Green Daily

I would guess that most of you reading Green Daily already do some form of recycling but are you ready for America Recycles Day? It's coming on November 15 and there are a lot of ways you can be involved.

You can take the pledge to find out about more recycling opportunities in your area, email or write to elected officials about recycling issues and tell some friends how easy it is to recycle.

You can read about how recycling is making a difference, and about events coming to your area for America Recycles Day. My area is unfortunately thin on events but I may attend the one semi-local event where I can purchase grocery totes, recycling bags and water bottles just to show my support.

If you don't have any local events or you just aren't into stuff like that, you can at least read all about recycling and make sure you aren't missing anything at home. You can also try the conversionator and find out what things aluminum cans and other products are recycled into and the impact your personal recycling can have.

I love Bjork. She's so insane -- awesomely insane. And she has been one of the biggest celebrity advocates for the planet since I can remember.

In her new single, entitled "Nattura," she's calling for the government of her native Iceland to be more careful with the country's natural resources.

The next wave of long lasting, super efficient bulbs are getting ready to touch down at your local hardware stores over the next few months, there's just one thing: they look really weird -- like shower heads. Big players in lighting electronics like Philips and Sylvania are getting ready to introduce the next generation of bulbs to the US market, but they've got their work cut out for them. Like a caveman, new technology scares me, and these new bulbs definitely look like either shower heads or, even worse, alien eggs.

The spiraling fins surrounding these bulbs actually serve as a "heat sink." You see, unlike an incandescent bulb, these LEDs seem to project all of their heat through the rear of the bulb, instead of the front. These fins help channel this heat in a safe direction back through the front of the bulb, so they say (or perhaps they protect a tiny alien fetus inside). At first, these new bulbs will cost around $100. So until the price drops, these guys will be enjoyed mostly by technology-obsessed early adopters.

[via Treehugger]

The aromatherapy lip balms offered by Balms with Benefits are really neat. Frequently aromatherapy products are essential oils or sprays to put on your wrist or pillow or something and don't deliver the effects you want very well. At least, in my experience that is what happens.

Balms with Benefits put the aromatherapy on your lips, so your nose soaks up all the benefits and your lips stay nice and soft at the same time. The balms use natural ingredients and have a variety of scents for all types of benefits.

• Motion Potion with ginger, peppermint and chamomile to soothe your upset stomach.
  
• Stress & Anxiety balm with chamomile, vanilla, lemongrass and ylang ylang to reduce stress.
  
• PMS balm with sweet orange, clary sage, primrose, geranium rose and cypress to relieve PMS symptoms.
• Appetite Control balm with lemon, fennel and patchouli to take the edge off of cravings.
  
• Sleepytime balm with lavender, vanilla, bergamont and chamomile to soothe and relax.
  
• Focus & Clarity with peppermint, rosemary, black pepper and eucalyptus to sharpen your focus.
  
• Sinus & Allergy with lemon, eucalyptus, pine and peppermint to cool your nose.
  
• Wake-Me-Up with peppermint, coffee, eucalyptus and rosemary to get you going.
  

My favorite so far is Wake-Me-Up which I use throughout the day for a little pick me up. The balms offer natural sunscreen and are not tested on animals. The packaging is really cute too. If you order $30 or more of products you will receive free shipping. So, stock up now! These would make great stocking-stuffers, though I'd be careful who I gave the PMS or Appetite Control balms to!

Just a few months after the news leaked out that Tesla was on an informal "deathwatch" list in the Toyota offices, it looks like the guys at Tesla really are hitting some hard times. After going through protracted arbitration with their arch nemesis Fisker, Tesla found out this week that the arbitrator has ruled in Fisker's favor, saying that the strikingly similar Silicon Valley startup hadn't ripped off Tesla. At the same time, Tesla announced that they would lay off 20% of their UK workers (10 of the 50 total).

Does the dark cloud hanging over Tesla over the last few weeks spell the automaker's demise? Seeing as though they managed to secure $40M in debt financing last week, and they've got a waiting list -- with deposits paid -- 1,200 names long, I highly doubt it. In fact, Tesla says that the bad news on both fronts won't affect their output at all. The 2009 Roadster is apparently scheduled to go into production in April. Sadly, in contrast to this electric speed demon's performance, the Tesla factory is only expected to pump out 30 cars per week. Doh.

Here in Texas my garden is still producing a little bit, but I am already planning for my spring garden and you should be too. With uncertain economic times and more people becoming interested in gardening, you want to make sure you can get the seeds you are looking for with no problems. And, you want time to get them started indoors.

I decided a few months ago that I was going to do specific research for vegetables that grow really well in my region. Texas is a whole different planet from where I grew up gardening in the Midwest. I have planned the amounts of plants I want to grow next year but now I need to find the right varieties. Everyone is talking about heirloom tomatoes around here.

What is an heirloom tomato, or vegetable? It's an older variety. Many heirloom varieties have been consistent producers for 100 years or more. If you can find heirlooms that are preferred varieties for your region, that means those seeds should grow really well for you.

Heirloom vegetables are open-pollinated as well. This means you can save the seeds from some of your Kentucky wonder green beans, dry them, and plant them next year for more Kentucky Wonder beans. Many newer varieties will not grow true to type and may not even sprout.

You can get your seeds in a variety of ways.

Will and Jada Pinkett Smith really do seem like one of the most down to Earth families in all of Hollywood. So when Jada decided to take a stand against owning caged animals and speaking out against the practice, it made me love her even more.

She's banned animals that have to live in cages from her home. Speaking about her current pet, Beauty, Jada says, "I think I'll never get an animal like a snake again where I have to keep her in an aquarium. We have this whole thing for Beauty outside for her, to be in a natural habitat. But at the end of the day, she knows she's caged into her aquarium."

As if we Prius drivers weren't smug enough, (have you heard the one about calling us "Pius-drivers"? Ha! Funny 'cause it's true!) I just found out about a woman-owned garage, here in San Francisco, where I can have my ride converted to 100% electric.

Carolyn Coquillette runs Luscious Garage, a hybrid-specialty garage, where she specializes in converting hybrids into plug in electric cars. She also makes her own windshield wiper fluid from vinegar, which is awesome and so obviously smart!

I do have to admit that I like the idea of converting my Prius more than the reality. The procedure costs about $6,000, and you only get about 15 miles on the fully charged batteries, but hey, it's a start.

Stan Slaughter - The Eco-Troubadour might not have the most warm and fuzzy name out there but he sings songs that kids enjoy. Songs about composting, the Earth, animals, earthworms and garbage.

I listened to "In Tune With All Species" and "Rot 'N Roll" and thought they were okay. Decent messages and non-annoying music. My nephew, on the other hand, was singing along by the second chorus of most of the songs and doing his own little boogie (he's 6).

The messages are all eco-friendly and tell kids the basics on things like how compost works and why animals are important to all of us.

If you're looking for something to break your kids out of the Wiggles or Wee Sing rut, Stan Slaughter might be a good option.

The Conference Board of Canada released a report card of environmental performance for 17 countries on Monday. The report gave a letter grade to each country by looking at everything from water consumption to forest management to threatened species.

The US found itself in last place, scoring D's on municipal waste generation and water consumption. Australia, in second-last place, scored low in areas associated with climate change and energy efficiency. Canada, sadly for a planet-loving Canadian like myself, scored a poor third place with a C average, with the report saying we have a "very uneven performance".

On the greener side of things, the top three countries, in order of most green-tastic, are Sweden, Finland and Norway. Sweden, specifically, scored A's in almost all categories.

You can check out the complete report card on the Conference Board of Canada site.

If you're looking for a simple, homemade present for a young child, a recycling activity or a learning game, this DIY memory game is for you. You can use a wide variety of papers and materials to make the game and customize it to suit your child.

Directions for a simple color-matching game are available on Eco Child's Play but once you have the process down you can adapt the game in all sorts of ways. I have a 6-year-old nephew and here are the ideas I have had so far:

• matching words with pictures
• matching "heroes" with what they do - Tony Stewart with a race car, Peyton Manning with a football, etc.
  
• matching pictures of family - find two pictures of Grandma.
  
• letter cards to collect and make words with - sort of like Scrabble. Draw four, make a word or discard one or two, keeping the others to build words on other turns.
  
• holiday sets - matching Christmas pictures or Halloween pictures.
  
• matching symbols - recycling logo, McDonald's sign, church logo, and others.
  
• matching foods or making a "complete" meal

The possibilities are pretty limitless. I would use magazines or mail and newspapers (already in the recycling bin) to find my matching pictures. With the age of my nephew I would think two Christmas trees would be okay even if they weren't identical. I could also look through my fabric stash for possibilities. For that matter, the entire set of cards could be made from fabric.

I have some large sheets of wrapping paper in the recycling bin that I could use to make matching backs. If that wasn't available I would consider using newsprint so it was relatively uniform. If I was still a teacher I would put the little cards along the edges of things i was already laminating but since I am not, I am thinking this might be a good way to use up an old roll of not quite sticky enough for mailing packing tape and make square cards.

If you want to keep your kids busy, let them come up with their own game ideas and hunt for pictures.

It's a good problem to have, but so many jeans are made of organic cotton that it's getting hard to tell them apart. James Jeans are trying to set themselves apart from the premium denim pack by being more green than the competition -- not just merely organic.

The fall collection of James Jeans were made using organic cotton and dyes. The spring collection will go a step further and be made at an organic certified wash and dye plant, which will help the company avoid the worst of the chemicals commonly used to get that cool vintage look. This process also uses less water. James Jeans even recycles the hardware!

Seun Lim, creative director and co-founder of James Jeans, is dedicated to making the line as green as possible, and her friends are doing what they can to help her. One of them found a bolt of 100 year old denim fabric in his barn, which she's going to use to make a limited edition of just 1280 pieces.

Since it's already aged, they don't have to do any processing. I bet the eco-celebrities are already on the waiting list, since this is about as green as you can get without actually wearing overalls.

With the economy sputtering and poised for a serious slowdown, I'm guessing that a lot of dudes will be in the market for a new suit to wear on the job search. Well, if you're looking to get right with mother earth, and maybe even land a gig in the new green economy, you might want to check out Charcoal and Chalk's Beyond Carbon Neutral Suit. These limited edition suits have had their carbon footprint offset not once, not twice, but three times.

The guys at Charcoal and Chalk believe that you can have it both ways -- a sharp-looking, tailored wool suit that makes you the envy of the board meeting, that also treads lightly on the environment. Designer Austen Pickles teamed up with Shining Earth to produce 40 of these triple offset suits, and he plans to make the C&C's entire line carbon neutral over the next year. Four styles will be released this November and shipped internationally -- all shipping will be offset as well, naturally. From the article:

"I am passionate about beautiful tailoring, as well as making a positive difference to the environment. It may not stop the polar ice caps from melting, but I am passionate about my business going the extra mile to do what we can."

[via Treehugger]

If you still eat meat, it is time to start thinking about what kind of Thanksgiving turkey you are going to buy for this year's meal. There are lots of options, from the supermarket, butter injected bird to the pasture-raised heritage turkey. What is the right choice for you?

Eat. Drink. Better. has written up the most popular options and what they mean, and most importantly, has provided a list of places where you can order these special birds.

If you are looking for something different you should also be asking around at your farmer's market or local organic market to find a local producer. If you find one, call soon and reserve your turkey as they will be going fast, even in these leaner times. You might get lucky if someone has canceled their own reservation to save some money.

If you're doing anything but the supermarket turkey, the point is, get on it so you will be able to get the bird that you want, in time for Thanksgiving.

When most auto designers sit down at the drafting table, their mind immediately sets out to construct an sleek, efficient, and safe vehicle that anyone could enjoy -- because that's what they were taught in design school. But wait, by promoting vehicle safety, doesn't that effectively lower the risks involved and thereby encourage more driving? Shouldn't eco-friendly vehicles be made as unsafe as possible in order to promote mass transit, biking, etc.?

As best I can tell, that was the thought process behind the "Bamgoo" car. This all-electric 1-seater weighs 130lbs, gets 30 miles between charges, and immediately collapses into an eco-friendly coffin should you ever get in a fender bender. OK, I made that last part up. The design -- as much of a death trap as it may be -- is a really cute and eco-friendly concept car developed by Kyoto University.

As we all know, bamboo is a fast-growing renewable building material, so it can basically make any design more eco-friendly and lightweight. Heck, you could build a chainsaw out of bamboo and call it eco-friendly these days and you just get some brownie points.

[via Gizmodo]