What She Really Wants: Green Holiday Gifts for Gals from Small Green Businesses

Whether it is already on her wish list or not, what woman doesn’t want a gift that keeps giving back to her family, her community, her planet and herself? This holiday season surprise her with eco-gifts she’ll love and help support economically-challenged green small businesses. In “Buycotting the Holidays”, I explained why these companies need our support to survive this tough holiday retail season…so here are some great green gifts for all the women in your life:

· Luxurious eco-clothing, bath and bedding: DreamSacks is a one-stop, eco-shop for comfortable and natural fiber products made from silk, soy and sustainable bamboo. On their website, you’ll find beautiful sheets, blankets, casual clothing, robes and towels. And for a limited time (Sunday November 23rd – Friday 28th at midnight), DreamSacks is offering a special coupon just for visitors to this blog. Just enter NBCUGREEN at the website when prompted for the coupon code and get 15% off! Quality and value…a dream solution.

· Organic Skin and Personal Care: There are so many great eco-friendly, organic skin care companies in business today…please support them so they will all be here tomorrow. A few of my favorites with special offers this season:

· Gilly’s Organics: “Hey Sugar, Lookin’ Good” – an all organic, natural, extremely gentle, sugar scrub is a wonderful exfoliant that smooths and shines your skin. Perfect for home spa manis and pedis. Plus, readers of this blog can enjoy a free 4oz. scrub (worth $18) FREE when you buy 8oz. of Gilly’s amazing product. Treat her and support Gilly because she then gives 10% to local NJ foodbanks. Buy one for all the women on your list.

· Pharmacopia: These natural and organic skin care products are a treat 365 days a year but during the holidays, Pharmacopia offers a special GO. RELAX. Gift Set of their fabulous organic lavender and chamomile essential oils in a cleanser, body lotion and shea butter cream, all TSA standard travel sizes in an eco-friendly tote.

· Soaptopia: At the top of my wish list, being a member of the Soaptopia Bath of the Month Club…the very best way to enjoy all their great “junk-free” bath products. Or visit their website and build your own gift sets - all wrapped in free, eco-friendly gift wrapping.

· Eminence: Here’s a great idea. Eminence packaged up their best selling handmade organic fruit smoothie bodywash with a natural body loofa in an eco-bag with a festive ornament. But the gift doesn’t stop there…inside the ornament is a chocolate that could be your golden ticket to a world famous spa in Sedona, Arizona. (A trip for two so you could win too!) Buy the gift bag, enter the contest and cross your fingers…

· Natural Purses and Wallets: Raw Bags offers elegant purses and wallets that will be the perfect fit for any women. They design raw material purses from bamboo, raw leather, raw silk and recycled paper. My favorite pick of the season is their Green Bamboo Cube Clutch.

· Jewelry: Of course, what she really, really wants is some bling…so thrill her with eco-luxury and conflict-free jewels from Brilliant Earth. From socially responsible gold to fair trade jewels, their beautiful rings, pendants and gemstones originate from ethical and environmentally responsible sources.

Coming up next: Eco-Friendly Gifts for Babies and Teens

Mary Beth Gonzalez
http://www.gonzalezgoinggreen.blogspot.com/

Eco-Holiday Gifts for Men: Supporting Small Green Businesses

This holiday you have the choice to support economically-challenged green small businesses as you select holiday gifts for the special men in your life. As discussed in “Buycotting the Holidays”, I’d like you to show small green companies your green and buy your holiday gifts here:

Green Gifts for Men:
· Shower Water Timer: Zwello.com’s Blue Star Digital Shower Timer from Ripple Products. They promote water awareness and water conservation thru inventive bath-time products like this easy to use digital shower timer. This is a real clock with a simple, programmable countdown timer. Battery operated, steam proof and water proof.

· Men’s Grooming Products:
o Pangea Organics has many organic personal care products for men (and women) and to celebrate their 7th anniversary their festive holiday gift sets come in plantable boxes to grow a Spruce Tree! Embedded in the gift boxes are spruce seeds which can easily be planted to reforest our planet.

o Burt’s Bees Natural Grooming kit: this small black dopp kit includes a range of natural products to keep him looking great including beeswax lip balm, body wash, aftershave, shave cream and soap. All specially formulated for him with a natural, clean fragrance with sunflower oil.

o Organic Man “Sock-it-to-him” Beauty Bootie: Beautorium has designed a “stocking” made out of certified organic cotton and bamboo and filled with organic, 100% vegetarian, men’s personal care items from Logona Mann. These products are certified natural and don’t contain petrochemicals, paraffin, parabens, silicone, synthetic fragrances or colors, ethoxylated ingredients or GMOs. Includes shampoo, shower gel, face & body lotion, shaving cream and after shave lotion.


· Green Car Wash Kit: Lucky Earth makes an eco-friendly, waterless car wash kit. This gift saves water and money by enabling folks to wash their cars themselves. This exceptional, completely non-toxic, organic soap product cleans, polishes and protects cars without the use of additional water. Just spray the product on a car, wipe it off with a microfiber towel and lightly buff to shine. Traditional car washes can waste between 40 and 120 gallons of water per wash and pollute our local waterways and beaches with toxic run-off. This is a great no chemical suds, no fumes, no water solution.

· Bamboo Grilling and Cooking Accessories: Bambu makes sturdy, sustainable and contemporary designed bamboo cooking tools. I think any man who cooks would appreciate their stainless and bamboo cooking utensils and range of bamboo cutting boards.


Mary Beth Gonzalez
http://www.gonzalezgoinggreen.blogspot.com/

Eco-Holiday Prep: Supporting Small Green Businesses

As discussed in “Buycotting the Holidays”, this holiday you have the choice to support economically-challenged green small businesses as you prepare for the holidays. With predictions of a poor retail season, small companies who have devoted themselves to being environmentally friendly are at great risk. Show them your green and buy your holiday preparations here this season:

Solar Powered Light Emitting Diodes (LED) Holiday String Lights: Light your home this year with self-sustained, energy-conserving, environmentally-friendly Ecolites from Eco Geek Living, Inc. The lights recharge during the daylight hours and automatically turn on at night while using as little as 1/50th the amount of energy traditional light bulbs.

Bamboo Ornaments: Bambu has introduced certified organic bamboo ornaments - all hand shaped from a single piece of highly sustainable bamboo. Tied with recycled twine, these ornaments come in four shapes: Tree, Dove, Star, Person. Available at Whole Foods and Greenfeet.

Plantable Seed Holiday Cards: If you must keep this treasured tradition alive, please consider sending a holiday card that can be re-purposed. Green Field Paper Company (a tree-free paper company) offers Grow a Note cards that can be planted to produce wildflowers.

Bamboo Holiday Invitations: Smock makes fun and elegant holiday invitations with antique, cast-iron letterpresses on sustainable bamboo paper. Smock is an entirely wind-powered facility, uses vegetable-oil based and low-VOC inks and low-VOC and citrus based solvents and is a member of Co-op America Green Business.

Green Hostess Gifts:
Hostess Soaps:
- Luxurious triple milled soaps so fragrant and beautiful you will want to share. Bring a box of Earthworks paraban-free soaps which are wrapped in eco-friendly, pulp from fast growing bamboo and mulberry trees.
- Handmade natural soaps from Soap & Paper Factory makes elegant gifts. This pure, natural collection of products for home and body are handmade from start to finish. Founders Lisa Devo, Shannon Burch and Beth Grubaugh join to make traditional handmade and hand-wrapped home and body products in small batches for gifts as beautiful and unique as their packaging. Lisa and Shannon make the all-natural bath and body products by hand with as natural and organic ingredients as possible and then wrap them in Beth’s gorgeous hand-sketched, locally printed recycled paper and boxes.

Gourmet Baked Goods: Who doesn’t want to be in the Brownie of the Month Club? Especially when the brownies are organic and vegan. Or bring the hostess a basket filled with Allison’s Gourmet organic cookies, candies, teas, cocoas and fair trade coffee.

Soy Candles: Ka Nani Essentials and Soy 4M have partnered to create custom, 100% soy candles hand poured in refillable tin containers. These fragrant candles are chemical-free without dyes or preservatives.

Organic Tea: Numi Tea offers a lovely Velvet Tea Caddy. With a classic mahogany finish, glass top, this elegant tea caddy holds premium organic and Fair Trade Certified teas in style. A great gift for any tea lover.


Mary Beth Gonzalez
http://www.gonzalezgoinggreen.blogspot.com/

Buycotting the Holidays

For many years, I’ve heard the same refrain: “This year, I’m going to cut back on my holiday shopping”. And yet this year, I think people really mean it. Our poor global economy, U.S. recession, high unemployment rates and bleak immediate economic outlook all contribute to increased spending scrutiny.

Not just an expense
But it isn’t likely that most folks will just boycott the holidays altogether. Holiday gift giving is more than just an expense. It encompasses determining the actual gift recipient list and taking the time to find an appropriate gift. It isn’t about how much one spends on the gift. Our time and effort, while valuable, are free. Maybe this is the year to give the gift of time to those on your gift list. Offer to run errands for an elderly person or a night of babysitting to a harried mom.

“Buy-cott”: Buy Green
Now working off the assumption that some holiday gifts will still be bought, wrapped and presented with glee, I propose a “buy-cott”. Let’s make our hard working dollars work even harder by only buying green gifts this year. We know that our holiday dollars are going to go somewhere and we have the choice to use them to support companies who not only provide superior products but also strive to make our environment a better place. If you care about green, now is the time to show it. With many eco-minded small businesses already struggling in today’s economy, these small green companies will not succeed without our support. Remember that 70% of all employed Americans work not for huge multinational corporations, but for small business, like so many of these green companies. They need our help, so in the traditions of our great country, let’s give them our support.

Series of Holiday Green Gift Ideas
So over the next few weeks, I’ll be blogging about more than 20 small businesses where you can find perfect green holiday gifts for everyone on your list. In many cases, there will be special discounts available, and I’ll provide the links so you can buy online to save gas. I invite you to share your own green gift suggestions as well but most importantly, I urge you to put your money where your green is and buy from these companies this holiday season.

- Show them that you appreciate their extraordinary efforts to provide you with sustainable, safe, non-toxic, chemical-free products.
- Show those you love that you care enough about them to give green presents that will enhance their health and well-being.
- Show the world that you care about future generations who will inherit our earth.

In the next Going Green blog - Small Business Green Holiday Preparation Gifts:
- Solar Christmas Tree Lights
- Organic Hostess gifts
- Recycled and E-Holiday Cards

The Price of Green

We’re facing an economic crisis unlike anything since the Great Depression and understandably people are hunkering down and questioning their purchasing decisions. In the past few months, I’ve heard many consumers and business colleagues say that they just cannot afford to be Green right now. If you define Green as I did last week in this blog, then basically by not being Green, they are putting their personal health, their family’s health and the future health of our planet on hold. As if they will just wait until they have the extra money to get well.

I’m not willing to take those risks, but I am concerned about the financial crisis. So I’m sharpening my pencil and looking differently at my consumption with a Green eye towards Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. By being a little smarter, I can both save money and practice my Green lifestyle.

1. Transportation: when I take the bus or walk to/from work instead of taking a cab I can save money (Savings: $0 or $2 vs. $8 one way so I can save up to $16 a day).
Reduce: Saves my community from additional carbon emissions and conserves fuel.

2. Home cooked meals: when I cook at home with my organic produce I can make a healthier meal than eating out or ordering in and I can make it last for days. For instance, a roast organic chicken can be the main course on Saturday night, and then I’ll cook up the bones and extra meat in a chicken soup that we can eat on Sunday night and freeze the rest for a few other meals. (Savings: one $9 chicken can feed us for up to 5 nights).
Reuse: Saves my family’s health and supports organic farmers.

3. Homemade cleaning supplies: when you start to clean with white vinegar and water, you realize that you don’t need strong cleaning supplies for everyday cleaning. White vinegar disinfects, shines and deodorizes virtually everything. (Savings: just $1.79 for 32 oz. multipurpose white vinegar vs. at least $3.29 each for many 32 oz. regular cleaning products)
Reduce and Recycle: Saves time shopping for multiple cleaning products. Glass bottle is easily recycled.

4. Drink clean water: when I don’t buy bottled water and instead drink clean, filtered water. (Savings: at least $1.50 for each 8 oz. bottle.)
Reuse: Saves me money when I use my reusable water bottle.

5. Line dry clothes: when my apartment building doubled their dryer prices to $1.50 per load, I decided to reduce my dryer load and instead hang as much as I could on a clothing line in my bathroom. (Savings: $4.50 a week based on line drying three $1.50 loads)
Reduce: Saves on energy costs with less dryer use.

These are just a few ideas and I’m sure you have more to share. To live Green, you don’t need to spend more money. In these tough economic times, we need to think about basic economic principles. If people stop buying Green now then the price to be Green will only increase. To bring these costs down, we must continue to increase demand.

We’ve come so far in mainstreaming Green over the past few years, let’s not revert back to the days when being Green was an elite club. When you see organics at Wal-Mart, it is a good thing for our wallets. When you buy Green products, Green companies will continue to grow, innovate and improve their products. Now is not the time to stop being Green, but rather it is time to be a smarter shade of Green. Perhaps this shift requires a new word for our Green movement: Sage Green.

For more Green: http://gonzalezgoinggreen.blogspot.com/