Eco Green Tips

We have entered 2010 and the glooming threat of the global warming and the resulting climate change is ever so threatening. The latest summit in Copenhagen has so miserably failed in achieving the minimum agreements and treaties necessary to change the laws to stop the global warming.

That means only one thing: our governments do not deem climate change a threat big enough to deal with it swiftly. Our governments still think we have time to deal with it later. But we are running out of time faster than the scientists predicted not more than few years ago!

The latest surveys of the Arctic ice have concluded that it is melting more rapidly than predicted and may well be totally gone by the end of this coming decade. And while this is the worst case scenario, it does not mean that the threat may be so casually ignored. Global warming is real and it is not going away. Ignoring it will not make it disappear and the only thing we can do is to continue incorporating the small changes in our daily lives, such as using CFLs, recycling, conserving water and energy as well as other natural resources, as those too are running out.

And hopefully, if we the citizens, will press our governments enough to change their way of thinking with regards to climate issues, we may yet be able to save this beautiful planet we have the privilege of living on. Let this be your number one resolution, promise or whatever you want to call it for 2010…

It is this time of the year again when we celebrate and meet with friends and family and Thanksgiving is a first step in the long period of festivities. So don’t forget to keep it green and to help you with it, below are a few tips on how to color this year’s holidays green:

•  Buy sustainable food—e.g. free-range or humanely raised turkey, which are becoming increasingly available and affordable. Take it one step further and buy heritage breed turkey, which strays away from the standardized factory turkeys promoting biodiversity.
• Buy your food locally—this way will allow you to reduce youcarbon footprint by cutting down on the distance your food would travel. Moreover, it supports the local farmers, who in general use more eco-conscious methods of farming than the big corporations. And you get the freshest produce available. If you don’t know where in your area there is a farmers market, go to Local Harvest, a site that connects consumers with locally grown food.
• Reduce waste—by skipping the ready-made or boxed meals and cooking them yourself from scratch. Moreover, you can compost your food waste instead of discarding it in the regular trash.
• Use green storage containers—store your leftovers in either glass or the good plastic containers. For more information about how to buy plastic containers and what types of plastic are good, go to Plastic Recycling Symbols, Buying a New Plastic Container and Buying a New Plastic Container- part II.

And for more tips on eco-friendly Thanksgiving, go to Green Thanksgiving

photo credit: Tambako the Jaguar

I was surfing the internet a while ago and came across a link that was advertising natural chocolate so (the chocoholic that I am) I clicked on it and it took me to this wonderful website (Endangered Species Chocolate) where not only can you buy natural and sustainable chocolate and cocoa but you can also adopt an endangered species animal.

Looking at the pictures of these magnificent creatures I simply could not resist and thus without further ado I adopted a lioness and her two cubs (I am quite partial to lions) . They are the only members of the pride left after the African farmers put poison on the wild buffalo the pride killed. The devastating practice of poisoning the carcasses led to annihilating many prides of these beautiful animals.  

So if I can help save one endangered animal, the little amount of money is absolutely worth it. And it made me feel like I did something a lot bigger than changing bulb and recycling to preserve this wonderful planet we live on…

Two extremely interesting and informative videos about one of England’s counties recycle program, which should be taken as an example to follow by all of us around the world.