What are you eating today? Over the years, this question has become increasingly loaded as it has become clear what a huge impact our dietary habits have on the planet. Many people have responded by taking an activist approach to their diets by going vegetarian, vegan, all local, or non-GMO. For some, such large (and often difficult) measures can seem a big first step, but making a difference through eating habits is still possible with minimal effort. Take Meatless Mondays for example. In association with the John Hopkins School of Public Health, Meatless Mondays urges Americans to skip meat one day out of the week in an effort to improve national health. As their video (above) shares, there are several additional reasons to cut back on meat, including ones pertaining to the environment and natural resources. Hoping to make a difference, many people are adopting the Meatless Monday habit, including the influential food writer Michael Pollen. I’m just glad to see that people are advocating moderate ways of making a difference. Sometimes I feel so overwhelmed by the issues facing the world, I end up not doing anything! Thankfully, little details can make a big difference, and it’s all about taking that first step. So before you make yourself dinner tonight, or take out the trash, or shower, just take a second to think. Perhaps you can make a little adjustment that will have a big impact!
You’ve gotta love April. It’s just packed with fabulous envirodays! Do you take part in the Arbor Day tree-planting tradition? It’s certainly not a new one. Nebraskan journalist J. Sterling Norton first promoted Arbor Day back in 1872, and before long, its popularity spread like a brilliant green wildfire through the states. Today, Arbor Day is easier than ever to celebrate. Local governments frequently support residents’ tree planting activities. Take MillionTreesNYC for example- in New York City, tree planters are given $20 off tree purchases, and presented with lots of free citywide tree-planting events in an effort to plant one million trees. There are lots of online resources for our tree-planting needs. Arborday.org , for example, has educational resources , celebration ideas , gift trees , and even niftye-cards for you to pick from. I’m getting pretty excited about it all. Tree planting is awesome! Lately, I’ve been hearing about people giving out trees as gifts and wedding favors. It’s the coolest thing! Yeah, trees are great for the environment, but they’re also wonderful symbolic gifts. Forget trinkets that people throw away- trees grow, provide shade, and can spruce up any landscape. I hope you have a really lovely Arbor Day. Try to get out and plant some trees, and whatever you do, have a fantastic weekend!
Hey! Did you make it to your local Green Apple Festival? Hope you did! Naturally, they were a massive success. I was very impressed by the turnout in DC- plus I absolutely LOVED the green-themed duds everyone was sporting. Check out the shoes! I was also glad to see such great messages going out. Speakers such as Matthew Modine (first photo) and Representative Edward Markey (below) got the crowd riled up about environmental causes- and with the Capitol in the background, everything felt that much more poignant. Finally, the live performers rocked everyone’s socks off! What’s not to like about free live performances- especially when the Flaming Lips play and Wayne Coyne crowd surfs in his bubble? From backstage, I could see a really spirited crowd- not just your typical concert-goers, but activists! Take this for proof: they even cleaned up debris from the concert after it ended! Now that’s the kind of Earth Day mindset we should really be proud of. If you’re not already in on the fun, be sure to do some green stuff this week! Earth Day Network’s helpful event finder can guide you if you want some ideas. Click here to check it out. And have a happy Earth Day this Wednesday!
It’s always hip to be green, but if there’s one day of the year to really flaunt your inner environmentalist, it’s Earth Day. Lucky for us, the lovely holiday is coming up fast- this Wednesday to be exact. Don’t let that stop you from celebrating early though! This weekend, there will be plenty of events to launch the festivities. Take the Green Apple Music Festival for example. In partnership with Earth Day Network , they’re hosting massive celebrations in New York, Boston, Washington DC, Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Austin, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle this Sunday! Below is a picture I took from the stage of last year’s SF festival. What a crowd! Green Apple Festivals are always lots of fun and offer crazy good musical artists, like the Flaming Lips! Check out their site to see who see is playing in your city! Clearly, Earth Day extends way beyond the Green Apple Festival. Check out Earth Day Network’s super convenient event finder to find listed events in your area. Also, take time to browse the site . They’ve got lots of helpful information and tools to help you be green and make a difference. Whatever you, make sure you get in on at least some of the fun, and have a very happy Earth Day!!
Remember the days where we actually had to go places to do things? Hahaa, neither do I. Seriously though, thanks to the Internet and various other convenient technologies, it’s easier than ever to do everything from home.
Many people are telecommuting these days, but we’re not just working remotely- think about leisure time! These days, instead of trekking out to the video store, we can just Netflix movies- or even better, get them streaming online. We can even get our education online, and with cool sites like Academic Earth , we can listen in on fascinating lectures by professors at America’s top universities without moving an inch- or even being admitted! Seriously- here’s one of their lectures with MIT Professor Walter Lewin discussing measurements of space and time . Nifty!
Telecommuting technology gives us loads of convenience, plus it’s great for the environment. Easier remote access means fewer cars out on the road, which is excellent news indeed!
With this in mind, here are my three favorite telecommuting resources. They can save you time and energy, plus lower your carbon footprint!
Google Docs - Got lots of group projects and meetings? Google Docs can save a lot of face time. By giving you the ability to create, share, and edit documents with others online. You can even view a presentation together and chat at the same time. Sweet!
Academic Earth - This resource was created with the goal of giving everyone on earth access to a world-class education. With lectures by professors at Harvard, Yale, and MIT on all sorts of fascinating subjects, this is one educational (and entertaining) resource you can’t ignore!
Skype or Google Talk - There is something to be said for face-to-face conversations. Luckily, you can handle that online too.
I always get a kick out of the amazing Recycled, Restyled, and Reused things that pop in the blogosphere. Here’s a roundup of my favorites from the past couple of days:
Have you ever heard of bento? Maybe the word makes you think of afternoon take-out specials at your favorite Japanese restaurant, but let me assure you, there is much more to this humble word than you might expect. In Japan, it’s common practice for mothers (and sometimes fathers) to pack bento box lunches for their kids when they send them off to school. Some parents have turned the simple act into its very own art form, creating character-themed snacks for their kids and posting pictures of them on their blogs. As of late, the bento box lunch concept has caught on in America, and more and more people are starting to pack cute little lunches of their own- not just for their kids, but for themselves! Packing your own bento box lunch comes with a litany of perks- you’ll save money, eat healthier, smaller portions, reduce waste, and have a blast making them! Best of all, making your own bento needn’t be time consuming or difficult. There are a lot of online resources to help you out!
Here are some of the best:
Lunch in a Box : This site is full of helpful tips, as well as contests, recipes, and connections to other online resources.
Just Bento : Constantly posting new recipes and tips, Just Bento offers monthly themes, such as frugality as well as a Get Started Handbook . With their weekly bento planner , bento-packing is riculously easy.
Anna The Red’s Bento Factory : If you want inspiration, you’ll love AnnaTheRed’s beautiful bentos, but her site isn’t just eye candy; she provides helpful recipes as well.
If the blogs aren’t enough for you, YouTube is full of helpful tutorials, and offers plenty of inspiration (as you can see below!). Bento is a blast. I hope you give it a try!
Thanks to today’s ridiculous economic environment, people are starting to see less as more, and I couldn’t be happier! As a lifetime advocate of all things cute and environmentally friendly, I’m always looking for smaller alternatives- smaller plates, smaller cars, and smaller houses. Now more than ever, these things are in vogue! Take Jay Shafer’s Tumbleweed Houses for example. Jay has been living in adorable, petite houses for 12 years now, and all the while he’s been designing similar homes for people across the country.
While I know most of us aren’t ready to live in spaces that small, I do think that Americans will start scaling down their possessions. After all, less costs less. Beyond that, I feel that when we have less space to fill (and therefore fewer things to fill it with) we start to appreciate the things we do have. Perhaps the economic downturn is a good thing after all. It may leave us greener and more contented than we were before!
