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
Whether you’re eating turkey or tofurky, organically-grown sweet potatoes or canned yams, the Eco Women hope you spend your Thanksgiving surrounded by loved ones, sharing laughter, feeling gratitude and making memories.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Posted in Uncategorized
Even though the Eco Women hope that you won’t do any shopping this weekend, the fact is, you’re going to have to hit the stores at some point this holiday season, whether you’re working on your Christmas list at a locally-owned store or buying food for your family at the grocery store. So when you do go out, please remember to take your cloth shopping bags with you. The Eco Women particularly like this one.
Posted in 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
It’s just two weeks until Turkey Day. Are you going through your recipes and preparing for the biggest food day of the year?
More importantly, have you bought your turkey yet? According to a survey by the National Turkey Federation, 88% of all Americans eat turkey on Thanksgiving Day, so it’s safe to say that a LOT of turkeys are going to be purchased in the next 14 days.
Posted in Uncategorized
Thanksgiving is fast approaching — just three weeks until the 24th. Are you American Eco Warriors ready?
For years, Recycla has been fascinated by the historical First Thanksgiving at Plymouth Plantation, which was a simple harvest festival that was held in 1621. (Thanksgiving feasts have been held after the harvest all over the world for centuries.) For their festival, the Pilgrims would have eaten what they had available at that time of the year. In that part of Massachusetts in 1621 those foods were:
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…
With Halloween just 12 days away, Recycla’s daughters are gearing up for one of the three biggest days of a kid’s year — the holy trifecta of Halloween, Christmas, and his birthday.
This year, Recycla’s girls are dressing up as Greek goddesses and their costumes required almost no effort — They have some old white sheets in their linen closet that they will be draping and pinning in strategic places. Add in some t-shirts and leggings underneath for warmth and a couple of props to further symbolize the themes (e.g. a bow and arrow for Athena) and the costumes will be complete.This is reusing at its finest.
Recycla encourages you to look around your house for what you can reuse and/or recycle for Halloween costumes. If you need ideas, check out this great article at National Geographic, this one from Gaiam, and this one from Inhabitat. If your children have friends who are the same size, consider a costume swap.
Finally, a few safety reminders so that Halloween doesn’t end up with any bumps or boo boos:
Tell the Eco Women: What’s the best costume you ever wore?
Posted in eco holidays, eco kids, Uncategorized
The Green Queen and her husband love to recycle, reuse and re…do. The Green King (TGK) – or would that be Prince by virtue of marriage…? Well whatever the title may be, he likes to grab old wood that’s been thrown away. If he sees sticks, and slabs of old wood at the side of the road, or in dumpsters and even discarded in landfills… that’s not garbage to him. He can’t leave it laying in waste, he grabs it and smiles like he’s just rubbed the side of an old lamp and found an old treasure…or a genie in a bottle. Then, with a schoolboy giggle he’ll load that wood in the back of his car and drive off into the sunset with visions of how he’s going to put that piece of lumber to use.
And old electrical wire spools are no different than beautiful pieces of unutilized wood to him.
He found this broken spool outside an electrical supply company and asked if they were throwing it away. They were. So he asked if he could have it. Just like in Beauty and the Beast, they said, “Be my guest.” 
He took the spool home and went to work repairing and repurposing that old drab oversized spool.
Now it’s a beautiful garden table and chairs. 
Think what you might be able to do with garbage you find laying on the side of the road, who knows, it might be a beautiful piece of garden furniture in your future.
Recycla has gotten her first cold of the season. Blech. As soon as she felt the first warning tickles in the back of her throat, she reached into her bag of tricks for eco-friendly ways to deal with her symptoms. What’s in this bag of tricks? Here’s how the Eco Women deal with winter’s yuckiness:
Eat a healthy diet with a variety of vitamins and nutrients. Healthy bodies are better able to ward off illnesses, so keep plenty of fruits and vegetables in the kitchen.
Vitamin C is an important tool in your cold-fighting arsenal, so drink orange juice and eat oranges,, and other foods rich in this nutrient. Consider taking Vitamin C supplements too.
When the inevitable sniffles and runny noses appear, drink plenty of clear fluids, like water and tea.
Chamomile tea with lemon and honey is great for the slight queasiness that comes with colds, plus the chamomile has some natural anti-inflammatory properties. The honey and lemon both soothe sore throats and the honey helps keep your blood sugar up since you’re likely to have have no appetite for food. The tea helps you stay hydrated.
Ginger helps soothe a queasy stomach and the spiciness cab help clear your nose a bit. To make ginger tea, bBoil ginger root and then simmer until it is a caramel color. Add honey to sweeten it and it will kill anything in your mouth and throat. Sip it all day.
As always, chicken soup is a wonderful thing to have when sick. The steam from the hot soup can help loosen congestion in your chest and nose, plus researchers have found evidence that chicken broth has anti-inflammatory properties that aid in soothing sore throats and help stop the movement of the white blood cells that encourage the flow of mucus in the lungs and nose. Furthermore, soup tastes good and the liquids help keep you hydrated. To make your own, see this post.
Another way to deal with congestion is to take a hot bath or shower, since the steam will help unclog your sinuses. Add essential oils of rosemary or eucalyptus for some herbal aid.
Remember when your mother would rub Vick’s Vapor Rub on your chest when you were a kid to help soothe your stuffy nose and/or hacking cough? Well, that’s definitely still a good thing to do. If you want the most organic option available, then give Badger’s Aromatic Chest Rub balm a try. According to their website, you can use the balm as a chest rub or “put a half a teaspoon in a humidifier or pot of hot water as a steam inhalant.”
You can also try some organic throat lozenges, such as the ones made by St. Claire’s, or you could make your own.
Tell the Eco Women: What’s your favorite thing to do when you have a cold? Do you push through or do you you hunker down on your sofa with a warm blanket and a good book?
Posted in health, Uncategorized
