Green Daily

Here in San Francisco we've resigned ourselves to another year of dashed World Series hopes. But we do have a baseball superlative to be proud of: The San Francisco Giants are certainly the most eco-friendly major league baseball team!

In addition to a solar powered stadium and a water-conserving irrigation system, the team uses Vaska, an all-natural, phosphate-free detergent. The company is even local, based across the bay in Berkeley, California.

Since I'm getting to be something of an expert on green laundry practices, the company contacted me and offered a sample of their herbatergent ™. Of course I said yes!

Golf, which has long been the easy-to-vilify target of the green movement, may not be quite as evil as we've been taught to believe. In some cases it might even be considered something good for animals and the environment!

A new study done in Sweden shows that the ponds found on golf courses can actually be very hospitable for wetland critters. In fact, they're better than regular ponds for the great crested newt, a protected endangered species. And there is even a type of dragon fly that you can only find in golf course ponds!

Besides the ponds, which apparently are more than chemical stews of frog hormone disrupters, the study also showed that most courses have surprisingly large areas of natural habitat for wildlife, since there can be up to 70% of non-play area. In urban areas, where there is little green space at all, a golf course could be the best opportunity for wildlife to find a place to nest.

(Photo by Getty Images)

June is the wedding month, and my family is taking it to heart! My brother, sister and cousin are all planning weddings, so lately every family get-together has turned into an advanced bridal idea exchange.

A lot has changed since I got married seven years ago. People are much more open to the idea of eco-friendly options, like email save the dates and using recycled paper (or the kind with wildflower seeds that you can plant) for invitations.

Over at Yum Sugar, Gail Simmons from Top Chef shared her favorite eco-friendly wedding tips, like skipping all of the extra envelopes in the invitation, giving out eco-friendly reusable shopping bags as favors, and sending the floral centerpieces home with guests.

(Photo by Embodies.com)

We green, eco-friendly girls really love shoes. Back in April I wrote about a few super-cute and eco-friendly shoe options. Then last week I read a great post on the "Top 10 Eco Friendly, Socially Conscious and Vegan Shoes" by Bonny Osterhageof White Apricot, which was reposted by Veronica on the Care2 network.

Bonny found 10 fabulous flats that I would love to take home and wear out. My absolute favorite is the Form & Fauna Pleated Dove Shoe, which is so stylish and made of completely sustainable and renewable materials. Coming in a close second is the Corso Como Floral Flat, which is made of leather, which is sort of bad-in-theory, but dyed with non-toxic vegetable dyes and packaged in recycled paper.

This combination of sustainable shoes vs. eco-friendly shoes creates an interesting dillema. Now that we've moved past the era of eco-friendly shoes being totally ugly and "comfortable" (you know I'm right), should it be okay for anyone ever wear eco-un-friendly shoes?

(Photo by Getty Images)

I have a "big" birthday coming up soon, so lately I've been thinking about parties. Gone are the days of buying loads of paper plates and matching plastic forks. No more throw away decorations, or gag gifts, and don't even think about mylar balloons!

All that doesn't mean we can't have fun festivities. We just have to be more thoughtful ...

Invitations
I love paper, but electronic invitations are the way to go. It's faster, easier for people to reply and you know it's less wasteful. Email or Evites!

Themes and Gifts
From kids to adults, more people are having a theme party to raise money for a beloved cause. Guests are asked to donate to a specific organization rather than bring a gift. It might raise traditional etiquette eyebrows, but imagine how good you'll feel saving the rainforests while dancing the Samba and drinking celebratory caipirnhas, or funding cancer research while enjoying pink grapefruit sorbet and rocking out to Pink?

Check out Echoage, an online service for kids parties that lets you organize the entire thing -- from invitations to donation -- online.

Cakes and Party Food
Food can be a great way to bring your theme to life. As always, pick food that is in season, grown locally and of course organic. Rather than buying a lot of packaged "party" foods, like chips and candies, roast up some spiced nuts (bought in bulk), or make your own sweet potato chips. How about a cake with edible flowers?

And remember, you can reuse those beeswax birthday candles!

Servingware
No, you can't buy that jumbo pack of plastic sporks at Costco. But that doesn't mean you'll have to do dishes for two days after your event.

Stalk Market plates are made of sugar cane, and are surprisingly sturdy. Even better, you can recycle or compost them. Pair them up with utensils made of corn or other vegetable starch, which are also compostable. Also compostable are cold cups made from corn -- especially good if your tipsy guests can't be trusted with the good crystal!

This way you can sweep leftovers, plates and utensils into a paper bag, and dump it all in your composting bin. When you clean up, you'll be helping your garden grow!

Decorations
What's a party without decorations? Before you hit the party superstore, check out Green Party Goods, an online party store with neat eco-friendly decorating options like garlands made of muslin flowers or biodegradeable paper butterflies.

Before you set up vases of cut flowers, consider festive potted plants, or arrangements of fruit. A bright bowl of oranges and limes smells as great as it looks, and you can always use them to garnish drinks!

And believe it or not, latex balloons are actually biodegradable and fairly earth-friendly. So you can have your balloon bouquet and still be green!

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!

Do you have a pet? A love of natural cleaning products? If so, you'll be crazy about the new TerraCycle line of pet cleaning products.

TerraCycle partnered with PETCO to create a new line of natural and nontoxic pet products. They're even packaged in repurposed plastic bottles -- the first line of pet products ever.

We're giving away a "basket" of these products to one lucky winner, including:

• Yard Odor Remover
• Stain & Odor Remover
• Trash Can Protector Spray
• Skunk Odor Remover -- the pet equivalent of a fire extinguisher – hopefully you never have to use it!
• Bird Feeder

To win, just go to the original post and leave a comment telling us about your funniest pet clean up mishap! You have until 5pm EST today to enter!

(Photo by Payless)

A series of sunny days has given me a powerful craving for fresh springtime shoes. Since I'm trying to control my carbon-footprint -- especially with Earth Day next week -- I decided to dig up some eco-friendly shoe choices. It turned out to be easy to find cute, environmentally responsible choices!

zoe&zac at Payless -- I'm dying for the purple zoe&zac Tigerlily Espadrille. Besides all of the shoes in the collection being super cute, you'll like:

• Payless will contribute $1 to The Nature Conservancy's Plant a Billion Trees Campaign when you buy any zoe&zac item
• recycled rubber soles
• organic cotton uppers
• amazing under $30 price tag

Keds Green Label - I totally want these green kicks in black! Good things about the collection include:

• 100% organic cotton uppers
  
• dyes made with non-toxic inks
• shoe laces made from 100% water bottles
• eyelets are nickel-free and the insoles are recycled

For years I've been into Simple for eco-friendly shoes, even though some of their styles have run to a sort of, um, more earth mother aesthetic than I usually wear. Lately they've come up with some more fashion forward looks, like the women's Teetoe in organic cotton, a rocking gladiator sandal. It also comes in a preppy-cute striped silk that screams summer at the beach.

So many fun shoes! Now I just need to take a quick trip to Goodwill to drop off last spring's impulse buys to make some room for all of my new shoes!

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!

Beginning on March 1 teens are invited to send in a video to Project Green Prom detailing how they would green their own high school prom. The contest, and campaign, is sponsored by Whole Foods and is designed to get teens thinking about what they can do personally to green the prom.

The grand prize is pretty cool and features eco-friendly prom attire and skin care for the winner along with prom catering from Whole Foods and a green prom consultation with a number of eco-friendly.

Video can be sent in only during March, so if you know some green teens, point them in the right direction and tell them to get to work. This is the kind of thing that could really bring out some creative solutions from eco-minded teens.

Eco-conscious or Eco-friendly?

Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, the first day of the 40 days of Lent on the Christian calendar. Many Christian denominations encourage people to sacrifice during Lent by giving something up that they enjoy. What if you used Lent as a time to work on a green habit?

Whether or not you are a Christian, it is an easy way to keep track of the time spent in working on a new habit. Lent begins with Ash Wednesday and ends on Easter. So, what can you do for the next 40 days?

Try giving up something you use frequently that isn't very eco-friendly. Maybe you still use paper towels or paper napkins a lot or forget your reusable coffee cup most mornings. Decide that if you don't have the cup you won't get coffee and I bet you'll retrain yourself pretty quickly.

Start a new green habit. Maybe you could walk to the post office or the grocery store once a week, give up your car one day a week or give up using the TV one evening a week to save some electricity.

Be mindful. Spend the next 40 days paying attention to what you do every day and take a closer look at those everyday things. There is bound to be one area that you could improve a little bit if you stop and think about it.

There is not much that makes me think of eco-friendly when I think of Mardi Gras which celebrates all things in excess it seems. But, if you like to celebrate at home, you can certainly be kind to the planet. And if you've never celebrated before, well, it's a good time to throw a party.

Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday is the last day before lent (Ash Wednesday is the first day of lent). Many Christian denominations believe in giving things up for lent, so Mardi Gras is the last opportunity to indulge before the 40 days of going without.

Celebrating at home, instead of trekking to New Orleans is the first way to be more eco-friendly for Fat Tuesday. Other things you can do include baking your own King Cake, indulging in some locally brewed beer, or making some Louisiana classics like red beans and rice and hurricanes. Or start some new Mardi Gras traditions at your home. Have the kids make a bundle of paper beads and string them and give away beads for good deeds done that day. Whoever has the most gets first try at the King cake.

While New Orleans has already started celebrating, Mardi Gras is officially next Tuesday, February 24.

I'm planning to try making my own laundry soap once I use up the detergent I already have and I've mostly been able to give up the dryer, but I'm still a bit unsure on adding some things to my laundry to make it all natural and wonderful.

Apparently, baking soda helps to have fresh laundry. Vinegar softens clothes and reduces static. I'm sure there are essential oils I could add to make everything smell nice since I am skipping the liquid fabric softener too.

But here's the thing. I have a high-efficiency, front loading washing machine. I can't add things to the final rinse cycle since once it's closed, it's closed. If I put baking soda in the detergent loader tray it's going to get stuck on the way down and gum up the whole system. The vinegar would be easier to figure out, but still a little tricky - maybe if I put it into the slot for fabric softener it would release at the proper time.

So, I know there are some of you out there that are using front loading washing machines and doing some natural or eco-friendly laundry. Fill me in. I'm sure there are others wondering too.