Monthly Archives: December 2008

Green Glue

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.

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Don’t Let Handmade Toys Become Extinct

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.

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Around The Greenosphere: Weekly Link Roundup

It’s been a busy week around the greenosphere!

Here are some highlights to get you through the blustery* weekend ahead:

  • CNN’s award-winning documentary Planet in Peril is back! Watch “Planet in Peril: Battle Lines” in HDTV on CNN at 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, hosted by Anderson Cooper, chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Oprah Winfrey Show correspondent and National Geographic host Lisa Ling. This year the series examines the environmental conflicts between growing populations and natural resources. Don’t forget to tune in for the series’ regular night and time, Thursday nights at 9pm EST on CNN, or subscribe to the video podcasts.

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Holiday How-To, Green Edition

The Holidays can be a tricky time of year to navigate while staying green and not going over-budget. Here at 5 Minutes for Going Green we’re here to help you think outside the box this gift-giving season. We want to help keep you and your family green this holiday season, while also keeping more green in your pocketbooks, too. Keep reading for our customized How-To Holiday Guide.

(Keep in mind, too, that nearly all of these How-To tips are not holiday-centric and can themselves be recycled for birthdays, anniversaries, group social events, and just day-to-day green living.)

How To…

Wrap Recycled:

  • My new favorite recycled wrapping trend that I’ve seen suggested and modeled everywhere from Etsy to Martha Stewart Living is wrapping with maps and pages from atlases and other travel-related paperie.

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Recycled Note Of The Week: Subu

This week’s Recycled Note Of The Week comes from Subu Rose, who specializes in creating unique and perfectly purse or pocket-sized notebooks from 100% recycled papers.

The covers of each notebook come from 100% cardstock made with 30% post-consumer fibers. The inside pages of the notebooks come from discarded printer paper so some of them have text and/or images on them, which I think adds to the overall charm and uniqueness of each notebook. The binding is hemp, with a button closure.

But who better to tell you about the notebooks than the seller and designer herself?

about the books: i try to use recycled materials when i can.

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The Green-Eyed Monster

No one ever said that attempting to live an eco friendly lifestyle makes you a better person. It doesn’t give you super powers. (Too bad; I’d love to be able to freeze time!) And it doesn’t make you rich (at least for most of us).

So why do people treat you differently when they find out?

Recently I was invited to go in on a holiday gift; however, when I found out that the suggested gift was an extremely frivolous luxury item created in another country, I could not participate. I politely explained that I try very hard to buy only locally produced environmentally friendly gifts that perform multiple functions.

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The Home Depot Programmable Thermostat Winner!

Congratulations! to Therese, commenter #41.

Thanks to everyone for participating, and remember, for more product details about The Home Depot’s green line of programmable thermostats, visit the original giveaway post, and don’t forget to check out The Home Depot’s Eco Options available online and in stores now.

Happy! Monday.

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Around The Greenosphere: Weekly Link Roundup

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.

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What You Can Do to Get Rid of Hormone Disrupting Phthalates in Your Household

pregnant womanIf you have been paying attention to the news reports on buying safe toys this holiday season, you’ve probably heard about phthalates.

Pronounced tha-lates (or sometimes thay-lates), this group of chemicals has been shown to disrupt hormones in laboratory animals. Fetal exposure to phthalates has also been linked to reproductive diseases later in life in baby girls. Fetal exposure has also been associated with decreased ano-genital distance in baby boys, leading the lead researcher to charge phthalates with causing the “feminization” of baby boys (this research has been challenged by other scientists).

A recent study found occupational exposure to hairspray by pregnant hairdressers and others doubled their risk of having baby boys born with the genital defect hypospadias (where the opening for the urinary tract is not located at the tip of the penis).

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Recycled Note Of The Week: Create Happiness

This week’s eco-friendly note selection comes from Earmark Invitations, and a visually inspiring card beautifully printed using soy-based inks and 100% recycled paper.

Earmark Invitations is proud to announce the first in our line of eco-friendly products. These cards are printed using non-toxic, soy-based inks, and the cards and envelopes are both made from 100% recycled, 100% post-consumer waste paper.

Create Happiness

Thank you for supporting eco hand made!

Added cost-effective green bonus?

The nicely priced listing is for 4 cards and 4 corresponding envelopes, making them perfect for you, or as a stocking stuffer for your favorite eco-savvy corresponder.

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