Monthly Archives: May 2010
A Little Girl Helps Animals in a Big Way
| May 28, 2010 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
This is Anna and she is only six years old but she is doing big things. Anna is an animal lover and hates seeing animals going extinct so last fall she made bookmarks to sell to raise money for the animals she loves. She raised around $550 and donated it to WWF.
I had the honor of asking Anna a few questions and here is what she said.
RHGG: What made you decide to raise money for animals?
Anna: I love animals and I don’t want any to go extinct.
RHGG: I saw you were going to give a talk at your school for Earth Day, how did it go?
Anna: It went good. They liked it a lot and they asked me to come back and give it to the other class.
RHGG: What do your friends think about your love for animals and passion to help them?
Anna: I think they think it’s cool. They take zoo classes with me sometimes. We have fun together.
RHGG: What is your favorite animal?
Anna: I don’t have a favorite. I like so many. [Though Anna doesn't have a favorite animal she did say she loves polar bears and really doesn't want them to go extinct.]
RHGG: Do you have any pets? If so what kinds and what are their names?
Anna: I have a dog named Karma. She is 9 years old. I like playing ball with her and feeding her after tricks. I had a beta fish named Prettiness but she died.
RHGG: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Anna: I don’t know yet. Maybe I’m going to be an ornithologist, zoologist, or a dancer. Or maybe a marine biologist.
RHGG: What is the one thing you want everyone to do today to help the animals?
Anna: Try to not buy so much stuff and try to make less trash. To help protect the animals homes.
Here is a video of the talk Anna did at her school on Earth Day.
While Anna is no longer selling bookmarks you can still help her cause. You can donate to WWF on her Panda Page.
Also Sunday (May 30th) she is doing to do her own walk-a-thon to raise money for NWF’s efforts in the gulf. She already donated her allowance but that is of course not enough for this amazing little girl. She needs sponsors, you can find more info on sponsoring Anna on her website.
Green Gifts For Dad
| May 27, 2010 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
It’s time to be thinking about Father’s Day. It may just be me but I find it harder to buy green for guys. Here is a bit of help with shopping green for the dad’s in your life.
All the products seen in the video can be purchased at Reuseit.com.
These hand etched glass mugs from Jackglass are etched without the use of chemicals. I got my husband one for Christmas and he loves it!
Rain Organics Vodka is made from 100% organic white corn. This is my husband’s favorite vodka. It’s affordable and a great choice for any vodka drinker. Throw in some glass straws for a great gift.
Solio chargers will charge your ipod, phone, and all kinds of other items. The charger just has to be sat in the sun then it will store power for up to a year!
This gift basket from Global Exchange is great for dad. It has two full decks of playing cards, recycled teak wood business card holder, handwoven silk tie, and a steel bottle opener.
World Turtle Day
| May 24, 2010 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
World Turtle Day was started in 2000 by American Tortoise Rescue to help bring awareness of the issues turtles and tortoises are facing. With more and more oil spilling in to the ocean everyday turtles are at more of a risk than ever. But it’s not just oil making life hard for turtles, they are sold in live meat markets and as pets. Also turtles are one of the many animals hurt by our trash (largely plastic trash) ending up in the ocean. Turtles see the plastic trash and think it’s food and eat it.
- Never buy a turtle or tortoise from a pet shop as it increases demand from the wild.
- Never remove turtles or tortoises from the wild unless they are sick or injured.
- If a tortoise is crossing a busy street, pick it up and send it in the same direction it was going – if you try to make it go back, it will turn right around again.
- Write letters to legislators asking them to keep sensitive habitat preserved or closed to off road vehicles, and to prevent off shore drilling that can lead to more endangered sea turtle deaths.
- Report cruelty or illegal sales of turtles and tortoises to your local animal control shelter.
- Report the sale of any turtle or tortoise of any kind less than four inches. This is illegal everywhere in the U.S.
I will also add, please don’t litter and reduce your plastic waste to keep it from ending up in turtles mouths. And PLEASE don’t release balloons, the balloons will pop and animals end up eating them and the strings.
To start you on your way to reducing your plastic waste enter my current giveaway of hemp reusable bags.
You can find more information on turtles and how you can help them by going to the American Tortoise Rescue’s webpage. They also have Twitter and Facebook.
Giveaway: Hemp Reusable Bags *Closed*
| May 22, 2010 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
Winner: Cheryl F.
In honor of Hemp History Week Reuseit.com has offered a set of four hemp reusable bags to one lucky reader! The winner can even have their choice of color.
These bags are a great example of how wonderful hemp is and why we need it to be legal again in the US. They are from their ACME Bags collect. While I don’t have this style I have ACME Bags EarthTote and ACME Bags Workhorse. Both are great bags so I’m sure this one is as well.
Don’t forget even if you don’t win you if haven’t ordered from ReUseIt.com before you can use NEWCUST25 at check out and receive FREE SHIPPING on your order of $25 or more! Offer ends midnight 5/23/10.
1. Post your e-mail!!!!! Every time people forget, you can’t win if you don’t leave an e-mail address. (if you have a blogger account that has your e-mail that works as well, or if you fill it out in the info, just somewhere please!)
2. Go to Reuseit.com and tell me what other product you like on the site.
3. Enter by May 30th at 11:59 p.m.
It’s open to anyone in the continental US.
Extra Entries (post separate comment for each):
1. Blog about the giveaway, post link.
2. Post on Twitter, post link.
3. Add me on Twitter @retrohousewife5, leave username in comment.
4. Follow me, let me know which way you are following. (Google, NetworkedBlog, E-mail, other)
5. Add my button to your site. (the button and code are on the right side of the page) Be sure to leave a link for where you put the button.
6. Like Retro Housewife Goes Green on Facebook.
7. Like ReUseIt on Facebook.
8. Follow @Reuseit_store on Twitter, leave username in comment.
Remember post a separate comment for each of the above ways to enter! They will only count if they are separate.
*This giveaway is sponsored by ReUseIt. The prize comes from them. I was not paid for this post, however I am an ambassador for ReUseIt, I choose to be apart of their ambassador program because I love the company. These are my honest views on the product.
Have You Supported Hemp Yet?
| May 22, 2010 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
Hemp History Week is coming to an end be sure to take action on this issue. Hemp is part of American history and it’s time we bring it back!
Check back tomorrow for a giveaway from ReUseIt.com to cap off Hemp History Week. Until then check if you haven’t ordered from ReUseIt.com yet you can use NEWCUST25 at check out and receive FREE SHIPPING on your order of $25 or more! Offer ends midnight 5/23 so hurry and order some great reusable products, maybe even something made from hemp!
If you choose to use the code be sure and share what you got, I would love to hear about it!
Growing Hemp For The Environment
| May 20, 2010 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
As I showed the other day the uses of hemp are endless. As you can see from the video the farmers love growing it. It’s great for the environment as it can be grown easily without pesticides and other harmful chemicals. And even helps control weeds! Also the whole plant can be used to make products reducing waste.
Hemp is a great source of protein and is a good alternative to soy protein which is almost always GMO. Hemp also has omega fatty acids we all need to stay healthy.
Hemp can even be used to power cars! While I’m not a big fan of biofuels at the moment because they reduce gas mileage and most cars can’t run on 100% ethanol. However if the car makers will fix these issues and make cars that can run on biofuels without extra wear and reduced gas mileage, hemp makes a wonderful biofuel. It can produce 10 times more methanol than corn, meaning we have to grow less to make fuel.
Hemp could take care of all our paper needs. According to the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, one acre of hemp can produce 4 times more paper than one acre of trees. It’s also fast growing and can be used to make all paper products.
Environmentally and economically it just makes sense that remove the ban on growing hemp! Send the message to Washington that we want hemp back in America!
Use Hemp
| May 18, 2010 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
You can wipe your hands with hemp:
You can carry your water bottle in hemp:
Hemp History Week
| May 17, 2010 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
It’s Hemp History Week, a week to try and bring awareness to this great resource that is illegal to grow in the US. In case you haven’t noticed you can buy hemp products in the US, even hemp to eat but it can’t be grown here.
This week I will be posting a lot of information about this wonderful and useful plant. If you already have seen how great the product is and how much it can do for our country please visit Vote Hemp to learn how you can help get hemp legal again in the US.
You can read a bit about hemp history here on an old blog I wrote, The Many Uses of Hemp.
*Hemp is not pot. You cannot get high using hemp. The THC is so low you would have to smoke a telephone pole size joint in a short time to get high. It’s not possible.*
Avoiding Oil: Disposables
| May 15, 2010 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
Yesterday I posted a video about all the petroleum we use not in our cars. While driving less does make a really big impact we still need to think about the other ways it’s used as well.
First step is to buy less stuff. Energy is used to make everything, petroleum is used to ship the items and often the items use some form of petroleum in them. So think before you buy! If you are going to buy something look for the item made locally first, stay as close to home for items as you can so they don’t have to be shipped.
Disposable plastic items use a lot of oil to make and to ship. For example, 100 million plastic shopping bags take around 12 million barrels of oil to make.The US uses around 100 billion plastic shopping bags a year, that’s a lot of oil! So here are some great reusable products to help you stop wasting oil.
Reusable bags made from natural materials like hemp and organic cotton are great ways to reduce your oil use. If you need more compact ones they are made from plastic but as long as you choose high quality ones they will still replace many of the disposables ones still saving on oil use. The most important thing is that you use them! You can find many great styles of bags at Reuseit.com.
Using a reusable water bottle saves on the oil used to ship the water and the oil in the plastic bottle. They are also safer for you! Klean Kanteen is my favorite brand. Go for unlined stainless steel with a BPA-free lid. Reuseit.com carries many great stainless steel options and you can find other stainless steel options and even a glass reusable bottle on The Soft Landing, LLC
Using reusable containers in place of sandwich bags is another great way to reduce your impact. LunchBots are a favorite in this home! You can find LunchBots and other great reusable options on Reuseit.com and The Soft Landing, LLC.
Straws may not seem like a lot of waste but it adds up. These glass straws from Glass Dharma are beautiful and work great! I use one almost everyday. You can get them from Reuseit.com or Glass Dharma.
What are some of your favorite reusable items that replace plastic disposable items?
*I was not paid for this post. I am however a Reuseit.com Ambassador, this is because I believe in their products. I also am an affiliate and earn a small percent if someone buys from the sites. However these views are my own and I truly believe in this site and the products. You can read more about this on my disclaimer page. *
Hidden Oil
| May 14, 2010 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
Oil is everywhere! Tomorrow I will post some oil-free alternatives to these types of products.
