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Category Archives: Activism

Around The Greenosphere: Weekly Link Roundup

Written on January 23, 2009 by SusanC

Here are some of our favorite posts from around the greenosphere that had us thinking this week, to help start your weekend a bit greener.

Monday Dot Green featured an audiovisual slide show centered on “A Planet in Flux.”

Andrew C. Revkin began exploring the human impact on the environment nearly 30 years ago. An early stop was Papeete, Tahiti. This narrated slide show describes his extensive travels.

Tuesday was a historic and momentous occasion, no matter who you voted for in November. Want to know what’s on the green docket during President Obama’s administration? Tree Hugger has a post highlighting the official White House policy on energy and the environment.

in Activism, Around the Greenosphere, Eco-Friends, Green Giveaways, Green Science, Green Thoughts

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Say “Goodbye” to Handmade Toys, Or…Don’t!

Written on January 15, 2009 by SusanC

1 Comment

Don’t you just love purchasing handmade goods, that on the by-and-large are naturally green and eco-friendly by the fact that they are created with love in peoples’ own homes and workshops? Especially those cute toys and custom accessories and apparel that can be found on such fun sites as Etsy.com and Hyenacart.com?

Well, as of February 10, 2009–less than a month away–nearly all such shops manufacturing hand-made toys will be forced by law to close their doors due to unreasonable third-party product testing mandates Congress passed this past August.

It is called the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act, and at its heart it has good intentions: to monitor mass-produced children’s products to ensure they do not contain lead or phthalates.

in Activism, Blog, For The Home, For The Kids, Green Business, Green Parenting, Green Thoughts, The Green Consumer

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Reflecting On The Best Of 2008

Written on December 22, 2008 by Guest Contributor

2 Comments

As the end of the year draws near, we all get inundated with the “Best of 2008” programs, lists and commentaries.

Well, as I am a junkie for montages that reflect on what happened over the past year, and how it impacted one’s daily life, I thought I would share my own!

The Best Eco Friendly Changes I Made In 2008:

1. Used Miracle Mulch (eco-friendly coconut)
2. Added weather stripping to conserve energy.
3. Used motion sensors for outdoor lights to save energy. Turned off the porch light whenever we could.
4. Installed ceiling fans throughout the house. Never turned on the AC in 2008!

in Activism, Conservation, For The Home, Frugal Living, Got Energy?, Green Holidays, Green Outreach, Green Parenting, Green Thoughts, Reduce Reuse Recycle, The Green Consumer

- 2 Comments

Green Glue

Written on December 16, 2008 by Guest Contributor

1 Comment

Despite being sick for three days now, I have been expending all my energy to prepare for my big event this week.

You could say I am hosting an eco-friendly cocktail party and tour of my home to educate friends and family about going green, but my mission focuses just as much on community as it does on conservation.

Once I started seeking out everything eco-friendly in the city, I couldn’t help but talk, talk, talk; you know how it is when you are excited about a new adventure. My energy overshadowed my fear that the green community was so tight that I would be an outsider looking for help.

in Activism, All About Us, Conservation, Eco-Friends, Green Outreach, Green Thoughts

- 1 Comment

Don’t Let Handmade Toys Become Extinct

Written on December 15, 2008 by SusanC

5 Comments

There has been buzz all around the handmade corners of the internet about the recently approved Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), passed in August of this year in large part because the United States Congress rightly recognized that the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) lacked the authority and staffing to prevent dangerous toys from being imported into the US.

Among other things, the CPSIA bans lead and phthalates in toys, mandates third-party testing and certification for all toys, and requires toy makers to permanently label each toy with a date and batch number.

All of these changes are great for children and will be fairly easy for large, multinational toy manufacturers to comply with.

in Activism, Eco-Friends, For The Home, Green Parenting, The Green Consumer

- 5 Comments

Around The Greenosphere: Weekly Link Roundup

Written on December 5, 2008 by SusanC

1 Comment

First things first! Don’t forget that you still have until 7pm EST on Sunday (December 7th) to enter the Home Depot Programmable Thermostat Giveway if you haven’t already. Don’t miss out!

It’s definitely the Giveway Season and Michelle has a handy-dandy way for you to stay a leg up on all the giveaway goodness with her Giveway Message Board, where there are myriad green products being offered for the winning.

One of the giveaways showcased on the aforementioned message board features clothing items for Wildlife Works, a San Francisco based company committed to animal conservation:

Founded in San Francisco in 1997, we are the world’s first business designed from the ground up around a consumer brand that stands for wildlife conservation.

in Activism, Around the Greenosphere, Blog, Conservation, Eco-Friends, Green Giveaways, The Green Consumer

- 1 Comment

Christmas Is Not Your Birthday, Green Edition

Written on November 13, 2008 by SusanC

2 Comments

Christmas is Not Your Birthday is an initiative started by the brains behind CoolPeopleCare.org, in an attempt to redirect the typical holiday hub-bub and excessive consumerism surrounding the holiday season with local outreach, outward thinking, and overall giving.

In 2006 they asked readers from all over the world to simply think outside of themselves, and outside their needs and wants, for that particular holiday season. In 2007 they asked everyone to buy gifts for their friends and family that made a difference to the local and global community, to commit to buying better gifts, purchases that gave back in some way.

in Activism, Conservation, Green Holidays, Green Outreach, Green Thoughts, Reduce Reuse Recycle, The Green Consumer

- 2 Comments

The Undertow of Materialism

Written on November 4, 2008 by Guest Contributor

11 Comments

Trust me, I know how it is. You feel like you can just dip your toe into that ocean of consumerism this holiday season and walk away unscathed. Keeping it simple this year, you say? Not that many gifts or toys or decorations, you promise? And then one turns to two which turns to ten and whoosh! You are swept away. Just like that.

And in that rip current of consumerism, there aren’t only dollars floating into oblivion, there is waste.

Think of all the things thrown away during the holidays: wrapping paper, tissue paper, special little note cards, holiday cards you mail, tape, that do-hicky that holds the tape on your wrist (this includes all those other “helpful” plastic gadgets), shopping bags, receipts, fuel, gas, electricity, food, decorations and the list goes on and on.

in Activism, For The Home, Frugal Living, Green Holidays, Green Outreach, Green Parenting, Green Thoughts, The Green Consumer

- 11 Comments

Filtering For Change

Written on November 3, 2008 by Guest Contributor

9 Comments

I’m not ashamed to admit I’m blogging for The Man.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have been offered the opportunity to blog for Brita’s “Filter For Good” campaign for the next few months. What makes this job sweeter is that for the first time, I’m making money writing about what I love. Every little bit counts, and even though the NINE PAGE contract I signed freaked me out a bit, I felt empowered by my skills as a writer, and felt my passion could be used to influence the masses (or at least, my readers) into taking their green living a step further by pledging to bring filters instead of disposable bottles in their homes.

in Activism, Blog, Conservation, For The Home, Frugal Living

- 9 Comments

Seeing Green In November: The Energy Crisis On All Ballots This Year

Written on October 16, 2008 by SusanC

2 Comments

It’s the middle of October and election day is fast approaching. With November 4th comes one of the most highly anticipated and unprecedented presidential elections this country has ever seen. This year perhaps more than any other year before it, environmental issues–the idea of a nation learning daily how to go green and greener still–will play a significant role in choosing candidacy, as no doubt our nation’s leadership will help propel or hinder our forward motion in the areas of eco-friendly living and preservation on a global scale.

Feeling strongly that you should make the decision for yourself–and hopefully you already have–I am not here to sway you to one candidate’s side or the other; nor am I here to debate along partisan lines.

in Activism, Conservation, Got Energy?, Green Thoughts

- 2 Comments