little stopper in your wine bottle is an across-the-board eco-friendly substance.  Which also means that it is prime recycling material.  But we rarely think to collect all of those wine bottle stoppers piling up in our kitchen drawers and dispose of them efficiently.  In fact, they’re pretty easy to lose track of once you pop open a bottle of your favorite organic wine or bubbly.

The useful life of cork is extended through recycling.  Almost 60% of the world’s cork is used in wine production, so that’s a lot of cork that could be diverted from a landfill and used to manufacture a range of products such as floor tiles, place mats, memo boards, coasters, shoes and bags.  Organizations dedicated to recycling natural cork, such as Cork ReHarvest and ReCORK by Amorim hope recycling will raise awareness of the usefulness of cork and help to create a greater demand for it.

Recycling also saves resources and reduces the demand placed on cork plantations.  According to Cork ReHarvest, cork forests are highly important to the planet’s ecological health because they absorb millions of tons of CO2 each year and are a vast provider of oxygen to the planet.  The cork forests of the Mediterranean Basin are among the most sustainable and environmentally harvested forests in the world.  Trees are not cut down to harvest cork, rather, the bark is stripped by hand every 9-12 years.  (Fun fact: cork oak trees can live up to 300 years!)  We can support these responsible practices by recycling and reusing cork products.

Fortunately, there are many practical uses for recycled cork.  From flooring to trendy new bags from Cork Chic, the uses for recycled cork almost seem endless.

A unique way to reuse your cork stoppers is to make your own cork board or coasters.  There are kits available on Amazon that supply you with the wooden frames, glue and instructions, and then you provide the cork from your favorite bottles of wine (or all the corks saved in a box in your pantry!)

But if you’re not the arts and crafts type (don’t worry, some of us aren’t) you can find cork drop-off locations in your area through ReCORK by Amorim or Cork ReHarvest.  These two organizations are not only focused on recycling natural cork, but educating the public on the importance of the Mediterranean cork forests for the world’s ecological balance.  Whole Foods has launched cork recycling bins in most of their locations as well.

Susan just dropped off a load of wine corks to Whole Foods and Sarah is planning to do the same.  And although I have another 6 months (not that I’m counting) until I can buy a bottle of wine, I plan on recycling the cork stoppers during my Whole Foods runs…although the homemade coasters are tempting.  So what do you think? Recycle your cork at one of the many locations, or are you an adventurous arts and crafts type?  Either way, you can earn 10 points for this action, so give it a try!

Photo Credit: Amazon.com and Flickr

Today's blog post by
Lindsey O'Connor

My shoes in the trash bin: uggghhhhh

But I couldn’t stand the sight of them there, ready to be taken to some already laden landfill.

I Googled “recycled running shoes” and found a number of interesting programs, including RecyledRunners.com. The best program for me, I think, is the Nike Grind “Reuse a Shoe” process. According to the website, I can bring the shoes to my nearby Nike store, and they will send the shoes to one of two facilities:

Memphis, Tennessee: Recently relocated from Wilsonville, Oregon, our Memphis center uses a “slice-and-grind” technique, where each shoe is cut into three slices – rubber outsole, foam midsole and fiber upper. These slices are then fed through grinders and purified.

Meerhout, Belgium: Our Belgium facility, which opened in 2005, grinds shoes up whole, then passes the material through a series of complex separators.

There’s a video here that shows the amazing process.

Shoes ready to enter the Nike recycling process

No matter how your shoes are processed, the end result is the same – three high-quality Nike Grind materials ready to be put back in the game:

Nike Grind Rubber, made from the shoe’s outsole, is used in track surfaces, interlocking gym flooring tiles, playground surfacing and even new Nike products, such as the outsoles of the Nike Pegasus or the Jordan XX3. It’s also used in trim items like buttons and zipper pulls.

Nike Grind Foam, made from the shoe’s midsole, is used as a cushion for outdoor basketball and tennis courts, as well as futsal fields.

Nike Grind Fiber, made from the shoe’s fabric upper, is used in the creation of cushioning pads for facilities like indoor synthetic courts and wood courts.

I can’t wait to have my shoes participate in such a fabulous program!

There are 28 recycling recommendations at Practically Green: helpful tips on responsible disposal of all sorts of stuff, from televisions to cell phones, from corks to gift wrap. If you decided to do all 28, you’d earn a total of 326 points! (That singleton is for watching a four-minute video, The Story of Stuff.)

Five kids who are changing the world: Read about five inspiring kids who are making the world a better place. Whether it’s growing organic crops and donating them to soup kitchens, or knitting home-made hats to fight hunger, these kids make us feel better about the world we live in.

How to turn an old iPod into cash: Every time you turn around, Apple is releasing a new generation of the iPod — making them smaller, more fun colors, touch screen…. (Does anyone remember the iPod with the original scroll wheel and four individual buttons?) It’s enough to give you whiplash! This article uncovers a few ways you can get cash for even the most archaic of gadgets, so you can get rid of that iPod mini collecting dust in your desk drawer. As a bonus, you can get 10 PG points for recycling your electronics.

Can we green our Planes next? Have those monthly business trips or annual family vacations put an annoyingly significant dent in your carbon footprint? Hopefully, soon this will be less of an issue. Many airlines are testing plant-based biofuels in an effort to reduce greenhouse emissions.

Multi-Media Pick:

Farmers market frenzy: Happy national farmers market week! People everywhere are becoming more interested in farmers markets, PG is lucky enough to have one right outside of our office in Boston on Tuesdays and Fridays this summer. You can find one near you here. Get 5 points on Practically Green for buying local produce. Check out this video featuring organic farmer Rebecca Schwen, as she discusses the growing interest in farmers markets.

New and cool pick:

Photo Credit:http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/cookware-tools/product-review-skruba-vegetable-scrubbing-gloves-120867

http://www.fastcompany.com/1614917/traveling-pants-indeed-the-closet-exchange-program-thredup-adds-kids-clothes

ThredUP is a kids’ clothing swap site that lets parents exchange boxes of outgrown clothing for ones that fit, all in the convenience of your own home. Public relations and Marketing director Karen Fein opened up to PG about how the ingenious “Netflix for kids’ clothing” idea got started — and, of course, about what steps she takes to live a greener life!

How did you guys come up with this brilliant idea?

Founders James Reinhart and Oliver Lubin realized there wasn’t an efficient way to exchange clothing online. All of the outlets available to exchange clothing, such as Ebay, consignment shopping, and craigslist were just really time-consuming and inefficient. When a child outgrows one shirt, they outgrow their entire wardrobe, and if you think about putting all of that on Ebay, a parent has to list all of the items, take pictures of them, set the biddings, monitor the auctions, etc. Parents just do not have the time to do this every six months. The goal was to create an easy way for parents to exchange outgrown clothing for clothes that fit.

How did ThredUp get started, and what did people think?

The site originally started as a men’s and women’s shirt-swapping site. There were a lot of people that really loved it, but it was more of a hobby than a necessity. We realized we could use this same concept for kids to help families cut down on waste and consumption and we were shocked at the response we got! We found that because nothing like this had existed before, people were really waiting for it. People were really excited to share ThredUP with their friends and family, because it’s such an easy way to save time, money and help the environment.

Speaking of the environment, on your website you discuss teaching kids the importance of green living by creating a “thredbank”, can you explain this a little?

If you have an interest in helping your children learn about the importance of sustainable living, ThredUP can help with that. By telling your kids to set aside clothes when they outgrow them, they soon realize that these clothes can be exchanged for “new gifts,” or clothes that fit them. It reinforces the fact that you don’t always need to buy new things, you don’t always need to throw out old things, and that used clothing has value. We encourage parents to get their kids involved in the process and have them create their own “thredbank” of outgrown clothes. It can feel like Christmas morning to kids to get a box of new clothing completely for them, and they can feel proud that they took part in that exchange.

Ok, we want to ask, how green are you?

Our company is incredibly green. Personally, I take all of those simple green steps that everyone should take, like using a thermos instead of a water bottle, turning your water off when brushing your teeth, recycling always, or making sure to turn the lights out. From a clothing aspect, I take part in swap parties and shop at consignment stores. I use the options that are out there for adults right now, to promote sharing what we already have in order to cut down on waste and consumption, rather than shopping for something new and throwing clothes away. (Which I would never do.)

Now that you’ve told us some of your preferred green actions, we’re always curious to know what your least favorite green action taken you’ve taken is, or something you’re working on?

I haven’t quite made the transition to washing my clothes in cold water.

What more do you want to know about being green?

I think that for most people the main reasons they don’t take certain green steps is because they’re not necessarily convenient. It’s always good to learn about ways to go green that are not only incredibly easy, but can also save time and money. If you have those extra benefits, why not take the green option, and why not cut down on waste?

We couldn’t agree more! One last question, is there any way that you track the things you do everyday to be eco-friendly?

Not me personally, but ThredUP is about to start tracking how much waste we are saving in terms of kid’s clothing. We’re making an assumption that for every box of kid’s clothes, half of that box would normally have been thrown out and ended up in a landfill. 20 billion pounds of clothing and textiles end up in U.S. landfills every year, and every 3-6 months kids outgrow their clothing, making it a large part of that statistic.

Get PG “stuff” points for using ThredUP! Get five points for getting used clothing with this action, and get another five points for giving away/selling used clothing with this action.

You can find out more information and start swapping on ThredUP here.
Follow ThredUP on Twitter @ thredUP_Kids .

But all this Practically Green stuff has got me thinking.

Rings in weekly Windex bath

As I poured Windex into their sweet little ring-cleaning dish I thought – for the first time, I’m embarrassed to say — what’s IN that Windex? I inspected the bottle in vain for ingredients. So I went to the Good Guide and looked it up.

Good Guide rating for Windex

That’s 4.5 out of a possible 10: a C. Turns out Windex includes 2-Propanol, which is “known to be neurotoxic” and which “is suspected of causing respiratory toxicity,” among other concerns. Windex also contains Propylene Glycol, which “is suspected of causing immunotoxicity [whatever that might be], skin or sense organ toxicity, and respiratory toxicity.”

NICE.

My first impulse was to empty the bottle down the sink drain ASAP. But then where would it go? Should I flush it down the toilet? Probably not. Maybe dump it on some rocks out back? Wince.

All this thinking began to give me a headache, frankly. So I reached for my trusty Tylenol container, shook out two capsules, opened my mouth to swallow them, raised my water glass, and stopped mid-air, frozen.

What was in that Tylenol? Acetaminophen, of course! But before I could go look that up, what’s that miniscule expiration date say? 04/07! I took aim to pitch the container into the recycling bin. But wait! Where to put the remaining 230 or so capsules?

Tylenol capsules that expired more than three years ago

Knock knock: It was Kevin the electrician! (Did I mention we’re building a house? Kevin’s been working hard this weekend to stay ahead of the insulators.)

Kevin

“Hey, look at this cool iPhone app I just got,” he said. “It shows you the best sunscreens to use, did you know that sunscreen can sometimes have bad things in it?” I’m impressed. Kevin is an intelligent and worldly person, and if he knows about the EWG’s database of safe products, then maybe millions do. That is good news.

Sunday’s New York Times brought me right back down, however. Eric Schlosser (Food, Inc.) explains the in-limbo food-safety bill to prevent poisoning, e.g.: “… the Peanut Corporation of America knew that peanut butter from their filthy, rodent-infested plant was testing positive for salmonella — but shipped it anyway, for months.” Thomas Friedman says “We’re Gonna Be Sorry” to bag the climate-change bill. “We’ve basically decided to keep pumping greenhouse gases into Mother Nature’s operating system and take our chances that the results will be benign….” All this capped a week of extreme climate weirdness: tornadoes in Maine, strong thunderstorms and record heat in the East, heavy flooding in the Midwest, record cold in California, tornadoes and downpours all over.

Dare I connect all of these dots?

To console myself, I limped up the street to my favorite farm stand, where Karla Young can always make sun from gloom.

Karla

We agree that her peaches this year are the best ever – even if they are oddly ahead of schedule. I think I’ll stop worrying and slice into one.

photo

Trash-Free for an Entire Year: Could you live trash-free? We at PG are always trying to find ways to make less trash, and this couple is definitely a prime example. A couple in Oregon found that not only was it possible to live almost trash free for a year, it was “easy.”

Playground Safety Hazard: Please use caution when taking your children to the park for some summer fun. From the 1970s until 2003, some wooden playground equipment was pressure-treated with a substance that (shockingly) contained arsenic.

How Green are Your Favorite Brands: You might want to think before shimmying into a new pair of jeans. A new rating system has been developed for some 100 well-known apparel and footwear brands. Just as appliances have Energy Star ratings, the “Eco Index” will eventually tell consumers the environmental impact of their purchases. The Index hopes to encourage brands to be thoughtful of the environment when designing apparel, and it gives brands that strive to be eco-friendly the credit they deserve.

Multi-Media Pick:

The Environmental Impact of a Pair of 501s: View the life cycle of one of America’s most popular brands of denim. You may be as shocked as we were to find out that to make a single pair of 501s, 3,480.5 liters of water are used. This is the equivalent to running the garden hose for 106 minutes!

New and Cool Pick:

Energy Saving Night-Light: Skip the plug-in night-light to keep those monsters away for the kids and get them a cool, solar powered Sun or Moon Jar! The jar works by being placed in direct sunlight during the day (on a windowsill for example), and automatically illuminates in the dark.

In a BBQ frenzy? Dive into Self magazine’s special burger section for mouthwatering recipes from beans, turkey, and spices. How about Rosemary-Sage Burgers With Apple Slaw and Chive “Mayo” or Portobello-Black Bean Burgers With Corn Salsa? YUM! http://www.self.com/about/burgers

Annie Leonard at a shoot for her new movie

Got sunburn? Stay indoors and watch The Story of Stuff, Gasland, Food, Inc. and get ready for Annie Leonard’s new movie, The Story of Cosmetics, releasing at the end of the month.

Kids bouncing off the walls? Plan a trip to your local library! Massachusetts libraries have a “Go Green at Your Library” summer reading program, featuring a special program for teens: tnk grEn (Think Green) .

Going on a trip? Ask if your hotel offers eco-friendly amenities, such as opting out of daily housekeeping service – for a $5/day credit! Read about two Phoenix hotels who’ve jumped aboard the burgeoning movement of green travel hosts.

Annika and Kerry

Beach reading: Eco-awesome designers Annika Sanders and Kerry Seager run London’s Junky Stylish fashion label. They make wedding dresses from men’s white button-downs and set up an O.R. in NYC last week to transform unwanted maternity wear, tuxes, kimonos, and pinstripes into high-fashion garb. Isn’t it somehow patriotic to remember our British cousins on Independence Day?  In the July 5 New Yorker magazine. Or pick up the book, Junky Styling: Wardrobe Surgery.

What to do?

At Practically Green we’re about solutions—green actions that people can take easily, on their own budget and schedule, to make their lives greener and more healthy. Simple tasks, like switching to all-natural toothpaste or rinsing a Zip-loc bag. More complicated tasks, like getting an energy audit or upgrading windows.

It seems there’s not much I can do, personally, to plug that horrific oil spill, or to persuade the Senate to outlaw incandescent lightbulbs (or to regulate the AC in the frigid Post Offices of this country, grrr), but at least I can buy local and organic whenever possible, and I can open the window at home instead of automatically turning on the AC. Sigh.

Last night I had a dream that the CEO of BP called a press conference and announced a change. For once he looked strong and heroic, full of conviction:

“We’re doing everything we can to plug the spill. And we’ve had an epiphany. Today, we’re changing our company. From this day forward, BP is all about renewables and green power: wind, solar, geothermal, algae, LED, smart-grid, recycling, repurposing, and all of the brilliant solutions that deserve big funding and unprecedented muscle NOW. We’re taking measurable steps to dial down our traditional business. We vow to push our brethren oil companies to do the same, starting today. Exxon Mobil and Shell have already come on board. And we won’t rest until the world is free of dependence on fossil fuels and a new green economy has been established, globally.”

As I said, this was a dream.

Later today, I saw a powerful little piece of relevant persuasion that I don’t want you to miss. It’s by Umbra Fisk, the acerbic, stylish wit who writes Grist’s advice column. Please read the excerpt below. For Umbra’s full Q & A, please visit Grist.

And for hundreds (yes, hundreds; I know, because I’m editing them) of things you can do to be more eco-aware in your life, for your health and your family’s well-being, please visit us at www.PracticallyGreen.com. Answer a few easy questions and you’ll be on your way to a custom to-do list of positive actions you can take.

Umbra Fisk of Grist

Ask Umbra on Turning Oil-Spill Depression into Transformation

A lot of us are feeling depressed and disheartened by what is happening right now in the Gulf. It is terrible beyond words. It’s so bad I don’t even like using the word beyond anymore.

Being overwhelmed by a big crisis may cause us to think that our personal actions are meaningless. But this is where we’re wrong…. The “little things” we all do are not futile. In fact, little things add up fast. Especially if you do them, and then talk to your friends and family so that  they start doing them too. That’s the magic of the multiplier effect…. Step it up a notch. Be infectious! Here’s how:

Talk to all of your friends, family, co-workers, Facebook pals, Twitter followers, that weird lady on the bus, etc. about consumption, not only of fossil fuels, but of what we eat, buy, turn on, wear, use, or throw out. Get them to ask themselves: “Is this thing I’m consuming necessary?”

If the answer is no, here are 11 simple steps they can all take. These actions don’t cost much, if anything, and they may make you and your circle happier and healthier while you’re helping the planet. Of course, there’s always more we can do. But the list is a good conversation piece and starting point. Pass it along. May it reach everyone, even the people who eat Styrofoam.

(There’s a lot more information online.)

Easy things anyone can do to fight oil spill anger/apathy (in random order):

1) Take one less airline flight per year

2) Keep your car tires properly inflated, engine tuned and take 100 excess lbs. out of your car

3) Leave your car at home one day a week (use mass transit, bike, or innovative ride-sharing programs like Weeels)

4) Carpool two days a week or telecommute one day a week

5) Go meatless on Monday’s and switch from red meat to poultry two days a week

6) Support your local Farmer’s Market or Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

7) Use recycled paper products (office paper, toilet paper, paper towels)

Reduce the number of catalogues you receive by more than half

9) Turn off unused lights, use the hibernate mode on your computer, unplug things when you’re not using them

10) Wash your clothes in cold water 75 percent of the time and hang clothes out to dry in summer

11) Share more — including this list, and talk to people in your life — at work, weddings, in elevators or better yet on the stairs — about other simple ideas to add to the list.

How did you start your green journey? Were you raised to be eco-conscious?

I have always been into making things from waste materials. Growing up, nothing in my house was thrown away, cereal packets, tin cans, plastic bags… it was all kept for me to make my creations from! Then, when I was at university I wrote my dissertation on recycling in design and decided to make some products made from waste materials. This is when I first started to make lighting from wasted plastic drinks bottles. It’s something that is thrown away so much here in the UK and I’m sure in other countries too (only 5.5% of plastic bottles are recycled in the UK). So I wanted to make something beautiful from them.

How do you incorporate other green habits into your lifestyle?

I do the general things a lot of people do nowadays. I reuse/recycle my own rubbish. I am a bit of a hoarder so anything I think I can use again gets kept and put to one side. I use public transport or walk everywhere. I have been able to drive for years but haven’t justified the need for a car. I am lucky that the city I live in has a good public transport system…For my lamps, I collect the bottles from local cafes and households. Of course as word has spread amongst friends and family about my design projects I have many volunteers collecting their bottles and donating them to me.

How does she do it? The plastic bottles are cleaned and sandblasted, then cut and formed into beautiful shapes. For the Cola lamp (shown in the top picture), each strip of plastic is then attached to a recycled card base and secured using its own bottle top.

Itching to get your own handmade Sarah Turner lamp? Her lamps aren’t sold in the US yet, but they are available to purchase online at http://www.sarahturner.co.uk/. For international sales inquiries just email sales@sarahturner.co.uk.

The 2nd item we are going gaga over is this paper shredder turned coffee table we found on Design*Sponge. Pigeontail Design is behind this sleek and clever table rightfully called the Papervore.

Do you love these designs? Do you own a piece of sustainable furniture that you want others to know about? Share with us!

Photo Credit: http://www.sarahturner.co.uk/news.html http://www.sarahturner.co.uk/bluebell1.html http://www.designspongeonline.com/2010/06/thanks-for-shredding-my-paper-coffee-table.html

Recycled Paper Hearts Cards

Creating, playing, and exploring are essential components to my parenting philosophy. I am trying to raise my two daughters with hearts full of art. As we create and craft in our home art studio I try to think about the impact the art supplies we are using will have on the planet and my children’s’ bodies. I was a printmaker and (oil) painter in college and was exposed to some nasty chemicals. When I was a graduate art student I was breastfeeding my infant daughter and did not want to expose my body or hers to toxic substances; I made sure that all of my artwork was created using non-toxic art materials. It presented me with a challenge to find new ways to create, but in doing so I also achieved results and a level of work that was very satisfying.

What can you do as a parent who wants to create with your children but who wants to avoid dangerous and toxic art materials? Start with known brands that are green. Ask yourself if you could make your own or recycle and repurpose something for your project.

• In our home studio we use rags instead of paper towels (just as we do in our house)
• We use homemade play dough made with 1 cup of flour, ½ cup salt, 1 packet of powdered Kool-Aid (there is probably a greener alternative!) 1 cup of hot water, 3 tablespoons of oil. It smells great and my kids love it.
• Natural Wool is lovely to use in craft projects and for “felting” yourself with warm water and mild soap.
• Stockmar makes beeswax crayon blocks that are as lovely to hold and color with as they are to smell!
• Soy-based Crayon Rocks are another favorite of ours.
• Strathmore has a new line of artist papers made with 100% wind power
• Several kinds of watercolor paper, drawing paper, and sketch paper are now made with hemp.
• Artemis makes colored pencils with plant extracts for their pigments.
• Green Earth Office Supply makes pencils from recycled denim jeans and post-consumer paper.
• Acquerello Watercolor Paper is chlorine-free (as well as acid-free)
• We use Eco-Fi Felt for our felt projects, it is made from recycled post consumer plastic bottles.
• Eco Finger paints from Ecoartworks.com are great for little artists or you can look on the Internet for recipes to make your own homemade finger paint.
• Whenever my kids bring home foam craft stickers on a project from school or a friend’s birthday party, we recycle the foam stickers by turning them into stamps! I just stick them to scrap pieces of cardboard cut up from old cereal boxes, and then paint with washable paint or ink.
• White Elmer’s School Glue is another favorite in our house. It is pretty safe and approved by the public schools. Our local public school system is not allowed to use toxic art materials in their classrooms.
• Recycled paper – your child’s drawings  and doodles will look just as nice on the back of a piece of paper saved from the recycling pile as it would on a blank sheet of paper. Teaching your children to work this way sets a lifelong habit to reduce-reuse-recycle, and that’s the name of the game.
• The recycling bin is a treasure chest of its own: Milk cartons, toilet paper tubes, bottle caps, plastic lids, egg cartons, tissue paper, gift wrap, aluminum foil, old sweaters and worn out clothing.

Sock bunny

• Mother Nature. A quick walk in your own backyard will reveal a bounty of natural and non-toxic art and craft materials: leaves, flowers, pine cones, acorns, sticks and fallen branches, sand, seashells, bird feathers, insect wings, etc.

Final thought: whenever you are looking at traditional art materials for your children you should look for an AP or CP seal and avoid products with warning labels. Also ask yourself (as you would with food), “Is this something my grandmother would recognize?” Happy (safe) Crafting!

Seashell mobile

MaryLea Harris is an artist and blogger. She was an Elementary Art Teacher in the public school system for 5 years before staying home with her two daughters. She married her college sweetheart, a builder and LEED Accredited Professional. As a family they recycle, Freecycle, grow organic veggies with rain barrel water, and compost. Her kids consider their worms in the kitchen vermicomposter to be part of the household pet menagerie.

Favorite Green Action Taken: Switching to cloth napkins and installing tubular skylights with my husband in our kitchen and upstairs hallway ceilings – the natural light is fantastic.

Least Favorite Green Action Taken: Line drying laundry – the towels can be a bit crunchy but I tell myself I’m “exfoliating.” [Over-priced spa treatment for free!]

Still Working On: Giving up all non-toxic art materials and products and figuring out a “green” litter box solution for our two aging indoor cats.

MaryLea Harris and her family

Find MaryLea here: http://www.pinkandgreenmama.blogspot.com

http://www.pinkandgreenmama.etsy.com

There’s a fabulous new way to recycle your old cell phone and mitigate carbon change at the same time.

Interested in the complete story?

One week ago I dropped my iPhone down the crack between the elevator and the lobby. Gone. I e-mailed family, friends, and business associates that I’d be going mobile-silent until I found a solution. My dear brother Charlie suggested that I dropped my phone intentionally so that I could get myself a new iPhone, the 4G that’s coming. Perhaps there is some truth to that. He has known me since I was two, after all.

But the new iPhone wasn’t available to preorder until today, June 15th, and rather than buy some temporary cell phone, I’ve managed to lump along without my usual handheld personal assistant. Others were beginning to notice, however. My daughter Louisa called on the home line yesterday: “Mom, I can’t believe I’m finally talking to you! Omigod! Listen to me: you have got to get a new phone. Any phone! What if your car breaks down and you need to call for help? What if you’re in an emergency?”

Today, June 15, I went to preorder the new iPhone first thing, 7:15 am: first at the Apple site (store “closed”), then by landline phone (“due to extremely high call volumes we are unable to answer your call at this time”). Undeterred, I went to the Apple store in person to preorder the thing. No luck. “We haven’t been able to get one all morning,” the sales rep told me, in a failed attempt to soothe. I decided to investigate the temporary phone options at the AT&T store down the block and, I am ashamed to say, I wound up with a $29.99 Nokia. Ashamed because, what happens to this cheezy phone after I’m done with it?

Luckily, our friend Heather Margolis has a solution: www.plantmyphone.com

I signed up to receive a free, pre-paid mailer, in which I will send the temporary phone, which PlantMyPhone assures me will be recycled properly. If you prefer, you can retrieve the mailer at selected locations, e.g. REI, Starbucks, and on certain university campuses. Easy: insert the unwanted phone, mail it, and PlantMyPhone “responsibly recycles your phone and sells the recycled materials to fund tree planting in the humid tropics,” where trees have the most environmental benefit:

Award-winning nonprofit organizations specializing in agroforestry projects—which restore depleted lands and boost the agricultural productivity and incomes of indigenous peoples in some of the poorest parts of the world—plant the actual trees… in12 tropical countries: Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Burundi, Senegal, Zambia, India, Philippines and Haiti. Species include Cocoa, Coffee, Banana, Orange, Cedar, Teak, Mahogany, Oak, Acacia, Eucalyptus, Laurel and Leucaena.

How many trees are we talking about? A Blackberry in “good condition” might plant 21 trees. An iPhone in “good condition” equals 79 trees. If I ever do find my old iPhone at in the basement of our office building, it will likely have a “broken screen”: 22 trees. Complete list is here.

Cell phones can contain hazardous chemicals such as cadmium, lead and mercury. Unless properly recycled, these chemicals could make their way from landfills into our soil and into the water we drink and air we breathe.

How PlantMyPhone Recycles Responsibly

PlantMyPhone recycles with partners that adhere to a no export, no landfill policy that ensures that hazardous materials are not exported to third world countries and that no materials end up in land fills.

Recycling partners include Sims Recycling, which was named one of the top 100 most sustainable corporations in the world at the 2009 World Economic Forum in Davos. Want more tips on recycling your phone — and all sorts of other items? Go to Practically Green and earn points as you dispose of them properly.

P.S. Just tried the Apple online store again, same deal:

Your request couldn’t be processed.

We’re sorry, but there was an error processing your request. Please try again later.

There’s always tomorrow. Meanwhile, why not leave your comments for me below, write to me at Sarah@practicallygreen.com, fan us on Facebook, or give us a tweet @practicallygrn.

Introducing, F. Rock Carryalls for men by our favorite new sustainable designer, Nicolé Keane.

F. Rock is a Boston-based brand that designs mens’ accessories, more specifically, mens’ bags. And we don’t mean man-purses (murses?), we mean carryalls–something your hubby, dad, or married brother could carry, put their things in and not be ashamed. It all started with the designer, Nicolé Keane. I actually had the pleasure of meeting her in person (by the way, I thought I was standing in front of Audrey Hepburn!) and got to hear about F. Rock’s journey.

Nicolé originally began designing women’s handbags, but after designing with menswear fabric for a few of the bags, she found she fell in love with the concept of sustainable carryalls for men–so she made the switch. What makes these bags sustainable? Nicolé was very passionate in this area…

First, I define the “sustainability” aspect of my brand not just in terms of materials, but as a 360 degree concept that dovetails product AND production. You can’t consider one without the other. The bags fabrics are either re-claimed or recycled factory scrap fabrics (that which hits the floor while stitching or vintage suiting). The leathers are either scrap from production (think booting, dress shoes or utility belts), remnant (inconsistent weights, color or thickness) or rejects from factory production. Much of the leather I use was made for top brands in the bag business or motorcycle world. My lining is all remnant from a top upholstery company that I buy from a family owned company in Boston. My padding is recycled blanket material. All of the hardware is either purchased in New England from New England companies or made right in Rhode Island. All of the bags are made right here in Massachusetts. I work directly with a small team of stitchers who almost all have family history in the skilled craftsmanship of apparel and leather goods.

Wow. I had no idea such a stylish bag could be so green. But it got better: 2% from each purchase goes directly to eco and arts programs for urban youth. It is bag bliss! Nicolé was proud to say, “The goal from square one was to create a user-friendly, high-end/low-impact carryall that would look conventional in its quality, but have an amazing story behind it.” But I wondered if her bags would be a good match for a dad like mine, a guy who likes quality, good value, AND style…

The F. Rock man appreciates value and a product that is as useful as it is attractive. He’ll hang on to his favorite jeans or cords long after they’ve frayed because nothing else he’s seen comes close. He’ll spend a lot on a pair of shoes because he falls in love with the look and craftsmanship and will re-sole them for years to come.

Yup, that’s my dad all right. How green is Nicolé, though? Well, she puts me to shame, honestly. She grew up in a household in which everything was homemade (including a no-sugar rule!) and because of her eco-minded and natural upbringing it is second-nature to buy organic and locally-grown produce, make her own cleaning products and follow the weekday vegetarian eating regime. A few years ago she threw out the conventional stuff and has been cleaning her house with low-impact vinegar, lemon, water and baking soda ever since! Her beauty routine is all organic or homemade as well because she decided that if she didn’t know what an ingredient was or did, she wouldn’t use it. (I think this is a great rule)! She now swears by mixing olive oil, a douse of honey, and a teaspoon of organic wheat flour to create a daily face wash or body wash…she’s my idol!

So what will I be saving up for to get my dad in the near future? This 15″ Franklin model, perfect to put work papers in or protect a laptop. The bags can be purchased at bonobos.com (F. Rock will have a rolling 6 week offering of limited edition bags), FRockbags.com, bgreenlifestyle.com, capemac.com (where there will also soon be F. Rock iPad covers) and soon through shoebuy.com and greenandmore.com.

Do you like F. Rock as much as I do?! Tell me what other gift ideas you are toying with to get for the dads in your life this Father’s Day, I need some ideas for my stepdad, too…

Milk from Grass-fed Cows Is Better for Your Heart: A report from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has found that there are higher levels of unsaturated fats (which are good for your heart) in the milk from pasture-grazing dairy cows than in the milk from grain-fed cows. Wow, more humane for the cows and the people!

12 Healthy BBQ Tips: The Daily Green helps kick-off summer BBQ-ing season with in-depth and relevant tips on how to cook healthier and happier on the grill. We can’t wait for our next cookout!

5 Toxins Found in Most Facial Moisturizers: Before you buy a new face cream, it might be worth it to read the ingredients label. Remember, your skin is your largest organ–treat it well!

Multimedia Link:
Tips from Toxic America: This week, CNN aired a series featuring Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who reported on the many different ways toxins are being exposed to Americans. Here are some great tips from the show that can help you reduce the amount of toxins in your home.

New and Cool Pick:
Envirocycle’s New Mini Composter: We just found Envirocycle’s newly designed compact composter and wish it was on our porches! Perfect for urban composting, this cute composter holds 17 gallons and costs a little less than the bigger alternatives.