green tea

I found the health benefits of green tea listed here one morning whilst perusing Yahoo:

fat fighter
targets belly fat
keeps energy stable
may be helpful against lung cancer
may halt colorectal cancer
appears to cause prostate cancer cells to commit suicide
may prevent skin damage and wrinkling
kills free radicals
tastes good

I'll admit the name conjured up some not-so-appetizing images, but decided to try it - and guess what - it is not green at all, go figure.

I can use all those benefits listed (well except for the prostate cancer one) and it really does taste good. I admit I have a pitcher of lemonade at all times in the fridge and mix some into my glass of tea.

So I am going green - tea that is!

seriously?

Come on folks, think before you toss something into the trash can and especially not onto the side of the road!


The above was read in a Georgia State Park brochure while camping this past weekend, there's something about sitting out in the green of nature that really hits home the whole recycling thing...

recycle your Christmas cards

Don't forget to send your Christmas cards to St. Jude's for their Recycled Card Program:

Over thirty years ago, wishing to show our donors appreciation for making St. Jude’s Ranch for Children possible, the idea was conceived for turning the previous year’s Christmas cards into "new" cards for the coming season.

The children participate in making the new cards by removing the front and attaching a new back. The result is a beautiful new card made by the children and volunteers. The benefits are two-fold: customers receive "green" holiday cards for use and the children receive payment for their work and learn the benefits and importance of "going green".

While you are cleaning up and out after the holidays, don't throw away those cards, or even put them into the local recycling bin, send them to St. Jude's, and while you are at their website, order some cards for next year!

reincarnation

What would you like to come back as? A teddy bear sounds like a great idea to me.

It is good to know that saving and recycling all those plastic bottles is being put to good use. Just look at that face! And so soft!

But the best part is the tag on his ear which says:

"This product is filled with fiber that is created from regenerated recycled plastic bottles."

That is so cool, and my daughters were right when they said, "Mom is gonna love this!"

greetings

Do you sent out Christmas cards? This has been a family tradition for as long as I can remember. I used to help my mother address envelopes as a little girl. My folks were in the Army and traveled a lot, so they had friends everywhere. My mom's address list was full of cities all over the country and a few beyond. A lot of these were people they probably would never see again, but kept in touch through the annual greeting card.

It is time once again to buy Christmas cards. Over the years I have bought many kinds of cards, pretty ones, funny ones, cheap ones, ones that support different causes like diabetes research or cystic fibrosis or wildlife.

But this year is different. Since I started recycling, I think more about what I am buying and consuming. Should we send cards at all? What about all those trees? There are lots of good ideas for what to do with cards after the holidays, but how about avoiding them altogether?

Some green ideas for cards: sending recycled paper cards, sending cards made of stuff other than trees, or my favorite:

Try a Christmas card that has a second life. Several companies make cards that have flower seeds embedded in biodegradable paper, and the card is printed with planting instructions. When spring comes, the card's recipient can plant your card in the garden.

Now the annual Christmas letter is another matter altogether. That tradition will stay, whether it goes out in a card or not. And of course I have all those forever stamps I bought back before they went up last year.

So cards or not, that is the latest recycling dilemma.

green plates

Thanksgiving is coming up.

Not one to put on the dog with china and crystal, I tend to go to the other end of the decorating spectrum.



I usually get the disposable styrofoam divided plates decorated in holiday colors... but since starting recycling I refuse to buy these plates, as our local recycling center does not accept them. So what do to?



Well, this one is easy, use real plates - duh! I may have enough, if not I can pick up a few more in town, at the dollar store or maybe the local thrift store where we take all our unwanted stuff. Hmmm, I think I took a set of stoneware dishes there a few years ago, I wonder...

Recycling has put many things into a different perspective, and the next recycling dilemma on the list is Christmas cards, more on that later.

Yahoo! Green has a good article on this here

one less trip

What's in your trash can?

Since starting to recycle, I have been proudly delivering all of our paper, plastic, cardboard, metal, and glass to a local recycling center. And taking everything else to the landfill.

But, STOP, maybe I am going about this backwards. Perhaps I should take only biodegradeable stuff to the landfill and recycle everything else.

But what about all that stuff in the middle, stuff that will not break down in the landfill, stuff that the center will not take, like styrofoam and foil?

Since starting to recycle, our trip to the landfill is down to one bag a week. Now I am thinking why go at all? Why use the gas?

After taking out the styrofoam and foil, most of what is in my kitchen trash can is food-covered paper plates, paper towels, wax-covered ice cream containers, and pizza boxes.

I finally came to the conclusion that we are overthinking this green thing a bit, as I carried the bag of trash out behind the shed and burned it. Poof, trash all gone, nothing for the landfill to process, no gas for the car to haul it to the landfill, problem solved.

Or is it? I Googled burning trash and read about how bad this is, but if I am just burning paper, one bag a week, is it so bad? What do you think?

betcha you can't eat just one

What is up with potato chip bags? A billion dollar industry like that you would think could come up with a recyclable bag! According to the Frito-Lay website, their bags may be recycled but they do not have a recycle symbol or number on the bag, and in their own words the bag is made of plastic with what looks like foil lining, so at this time there is no place to take them to be recycled.

Lay’s brand and Ruffles brand potato chips, once packaged in composite plastic bags, now are packaged in metallized plastic bags.

This results in a 25% reduction of weight in the packaging material used for these two products and a reduction of more than 6 million pounds of packaging material per year from being placed in landfills.

Just a quick Google search on recycling potato chip bags brings up all kinds of ideas - making them into purses or bracelets or wrapping paper, but nothing on recycling. Some research on the internet says they are not recyclable. So it looks like the nice shiny bags are going to be around forever, in one form or another.

I know, I shouldn't be eating them, then problem solved, actually more problems than one!

designer trash

Did you ever make a chain out of gum wrappers? You remember, back in school, the Juicy Fruit and Spearmint wrappers, folded and looped together?

Look what I found online at Ecoist - Eco friendly gifts, handbags, accessories:



Doesn't this look like those old gum wrapper chains? The folks at Ecoist use soda bottle labels, soda can pull-tabs, candy wrappers, movie billboards, and misprinted candy wrappers to make their designer jewelry and handbags.



I guess we were recycling way back then in high school making our gum wrapper chains. I know you remember how, but in case you forgot, here are the directions!

just recycle it

Living in a rural area by definition means living without some of the conveniences of city life, like trash pickup. So we just haul it off - to town, to the landfill, or to dumpsters. There is no recycling center here in our county. Only in the last few months have they designated one container for newspapers/magazines.

Everyone knows the benefits of recycling. The kids come home from school and shame us for not doing it. My sister-in-law drives 30 miles to pick up our aluminum cans to pay for her pet projects.

During a recent family outing, our neighbor and niece, Heidi, told us she had discovered a recycling center in the next county, which sparked a new family project.

For over a week, Melissa and I have been going through the trash, setting up bins, and sorting stuff to be recycled. Our actual garbage was reduced by over half for this past week.

Yesterday we made our first trip over the mountain to the Pickens Recycling Center. The folks were very helpful, the facility was impressive and efficient.

According to their website, they take paper (including cereal boxes and junk mail), all types of plastics, aluminum of course, tin cans (like vegetables and dog food come in), cardboard, even old appliances and tires!

Stop! You had me at junk mail!

just reuse it

And Man created the plastic bag and the tin and aluminum can and the cellophane wrapper and the paper plate, and this was good because Man could then take his automobile and buy all his food in one place and He could save that which was good to eat in the refrigerator and throw away that which had no further use. And soon the earth was covered with plastic bags and aluminum cans and paper plates and disposable bottles and there was nowhere to sit down or walk, and Man shook his head and cried: "Look at this Godawful mess." ~Art Buchwald, 1970

Reusable bags now at Wal-Mart! For $1 you can take a big GREEN step to do away with all those plastic Wal-Mart bags cluttering up your closets, drawers, automobiles, roadsides, forests, streams, etc.

According to treehugger:

Wal-Mart ... the introduction of a new, reusable carrier bag made from 85% recycled materials, including old water bottles. Emblazoned with the logo “Paper or Plastic? Neither.” the bags will be on sale to the public at the price of $1, and Wal-Mart will apparently be taking them back for recycling when they reach the end of their useful life.

We have all found multiple uses for the hundreds of white plastic Wal-Mart bags that come into our homes every year, but I believe I can do without them just fine. Way to go, Wal-mart! This week I also saw reusable shopping bags at Ingle's grocery store, and I heard that Kroger grocery stores were also offering the reusable bags, along with 5 cents off every time you used one!