Butterflies are proven crowd pleasers: released at weddings, overused in metaphors and stamped on backs, but these tiny creatures are as fragile as they look.  Butterfly wings are covered with teeny tiny scales that overlap like roof shingles which help to strengthen and stabilize the wings.  Butterflies lose some of these scales in their everyday life, but when they lose too many, their wings become prone to tears and can affect their ability to fly.  When you touch a butterfly, the oil on your fingers pulls off more of these scales than a butterfly would slough off naturally, which can cause harm to the insect.  Being green and sexy means taking good care of the planet and all of the things on it, so do your part to help these pretty little creatures to look and feel their best by keeping your hands to yourself.

Did you know that in most places, recyclables with food stuck to them are considered contaminated and are thrown in the trash by the recycling center?  Yikes!  You’re already doing your part by recycling, so go one step further by protecting your recycling from becoming garbage later.  One way to keep it clean and green in your household is to keep lime, lemon and orange wedges from making their way down to the bottom of beer bottles.  Who doesn’t love a Carona with lime or an orange wedge in their Blue Moon?  Enjoying responsibly means not drinking and driving, but it also means keeping that little wedge of citrus out of the actual bottle.  Sound tough?  Consider pouring your drink into a glass to make sure both you and the planet stay winners.

It seems like the cardio trend of the moment is Spinning — the high-energy stationary bike classes that kick your ass and burn 500+ calories per session.  If you’re into spinning, ask your gym to consider installing Green Revolution energy generators and monitors on its Spinner bikes.  Why?  Green Revolution’s technology helps harness all of the human energy expended on the bikes and turns it into real, clean energy that can be used to power the lights and other electrical systems.  A recent article in the New York Times suggests that if the eight million people living in Manhattan worked out on a Spinner bike attached to the electric grid, they could generate 60 million Kilowatts of electricity per hour. Each month, enough electricity would be generated to power more than 45 million homes, and the reduction in carbon emissions is like taking 34 thousands cars of the road each month.  Awesome!  Imagine a world where working out benefitted your body, your mind and your planet.  Now that’s sexy.

Thanks to Kathleen Maloney for suggesting this tip!

Here’s one more thing you can to do make the most out of your mug of Joe in the morning (and yes, we do mean mug.): skip that plastic stirring device. Those little straws are only so great for about 8 seconds – and then they typically get discarded. Multiply this by the activities of thousands of caffeine junkies every morning and that’s a lot of plastic.

There are ways to get your mix in your fix without the additional use of plastic. In fact, our green friend Angie let us in on her little stirring secret when she wrote us. “To make my entire coffee experience plastic free I have found a way to put in my creamer and get it evenly distributed without the use of a plastic stir stick. I pour 3/4 cup coffee, then add creamer and top off the cup with additional joe which acts as a natural stirrer. I suppose I could just pour my cream in before I put in any coffee but somehow I always over cream if I do it that way. I have shared my little trick with my friend Amy and we have been stir stick free for weeks!”

Now that’s the way to go for Joe!

We all agree that junk mail is the worst. But do you know just how bad it is? Every year, 100 million trees, 28 billion gallons of water, and $320 million in local tax money are used for the production and disposal of junk mail. Remove yourself from bulk-mailing lists by using our handy form letters, and watch your mailbox slowly begin to shrink. In the mean time, why not make the best of a bad situation? Use the reply envelopes for your own use. Cover the pre-inked address with a white business label and you’re in business! These free envelopes mean less envelopes we’re buying and it feels kinda good to stick it to snail-mail spammers.

Thanks to Eric Miller for suggesting this tip!

If you’re currently unemployed or are just looking to do something new, consider working in the green sector.  If you’re reading this tip, you must already have an interest in making the planet a more livable place for all of the people, animals and plants on it, so why not make a career out of it?  You may not have a degree in Environmental Science or know how to install wind turbines, but eco-focused companies still need Accountants, Admins, Marketers, Fund-Raisers, Human Resources staff and a host of positions in between to function, right?   Typing the words “sustainability”, “environmental” or “conservation” into a standard employment search engine could help set you on the right path, but using a specific site like GreenJobsReady.com will make it that much easier.  Help make the world a greener place and earn a little green at the same time by lending your talents and skills to a green minded organization.  
 

Photograph by Holger Ellgaard
Thanks to Katy for suggesting this tip!

Cotton sucks (water, that is)! It takes almost 1,000 gallons of water to create one cotton T-shirt, not to mention a heaping helping of pesticides, herbicides and other not-s0-cool stuff, so be kind to the tees you already own with a few simple tips:  

• Wash your clothes with non-toxic detergents and use the correct amount.  When too much detergent is used, the excess gets trapped in between fibers, making clothes look dull and dingy.
• Using cold water will help preserve the color in your garments and saves the energy that would otherwise be spent heating up the water. 
• Air drying  cotton  helps protect it from shrinkage and saves energy, but if you must use the machine, run the dryer on a low heat setting. 

Reduce is the most important of the three R’s, so reduce the amount of cotton you buy by taking good care of the cotton you own, yo.  Tees, jeans and chonies can all benefit from fewer washes and cooler temps, so do what you can to keep your stash in great shape.

Photograph by David Levine.
Thanks to Aliza Rothman for suggesting this tip!

Were you kind to your skin this summer?  The hot months are often brutal for the body’s biggest organ with sun, wind, sweat and sunscreen wreaking havoc on your epidermis.  Before you stock up on a shopping cart full of cleansers, scrubs, creams and serums, consider a chemical-free alternative by beautifying skin from the inside out.  According to Dr. David Bank, President of the New York State Society for Dermatology and Dermatologic Surgery, there are certain foods that will help keep your skin looking healthy and radiant without touching a single chemical, which is good for you and the planet.  You probably need to eat more fruits and vegetables anyway, so why not choose a few that will help your skin too? 

Dr. Bank’s Top 10 Best Foods For Your Skin:

Avocados: The creamy and delicious fruit is abundant in essential oils and B-complex vitamins that nourish your skin. Avocados also contain a lot of Niacin (vitamin B3), which is important for healthy skin since it acts as an anti-inflammatory and soothes irritated or red/blotchy skin.

Cantaloupe: Super healthy for skin by increasing the antioxidants in your body, which results in the ability to absorb free radicals.

Almonds/Walnuts: Almonds contain 150% of daily vitamin E needs and is rich in oils that moisturize your skin while its antioxidants protect against skin damage and premature aging. In addition, walnuts contain the essential fatty acids that help improve skin.

Cottage Cheese: When selemium in cottage cheese meets vitamin E, the result is a powerful free radical-fighting antioxidant team. It also protects against skin cancer and dandruff.

Grapefruit: Grapefruit is a great source of daily vitamin C intake. As an antioxidant, vitamin C fights skin damage and wrinkles. Vitamin C also acts as a central role in production of collagen, which is structural protein in your skin.

Mangoes: Mangoes contain more than 80% of daily vitamin A requirements, which is essential for maintaining and repairing skin cells. A deficiency in vitamin A will result in dry, flaky complexion. Mangoes also work as an antioxidant fighting free-radical damage that can prematurely age the skin.

Baked Potatoes: Trade French Fries for a steaming baked potato. One baked potato (with the skin) provides 75% of daily copper need. Copper when combined with vitamin c and zinc produce elastin fibers that support skin structure. Copper deficiency in your diet can reduce skin’s ability to heal and cause it to become rigid and lifeless.

Mushrooms: Essential to your skin, riboflavin is found in mushrooms and is involved in tissue maintenance and repair. It also improves skin blemishes caused by rosacea.

Flaxseed Oil: Flaxseed oil is one of the best sources of essential fatty acid. One teaspoon of flaxseed oil provides 2.5 grams of omega 3s, which hydrates the skin. Essential fatty acids also dilute sebum and unclog pores that lead to acne.

Wheat Germ: Super nutritious, wheat germ is just the embryo within a grain of wheat. It is a good source of biotin, a vitamin C that’s crucial to skin health. A mild biotin deficiency can cause dermatitis, a condition characterized by itchy, scaly skin.

 
Photograph by Cyclone Bill.
Thanks to Tiffany Chong for suggesting this tip!

As Summer melts into Fall, you might be savoring some last-minute camp fires, or getting ready to warm up your home with the fireplace. Whether your hearth is at home or outside, be mindful of what you burn. Just because something can burn doesn’t mean it should burn. Stained, painted or treated wood, chipboard, plastic, styrofoam and magazines all release toxins into the air when burned. Limit your fires to clean, dry wood for the most eco-friendly fire, but be mindful of how often you light up. Regardless of how organic your burn matter may be, fires still release a lot of particulate matter into the air, which is not exactly sexy. Enjoy the greenest burn possible, but enjoy it (and the marshmallows) in moderation.

If being green was a class in school, the first lesson would probably be, “don’t litter”, right? We all know that it’s not good to litter, but have you ever thought about why? Trash improperly disposed of can hurt people and animals. Litter can be very dirty. Not only does it not look nice but, it may carry germs. There are some animals that are scavengers who are attracted to areas with lots of litter. They find their food among the trash and can pick up the germs and become carriers for diseases that may make people sick. When litter is on sidewalks or along curbs, it may get washed down in to storm drains during a heavy rain. Eventually this water leads to the nearest river or ocean. Animals may mistake the items of litter floating in the water as food and could choke on them. Even if the animals don’t try to eat the litter, they may get entangled in it. It is estimated that every year over 1 million seabirds and 100,000 turtles and sea mammals die as a result of eating litter or by getting tangled up in plastic fishing nets and lines. In addition to the harmful effects on people and animals, litter is gross! Trash looks ugly and when it decomposes in the elements it smells bad. While most places have laws against littering, busts are few and far between. Do your part by keeping garbage where it belongs: in the trash.