These Biodegradable Sky Lanterns, called the Sky Orbs, are a great example of such a product. Unlike typical Chinese lanterns, these are made from biodegradable parts so that the environmental impact will be little to nothing. And since no metal is used in the construction, the lanterns pose little risk to wildlife.

The body of the Sky Orbs are made of rice paper and flame resistant wool. The light is supplied by a pre-attached fuel cell that is easy to light and non-drip. The lanterns burn for 12 minutes, and can travel up to 2 miles in that time.  The lanterns are available in 3 colors and 3 unique shapes (cylinder, diamond, or oval).

Nigel’s Eco Store

The Sugarcane Disposable Bowls are like any standard disposable bowl: they will not absorb oil, nor will they leak. The Bowls can be disposed of in compostable waste, and once they are exposed to heat, water, and bacteria, the bowls will fully decompose within a few months. Most other disposable bowls cannot break down properly once tossed into landfills because of their own plastic coating.

The bowls are constructed from sugarcane fiber, a natural and sustainable product which is a natural by-product of the sugar industry. By making use of the fiber, it saves the material from being discarded or burnt.

The Sugarcane Disposable Bowls are a great product to have ready for any use, and can be stored away in cupboards until needed. By being both fully compostable and made from a sustainable by-product, you can rest assured that you won’t be adding waste to the landfills the next time you host an event.

DrinkStuff

Compostable products provide the convenience without the irrational material waste. In other words, these disposable products are sustainable.

Potatopak puts it: “Unlike the manufacturing process that is used to create plastics and polystyrene, our patented manufacturing process emits no noxious fumes to the atmosphere or toxic liquid waste. Plastics and Polystyrene unfortunately have bi-sphenols and styrene which are carciogenic and are not good for mankind.  And, while plastics come from oil — a limited natural resource — we use a renewable resource – potatoes – in our manufacturing process.”

All the waste that Potatopak produces in the manufacturing process is fed to livestock, fish, or worms. They even have a video clip of pigs eating material scrapes on their site. In the coming decades, I hope to see sustainable products like this gain a stronger foothold in our consumer society. You cannot get much eco-friendlier than this!

If you live in the Los Angeles area then you may have heard of WorldFest. WorldFest is a solar-powered celebration of music, the environment,
animals and humanity. At WorldFest people can learn what they can do for
the Earth and its inhabitants. The WorldFest website has full details about the event but the basic premise according to the website:

The WorldFest 2010 Earth Day Festival will be held at the beautiful
outdoor setting of Woodley Park in Lake Balboa, CA. We welcome our
attendees to a magnificent day filled with entertainment, education and
enlightenment. The combination of great music, empowering speakers,
environmental, humanitarian and animal welfare non-profits, kids’
activities and a delicious food court make for an earth-friendly
experience that is sure to be inspiring and enjoyable for all.

There are lots of events happening throughout the day including:

• Main Stage – bigger-name bands and celebrity speakers.
• Earth Lounge – singer/songwriters, jazz, rock, funk, and world music
  groups and poets.
• EcoTent – speakers, discussions, and displays about sustainable
  living and current environmental issues
• Healthy Hut – speakers, discussions, and displays about health
  including yoga, meditation & cooking demos.
• Exhibitors – more than 100 companies and organizations showcasing
  their products or eco- and animal-friendly messages.
• Kids’ World – storytelling, face painting, and children’s
  entertainers and other activities!
• BarkFest – a new dog park inside WorldFest (more info coming soon)
• Oasis Beer and Wine Garden – Refresh yourself in the Oasis located
  near the Main Stage!
• Animal Adoptions – dogs, cats, rabbits and lots of animals looking
  for good homes!

At past events all the cuisine is vegan/vegetarian, and lots of exhibitors are organic, vegan, vegetarian, and sustainable. Most of the larger companies offer literature or sometimes samples about their products, and if you love animals it’s the perfect place to socialize! Also many eco-friendly vegan or vegetarian celebrities come to the event so you never know who you may see!

If you are in the Los Angeles area on May 16th the come down to Woodley Park in Lake Balboa. Price for admission is: Adults $7, Seniors $5, Children 12 and under are free and pets are welcome!

Sunday is Mothers Day, a day devoted to celebrating our Mothers and spoiling them rotten. But Mothers Day can be a pretty wasteful day if we aren’t careful and don’t think about the environment. So lets look at some ways we can green up Mothers Day this year for an eco-friendly experience.

Flowers
The standard gift for Mothers Day is flowers, all mothers love flowers! But with the cut flowers come pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals, plus the earth un-friendly cellophane wrapping. Look for organic flowers with little to no wrapping, or buy a used vase for the flowers and no wrapping is needed! Instead of cut flowers why not buy a tree or other living plant. If you’re Mom doesn’t have room for plants why not donate a tree in her name? So many eco-friendly options to the traditional cut flower bouquet.

Chocolates
If you purchase chocolates look for Earth Friendly organic, and fair trade. Many companies are offering organic and fair trade in lots of delicious varieties. Look for as little wrapping as possible, and recycle it when opened. Or alternatively buy local handmade gastronomic delights. Check your local farmers market or health stores for locally made products.

Local & Handmade
Check out your local resources for local and/or handmade gift items. By buying local you are supporting your local businesses as well as cutting down on transportation costs. Many cities hold craft fairs, or have a small local business section in the city newspaper. Check thrift stores and flea markets for rare finds too!

Experiences rather than things
What do you get the woman that has everything? Yep same old story every year. Well instead of THINGS opt instead to give experiences. How about a tandem skydiving trip? Dinner out at her favorite restaurant? Or simply a “babysitting voucher” from Dad. For busy Moms trips to day spa’s or the local massage parlor are popular too!

Family time
For some Moms the simple things are the best. Just a dinner together prepared by her family and having the family do dishes while she puts her feet up and relaxes for the evening. Sometimes there is no need to go overboard with things, but instead get back to basics.

Goodwill Industries is North Americas leading nonprofit provider of education,
training, and career services for people with disadvantages, such as
welfare dependency, homelessness, and lack of education or work
experience, as well as those with physical, mental and emotional
disabilities. From May 3-9, Goodwill
Industries International marks Goodwill Industries Week, a time for
local Goodwill’s to celebrate their successes and educate their
communities about their mission—helping people with disabilities and
disadvantages find good work. How can you help?

Donate
Goodwill relies on your donations to help people find good jobs.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. For full details on donating items to Goodwill please visit their donations page.

Shop
Goodwill stores feature gently used and new items that are bargains
for smart shoppers. The more than 2,400 Goodwill stores in the United States and Canada
are independently owned and operated. They offer the basics — jeans,
business attire, infant and children’s clothing, housewares and
appliances, furniture and more — at a great value. Most Goodwill stores introduce more than 2,000 new items every day
into their inventory mix on the sales floor. So if you don’t find what
you’re looking for today, your best bet is to check back the next day. Some Goodwill stores also operate upscale boutiques and specialty
stores that feature name-brand designer fashions, jewelry, wedding
gowns, antiques and other amazing finds.


Volunteer
For more than a century, volunteers have advanced Goodwill’s ability to improve lives, families and communities. We recognize that in order to fulfill our mission, we need the help and support of those in local communities.

Each of our 166 local Goodwill’s is led by a board of volunteer leaders who help shape their organization’s work to meet the needs of their community. Your time and talents are always needed! Locate a volunteer opportunity at the Goodwill Website or contact the Goodwill in your community.

Eco-Friendly
Supporting your local Goodwill Industries is Eco-Friendly as they provide a resource point for reusing your used clothing and other items that may otherwise end up in the landfill. As such they also provide a source of sustainable used clothing for those that wish to purchase lightly used items as part of their wardrobe. Goodwill also sells a variety of kitchen items, general household items, music formats, furniture and other items so you never know what you may find!

Check your local resources for a Goodwill Industries store in local area, or check out the Goodwill Industries website store locator!

Choose Green
There are now many many Scrapbook paper manufacturers that are offering scrapbook papers that are printed on recycled paper pulp, and with eco-friendly soy inks rather than standard petroluem-based inks. More and more manufacturers are switching to the recycled paper as the demand rises. Companies like Paper Trunk, Piggy Tales, DCWV and K & Company all offer eco-friendly lines of scrapbook products.

Go Digital
Instead of continuing the demand for paper and adhesive why not get with the latest technology and go digital? Using some digital editing software you can create digital scrapbooks that rival the best paper pages. Not only does this cut down on waste but it takes up less space in your home as almost all homes have computers so no extra equipment is needed, just software. It’s a great format to reproduce if you need to produce multiple albums or pages. Once the layouts are done you can decide whether or not to get your pages printed or print at home, or simply burn to a CD to send to family and friends. This format is also great for sharing digital via email, facebook and other social media.

Reuse & Recycle
Many of the latest items that are available in scrapbook stores can be found outside of the Scrapbooking store. Buttons and other sewing supplies for example can be found in thrift stores, along with ribbons, lace and other modern embellishments. Reuse your fabric, buttons, closures, zips etc from outgrown clothing in your scrapbook pages and albums. Thrift stores are also a good place to look for old books for heritage pages, or even scrapbook albums. Many bargains can be found in thrift stores.

Waste not
One great way to avoid waste when scrapbooking is to carry on creating. Cardmaking is a great accent hobby to scrapbooking as it can use up all those small scraps of paper, snippets of ribbon and knick knacks. If you are a scrapbooker and don’t already create your own handmade cards really it’s like throwing money away! Even if you don’t use the cards yourself you can donate them to charity or your local church for fetes.

Share and share alike
If you have friends that scrapbook get together and to trade supplies and share tools. No sense buying more than you need to and having items cluttering the house (and later the landfill). Sharing tools and supplies is not only eco-friendly but it builds good community and relationships. If you don’t have scrapbooking buddies, check out your local craigslist for events, or church or scrapbooking store for crops. Many stores will allow you to use their tools for free if you pay for crop time or paper/supplies.

Scrapbooking need not be a wasteful hobby, go green and share any other eco-friendly scrapbooking tips you have!

Eco-friendly Promotional pens are now available!
A company called “Eco-Pens” is now offering eco-friendly pens and other eco-friendly promotional items for marketing your company the green way. They don’t just stop at pens though, their products include items such as: eco-friendly pens, recycled paper journals, biodegradable products
like water bottles and flyers. There are lanyards made from recycled
material, soda pop bottles, organic cotton and bamboo. Biodegradable
plastic cups and plates for the outdoor events. Calendars made from
recycled paper. Caps and T-shirts made from recycled material and
organic cotton. There are numerous home and office products now made
from recycled plastic. Golf balls, mouse pads, portfolios, messenger
bags all made from recycled material. The Eco-friendly Pens website states that they have:

Pens made
from recycled plastic, recycled paper, corn & vegetable derivative
bioplastic, wood and more. Eco pens are priced competitively with traditional pens. We are
featuring over 50 earth friendly pens- one of them is right for your
next trade show, job fair or event. Budget pleasing prices from under
$0.50 each to over $8.00 a pen means there is no reason not to “go
green”. Every
eco-pen includes a 1 color imprint. Many can be printed with addition
colors or in 2 locations. New- recycled plastic mechanical pencils! We are also proud to introduce a new line of recycled paper sticky
notes, recycled notebooks and recycled paper scratch pads. The notebooks
are made with 100% post consumer recycled content and come in a variety
of shapes and styles.

Businesses now have options when it comes to promotional materials, you have a green choice. Put your logo on an eco-pen and show
the world you care!

Arbor Day is on the last Friday of April, which means this year that’s April 30th. What better time to think about our personal greenscaping than arbor day? It’s been over 135 since J.Sterling Morton founded Arbor Day. An idea originally conceived as just simply setting aside a day for tree planting has now also turned into an eco-friendly movement, with tree planting days throughout the United States.

Community Celebrations

• Raise the flag, strike up the band, make Arbor
  Day fun. Make it memorable.
• Organize a beautification project in a public area.
• Get people into action. Ask a civic or service
  group to promote a paper drive to gather paper to be recycled and save a
  tree. Use the proceeds to buy a special tree to plant in a park or
  other special public place.
• Hold a poster contest, or a poetry contest.
• Sponsor a children’s pageant or play.
• Fill the air with music. Have an Arbor Day
  concert of songs about trees, or with tree names in their titles.
• Sponsor a tree trivia contest. Give away trees
  to winners.
• Conduct a tree search. Ask people to find
  large, unusual or historic trees in your community. Once the results are
  in, publish a map that highlights the winners, or hold a walk
  showcasing them.
• Tell people to take a hike — a tree
  identification hike — and have girl scouts or boy scouts act as guides.
• Dedicate a forest, or a tree, or a flower bed
  in a park, and make it an occasion to talk about stewardship. Get a
  local nursery or garden center to hold an open house or field day.
  Organize an Arbor Day Fair.
• Encourage neighborhood organizations to hold
  block parties and get their members to adopt and care for street trees
  in front of their homes. Pass out buttons. Give away trees.

Personal Celebrations

• Celebrate Arbor Day in a personal way by
  planting a tree yourself. It is an act of optimism and kindness, a labor
  of love and a commitment to stewardship.
• Read a book about trees. Learn to identify trees in your yard and neighborhood.
• Enjoy the outdoors. Visit a local park or take
  a nature hike.
• Attend a class on tree and plant care.
• Volunteer with a local tree-planting
  organization. You’ll meet new people and make a difference
  in your community.

The ArborDay website has so much information and resources regarding this event so check out www.arborday.org for history, events in your area, education materials and more!

Source: www.arborday.org

If you’ve ever been to buy alcohol you’ll know it’s a veritable mine field, and if you’re eco-conscious it becomes even more-so! Recently we were given a bottle of Fetzer Chardonnay by friends which to my surprise had the tag “the earth friendly wine”! Naturally being eco-friendly I popped online to find more details and was happy with what I learned. Fetzer is a winery dedicated to promoting sustainability where it can from energy conservation and packaging reduction to printing on recycled paper. They won the 2009 Waste Reductions Award Program from California Integrated Waste Management Board and many more environmental accolades can be found on their website. Fetzer says their goal is not only for our customers to be able to taste the difference
but to also feel good about what they’re serving.

Protecting Natural Resources

• Since 1999, Fetzer has reduced water usage by 24% or 8 million gallons
  annually
• In cost-sharing collaborations with government agencies, Fetzer undertook conservation and restoration efforts of Dooley and McNab Creeks, two
  watersheds vital to the health of our winegrowing region.
• Fetzer utilizes a range of cover crops and promotes biodiversity in the
  vineyards and landscape.
• Fetzer wine bottles use lightweight glass, which reduces their carbon
  footprint by 14%. Annually, the new bottles reduces glass usage by 16%
  (more than 2,100 tons)

Saving energy

• By using biodiesel feul in many of their trucks and tractors Fetzer have reduced carbon dioxide emissions by about four metric tons a year.
• Atop Fetzer’s bottling facility is one of the wine industry’s largest
  solar array, which is capable of generating 1.1MM kilowatt hours of
  clean energy

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>Still room for progress
According to their website their wines aren’t able to qualify for organic status, as although the grapes harvested on Fetzer property are grown without pesticides,
herbicides or synthetic fertilizers, in accordance with The USDA
National Organic Program, the do purchase extra grapes to meet demand from other suppliers who may not be organic. The white wines from Fetzer are  free of any animal products and are vegan friendly. However the red wines use organic egg whites in the fining process making them suitable for lacto-ovo vegetarians but not vegans.

Check out Fetzer wines available in your local supermarket, our family really enjoyed the Fetzer Chardonnay, nice and smooth wine!