Holiday Gift Picks

Welcome to part two of our Holiday Gift Guide! In our last post, we explained the four most important factors to consider when buying a gift. Luckily for you, The Greener Good has already sniffed around for the most eco-friendly, organic, green products on the market, so you don’t have to do a lick of research! Just take a peek at our fabulous holiday gift recommendations!

Treats for Tots

There’s not much better than seeing the grin on a child’s face when they open up the perfect present– except for knowing that said present is good for them and the environment! For instance, our colorful nesting blocks from Petit Collage are made of 80% recycled material, biodegradable, made in the USA, and they’re a wonderful way to stimulate your little one’s thirst for knowledge. For more educational fun, check out Petit Collage’s puzzles and games, too, which are all printed with nontoxic vegetable ink! Whimsical stickers from Box Play turn ordinary household items (like milk cartons and toilet paper rolls) into fire trucks and rocket ships, which saves you a fortune on purchasing the real deal. Did we mention the stickers are silicone-free and totally recycled? Please, contain your overwhelming surprise!

Stocking Stuffers

Unlike so many other things in life, stocking stuffers are fun and simple. Our adorable small heart dishes from Fire & Light are made of 100% recycled glass, and perfect for holding tiny trinkets. For the discerning automobile connoisseur, we offer up our Bamboo Mini Cars by Hape, which are made with renewable bamboo shoots and nontoxic paint, and are just the right dimensions for filling an oversized sock! Finish off your stellar stocking stuffing with a pot of organic, Fair Trade hot cocoa from Equal Exchange, which supports small farms all over the globe, and will give your gift-ee all kinds of warm, fuzzy feelings.

Fashionable Finds

Hand-embroidered by women’s cooperatives in rural Peru, these gorgeous fair trade belts by Jenny Krauss are a surefire conversation starter. If there’s a fashionista on your list, you may also be interested in our handwoven purses from JadeTRIBE, which are a fair trade commodity created by village-women in Laos (are you beginning to see a trend, here?). Accessory aficionados need look no further than our polished tagua jewelry from Andean Collection, which is made of nuts and seeds found in the forests of the Andes. Your gift recipient won’t believe their ears when you tell them that their new jewelry is made of organic, biodegradable materials… that come from bushes!

Check back for more great gift ideas tomorrow! Remember: at The Greener Good, it’s all good.

Waste Not, Want Not

Landfills are bad. Among other bad things, they produce methane gas, depreciate the value of surrounding property, threaten native wildlife, and are entirely unsustainable. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, there are more than 3,000 active landfills in the United States, and over 10,000 inactive municipal landfills, sitting around and reeking of certain non-biodegradable snack foods. Although large corporations are the biggest contributors to these towering trash heaps, several companies are leading the way in environmentally-friendly efforts by recycling, reusing, and sending zero pounds of waste to landfills.

For instance, DuPont Building Innovations in New York uses the food trash from their cafeteria for compost, their used shipping palettes for shredded animal bedding, and their excess stone product as recycled countertops or landscaping boulders. They even use the non-composted food for generating energy! In the short span of three years, DuPont has gone from sending 81 million pounds of trash to landfills to zero pounds of trash.

The U.S. Army is enlisting in the landfill waste movement, too. The Army’s goal is to recycle 100% of their electronics, along with establishing eight zero-landfill bases by 2020. PepsiCo has slashed their volume of trash by 88%, and cooked up a strategy with crop farmers to decrease carbon emissions and water usage by 50%, too. The president of PepsiCo, Richard Evans, made this comment on his company’s recycling efforts:

“Sustainable businesses can cut costs, drive innovation, reduce risk, and motivate employees. It can help our retail customers and increase consumer loyalty,”

We couldn’t agree more! To learn more about the “Zero to Landfill” initiative and join in on the green goodness, check out http://www.zerolandfill.net/, and come support manufacturers of recycled products at The Greener Good!

Have A Sustainable Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is just around the corner!!  Wondering how to incorporate sustainable living into your Thanksgiving meal?  Read on, we’re giving you all of our tips!!

First of all, you should buy local food from Farmers Markets.  For those of you in the Fort Worth area, the Cowtown Farmers Market is every Saturday from 8:00am-12:00pm.  It will also be open on Wednesday the 23 for some last minute shopping as well!  Buying fresh, local produce from the Cowtown Farmers Market will help farmers in the area, which ultimately helps the economy in Fort Worth.  For more information visit http://www.cowtownfarmersmarket.com/index.html

Don’t forget to Recycle!  Check to see if all of those fruit cartons can be recycled in your area.  If you’re celebrating with a big group, the soda cans and wine bottles sure pile up, don’t forget to throw them in the recycling.  If you didn’t get a chance to go to the farmers market and had to buy canned goods, do your part by recycling the cans!

Finding a turkey is easier than ever with Eat Well Guide!  Just enter your location and the product you’re looking for (turkey, obviously).  You can even dictate the sustainable methods it is produced!  A list of vendors is presented that meets your qualification.  Pick one of those, and you can read about the benefits of buying from the supplier!!  Don’t just use this website for your turkey, it is definitely one to bookmark and use on a daily basis! Eat Well Guide: http://www.eatwellguide.org/i.php?pd=Home

Lastly, don’t cook for too many!! Try not to waste your food by preparing an appropriately sized meal for your group.  If there are leftovers, keep them in reusable containers instead of disposable ones!

We hope these tips insure a sustainable day with the ones you love!