1. Naturally biodegradable bags for your home – for trash cans, composting, lawn and garden.

2. Thick, rich and comfy made from sustainable materials…bamboo shag rugs are now available.

3. Some new cookware made from soapstone, which is naturally non-stick without chemicals leaching into food while you cook.

4. Fun artful trivets and coasters made from recycled street signs.

5. Is it time for a new mailbox?

6. Brighten up any room with new light switch plates.

7. Using our reusable shopping bags can replaces nearly 1000 plastic grocery bags.

The following new products have arrived at GreenandMore.com in December:

A super line up of new shower heads that save water but do not affect your water pressure:

http://www.greenandmore.com/eco-friendly-standard-spray-showerheads.html

http://www.greenandmore.com/eco-friendly-rain-spray-showerheads.html

http://www.greenandmore.com/eco-friendly-handheld-showerheads.html

Time to get rid of that cracking, ugly old vinyl office mat and replace it with something eco-attractive:

http://www.greenandmore.com/elegant-touch-bamboo-office-chair-mats.html

More eco-hand bags made from organic wool and cotton:

http://www.greenandmore.com/artem-earth-friendly-wool-hand-bags-purses.html

http://www.greenandmore.com/ceres-earth-friendly-organic-cotton-hand-bags-purses.html

All I want for the holidays is a ….compost bin:

http://www.greenandmore.com/indoor-kitchen-composter.html

http://www.greenandmore.com/garden-revolution-ultra-efficient-tumbler-compost-bins.html

New England winters can be hazardous for driving. I keep a large bag of clay kitty litter in the trunk of my car during the winter. This not only helps with added weight, but should I need traction on the roads, it will not damage the streets as the salt melt products do.

Hello from central Massachusetts!

I dragged my co-worker Sue out here last weekend for the 9th annual Garlic and Arts Festival. What is it all about you ask? Here is their mission statement.

The festival mission reads:
The North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival is a celebration of the artistic, agricultural and cultural bounty of the region. The purpose of the festival is to unite North Quabbin people whose livelihoods are connected to the land and the arts, and to invite both local residents and those who do not live in the region to experience the richness of an area that is often overlooked. The festival emphasizes what is homegrown and high quality, as well as what helps preserve and support the environment. The festival is an engaging, fun and educational celebration for all ages.

Everything about this festival promotes environmental “green” design. This was the first year an actual wooden stage was built for the musical performers. Please note that the amplification for the sound system is solar powered.

We were able to purchase many different varieties of Garlic. One of our favorites is a Siberian Garlic that has a hot & spicy taste!

There were wonderful signs around the festival and this is also a festival that for the amount of people produced little trash! Last year for a two day festival that was attended by about 5000 visitors they produced 2 bags of trash. All else was composted. Even the “plastic ware” was a cornstarch based product that will decompose.

Of course this festival was definitely about the garlic! Anyone who knows Sue knows that she lives for good garlic! Yes, Super Garlic Man was there!

I was able to get exercise……AND pick out a new lawn mower.

In all it was a wonderful day and we left with arms full of good produce and crafts.

So if interested, this festival occurs in mid-September. Please check out more information at http://www.garlicandarts.org/

I almost always bring my lunch to work in a plastic MarketBasket bag and also give my 9 year old daughter one for her snack for school, now when I go to the supermarket I ask for brown paper bags (which I may add are also good for covering books, crafts and school projects) and both of us now have fabric bags that are reusable.

Your learning section seems extensive and gives me a chance to take a look at options for “going green”. Glad to see there is a lot of info available without listening to lectures about how bad I currently am.

Thanks

Like many people I have fallen prone to the convenience of the ziploc bag for food storage and I confess that after a couple or washings and reusings, they looked so cruddy, I would just throw them away. Now I bought at 2 for 1 sale – dishwasher plastic storage containers in a variety of sizes (a bit like the old tupperware but more sturdy). Still plastic of course, but they will last forever and no more ziploc plastic bags! Saves money to boot!

I finally decided that I could not stand it any longer, and now insist that my drycleaners recycle my metal hangers.I think they see me as a bit eccentric, but they are accepting them back any way. I am encouraging them to put a recycling bin out for all their customers to do likewise.

I went online to pay my NSTAR bill this afternoon and found the following:

“Starting in January, pending approval from the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, NSTAR will be offering electricity supplied by renewable sources to interested Basic Service customers.”

“Customers will be able to choose to have half or all of their electricity come from NSTAR Green.
As proposed, there will be an additional premium of 1.75 cents (half option) or 3 cents (full option) per kWh.”

see more at http://www.nstar.com/residential/customer_information/nstar_green/nstar_green.asp

For me, living in an 850 sq. ft apartment, this would mean an additional $9 – $15 a month if I choose to do the full option. Done and done!

NSTAR will apparently be advertising this option in the coming months. Stay tuned, greenophiles!

I had the chance to live and travel abroad for much of the past two years, and from Singapore to the Arctic Circle, everywhere I went, climate change was something that would arise in casual conversation with local residents (whether Singapore and the Maldives would sink as water levels rise, how much the monsoons in south India had changed in recent years, the extraordinary recent summer heat waves in Central Europe, the rainy winters in Finland where once it was only snow).

I moved back to Boston in June ‘07 and decided that I would try to go without a car for a few months and see what it was like. Initially the financial reasons were as much a factor as the environmental issues. Now, three months later, I don’t ever want to own a car again unless I can get one that runs only on air or love. Or biodiesel. I’d settle for a car that smells like a french fry.

The payoffs are ever growing – I save money on car payments, insurance, gas, etc., I save myself the stress of parking around town and moving the car on street cleaning days. My clothes fit better (I seem to have lost a few pounds from walking and carrying groceries). I’ve realized that things are actually a lot closer than they seemed when I was driving everywhere. I’ve discovered just how much things like parks and urban density mean to me. I have re-committed myself to being more environmentally minded in other areas of my life.