For the Eco-Geeks

I came across this video at Ted Talk on YouTube.  It's both amusing & insightful, especially from the point of my continuing quest for sustainable sanity.  The more I research, the more questions there are!  As Catherine Mohr (301monroe.com) states..."sometimes it's the unexpected changes that can make the biggest difference".  

Catherine Mohr Builds Green  - check out this video (8 minutes) for an interesting perspective. (Link not working at the moment..stay tuned!)

Now, I've often thought about this myself, because I have been a Shaklee Distributor for over 35 years.  One of our product lines is our earth-friendly homecare line, Get Clean.  Our first bio-degradable cleaning product, Basic-H, is celebrating its 50th anniversary!  Can you believe we were so far ahead of current trends, we almost "created" a trend. 

Our Get Clean line is the 2nd generation & was introduced about 3 years ago.  In that time it was named an Oprah Favorite, recognized in many magazines & received multiple environmental product awards.  But, what makes it relevant to this video is the impact it has had on  waste & energy consumption that is probably far greater than choosing green design options.  Just one family who buys a Get Clean starter kit, saves:

•  108 pounds of packaging waste,
•  248 pounds of greenhouse gas &
•  creates the environmental equivalent of planting 10 trees. 
•  In addition, Shaklee recently announced that the purchases of Get Clean products over the last 3 years, has saved enough plastic bottles to wrap around the Earth 28 times!  Amazing!

Another BEST PART is the way it reduces toxins in your home.  Instead of spending a fortune remodeling your home, or building a new eco-friendly home as Caroline Mohr did, you can spend less than $200 and have green clean power that will help you create a healthier family AND a healthier planet.  Now, that's a WIN-WIN!  Check out my web site for more details:
EPIC Green Team - Shaklee

I don't make a habit of doing ads for Shaklee here, but Earth Day is coming, and this is a simple change that everyone can make, without breaking the bank! 

When you can make 16 oz. of safe, non-toxic window cleaner AND 16 oz. of save, non-toxic all-purpose cleaner for less than 10 cents, then that's a bargain that's important to share.  Have a great, healthy, eco-friendly day!

Earth Day, Earth Week...Earth Day Every Day!

Yesterday, I attended 2 earth-friendly events.  Both were very enjoyable and more focused on greening up the outdoors & our food supply than green design.   Although the process of making our kitchen as eco-friendly as possible was the inspiration for this blog, the real message that has emerged is that our journey, like all of you who are making efforts to live more consciously & sustainalby, is about making small changes that will result in a cleaner, less toxic & more sustainable world for future generations, as well as ourselves.  Earth Day every day, inside & out, makes more sense the more you learn!

I attended a workshop on "Incorporating Desert Plants in a Native Garden" at the Tree of Life Nursery.  They have a great series of free workshops, held under a giant California Sycamore tree on their grounds.  Sitting there, you feel like you are part of the original California landscape. 

 Wendy, from Mountain States Nursery gave a very helpful presentation with lots of ideas for combining the structural succulents I love, with California perennials, trees & shrubs.  These pictures give you some idea of the variety of California natives & desert plants that blend together so beautifully. Well...that inspired me to buy more native plants, so I came home with lots of work for my Sunday garden team (thanks Lee!)...yippee!  More holes to dig.

While at TOL, I met Gary from Killer Dana Surf. He has a large garden with mostly natives plus fruit trees & other edibles...pretty impressive pix. As a surfer, & owner of a surf shop, he is in a unique position to enlighten surfers about the need for environmental stewardship. It seems like a lot of young surfers don't get the relationship between Earth Day & surfing, but Gary seems to get it and is sharing his message with other surfers.  Clean water & sustainable design all fit together, especially in light of health issues related to spending a lot of time in polluted water here at O.C. beaches. Go Gary!Next, I went to The Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano for their Earth Day festivities.  The event featured music, food, a plant sale, as well as information about their mission & membership.  Since they are a community project in my area & focused on teaching adults & children about strategies for living, eating & gardening more earth-friendly, I became a member.  I'll be posting more on their efforts in future.

Since Earth Day/Week/Month is special to me (April 22 is also my birthday, so I guess I was born to be an Earth Mother!), I'm going to celebrate by sharing more posts about a variety of ways to live greener & healthier in the coming weeks.  We'll also be having a great Earth Day Celebration, 2-5 p.m. on April 22 at our Neighborhood Cup in Aliso Viejo...more details on that this week. Share you thoughts & ideas on living greener, too.

More eco-friendly & green options

This week I've made more fascinating discoveries...really, I love this research!

First, I found an organization that's been around since 2007.  Climate Counts has recently chosen 6 Industry Innovators and my company, Shaklee Corporation, is one of them.  With our 54 year commitment to sustainable living, it is not surprising to ME, but I'm thinking lots of people will be asking, "What's a Shaklee?"  I'd say, "One of the best kept "secrets" in the world!"

Check out Climate Counts for the "scorecard" where you can learn how to vote with your dollars by finding your favorite companies to check their scores.  I was shocked at how few of the companies listed under "Toys & Children's Equipment" were even starting to use sustainable practices.  All companies that are striding toward sustianability, even those working at it for years, have great challenges, but to think that companies that create products for our youngest citizens are the lowest scoring as a group, is pretty disappointing!

Next, my daughter pointed me in the direction of EcoTimber.  Their products are LEEDS certified, sustainably forested & manufactured with the highest environmental & health standards.  Important...not just sustainable, but low in toxins for the protection of your family!  They're also quite beautiful as well.