Going Green for your graduate

Little Darryl is graduating from college next month. Only no one calls him "Little" Darryl anymore because he's 22. Darryl lives next door (when he's not on campus), and he was 11 when we bought our house. When we first moved in, he mowed the lawn for us until we got our own lawn mower and over the years he has done lots of yard work for us, fixed our kids' bikes, driven us to the airport at some outrageously early hour, and I can't remember what else. 

There will be some definite celebrating on my block when Darryl graduates. Lynn and Corey from Celebrate Green have come up with some ideas for greening a graduation celebration and some eco-friendly gifts for the grad. I just might be able to get an idea for my neighbor from it and you might be able to get ideas for your own graduate.

Giving a graduation party? 

• Easy to make it greener by not over buying food and composting leftovers
  
• using tap water instead of buying bottled
  
• if you do purchase beverages, buy glass bottles over cans, cans over plastic; 
  
• provide recycling bins
  
• use reusable plates, cups, utensils and napkins; buy organic and local when possible
  

Gift green-minded grads with something that appeals to their eco-altruism 

• Shares in a socially responsible investment fund
  
• A Tis Best gift card that allows the graduate to choose from among hundreds of charities to give money to
  
• A trip via a socially responsible eco-travel organization or a volunteer trip
  

Other ideas for graduates that will most likely align with their eco-values:

• A digital camera with a reminder to take only photos wherever she travels
  
• A treefree paper journal and recycled pens
  
• A gift certificate to a CSA so they will start off their new lives with fresh, local food
  
• A local coupon book for sustainable items and organic food like this one that is                                available in six cities around the U.S.
  
• Books like Making a Lviing While Making a Difference: Conscious Careers for an Era of Interdependence or Green Jobs: A Guide to Eco-Friendly Employment.
  

Hitting the yard sales just got easier

Buying pre-owned stuff instead of new stuff is one way to be green. You help to keep perfectly useful items from ending up unused or in landfills and you keep new resources from being used to create new items.

Yard sales are one way to easily find new homes for your unused items and to find those items that you need. A new feature on Googlemaps is going to make it a lot easier to find yard sales in your area. Yard Sale Treasure Map lets you put in your location and then finds yard sales around you.  

The map uses Craigslist yard sale listings to compile the information. If you know of a yard sale that isn't listed on the map, you can input the address or just click on the map. It will add the sale to your map. Then you can print out a list of yard sales and directions so you can easily hit as many of them as you want.

I really think this is great. Even more so because for the first time in six years, I don't have a 9am baseball game every single spring morning. I used to hit the yard sales a lot when my boys were really little, but once they got old enough for sports, my spring and fall mornings (prime yard sale seasons around me) always had a 9am ball game. 

The Yard Sale Treasure Map was brought to my attention by one of my fellow bloggers on MNN, Jenn Savedge. She's the family blogger and always has great information about things to help your family go a little greener. Check her out.

Schools out: Play outdoors with your kids

I've really been trying to follow Bethe Almeras' advice (remember her, she's The Grass Stain Guru) and play outdoors a lot more lately - especially with my kids. They start a much needed 10 days of from school today, and I'm determined to make sure they spend most of their time outside. 

I asked Tina Yerkes, whose job it is to know where to play outdoors in my region, for some ideas. She's put together a fabulous list of things to do. Even if you don't live around me, this list may make you think of something similar where you live, and inspire you.

1. Palmyra Nature Cove - 250 acres of green in a highly developed area on the Delaware River just south of the Tacony Palmyra Bridge. With its woodlands, wetlands, tidal cove and wild river shore line, PCNP serves as an important feeding site for migratory birds. 856-829-1900
   
2. Woodford Cedar Run - 184 acre refuge surrounding Cedar Run Lake with nature trails, live animals, educational & hands-on, fun exhibits. Donations to “adopt” animals will make a lasting impression. 856-983-3329 
   
3. Camden Children’s Garden - The 4 acre, interactive garden features themed and educational exhibits like the Butterfly House, Storybook gardens & Train garden and so much more. 856-365-8733 
   
4. Rankokus Indian Reservation - A 350 acre site with a Native American heritage museum, live buffalo, nature trails, park & gallery. 609-261-4747 
   
5. Batsto Village & Mansion Tour - The roots of Batsto Village can be traced back to 1766. Two centuries of American history are available to visitors, with the Pinelands environment as a scenic backdrop. 609-561-0024 
   
6. Red Bank Battlefield & Whitall House - 44-acre site of a successful Revolutionary War battle with the remains of Fort Mercer. Whitall House, circa 1748, served as both Revolutionary War headquarters and a field hospital. 856-853-5120 
   
7. Fort Mott State Park - Fort Mott in Pennsville was part of a coastal defense system designed for the Delaware River in the 1800’s. 856-935-3218
   
8. Paws Animal Center - Promotes a special relationship between people, their local history and environment with an emphasis on reaching out to children. Learning is designed to be fun at Paws Farm. Classes & story hours, animal programs, interactive exhibits and more than 80 birds and animals are housed here. 856-778-8795  
   
9. Cooper River Park - William G. Rohrer Children's Playground with pavilions, 2 softball fields, The Cooper River Yacht Club, 2 bike paths, dog park, miniature golf course & sculpture garden. 
   
10. Duffield’s Farm - A family farming tradition since 1953. Start the summer right with Duffield's u-pick ripe strawberry fields, opening the first week of June. Stop by later this summer for our own field-grown Jersey tomatoes and luscious Silver Queen white sweet corn, picked fresh daily. Hay rides, activities for children & an active year-round calendar. 856-589-7090  

Tina Yerkes, SJTC Director of Product Development, has the fun job to visit, promote & package our wonderful venues and attractions to not only tourists who come to our South Jersey region but also to our residents of this region. South Jersey is rich in history, culture, food and some of the best eco- & agri-tourism in the country.

South Jersey Tourism Corporation is a regional tourism marketing organization whose mission is to increase the economic tourism engines of Mercer, Burlington, Camden, Gloucester and Salem Counties. Our primary focus is to increase the number of tourists that visit and spend money in these counties and promote the many historical, cultural, entertainment & recreational assets of our region.  

Image: Peter Rawsthorne

10 reasons to buy local food

Today we were scheduled to have a very charming interview with an 8 year old environmentalist (no, it's not one of my boys), but e-mails went awry, and we're going to have to wait till next week to hear from her.

Instead of scrambling and pulling something out of the air, I'm going to point you to my newest blog, South Jersey Locavore. It's been building readership since I started focusing on it last week. Today's topic is 10 reasons to buy local food, and those reasons are good for any region, not just South Jersey. So click on the link and read.

Hey, do you twitter? I've got two twitter accounts - @rshreeves where I twitter about this blog, my MNN stuff, my Sustainablog stuff and just stuff in general and @SJLocavore where I focus mostly on stuff of interest to those in my region. I'd love for you to follow me.

Earth Day is on April 22 but why wait till then

Recycle Bank and Burts Bees sent me a list of 10 Earth Day tips to use on this site. They're great tips, but as I was reading them over I realized (even before I got to their ending comment) - these are all things you can do any day, not just on Earth Day. 

As Earth Day approaches, I'll be talking more about what you can do in your own community to celebrate, but I thought this list was worth putting up because they are things we should be doing whether it's Earth Day or not. Here's what Recycle Bank and Burts Bees have to say.

In 1970, the first Earth Day motivated and energized people to take action and think differently about life on the planet. Now, with almost 39 Earth Day Celebrations under our belt, it’s time to up the ante and think about good ol’ Mother Earth each and every day.

RecycleBank and Burt’s Bees have come up with 10 easy ways that you can do to make a difference today, tomorrow, and every day.

1. Recycle: This Earth Day, take a good hard look at your trash. We trust you’ll fish out some recyclables in the mix (probably from others), but also remember E-Waste like cell phones, MP3’s and laptops can all be recycled and repurposed.
   
2. Freecycle: The above is sure to stir up some goodies that can be useful to those around us: clothes, books, electronics, furniture, etc.
   
3. Reuse. Reuse. And did we mention Reuse? Products have life spans. Leave behind paper plates, plastic forks and any other disposables. Reusable serve ware, portable mugs for that latte and a water jug for that necessary potable will lessen landfills and just make life taste better!
   
4. Wallet Activism: Look for products made from recycled materials, natural ingredients and minimal / biodegradable packaging. By supporting eco-friendly companies your green supports the greater green.
   
5. Park It: Celebrate the beauty of spring with a walk when you could have driven. Carpool, take public transport, ride your bike. If you can’t do it every day, try once a week. When you do drive, make sure you pump up your tires so you can deflate your fill-ups.
   
6. Junk It: Putting the kibosh on junk mail and catalogues will save you time, save landfill space and save millions of trees (and probably make the post office happy too).
   
7. Bills. Bills. Bills. We won’t advise not paying ‘em, but we wholly support going paperless for your banking, bill paying and at the ATM.
   
8. Live Life Locally: Support your local farmers while enjoying fresh produce and organically grown goodies. You can even try going veggie once or twice a week.
   
9. Say Y-E-S to CFL’s: You’ll save time, money and energy…but you may have to give up on the “How many _____’s does it take to change a light bulb?” jokes because you’ll change them so infrequently.
   
10. Spread the Word: Tell your friends how easy it is to shave off some carbon here, save some resources there and conserve a little energy here. And then they can tell their friends. And then they can tell their friends…
    

RecycleBank and Burt’s Bees are committed to finding clean, green ways of existing on this planet. These simple steps above can help you protect the environment, each and every day.

Image: Earthday.net

Origins helps you recycle cosmetics packaging

When the lipstick runs out and the mascara goes dry, what do you do with the plastic containers they come in? Chances are you throw them in the trash because they aren't easily recyclable.

Origins cosmetics now has a program that allows consumers to bring cosmetic containers of any brand to their stores to be recycled.

Starting March 29, 2009, bring your empty cosmetic tubes, bottles and jars, etc. - regardless of brand - to your nearest Origins retail store or department store counter nationwide.* All returned packaging will be sent back to a central location where products will be recycled or used for energy recovery.

In an industry first, Origins will accept packaging from any cosmetic company regardless of the manufacturer. We believe that the more we collect from consumers, the more we can keep cosmetic packaging out of landfills. And we hope this program will encourage other companies into following our example.

To thank you for joining us in our commitment to the environment, we’ll treat you to a FREE sample of your choice of one of Origins high-performance skincare products.

To find an Origins store near you, click here for their store finder.

*Excluding Nordstrom, Canada and Puerto Rico.

Preaching but not Practicing

I had to wait in a children’s hospital cafeteria yesterday for about an hour. I hadn’t had lunch, so I searched for something suitable to eat. There was the obligatory salad bar with iceberg lettuce, shredded carrots, and a few tomatoes. Didn’t look appealing. A bowl full of apples was next to the salad bar. I had an apple in the car on my way to the hospital.

My other options were creamy sauced pastas, heavily cheesed pizza slices sitting under a hot lamp, some deep fried chicken fingers, packages of chips, cookies and candy bars. There was a refrigerated section with sodas, bottled water and juices, a few yogurts (the kind with lots of sugar and food dyes), and fruit cups that were full of about 1/3 fruit, topped with twice as much whipped cream as fruit, and then topped with marshmallows.

I went up to the cash register. Maybe they had packs of nutsor sunflower seeds. Nope. There were some candy bulk bins, with a very spicy crunchy trail mix – peanuts, almonds, pretzels, sesame sticks. After looking around, it really seemed like my best option. I scooped some trail mix out of the bins and grabbed an orange juice.

I was thinking about how ridiculous it is that these were the only options that the doctors and nurses in this children’s hospital had to choose from for nourishment during their long shifts. The fruit &vegetable options were sad, whole grains completely non-existent, but highly refined carbohydrates, high fatty, and high sugary foods were in abundance. It probably would have been a fleeting thought if I hadn’t encountered a very large sign just passed the cashier. This is what I saw.


I turned back to the cashier. “Excuse me. Where is this food?” I asked pointing to the sign.

He shrugged.

This may have been a sign for vegetarians, but the food on the sign would have given me, a carnivore, better choices than was offered.

I was reminded of when I asked my fourth grader what he was learning in health. He told me they were learning about eating right. I asked him if what they were learning in health class matched up to the food being served in the cafeteria. “No way,” was his response.

Healthy eating is preached all the time, but healthy eating is hard to do unless the food is actually available. Why isn’t the food available in settings like a hospital cafeteria or a school cafeteria? Maybe because people don’t demand it.

I have yet to actually speak up about the food in my boys’ school cafeteria. To speak up about it is to take the lead. Taking the lead means taking the time to actually do something. I’d have to go to board meetings, do research, help find solutions instead of just complaining. I can do all of those things. I’m good at all of those things. But when I think of adding those things into my schedule, I back off.

Incidents like yesterdays bring me one step closer to practicing what I preach, though. But I’m not quite there yet. I’ll just keep packing my boys lunch and leave the speaking up for “someday.” I hope I figure out how to make “someday” “someday soon.”