Green Options

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Editor’s note: The Santa Fe Women’s Group in Costa Rica is empowering themselves by making biogas from manure. Written by guest author Thomas Carmona.

As if cooking, cleaning, and child-rearing were not enough, the women of Santa Fe also lead a powerful organization, the Santa Fe Women’s Group, which fulfills many vital roles for the community. One of the group’s biggest projects has been producing biogas.

The Project

The Santa Fe Biogas project, in its initial stages, was simply a concern communicated in Women’s Group meetings: “How can we avoid buying expensive tanks of gas and inhaling smoke in the kitchen?”

Editor’s note: This week, Eco-Libris blogger Raz Goldenik talks with author Diane MacEachern about her new book Big Green Purse. This post was originally published on February 22, 2008.

Can women make the world a greener and a better place with their purses? Diane MacEachern believes they do and she wrote a great book Big Green Purse: Use Your Spending Power To Create a Cleaner, Greener World, which is a call-to-action for women to use their power as buyers (women spend 85 percent of every dollar in the marketplace) to make a difference.

MacEachern’s message is simple but revolutionary: if women harness the “power of their purse” and intentionally shift their spending money to commodities that have the greatest environmental benefit, they can create a cleaner, greener world.

We covered the book few weeks ago, and since I was fascinated with the simple but yet powerful message of the book, I wanted to learn a little bit more about it from the author itself and interviewed Diane MacEachern. I know that not all of you see green consumerism as the best way to fight global warming and achieve sustainability, but Diane makes a very good case here in explaining how realistic and powerful option it is. you are welcome to read and judge for yourself. The book was published last Thursday, February 28.

Exercise is a green approach to health care. Yes, a green pregnancy means making the most of what you take into your body, through what you eat, drink, and breathe, and also absorb through your skin, hair, and nails. But how you move your body is another powerful green way to make a difference.

There are many benefits of exercise during pregnancy, including improved physical conditioning, strength, flexibility, and stamina. It builds endurance for labor and delivery and a quicker postnatal recovery. By exercising regularly, you may be able to reduce some of the common discomforts of pregnancy such as backache, swelling, and constipation. Most of all, you feel great about yourself when you exercise.

How Exercise Can Help More Than Medication

Let’s take a look at the effects of exercise versus medications for two of the most important complications of pregnancy.

Gestational Diabetes

As many as one in eight women will develop gestational diabetes sometime during their pregnancies, increasing health risks for themselves and their babies. Researchers at the University of Southern California School of Medicine studied a group of women who had already developed gestational diabetes and who had fasting blood glucose levels high enough to require insulin. Half of the women in the study received the recommended insulin. The other half got personal trainers instead. The trainers supervised the women while they did simple twenty-minute stints on exercise bikes. The results were startling: moderate aerobic exercise was equally effective to insulin! Blood glucose levels were statistically the same in both groups.

Oh yeah, you read the subject of this post correctly … shopping, eek. The holiday gift season usually begins the day after Thanksgiving, a day which I intentionally avoid doing any buying. This year, shops and merchants are breaking out the good stuff (and the good deals) right after Halloween to try and help jump-start the economy again.

If having a gift-free holiday is not something your family would go for, why

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The Raging Grannies, pursuers of activist causes since 1986 are still going strong. From humble beginnings as a peace group in Canada, to The Today Show, magazine articles, newspaper and tv coverage, the grannies have a rich history. They’ve been arrested, investigated, cheered and jeered, but still they go out and rage for change.

Join me in a look at the history and accomplishments of this group of seniors […]

Sunshine isn’t the only great thing about summer - don’t forget the sales! With a continued concern about the cost of green living, you now have the chance to be green and save green at the same time (ironic, no?). Greenloop, the Portland-based online store, is having its annual summer sale with all clothing, accessories, and bodycare for men, women and children being marked down from 20-60% off.

Greenloop is one woman’s

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Surf, sun, and fun - the most common things Long Beach, California is known for. Thanks to Wisdom Tees,
we can add another phrase to that list: sustainable style. Many of the
eco-clothing brands like to use shocking images on their apparel to try
and inspire others to act, but Wisdom is different. "We believe that
wearing our Wisdom tees with purely positive and inspiring
affirmations, one will have a clear impact on his or

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Two weeks ago, I lost one of my favorite socks while moving to a new apartment. I'd feel pretty silly about having just a pair of sock being shipped across the country so I kept putting it off. While browsing around my local Whole Foods yesterday, I spotted Maggie's Functional Organics socks in the clothing section (which was next to the vegetables… go figure). Having checked out Maggie's site once or

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Seattle-based Earth Organic Baby Basics was started by Kate McIntosh Quinn, a former Hollywood stylist, in 2005. Quinn focuses on organic cotton clothing that cares for the earth while still being stylish. As the line began to expand past baby clothes to include older kids, and soon women, the name of the brand was changed to Kate Quinn Organics in July 2006.

Now offering clothing for newborns to 6 year-olds, all

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Itchy, formless, paired with tie dye shirts - hemp isn't known for being comfortable or stylish. Durable and versatile, industrial hemp used to be the first choice for many productions from canvas (derived from the word cannabis) and carpet to paper and rope.

Though still illegal to grow in the United States, we are the purchaser of over 60% of the internationally available industrial hemp, mostly for grown in Europe and recently Canada. Based on

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Like many indigenous peoples, the Sami of Scandinavia have a deeply rooted respect and connect to nature. Keeping a harmonic balance between humans, plants, and animals is the root of their culture, and has been so for thousands of years. From these values, BonnieSiefers established luxurious and affordable eco-clothing line Jonäno in 2005. In their native language, jonäno means "everybody healthy," symbolizing the company's dedication to sustainable fibers and fair trade practices.

Our

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