And the WINNER of our One-Year Anniversary Contest is....

Congratulations to Tisa, one of GreenFixes' readers who participated in our contest.  She won the eco-friendly gift basket that we were giving away for our one-year anniversary!

**The gift basket contained an eco-friendly shopping bag and features the DVD "The 11'th Hour" along with a host of healthy, organic, and environmentally friendly packaged goodies and kitchen towels made from bamboo.  Two bottles of Beckmen wine are also included - this is a favorite, as their wines are made by implementing biodynamic farming methods and all grapes are estate grown, as well as an organic cookbook.**

Thanks to everyone else who participated!  We look forward to future giveaways.  Remember to spread the blog to your friends...

Voyage For Clean Energy: 2041

I had the opportunity to attend an environmental lecture last May in Santa Barbara, CA and although I am only now writing about it, the subject of the lecture has stuck with me all these many months. A few years earlier the issue of Global Warming seemed to have hit the main steam with the release of the film, An Inconvenient Truth, and since then it has been a topic of conversation, conflict, and concern with us all. If you did not know any better, then it would have seemed as if this issue was only a few years old and that Al Gore was the only person working to solve this problem. When in reality there have been many others who have devoted their lives to bringing about global awareness and solutions to environmental issues.

Well, on May 21 of last last year the lecturer was Robert Swan. He is a polar explorer, environmental leader, motivational speaker, and the first man ever to walk to both the North and South poles. On that day he was speaking about his history, past experiences, and most notably his ongoing effort to preserve Antarctica, earth's last untouched wilderness. Currently, the development of Antarctica is prohibited by the Antarctic Treaty of 1991. April 2008 marked the beginning of Robert's 5 year Voyage for Cleaner Energy on his boat, the "2041",that will culminate with his report to the U.N. at the 2012 World Summit on Sustainability. His primary goal is to ensure that the Antarctic Treaty is renewed for at least another 50 years and I think the quote from Robert below sums it up best:

His boat, the "2041", is powered by 100% renewable energy including solar panels, bio-fuels, and wind turbines. Also, through his partnership with the Coca-Cola Company, it is also the only boat in the world with a sail that is made from recycled plastic bottles.

The first and second phases of his voyage have passed, but if you have the opportunity to attend any of his stops in Phase 3 (Chicago, St. Louis, New Orleans, etc.) or Phase 4 (Europe, Middle East, Asia), I highly recommend it. If you have any concern at all for ensuring that our children will have a clean earth to live in for centuries to come, then hearing Robert speak may be that spark that ignites in you the motivation to take action and help spread his word.

WorldOfGood.com does well...a World of Good!

For those of you who don't know what WorldofGood.com is, it is a website created by eBay which enables the individual purchasing an item to make a difference.  It is the first online marketplace where thousands of eco-minded persons and eco-friendly sellers of eco-friendly products all converge at one place.  

The best part of this website is the community where every person is entitled to share their thoughts and opinions on the products being sold.  This keeps organizations true to their green eco-friendly missions and allows the individual purchasing an item from an organization to confirm that they are truly green and not just greenwashing.  

Another great feature is that you can choose to shop at WorldofGood.com by your purchasing impact.  This means that you can purchase something and know what impact you are having by doing so.  There are four categories that the site goes by:  People Positive, Eco Positive, Animal Friendly, and Supports a Cause.  Also, since the site is like eBay and each seller is an individual organization it is hard to verify if they are truly promoting an item for the social good.  This is why the Trust Provider Directory was set up.  The trust providers are a total of 22 organizations that verify the activity of all members of WorldofGood.com and their products foster commerce that maintains and encourages transparency, sustainability, economic empowerment, and ethical business practices.  Each seller, product, and producer on WorldofGood.com must maintain a verified relationship with at least one Trust Provider, and is reflected in every listing.

WorldofGood.com's motto on their pages states, "Where your shopping shapes the world..."  It's nice to know I can shop online and be able to deal with individual sellers or non-profit organizations and still make a difference in the world just by understanding where my purchasing power lies by using this site.  The site definitely lives up to it's motto of where YOU make a difference with every single purchase.  Check it out!!

Important Reminders from GreenFixes

For those of you who are only subscribed to our RSS feed or don't visit our website very often, here are a few important reminders of what is coming up this month:

1.  Our third environmental webinar is coming up on Wednesday, February 18'th, one week from today.  Register now, as seating is limited.  

You'll learn how changing your business travel to become more sustainable allows you to leverage:
•More man power and resources
•Positive environmental impact – how this increases your company’s market strength by producing a positive public image and competitive advantage by brand differentiation
•Profit growth

So join us for our webinar: "From Commuting to Caribbean Getaways:  Greening Business Travel."  Register here.  

2.  Our one-year anniversary contest is still going strong!  Win an eco-friendly gift basket, with tons of goodies.  Click here for our official post on the contest. You have until February 23'rd to get your entries in.

Don't miss out...check out our site now and subscribe to our events for this month.

Greener Computing

As I sit here and type this blog post on my own personal computer, I wonder: How does my personal computer use harm the environment?  This got me thinking and with as much being said about the energy consumed by worldwide computer manufacturing and the new upcoming trend of greening IT in company's, I wondered what harm I was doing to the environment by using a computer on a daily, if not hourly, basis.  

Whether you are an occasional online gamer or a heavy computer user for work purposes, it seems our use of computers definitely leaves a negative environmental mark.  Until only recently, July 2007 to be exact, the Energy Star requirements only measured a computers energy use while in standby mode, which allowed many computer manufacturers to be able to brand their computers as green.  Depending on when it was made and designed, your standard desktop PCs energy consumption ranges from between 60-300 watts when it's in use.  The newer gaming PCs actually consume a ton more of energy:  almost as much as 750 watts.  This amount is what a normal refrigerator uses for power.  Consider that the next time you go to play a game on your new PC and stop by the fridge to pick up a snack...

You can use the Electronic Products Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) to help to set up your system more efficiently and even assist you in purchasing a greener computer.  Another way to help offset your computer's energy usage is by setting it to be able to "rest" automatically when it hasn't been used for more than 15-30 minutes.  On some of the newer computers, they even have options that are labeled "power saver" to lessen the amount of energy the computer is using.  

Bear in mind that not all 'screen savers' are energy savers necessarily.  Its worth noting that LCD monitors do not need screen savers.  While PCs use a small amount of energy when started up, it's considerably less energy used than when it remains on for long periods of time.  The best option of all is powering the computer down when you are not going to be using it in a prolonged amount of time.  Consider also turning off the monitor if you aren't going to turn off the computer completely but are not going to use it for more than 20 minutes.  You should also note that laptops use 15-45 watts less than a desktops CPU, before you take into account the monitor usage, printer, speakers, modem, router, etc.  which also uses energy even while they're not in use.

So all in all, we are harming the environment by using our computers.  But we can offset what we do by following the above tips.  Remember, there is always a way we can offset what may be harming the environment!

Business Snapshot: NatureWorks, LLC

As I was about to log into my iTunes account to use a gift card that I received over the Holidays, I noticed a little symbol right above the scratch off redemption code. It said, "ingeo - plant-based card". In seeing this, my interest was piqued and I put my investigative hat on to conduct a little more digging. I was pleasantly surprised to see that "ingeo" is a natural plastic that is produced by a company called NatureWorks. It is apparently made from plants instead of oil.

According to the website, NatureWorks' goal is to produce a plastic that is "derived from 100% annually renewable resources such as plants" and their product, Ingeo™ "is the world’s first polymer showing a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions." It can be used today in order to produce clothing, electronics, appliances, and many other products currently using plastics. To see a full list of companies or partners leveraging Ingeo™ you can take a look here.

As this Target product listing also states, "Ingeo™ Fiber is an environmentally friendly, renewable resource that is at the heart of the Pacific Coast Ingeo™ Fiber Natural Living Fiberbed. The creation of raw material-based Ingeo products requires about half the energy needed to make polyester, and it emits 50% fewer greenhouse gasses than polyester production." These are pretty impressive stats and if this product catches on it could really make a large impact in reducing carbon emissions and our dependence on oil.

Apple has gotten a bad rap in recent months and we even discussed a while back about Dell's apparent unhappiness with their marketing tactics, but this is another sign that Apple is attempting to reduce the negative environmental impact that their products and services generate by partnering with innovative companies like NatureWorks. Kudos to both companies for partnering together.

Valentine's Day: Green Gift Guide

With Valentine's Day quickly approaching, don't rush off to the store and buy just another bouquet of roses and candy.  Well, you could still do that, but why not get a little more thoughtful for your eco-friendly lady or man?  This year, show you care about your significant other AND the environment at the same time...See below for a list of websites we feel can help aid you in your search for that most-amazing eco-friendly Valentine's gift.

Green Gift Guide for Valentine's Day:

**Autonamie Project:  This site contains fair trade fashion and footwear products.  Enjoy browsing through their many pages of sneakers, t-shirts, and accessories.

**Brilliant Earth:  This website has amazing silver pendants and jewelry that you can create yourself.  Best of all, it is conflict free diamonds - meaning that the company is on a mission to serve the socially conscious consumer and support communities harmed by the diamond trade.  They believe that luxury goods should not come at a great human or environmental cost.  This is definitely one website worth looking into if you are looking to buy jewelry for Valentine's Day!  Blow her mind away at the fact that YOU created the jewelry design AND that it is a conflict free diamond!

**Divine Chocolate:  If you decide on just buying roses and chocolates, at least take a look at this site.  They have fair trade chocolates for sale which help benefit the smallholder cocoa producers in West Africa.

**Endangered Species Chocolate:  This site offers organic, natural chocolate Valentines day collections including recycled Valentine's day cards.  Not only do they have eco-friendly gift ideas, but 10% of all net profits are donated to help support species, habitat and humanity.  Their site is also hosted with 100% solar energy.  Pretty cool!

**Patagonia:  Purchase something special for your significant other through Patagonia.  Summer is coming up, but in other parts of the country- it may still be chilly.  Patagonia is perfect for year-round clothing picks...from organic light cotton clothing for those summer days or sportswear/outdoorswear for the rugged outdoor mountain man.

**Pangea Organics:  If you want to opt for something different, try going with organic bodycare products.  Pangea offers a ton of bodycare products that smell good, are organic, and will nurture and nourish your loved ones skin.

**Organic Bouquet: If your significant other cannot live without flowers, then think about purchasing them from Organic Bouquet.  This site offers flowers that are sustainably grown and certified Organic, VeriFlora or FlorVerde.  They have the finest eco-friendly flowers to ship to your loved ones.

**Zheny's Gypsy Tea:  Instead of buying chocolates, try purchasing premium organic fair trade teas and herbs.  Not only is it eco-friendly, but it helps to promote good health by gently cleansing your system. Purchase the new pink superberry tea for a perfect Valentine's day gift.

Do you have any suggestions for green Valentine's Day gifts?  Feel free to share your ideas and leave a comment.