Green Daily

(Photo by Getty Images)

The gals over at PrettyCity tell us that it's "pretty being green," and they're helping the rest of us put that uplifting idea into practice with their Green and Gorgeous pledge, which started on June 5th, World Environment Day.

Across the country, spas are participating in Green and Gorgeous by pledging to recycle, conserve water and energy and provide green products to their clients. And I was also intrigued to read that the spas are developing signature treatments that have a reduced negative impact on the environment.

While supplies last, green ladies -- and gentlemen -- who get a treatment at a participating spa also get a "Tote-ally Pretty" tote that is super cute and a great reusable shopping bag.

(Photo by Sephora)

I'm so excited to see so many cosmetics companies have embraced earth-friendly and sustainable practices. Clearly they finally figured out that it's a money maker -- I know I'm twice as tempted by organic eyeshadow when it's in a bamboo package!

Physicians Formula's OrganicWear line is sold in completely recyclable packaging, from the paper compact holders to the corn-based brush handles. Sephora is offering a "Pure Palette" of 95% natural ingredients, and at least 10% organic ingredients. It comes in a compact made of sustainable bamboo and recycleable metal.

The latest cosmetic temptation to catch my eye is the Mother Earth Palette from Smashbox. It's has four subtle and versatile eyeshadows that are certified-organic, as well as a peachy blush that will compliment most skin shades.

The compact is made from sustainable materials, and for each purchase Smashbox will plant a tree through Trees for the Future, a global non-profit that dedicated to sustainable agroforestry. You can take home this sweet, limited edition palette at Sephora for $45.

While you're shopping for "green" makeup, check out some other Smashbox products that have earned the Sephora natural seal, like:

• O-GLOW -- a cheek color with Goji Berry-C complex and pomegranate seed
• Bionic Mascara -- ionic mascara that contains aloe, silk and wheat proteins to make your lashes long and healthy
• Photo Finish Lipstick with Sila-Silk Technology -- super smooth, silky, long wearing and organic

(Photo by The Sak)

One of the many ways we celebrated Earth Day here at GreenDaily was with a fantastic combination giveaway:

• The Sak Eco Harmony Dip Drawstring Bag -- made of 100% Bamboo and Recycled Cotton in hot caynne red
• The Unity Collection from Altru -- a collection of Altru home frangrance items, in the sensual Unity flavor
• Physicians Formula Organic wear® 100% Natural Origin Makeup-- a full collection of this new and incredible line of natural makeup!

There were loads of entries, but we could only pick one winner, Angie, who shared these Earth Day plans:

I have actually already started celebrating Earth Day! On Sunday, I attended Columbus, Ohio's Earth Day Celebration in Goodale Park by visiting all the many information tents and enjoying a vegan hot dog. Tomorrow, my hubby and I (he is taking the day off from work) are going to start the foundations of our new organic vegetable garden! I can't wait!

We hope she looks and feels awesome while working in her new garden and enjoying her eco-friendly prizes!

(Photo by The Sak)

We have an eco-tastic double giveaway for you this week, in honor of Earth Day. The prize pack includes an amazing eco-friendly bag from the Sak, filled with amazing natural treats for your home from Altru, and gorgeous organic goodies for you from Physicians Formula. Check it out:

• The Sak Eco Harmony Dip Drawstring Bag -- made of 100% Bamboo and Recycled Cotton in hot caynne red
• The Unity Collection from Altru -- a collection of Altru home frangrance items, in the sensual Unity flavor
• Physicians Formula Organic wear® 100% Natural Origin Makeup-- a full collection of this new and incredible line of natural makeup!

And best of all, we're giving away another whole set of these prizes at sister site, StyleList! So when you're done entering here, go and enter there, too, for a second chance to win.

To enter, visit the original post before 5pm EST today and tell us how you celebrated Earth Day. It's that easy!

In honor of Earth Day, we have a truly eco-fantastic giveaway this week. It's an amazing eco-friendly bag from the Sak, filled with amazing natural treats for your home from Altru, and gorgeous organic goodies for you from Physicians Formula. Everything in the prize is earth-friendly!

(Photo by The Sak)

The Sak Eco Harmony Dip Drawstring Bag -- You'll love the look of this fabulous and fashionable bag, which is made of 100% Bamboo and Recycled Cotton. As always, you can count on the functional SAK interior, with two pockets and a zippered pocket. It also has some eco-cool bling: a hand carved and painted mandala made of sono-wood, a sustainable wood from Indonesia, attached with traditional Indonesian prayer beads.

The Unity Collection from Altru -- Make your home an oasis with this collection of Altru home frangrance items, in the sensual Unity flavor, a combination of burmese woods and honey. The collection includes a soy blend wax candle in hammered copper, interior fragrance oil with diffusing reeds, and rich exotic incense sticks.

Altru, which was created by Manuela Testolini, is commited to social responsibility through it's support of Perfect World, a non-profit organization that she also created, to help children become "compassionate, socially conscious and responsible leaders."

(Photo by Altru)

Physicians Formula Organic wear® 100% Natural Origin Makeup -- this is an incredible line of natural makeup available at drugstore prices. It's 100% free of harsh chemicals, synthetic preservatives or parabens, comes in eco-conscious packaging, and contains 100% certified organic ingredients. The prize includes a huge set of Organic wear® products, including the yummy Superfruit lipgloss and the mascara with the green leaf applicactor that everyone is talking about!

And even better? We're giving away another whole set of these prizes at sister site, StyleList! So when you're done entering here, you can go and enter there, too, for a second chance to win.

Are you ready to celebrate Earth Day with all of this schwag? Then let's get this giveaway rolling!

When it comes down the the cloth verses disposable diaper debate, the obvious winner is early potty training. However, elimination communication or infant potty training is not for every parent; but trying to get a strong willed two-year-old to sit still on a toilet can be most challenging. The folks over at Baby Signs have created a potty training system designed to have your toddler trained by that "terrible twos" stage.

Baby Signs combines sign language, engaging animation and rewards to entice your toddler to come aboard the "Potty Train." In the box is a comprehensive manual explaining the benefits of teaching sign language to young children, a Potty Train DVD, book, reward stickers and a wooden train whistle. The entire system retails for $39.95.

Now that spring is here and summer will be coming soon, it is time to think about fleas if you have pets. It is definitely good to have a plan and work on preventing fleas rather than trying to get rid of them once they are on your dog and in your house - trust me.

I learned a few things about flea control when I got my dog in November. She came with a really bad case of fleas and it took time and dedication to get rid of them.

Fleas don't like pets that taste bad. You can give your pet garlic tablets (made for them, not the human ones) or, garlic and brewer's yeast tablets. My dog gobbles them up and they are relatively inexpensive at the pet store or Walmart. You can also give your pet some apple cider vinegar inside and outside. I spritz a little on my dog's dry food each evening and she doesn't seem to mind at all. And when she is spending a lot of time outside I spritz some on her coast and brush it in - that one isn't so popular with her though!

If you frequently brush your pet you can keep fleas at bay and if your pet does pick some up, you will know about it before it gets out of control.

And here's a simple solution if you do end up with some fleas. Fleas don't like to take a bath. A simple bath with soap and water - not even flea shampoo - will kill off the majority of fleas that you have. And if they have invaded the house sprinkle boric acid on the carpets and let it sit overnight, then vacuum it up. That should rid you of most of them.

You can get rid of fleas naturally. It just takes some patience.

[Via EcoSalon]

Do you still use cotton balls or pads to apply toner or to remove makeup? And do the piles of used puffs in your trash give you green guilt? Skincare expert Renée Rouleau has a better choice -- ultra thin toning cloths.

Renée has always believed in quality tools and simple packaging -- it's what's inside the bottle that counts. Taking this philosophy to the creation of her Toning Cloths, an economical alternative to cotton balls.

The Toning Cloths soak up 50% less, so you reduce the amount of makeup or cleanser you need to use. Also, they are packaged in 100% recycled cardboard packaging, reducing the impact on the planet.

They are soft, lint-free, and actually work better than cotton balls, which always drive me crazy by falling apart and leaving behind clumps of white stuff!

Plus, for just $10.50, you get 160 in a box, which is also a great deal. Use them with Renée's alcohol-free witch hazel infused Balancing Skin Tonic, or the nourishing Elderberry Toner with anti-infammatory properties.

If you have trouble sleeping you might be tempted to reach for the medicine cabinet or even fall asleep in front of the television. Neither solution will give you the restorative type of sleep that you need in order to be at the top of your game. Sleep aids can become addictive and television can actually cause insomnia (not to mention waste energy if left on all night long).

Here are a few natural sleep tips to help you along:

I've definitely been greening my makeup practices -- chemicals don't belong in rabbits' eyes or mine -- and I'm always looking for affordable ways to try new products.

If you're eco-curious like me, and a Sephora Beauty Insider (which you totally should be -- you get deluxe size samples!), then stop by your local Sephora store this Saturday. They're holding "Naturals Events" at their stores, with tons of info on organic and natural makeup.

They'll be doing complimentary one-on-one green makeup consultations, plus giving out a goodie bag full of green makeup samples.

It's a great way to can explore your inner mineral makeup goddess, without shelling out a fortune for something you might not want. Plus, it's so fun to get insider tips from makeup pros.

And the samples, aaah, samples. But you can only get them if you're a Beauty Insider, so sign up now!

As if we all needed another reason to hate traffic jams. A study coming out of Germany's Institute of Epidemiology suggests that sitting in traffic not only wastes your precious time on planet earth, but it can increase your risk of a heart attack -- and not just from road rage. According to the research, subjects who experienced heart attacks were three times more likely to have been in traffic during the hour preceding their cardiac event. Coincidence? The scientists at Helmholtz Zentrum Muchen think not.

You've gotta love the minor holidays. They help us to get through the party drought that begins after Mardi Gras and lingers on into the summer. And, even though it's really just an excuse to get wasted on exotically colered beer, or maybe because it's really nothing but an excuse to drink exotically colored beer, St. Patrick's Day can really help to get your ya-yas out.

It's also an opportunity to get a horrible hangover on beer that's chock full of our dirty old, petroleum-derived friend: Green No. 3. While green food dye may not be the main reason why those St. Patty's Day brewhahas are especially hard on you the next day (I'm guessing that's the Guinness), Green No. 3 has been linked to an increased risk of bladder cancer. In fact, the state of Maryland is considering a ban on the stuff. If you want to party with some green brews, you might want to try Chefmaster's all natural green food coloring instead.

[via Treehugger]

Spring means gardening, and that means some dry, cracked hands. I'm sure you've had the experience of using moisturizers and hand lotions that actually make your poor hands feel worse -- greasy, goopy, and ugh, the perfumes!

If you're looking for something that is strong enough for man, but gentle enough for the whole family, check out Sweet Grass Farm Super Duty Hand Care.

It's not a lotion, it's a salve that comes in a solid, round disk of beeswax, olive oil, and lanolin. No muss, no fuss, it's packaged in a metal tin, the scent is fresh combination of lemon and lavender, and most importantly it makes your hands feel soothed and soft.

To "apply" the salve, you pass the disk from hand to hand, warming it up with your natural body heat.

At first it's kind of trippy, and I definitely thought, "Oh boy, this is going to be a mess." But your skin is able to absorb the natural ingredients in a way that is so much cleaner than most hand lotions.

When you're moisturized enough, you put it back in the can. One disk lasts for ages.

Like all of the products from Sweet Grass Farm, the Super Duty Hand Care is totally affordable: $7.95. You can order it from the website, or pick up a tin at your local enlightened natural food store, in the Awesome section.

I was pretty excited to hear that reliable drugstore beauty brand Pantene was coming out with a "green" line of shampoo and conditioners. The lovely Padma Lakshmi is the spokesperson for the Pro-V Nature Fusion line, which contains cassia essence, which is sourced in India.

There are two formulations of the Nature Fusion line, Smooth Vitality and Moisture Balance. Pantene sent me a sample of the Smooth Vitality to try out, and it was totally great. My hair was shiny and manageable, the fragrance is awesome, and you have to love a beauty product this affordable -- just $4.99 at Walgreens.

Here's the question, which a very smart commenter pointed out in my first post. Is it really green? And honestly, well, no. Sure, it contains some botanical extracts, but it still has a lot of those other "chemical" ingredients -- you know, the ones that make shampoos and conditioners so effective.

But is a move in the right direction. The more mainstream botanicals and oils and herbal infusions become, the more affordable and accessible they will be. And fewer chemicals are always better.

So, if you're like me and just can't give up the traditional stuff entirely, can't afford the super amazing eco-friendly products, and will never use something like Dr. Bonner's Peppermint soap on your hair, this gives you another choice.

We all have to start somewhere.

When it comes to planet cramming, my fun new term for overpopulation, we're living in a unique time. Populations are not only spiking thanks to super-high birth rates in developing countries, but by steadily increasing lifespans in the developed world. In Japan, where the government doles out silver trophies to each person that lives to see their 10th decade (kinda like a gold watch for retirement), the government is having trouble keeping the tradition within the limited budget.

When they started handing out trophies in 1963, there were only 153 winners. Last year, there were 19,769 silver trophies awarded to Japan's elderly elite. According to a Health Minister, they've had to cut costs by shrinking the size of the silver cups: "we realized there's not such a big difference in appearance if we cut the diameter from 10.5 to 9 cm." Each of these trophies costs about $82 bucks, so now with more people refusing to kick the bucket, Japan's tradition of respecting the elderly is getting ever more costly.

There's got to be an argument for leading unhealthy lifestyles for the planet in there somewhere. Cigarette anyone?