Monthly Archives: June 2010
Resisting Change
| June 24, 2010 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
This month on APLS this question was brought up:
”Why are we, as a nation, so resistant to the idea of conservation instead of more oil exploration? … Yes, our lives look a lot different than years gone by but we have a lot of waste and excess that makes life cushy but is not necessary.”
I think we fear that conservation will mean giving up everything that makes us happy. We have gotten used to a life where everything is automatic to the point we have to buy gym memberships to stay in shape. We like our everything is just a push of a button away life.
Even those of us who lead what most would call a pretty green life still have a lot of cushy-ness (I don’t think that’s a word). My a/c is running as I type this, I just watched a movie today on my tv, I have an iPhone and all that great stuff that makes life a breeze. However my a/c is set higher than would be the most comfortable setting, my tv is an LED energy star tv and is plugged in to a power strip and turned off when not in use, and my iPhone get charged sometimes with a solar charger.
The point is we don’t have to do it all, we all just have to do something. After time these green changes just become habits. You just have to slowly change the way you look at life. Where should we really be looking for happiness, toys or people?
We must change our mindset, conservation isn’t about doing without, it’s about doing more with less.
Photo Credit: Marinephotobank
Gift Tips From Anna
| June 22, 2010 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
I received an e-mail from Anna’s mom sharing with me some info Anna thought I should have. She wanted to share with others how she has reduced waste when making gifts for Father’s Day.
Anna’s dad loves Dr.Pepper so she made in a “Dr. Pepper Flower” from some old bottles. She peeled the label off of some and made the flower and used a wooden kabob stick she painted with homemade finger paints for the stem. She used Legos to hold the flower in place in another Dr. Pepper bottle. She used Legos (blue to look like water) because her dad loves Legos. She also said “you can use rocks or pebbles from the yard if your dad doesn’t like Legos.”
She also got her dad some army men Legos from Toy Story 3. Anna’s dad said “Legos never wind up in landfills because they last forever and if you don’t want them anymore, someone else is always willing to buy them.”Also Legos are not coated so no lead paint and they are PVC free, Jennifer Taggert recommends them because they test as being safe. To wrap the present she used old newspaper that she decorated. She also uses brown paper bags sometimes for wrapping.
Anna is showing us that it doesn’t matter how old you are you can make a difference! These are great ideas for kids wanting to make gifts and be green.
Lead in Your Kid’s Juice Box?
| June 15, 2010 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
Yes there is lead in juice boxes! I’m still trying to find out if the lead is just in juice boxes or also bottles of juice but right now it looks like boxes are the problem. Scariest part is even organic brands were tested to have lead higher than Prop. 65 allows without a warning label!
The Environmental Law Foundation (ELF) tested nearly 400 samples of juices and fruit cocktail mixes marketed to children. 85% of them didn’t pass.
What Can I Do Now?
I wouldn’t use any juice boxes or fruit cocktails right now. I don’t know about bottled juices right now but they may be safe, I’m not throwing any out yet. I don’t know if I would give any bottled juice to kids right now.
Juice should be used in small amounts anyway as it’s high in sugar and doesn’t give kids the same nutrition as real fruit.
Until this whole miss is figured out the best option is water, tea, and freshly squeezed juice. Reuseit.com and The Soft Landing, LLC both carry some great options for kid size safe bottles to put their drinks in, in place of using juice boxes.
Also I recommend if you have used any of the products on the list that you contact the company and tell them how you feel about this whole mess.
For more information check out the Smart Mama’s blog and the Environmental Law Foundation.
Update: It looks like it is likely in bottled juice as well. You can find which did NOT have lead in the samples here on the Environmental Law Foundation’s website.If you must buy juice choose from this list.
Photo Credit: Lee Cohen
My Green Weekend
| June 14, 2010 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
This is my post for this months Green Mom’s Carnival, it’s hosted by the amazing Beth Terry who writes about living a life with less plastic at Fake Plastic Fish. Be sure to go check out the other great posts.
This past weekend my mom and I went attended the Oklahoma Sustainability Network’s conference in Edmond, Oklahoma. This is the second year we have gone.
Neither of us our morning people and were not looking forward to getting up around 5 a.m. to go to the conference. Thankfully my wonderful husband found us a hotel for the night before.
So Friday evening we headed up to the OKC area. On our way up we stopped at what we call our hippie restaurant (The Pink Elephant Cafe). We had a nice semi-organic dinner and headed down the street to Native Roots Market, a great store that carries a lot of local products as well as fair trade and organic products. We got some food for our breakfast and headed to Edmond.
We had a bit of trouble finding our hotel in the dark as there was only a tiny sign but once we got there we read some green blogs and went to bed way to late.
The next morning we got ready, made hot tea (fair trade and organic of course!) to put in our Klean Kanteen insulated mugs and headed to the conference.
Pulling in to the parking lot (in my mom’s Prius) we noted how many hybrids were there and all the green bumper stickers, for once in Oklahoma we felt we belonged.
Once inside we were surprised to find a friend from Ada was there, he is a member of the recycling coalition with us. We ended up going to the morning sessions together. The first session was with Paul James about gardening. It was very interesting though I do have to say I disagreed about a few things, like he isn’t big into native plants and a few other little things but overall I learned a lot.
After a few of the sessions we went to Chipotle for lunch as that is one thing that is always lacking at this green events, sustainable food. We also have food allergies so it’s easier for us to eat some place we know is safe and Chipotle doesn’t even service the food we are allergic too.
After lunch we headed back to hear the keynote speaker, Katharine Hayhoe, an author, professor, and climate scientist. She was great and I did pick up a copy of her book. I will be writing more about that after I read it.
One of the highlights was getting to meet another green blogger, Christine of Peak Oil Hausfrau was there. She spoke a bit during the session on being a citizen journalist. We got to talk to her after so that was a lot of fun.
Other sessions we went to included a talk from a panel on sustainable home improvement and a few talks about building a sustainable community.
After the conference we headed to OKC and had dinner at the semi-organic restaurant Sage. I spent a lot of the meal sending my husband picture texts of people in the restaurant because they were having a party for the makers of a film about the basketball player Wayman Tisdale, it was sponsored by the OKC Thunder so I was on the look out for Thunder players.
After dinner we went to Norman and back to Native Roots Market to get a few things and then we headed home. We both were very tired but had a lot of fun. I will be writing more in depth about the conference on Got2BeGreen.com so be watching for that.
What did everyone else do this weekend?
Has Being Green Hurt Your Relationships?
| June 9, 2010 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
Beth at Fake Plastic Fish has already touched on the issue when couples don’t agree on going green but has being green hurt friendships or other relationships? It has for me!
I grew up in a conservative Christian family and part of the country and while my immediate family has become more liberal and green, my more distant family is still very conservative. There is nothing at all wrong with that. I have many great conservative friends (most are!) but in Oklahoma at least it’s a bit hard to find people on the right that are very fond of the environmental movement.
I have found that now some people in my life are treating me differently, some have been hateful, and some have just cut me out of their lives. This hurts of course and isn’t what I wanted but whatever, not everyone has to like me. It does however make me ask why?
My friends believe all kinds of things and I still love them all. One of my best friends is very much like me in beliefs both religiously and political but my other is very conservative and very religious (Christian). They are both awesome and I respect and love them both.
So have any of you had this issue? Can anyone answer why some don’t want to accept others with different beliefs?
Green Smoothies
| June 8, 2010 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
If you read many health and/or environmental blogs you have likely heard of green smoothies. Green smoothies have become very popular. I’m not a huge veggie eater and really not a fan of raw veggies so awhile ago I tried making a green smoothie.
You can make them anyway you want and just add some greens like spinach. Sounds kind of gross but the fruit covers up the spinach taste.
Here is my favorite “recipe” (I’m totally guessing on amounts! Should be about 60% fruit and 40% greens)
1 Banana (I love bananas in smoothies but I limit my intake of them because of the environmental cost)
1/2 cup of blueberries
3 big strawberries
1/2 cup of yogurt or kefir
1 cup of fresh or frozen raw spinach
If you need more liquid add a bit of 100% juice. I like pear, apple or pomegranate. If I need it I had a bit of honey.
Blend all until smooth, drink with a glass straw.
I normally use frozen fruit, makes them colder and is just easier. Blueberries are great if you want a kid to try one as it keeps it from looking green. This is a great way to get some veggies and fruits, I often have them in place of breakfast or lunch.
Do you drink green smoothies? If so what are your favorite kinds?
Get the Pure Natural Diva Her Own Show!
| June 8, 2010 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
Tania aka Pure Natural Diva is trying to get her own show on Oprah’s new network. Tania runs the website Pure Natural Diva, helping people go green. Watch her audition and go vote for her. Let’s get some green on Oprah’s network!
Update on Anna
| June 8, 2010 | Posted by Lisa Sharp under Uncategorized |
Anna’s walk on Sunday went very well. She walked nine miles! Her mom said she was planning to walk 5 or 6 but when she saw if she walked 8 miles she would raise more than $1,000 for NWF she kept going. She would have walked 10 if the park hadn’t been closing.
Anna’s sponsors included member’s of her family, friends and even some businesses. I was able to contact some companies I have worked for and had a few step up to help! Glass Dharma and Nuture My Body were both kind enough to donate to Anna’s fundraiser.
Glass Dharma even sent Anna some of their awesome glass straws which I hear she loves and said “These are great, and now we can use even less plastic! We need to tell my friends about these!”
Reuseit.com has been helping get the word out about Anna and TerraCycle is hoping to also help by donating. I want to remind everyone you can still donate on Anna’s WWF Panda Page.
You can read more about Anna’s walk on her blog.
