Some useful information, some anecdotes, some rantings, and some inspiration
from my quest to make my family and perhaps the world around me A Little Greener Every Day

The Indigo Girls have been one of my favorite groups ever since the first time I heard Closer to Fine back in college. I have every album they’ve made and I’ve seen them in concert a couple of times. Just this past spring, my husband and I went to the Poseidon and the Bitter Bug tour. It was great. Emily and Amy are amazing musicians. Their music is some of the most inspiring I’ve ever heard. Some have truly been life changing for me.

So when I saw that we had a video on MNN with Chuck Leavell interviewing the Indigo Girls for his In the Green Room series, I was pretty psyched. Turns out, Chuck actually played on one of their albums. That’s even more impressive to me than the fact that he plays with the Rolling Stones. Anyway, I thought I’d post the video here so you can see what two of my all time favorite musicians are doing to help the environment and Native Americans.

Ecosystem contacted me and asked if I’d review their notebooks that they sell through Barnes & Noble. I’m a notebook junkie, so I said yes. They sent me three notebooks – two ecosystem authors with flexible covers and one ecosystem artist with a hard cover. They also have notebooks with paper covers.

What I like:

• I like the fact that these notebooks are made from recycled materials – the paper pages are 100% post consumer recycled paper and the covers are made from various recycled materials. In fact, on the hard and flexible cover books, I can input a code found in the back of the book, and find out exactly where the materials were made and from what they were made of.
• I also like the small lines in the author books. I’ve always preferred college ruled paper to the wider ruled paper so the tighter lines appeal to me. I also like the ribbon bookmark that is attached to each book.
• Another thing I like that is in each book is the pocket on the pack cover of each book. You can stick loose papers in there securely. The company also makes inserts that fit in the pockets so you can extend the space in each book.
• The variety – each size is available with one of four different types of pages – author (lined), architect (grid), artist (blank), or advisor (sort of calender).

What I’d like to see:

• The small author notebook is similar in size to the Moleskine small notebooks that I’ve become accustomed to keeping with me, but they are much thicker. I’d love to see the small notebooks with the paper covers in a slimmer version so I could carry it around in my small handbag like I do the Moleskines.

What I don’t like:

• The vibrant colors. This is a personal opinion. The bright colors don’t appeal to me. But, to others, the colors might be very appealing. They do offer the books in black.
• The price tag – I understand that recycled products can cost more than their virgin counterparts. But I’ve seen notebooks and journals made with recycled materials that cost less than these that I would happily use. In fact, I do use a large journal made of recycled materials that costs 1/3 of what their large author notebook costs. However, I don’t know the specifics about the recycled book that I was whereas the Ecosystem books are very transparent about all their materials.

My boys have already laid claims on the books. My 10-year-old took the artist book (although he really wishes it wasn’t pink – watermelon as they call it) and my 7-year-old took the small author book. I managed to be able to keep the large author book for myself.

product review disclosure

God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.

- Martin Luther

Another fabulous guest post – this one is from my friends Lynn and Corey from Celebrate Green

Making every celebration more about people and less about things is a key to celebrating green. When we focus on relationships, we tend to spend less, eat less, have less left over and end up putting less into landfills.

So this Thanksgiving, take a look at your rituals and seek out ways to enhance their meaning. Here are some suggestions.

• In the weeks before Thanksgiving, gather the family and talk about your traditions. Ask for input about what kinds of things you might do together to increase the joy everyone will take from the celebration. Brainstorm ideas, then choose a few to implement this year. (See below for suggestions, but start by asking your family as they are likely to come up with ideas that fit your group perfectly.)
• Also prior to the holiday, invite your family on an outdoor decor hunt. Go for a walk whether you live on the plains, near a river, or by the ocean. Gather (legally) items, return home and set them up on a table. They might make a gorgeous centerpiece on their own. Or fill a bowl or clear vase with them. Place a couple of beeswax candles in their midst and you’ve got natural table decor that cost next to nothing.
• Encourage your kids to come up with games that the whole family can enjoy following the feast. Seach online or check out library books on non-competitive games that are fun for everyone.
• Involve the family in crafting decor, place cards, and small takeaway gifts that are either made from recycled materials or edible. As you are working with them, explain why it’s important to avoid using virgin trees (i.e. paper), and other unsustainable materials, especially for a holiday that is so tied to the Earth.
• To add more meaning to your meal, shop locally. If possible, visit a local farm. Talk to the farmer about what is in season and how to best prepare the food for your guests. Be sure to acknowledge the farmer and the work he/she did to ensure you had a flavorful meal when you are giving thanks at the table.
• Ask each guest to bring a small item representative of something for which they are grateful. Place each item either at the place of each guest or in a bowl that can decorate the table. During the meal go around and ask each person to explain the meaning of the item.
• If you host a large gathering for which it’s difficult to supply enough china, here’s a twist on the idea above. Ask each guest to bring their own place setting along with a story about the plates. At the table, ask guests to explain what is special about the setting. Did the china belong to a great grandmother who brought it when she immigrated? Was this place setting a gift from a beloved friend? Are you especially proud that you bought it for pennies? The stories don’t matter. Sharing them does.
• And speaking of sharing, how about asking each guest to bring a contribution to your local food bank?
• Aim to make a tradition of a no-waste Thanksgiving. This involves a little more planning than usual, for example, offering fewer choices (do we really need mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and rice?), and ensuring that leftovers go to people who will use them. Decorating glass jars that everyone can fill and take home is a great way to share the leftover bounty. If you compost yourself or do it through your community, be sure that leftover food is deposited in a properly marked container.
• If a member of your family or a close friend has passed away during the year, remember them sometime on Thanksgiving day. You might light a beeswax candle in their memory, relive some memories or offer a prayer.

Whatever you do this Thanksgiving, focus on those you care about and you will make priceless memories. What is more eco-friendly than that?

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I’m happy to have my friend Carole Brown guest posting today. Thanks Carole! When you’re done reading this, you’ll want to check out her blog for more great advice like this.

The streets in my neighborhood are lined with bulging paper bags. It’s an amazing phenomenon that happens this time every year, as people devote entire weekends to noisily blowing, raking, and bagging the fallen leaves, only to do it all over again the next weekend. The decibel level outside my home is really quite deafening. The bags stand at attention along the sidewalks until the city trucks come to haul them away.

This scenario is common in communities around the country, but we need to wake up and recognize the enormous environmental cost of this yearly ritual.

First, aside from a bothersome noise level, leaf blowers, like most gas-powered lawn equipment, run on 2-cycle engines which are notorious for being extremely energy inefficient. These engines waste a lot of gasoline, which when multiplied by all the homeowners around the country who use them, amounts to 800 billion gallons of gasoline a year. My vote: put the blower away.

More gasoline is then used by all the trucks needed to haul these leaves away, taking up enormous amounts of space in landfills. Even if your township has leaf composting, it still has to be hauled by trucks. After the leaves are removed, many homeowners then have loads of mulch trucked in, using more gasoline.

A much better plan is to let the leaves be. No, don’t leave them on your sidewalk or other pathways, but sweep them into your garden beds and under your shrubs and trees, where they will break down while nourishing your soil, protect it from erosion, and provide an insulating layer to prevent heaving.

Leaf litter is very important to soil and plant health, feeding the soil by returning nutrients to it, providing organic matter, ensuring plant health, and providing habitat for many organisms and wildlife. The leaves contain all the nutrients necessary for healthy soil and healthy plants so you won’t need any supplemental fertilizer, which will save you money and protect the environment.

Your garden will be much healthier if the leaves remain, you’ll be saving a lot of gasoline, and your weekends will be free to enjoy. Everybody wins!

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Carole Brown is the author and creator of Ecosystem Gardening . A Conservation Biologist with a love for wildlife, Carole is a consultant and educator, teaching homeowners, businesses, and land managers to create welcoming habitats for wildlife in their gardens and around their properties. Carole can be found on twitter @CB4wildlife