by Joi on October 30, 2008
It seems like I’m always preaching about “living green” on one of my blogs – if it’s not here, it’s on Self Help Daily or Out of Bounds. We should all pay more attention to the little things we do and buy, because we all know the little things add up.
Someone was thoughtful enough to e-mail me the link to a great article on Organicasm called Eco-Kitchens: 100 Big and Little Ways to Make Your Kitchen More Earth-Friendly. It’s a superb read and I promise you there’ll be numerous tips and ideas you hadn’t yet thought of.
Below are just a few of my favorites:
Get a Solar Cooker
Keep appliances separate: Keep your cooling refrigerator away from your heating oven, for example.
Instead of a side-by-side model, choose a top and bottom refrigerator, which lets less cold air escape.
Buy towels, rugs, table runners and more made of bamboo, and you’ll be using a renewable resource.
Skip air fresheners: Instead of using air fresheners, boil cinnamon, cloves, or other great-smelling herbs.
These are just a few, please check out the full list by visiting Eco-Kitchens: 100 Big and Little Ways to Make Your Kitchen More Earth-Friendly. Great stuff!
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!
