Did you know that the average American school-age child throws away 67 pounds of food packaging a year? This includes plastic water bottles, sandwich baggies, and juice boxes. That equates to 18,760 pounds of lunch waste for just one average-size elementary school. That’s a lot of trash!

Next week start reducing those numbers by packing a waste-free lunch for your kids and/or for your day at work. It’s really easy, just follow these simple 5 steps and you’ll cut down your waste in no time.

5 Tips for a Waste-Free Lunch:

1. Pack food in reusable lunch containers, like Kids Konserve
2. Wash & reuse real silverware and cloth napkins when needed
3. Store juice, water or other beverages in a reusable BPA free stainless steel bottles
4. Control food portions to ensure that there are no ‘leftovers’ to dispose of
5. Pack it all in a reusable lunch bag or tote

Gobble, Gobble! It’s almost Turkey Day! And what better way to show your love for the holiday than sporting an upcycled hand print turkey shirt. The folks over at One More Moore show us how…

Supplies Needed:

• Scissors
• Paper & marker
• Used t-shirt, onesie or long sleeve shirt
• Extra fabric piece bigger than your hand
• Pins
• Spare button
• Felt
• Sewing machine or needle and thread

Let’s Get Started:

Step 1:
Trace hand on paper and cut-out. Make sure you have a piece of fabric cut just bigger than the size of the hand cut-out. With the right side of the fabric up, place inside of shirt and pin to the front (where you want your applique to be. Right side of fabric is pinned to back side of front of the t-shirt). Make sure you place your cut-out on TOP of the underneath fabric.

Step 2:
Pin the cut-out down (not pictured) and then sew around the edge of the cutout (not pictured.) Remove pins and hand template. You’ll see the outline of a hand.

Step 3:
Next, gently pull apart the inside of the hand shape that you’ve just sewn, seperating the t-shirt and fabric. Cut only the top t-shirt, along the inside of the sewn line (making sure you don’t cut the contrasting fabric underneath). Cut around entire inside of sewn line:

Step 4:
Stitch some legs. Sew on a button for the eye. Cut out some red felt for the gobble-gobble and hand sew that on.

Thanks again to the folks over at One More Moore for sharing their fun holiday eco-crafts with us.

It’s the end of August and time for the kids to go back to school.

Back to school is the perfect time to start adopting some greener habits you & your whole family can practice all year long. Below are the top ten tips to going back to school the green way.

Top Ten Eco-Friendly Back to School Tips:

1. Ride your bike or walk to school whenever possible.
2. Use last year’s backpack.
3. Use a reusable lunch box & water bottle, instead of disposable.
4. Buy local & organic foods & snacks to pack in lunches
5. Buy recycled paper, notebooks & other supplies.
6. Use refillable pens & pencils.
7. Buy a canvas & cardboard binders, instead of plastic.
8. Buy used books.
9. Buy new school clothes from a second hand shop.
10. And don’t forget to always recycle.

It may sound difficult, but making homemade organic baby food at home is super simple and has huge benefits for your baby, the environment and your wallet.

All you need to do is buy fresh organic fruits & veggies at the local farmer’s market, cook them and blend/puree. You can even make extra and freeze in reusable single serving containers or in ice cube trays for later use.

By doing the leg work yourself you know what’s actually going into your baby’s food, giving yourself peace of mind that your baby is getting the freshest organic foods.

Looking for hot fashion without all the guilt? Look no further Chicago, as we’re quickly catching up to the LA & New York eco-fashion senses for men, woman & even baby.

Here are the Top 3 Eco-Fashion Boutiques in Chicago:

• Pivot Boutique – Founded by Jessa Brinkmeyer in 2007 as the first eco-fashion shop in Chicago. Located in the warehouse district.
  PivotBoutique.com
  1101 W. Fulton Market
  Chicago, IL 60607
  312.243.4754

• Connect Chicago – Founded by Mitch Lindsay & Jonathan Shaun in 2008 committed to sustainability and social responsibility. Located in the Wicker Park / Bucktown neighborhood.
  connect-chicago.com
  1330 North Milwaukee Ave.
  Chicago, IL 60642

• Nat and Helens – Founded by Mandi Altepeter, named after her maternal great-grandma & paternal grandma and where you can find all things baby. Located in the Lakeview neighborhood.
  natandhelens.com
  3125 N. Broadway
  Chicago IL 60657

Just say no to those electric mosquito zappers. Several studies have shown that they are inefficient at killing the pesky biting insects, but great at turning beneficial ecologically important bugs into charred insects.

Part of the problem is that traditional zappers merely emit UV light as an attractant, however mosquitoes could care less about the light. Newer models, such as the Mosquito Magnet, release CO2, which does excite the biting bugs. All and all they work better, but do cost a bundle.

I still recommend just using a good old eco-friendly spray to keep those mosquitoes at bay.

Kick off the summer this Memorial Day Weekend by greenifying your BBQ Party. Here are the top 5 ways to make your Memorial Day shindig a little more sustainable.

• Grill - A solar powered grill is the most eco-friendly way to grill these days, but if that’s not an option for you opt for a grill that burns natural gas rather than charcoal, as it is cleaner.
• Food - Shop at a local farmer’s market for your BBQ ingredients. You can usually find great local organic produce, breads & meats.
• Tableware - Switch to biodegradable dishes.
• Napkins – Use washable napkins to reduce paper waste.
• Compost - Compost leftover food scraps & other organic trash.

Happy Grilling!

There’s nothing better then a bright white t-shirt, but often your white laundry items can start to look dingy and gray. This happens for a few reasons. You may live in a hard water area and deposits become fixed to the fibers, or it could just be a build up of detergent within the item. To get those whites white again & keep them white use a little vinegar.

Get White Again: Soak the dingy item in a gallon of warm water and 8fl oz of white vinegar. Then rinse in cold water & wash as usual.

To Keep White: Add about 1/3 cup of white vinegar to your rinse cycle. You’ll find that your clothes come out brighter and softer, and any vinegar smells should vanish after your clothes have dried.

Easy & eco-friendly…now that’s my kind of laundry.

Easter is almost here – Sunday, April 4th!

Instead of buying brand new Easter baskets for all your colored eggs, try making your own eco-friendly baskets. Here are 3 super Green homemade Easter basket ideas using items around your house & kitchen.

Materials You Will Need:

• Pipe cleaners
• Berry baskets
• Plastic clamshell container
• Tape
• Glue
• Scissors
• Stapler
• Stickers
• Ribbon
• Silk or real flowers
• Juice or milk carton
• Colored paper

Berry Easter Basket
Use a berry basket, loop some ribbon through the slots, and put a pipe cleaner through the sides as a handle. This petite basket makes a great Easter party favor or teacher gift.

Clamshell Easter Basket
Use a plastic container that produce or baked goods are packaged in at the grocery store, and simply punched one hole on each side of the clamshell, then loop a pipe cleaner through the holes to make the handle. You can also decorate it with paint, stickers, or really anything.

Carton Easter Basket
1. Another basket idea is to use an empty juice or milk carton — rinse out and air dry.
2. Next, cut out the side that has the spout.

3. Take your colored paper and measure it against the carton, tracing out each side, then covering each side with the colored paper, using either tape or glue.

4. Take another piece of colored paper and cut out a long piece about 2 inches wide for your handle. Staple it to the carton. You can use flowers or stickers to cover the staple.

5. Decorate your basket with stickers, let your child color or paint it, put flowers on it. Get creative – options are endless!

A special thanks to Petite Planet for sharing their Easter eco-crafts with us!

St. Patrick’s Day is tomorrow! Are you ready to celebrate the holiday in a truly Green way?

Here are the top 5 tips for celebrating St. Patrick’s Day the eco way:

1. Wear Organic Green Tees: One of the biggest St. Patty’s Day triditions is to wear green or an Irish slogan T-shirt. This year, instead of just wearing any old green T-shirt, wear an organic cotton or bamboo T-shirt! That way your green tee really is Green!
2. Drink Local Organic Beer: The other big St. Patrick’s Day tradition is a visit to the good ol’ pub! This year celebrate in an eco-friendly style by ordering an organic local beer on tap and in a re-usable glass mug of course.
3. Avoid Plastic Disposable Decorations: This is really a no brainer for any holiday. Cheap plastic accessories such as beads and plastic shamrock rings usually just get thrown out the next day, only to end up in landfills. So this year try making your own decorations and accessories for your party or purchase items you will actually re-use.
4. Eat Local & Organic: Another holiday favorite is to eating delicious meals. So this year try to make your Irish favorites by shopping at the local farmers market. It’s just not Green if your potato is flown from half way around the world.
5. Tint Your Brewski With Natural Dye: Artificial food coloring is nasty stuff, especially Green No. 3, which has been prohibited in the European Union and some other countries. I recommend trying Chefmaster’s all natural green food coloring instead. It is much healthier for you & your friends.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!