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Do you choose organic or natural when buying lip balm?
I admit it, I’m a lipbalmoholic. Sometimes I apply the lip balm, wipe it off, and re-apply for no reason at all. Don’t hate…I know some of you do it, too.
Yesterday I ran into the drugstore and picked up a fresh new tube of Burt’s Bees, my usual. Burt’s Bees is a very well known line of natural personal care products, and can be found at just about any drugstore – on or offline. My favorite product is their Honey Lip Balm (simplicity is genius, after all). The .15 ounce tube is usually about $3-4, and is 98% all natural.
Although I’m a completely happy customer, I figured I’d check to see if there are any other balms worth trying. That’s when I found Eco Lips.
Eco Lips has several scents/flavors(depending on how you choose to enjoy your balm) – grape, kiwi strawberry, and coconut, as well as a color tinted, medicinal, and hemp based balms. Their products are competitively priced. The simple flavors are only $2, and orders over $15 qualify for free shipping. Best of all, the website gives a run down of exactly what’s inside those little tubes and your lips will be happy knowing that each balm is made of 87-99% certified organic ingredients (depending on the product).
There is one other balm you must know about, because it is a life or death matter, after all. All the Better to Kiss You With by the Baby Bear Shop is so good I had to steal it from my sister – don’t tell. Five bucks is a small price to pay for these creatively flavored, USDA certified organic lip balms that come in recyclable vintage tins.
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Use Huddler.com for great tips on how to be green at work, or wherever you rest your notebook.
Whether you work from home, dwell in the typical cube farm, or have a luxury corner office, there are things you can do to make your work experience a little better for the world. Soon I’ll be looking for some new office gear myself, so I’ve been on the lookout for helpful tips and products that have a positive eco-impact. One thing that I plan on doing for my new office, which isn’t so simple necessarily, is buying a used desk. I hope to find a funky old desk from the thift store that I can paint and make my own. It’ll be cheaper and have much more character then anything I can find at Ikea.
If you’re not in the market for a new work station, but just want to incorporate some simple practices for a better workspace, check out this wiki article, “
10 Ways to Be Greener and Happier at Work,” on
Huddler.com. I like this article because it doesn’t ignore the basics, like reducing your energy usage by turning off your computer. Likewse, it has some pretty creative ideas, like creating a carpool calendar for your office.
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Your dollars go a long way whether you’re buying fair trade coffee or fair trade gifts.
Growing up, one of the most common phrases to come out of my dad’s mouth was, “life’s not fair.” This was usually after having heard me whine and complain about a rule or situation that I just didn’t agree with. Over time, unfortunately, I’ve realized that my dad was right. However, as someone who cares about the world and the other people in it, I do my best to make things a little bit more fair. That’s why I’m on the lookout for fairly traded goodies. And, like many of you, Jordan and I are looking for easily accessible information and products.
We know that we are interested in learning about products and practices that involve more sustainable means of production and benefit the producer equally to the retailer or distributor. I’ve researched some of the governing bodies of fair trade – including the
Fair Trade Resource Network, the
International Fair Trade Association, the
Fair Trade Federation, and
Transfair. These sites are great places to start looking for basic info on fair trade policy and practices. Likewise, if you dive a little deeper, you can find information on the tangible, actionable steps you can take to participate in fair trade.
First, I suggest starting with Transfair’s
‘Where to Buy’ database. From searching within Michigan, this seems to be the most extensive list of retail shops with fair trade products. Second, try Coop America’s list of
Fair Trade Retailers. This list is organized by product type, so you have to search around a bit to see if anything is in your area. Next try the Fair Trade Federation’s
membership list. If you input your city and state and check the ‘retail business’ tab, you’ll find any businesses in your area who are affiliated with FTF.
One exciting development in fair trade shopping is eBay’s latest,
Project Good. Like eBay, the marketplace will feature several different sellers with a wide variety of products. What makes Project Good different that eBay, however, is that the products will not be sold through auctions and will have set prices like a traditional eCommerece store. Not so sure eBay knows too much about fair trade? Well, I wasn’t so convinced myself. However, the retail giant is partnering with World of Good on this project and, from what I have seen, it appears to be a genuine and authentic endeavor.
These options should give you a starting place for finding great products that are also fairly traded. If you know of any others, please leave us a comment!
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New eco-friendly clothing made from bamboo, hemp, and even recycled plastic bottles. 
I’ve been hearing a lot about Eco-friendly clothing lately. However, the more that I hear about organic clothing; the more questions I have about . So I did some research and found a great article that answered the majority of my questions. Read “Wear Water Bottles (and look good,too)” by Marisa Belger, a contributor for the MSNBC.com blog.
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Buy local food to help the environment and your local economy. 
For many people, making the choice to buy organic started in the kitchen. I started buying organic milk before anything else. Soon, most of my dairy items were organic, followed by some fruits and veggies, and then I incorporated some organic grains and snack products, too. Though not all of my food purchases are organic, a decent portion are. Likewise, the more that organic versions of my food staples become more available in my area, the more I’ll purchase them.
Not only would I like to incorporate more organic products into the mix, but I would also like to purchase more locally produced products. According to
http://www.sustainabletable.org/, in the U.S., the average produce travels 1,500 miles between the farm where it was grown and the refrigerator it ends up in. Likewise, about 40% of our fruit is produced overseas.
And going beyond produce, what about the packaged organic brands I know and love? I found
this infographic that shows the companies behind some of the most popular organic brand names. By looking up the company behind the brand name, it’s likely you can get an idea of where the product is coming from.
All in all, our food uses a lot of gas to get to our plates. “How can I do something about that,” you ask. Well, I have two suggestions. First, find the organic grocers in your area and ask them which products they carry come from your state. Second, participate in community supported agriculture (CSA). This is when you buy directly from a local farm. CSA programs vary greatly, but many allow you to pay an annual fee that provides you with a weekly or monthly assortment of fresh produce from the farm – some will even deliver. To find a CSA program near you, just put your zip code into this
database.
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Practice the simple ways to save energy during Earth Hour
I found this website that describes a new movement taking place globally. It’s called Earth Hour and cities around the world are participating. In short, people are encouraged to turn off their lights for one hour on March 29, 2008 from 8:00pm to 9:00pm. Check out the video below for an in-depth look at Earth Hour.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_c5K7Jdw9E&rel=0&color1=0×3a3a3a&color2=0×999999&hl=en
Sydney, Australia was the site for the inaugural Earth Hour trial in 2007. In that one hour, the amount of energy that was saved was 10.2%; surpassing the goal of 5%, set by the World Wide Found for Nature-Australia. This year there are 20 cities participating so there’s no telling what the “energy saved” number will be.
Earth Hour is guffly because I don’t have to do anything to make a contribution. All I have to do is turn off the lights! In that hour I can walk my dog, plan my next day, do yoga, and even have an hour of conversation with a friend. Which is great because I don’t have much time for conversation these days.
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Happy St.Patrick’s Day! In honor of this merry day, I thought I’d research some better options for beer and wine. So, if you have more drinking to do on this St. Patty’s Day, or any other day of the year, try out one (or many) of these organic options when they’re available.
Wolaver’s Organic Ale is a line of organic beers produced by Otter Creek Brewing. They’re a family-owned microbrewery located in Middlebury, VT and have been brewing up organic goodness since 1998. The company prides themselves on brewing all beers “in small batches to ensure freshness and consistent quality.” Likewise, they use all domestically grown malt and hops. You can visit their website for information on their selection of beers. But once you decide you want to give them a try, there’s a bit of a process to figure out where to find their beers in your neighborhood. You can start by calling up the distributor in your state. You can find a list of the Wolaver distributors
here. These places should be able to tell you which retail spots have the goods. I know, not so simple. But, you’ll be able to reward your hard work with a nice, cold organic brew.
Another small brewer with a selection of organic beers is
Peak Organic located in Portland, ME. Peak uses barley and hops that are grown without toxic pesticides and chemical fertilizers. The company began in 1998 when a group of friends bought brewing equipment and started making beer to celebrate “peak” occasions. Peak’s mission is simple – “to make the world’s most delicious beers, and to make them in a way that [they] can feel good about.”
Another option for organic beer is
Butte Creek Brewing out of Chico, CA. They began in 1997 and make several organic beers, including an organic yerba mate ale called MateVeza. “MateVeza was rated as one of the
Top 25 Beers of 2007 by
Draft Magazine, won a 2007 Veggie Award from
VegNews, and received rave reviews from
Beer Advocate and
All About Beer.” You can
locate this brew through their website, and if there isn’t a store near you that sells it, you can also
buy it online.
If you know of any other organic beers, please drop us a line. We’d love to hear your reviews. Happy drinking.
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This unique umbrella is stylish and better for the earth
April showers bring May flowers, and what better way to welcome the soppy spring months than with a better umbrella. Meet the Brelli.
The Brelli is not just any regular umbrella of course. The Brelli is totally guffly. Reason? The Brelli is made of eco-friendly materials. The canopy is made of materials that will completely biodegrade in under 5 years, which is much better than its dark, drab counterparts. The rest of the Brelli is made of bamboo; a renewable, natural resource. What’s more about this fab product, according to the designer herself, “…we worked dilegently to use materials that, during their bidodegredation process, release only harmless gases. The gas released by each discarded Brelli in a conditional landfill can be harvested to generate enough electricity to recoup more than 90% of the energy that was used to create it.”
The Brelli can be purchased directly from the website at $28 for the smaller (35″) and $38 for the larger (52″). For an umbrella that is more durable and better for the world than most, I find these prices completely reasonable. What do you think?
The Brelli was created by Pam Zonsius, an New York based entrepreneur with a clear knack for fresh, fuctional design with a sustainable purpose. The designer is also working on a number of new products that also feature functionality, style, and sustainability.
The next time I am in the market for a new umbrella, I know where to find it.
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Stop junk mail clutter and help the enviroment with 41 Pounds
If you’re like most people, you probably spend spend about 20 seconds a day filtering “junk” mail from your mail. That’s 7,300 seconds or 121 minutes per year spent doing nothing. Your time is extremely important; after all, it’s the one thing in this world that you can never get back.
Aside from taking up our precious time, junk mail also takes up valuable space in our landfills. According to Forest Ethics, by 2010 50% of the solid mass that takes up our landfills will be paper and paperboard waste. And each year, state and local governments spend hundreds of millions of dollars collecting and disposing of bulk mail that has not been recycled.
I haven’t even gotten to the poor trees yet. It takes more than 100 million trees to produce the total volume of junk mail that arrives in American mailboxes each year (Forest Ethics). That’s the equivalent of deforesting the entire Rocky Mountain National Park every four months.
So I found this guffly little business called 41 Pounds; and what they sell is a clean mailbox. The Ferndale Michigan based business promises to rid you of 80-95% of your junk mail for five years. According to the FAQ’s section of the website, they can’t stop 100% because some marketers simply ignore requests to stop mailing.
The 41 Pounds service is $41.00 for five years. That $41.00 covers an entire household. So mom, dad, the kids, grandma, and even your crazy uncle Larry can be covered; if everyone resides under one roof. And if you decide to move, 41 Pounds transfers their service to the new address.
There’s one more feature of 41 Pounds that makes it special. For each new client that signs up for the service, 41 Pounds donates a third of that $41.00 to an organization–with environmental interests–that the client selects. If that’s not guffly, I don’t know what is.
To me, $41.00 is well worth it, as long as I don’t have to waste my time on junk mail anymore. And the bonus is that I’m contributing toward better health for our Eco-system. I’d pay $8.20 per year for that.
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Even your breath can be organic with BreathTonic Organic Herbal Breath Spray
During my workout a few days ago, this big dude-with arms as big as tree trunks–asked me if I’d give him a spot while he bench-presses. I was between sets, so I didn’t have a problem with it. So as this guy begins to push the weighted bar off his chest(much like the guy in the picture above), he exhales a huge, typhoon-like breath right in my face. It smelled like the crack of a dead rhinoceros’s ass. Not that I’ve ever smelled one; I can just imagine how repugnant the crack of a dead rhinoceros’s ass would smell.
All kidding aside, this guy has to have the worst breath I’ve ever smelled. I got the gag-reflex almost to the point where I had to walk away. I was kind of offended. I mean, here I was taking time out of my workout to give this lonely guy a spot; and the dude blows a huge breath of decomposition straight up my nostrils. How rude! 10 repetitions couldn’t have come soon enough.
That day, I couldn’t get the thought of old “hot-breath” out of my head; which got me to thinking: “I need to find a great organic breath freshener.” I guess I just needed to get some freshness back into my life. So I began my search and I found a pretty great product.
It’s called Breath Tonic and it’s made by Herb Pharm, an organic herb farm in Oregon. There’s three main reasons I think Breath Tonic is guffly:
1.) It’s made from organic herbs: Breath Tonic is made from Cinnamon, Peppermint, Clove, and Ginger. All four have natural antiseptics that kill bacteria that causes bad breath (Health 911 and The Weekly Newsmagazine of Science go deeper into this); instead of just temporarily covering up the odor like some other breath fresheners.
2.) The farm that grows these herbs–Herb Pharm–is eco-conscious: The farm makes monetary contributions, or volunteer services to organizations that are on missions to preserve our environment. Click here for a complete list of these organizations. The Herb Pharm also researches and develops organic cultivation techniques for threatened wild herbs; and cultivate many such as Goldenseal, Echinacea, Black Cohosh, Bloodroot, Wild Yam, and many more. This assists with the survival of each species.
3.) It’s cheap and easy to integrate into my life: A .50 oz. bottle of Breath Tonic retails for $4.91 at Amazon. A simple checkout and you’re on your way.
Having found all of this out, I decided to buy a bottle. I haven’t received it in the mail yet, but I’ll be sure to write back and let you know how it works. However, I’m pretty confident that my oral hygiene isn’t suffering in any way; so that might be a problem.
Anyone know any guinea pigs?
Yesterday I ran into the drugstore and picked up a fresh new tube of Burt’s Bees, my usual. Burt’s Bees is a very well known line of natural personal care products, and can be found at just about any drugstore – on or offline. My favorite product is their Honey Lip Balm (simplicity is genius, after all). The .15 ounce tube is usually about $3-4, and is 98% all natural.
