Earth Day

Green & Blacks Organic Chocolate Candy

Spring is one of my favorite times of the year – everything just comes to life and there seems to be absolute, unspoiled beauty everywhere you look. What a PERFECT time of the year to celebrate Earth Day (today!) and Mother’s Day.

Green & Black’s Organic Chocolate – the chocolate that makes no compromises – is offering some great ideas to observe both holidays.

Green & Black’s chocolates allow you to make eco-friendly choices while not compromising on life’s everyday indulgences. This is seriously, seriously delicious chocolate.

This year, in honor of Earth Day, Green & Black’s is offering a downloadable widget with daily tips on how to live green and black –respecting the earth while indulging in the best things it has to offer.

Some tips include:

While cooking for friends at your next dinner party, shop at your closest farmers’ market. Buying from local farms puts money back into your community, plus the produce will be fresher than items transported across the country.
On your next vacation, book a hotel that’s LEED-certified. The certification stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and is a national standard for builders looking to make a smaller impact on the environment.
Go to DineGreen.com to determine how eco-conscious your favorite restaurant is. The Green Restaurant Association offers various certification levels, based on criteria like whether a restaurant buys locally or composts its waste.

Be inspired by these eco-friendly ideas when celebrating Mother’s Day on May 10.

Treat Mom to an indulgent gift that also treats the environment.

If Mom can’t live without her morning cup of coffee or tea (guilty!), buy her a travel mug from her favorite coffee shop. She can travel to work in style while reducing the number of paper cups she uses.
Get Mom a chic metallic or cloth-covered case in which to carry her lunch; pack it with healthy snacks, like homemade granola, or a square or two of Green & Black’s organic chocolate.
Set-up a window box herb garden for Mom in the kitchen. Sprigs of fresh rosemary, parsley, and mint help make dishes more vibrant.

And you can never go wrong with treating Mom to a gift of delicious chocolate. Give Mom a variety of her favorite chocolate flavors – wrap up three to four bars of Green & Black’s organic chocolate in a bow for an affordable and delectable gift Mom can indulge in.

Green & Black’s offers 12 chocolate flavors ranging from light to dark chocolate. Traditional varieties include White, Milk, and Dark, while the more unique flavors are Maya Gold, Ginger, Espresso and new Toffee.

If you would like more information about Green & Black’s or to download the widget please visit www.GreenandBlacks.com.

As if we NEED another reason, using our Starbucks Card today makes a lot of “cents.” In celebration of Earth Day, Starbucks will donate 5 cents to Conservation International each time a card holder makes a purchase.

If you don’t have a Starbucks card or if, like me, yours stays maxed out – you can make a woderfully appreciated donation by clicking the link below. The Conservation International website points out that for each $10 raised, 10 trees are planted in Chiapas, Mexico.

The earth loves that!

http://www.conservation.org/campaigns/starbucks/Pages/default.aspx

From a CI Press Release:

“Since 1998, Starbucks and CI have collaborated to demonstrate that coffee can be grown in ways that support communities and preserve the environment,” said Ben Packard, Starbucks vice president of Corporate Social Responsibility. “Through this next phase of our relationship, we hope to extend our leadership in coffee sustainability and to invite our customers to join us in promoting the protection of forests as a solution to climate change.”

CI and Starbucks recently announced a five-year global commitment to support farming communities, encourage the protection of their land, water and forests, including a three year multi-million dollar financial commitment. By taking conservation beyond coffee farms and into surrounding landscapes, CI and Starbucks are addressing the most pressing environmental issue of our day—climate change. Beginning in Mexico and Indonesia, Starbucks and CI will pilot projects that create climate solutions through the protection of standing forests and restoration of degraded landscapes.

“The issue of climate change is everyone’s issue, and by engaging Starbucks customers in one of the solutions to climate change is very encouraging,” said Glenn Prickett, Senior Vice President and Executive Director, Center for Environmental Leadership in Business, Conservation International. “Buying a cup of coffee may seem like too small an action to make a difference, but simple changes can be multiplied to reach a scale never before realized – and we are saving thousands of acres of tropical forests in the process.”

Almost 20 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions result from the burning and clearing of forests, nearly double the emissions from all of the world’s cars, trucks, and trains combined. Starbucks investment in and support for local coffee growers and the communities that help keep forests intact will help ensure that every cup of coffee brewed produces tangible benefits for both local and global communities.

Coffee, Tea, or a pastry? I’ll have all three. (I’ll need to get another Starbucks card first, though.)

Click HERE to learn how easy it is to live green!