Author Archives: Jen

The eco Easter basket

Posted on March 14, 2012 | 2 Comments

Recycla knows that most of you are probably still focused on the fact that it’s only mid-March — and that St. Patrick’s Day is this weekend — but for those folks with children, you might want to be aware that Easter is a little over three weeks away. If you’re thinking that the Easter Bunny is going to stop by your house and fill a basket or two, it’s time to do a little planning.

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Posted in eco holidays, eco kids

International Women’s Day

Posted on March 8, 2012 | 1 Comment

Today, fellow Eco Warriors, is International Women’s Day. Celebrated on March 8 every year, this day is meant to celebrate women and their work. This year’s theme is Empower Women — End Hunger and Poverty.

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Posted in Uncategorized

Don’t flush the tigers

Posted on February 29, 2012 | 7 Comments

Recycla has talked about toilet paper before, but it bears repeating: Buying conventional TP made from virgin fibers is a terrible idea. This is an eco sin reserved almost exclusively for Americans, where most toilet paper is not made from any recycled content and, in fact, far too much of it is coming from old-growth forests.

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Posted in 3 Rs, green around the world, issues

Green colleges

Posted on February 22, 2012 | 3 Comments

Recycla’s daughters are in middle school, which means that in just a few years, the family is going to have to think about colleges. After she gets over her shock at that thought and comes out of the fetal position, she’ll start making lists.

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Posted in Uncategorized

The best part of waking up…

Posted on February 15, 2012 | 13 Comments

Recycla recently suffered a painful loss: The death of her coffee maker.

It was, as you can imagine, a difficult situation, made all the worse by the fact that this happened when she was sleepily making morning coffee and really looking forward to that first cup right then.

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Posted in food, house stuff

Flowers for your Valentine

Posted on February 8, 2012 | 3 Comments

As you know, Valentine’s Day is next week. Are you buying flowers for anyone special? If so, how about buying him/her organic flowers?

Why? Because the majority of cut flowers are grown in Latin America and equatorial Africa in an industry in which the employees (mostly women) work for low wages and without benefits. When the holidays roll around and flowers are in demand, the workers are required to labor overtime.

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Posted in eco holidays

Be My Valentine: Chocolate for Eco Warriors

Posted on February 1, 2012 | 3 Comments

With Valentine’s Day approaching, you’re probably thinking about what to get your True Love (or yourself.)

Today, Recycla is here to talk about CHOCOLATE.

Chocolate is a big part of Valentine’s Day and for good reason. This product of the cocoa bean has been revered for centuries for its aphrodisiac qualities. And isn’t love what Valentine’s Day is all about?

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Posted in eco holidays, food

Clearing out

Posted on January 25, 2012 | 6 Comments

Like so many other people this time of year, Recycla has been on a major cleaning, organizing, and decluttering frenzy in the last few weeks. She lives with three people who tend toward packrat tendencies, so decluttering is an ongoing, never-ending task for her.

So far, she has completely worked over her closet, just recently shoveled out her daughters’ toy room, and is plunging into the kitchen today, to be followed afterward by dealing with the mountain of papers in the family’s shared home office.

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Posted in 3 Rs, websites & blogs

Oat-y goodness

Posted on January 18, 2012 | 10 Comments

With winter here, Recycla and her family are starting their days off with one of their favorite breakfasts: Oatmeal.

Ahhhhhh…

A bowl of oatmeal is a warm, nutritious breakfast that tastes good and gives any Eco Warrior enough energy to battle even the most dastardly Hummer owner.

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Posted in food

What to do with those used gift cards

Posted on January 11, 2012 | 4 Comments

Recycla’s daughters got a lot of plastic gift cards for Christmas, which is an easy gift for grandparents, aunts, and uncles to give two middle schoolers. After all those iTunes cards were entered into the girls’ iTunes accounts, what remained was a stack of plastic cards that needed to be disposed of in some way.