Delicious Discoveries from Vegan MOFO III

Posted on November 20, 2009 by Becky Striepe .

The Vegan Month of Food is over, and I’ll be honest here: I miss it already! The idea behind the MOFO was to spread the word that not only is a vegan diet easier on the planet and often healthier for our bodies than the Standard American Diet, it can be pretty freaking delicious, too! If you want to keep that awesome cooking momentum going, here’s some vegan food porn straight from the MOFO!

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Homemade Shampoo Update: Winter Hair Care

Posted on November 19, 2009 by Becky Striepe .

Homemade, sulfate-free shampoos might need a little recipe-tweaking in the dry winter months.

Back in August we talked about going no ‘poo. If you missed the first post about it, no ‘poo is a hair care regiment that’s shampoo free. The most common practice is to wash your hair with a baking soda solution and use diluted apple cider vinegar (ACV) to condition. It’s all natural, inexpensive, and once you find the right balance of baking soda and ACV, it leaves your hair feeling great! If you want some more information on the no ‘poo basics, check out the original post for deets.

Now that the weather is getting all cold and dry, your scalp might need some extra love. Here are some tips to help you keep up the no ‘poo through the winter months.

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Plug-in Smart Metering: Zerofootprint’s TalkingPlug

Posted on November 18, 2009 by Jeff McIntire-Strasburg .

“What gets measured gets managed.” You may have heard that one at work… numerous times. It applies at home, also, and numerous products exist to help you measure your electricity use, and manage it in a more efficient manner. You may have used a Kill-a-Watt, or read about Google Power Meter with anticipation. Yesterday, a handful bloggers got on the phone with Ron Dembo, CEO of Zerofootprint, to discuss their upcoming answer to smart energy management: the TalkingPlug.

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Craft Recycled: 11 More Project Ideas Straight from the Trash Bin

Posted on November 16, 2009 by Becky Striepe .

Last week, we took a look at craft projects for empty wine and beer bottles, scrap paper, and empty glass jars. Really though, that’s just a small part of the things we trash that can be useful again!

After the jump, we’ve got some projects for empty cans, plastic bottles, and laminated cardboard, but we’d also love to hear from you! Are there any items you feel guilty about sending to the bin? What trash would you like to see turned into craft? We’d love to hear from you in the comments!

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Sprint, Samsung Test Green Waters with Reclaim Phone

Posted on November 15, 2009 by Tim Hurst .

The new green-themed Reclaim made by Samsung is more than your standard phone with slick green branding — though there’s a bit of that too.

What’s green (or blue), smaller than a deck of cards and will remind you to unplug the charger from the wall after charging? The Reclaim, the new green-themed smart phone made by Samsung for Sprint, is loaded with a bunch of green content, a handful eco-conscious accessories and an attention to sustainable packaging that make it more “green” than most other phones out there.

But you can’t just slap a case made from forty percent corn plastic, dip it in green paint and call it green, can you? The folks at Sprint sent me the new Reclaim so I could answer those questions myself.

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Planning an Eco-Friendly Thanksgiving

Posted on November 12, 2009 by Becky Striepe .

The Thanksgiving Table

Whether you are cooking a turkey, adopting a turkey, or skipping the turkey, here are a few tips for a greener Thanksgiving.

Can you believe that Thanksgiving is only a few weeks away? For a lot of folks, that means eating turkey until they pop.  Americans eat over 45 million turkeys on Thanksgiving and most of those turkeys come from factory farms which are responsible for tons of pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

The waste at Thanksgiving doesn’t stop there. There are also the countless amounts of dishware and decorations, often of the disposable variety, all for a one-day event.

I know, what a downer, right? Don’t despair! It’s easy, fun, and totally delicious to lighten your Thanksgiving celebration’s footprint without feeling like you sacrificed a thing.

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Phish Festival 8: Reducing the Environmental Impact of a Rock Concert

Posted on November 10, 2009 by Nick Chambers .

WaterWheel Foundation tent at Phish Festival 8, Indio, California (photo: Nick Chambers)

In a recent conversation I had at the 3-day Phish Festival 8 with Matt Beck, Touring Director for Phish’s charitable organization, The WaterWheel Foundation, he said something that struck me as incredibly honest and from the heart: “There’s nothing about a rock and roll concert that is sustainable when you really get down to the nuts and bolts of it.”

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Craft Recycled: Project Ideas Straight from the Trash Bin Part 1

Posted on November 9, 2009 by Becky Striepe .

I wish I had gotten a picture of this, but the whole thing happened so fast! At a craft show and outdoor festival this past weekend, I was gabbing with my pal Liz when a man came running through the park wearing a suit and mask made of garbage. He was moving quickly through the crowd shouting things like, “I am made of your trash!” There was barely time to tell Liz to turn around before he disappeared into the crowd, much less time for a photo.

This fellow’s suit was covered in things like beer bottlecaps, wine corks, and paper waste. I think I even spotted some empty beer cans on there. Nick just recently talked about all the waste that goes along with an outdoor music festival, and a large, outdoor craft fair is pretty similar. Maybe it was the craft show setting, but it got me thinking about all of the things we toss in our day to day and all of the cool projects I’ve seen for reusing those materials rather than sending them off to the landfill.

Here are just a few projects for turning trash into craft!

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Phish Reduces Water Bottle Consumption at Festival 8 With Innovative Program

Posted on November 6, 2009 by Nick Chambers .

A crowd of 40,000 surrounds the stage at Phish Festival 8, Indio, California (Photo: Nick Chambers)

If you’ve ever stuck around after an open air rock show and witnessed the carnage that remains, you’ll know what I’m talking about when I say that the amount of plastic disposable water bottles left on the ground is staggering. Really, try it some time. Not only will you be able to relax after the show and avoid waiting in line at the exit, it will be a lesson in waste management.

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Handmade Options for Winterizing Your Home

Posted on November 6, 2009 by Becky Striepe .

Brr! It feels like the temperature dropped over night! According to the folks at EPA’s Energy Star, about half of our home energy use goes to heating and cooling our homes, and we use the vast majority of that energy on heat during the chilly months. Luckily, those crafty Etsy sellers have all sorts of handmade options to keep your house a little warmer and help you cut down on your heating needs.

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