The Green Queen hates to throw anything away. She’s always thinking, “how can I reuse, recycle or repurpose this?” And even when it comes to a worn out swimsuit or two, she doesn’t want to throw them in the trash.
Posted in clothes, eco holidays
Tagged Homemade Hearts, Sustainable Love, Valentine's Hearts
Life is hectic but we all have to eat. Some of us just don’t have time to cook. So, when you need to eat out, don’t give up on health just to get your food fast. If you think ahead, you’ll be prepared. A little thinking time now, will mean that you’ll be able to get your meal in a hurry from a company that uses sustainable practices and offers a quality meal in a hurry.
Posted in food, Uncategorized
Tagged Burgerville USA, Eat Locally grown produce and products
The New Year is Here! And some people are making resolutions and setting goals to do more this year. The Green Queen wants to be different. She wants to do less…by reducing her carbon footprint on the world. The only way to reduce your carbon footprint is to cut down your impact on the environment. There are a lot of options you can choose from to help achieve this effect.
1) Go to Work a Different Way:
a) Don’t drive your car,
b) Take mass transit,
c) Ride your bike,
d) Or even run/walk.
You’ll get into better shape, save money and help protect the planet all at the same time.
2) Use natural remedies to heal your ailments.
a) Slice large onions and lay them on your chest, to help clear-up sinus congestion.
b) Steam a pot of water, add a teaspoon of crushed lavender, hold a towel over your head and inhale the warm revitalizing scent.
c) Pour 1/2 cup of Epsom salt into your bath to help soothe aching, tired muscles.
3) Use Products a Different Way.
With the new year here people often want to clean out the old and here’s how to do it without polluting the planet.
a) Use vinegar and water to wash your windows and even your clothes. You can mix 1/4 cup of vinegar in a quart of water. Moisten a dry cotton cloth with this mixture and you can wipe down your counter tops, appliances and even your bathroom.
b) Use a slice of lemon to clean the bottom of your copper pots and pans. Simply rub the copper with lemon juice and salt and you will be awe…mazed.
c) Use baking soda to clean out your refrigerator. Take two tablespoons of baking soda and mix it in a quart of water. Use a sponge and dip it in the liquid to clean your appliances.
People haven’t always had store bought cleansers that were full of dyes, perfumes and chemicals. They used vinegar, baking soda and scrub brushes. You can too!
Posted in health, house stuff, Uncategorized
Tagged Have A Small Impact, Protect the Planet, Reduce Your Carbon Footprint
We hope you have a healthy, happy and green New Year!
Love,
The Eco Women
“Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind ?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and old lang syne ?
CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne. ” Robert Burns (Scottish Song)
Posted in Uncategorized
Do you have any empty wine, sparkling cider, or pretty juice bottles sitting around after the holidays? Well, before you throw those pretty bottles in the trash, think again. Here’s one way you could re-use them.
It’s winding down to the last days of the holidays and we’re probably all giving a few gifts and tokens of affection. But…before you use more paper that will be ripped off the package, crumpled up into a big ball of waste and thrown into the trash, think reusable wrapping.
This is a wonderful wreath that you can make in 6 Super EZ Steps .
You will be celebrating the season in sustainability fashion by using old plastic bags (they don’t have to be clear plastic – they can be any color). Or, if you don’t have any plastic bags you can use up your sandwich baggies.
What better way to use your old plastic bags than to make a beautiful wreath to hang on your door? Plus you can give these wreaths as gifts and get rid of your old plastic bags at the same time.
Here’s all you do:
1) Take a wire hanger and bend it into a circle (this is the form for your wreath).
2) Take the baggies or plastic bags (they must be folded and can’t be ziploc) and cut all seams so baggie is completely open. 
3) Then cut the baggies in half (one by one or in bunches)
4) Tie each piece to hanger in a half knot.
5) Move ends of baggies until wreath is full in body.
6) Decorate with Christmas ornaments, ribbons or whatever you have and WAH-LAH!!! You’re done!
It’s super sustainable and a wonderful symbol of the season at the same time.
Red, White, Black, Green…?
What does it really mean?
Well, even after I know what Black Friday means, I’m wondering about this shopping “celebration”. . .
I’m going to be radical and propose we make it a Green Friday instead. By that I’m definitely not proposing that you should spend all the green in your wallet.
Posted in eco holidays, Uncategorized
Portland Composts is a new program and I may be a little biased…okay I might be a lot biased but Portland, Oregon has always been known as a sustainable city. We Portlandians are ranked NUMBER ONE in the country for most bike friendly cities, only coming in behind Amsterdam in the entire world! Plus we have an army of workers who bike to work. We even have solar powered garbage compactors located around the city. But now Portland City Metro is not only encouraging composting, they are essentially demanding it…at least if you don’t want to have your garbage cans overflowing and spilling out into your yard.
Garbage pick ups will only be every other week from now on – instead of every week. So, people will need to cut down on their garbage production or increase their recycling and composting to keep their garbage from growing into an unmanageable amount. The city even provided these cute little composting pails (pictured above) for every household. I think it’s super city sustainable power!!! And, I’m really excited to see how the program works out.
I’ll keep you all posted on the progress of this new sustainable program.
How ’bout your city, is it encouraging composting?
Posted in Uncategorized
We all have some junk sitting around our homes, in the basement, the garage, or storage unit. But, if we just take a minute to think, we can come up with some creative ways to repurpose those things.
Let’s all take a little inspiration from Junk to Funk in Portland, Oregon. These sustainable artists use trashion edutainment to get people to pay attention to the wonderful things they can make by simply putting someone else’s junk to use.
Even Miss Oregon 2010 got into the act by wearing a swimsuit made out of discarded bike tire tubes. How cool is that?
And look at this cute outfit made out of ‘junk’. 
And here are a few more creative recraftings
So I have one question for you…
