Oprah Goes Green

Recently, Oprah discussed the movie "Food Inc." This was an hour long episode devoted entirely to eating naturally. This documentary is a big eye opener and discusses the way our food is raised, processed and sold. If you haven't seen this it is a must see. I had seen it already and was surprised to see it on the Oprah Show but delighted that"going green" and "organic" has come a along way and made it to the Oprah Show. There a few other good documentaries out that are "Eco" related and very motivating. (See List Below).

On the show the author of In Defense of Food,Michael Pollan, discusses these natural and eco friendly ways of eating. This is NOT a new way of eating, yet the orgianl way we as humans were made to eat. "Instead of food, we're consuming "edible foodlike substances" -- no longer the products of nature but of food science. Many of them come packaged with health claims that should be our first clue they are anything but healthy. In the so-called Western diet, food has been replaced by nutrients, and common sense by confusion. The result is what Michael Pollan calls the American paradox: The more we worry about nutrition, the less healthy we seem to become."(Michael Pollan)

One of the previous entries, Label Lowdown, listed and decoded some of the labels and definitions, both for food and products. Most of these labels are very confusing and misleading. There are a few books available that I found very helpful: Generously Green Diet, Gorgeously green, Easy Green Living. (They are all on Little Green Booties and Family web site under Green Reading). I have to say that the Gorgeously Green diet book is a real eye opener in a light and refreshing, non over whelming way. If you liked Food Inc. and thought it was a little overwhelming, this book is for you. The book even explains things in three "Green" categorizes. From "totally green" or vegan, to wanting to start to "try" going natural or green.

We need to have a food eye opening event , a food movement, a food revolution! We have to change the way we eat and the way we think about food.
Start today, don't wait any longer!

List of interesting Eco Documentaries:

The Future Of Food
Food Inc.
End of Suburbia
King Corn
Inconvenient Truth
Who Killed The Electric Car

And a few good websites to find organic beef/chicken:
grassfedbeef.com
petalumapoultry.com
www.eatwild.com/index.html
www.nimanranch.com
www.neysbigsky.com (WI)
www.millerbrothersgrassfarm.com/home.html (WI)

Target Your Reusable Bags

Now Target and CVS Pharmacy are offering money back for using your own reusable bags! We should not stop at the grocery store when it comes to bringing our reusable bags. We made a start with the grocery store, now it is time to bring them with us all the time.

"Target (TGT), the fifth-largest U.S. retailer last year, announced plans to give customers a 5-cent discount for every reusable bag they use to pack their purchases. The move comes within days of drugstore giant CVS' (CVS) plan to give participating CVS customers $1 cash bonuses on their CVS cards every four times they buy something but don't request plastic bags." (USA Today)

As discussed in our previous post , Plastic Bags-Why?, we know that Target is not the first to support the reusable bag idea.

If you have ever been to Ikea you know you pay for your bags. San Francisco and the state of Colorado are thinking of banning plastic bags all together at the grocery stores. Whole Foods (WFMI) and Trader Joe's — have given consumers financial incentives to re-use bags, but most big retailers have stopped short of giving customers money to bring their own bags. San Francisco and the state of Colorado is also thinking of banning them at the grocery stores. And in Washington,The District gave its final unanimous vote in favor of charging a nickel for each paper and plastic bag that residents get from restaurants, pharmacies and grocers.(Washington Business Journal)

We still have a long way to go. The worlds largest retailer, "Wal-Mart, has no plans to pay customers to use their own bags, spokesman Kory Lundberg says." (USA TODAY). "Unfortunately, these cheap reusable shopping bags are often more of a marketing ploy than a great choice for the environment. The real heavy lifting required from retailers to put a dent in consumption - like charging for plastic bags and retraining checkout staff to ask for reusable bags - takes far more work than offering a cheap bag made of plastic. Digging a little deeper reveals that many reusable bags are nothing more than another example of green-washing.(reuseit.com).

Get your responsible reusable bags now at Little Green Booties and Family

Recycle Those Christmas Cards

So you have gone green and did a great job Christmas shopping and wrapping or not wrapping but, what about those Christmas Cards lingering around your house? You can toss them and send them to the landfill or you can send them to St Jude's to recycle them into new cards! They take them and it is actually a donation that helps them raise money!

"Send holiday cards to St. Jude's Ranch, a nonprofit home for youths that collects old holiday cards for reuse. Either cut off the backs of the cards or leave them intact. Children at St. Jude's earn money by creating new holiday cards from the old." (Ehow.com). Mail the cards UPS "ground" or "bound printed matter" to St. Jude's Card Recycling, 100 St. Jude Street, P.O. Box 60100, Boulder City, NV 89006.

Remember every little bit counts! Share this idea and pass it along to all the friends and family who sent you the cards.

Resolutions to Share

Yet another year goes by and we say to ourselves, "Why isn't everyone green"? "How can this be"? , "What is our government doing"?, "Who is going to change these things.....who is in charge here"?

This year you should make a resolution to "be in charge". The only way people are going to know about global warming, GMO foods, organic growing, BPA, and the trash swirls in our oceans is from people talking and sharing information. You need to take charge this year and make a difference. Tell people what you believe in. Share your information and practices with your friends and family. Together we can make a difference. It only takes one person to make a difference. See if you can get one person in your life to buy organic food, recycle, or use less electricity this year. Every little bit counts!




Here is a few movies/documentaries that are Eco related and very motivating. Some of these movies are a bit extreme, so watch with a grain of salt, but definitely get their points across.

End of Suburbia, King Corn, Inconvenient Truth, Who Killed The Electric Car, The Future Of Food, Food Inc. , The 11th Hour,




Also make the resolution to read one green book this year and pass it on to a friend. Here are a few of my favorites!
Gorgeously Green: 8 Simple Steps to an Earth-Friendly Life, Easy Green Living: The Ultimate Guide to Simple, Eco-Friendly Choices for You and Your Home, Green Clean: The Environmentally Sound Guide to Cleaning Your Home , Green Babies, Sage Moms: The Ultimate Guide to Raising Your Organic Baby, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
And for the new years diet....because we all are thinking diet in January:
The Gorgeously Green Diet: How to Live Lean and Green






And last, but not least-get your kids involved. Whether you are a mom, a teacher, an uncle or aunt, or a grandmother/grandfather. Everyone knows the children are the most important way to the future. We need them to know and understand the world they live in. They truly are our future. Have them help with the sorting of the recycling, tell them to shut the water off when they brush their teeth, and to use both side of their paper. Here are a few books for general fun and Eco reading for the kids:

Charlie and Lola: We Are Extremely Very Good Recyclers, When Santa Turned Green-Perla, Victoria, 10 things I can do to Help My World- Walsh, Melanie


Above all have a happy and healthy new year from Little Green Booties and Family!

Environmentaly Good Gifts

Well it is time for the annual holiday rush. Everyone gets in frenzy come thanksgiving and once December 1st comes the news has you thinking Christmas is tomorrow. This year don't get your priority's lost in the shuffle. Remember to think green and responsible this year when picking out presents.
Here are a few green gift ideas for your friends, family, and kido's of course!

Reduce your footprint, get your reusable bamboo utensil set. No more plastic ware! A handy carrier on the back lets you clip and carry a fork, knife, spoon and chopsticks . Perfect for a busy lifestyle and our precious planet. Give plastic bottles a second chance literally. Our RePEaT utensil holders give plastic bottles a second shot at a useful life and an opportunity to stay out of our landfills. Made out of RPET (recycled PET plastic your #1 plastic soda water bottles), we like to call it "RePEaT" because it lets plastic reincarnate into something kinder and gentler. Contains Sustainable Bamboo Flatware & Chopsticks Your RePEaT set contains 1 fork, 1 knife,1 spoon, & 1 set of chopsticks made from sustainably grown bamboo.(To Go Ware) This gift can be for all ages! My mom and husband take theirs to work, my nice takes hers to school for her lunch, my daughter takes her to preschool for her snack, and my sister keeps her in her car for the times when you wish you had a spoon or fork! Great gift for anyone and comes in variety of colors.

Also on the sustainable lunch topic get your reusable lunch sandwich wraps. Instead of packing sandwiches in plastic bags, wrap, or foil, any of which just end up in a landfill, try the new Wrap-N-Mat, a re-usable plastic-lined fabric that closes with a Velcro tab and seals your lunch just as well as plastic wrap. Bonus: Once opened, the wrap-n-mat doubles as a place mat.(Wrap N Mat). Also the reusable snack bags are a huge hit. They are perfect for the little ones when you're in the car or out and need a snack. They are great for the lunch sacks of school age kids. All on sale now at littlegreenbooties.com.
These both make great stocking suffers , grab bags gifts and co worker gifts for under $20.00!!

As far as toys, try to get environmentally friendly toys made in the US or made without plastic. This is a challenge in the toy industry these days. Two great green toy companies are Plan Toys and Green Toys. These toys are both made in responsible Eco Friendly manner and have no risk of lead in their products.
Green Toys are made not only made here in the US but also made from recycled milk jugs. They have everything from fun trucks to teas sets that make great gifts at reasonable prices. Recycled milk containers are used as the main ingredient in creating their toys. When you finish your milk and toss the container in the recycling bin, these milk containers are collected at your curb by a local recycling company, who then sorts them from all the other types of plastic. The milk containers are reprocessed into super clean fresh plastic. For you plastic geeks, the plastic material we use is called high-density polyethylene (or HDPE). This material is considered one of the safest, cleanest plastics around. Green Toys also strives to minimize packaging, and all of the boxes use as little material as possible. All Green Toys products are packaged in recycled corrugated boxes with no plastics, cellophane or twist-ties, and are 100% recyclable. So, not only are they earth-friendly and ready for your recycling bin, they are really easy to open for those little fingers just itching to get at the toys! They contain no traceable amounts of Phthalates or BPA. They are also designed without any external coatings,thus eliminating the fear of lead paint. Their new Recycle Truck is getting a lot of hoopla this year and was even featured on the Regis and Kelly show. ! Supplies are limited so get your cool new Green Toys now ! (Green Toys

Plan Toys is the first company to manufacture toys using wood from rubber trees that no longer provide latex. There is no deforestation involved in the harvesting of rubberwood, as felled trees are replanted with new ones. Rubberwood is an eco-friendly, sustainable, high quality wood. The paper used in our packaging is recyclable which further reduces waste and our plants use state of the art solar energy. Our plants use state of the art solar energy and biomass (fuel from biodegradable organic material). These toys have a LIFETIME GUARANTEE and are toys you will pass down to the next generation! (Plan Toys)

Don't forget the book section when searching for your gifts. There are some awesome green books for everyone to read. Check out the "Mindfully Green" section on Little Green Booties for some suggestions. Or hit the book store yourself and see whats out there. You'll be surprised at how the section is growing by leaps and bounds. A great one we read to our kids is When Santa Turned Green. Santa has the kids to help him and the environment because the north pole is melting and global warming is messing up his workshop. This might keep him form delivering toys to all the children. Cute story- good point.

And don't forget the wrap. Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, Americans throw out 25 percent more garbage than they do the rest of the year. That’s a million extra tons of garbage per week! It hard not to use wrapping paper, I love to make beautiful packages, with the big ribbon and bows. Wrapping paper and bows are a huge waste and are usually not recyclable.

Still there is a way to use Eco Friendly Wrapping and still look like a million bucks! You can use a reusable bag for some of those gifts. Try the foldable pouch bag to wrap you present. First, its a bag they can use again. Second, it is a compact bag that folds and snaps up and fits in your car glove compartment or your purse etc... It makes a great gift bag because they are very cheap and they are reusable. All you have to add is a few pieces of tissue and some pretty ribbon. You can even spruce them up if you want. I made a little flower out of felt and used fabric glue to apply it for a birthday party my daughter was going to. It was very easy and once you have the felt and glue at home you can keep using it over and over.
One other good Eco Wrapping idea is to use your brown paper bags . Just add ribbon, some cool stamps, or have the kids help decorate package. When choosing ribbon use some of the fancy bows the florist use. You don't have to make any fancy florist bow, just an old school knot and bow looks great. If every family saved and reused just 2 feet of ribbon per year, enough ribbons would be saved to tie a bow around the entire planet!!You can also spruce up your brown bags with some greenery or even attaching an ornament. Martha Stewart has some neat ideas on her site. It really adds to your package and the ribbon,bows, and ornaments are reusable over and over. After we open our presents on Christmas Day our family is always fighting over the ribbon because we all want to use it next year on our packages. It's funny to see some bows over and over again each year! You can get this ribbon pretty much anywhere, craft stores, Target, even at Walgreens. There is also the recycled wrapping paper option but it can be pretty pricey. One more wrapping hint, don't use the shinny foil paper. It is not recyclable.

Greening up your Holiday is not as hard as you think. Be responsible and remember not to get into the "rush or pressure" and all will be good.

Happy Holidays from Little Green Booties.