Giants vs. Patriots: Superbowl XLVI (nfl.com)

While the real action is on the field, think of the following as your very own game; the more actions you take, the more points you earn. Enlist your friends to do the same and get a friendly competition going. If we all take some of the actions below, we’re in for a great season where we’re all winners. Go Team Green!

We admit it! Obsessed with SustyParty’s compostable plates and bowls. Order in your team’s colors & toss into the compost without even scraping the food off!

Go Waste Free

Pack your own reusable plates, water bottles, glassware, and utensils: 20 points!

BYO cloth napkins or PeopleTowels: 20 points!

Or use recycled paper napkins and you’ll still get 10 points.

Drink And Eat Sustainably

Fill your (reusable) bowl with organic or at least more natural chips and snacks, snag 10 points.

Drink wisely – celebrate touchdowns with organic and/or local beer (10 points), hydrate with filtered tap water in a reusable bottle (10 points), and stay awake and warm with organic coffee (20 points). You winos want to look for eco-friendly wine (20 points). Jack your score by 10 more points when you recycle the corks — and add a big 50 when you recycle the bottles!

Whew! Is it half time yet? If you’ve done ALL of those actions, you’ve got 180 POINTS already!

More:

Fire up your grill with eco-friendlier briquettes (10 points) and cook up some sustainably raised meat (another whopping 50 points!) and/or organic veggies (50 more!). Who knew eating guacamole could be SO extra-green?

Southwestern Layered Bean Dip: one of a zillion drooly ideas on EatingWell's special Superbowl recipe collection

If you’re a sausage fan, definitely throw some of Applegate Farms’ organic hot dogs (10 points) on the grill. Do you have a solar-powered grill/oven? Our friends Corey and Lynn of Celebrate Green swear by them — they’ve got another 20 points each!

Applegate Farms cheezy bacon organic hotdog: Yes, please!

Clean Consciously

Before you chow down, clean your hands with a natural hand sanitizer or hand soap and score another 10 points.

When the game is over, recycle everything in sight. We already mentioned bottles; beer cans count for another 20 points!

Wipe up spills and degrease the grill with a natural all-purpose cleaner for 10 points, not to mention reduced air pollution.

That’s a total of 360 points! Sounds like a nice round number to us. How’d you do? If you’ve got more ways to Green up Superbowl Sunday, please post them or drop us a line. (Hmmm, maybe Practically Green should give points for suggesting new actions?)

Not everyone can win a fancy Superbowl ring, but we can ALL be Practically Green!

Why not recycle them instead?

(Why not bring reusable shopping bags and stop using these altogether, as many places now require…. Seattle, Long Beach, San Francisco, Washington, Hawaii, New Delhi, Italy, France, China, Tanzania….)

From an illustration by Ben Katchor for "Bags in Trees" in The New Yorker, Jan. 12, 2004

Nearly 1 million bags are used each minute worldwide. Recycling rates of plastic bags hover near 10 percent (only about a third of paper bag recycling). Suffice it to say that we have a long way to go to reduce the number of plastic bags that are thrown in the trash and wind up in our waterways as well as our overstuffed landfills.

In 2010, D.C. businesses began seeing a drastic reduction in bag usage; environmental clean-up groups witnessed fewer bags polluting regional waterways

Unfortunately many curbside recycling programs don’t currently accept plastic bags. If this is the case where you live, seek out a grocery or retail store near you that will accept them for recycling. If you’re fortunate enough to be able to recycle them curbside, make sure your bags are properly secured within the bin. They won’t get recycled if they blow away.

Reduce the amount of plastic bags you need to recycle by not taking them at stores in the first place—use a reusable bag instead. You can even bring reusable produce bags to go inside your shopping bags! Reusing the plastic bags you do have stretches the considerable resources that went into making them.

Our friends at Blue Avocado ease the switch BYO bags, with zippy design & a passion for reducing plastic bag waste.

Check with your town or municipality to see if they recycle plastic bags. If they don’t, ask them to start.

Look online to find a store that accepts plastic bags for recycling near where you live. Double check to see what kind of plastic your bags are; some stores only take back plastic #2 and #4 bags. See if they take produce bags as well as shopping bags.

Keep in mind these guidelines from Waste Management:

Clean plastic bags are accepted in recycling containers at many grocery stores. However:

• Plastic bags are a major cause of litter and waste. It is much better to use a durable shopping bag.

• Plastic bags cause litter, slow sorting and jam machinery at recycling centers. Empty recyclables out of bags and boxes, and put them loose in recycling containers so that they can be easily identified and sorted.

From SimpleHuman: Mount this slim profile storage bin in pantry, under sink, or on wall to keep plastic bags organized & at the ready.

Earth911 makes it super easy to find a plastic-bag recycling drop-off.

At Earth911, choose an item, type your ZIP code...

… and presto! You get info on where to go and how to get there.

Or visit PlasticBagRecycling.org.

We’re not the only ones who see bags in trees everywhere; check out Beth Terry’s blog My Plastic-Free Life, or Windy, the story of the plastic bag caught in a Pennsylvania tree in 2008 (and disappeared during the freak snowstorm of October 2011).

• The New York Times: Taking Aim At All Those Plastic Bags
• YouTube: The Dangers Of Plastic–Interview With Charles Moore
• YouTube: The Plastic Bag–A Mockumentary
• Rodale.com: You Pay $88 A Year For Free Plastic Bags
• Rodale.com: 8 Ways To Reuse Plastic Bags (Until They’re Banned)

We admit to a slight obsession with food: delicious, simple-to-make food that won’t make us fat or sick. Food that’s healthy, and with the simple style that comes from smart recipes and great ingredients. Lucky for everyone: in 2012 we inhabit a Foodie Culture. Most of us have unprecedented access to celebrity chefs, home-cook bloggers, and inspired organic entrepreneurs. Just check out EatingWell or Food52, or the Family Dinner website. Frankly, anyone who says they can’t figure out how to eat right just isn’t giving it a fair chance.

Follow @MarthaRShulman on Twitter

One way to stay mouthwateringly inspired is the daily dose of Recipes for Health from Martha Rose Shulman of The New York Times. Every week Martha picks one ingredient, or one type of food (muffins, anyone?) and goes nuts (heh heh). This week’s theme: “Lunches to Take to Work.”

Although I work at home, my lunch requirements are probably similar to those of many of you who work in an office. I don’t like to eat complex dishes with strong flavors like raw garlic or onion at midday, because I don’t want those flavors lingering when I get back to work. I want a lunch that’s light and simple, enjoyable but not distracting….

I so enjoyed working on these recipes, as they provided me with great lunches all week long. They’ve kept all week in the refrigerator, and they don’t require refrigeration during those few hours between the time to get you work and the time you eat your lunch, though all of them will taste fresher if they have been in the fridge.

Egg Salad & Greens Wrap: If you can hard-boil an egg, you can make a scrumptious wrap to take with you for lunch (TY nytimes.com)

Have fun with Martha’s recipes, post your lunchbox favorites for all to share—and please, don’t neglect to check off this 20-point action!

There are many great reasons to BYO meals to work. First up, the food. Who knows what sort of produce, meat, preservatives, and chemicals are in the corner deli’s turkey club or the coffee shop’s muffin. When you pack your own meals, you control the ingredients. If you’d like lunch to be local, organic, and free of hormones, antibiotics, pesticide residues, and trans fats, brown bagging it is healthiest for you, your farmers, and the earth we all share.

Black Bean Chili: A medium-hot vegetarian chili that freezes well. From "Clean out the Pantry" week on Recipes for Health

A Goodbyn bento box makes your BYO meal more fun, guaranteed!

Speaking of brown bags, packing meals in reusable containers reduces waste. According to CleanAir.org, the U.S. population tosses out enough of them plus plastic cups, forks, and spoons every year to circle the equator 300 times. These one-use items clog our landfills. Many resources go into making takeout containers. Our food is in them for mere moments before we toss them. It’s a system that doesn’t make much common sense.

If you can’t commit to bringing your own food daily, try for a few times a week. Bonus: you’ll save money.

Grocery shop and pack your lunch. If you eat breakfast or even dinner at your desk, try packing them, too. There are many waste-free reusable containers and wraps available in stores and online. Shop around. And don’t forget a cloth napkin and a reusable water bottle.

Ask your office manager to stock the kitchen with real plates, reusable utensils, and glasses.

When eating takeout, BYO reusable containers for the counter staff to use instead of their disposables.

• Bookmark This Site: Takeout Without
• Bookmark This SIte: WasteFreeLunches.org
• Planet Green: Bring Your Own Lunch Box

The Frugalista badge rewards you for taking actions that save money while promoting a healthy green life. Some are beyond easy and others require an up front investment, but all will save you money in the long term.

Today’s action: Switch to cloth napkins at home regularly. Frankly this couldn’t be easier. We’re invetrate cloth napkin users and we’ve peppered this post with great suggestions on how to embrace cloth napkins at your house. You could use a favorite old shirt (clean!) as a napkin. More ideas—including why it’s worth the bother—right here:

Using cloth napkins that you wash and reuse instead of paper napkins that you use once and throw away saves natural resources (trees!) and helps minimize the amount of garbage you contribute to landfills. Science backs up this common sense choice: in a life-cycle assessment (this is a technique for assessing the environmental aspects and potential impacts of a product or process) of cloth versus paper napkins, Treehugger’s Pablo Paster declared cloth the winner with about ½ the total impact.

Set of 6 linen napkins with a different gentle admonishment on each... irresistible! From Etsy.

May we suggest: "No texting at the table"?

The same assessment found linen to be more eco-friendly than cotton, in terms of both energy and water used. Any way you look at it, reusable napkins beat paper hands down. If the cloth napkins happen to be linen, vintage, or organic cotton, so much the better. Bonus: cloth makes for a prettier table.

Would you like to have a handy napkin for picnics & take-out? Try PeopleTowels! Choose from dozens of fab designs on derrière-soft organic cotton.

Prowl eBay if your Grammy didn't give you elegant linen napkins.... these transform your table, easy to launder when you line dry!

Pull out those cloth napkins that sit in a drawer waiting for special occasions and put them to use every day. Don’t have any? Stock up. You may need more napkins than you think if you use them regularly.

PG Tip: Assign everyone in the family their own very special napkin ring.... that way they keep track of their cloth napkin all week long!

To use the least amount of cloth napkins as well as laundry, assign each family member a napkin ring. That way you will know whose is whose. Have everyone hold onto his or her napkin until it truly needs a wash or to the end of the week.

Wash napkins in cold water with other clothes so the load is full.

• Planet Green: Choose Cloth Napkins Over Disposables
• Treehugger: Are Paper Napkins More Environmentally Friendly?
• PracticallyGreen.com: Top Green Action, Just In Time For Earth Day: Switch To Cloth Napkins!

Dubbed the Magic Wand by many beauties, L'Oreal's Clarisonic is upgrading, which might mean swapping yours out... but what to do with the cast-off?

How exciting! You just received a new hairdryer, telephone handset, camera, electric toothbrush, rotating face exfoliator! (…you know who you are) You’re swapping out your energy-hog toaster oven for a new compact microwave! Good for you! Now what are you going to do with the old ones? Throw them into an opaque Hefty bag for the garbage guy to transport to a crammed landfill? Not so fast.

that is, the electronics besides computers and cellphones, which have their own special set of info (and points!)

Did Santa bring you a new scooter? Fab! What's the plan for the old electric scooter you don't need any more?

E-waste, otherwise known as discarded electronics, is one of the largest—and growing—contributors to solid waste today. This should come as no surprise considering how quickly the latest must-have gadgets become obsolete. And then what? People throw them out. Unfortunately electronics contain metals including lead, nickel, cadmium, and mercury that are extremely harmful if they end up in landfills, where they can leach into the ground and water. Some e-waste gets exported and burned—polluting the air and poisoning the workers charged with this unsafe task.

You're obsessed with the awesome new camera you got for your birthday. We know. But what to do with its predecessor?

While computer and cellphone recycling receive the bulk of e-waste attention, many other electronic items can and should be recycled—including microwaves, home theater items, and all kinds of equipment associated with computers and cameras. Basically it’s good common sense to keep anything with a circuit board out of landfills. Bonus: recycling e-waste also recovers some natural resources like copper, gold, and silicon, which can be reused in manufacturing processes.

Try Gazelle.com to trade in all sorts of stuff. They power e-cycling programs for Costco, Office Depot, Sears, Walmart and other stores.

Try repairing and reusing before recycling. Reuse includes donating items you no longer find useful to an organization or someone who might find it very useful. If you prefer not to donate, you can also resell many electronics.

When the time comes to recycle e-waste, check online for the best options near you. Some towns have e-waste collection centers. Others organize occasional e-waste collection drives, as do environmental organizations as well as schools.

At Earth911, type in your item and your location... and...

... choose the solution that works best for you!

Manufacturers and major retailers like Best Buy also accept most forms of e-waste. Call ahead about specific items before you lug them to a store.

Other helpful resources:

EcoSquid

Best Buy’s E-cycle

Pick one action that’s fun to do, like Switch to organic chocolate, and pair it with an action that’s a bit more drudgy, like Recycle batteries properly.

Or, pick an action that’s absolutely free, doesn’t require leaving the house or making a call. For example, Shut off the lights when you leave a room (your office, the restroom, the house). Pair that with a more complicated action: Start composting your food waste. (Although services like Bootstrap Compost sure make urban composting easy.)

We’ve recommended an action a day for the past Four days. Do you notice a complementary rhythm?

1. Use Reusable Shopping Bags Regularly

2. Turn Off the Lights When You Leave a Room

3. Switch to Organic Chocolate

4. Recycle corks

Click & add points to your score!

Today we suggest Recycling glass bottles.

Chances are you have a few empties lying around this après-holiday season. If you already recycle your bottles regularly (as 99% of Practically Greeners do), be sure to check it off on your dashboard and watch your PG score increase by 50 points. If you’re not quite there yet—if you’re still throwing wine bottles and empty jam jars into the landfill trash, or if you’re not sure where to begin—please read on. (Spiffy new recycling bin, anyone?)

Divided 45L Step-On Recycle Bin with Colored Pedals

Kathleen Plate's Gold Chandelier earrings... pick your glass color at SmartGlassJewelry.com

What’s not to love about glass? It’s not petroleum-derived, it doesn’t leach unwanted and potentially harmful chemicals into your food, and, unlike plastic and paper, it can be recycled infinitely. A glass containing your beverage today could be the glass containing your spaghetti sauce tomorrow. While only a quarter of glass containers are recycled each year, nearly 90 percent of what’s collected is remade into new containers, according to the EPA.

Wean Green Food Storage Containers: Glass, not plastic! (Order from GreenDepot or Amazon)

Recycling glass significantly reduces resource demands and avoids both landfill costs and expansion. For every ton of glass that is recycled, over a ton of natural resources are saved. Recycling glass even saves energy—recycling just one bottle saves enough to run your computer for 30 minutes (that’s 400 watt hours)! Recycled glass can be turned back into glass bottles or used for other items, including jewelry, fiberglass insulation, kitchen counters, and even to stem beach erosion.

If you live in a state where glass beverage containers have a redemption value, recycling glass can even be a source of extra cash. Enlist your kids to collect and recycle glass bottles as a way of earning spending money.

"Lopsided in just the right way": recycled glass vases, Vivaterra

Ubiquitous blue recycling bin

If your town has a recycling program, get the blue bin, and start recycling what you can’t reuse.

If your town doesn’t have a recycling program, ask for one. In the meantime, find a store or a center willing to take back anything that involves a bottle deposit on the links listed below.

Earth 911

EPA.gov: Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling And Disposal In The United States

YouTube: Recycle One Glass Bottle At A Time

Bombay Sapphire Gin glass pendants, Etsy

Feel free to share this post with a friend!

Nuts for Blue Avocado... order via Practically Green!

We all use reusable bags daily—purses, computer bags, backpacks. But when it comes to shopping bags, we collectively reach for paper and plastic. According to the Worldwatch Institute, Americans throw away some 100 billion polyethylene plastic bags a year—an unfathomable number.

Polyethylene is produced largely from natural gas. Technically plastic bags are reusable and recyclable, but only a small percentage of them are recycled—Environment California estimates five percent, while the EPA says its closer to twelve percent. Either way, a plastic bag in a landfill takes about 1,000 years to break down, according to multiple sources. And a study by the Ocean Conservancy found plastic bags made up about nine percent of the debris along various U.S. coasts.

Not surprisingly, plastic bag taxes and bans are popping up all over the world as well as stateside; they’re currently banned in San Francisco. Why wait to figure out what rules your town is going to implement? You can reduce your personal use of plastic and paper instantly by switching to a reusable shopping bag today.

L.L. Bean is the King of Canvas bags

The trick to reusable bags is remembering to bring them with you. Set yourself up for success by stashing them in car trunks, purses, and jacket pockets.

Canvas versions are best for heavy hauls. For regular errand runs and groceries, bags made from recycled bottles stand up to most loads.

While there are tons of cute reusable bags on the market, don’t overdo it. Any bag takes energy and resources to make.

No matter what you’re celebrating, you can kiss goodbye the cheezy paper party supplies. SustyParty has amazing hand-stamped and colorful compostable plates and cups, just in time for your year-end bashes.

Every once in a while, reusable plates are truly not an option. Unless you have a lot of like-minded guests who would be happy to BYO table settings (a rare but fantastic group of people!), the next best option is to look for party goods made of recycled plastics or bio-based materials. Choosing either minimizes waste as well as the consumption of fossil fuels, a non-renewable resource.

Compostable hand-stamped star cup made of sugarcane bagasse

Heart cups “These babies are also tough: microwave, freeze or put boiling liquid on 'em”

Jessica Doubilet and Emily Holsey met each other at a party (where else) in New York, and they’ve teamed up on a terrific inventory of cool party products that won’t add stress to groaning landfills.

“We wanted to bring FUN to sustainability.”

Plates are compostable & recyclable. Colored w/ natural dyes. Made of tapioca, potato, and grass.

At the end of the day, we ask ourselves: Will this product be good for the environment, the people who made it, and the people who will use it? We also screen our products for these specific standards.

Organic party crown is machine washable, comes w/ a pack of attachable felt shapes: critters (see fish in photo), flowers and numbers 0-9. Update age year after year!

All products must meet at least three of these attributes: renewable (made from a renewable resource); compostable (it biodegrades in 180 days); recycled (made from mostly recycled content); regulated (3rd party verifications and certifications such as Fair Trade or B Corp or Cradle to Cradle); green energy (produced by green energy); made in the USA; durable; non-toxic; artisanal producer.

Shop by color, theme, category, or material

Picture one of these non-toxic, biodegradable straws in your next peach rum colada!

Watch for an expanded product line in 2012 (hint: wedding) and check out their blog for updates; join SustyParty on Facebookand follow them @sustyparty.

P.S. Don’t forget to recycle the corks!

And click here for a quick reminder of 11 sustainable party tips:

1. Look for new-to-you vintage goods on eBay. This doesn’t have to mean antique. We know of 3 PG team members who bought from eBay this holiday season: a stainless-steel Calphalon pasta cookset; Hanna Andersson kids’ clothes made from organic cotton; and, in a frenzy, a basket full of outstanding designer scarves and neckties in perfect condition. They all cost less and earn health & stuff points on Practically Green. And psst, this Mrs. Claus is a firm believer in picking up a little something for herself… found an amazing pair of Prada boots on eBay — and miraculously they fit!

2. Opt for durable, safe materials for clothes, including organic cotton or other natural fibers. It’s not just Hanna Andersson. Brands like Patagonia, Nau, Levi’s, and Eileen Fisher use organic cotton in some of their clothing. Seek out local designers using organic materials at holiday arts and crafts fairs in your area.

Nau vest has a recycled polyester shell

3. Towels and sheets come in organic materials, too, and they make lovely gifts. Gaiam is a trusted source, and The Company Store, L.L.Bean, and Target all offer versions.

Won't you sleep better on organic cotton? This bedding is from The Comapny Store.

4. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: a DIY seltzer machine is a gift that keeps on giving! Make your own sparkling water is a complete no-brainer once you’ve got a Soda-Stream penguin.

5. Stuff a reusable bottle into your beloveds’ (reusable) stockings! Have someone on your list who would switch, but complains about bulk? Check out Vapur’s foldable, flat, BPA-free water bottle — so easy! you can buy it or lots of other choices right from the PG action page.

6. Got kids? Give toys made from sustainably harvested and renewable wood. Our users have suggested several great options! One of our favorite playthings ever:

Wooden Play Kitchen from HazelNut Kids keeps children busy for days on end

7. Doesn’t your home deserve a gift, almost any day of the year? We fell for this Plumen CFL bulb. Magical! (… even though we do, philosophically, prefer LEDs.)

Plumen bulb transforms Restoration Hardware shade!

8. If your skin feels a bit dry and neglected after all this shopping, treat yourself to a fabulous Weleda product — or two: our favorite is a squidge of rose oil with a dollop of aloe cream, mix together in the palm of your hand and stroke your deserving epidermis.

9. We’ve said it before and we’re saying it again: Experiences make great gifts! Whether it’s a local theatre production, a day at the slopes, a membership to a museum, or a gift certificate for a local farm to table restaurant—these are low impact gifts that often can be ordered right from your laptop.

What a wonderful gift: ski trip to Sugarbush!!

P.S. If your gift recipient would like to get inspiring communiques like this one on a regular basis, please take him or her by the hand to Practically Green! Registered users receive a timely letter from our team every week. And thank you for subscribing to our blog!

Perfect timing: just when we were beginning to obsess about all the egregious waste and outright landfill tossing that happens at this time of the year, along comes Robin Freedman with her tips on Waste Management for the Holidays:

Robin Freedman

“If each of us took a few small steps to reduce the waste we produce or increase the amount of materials we recycle during the holidays, we’d save a large amount of materials, energy and landfill space. There’s tons of ways to cut back on waste at this time of the year, or in any season!”

Robin works for Waste Management, headquartered in Kirkland, Washington. It’s the largest “environmental services provider” in North America, so they know a thing or two about trash. WM looks at waste as a resource, focuses on how to turn around materials in the waste stream, and finds ingenious ways to repurpose waste – into new materials, as energy, and via conversion technologies. Here are her ideas for bringing waste management to your life, with links to Practically Green so you can watch these actions contribute to your score.

1) Composting can reduce the amount of organic waste produced in the home. Holiday meal preparation can generate a large amount of potato peels, fruit rinds, coffee grinds, other vegetable waste and eggshells, that can all be composted. A new compost bin filled with homemade treats can make a great gift for those looking to take recycling to the next level.

2) If you have a fresh tree, garland or wreaths, be sure to recycle them when the holidays are over. Check Earth911’s Christmas tree recycling center for local tree collection and recycling opportunities.

3) If getting your holiday decorations out of storage makes you ask yourself where you’ll find space to put them away in January, maybe it is time to clean out the attic or basement. Before you throw things away, consider whether an item still has a service life and is acceptable for donation to an organization such as the local Value Village or Goodwill Services.

4) Thousands of paper and plastic shopping bags end up in landfills every year. Reduce the number of bags thrown out by bringing reusable cloth bags for holiday gift shopping. Tell store clerks you don’t need a bag for small or oversized purchases.

5) When packaging gifts, consider reduced or no-waste wrapping options. Put a reusable bow on the gift; place the gift in a reusable bag such as a backpack or purse; or package small, themed gifts in a larger item – such as plates or tableware in placemats or a tablecloth or kitchen utensils in an apron or decorative dishtowel. Also, you can use last year’s wrapping as packaging material.

6) Make your own wrapping paper by using old maps, posters or pages from the newspaper or magazines. Recycled-content wrapping paper is also available.  Save bags and bows to use again and be sure to recycle the newspapers or brown paper shopping bags after the gift is opened, or use it for padding when shipping gifts.

7) Consider giving no-waste gifts, such as music or sports lessons, memberships to a gym, the philharmonic or a museum, favors like babysitting or tickets to a sporting event or concert.  Find out the gift recipient’s favorite charity and make a donation in his or her honor, or commit to volunteering with that organization.

With a little imagination and commitment, we can use this holiday season to create new traditions that help preserve the environment. For more information about Waste Management’s comprehensive list of recycling services, visit www.thinkgreenfromhome.com.

Truck picks up the Bagster, literally!

P.S. if you’re still looking for a very special gift for that certain someone, consider a Bagster – WM’s Dumpster in a Bag! It’s a 4’ x 2’ x 8’ collection bag, perfect for the DIY guy or gal on your list. Why’s it green? It takes the place of a metal dumpster, which has to be fetched off your premises one at a time; a truck can haul off 12 Bagsters in a single trip for proper disposal. Find out more at Bagster’s thriving Facebook page.

As in, I really love you enough to stop texting and actually make you something? Even if I’m not a world-class artist?

Solution! Make a homemade card instead of buying a new one

String of lights is sewn across these cards; each light is cut from a magazine. Found on Etsy.com

Who doesn’t love receiving a homemade card? Not only do they really show someone you care, but also making cards by reusing paper and materials you already have around the house reduces the consumption of natural resources. You’ll save money, too.

Cookie cutter cards seen on MarthaStewart.com

While there are eco-friendlier greeting cards on the market, making them involves manufacturing emissions as well as the impact of transporting the cards from factories to stores—even if they’re printed with the best possible ink on 100 percent recycled-content and/or FSC-certified paper. DIY cards made from recycled scraps have a much lower footprint. By some estimates, not sending 50 cards a year (holidays plus birthdays add up!) saves five pounds of waste and 1,000 pounds of emissions.

These Holiday Santa cards at Etsy.com are made of upcycled napkins

Get creative. If you’re not, never fear, there is plenty of inspiration to be had online. The only thing to avoid is buying new materials to make your cards. That defeats the purpose!

Try taking paper you’ve only used on one side and decorating over the printed part. Use that stash of old greeting cards you might already have lying around. The recycling bin is a great source for images, letters, and photographs—from magazines, catalogs, kids’ drawings, and newspapers. Cut and paste these onto your card.

Special scissors create cute mini cards on Etsy.com

Buttons, beads, glitter, and more give any card pizzazz. Or head to the yard for leaves, flowers, and feathers.

If you’re an artist—or live with a young budding one—drawing and painting pictures and designs is always nice, especially with eco-friendly paint.

Here are a few of our Useful Links – for the full list, click to the PG action page!

eHow.com: Homemade Card Ideas

Making-Handmade-Cards.com: Card Making Ideas

Treehugger.com: Does Green Greeting Cards Mean E-Greeting Cards?

Do you have a product or link to recommend? (Wink wink to @EcoKaren of EcoEtsy… ) Please do!

Balsam Hill artificial tree

Are artificial trees greener because they’re used year after year? Or do fake trees use harmful elements in their manufacturing process?

This tree from Balsam Hill looks so real, right? Choose Aspen Estate Fir with faux wooden trunk, Colorado Mountain Spruce, or from a dozen other choices; decide height 6 – 30 feet tall, prestrung with LED twinklers. In cramped space? Consider the flatback model. Even order branch samples if you like! We can appreciate their no-shed, low-maintenance practicality on a TV set — but what’s the admire the True Needle ™ foliage, but what are they actually made of? Plastic? What type? Recycled plastic? (There’s no info on site, and the customer service number was busy when we called….)

Flatback tree saves space

Is it greenest of all to purchase a potted tree that can be planted after the holidays? Practically Green says Yes! Use a live Christmas tree. Treehugger.com’s Ask Pablo columnist tackled this conundrum:

…from a carbon emissions standpoint, a live tree cut from a tree farm (where it is replaced), and then composted was greener than a fake tree. That said, he contended that if you hike out into the woods and cut a tree yearly and do not replace it, then the fake tree is the way to go.

The greenest Christmas tree is actually a third option: a potted living tree you plant outside after the festivities. It will continuously absorb carbon long after it’s holiday decorations are removed. And it requires none of the resources used to manufacture and then ship an artificial tree. It’s also a lot better looking.

A potted tree that can happily grow for decades is ideal, but we realize this is not a practical solution for everyone.

Size: A live tree is heavier than a cut one, because of the root system, and the tree portion is likely to be smaller than you might expect. The folks at Rockefeller Center would have a terrible time finding a large-enough pot for their tree, which is 74 feet tall this year. Transporting immense trees from their native forests to their December habitat is a mindboggling carbon-footprint calculation; imagine adding a massive root ball to the equation?

Xmas tree at Rockefeller Center, a 74-foot-tall Norway spruce decorated with 5 miles of lights (30,000 LED bulbs) & will be turned into lumber for Habitat for Humanity after the holidays.

Our 2010 tree grew 8" taller in one year

Planning ahead. Planting a live tree after the holidays is one good solution, but it requires planning: you have to prepare a hole in your yard (if you live north, dig in advance of frost) or arrange to donate the live tree to a park or school nearby that wants it. Call city hall to find out.

Timing. You can’t bring a live potted evergreen indoors for more than a few days before it begins to suffer from the raised temperatures.

What to do with your cut tree after Christmas has come and gone? Some alternatives:

Mulch. Many towns and cities offer a free mulch program for spent trees, and some even pick up the trees curbside.  At Dunbar Cave State Park in Tennessee, about 1,000 recycled Christmas Trees get mulched for use on hiking trails every year.

Power. Residents of Burlington, Vermont, can drop off their trees to be chipped and burned to generate electricity for area power companies.

Dunes. Other municipalities organize projects to use trees for erosion protection. We’ve heard of these efforts in Louisiana, Alabama, the New Jersey shore. The Rockefeller tree is destined to be used as lumber for Habitat for Humanity.

Some 20,000 trees help create a stretch of dunes, 4-9 feet high, along the mile-long oceanfront in Bradley Beach, NJ

Habitat. The Heron Rookery at Baker’s Lake reuses Christmas Trees as nesting materials.

Illinois: Telephone poles, Christmas trees & 1,300 birds. Photo, Robert Sliwinski

Here’s a state-by-state directory of tree-recycling alternatives.

****   Season’s Greetings to one and all!   ****

Full page, 4-color gift wrap: delightful!

Here’s how it looked once I cut it out of the newspaper:

And after wrapping a present!

A decent ribbon helps...

This got me thinking about all the other ways to Wrap a gift using used wrapping paper, boxes, bows, ribbons.

• Snip up a discarded piece of clothing (clean, of course). I’ve found this is an extra-special surprise when the recipient used to wear the item him or herself! The example below was saved from last year – complete with one end still taped in place.
• Leaf through magazines and catalogues destined for the recycle bin or (gasp) the landfill. Our top publishers and ad agencies spend a fortune to make these glossy photos look great; why on earth not use them to wrap presents? (In photo, the two packages next to the small blue box w/ green tie.)
• If you’ve remodeled lately, or if you have an architect nearby, you’ve got access to fascinating white-and-black wrapping paper. Use a bright ribbon to tart it up. (Example below has fresh springs in the bow knot.)
• Maps and nautical charts.
• Paper shopping bags with cool designs.
• Tissue paper from your (we hope eco-friendly) dry-cleaner.

Front, L to R: hubby's shirt, nytimes.com magazine, WSJ; Rear, L to R: recycled building plans, blue box from UncommonGoods, Vanity Fair mag

How’s that for a start? (Don’t tell me you’re already done with your kris kringling!) And what are your eco-gift wrapping tips?

If you send out holiday cards, or if you think you really should—and if you haven’t gotten around to it yet, consider this:

Greeting cards aren’t large, but their impact is. A quote from the book Green Christmas puts this fact into perspective, “According to Hallmark, the 1.9 billion Christmas cards sold each year in the United States could fill a football field ten stories high and consume 300,000 trees.”

E-cards to the rescue! Sending an electronic card for any holiday reduces the number of trees cut down, avoids the unsafe chemicals involved in processing and printing on paper, eliminates the transportation of getting cards from printing plants to stores, and keeps unrecycled cards out of landfills. By some estimates, not sending 50 cards a year (holidays plus birthdays add up!) saves five pounds of waste and 1,000 pounds of emissions.

That factoid is from this Practically Green action:

Send e-cards for holiday

It’s worth a total of 15 points for impact in the Energy and Water categories … one of the 542 actionable and manageable positive next steps you can take in your life starting right now today. Only 1% of Practically Green’s community has already checked it off… be part of boosting that percentage during the next few weeks!

Smilebox lets you add music and video to e-cards

Check out a bunch of other great other ideas for greening your holiday:

A peek at the Holiday Eco Actions on Practically Green

Rebecca Sama, Practically Green's Products Specialist

Our products team just added three new e-card recommendations, submitted by you the Practically Green community and vetted by to be sure they meet our Product Guidelines.

Two of the World Wildlife Fund's free animated e-cards

Have a look!

Choose from the pingg vault.. or upload your own designs!

From the cocodot collection

You can't go wrong with PaperlessPost, and we love the animated envelope opener....

Now two of our favorite and longtime deeply green friends have also blogged about Patagonia’s stunner message, and we wanted to capture them for you.

Wendy Gordon

First, from Wendy Gordon’s piece in The Huffington Post: “How I Spent my Black Friday Selling, not Buying, Patagonia Fleeces on eBay”:

….my plan this year for Black Friday was to sit out the retail game altogether. That was before I saw the ad… ”Don’t Buy This Jacket.” … It went on to encourage readers not to buy what they didn’t need and to sell their used Patagonia products on eBay…. So while I had promised myself I wouldn’t buy anything other than a quart of milk (we’d run out) on Black Friday, I made the transition effortlessly into über-cyber-saleswoman, posting every one of the fleeces my 20-something sons had outgrown on the retail site, along with all those shirts they’d really never liked in the first place.

Oh, it felt good. So good, in fact, that I ended up cleaning out three whole closets. What I couldn’t sell through the Patagonia initiative, I bundled up for the nearby thrift shop.

**************

Jeffrey Hollender

And, from Jeffrey Hollender’s blog, “Don’t Buy This: The Truth About Sustainability”:

Having not broken my obsession with the print version of The New York Times, I was thrilled to greet Black Friday by opening to a full-page ad from Patagonia that urged readers “Don’t Buy This Jacket.”

To the best of my knowledge, Patagonia has never purchased a full-page ad in the Times, and for this, the first time that they did, they are urging consumers to buy less stuff. This exhibits both true leadership and untarnished truth about what it means to be sustainable.

The copy reads: Don’t buy what you don’t need. Think twice before you buy anything.

Click here for Jeff’s complete post.

PGer Nick Rockwell (that IS a Patagonia vest?)

Thanks again to Chelsea stringer and Patagonia enthusiast Nick Rockwell, who told us about the ad before anyone else had mentioned it, and who caught a Cyber-Monday sequel in his email:

When we heard that one of the largest corporations in the world named all of its employees Head of Sustainability, we had to find out more. We spoke with Emma Peacock of Unilever Australasia, and she explained what’s going on down under:

Emma Peacock, Corporate Affairs, Australia & New Zealand, Unilever

Unilever’s Sustainable Living Plan is an ambitious set of targets, ongoing globally. Here in Australia and New Zealand, we wanted to define our story and our contribution to the Unilever plan. The plan is a clear vision, and we wanted to put ourselves out there. We needed to unveil the Australia/New Zealand roadmap, and we wanted to do it in a way that would be noticed, and get people on board. It’s such an important part of our business, it’s truly part of everybody’s job! We frankly can’t do it unless everyone is involved. People in finance, people on the factory floor, in nutrition, in product development, all across the company. Everyone plays a role. So we decided that everybody is Head of Sustainability! We printed up 5 business cards for each of the 1800 employees – some of them had never had a business card before! It’s not a whole stack, it’s just 5, to show symbolically that You have a new exciting role.

1,800 employees are the Head of Sustainability, complete with business cards!

We gave everyone a new job manual, a fun piece, saying Here’s why YOU have been selected as Head of Sustainability. It’s really the only way we can achieve the growth we envision over the next ten, twenty, thirty years.

Head of Sustainability job manual delivered to every work station

We made posters featuring 6 different employees and put them up overnight. Each one describes the role of that employee in making a sustainable idea or change happen and why they are therefore the ‘Head of Sustainability.’ This goes with our “small actions, big difference” theme. People do simple things at home, at work here, and as part of a team — it might not feel like a big deal, but they all add up and can have massive impact…. We developed this campaign with the help of an agency Republic of Everyone. Clever people.

Mareana, Production Operator & Head of Sustainability

We’re guessing that other teams at Unilever will come up with fabulous ideas as well, and we look forward to hearing all about them — and being inspired by them! In fact, we’ve already noticed a handy Unilever sing-along shower app on Unilever’s Facebook page, which supports Practically Green’s shorter-shower actions. The app lets you choose length of shower to be timed (2 to 7 minutes) and choose from music that Wakes me up or Chills me out.

We call them UniCLEVER. Be part of it on Twitter with hashtag #SustLiving.

Shorter Shower Ballad app

GREEN TAILGATE, by guest blogger Jocelyn Anne

Our guest blogger enjoys her tailgate in Southern California

We’re particularly excited about the opportunities for going even greener than years prior! It may mean digging a little deeper, stretching our brains, and perhaps investing a little more time than normal, but it also means bigger pay off than ever before, and I think, even more delicious samplings and drinks to be had!  So here’s to the greenest tailgates yet. Whatever team colors you’re rooting for, we’re all rooting for green around here.

First Things First: The BBQ

What tailgate, really, is complete without a barbecue?  So, let’s get the real answer when it comes to what’s green and what’s just not. If you have the budget for it, a hydrogen grill is about the very best because it produces zero emissions. Solar is probably a close second, but let’s face it, sun is a pre-requisite and it’s pretty time consuming (neither points good for tailgates). My fave is the corn grill: 100% efficient and burns a 100% renewable resource. Plus, no gases, creosotes, hydrocarbons or chemicals. And, bonus: it’ll never explode!  But, okay: benefit of the doubt, college student without the budget for a new-fangled green grill. What you do need to know is that propane beats out charcoal. In fact, charcoal has a footprint about three times greater than propane. I’m also a very big fan of the FlameDisk by uGO. You get 40 minutes of burning per recyclable disk, and it produces 90% fewer pollutants than a charcoal grill. And, if you already have a charcoal burning grill, you can easily make it a greener bbq by replacing the charcoal with eco-friendlier briquettes.

Even Before First things First?  The Beer

Let me preface, I’m not a beer drinker. But, I hear from the “crowd” that any real tail-gater gets started on the beer first. If you’re going to go green here, your very best option is to brew your own. I’ll let you research that on your own if you feel so inclined. Following brewing your own, the next best thing is to drink organic and locally brewed beer. We just so happen to live in a time when we can not only find beer made in an eco-friendly process, with locally grown organic and chemical/pesticide free hops and barley; but also, the buildings themselves are becoming more eco-friendly. Plus, for you beer drinkers, the good news is that the bigger the container, the better; in this case, we are keg approvers! Kegs eliminate glass bottles that don’t always get recycled and they can be re-used over and over.  Even better, they require less energy to keep cool and can often be found locally distributed. If you need a list of green-approved bottled beers, try these:  New Belgium Brewery, Sierra Nevada Brewing, Full Sail Brewing, Alaskan Brewing, and Great Lakes Brewing. (And don’t forget to submit your favorites on Practically Green!)    

Truly Most Important: The Food

This is basically why I go to tailgates. To go greener, consider ditching the burgers and dogs, at least traditionally speaking, and try some Boca burgers or Tofu dogs. Personally, I think the soy versions taste better, not to mention they should be better for you nutritionally speaking. Mix things up and do veggie shish ka bobs. Make some killer guacamole. Veggie tacos, anyone?  Or, a personal favorite: vegetarian chili. Some chips and super hearty chili, and I’m set. My favorite idea of all? Shop at the local farmer’s market before the game! Nothing like some warm, freshly baked pitas to go with that local hummus!

YUM!! Rosemary-Thyme pita chips from Food52.com (photo: Sarah Shatz)

The Bottom Line

Going green at a tailgate is really actually just as easy and simple as you want it to be.  Remember to go local and organic as much as possible.  Forget the disposables and bring your own dishes.  Recycle when you’re done and clean it up like you were never there.  If you can do that, Team Green will win every time!

Note on the author:

Jocelyn is a native Montana ranch girl who recently made the move to California, where she’s found it especially important to incorporate her green roots into her new city life.  She now works as a writer for Air & Water, an appliance e-retailer, where her research has greatly awakened her to just how much energy a single house drains in a day and how imperative it is to cut back and start conserving.  She’s vowed to skip central heating this year and opt for small, eco-friendly infra red heaters when she needs extra warmth this winter. But, if she does have to use central, you can bet she’ll be turning it down two degrees lower than standard room temperature. And if she isn’t convincing friends to unplug appliances and use low-flow faucets, she’s probably dragging them out to the farmer’s market to teach them about real food!

The environmental cost of everything we make is astonishing. Consider the R2 Jacket shown, one of our best sellers. To make it required 135 liters of water, enough to meet the daily needs (three glasses a day) of 45 people. Its journey from its origin as 60% recycled polyester to our Reno warehouse generated nearly 20 pounds of carbon dioxide, 24 times the weight of the finished product. This jacket left behind, on its way to Reno, two-thirds its weight in waste.

It’s a classy reminder: Sometimes, the best Stuff is the stuff you already have. Which is why we have dozens of Stuff-related actions at Practically Green, including:

Give experiential holiday gifts (worth 10 points at Practically Green)

Attend a swap event or use a swap site (5 points)

Organize or join a neighborhood tool or equipment-sharing cooperative (10 points)

See all of them right here – and please suggest yours: http://practicallygreen.com/actions/stuff

Patagonia R2 Jacket

If you’d still like to get a Patagonia jacket, you might check the listings on eBay. We saw 205 pages of apparel there when we last checked 5 minutes ago.

Buy something used on eBay or Craigslist (5 points)

From last week’s inbox:

Q: Quick question, what is an appropriate green sustainable corporate holiday gift? It is complicated. We don’t want to purchase sustainable goodies that have to make their way here from Australia. Additionally, we want to be sensitive to the state of the economy and our friends who have lost their jobs. Thank you, Robin Freedman, Waste Management, Inc.

Thanks for asking, Robin! Here are a few ideas to start the conversation.

• Restaurant meal: Especially in economically volatile times, who wouldn’t appreciate a nice meal out? Arrange a gift certificate to a local, sustainable restaurant! Metro New Yorkers will love a certificate to dell’Anima; got a favorite client in LA? Our sources say TrueFood in Santa Monica is the best. Mmm, in Kirkland, Washington, where Robin works, Café Juanita looks like a very good choice.

Eat at a dine green certified restaurant

Eat at a local, sustainable restaurant when traveling

• Wine. Find a local wine shop who knows their organic, biodynamic, and natural wines. Ask if they ship or offer local delivery. Our personal vintner, the Wine Bottega in Boston’s North End, has a Farm to Glass case-of-the-month program that’s sure to thrill your recipients! You can request a mixed case to be delivered within metro-Boston or sent via FedEx. Owner Kerri Platt, a Yale-educated biologist, writes an informative brief to accompany each hand-picked selection, which can be delivered via Metro Pedal Power or shipped FedEx. If you can’t locate an inspired sommelier near you, contact the Wine Bottega team: staff@thewinebottega.com.

Drink eco-friendly wine

• Sparkling water maker. Speaking of beverages, we don’t know anyone who wouldn’t love to see a Sodastream Penguin in the office kitchen to make fizzy water from tap:

Make your own sparkling water

• Leafy Office Plant. What’s greener than this?! A local nurseryman can fill your order, or consider a super-legit source like White Flower Farm. There’s no more gorgeous (and foolproof) selection than an Amaryllis from White Flower Farm. One it’s bloomed, these can be set outside (once it’s frost-free) and practically neglected; they’ll set up a new blooming display next year. If the Amaryllis doesn’t grab you, review this gift section. Perennial = Sustainable!

• Old school: We called Tiffany & Co. to see if they have anything greenish to offer business accounts, and here’s what they said:

Tiffany IS vintage, Tiffany is durable, nobody throws out a Tiffany gift, nobody even throws out a Tiffany BOX!

We had to admit we agree… we even save empty Tiffany boxes. So, consider this planet paperweight. It might cost less than you’d imagine. And rest assured it won’t go into a landfill.

• Cards and Invitations: Paperless Post is our favorite online resource. Check out their designs – and don’t forget the envelope linings!

P.S. Our friends at The Family Dinner gave this plug on our Facebook wall – and we have to say, the book is amazing and should be in everyone’s kitchen… perfect for anyone on your list who has ever complained about having a decent dinner conversation with their teenagers.

P.S. As you make your selections, please consider these PG gift-giving actions:

Give experiential holiday gifts

Give an eco-friendly gift

Wrap a gift using used wrapping paper, boxes, bows, ribbons

And finally, don’t miss Lisa Borden’s tips for gift giving:

Buy or use vintage or second-hand stuff for the Holidays

Holiday Nutcracker Mouse

For inspiration, here’s a vintage mouse costume that’s 20 yrs old, perfect for Nutcracker duty. Thank you, Farrah Graham of Regina, Canada, who sent us this pic with the following story:

For Hallowe’en our daughter wore a mouse costume that has been handed down in our family for the past 20 years!  (And she looked just as adorable as all the mice before her!)

What are your ideas for greening the holidays? Have you used EcoFreek.com or EcoSharing.net — they’re both recommended on Practically Green and await your rating!