Green Paige

What exactly is eco-style?  Susie Matson, professional organizer and owner of Savvy Spaces, defines eco-style as natural, affordable and realistic.

   

For me, the basis of eco-style is redesign-using a combination of natural elements with items that you already have to make your home more beautiful, comfortable and functional.

In this era of green washing and high-end design, we have come to expect a high price tag attached to anything associated with the terms green, sustainable or ecological.  “Not so,” claims Susie.  Even though she doesn’t market herself as an eco-organizer, Susie has always had a passion for reusing and repurposing.

   

When my husband and I first started dating, I didn’t tell him that I did most of my shopping at thrift stores and flea markets.  One day, I had my head down in a bin at the Salvation Army when I looked up and spotted him on the other side of the store sorting through his own pile of stuff.  Our eyes met and we both realized that we had met our match.

When redesigning your home, Susie recommends starting with one room at a time.

   

When I am decorating a room, I like to take time to sit in that space, be still, clear my mind and feel the energy of the room.  It helps me define what’s missing and what needs editing.

Ask yourself if it’s too dark or too heavy on one side?  Are there too many plants or not enough plants?  Does the room get enough light? What is the purpose of this room going to be?  Susie believes that these questions will help give you direction.

I feel that your home should restore, rejuvenate and energize you.  When you walk in the door, you should feel that it’s good to be here. 

Susie’s eight quick tips for redesigning your home with eco-style:

1. Get Inspired - Find an inspiration item that will help you visualize a theme for your redesign.  Susie suggests choosing something that will work well with the purpose of the room.  For example, a vintage postcard from Hawaii could be the inspiration for a bathroom redesign.
2. Shop Your Home - Most of us tend to scatter the things we love throughout our living space.  By shopping our home and gathering together items that would work well with our theme, we can actually create a fresh look for that space.  Susie recommends choosing items based on texture and color.
3. Repurpose - Visualize Aunt Martha’s old, blue suitcase as a table top for a nightstand.  Don’t be afraid to break the rules and use a bedroom dresser as a buffet table or mix things up a bit by displaying antique gardening tools in the kitchen. By using things that you have collected throughout the years, you make a statement about you and your family.
4. Find Your Soul Color - Susie advises decorating a room with colors that restore you.  “I have this theory that we all have our own soul color.  I tend to love Earth tones but the color that restores me is green,” says Susie.  She suggests using furniture or carpet with neutral colors.  You can always change out pillows or art work to give your room punch.
5. Stylize - Decorate your home in ways that really suit you, that speak to you. “When you come in to my house, although I love rocks, you won’t find a granite countertop anywhere,” admits Susie.  ”It’s not my style.  That’s not to say they’re not stylish but it’s not what my style is really about.”  If you need help defining your style, visit HGTV  and search for style quiz.
6. Keep It Natural - Susie suggests using natural elements like wood, stone and shells to create your eco-style.  “I try to keep plastics and appliances put away because they make a room feel cold.”  Natural decorations bring the outdoors in and make you feel close to the Earth.  “I have this bowl in my living room that I change out all year long.  I put sand in it with seashells, pinecones, Christmas balls, or seed pods.  It’s an interactive accessory.”
7. Trade - Exchange things with other people.  Susie explains, “I have friends that I am so close to that we know each other’s styles.  If I have something they could use in their home redesign, I happily give it to them knowing that it will be loved and reused.” 
8. Reuse - When you do buy things for your home, buy used.  Buy things that speak to you and your own personal style.  Don’t buy what’s trendy and decorate for trend appeal.  Trends are short lived and don’t perpetuate reuse.

As a professional organizer and amateur treasure hunter, Susie Matson has spent her life saving money and the environment.

I know some people think that they can’t afford to live a more sustainable, environmentally friendly lifestyle because green products and services are just too expensive.  That tells me that they are working with the wrong definition of green.

For more redesigning tips, contact Susie Matson of Savvy Spaces.

The holiday season is a magical time of year when families and friends come together to share memories and celebrate traditions.  One of our most established customs is the giving and receiving of presents.  If you didn’t plan ahead and make your own gifts this year, celebrate by giving gifts that are environmentally-friendly.  Here are some ideas for green gifts and sustainable stocking stuffers that even a green Grinch or a last-minute shopper would approve of.

• Organic Wine - For that special grown-up person in your life, slip a bottle of organic wine from Jack Rabbit Hill in their holiday stocking. 
• Musical Instruments - Ten Thousand Villages features a large selection of natural and earth-friendly gifts including wooden musical instruments, ornaments, toys, games and much more.  Buying gifts from fair trade retailers  means that your purchases will not only make wonderful presents but you will be helping to improve the lives of thousands of artisans in America, Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. 
• Jewelry - For one-of-a-kind, quillwork jewelry made by handcrafters from Latin America and Native American reservations, visit The Field Guide to Sustainable Gifts at Trees Water People. 
• Toys Powered By Imagination - Sprig Toys manufactures an exciting line of battery-free, eco-friendly, paint-free, kid-powered adventure vehicles and guides for preschoolers.  ImagiPlay has been creating wooden activity toys and animal playsets for over a decade.  They use materials and manufacturing processes that minimize the environmental impact on our planet to create healthy toys free of toxins.  Green Toys features award-winning products with a new take on classic toys like children’s cookware, tea sets, sand toys and gardening kits.  Made in the USA, they are created from 100 percent recycled milk jugs and contain no BPA or phthalates.
• Baby Toys - Sophie The Giraffe is a soft, visually-stimulating teething toy made with natural rubber and non-toxic paint.  It has been loved by generations of kids for 47 years. Cute and cuddly stuffed animals by miYim are produced from ultra-soft, organic cotton which eliminates the threat of toxic chemicals and carcinogenic pesticides in your baby’s snuggly toy.  Maya Organic features a line of handcrafted toys including rattles, danglers, shape sorters and stackers made from replenishable hale wood and natural, non-toxic, vegetable dyes.  Visit Healthy Toys, a consumer action guide to toxic chemicals in toys, to research possible toy purchases.
• Green Games and Kits - For older kids, board games like Earthopoly, Eyes of The Jungle and Harvest Time make wonderful holiday gifts.  Send your kids on a globetrotting adventure to the exotic island of Madagascar with the Xeko Mission card game.  With the Power House Kit, kids can learn to construct a model house complete with solar panels, windmill, greenhouse and desalination system.    
• Green Tales - Stop by your local independant book store  for some last-minute holiday shopping.  Picture books like “The Lorax” by Dr. Seuss, “My Bag and Me” by Karen Farmer and “First Forest” by John Gile make great stocking stuffers.   For older kids, the “Why Should I” series helps them explore the issues of water, energy and wildlife conservation.  Two great resources for living sustainably that will make wonderful gifts for the adults on your shopping list are “Simply Green Giving: Create Beautiful and Organic Wrappings, Tags, and Gifts from Everyday Materials” by Danny Seo  and “Celebrate Green! Creating Eco-Savvy Holidays, Celebrations & Traditions For The Whole Family” by Corey Colwell-Lipson and Lynn Colwell.  “Nature’s Art Box” by Laura C. Martin features 65 cool projects for crafty kids to make with natural materials you can find anywhere. This book makes a great gift for families inspired to make homemade holiday gifts from items found in their own backyard.
• Alternative Transportation - Introduce your children to kid-powered vehicles with the eco-friendly, wooden tricycle made from natural materials by Plan Toys.  All of their products are manufactured utilizing processes that are designed to reduce waste and save energy.   Radio Flyer, known for its red wagons, also makes a green version called the Earth Wagon.  This wagon is made from 100 percent recycled post-consumer HDPE plastic. Over 230 milk jugs are diverted from landfills to make each Earth Wagon.   Comet Skateboards has not only reinvented the wheel but the board too.  They use sustainably harvested bamboo with non-toxic resins to make the hip pin-striping that adorns their boards.  Their manufacturing plant uses a 10KW solar panel array to fuel the process.

This green Grinch, has one last thing to say.  Even if it comes without ribbons.  It comes without tags.  It comes without packages, boxes or bags. Don’t puzzle ’till your puzzler is sore. Celebrate the holidays like never before.  Because Christmas, I believe, doesn’t come from a store.  Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.

Have a wonderful holiday season.

 Black Friday, the first shopping day after Thanksgiving, has served as the unofficial beginning of the December holiday season since the modern Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade began in 1924.  Black Friday brings to mind throngs of shoppers crowding the roadways and stores spending money they don’t have for gifts that their friends and family don’t need.  This year, start a new tradition.  Give gifts that give back to you, your loved ones and your community.  Here are six ideas for turning the Black Friday tradition into a green holiday season.

1. Give Your Support - Buying goods and services from local businesses is a great way to strengthen community and reduce the environmental impact of transporting goods cross country.  Some cities feature coupon books highlighting local businesses that make great stocking-stuffers.  Visit the Business Alliance For Local Living Economies (BALLE) to view a map of local business networks throughout the US.
2. Give Peace of Mind - Items that help people consume less and live healthier lives definitely qualify as gifts that give back.  Safe, reusable water bottles made from either stainless steel or glass also make wonderful stocking-stuffers.  Fill a gift basket full of compact fluorescent bulbs.  Wrap gifts in reusable shopping or lunch bags made from recycled billboards, soda bottles or tires.  For more ideas, visit Green Logic Earth Friendly Goods .
3. Give a Fair Share - Surprise your loved ones this year with a vegetable, fruit or flower share from a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm. You will not only be supporting local economies but you will be giving the gift of healthy food.  Visit Local Harvest  for a list of CSA farms near you.
4. Give of Yourself - Your time is probably the most valuable gift you can give. Volunteer for a local organization in the name of a loved one. If your grandmother loves to read, volunteer at your public or school library. If your brother is a pet lover, volunteer at a local animal shelter or rescue. If your mother loves flowers, volunteer at a community garden.  Visit the United Way to locate volunteer opportunities in your county.
5. Give Credit - Instead of using your credit cards this holiday season, give carbon credits.  Purchasing carbon credits doesn’t mitigate the effects of global warming by itself but it does support carbon dioxide reduction programs by funneling your money into projects like wind power development.  The Choice Bundle, offered by Renewable Choice Energy, is a carbon credit package you can purchase as a gift for your family and friends.  It will offset the environmental impact of an entire family’s carbon usage for one month.  This year, save a lump of coal by putting carbon credits in your family’s Christmas stockings.
6. Give Again - Give a gift that keeps giving and giving.  Host a regifting party.  Contact the United Way to locate a nonprofit agency that serves your community.  Ask this agency for a wish list of items they need to support the services they provide.  Send the wish list to your guests and ask them to bring their new or gently used regifted items to the party.  Send the items to the agency of your choice. 

In 1992 Buy Nothing Day was created as an alternative to Black Friday, an opportunity for people to take a time-out to examine the issue of over-consumption.  This year, take Buy Nothing Day to a new level and institute a green holiday season where money is saved, zero waste is created and the gifts you give continue to give back long after the Christmas trees have turned to mulch.

Every year, I try to find ways to make our holiday celebrations a little bit more sustainable.  Here are my tips for natural holiday decorations:

1. Support a local business.  Take the family to a Christmas tree farm and purchase either a live tree or cut one yourself.  Visit the National Christmas Tree Associate to locate a farm near you.
2. Use LED lights.  They might not be natural but they are energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly.  Visit your city website to see if they have a program in place that encourages residents to recycle old, traditional holiday lights and receive discounts on LED light strands.
3. Decorate your tree with homemade cookie ornaments and strings of popcorn and cranberries that can be strung outside after the holidays to feed the birds.
4. When decking the halls, go au natural with items found near your home like herbs, pinecones, acorns, gourds, apples, wood, smooth stones, nuts and evergreen boughs.
5. Make your own fragrant holiday centerpieces from mixed evergreens, eucalyptus and fresh flowers.
6. Celebrate Hanukkah naturally with beeswax candles, a recycled glass menorah, fair trade chocolate coins and a sustainable wooden dreidel.  Visit the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life  for inspirational ideas.
7. Use organically grown fruits and corn to represent mazao and vibunzi during Kwanzaa.  Create your own kinara from found wood and adorn it with natural beeswax candles.  For more ideas, visit the Official Kwanzaa Website.
8. Make a yule log to celebrate the Winter Solstice.  Collect a piece of found wood and embellish it with tiny pinecones; dried berries; nuts; cuttings of mistletoe, holly and ivy; feathers and cinnamon sticks.  Tie a ribbon around it and use it as a holiday decoration until you burn it during your solstice celebration.

Leave a comment and share your ideas for creating natural holiday decorations. 

Thanksgiving is right around the corner.  It’s time to polish up the good silver and and break out the family china.  Here are some natural cleaning solutions that will make polishing those precious metal heirlooms a breeze: 

• Brass - Mix 1 tbl sp. of cream of tartar with enough lemon juice to make a paste.  Apply the paste to the surface of your brass item.  Let stand for 5 minutes and then wash with warm water.  Dry it off with a soft cloth. 

         Cream of tartar also cleans porcelain.  Sprinkle it on a damp cloth and

         rub onto a porcelain surface.  Rinse then dry.

• Silver - This year, polish the good silver with toothpaste.  Rub the surface of your silver with plain, white toothpaste.  Clean with warm water and a soft cloth.  This works for gold items as well.

• Stainless Steel - To give your stainless steel a thorough cleaning, mix 3 tbl sp. of baking soda with enough water to form a paste.  Apply the paste to the surface of the item you are cleaning with a scouring pad.  Rinse after cleaning.  To polish, rub club soda or olive oil over surface then dry with soft cloth.

• Copper - Mix 1/2 c. of either vinegar or lemon juice with a tsp. of salt.  Rub the mixture over copper surface with a soft cloth.  Rinse then dry.

• Pewter - Dissolve 1 tsp. salt in 1 c. of white vinegar.  Add enough flour to make a paste.  Apply to the surface of the item you are polishing.  Let the mixture set for 15 to 60 minutes.  Rinse with warm water and then dry with soft cloth.

Post a comment and share your own recipes for home made cleaning solutions.

Corey Colwell-Lipson, creator of Green Halloween  and co-author of the book  Celebrate Green!,  has seven steps to help you get started creating your own green Halloween:

• Give less.  Kids tend to value things more when they are given the opportunity to choose one special treat.  “We need to cross the Great Green Divide and realize that being sustainable doesn’t have to be expensive,” points out Colwell-Lipson.  Green Halloween  offers an extensive list of healthy and affordable treats and treasures including organic lollipops and pencils made from recycled money.

• Create imaginative costumes.  “Not only do pre-made costumes and accessories rob kids of their creativity but they can contain toxic chemicals like lead, PVC and phthalates,” says Colwell-Lipson. Help your kids create the costumes of their dreams by reusing materials found at thrift stores, yard sales or around your house. If you do purchase a costume, buy 100% natural materials that can be used year-around for dress-up.

• Compost your decorations.  According to the EPA, over 25% of the methane gas that is produced in landfills comes from food scraps that could be composted.  Decorate naturally with corn stalks, pumpkins, gourds, Indian corn, colorful beans and nuts.  After the holiday is over, cook the items that are edible and compost the rest.  Colwell-Lipson suggests, “If you don’t have a city-wide composting program, talk to your city officials about creating one.”

• Start small.  Don’t get overwhelmed by trying to green every aspect of your Halloween celebration.  “Any change you make is progress towards creating a healthier holiday for your family,” explains Colwell-Lipson.  Begin by crafting your own reusable trick-or-treat bags rather than purchasing plastic bags.  According to EPA statistics, over 380 billion plastic bags are consumed in the U.S.each year. These bags don’t biodegrade, they photodegrade breaking down into pieces that contaminate soil, waterways and our food chain.

• Celebrate in your neighborhood.  “Planning green neighborhood events or simply trick-or-treating in your own neighborhood builds community while saving gas,”says Colwell-Lipson.  Inspire your friends and neighbors to stay home and celebrate by planning a progressive party, a costume exchange or a neighborhood parade.

• Get your kids involved.Colwell-Lipson recommends asking your kids how they would like to celebrate Halloween. “Older kids can implement their own ideas while parents can assist younger children in creating the Halloween of their choice.”  Parents will feel less overwhelmed if the entire family is involved.

• Be positive:  “Parents are the role models for their children,”points out Colwell-Lipson.  “If you feel passionate about the changes you are making in your life, your children will be inspired by your passion and your holiday will be fun and successful.”  Skip the sugary treats and focus on being healthy for yourself and your kids.  Start a new Halloween tradition.  Introduce your kids to The Great Pumpkin or The Halloween Fairy.  Allow them to keep the healthy treats from their trick-or-treating haul and put the rest into a bowl to be composted later.  Tell your children the story of “It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” or create your own tale about a fairy who turns candy into fruits and vegetables. After your children fall asleep, exchange the candy for a small gift and rest assured that you have created a healthy, sustainable Halloween.

Lynn Colwell and Corey Colwell-Lipson are mother and daughter and co-authors of Celebrate Green! Creating Eco-Savvy Holidays, Celebrations and Traditions for the Whole Family.  The book can be purchased at the Celebrate Green! site, on Amazon,  A Toy Garden and Village Green Gifts. If you have questions you would like to ask Corey Colwell-Lipson or Lynn Colwell this week, please post a comment. 

As stewards of the Earth and parents, it’s important for us to create wonderful Halloween memories for our children without the environmental nightmares.  Corey Colwell-Lipson agrees which is why she launched the Green Halloween  movement.

The idea began one October evening in Seattle when Colwell-Lipson took her children trick-or-treating.  She was excited to find that some people were thinking outside the candy box giving out bubbles and stickers.  She began to think that if these houses had a sign on their doors to let families know that they were giving out non-food items, trick-or-treating might become a real treasure hunt.  Acting on this idea and her environmentalist principles, she created Green Halloween  to help families establish healthy and sustainable Halloween traditions.

Green Halloween, offers imaginative and inexpensive ideas for:

• Healthy Treats and Treasures
• Safe Costumes
• Environmentally-Friendly Parties
• A PDF of the Green Halloween Logo (to create your own yard signs)

and much more. 

In only their second year of existence, Green Halloween has become an official program of Treeswing, a Seattle area non-profit committed to promoting children’s health through nutrition and exercise.

Go green this Halloween with a little help from Green Halloween.  Download the neighborhood action kit  from Green Halloween  and learn how to inspire your friends, neighbors, local schools and community to organize healthy and environmentally-friendly Halloween events.  I was so inspired by Corey and the Green Halloween site that I am working with my friends and neighbors to create a progessive trick-or-treating event in my own neighborhood this year.  I will let you know how that goes in future posts.

You can also show your support by entering your address and zip code as a green house on the interactive map.

Look for Corey’s Seven Steps To Creating Your Own Green Halloween in tomorrow’s post and a review of her new book, Celebrate Green! co-authored by Lynn Colwell, later this week.  If you have questions you would like to ask Corey Colwell-Lipson or Lynn Colwell this week, please post a comment.

Each year in October the EPA celebrates Children’s Health Month by creating educational materials and activities focused on protecting children from environmental hazards.  For 2008, the EPA has created a calendar  with an environmental health tip for each day in October.  Tips include:

• Protect Children From Too Much Sun Exposue
• Join International Walk To School Day
• Promote Food Safety
• Protect Children From Chemicals At School
• Improve Indoor Air Quality In Schools
• Protect Children From Mold

The Challenge: 

This year,  Healthy Child Healthy World  has also created a  calendar of tips for the month of October to help you establish a healthy environment for your family.  They are challenging families to complete as many of their suggested tips as possible.

To enter this challenge:  Go to the Healthy Child Healthy World blog  and post your answers to the following questions during the first week of November:

1. How many days of the month did you follow the tip?
2. Which were your favorites?
3. Which ones didn’t you do and why?

According to the Healthy Child Healthy World  website:

“Everyone who submits answers will be entered into a drawing to receive an, as of yet, undefined prize.  Maybe a copy of Healthy Child Healthy World: Creating a Cleaner, Greener, Safer Home, maybe a gift from a Healthy Child Healthy World partner, maybe a used bowling trophy from the thrift store down the street.  I know, it’s terribly un-coordinated, but, hey, you’re doing it to protect your children’s health, not for the prize, right?”

I don’t know about you folks, but our family is going to accept the challenge.  If you decide to accept the challenge, post a comment and let me know how you progress.

This Halloween, think outside the candy box.  Make healthy, delicious treats for your friends and family.  This recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins was sent to me by Talia Fox.

Ingredients:

• 1 2/3 C Flour
• 1/4 C sugar
• 1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder (aluminum free)
• 2 organic eggs
• 1/2 C organic apple sauce 
• 1 C organic pumpkin puree 
• 1/2 C organic (70%) chocolate chips  

Mix all ingredients together.  Scoop batter into muffin tin.  Bake at 350 degrees for 14 minutes until done.

Looking for a fun and goopy Halloween craft for the entire family?  Make some Boo Goo.

Submitted by freelance writer and former science teacher, Laura Bridgwater.  This recipe for ectoplasm combines:

• four ounces of white liquid school glue
• two ounces of liquid StaFlo starch

The proportion of ingredients is two parts glue to one part starch.  

1. Pour the liquid glue into the bowl.
2. Slowly add the starch to the glue as you stir.
3. When the mixture begins to ball, take it out of the bowl and knead it with your hands.
4. If the mixture begins to stick to your fingers, add a few drops of liquid starch.
5. The Boo Goo is ready when it doesn’t stick to your hands and your hands are dry.
6. Store individual amounts of Boo Goo in Ziploc bags. It will keep in the refrigerator for a week.

Boo Goo is easy to make, but don’t decorate with it or let it rest on cloth, carpet, or other fabrics. 

“My kids love to color their Boo Goo with washable, non-toxic markers; blow bubbles in it with straws and see how far they can stretch it.  It’s fun to make a fresh batch of Boo Goo for Halloween or after reading Dr. Seuss’s Bartholomew and the Oobleck.”

-Laura