Posted By: emmaspirit on

Sunday, September 14th, 2008, 5:49 pm

What is Green?

Last week a new friend sheepishly asked me what “Green” really meant.

This question reminded me of how I started my Going Green blog in order to help people everywhere learn how to start going Green. I had thought that being Green had been a bit too exclusive…a club where you needed to know the handshake before you could join. I hoped that this Green blog would start to change that pattern and bring anyone who wanted to join under the Green tent. A place where you can ask questions and expect to get an understandable, practical, expert answer.

Since Green is personal, I thought I’d share what Green means to me and then invite you to do the same.

Green is taking conscious care of your self, your family, your home and your planet (i.e.; buying organic foods, keeping you home safe from toxic chemicals, driving a hybrid car, taking public transportation)

Green is about good choices, made everyday in lots of small ways .(i.e.: turning off lights, riding your bike, joining a local farmer’s co-op)

Green is a consumer lifestyle based on eco-friendly products, using less energy, natural health and wellbeing (i.e.: using safe, natural, non-toxic cleaning products, buying energy star electronics)

Green is multigenerational and appeals to a broad demographic (i.e.: kids, teenagers, moms, adults and baby boomers)

Green is transforming business, marketing and consumer purchasing habits (i.e.: demanding new accountability from churches, schools and government run buildings)

Green is about choosing goods and services that use economic and environmentally sustainable business practices (i.e. supporting local organic farmers, drinking fair trade coffee, buying bamboo products)

Green is about encouraging like-minded people to share tips and advice on how to live in an eco-friendly world in a non-confrontational way

Green is about acknowledging the mistakes of our past and being a part of shaping our future. The first step is the hardest…

I then think of Green at three different levels:

1.  personal green: the basics of good, wholesome, healthy nutrition and the use of safe non-toxic products

2.  local green: the environment in our homes and our community

3.  global green: how to protecting oil soils, our forests, our air and our planet

As I stated, this is simply my definition of “Green” and I’d love to hear yours.

Tags: organic, green, environment, ecofriendly

Posted By: emmaspirit on

Sunday, September 14th, 2008, 5:44 pm

What is Green?

Last week a new friend sheepishly asked me what “Green” really meant.

This question reminded me of how I started my Going Green blog in order to help people everywhere learn how to start going Green. I had thought that being Green had been a bit too exclusive…a club where you needed to know the handshake before you could join. I hoped that this Green blog would start to change that pattern and bring anyone who wanted to join under the Green tent. A place where you can ask questions and expect to get an understandable, practical, expert answer.

Since Green is personal, I thought I’d share what Green means to me and then invite you to do the same.

Green is taking conscious care of your self, your family, your home and your planet (i.e.; buying organic foods, keeping you home safe from toxic chemicals, driving a hybrid car, taking public transportation)

Green is about good choices, made everyday in lots of small ways .(i.e.: turning off lights, riding your bike, joining a local farmer’s co-op)

Green is a consumer lifestyle based on eco-friendly products, using less energy, natural health and wellbeing (i.e.: using safe, natural, non-toxic cleaning products, buying energy star electronics)

Green is multigenerational and appeals to a broad demographic (i.e.: kids, teenagers, moms, adults and baby boomers)

Green is transforming business, marketing and consumer purchasing habits (i.e.: demanding new accountability from churches, schools and government run buildings)

Green is about choosing goods and services that use economic and environmentally sustainable business practices (i.e. supporting local organic farmers, drinking fair trade coffee, buying bamboo products)

Green is about encouraging like-minded people to share tips and advice on how to live in an eco-friendly world in a non-confrontational way

Green is about acknowledging the mistakes of our past and being a part of shaping our future. The first step is the hardest…

I then think of Green at three different levels:

1.  personal green: the basics of good, wholesome, healthy nutrition and the use of safe non-toxic products

2.  local green: the environment in our homes and our community

3.  global green: how to protecting oil soils, our forests, our air and our planet

As I stated, this is simply my definition of “Green” and I’d love to hear yours.

Tags: organic, environment, green, ecofriendly

Posted By: emmaspirit on

Sunday, August 3rd, 2008, 3:59 pm

Ah August…the perfect time to get away and escape the stress of the eleven other months of the year. Typically, my husband and I take a week to ten days off in August and travel locally to Shelter Island, Nantucket or the Catskills. This year a variety of reasons kept us in NYC including the high price of gasoline and airfare. (What a shame that our politicians couldn’t manage to vote on the new energy bill before their massive FIVE week vacation.)

So to make the best of it, I planned my five day “staycation” to escape my day-to-day routine and pretend I was visiting a fabulous eco-spa.

Day One:

To get myself in the mood, I visited Priti Organic Spa in the lower east side of NYC. Since I rarely journey to this part of town, just wandering around this neighborhood felt like an adventure. It was a quick trip on the L train and then a short walk, on a gloriously beautiful day, to this special spa. Priti is an environmentally friendly spa that uses only organic products such as Pangea Organics, Stella McCartney’s all organic skin care line CARE and Dr. Alkaitis holistic skin food. Their facialist, Elina, took great care with my skin and made me look and feel radiant.

Next Marie treated me to an organic manicure and pedicure in a bamboo basin with floating flowers and no chemical, non- toxic nail polish. Priti’s eco-friendly, organic Priti nail polish comes in tons of standard and hip colors. How relaxing to go to a nail salon and not have to ingest toxic chemicals!

Day Two:

The food at an eco-spa is supposed to be fabulous, right? So off to Whole Foods I walk for some ready made organic treats and produce – who wants to cook on their vacation? Luxuriating in my open schedule, I explore Whole Body for an hour picking out organic bath soaks and mud wraps.

Day Three:

Time to try my in home spa treatments…I started with a good soak in Masada dead sea mineral salts - a combination of Calcium, Magnesium, and Potassium that does eases both mind and body. Then my Ahava dead sea mineral mud wrap proved to be the messiest and most fun treatment. First you get the mud warm and then you slather it all over your body and let it dry for 15 minutes. You are literally wearing dark gray mud and as it cakes, your skin tightens. After a thorough rinse in the shower, I was ready for a deep nap as the toxics were sucked out of my now smooth and relaxed body.

Later I wrapped my hair in a warm organic olive oil drenched towel and let it penetrate into my roots. Another shower…

Day Four:

Feeling balanced again, I turned off my cell phone, settled into my favorite club chair in the sunniest room in our apartment and curled up with a good book. I didn’t move all day to do anything besides make more Numi organic green tea.

Day Five:

I woke up late to the sound of heavy rain and thought hmmm…what does one do on vacation when it rains? Send postcards? So I saved myself some paper and stamps and emailed individual notes to 10 of my good friends.

Then it was back to my book, my bed and my last day of bliss.

While I don’t have any vacation photos worth framing and even fewer mosquito bites, I did achieve my goal of escaping my routine and rejuvenating my body and soul in the most eco-friendly ways possible.

Mary Beth Gonzalez

Tags: vacation, ecofriendly, nail polish, staycation

Posted By: emmaspirit on

Sunday, June 15th, 2008, 11:52 am

I gladly switched to better tasting organic produce and jumped at the chance to experiment with natural beauty products but using an organic dry cleaner seemed like such a risk. Since I moved to NYC in 1988, I have made a weekly trip to my friendly neighborhood, Korean dry cleaner. Until recently, in NYC the organic dry cleaner options were primarily outer borough businesses that would send a messenger to come pick up your dry cleaning at your building. Could I trust our expensive suits, my husband’s custom shirts and my white silk blouses to a dry cleaner I couldn’t actually look in the eye? Was it possible that my “dry clean only” clothes could get clean without those noxious dry cleaning chemicals I had grown up with?

You bet. This Earth Day my husband and I took the plunge and switched to Green Apple Cleaners – a new friendly neighborhood C02 green dry cleaner. This natural carbon dioxide technology is like washing your clothes in fizzy water…like club soda…and it is safe for our clothes as well as the environment. In fact, CO2 will actually remove the residual harmful chemicals hiding in your clothes from traditional dry cleaners who use harsh chemicals (perchloroethylene, hydrocarbons and silicone) that are hazardous wastes and ground water contaminants. These chemicals have been linked to the high incidents of leukemia among dry cleaner employees.

Plus the CO2 process actually helps the environment as their website explains:

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is naturally abundant in our environment, and it can be collected as a by-product of many industrial processes—as a result, our cleaning method doesn't add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. In fact, we use CO2 that would have been released into the environment, thereby reducing overall global emissionsof the gas.

I’ll admit that my expectations were low. I thought that maybe the clothes would come back looking like they had barely been touched. I knew that they wouldn’t smell like chemicals, and I figured that would be good enough. I didn’t expect that the clothing would be delivered in reusable garment bags, so I wouldn’t have all those plastic bags to throw away, and they drive around town in fuel-efficient vehicles for pick-ups and deliveries. While I haven’t yet noticed any significant difference in the quality of the dry cleaning, I know that by going chemical-free I’m doing something good for me and for my planet.

Check out their website to learn more and search the internet for local CO2 green dry cleaning options near you. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised how clean green can be.

Mary Beth Gonzalez

Tags: green, ecofriendly, co2, dry cleaner, leukemia

Posted By: emmaspirit on

Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008, 7:06 am

Green Wednesday, the day after Earth Day, is here. Today is a day when consumers can vote Green with their dollars and reward those companies who offer eco-friendly products. I’ve been saving up my greenbacks and researching my Green Wednesday purchases for weeks. It hasn’t been easy to think of new green things we can do since our lifestyle is already very green, but I’m ready to start exercising my purchasing power!

My environmental commitment is focused in three areas: “good for me” green, “good for my family” green and “good for the planet” green. Here’s where I’m putting my money today:

“Good for Me” Green:

- Purchase a bottle of Nordic Naturals – a daily dose of this fish oil, rich in omega 3, offers health benefits such as reducing inflammation, increasing blood flow, promoting joint, heart and skin health, improving memory and general wellness, $39.95

- Buy To-go Ware bamboo utensils for use at work and eliminate using plastic forks silverware with my lunch take-out, $19.95

- Eat an organic, free-range egg breakfast at home rather than grabbing a non-organic breakfast to eat at my desk, $3.60 a dozen

“Good for My Family” Green:

- Go to an organic dry cleaner: Green Apple Cleaners, $2.75 for a men’s shirt, $14.50 for a dress (!)

- Buy an organic, non-toxic, sustainable sofa: ABC Home and Planet , $2799

- Buy a new energy-efficient, window Energy Star GE Air Conditioner ,$499

“Good for the Planet” Green:

- Purchase four Spider plants to clean the air we breathe, $5.99 each

- Buy bamboo blinds for our five southern facing windows to cool the room and save on energy costs, $74.95 each

- Watch Ed Begley Jr. in Living with Ed on HGTV, a green reality show to support green programming and their green advertisers

It has been an expensive day, but I wanted to make a strong statement of support for these environmental companies. Please join the “buy-cott” and share your own plans today for Green Wednesday. Let’s put our money where our mouth is.

Tags: ecofriendly, earth day, green wednesday