1.  Make your kids go outside.  Quit sending them the message that being outdoors is dangerous (think of how often we do!  Insect bites, rashes, allergies, sunburn–kids get inundated with the message that it’s safer to be indoors, in an environment sanitized for their protection).  If children have no relationship with the earth, the Great Outdoors, nature, they’ll feel no obligation to protect it.  You protect what you know and love and the best way to know and love nature and our planet is to get out and experience it.  Whether you take your kids camping, hiking, fishing, Geo-caching, to the local playground or to a National Park, get your kids outside.  Outdoor activities can include swimming, biking, gardening, playing kick the can with neighbor kids or gathering dandelions.  The more time a kid spends outside, the more they’ll notice things, like how ants persevere to lift something five times their size or how all flowers begin with symmetrical shapes. They’ll learn to appreciate fresh air, fireflies, sunshine, lilacs, raindrops, birdsong and snowflakes.  All love of nature begins with being in nature, so slap some sunscreen and bug spray on your kids and kick ‘em out the back door!

2.  Hold your kids to your environmental ethics and explain why.  “Turn off the lights!  We need to save electricity.”  “Help me get these clothes in off the lines–line drying is free and better for the planet than using an electrical clothes dryer.”  “We have to pick beans today so we have some for supper–our homegrown beans always taste better than the canned ones.”  Model behavior, and talk about it.  Just as we explain “Don’t touch a hot stove, you’ll burn yourself,” we have to explain why we bring our own shopping bags, pass on bottled water and buy organic food.

3.  Demonstrate to your kids that less is more.  Any analysis of the big environmental issues–pollution, diversity, land use, shrinking resources–boils down to our habits of consumption.  If we’re serious about addressing environmental protection, we need to use less, consume less, buy less–we need to embrace a simpler lifestyle.  Turn off the TV, get off the computer/phone/video game, get out of the shopping malls, quit spending and getting stuff.  Lower the bar–a kid will enjoy a trip to the library and baking cookies at home just as much as they’ll enjoy a trip to Barnes & Noble and a trip through the McDonald’s drive thru.  Quality matters more than quantity.   Start framing your children’s world in experiences instead of things–it’s easy enough to do.  Start by asking your children what they’d like to do  to celebrate a holiday instead of what they want to get.  Make a list of free and cheap pleasures to pursue over summer vacation.  Enviro Girl could go on and on about how indulging in a materialistic and consumption-based lifestyle is bad for both the environment, our economy and our character development, but she wants you to keep reading.  Perhaps she’ll expound more in a different post.  For now, she urges you to try it and see how kids can be just as happy to stay up late to read a story together as they are to stay up late to watch TV.

Tell the Eco Women:  are you doing any or all of these things with the next generation?  What ideas do you have for bringing up the next generation of Eco-Activists?

In honor of Earth Day 2012, the Eco Women are giving away an assortment of Southern Exposure Seed Exchange seeds to two winners. What better way to celebrate our Earth than by getting a little earth on our hands!

All you have to do to enter this giveaway is leave a comment on this post. You don’t have to say anything in particular, but feel free to tell us about a new eco action you’ve been trying or something you’d like for us to talk about here on this blog. This giveaway is open until noon on Earth Day, after which, we will randomly draw two names and contact the winners.

To learn more about Earth Day and what you can do to help Planet Earth, visit the official Earth Day website.

Researchers found that, when surveyed decades ago, about a third of young baby boomers said it was important to become personally involved in programs to clean up the environment. In comparison, only about a quarter of young Generation X members — and 21 percent of Millennials — said the same.

Wow.  Depressing, right?  Especially for those of us who teach or parent children.  All of our canvas shopping bags, highway clean-ups, recycling and reducing don’t seem to be making much of a lasting impact when you read this news.

Enviro Girl had the pleasure of teaching 3rd graders twice in the past week.  On the first day the students got an introduction to renewable and nonrenewable resources via their Social Studies textbook.  This led to listing nonrenewable resources, which naturally led to oil which Enviro Girl naturally linked to plastic.  To demonstrate the cavalier attitude people have towards plastic (a non renewable resource, which means it cannot be replaced, once it’s gone, it’s GONE), Enviro Girl grabbed the classroom garbage can and began pulling things out of it.

Plastic wrappers.  Plastic bags.  Plastic pens.  A broken plastic trinket.  The students quickly saw via her visual demonstration in their own classroom garbage bin how much of our waste is plastic–a nonrenewable resource.  Never one to back down from  a golden opportunity, Enviro Girl asked the students what they think they could do to help solve this problem.  The students began listing ideas–reuse water bottles, reuse bags, recycle plastic containers and so forth.

It’s interesting to note that Enviro Girl’s son was one of the students in the class and he did not volunteer a single answer.  Eventually, Enviro Girl pressed him to give some ideas.  After all, his mom’s an Eco Warrior, right?  This should’ve been easy.

After much prodding, Enviro Girl realized that while her son knew they used canvas shopping bags, bought milk in reusable glass bottles, stored food in glass and metal containers, never bought individually wrapped snacks or plastic baggies, never bought bottled water or other beverages in plastic bottles, used metal water bottles and refused plastic trinkets, he never associated this with “being kind to the environment” or “reducing our use of plastic, a nonrenewable resource.”  In other words, Enviro Girl learned she was an Eco Warrior that her own family failed to recognize.

Why was that?  How does growing their own food, restoring native prairie, cleaning highway ditches and line-drying laundry not sink in?  Enviro Girl suspects it’s because she never really talks about it.  Sure, she does many environmentally friendly things, but she almost never mentions how her actions are deliberate choices.  She came to understand that while actions speak louder than words, she still has to SPEAK about what she’s doing and instill the reasons for her behavior into her children.  If she doesn’t, how can they understand that valuing the environment is a family value, a moral choice in their world?

Tomorrow Enviro Girl will continue this tale, but today she leaves you with these thoughts:  ARE you talking about your environmental values and choices to the next generations?  HOW are you discussing these things?  Or are you like Enviro Girl and taking for granted that they’re learning about it without your explicit instruction?

In honor of Earth Day 2012, the Eco Women are giving away an assortment of Southern Exposure Seed Exchange seeds to two winners. What better way to celebrate our Earth than by getting a little earth on our hands!

All you have to do to enter this giveaway is leave a comment on this post. You don’t have to say anything in particular, but feel free to tell us about a new eco action you’ve been trying or something you’d like for us to talk about here on this blog. This giveaway is open until noon on Earth Day, after which, we will randomly draw two names and contact the winners.

To learn more about Earth Day and what you can do to help Planet Earth, visit the official Earth Day website.

Begun on April 22, 1970, that first Earth Day is considered the start of the modern environmental movement. A lot has been accomplished in the past four decades, but there’s still much for us to do. Luckily, even small actions can have big consequences, so the Eco Women hope you’re paying attention to their suggestions and giving them a try.

In honor of Earth Day 2012, the Eco Women are giving away an assortment of Southern Exposure Seed Exchange seeds to two winners. What better way to celebrate our Earth than by getting a little earth on our hands!

All you have to do to enter this giveaway is leave a comment on this post. You don’t have to say anything in particular, but feel free to tell us about a new eco action you’ve been trying or something you’d like for us to talk about here on this blog. This giveaway is open until noon on Earth Day, after which, we will randomly draw two names and contact the winners.

To learn more about Earth Day and what you can do to help Planet Earth, visit the official Earth Day website.

Updated: This giveaway is now closed. Thanks to everyone who entered.

Disclaimer: The Eco Women are not affiliated with Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. They were not asked to give away SESE seeds, nor were they given any free products.

What makes the VZWraps awesome?

VZWraps are an innovative, time-saving, and fashionable way to wrap gifts, and, best of all, there’s no trash left behind after a present is opened.

VZWraps can be reused countless times, keeping rolls and rolls of wrapping paper out of landfills — paper that often can’t be recycled because it is dyed or laminated, contains non-paper additives, or is too thin to have good-quality fibers (earth911.com).

VZWraps save time.  Have you ever tried to wrap a clam-shell package with wrapping paper?  No more sitting on the floor wrestling with paper, trying to make neat corners, while groping for scissors and tape.  Just drop your present in, and tie the bag closed with the attached ribbon. You’re done in less than a minute. You can even wrap a present in the car on your way to the party. They’re also airport-friendly, making traveling easier over the holidays.

VZWraps create a unique presentation.  Part of the fun of giving — and receiving — a present is enjoying the pretty packaging.  VZWraps are available in both adult and kid-friendly prints for all occasions.  While there are patterns just for birthdays, Christmas, and Hanukkah, most fabrics are suitable for several events — showers, weddings, graduations, or “just because.”  Sizes include gift card holders or jewelry bags, wine bottle bags, a standard 10” x 15” bag, and two larger-sized bags.

VZWraps are handcrafted in the Philadelphia area. Most VZWraps are 100% cotton with some organic cotton and bamboo blends available.  The sizes are based on no-waste cutting, so that all the fabric is used leaving no scraps behind.  Most of the ribbons are made in the USA, primarily from recycled materials.  The eco-grosgrain ribbon is made from 100% recycled plastic bottles, and the eco-satin is made from 100% post-consumer recycled polyester. Instead of using a straight pin to hold the ribbons in place during shipping, VZWraps switched to paper clips so that they’d be reused instead of tossed. The tissue paper your bags are wrapped in before shipping is made from recycled paper. Even the envelopes are compostable and made in the USA. Hopefully, before long, you’ll see more organic offerings.  Isabelle at VZWraps is always looking for affordable earth-friendly alternatives to traditional cotton.

The VZWraps giveaway set pictured  here contains one 17″ wide x 19″ high Medium bag (Rollicking Reindeer), one 10″ x 15″ Standard bag (Snowbuddies), one Wine Bottle Bag (Seasons Greetings), and two mini bags/gift card holders (Sweet Treats and Wintergreen).  The retail value of the individual bags is $29.50, and of course shipping to the US or Canada will be included for the giveaway winner.

Can you think of a better way to kick-start your holidays than an eco-friendly, stress-free way to wrap gifts?

How can you enter to win such a fabulous giveaway?  Here’s the nitty-gritty:  leave a comment in the comment box this week (one comment per post, please).  You can comment on each post we put up this week until midnight November 5th.  We’ll draw and announce the lucky winner on Monday, November 7th.

Check out more of Isabelle’s terrific bags at the VZWraps website or on Facebook.

I am very honored and proud to announce that Team Eco Etsy has partnered with Sprint, one of the highest ranked green telecom companies, to link our team’s site to its select Android devices for easy green handmade shopping experience for its customers right at their finger tips.

On April 15^th, Sprint announced its newest ID Pack called, Green ID pack  that “automatically loads apps, widgets and shortcuts tailor-made for users who want to live a more environmentally sustainable life and help others to do the same.” This awesome feature is already available for owners of the LG Optimus S™, Sanyo Zio™, Samsung Transform™, Samsung Epic™ 4G* and Samsung Galaxy Tab™ on their devices with one simple click. Sprint’s newest environmentally preferred phone, the Samsung Replenish™, also will offer the Green ID pack when it becomes available on May 8.

The team has worked tirelessly to create a very successful and engaging blog that more than 14 members contribute regularly. The topics we share are everything green, including eco-tips, tutorials, and eco news. In addition, we cover tips on building and managing our handmade businesses, feature our creative members, and review members’ Etsy shops.

But what Sprint was interested in was not just our content, but also the amazingly creative green handmade crafts that our talented members make and sell on Etsy. It wanted its Android customers to be able to click from their mobile devices to our Etsy shops to buy our eco crafts via our website.  It was more than thrilling to hear that a big corporation like Sprint would be interested in a team of eco-friendly handmade artists. It was definitely an inspiring news.

What is Green ID Pack Exactly?

The Green ID pack has four screens; Green Shop, Green Now, Live Green, and Take Action.

“Green Shop” screen will feature our team’s logo that will directly take the users to our website. From the website, they can click the category tabs on the left, which will bring them to members’ items on Etsy. We will be sharing the screen with some prominent companies like eBay Green, Green Deals.org, Seasonal Harvest, and Light Bulb Finder.

Other screens on Green ID Pack include, Green Now which has TreenHugger, Earth911, and GreenBiz.com; Live Green that has a widget that delivers weekly tips from Green America, link to the Green You app, and shortcuts to TreeHugger; Take Action which has the National Audubon Society, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Green Education Foundation and more.

As you can imagine, we are extremely proud and excited about this recognition and the opportunity to work with one of the greenest telecom companies that ranked at No. 6 as America’s Greenest Companies by Newsweek in 2010.  Sprint was also ranked highest among the wireless carrier industry on the Carbon Disclosure Project’s “Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index.” In addition, Sprint received the “Sustainability Leadership Award” at the 2010 International Electronics Recycling Conference and Expo for its leadership among wireless carriers in the recycling of mobile handsets.

As small business owners, this recognition is beyond what we dreamed of since we regard Sprint as big corporate America that does not notice handmade crafters’ humble mission of keeping the planet clean and safe for our children.

So my message to you, readers, is that keep your mission to live green. No one act is small. If you continue your cleaner lifestyle, it will pay you back in many ways. Look at our little handmade team. We would have never thought that our little handmade business would be noticed by a big corporation like Sprint and look where we are now.

Team Eco Etsy is a moderated team of over 400 active members that are dedicated to managing our Etsy shops in an eco-friendly manner by keeping our environment safe and sustainable. We participate in team events such as Annual Handmade for Earth Day Auction*, Green Holiday Giveaway, and support each other in team forums. We are planning on our first Meet Up at Etsy Headquarter in June.

*Team Eco Etsy’s Second Annual Handmade for Earth Day Auction is going on now and will end on April 24th. The winners will be announced on April 25th. The auction is to celebrate and raise awareness about Earth Day. The proceeds from the auction is to be donated to a non-profit organization that members vote on annually. This year, the proceeds will be donated to Habitat for Humanity in Japan to support the relief effort, to help rebuild and to aid Japanese earthquake survivors. The auction is open worldwide and you can bid on three separate categories – Welcoming Baby, Eco Happy Kid, and Going on a Picnic – in the comment section of the auction pages until April 24th.

That’s great stuff, Eco Karen! To further celebrate this week before Earth Day, the Eco Women are giving away a 4-pack of wool dryer balls, a Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Kitchen Basics Set and two Envirosax shopping bags.  Each comment telling the Eco Women how you plan to celebrate Earth Day this year is an entry to win–we’ll announce the lucky winner next Monday!

The Eco Women started out with Enviro Girl and Recycla and have since expanded to include the Green Queen, the Green Mommy, Eco Lassie, and Captain Compost.  Since their very first post on March 1, 2008, they have published almost 1,000 posts in just three years and have also started sharing more info on their Facebook page.

The Eco Women are incredibly grateful for their readers and to show just how grateful, they are giving away three of these:

Yes, three of the Eco Women’s cloth shopping bags.  The Eco Women love these bags and not only use them daily, but also regularly give them as gifts.

To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment on this post.  Share your favorite eco tip, suggest a topic for the Eco Women to blog about, or just say hi.  One entry per person.  The contest is open until 11:59 p.m. EST this Friday. Over the weekend, the Eco Women will randomly draw three names and announce the winners next Monday.

Good luck!

Comments are now closed.

While drawing the lucky winner, Enviro Girl got to thinking about how much she loves reusable shopping bags.  She quit accepting paper OR plastic years ago, opting to BHOB (that’s “Bring Her Own Bag”).  Reusable shopping bags never, ever break open, spewing groceries all over the driveway or parking lot.  Reusable shopping bags earn Enviro Girl 5 cents’ credit each time she uses them at most stores.  Reusable shopping bags hold 2-3 times as much as paper or plastic shopping bags, which means fewer trips from Momvan to kitchen.  Reusable shopping bags are easier to carry–the handles are generally wider and often long enough to get slung over a shoulder.  Plastic and paper bags can easily get too heavy and uncomfortable to carry–the handles dig into your palm and are too short to hold any other way.

Enviro Girl faithfully repurposes the remaining plastic and paper shopping bags from the Days of Yore when she used them.  (She’s part Dutch, so she never throws away things that might be useful.)  When she makes donations to the local thrift shop or leaves a stack of books and a loaf of banana bread on her neighbor’s back porch, those old bags get a second use.  Plastic bags stashed in overnight bags are a great way to segregate dirty laundry while traveling and keep wet towels and swimsuits from dripping everywhere.  But Enviro Girl finds herself using her reusable totes more and more–they don’t tear or rip!  They hold more volume!

Enviro Girl’s Top 10 Uses for Reusable Bags:

10.  Groceries–duh.  She keeps 4-5 bags in a plastic crate alongside the empty milk bottles beside the door from the house to her garage.  When she goes shopping, she grabs the crate, putting it first in the back of her Momvan, then beneath her shopping car, then onto the check out counter, then back onto the garage shelf when she’s home and her groceries are put away.

9.  Library books–they’re kept dry and the tall stacks don’t slide all over the place when held together in a canvas tote!

8.  Sunday School Supplies–Enviro Girl teaches preschool kids at her church, so she keeps her binder, Bible, story supplies and contact info. in a canvas bag.  Her sons’ Bibles, workbooks and Sunday School projects/papers get stowed in there, too, to get shuffled to and fro every week.

7.  Car Trips–Snacks, magic markers, pads of papers, comic books, audio books–all the goodies for a long car trip are in one spot for easy access in a canvas tote.

6.  Purse–Enviro Girl actually uses a few favorite cloth shopping bags as a purse!  She gets so many complements on this one (second from the left) by Green Girl World:

No one seems to think it’s NOT a purse–but it holds a wallet, calendar, phone, paperback book, mitts for karate class–far more volume than a regular purse!

5.  Swimming–towels, suits, goggles, and sunscreen for a family of 4 can travel to pool or beach without muss or fuss in one reusable shopping bag!

4.  Errands–one day Enviro Girl stashed a soil sample, a prescription pick-up, lightbulbs from the hardware store, letters to post and her sons’ report cards in one bag before making her rounds.  The bag carried necessary paperwork and served honorably as a shopping bag when called upon.

3.  Craft supplies/projects–knitters, scrappers, stampers, beaders, bedazzlers–use one to stash your supplies in a closet for easy access or bring them to a party or workshop.

2.  Gear–whether schlepping camping supplies, sports gear, games or garden tools, a reusable shopping bag can keep your act together.  Last month Enviro Girl visited her sister in the Twin Cities–she brought a swimming bag, a car trip bag, an activities bag and a gifts/miscellaneous bag along–all reusable shopping bags keeping her and her 3 sons organized and efficient all weekend.

1.  Gift Wrap.  That’s right!  Enviro Girl wraps gifts in reusable shopping bags because she thinks they’re so handy.  Tied off with a bow, a reusable shopping bag becomes a pretty and practical way to wrap a present.  A hostess gift of homemade bread and jam, a birthday gift of a good books and tea, a new parent gift of a hot meal looks especially nice when presented in a cute reusable shopping bag!

The coffee’s on, my solar-powered radio has me tuned in to commercial-free NPR for news and good stories while I rouse my sons and feed them breakfast cereal, pouring milk out of returnable bottles.  After we eat, they dress and brush their teeth and walk to school.  I pay the electric bill–down 20% from last year at this time, both for the month and overall.  I muse over why our household’s electric consumption went down.  LED Christmas lights?  Refusing the use the clothes dryer?  Unplugging the fridge in the garage?  Installing power strips?  It doesn’t seem like our lifestyle has changed that much in the past year, but a 20% decrease is something to celebrate.

My youngest and I drive into Appleton to pick up the 50 tree seedlings we’ve purchased for this weekend.  We’ve planted trees on our property every spring since we bought it 8 years ago.  This year we’re planting two varieties of spruce trees to provide more  winter windbreaks and more shelter for the birds living near us year-round.  Our county conservation office sells trees every year for about .50 a seedling–what a deal!  On our grand total of 60 acres we’re preserving and restoring all kinds of natural habitats.  In the midst of urban sprawl, our property has become a sort of nature preserve.

Back home, we put the trees in the garage and read a few library books together.  Sharks are the popular topic these days, and that opens up a great discussion about the food chain and how humans are the worst predators of all.  What can we do to help sharks in Wisconsin?  Not much besides making sure we’re eating sustainable seafood.

The woman from the CRP arrives to survey our prairie and cool-season grass plantings.  We’ve got about 13 acres enrolled in the CRP, another 20 in a Managed Forest Program.  We get tax breaks and some incentives to manage a sustainable wetland/prairie/forest habitat.  We’d do it anyway, but it’s nice to have the support.

For lunch my son and I eat natural peanut butter and jelly sandwiches because it’s meatless and a side of carrots and apples.  Meat is so hard on the environment, skipping meat a few times a week is good for our health and the planet.  We do love to eat meat, but we try to be responsible.  The bread bag is empty, so I shake out the crumbs and put it beneath the sink with the other bags slated for recycling.  After I walk him to school, I get the mail.  The catalogs go straight to the recycle bin.  I log on my computer to answer emails, read blog posts, write and check the EcoEtsy Handmade Earth Day Auction.  I’m not buying anything unsustainable to celebrate Earth Day, I’m bidding on donated items that will make great gifts if I win them–the proceeds from this auction will go to the World Wildlife Fund.  After I power down my laptop, I clean a bathroom using Ecover and Bon Ami with an old towel repurposed as a rag.  I empty the compost into the pile outside and admire the tulips now blooming.  At 2:50 I head across the field on foot to retrieve my kids from school.  On the way home, we talk and I bend over to pick up the occasional trash blown onto our property.  We’ve already cleaned the fields and ditches, but there’s no end to the windblown litter.

After homework, playing outside and a pasta dish made with last year’s tomatoes (preserved in the freezer) and a dessert with last year’s strawberries, we drive to karate graduation seven miles away.  I bring along a refillable bottle of tap water in case anyone gets thirty.  Two boys  earn new belt ranks and afterwards we celebrate with ice cream at a local shop on the way home.  We end the day with The Drill (brush teeth, wash hands, change into pajamas), more reading of library books and a prayer before bedtime.   I let the cat in, scratch her back, scoop out the litter box (filled with compostable  Swheat Scoop Cat Litter) and feed her.  The can from her food goes into the recycle bin and I get ready for bed.

My day ends beneath the glow of a bedside lamp while I read.  Reflecting on how I’ve spent Earth Day, I wince at the impact of driving on the environment.  Living in a rural setting gives us no real option, and I do cluster our errands so that I drive as little as possible.  Our consumption is minimal–mostly food.  Aside from the EcoEtsy Earth Day Auction, I bought ice cream cones (consumable) and trees (sustainable).  My energy use included a gas-powered car, a solar-powered radio, electric-powered lights, appliances and laptop.  Nothing went into the trash can except for the plastic lid of an empty glass milk bottle, the litter on our property, and the napkins from our ice cream cones.

Why am I sharing this silly personal account of my day?  It’s to show that sometimes the best way to honor our planet is to tread lightly upon it.  Earth Day isn’t about flying to a nationwide summit, buying greenwashed products (spending money) or adding more work and activities to our already very busy lives.    We can celebrate Earth Day every day with simple actions–choosing to use more sustainable cleaning products and eating more sustainable food resources.  We can unplug by choosing to plant a tree or read a book, fill a bird feeder or play in the yard.  We can take a walk, shop less, ingest less advertising, admire more natural beauty.  Some Eco Warriors are on the front lines, rallying support for bike trails or protecting wildlife habitats.  Maybe that’s your style as an Eco Warrior.  Some of us are behind the scenes, planting gardens and trees, picking up other people’s litter and refilling our reusable water bottles.  Either way, your actions leave an impact and teach the younger generations good (or bad) habits and lifestyle choices.

To celebrate Earth Day and Eco Warriors of all sizes and styles, the Eco Women are giving away one canvas tote.   One way we can all can be green is to quit using plastic shopping bags.  That’s right, give them up cold turkey.  The Eco Women are giving away one of their canvas shopping totes to help one lucky Eco Warrior do just that. Whether your keep it for your own farm market trips or gift it to a friend who needs a little prompting to be greener, you can enter to win the tote by leaving a comment any day this week.   And stay tuned all week as the Eco Women celebrate Earth Day and share tips on how to be green.

The Eco Women are celebrating their second blog anniversary this week!  Check out our daily giveaways and leave comments to win prizes.

One of the greatest gifts you can give yourself is real food.  Food that is in season.  Food that did not travel thousands of miles to get to your table.

The first tomato of the season Recycla's garden, 2009

For example, there is a huge, major, vast difference between a tomato bought at the grocery store in January and one that is picked from a garden in August and then eaten while still warm from the sun.  There is simply no comparison between the two.  One is sublime and the other is mealy and flavorless.

The Eco Women do encourage you to think about your food carefully.  Is that mealy, flavorless tomato really worth it?  Why spend your money on something like that?  Wait until the summer and then eat the real thing — grow it yourself or get it from your local farmers’ market.  In the meantime, if your taste buds are absolutely craving Solanum lycopersicum, get your fix with a great pizza or pasta with marinara sauce.

The Eco Women aren’t saying that you have to go out and plant a quarter acre garden.  They understand that not everyone has the time, space, or inclination to do so.  However, if you can plant something, even if it’s just herbs in your window, then give it a try.  Your taste buds will thank you.

Today, in honor of the Eco Women’s 2nd blog anniversary, we are giving away seeds so that you too can jump into gardening this spring.  This sampler will include vegetable and flower seeds and everything is super easy to grow.  Just leave a comment here to enter!

Tune in every day this week, as the Eco Women give away prizes to celebrate their two year blogiversary.  All giveaways are open until  8 p.m. EST on Friday, March 12.  Winners will be randomly chosen and contacted over the weekend.

The Eco Women are celebrating their second blog anniversary this week!  Check out our daily giveaways and leave comments to win prizes.

One of the easiest and simplest ways you can help save Planet Earth is by breaking the plastic habit. Yes, the Eco Women keep harping on this one thing over and over, but it’s important.  If you need convincing, read more about the five enormous garbage patches floating in the world’s oceans.

Here are some sobering statistics:

• It takes 12 million barrels of oil to make the 100 million plastic bags that Americans use annually.
• Worldwide, shoppers use 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags a year.  (Some countries are better than others — in 2002 Ireland starting heavily taxing the use of plastic bags and the country’s consumption dropped 90%.)
• Every year, hundreds of marine animals die from ingesting plastic bags they mistakenly thought were food.

Cutting back on plastic might seem difficult, but if you manage to eliminate plastic bags and water bottles from your life, then you’ve made an important first step.  For more ideas on how to cut back on plastic, click here.

And for heaven’s sakes, if you do bring home some plastic, do everything you can to recycle it — plastic bags and bottles take 500+ years to break down in a landfill.

Since today’s theme is about cutting back on plastic, today’s giveaway is one of the Eco Women’s fabulous organic cotton reusable shopping bags.  Recycla uses hers nearly every day — in stores, at the farmers’ market, to carry library books, and more.  To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment here.

Tune in every day this week, as the Eco Women give away prizes to celebrate their two year blogiversary.  All giveaways are open until  8 p.m. EST on Friday, March 12.  Winners will be randomly chosen and contacted over the weekend.