By NBC San Diego

There's a new lesson being taught at San Diego High School -- how to take a fast-food snack and turn it into an alternative fuel source.

A group of juniors and sophomores have been hard at work, trying to find ways to reduce the nation's need for oil. The real-life lesson is being taught by science and technology teacher, John Karanopoulos. Their goal is the production of biodiesel.

"From something that is a waste product, we can make something that is an energy product," he said.

But it's not a simple task, the students explained. First they begin by "filtering the used cooking oil, so we can get the impurities," said Woody Elwell, a junior. Then, junior Joseph Humes said, "we turn on the reaction pump for at least an hour."

They then add a chemical and watch for reactions that tells them how many fatty acids are in the oil that they're using [see slideshow]. It's a painstaking process that could change the way we fill up our tanks.

"It's great knowing that you're kind of a part of small steps towards making the environment better," Flores said.

The class gets oil to use from restaurants around town and Johnson & Johnson, which is a business partner at the school.

NBC San Diego
http://nbcsandiego.com/goinggreen/14321285/detail.html

By Rachel Gray, iVillage.com

Are you starting to get creative with the peppers, tomatoes and zucchini that are still hanging around from your fall harvest?

Check out what artist Ellen Hoverkamp is doing with the exquisite colors, shapes and textures of vegetables, fruits and flowers. She uses a process called "scanner photography" to create life-like images that are so crisp and deep, they seem almost three dimensional.

Learn more about her work and how to order her incredible prints that any garden lover will adore.

Rachel Gray, Associate Producer
iVillage.com
http://housecalls.ivillage.com/home/

By Mary Beth Gonzalez

Sometimes I goof up with Green. I seem to do okay with buying Green food (organic and local natural foods) but I have a harder time sticking to Green stuff for my home. I like to blame it on the fact that it is harder to find Green, non-toxic products like natural carpet or rug pads, but that isn't really true anymore. I know where to find the Green stuff, I just don't always want to make a sacrifice for decor. My home decor matters to me and so sometimes I give in and buy something that isn't Green. And sometimes I suffer as a result.

You see I wanted a lush cream rug for our guest room. The room was all cream and aqua and I wanted it to feel like a private sanctuary... like living on the beach. I placed sea shells around the room and even hung a privacy sign on the guest room doorknob from Shutters - a famous Santa Monica beach hotel. But when it came to the new rug I needed to buy, I was stumped. Where was I going to find a thick, gorgeous, plush, non-toxic, cream colored rug that would make my feet feel like they were walking on sand?

Determined that I couldn't find such a rug, I just went to a local rug store. I looked at nearly a hundred rugs hung from the ceiling and touched them to feel their potential plushness. After 30 minutes, my head ached, my eyes were watering and my throat felt swollen. I left in a hurry, without a rug, and came home to take a shower and get the chemical rugness off my body and out of my head.

Dr. Blue Eyes looked up from his book and suggested that I call Green Depot - a leading supplier of Green products with a wide assortment of natural rugs. I called for samples and they were sent within days. I selected a yummy cream rug and an extra thick rug pad. They needed to be specially ordered (at a similar price to chemical laden rugs) and arrived within a few weeks. I couldn't wait to get them on the floor and complete my dream beach retreat.

I can honestly say that the rug looked and felt great on my bare feet. But it stank to high heaven. Not a chemical smell exactly but a wooly, natural, animal-type smell. Like we were putting our guests up in a barn.

After 6 months of convincing ourselves that we just needed to ride it out and the smell would go away... that Green is a bit of a sacrifice... I broke down and called Green Depot. They sent out an expert right away and sure enough, we discovered that the manufacture had sent us the wrong rug pad. I'm not sure where the goof happened... but it wasn't non-toxic and when we replaced it with one that was.

So I learned that even when buying Green, I need to be vigilant and I need to think of my family's health first over my lofty decor ideas. Fortunately, this time it all worked out in the end, and my beach dream has been completely fulfilled.

Mary Beth Gonzalez
iVillage.com
Please join my Going Green group and read my Green Blog

By Zem Joaquin, ecofabulous.com

EcoFabulous teams up once again with dear friend David Shearer, ecoadvisor to Toyota and Google. In yesterday's post, David delivered the skinny on greenhouse gas (GHG) offsets. Today, David makes sure we know that he's got our back when it comes to the follow through. If you've been moved to buy carbon offsets, here are six questions that David advises us to ask any possible suitor. Learn more at www.climateclean.net.

1. Can you provide detailed information on specific projects that result from your offsets?
2. Which objective standards do you use to demonstrate the high quality of your offsets?
3. Have your offsets been verified against an objective standard by a credible third party source?
4. Do you sell offsets that reduce GHG emissions in the future? If so, how far in the future?
5. How permanent are your offsets - 10 years? 20 years? 50 years? Evidence of permanence?
6. If trees are used for offsets, how do you measure the carbon reductions? How do you ensure that they are not burned or cut down?

Zem Joaquin
ecofabulous.com

Every worthy cause has got it's celebrity spokesperson. Refugees have got Angelina. The Global Fund has got Bono and now - like it or not - Green has got Paris Hilton.

On a recent visit to Berlin to promote a sparkling wine that comes in cans, Paris told reporters that she is doing her part. Newsday.com reports:

Paris Hilton is making a personal contribution to protecting the environment.

"I changed all the light bulbs to energy-safe light bulbs and I'm buying a hybrid car right now," the 26-year-old celebrity heiress said Wednesday.

Hilton said she turns off the lights, doesn't leave the TV on or the water running when she leaves her house.

"Little things that people can do every day to make a huge difference," she said.

I'm glad Paris is going green. It's great to see celebs use their status to get the word out about worthy causes like going green.

The things that Paris mentions can add up to big savings on electric and gas bills, and what I can only imagine to be thousands of dollars in water damage repair every year. Let's hope she adds recycling the cans from her sparkling wine to the list!

Nicole Walters
GreenIsUniversal.com

By Mary Beth Gonzalez, iVillage.com

Feeling the call to Green more than ever this year, I vowed to be as Green as possible in how I wrapped our presents. For me this meant making a commitment not to buy any new wrapping paper, bags, bows, tinsel or tags. It just seemed more Green (and more creative) to "re-wrap" and re-use what I had been accumulating since last Christmas then spend energy seeking out companies on the web who could ship me eco-friendly wrapping paper.

But as I looked at my very large pile of pre-wrapped presents and my smaller collection of last year's gently used holiday bags and bows, I realized that demand definitely exceeded supply. I would need to get more creative to keep my vow.

I ran to my closets for inspiration for my green re-wrapping goal. What else could I use, as the paper supply dwindled? Sheets? No, that was too radical. Dishtowels? Well, maybe. Magazines? Yes, I could see wrapping gifts in flashy fashion mag pages. But then I had a better idea - cloth eco-grocery bags! YES! And retired hair bows! Perfect. And how about Sarah Jessica Parker style flower pins? Definitely.

Of course, my new approach to wrapping also requires some coordination between the gift and the re-wrapping so my brother doesn't end up with the gift covered in InStyle fashion holiday spreads with a huge pink flower. In the beginning I mapped it all out before I dove in and began my re-wrapping adventure. As I neared the end of both my gifts and my re-wrappings, I realized that my 3 year old nephew wouldn't likely appreciate his Scobby Doo DVD wrapped in the only item I had left... a navy silk scarf. And then I looked closely and saw a fish pattern on the scarf and convinced myself that he just loves fish.

Shortly into my re-wrapping, I realized that the re-use concept could easily be extended to the gifts themselves, so back to the closets in search of very gently used "extra" items my dearly beloveds would love. I know re-gifting is generally considered tacky, even uncouth. So I decided to be bold and announce my re-gifts with pride in their eco- friendly repurposing. These were extra gifts anyway... so no one should feel slighted. Right?

A ha! A rarely used tea kettle for my kettle-less "let's make tea in the microwave" sister-in-law; a large wooden "looks like new" jewelry box for my brother's wife; a never worn pink cashmere scarf/glove/hat set from last Christmas for my mother-in-law and a purple sweater my husband never wore for my Dad...

It all seemed like a great idea yesterday but as I look at my gifts this morning, I'm having second thoughts. Did I go overboard in my effort to be Green? Will my sincere efforts be appreciated or will my less Green family just think I needed to clean out my closets? Good thing I have a few more days before Christmas to mull this over. I can always make a mad dash for Bloomingdale's where for $10.95 they will wrap anything.

Mary Beth Gonzalez
iVillage.com
Please join my Going Green group and read my Green Blog

By Lisa Blau, VitalJuiceDaily.com

With winter weather upon us it's important to remember there are some simple steps we can take to make sure our coldest season is also one of our greenest. Here's what the healthy living gurus at VitalJuiceDaily.com recommend:

Natural ice: Skip the chemical de-icers and instead go for sand, fireplace ash, cat litter or alfalfa meal (natural fertilizer) -- all will naturally melt ice while providing traction. They'll also keep hazardous chemicals off of driveways and roads, and out of our surface waters and groundwater!

Snow workout: Snow piling up on your sidewalk or driveway? Skip the gasoline-powered tools you keep for just this occasion and instead grab a shovel or broom and get to work. You'll burn calories and keep greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere.

Take your temperature: Install an ENERGY STAR programmable thermostat and you'll save money (about $100 each year) and energy if you use one of the pre-programmed temperature settings. When you go away for vacation, remember to lower the thermostat so you don't waste unnecessary resources.

Protect yourself: The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) warns that radon levels can soar during colder months because we keep windows and doors closed and huddle up indoors. Radon is a cancer-causing natural gas that you can't see, smell or taste. January is National Radon Action Month, so in honor we suggest testing your home (approximately 1 in 15 homes across the country has dangerous levels of radon).

Battery up: With big winter storms blanketing the country, we're always stocking up on emergency supplies. Skip the disposable batteries and instead buy rechargeable ones to have on hand for flashlights in case of power outages. That way you're not tossing out mercury and hazardous waste every time you run low.

Bundle up: Fleece is the word this time of year -- so make sure you're wearing fleece that's been recycled (many are made from recycled plastic soda bottles). You'll be keeping warm while fighting global warming!

Have other ideas on how to green your winter? We'd love to hear about it.

Lisa Blau
Editor, Vital Juice Daily
www.vitaljuicedaily.com

By Mary Beth Gonzalez, iVillage.com

Close the door. Lock it. Strip. Put your hair in a bun on top of your head. Light a candle. Turn on the hot water. Ease your body into bliss...

I have never met a bath I didn't like. But I have learned how to make a bath even better by adding natural and herbal products that can transport your body and soul to a deeper calm.

In the interest of science, I took the ultimate sacrifice and tried 10 different bath products over 10 days so I could share the results with the Go Green group. My criteria: all natural and paraben free. I checked them first on Skin Deep to confirm their claims and see how natural they really were. This site rates on a scale of 1-10 (1 = safest). I'm happy to say that none of these products disappointed me and all lived up to their marketing promise.

- Day One: Kneipp Sparkling Herbal Bath Tablets: The "Juniper" tablet promised to soothe and calm while it fizzled into oblivion in my warm tub. The tablet lasted a good 10 minutes... just the right length of time to relax my nerves and get in a good soak. Juniper helps improve circulation and relieve muscle tension -- especially tired and sore muscles after sports. Skin Deep Score: 4

- Day Two: Alba Organics: This bubble bath doubles as a shower gel but save it for the bath since it makes such fragrant, luxurious and long lasting bubbles. I chose Midnight Tuberose because it said "Exotic and irresistible, midnight tuberose will evoke the seductive pleasures of a tropical garden" and it reminded me of my honeymoon. Enough said. Skin Deep Score: 4

- Day Three: Kiss My Face: Feeling like I was coming down with something, I poured this natural Cold and Flu Bath Gel into the tub. In addition to feeling empowered for taking preventative care of a potentially nasty cold, I enjoyed a relaxing bath smelling of eucalyptus and fennel and my head felt clearer as it opened my sinus. Skin Deep Score: 3

- Day Four, Five, Six and Seven: 100% natural Kneipp Classic Bath Oils: in Eucalyptus (good for sinus relief), Lavender (helps relax, fight fatigue and balance), Valerian & Hops (deeply relaxing, aids sleep and reduces stress), and Melissa (soothing, relaxing, calming). They all lived up to their promise as I crawled right into bed each night and fell right asleep. They worked so well, I had to share some with my husband so he would understand why I was retiring so early each night. They had the same effect on him. Skin Deep Score: 1-3

- Day Eight and Nine: Dr. Hauschka: Lavender Bath Oil, I cheated and used this lovely aromatherapy bath oil two days in a row. I loved it so much I bought the Lavender Body Oil the next day so I could lavish myself further in the powerful, relaxing aroma. These essential oils quickly absorbed into my skin and penetrated deep to alter my mood. Skin Deep Score: not rated

- Day Ten: Aveda: Camomile Savage Pure-Fume Singular Notes, I added just a few drops of this concentrated essential oil and was relaxed within minutes. My skin felt refreshed. Skin Deep Score: not rated

All of these bath products are natural, many are organic and all were effective at both pleasing my senses and relaxing my body and mind. Knowing that I was soaking in products that were doing my body good instead of harm helped me relax even more.

If you have a natural bath product that you really like, please chime in and help spread the good news. And now with eyes wide open, I have several replacements for my old favorite bubble bath: Bliss Vanilla and Bergamot which I just discovered has a Skin Deep Score of 9. I think I'll just have one last hurrah and go finish it up. I've got a steaming hot cup of Organic Chai tea, and I'm off to go close my eyes and slip into the tub!

Mary Beth Gonzalez
http://www.gonzalezgoinggreen.blogspot.com/

By Lisa Blau, VitalJuiceDaily.com

With Christmas celebrations upon us, we're surrounded by red and green -- but make sure your holiday festivities stay true to their colors. Here are VitalJuiceDaily.com's tips on how to have a truly green holiday:

Don't go overboard with decorations: pare down the Christmas lights and keep your lawn reindeer-free and you'll save on the electricity it takes to light it all up (and your neighbors might be relieved). Skip over the mass produced ornaments and instead find handmade, fair trade holiday decor to spruce up the house. Or better yet, try making some yourself! Make a homemade wreath from your own garden pruning or pluck decorations from nature, like pine cones and ivy. You can compost them at the end of the holiday season. If DIY isn't your thing, then shop vintage: surf eBay for classic decorations from yester-year (chic recycling!). When it comes to your tree, you might think you're doing the environment a favor with an artificial tree, that's not actually the case. They're usually made of PVC and your local recycling center typically doesn't have a bin for old PVC trees. Instead, buy from a local, organic farm -- that way you'll know your tree hasn't traveled across the country emitting CO2. Plus, an organic farm will skip the harmful pesticides and chemicals. When the holiday has come and gone, remember to recycle your tree.

Now that the decorations are in place, you'll need to go shopping for supplies and food. When prepping for a house full of family, remember to buy in bulk -- whether you need napkins, brown sugar, paper towels or toilet paper go for the super-sized options. It'll save on packaging, cost less and last well into the New Year! While you're out, be sure to stop by your local farmer's market to find ingredients for your holiday meal. Your food will be fresher, cheaper and less taxing on the environment. And when dinner's over, take leftovers to a local homeless shelter to make sure nothing gets wasted.

And for those family members who travel to you -- consider purchasing carbon offsets to help offset the carbon emissions generated on their way to all the festivities.

Have other ideas on how to green your holiday? We'd love to hear about them.

Lisa Blau
Editor, Vital Juice Daily
www.vitaljuicedaily.com

By Rabbis Arthur Waskow & Jeff Sultar, The Shalom Center

There are three levels of wisdom through which Hanukkah invites us to address the planetary dangers of the global climate crisis -- what some of us call "global scorching" because "warming" seems so pleasant, so comforting.

We can encode these teachings into actions we take to heal the earth, each of the eight days.

1. The Talmud's legend about using one day's oil to meet eight days' needs: a reminder that if we have the courage to change our life-styles to conserve energy, it will sustain us.

2. The vision of Zechariah (whose prophetic passages we read on Shabbat Hanukkah) that the Temple Menorah was itself a living being, uniting the world of "nature" and "humanity" -- for it was not only fashioned in the shape of a Tree of Light, as Torah teaches, but was flanked by two olive trees that fed olive oil directly into it.

3. The memory that a community of "the powerless" can overcome a great empire, giving us courage to face our modern corporate empires of Oil and Coal when they defile our most sacred Temple: Earth itself. And the reminder (again from Zechariah) that we triumph "Not by might and not by power but by My Spirit [b'ruchi -- or, "My breath," "My wind!"], says YHWH, the Infinite Breath of Life."

We are taught not only to light the menorah, but to publicize the miracle, to turn our individual actions outward for the rest of the world to see and to be inspired by. So we invite you, this Hanukkah, to join in The Shalom Center's Green Menorah Covenant for taking action -- personal, communal, and political -- to heal the earth from the global climate crisis.

After lighting your menorah each evening, dedicate yourself to making the changes in your life that will allow our limited sources of energy to last for as long as they're needed, and with minimal impact on our climate.

No single action will solve the global climate crisis, just as no one of us alone can make enough of a difference. Yet, if we act on as many of the areas below as possible, and act together, a seemingly small group of people can overcome a seemingly intractable crisis. We can, as in days of old, turn this time of darkness into one of light.

Day 1: Personal/Household: Call your electric-power utility to switch to wind-powered electricity. (For each home, 100% wind-power reduces CO2 emissions the same as not driving 20,000 miles in one year.)

Day 2: Synagogue, Hillel, or JCC: Urge your congregation or community building to switch to wind-powered electricity.

Day 3. Your network of friends, IM buddies, and members of civic or professional groups you belong to: Connect with people like newspaper editors, real-estate developers, architects, bankers, etc. to urge them to strengthen the green factor in all their decisions, speeches, and actions.

Day 4 (which this year is Shabbat). Automobile: If possible, choose today or one other day a week to not use your car at all. Other days, lessen driving. Shop on-line. Cluster errands. Carpool. Don't idle engine beyond 20 seconds.

Day 5: Workplace or College: Urge the top officials to arrange an energy audit. Check with utility company about getting one free or at low-cost.

Day 6: Town/City: Urge town/city officials to require greening of buildings through ordinances and executive orders. Creating change is often easier on the local level!

Day 7: State: Urge state representatives to reduce subsidies for highways, increase them for mass transit.

Day 8: National: Urge your Senators to strengthen and pass the Lieberman-Warner "America's Climate Security Act." For easy addressing and a model letter to send them, go here.

Make our planet's Hanukkah a happy one!

Rabbi Arthur Waskow is director of The Shalom Center, author of many books on "down-to-earth Judaism," and a frequent speaker for synagogues, Hillels, etc. Rabbi Jeff Sultar is director of The Shalom Center 's Green Menorah Covenant.

For more information, to explore having your congregation or community becoming a partner in the Green Menorah Covenant, or to arrange for Green Menorah resource people to visit your community, please contact Rabbi Sultar or visit the center's website.

By Lynda Baquero, WNBC

As a mother of two young children, I know firsthand how many snack bags and juice boxes and paper towels and sheets of construction paper toddlers can go through in just a single day. A LOT. That's why I was curious about meeting Alix Clyburn, another mother of two, who writes a blog called "Alix In Wonderland" for "The Green Guide". I thought her advice on Going Green would involve a lot of preparation and planning (i.e. time). It was a relief to hear about simple things parents can do to minimize waste and help the environment.

For example, most of us think that paying our bills electronically is more convenient in many ways... but it's also friendlier to the environment-- not so many trucks and airplanes utilizing fuel to get those checks from our homes, to their destinations. Along the same vein, Wendy Gordon, the Managing Editor of the Green Guide suggested subscribing to magazines and newspapers on-line, rather than receiving a print copy at home.

While my report on Moms Going Green contains several useful tips for parents who want to go green, I heard about many others that I couldn't fit in, simply because of time limits. But luckily, there are no time limits on the web. So here are some additional pieces of advice on Going Green from Alix, Wendy, and Samantha Delman-Caserta of 3r Living in Brooklyn, as well as the authors of "The Complete Organic Pregnancy"-- Deirdre Dolan and Alexandra Zissu.

- Buy foods at local farmers markets -- to cut down on packaging and transportation fuel use
- Buy large containers of juice, and pour servings into reusable cups or mugs -- to cut down on packaging from juice boxes which are thrown away after each use
- Reuse plastic containers from take-out meals, for example, and use them to hold glue, glitter and other materials for children's art projects
- Use both sides of paper when children draw
- Use cold water, rather than hot water, when doing laundry
- Use hand-me-down clothes and toys
- Refill plastic water bottles with tap water -- to cut down on plastic bottles

Lynda Baquero
WNBC News Anchor
http://wnbc.com/goinggreen/

I've been trying to use those cloth bags every time I go to the grocery store. I feel like if I didn't, people would start staring at me in Whole Foods saying, "Isn't that that Going Green lady from Channel 5... oh look, she's wasting plastic!"

Fear of being accused of being a hypocrite aside, "Going Green" is something I'd be doing anyway. Conservation and sustainability have always been part of my life; I've always turned water off when I brush my teeth, turned off all the lights, and found value in eating organic foods.

To me, these things aren't "Going Green" - we should have already gone there. So, since taking on the "Green" reports last April, I've made it a goal to get even greener... both personally and in the stories we cover.

While telling stories about donating shoes and recycling ash trees forced to be cut down into little league baseball bats is entertaining and informative, there are bigger issues to tackle.

As a meteorologist, people are always asking me what I think about "Global Warming." I often turn the subject to conservation and sustainability, because no one can argue that we need to do that.

So being the "Green" reporter in more than one sense (this is my 14th month at NBC 5) has been a trip. We honestly get hundreds of emails each month regarding "Green" ideas and "Green" tips from viewers and companies in the Chicago-land area. The reaction locally has been astounding. Chicago is a city that is incredibly proud - of everything - and now they can add being a little greener to that pride.

Ginger Zee
NBC 5 Chicago, Green Reporter & Meteorologist
http://www.nbc5.com/goinggreen/

By Zem Joaquin, ecofabulous.com

Consuming music digitally is clearly better for the environment than the shrink-wrapped, plastic-cased, truck-shipped CD alternative. But until recently, consuming digital music legally has been fraught with headaches. Amazon has changed all that with the launch of their new 'amazonmp3' music download store.

Why am I so excited? Three reasons:

1. All songs on amazonmp3 are in, you guessed it, standard mp3 format.
2. All songs are 'DRM-free' - meaning they have no copy protection. You can move them from one computer to another, one portable player to another, burn them to CD, etc.
3. Amazon provides a great software utility for PCs and Macs that adds your purchased songs directly into your iTunes library. Nicely done.

What about iTunes, you say? The iTunes application is my music organizer and player of choice, and the iTunes Store has a fantastic selection of music for sale. Some of the music for sale on iTunes is available in a DRM-free version called 'iTunesPlus'. The problem is these DRM-free tracks, when you can find them, show up on your computer in Apple's AAC format which is not supported on mp3 players other than the iPod. To make matters worse, iTunes Plus tracks also cost more than AmazonMP3 tracks ($1.29 vs. $0.89). Will Apple learn from past lessons and adopt the tried and true MP3 format for the iTunes Store? I doubt it... but I'm happy to know that my AmazonMP3 music purchases play perfectly on my iPod. Full review here.

Zem Joaquin
ecofabulous.com

By Jen Boulden, IdealBite.com

There are two types of people: those who love a big beauty ritual and bathrooms full of products, and those who worship getting ready in 20 minutes or less and prefer an austere vanity cabinet. I fall into the second category. I can barely remember to wash my face or remove my summer toenail polish, let alone follow some multi-step beauty routine. And once I discovered that "parabens" are in most of the beauty products our skin drinks up, my vanity cabinet got even more austere. Then along came coconut oil; I went cuckoo. Now when I get out of the shower, I put it all over my body, and on the tips of my hair for frizz control and conditioning. Warm it in your hands and lather it on, and it absorbs almost instantly. Plus, I have eliminated the following products from my regime (and saved the bottles from ending up in the landfill), because coconut oil is oh-so-very multifunctional and dreamy:

- Body and face moisturizer - yes, I put oil on my face, but I have dry skin.
- Body firmer - every product seems to claim that it firms, so I just threw this in to motivate you to try it.
- Nail and cuticle moisturizer - applying coconut oil to the rest of your body means it's automatically gonna make it onto your nails. See the beauty in the simplicity here yet?
- Fragrance/perfume - its light scent is reminiscent of a mai tai.
- Hair conditioner and anti-frizz controller - save water by getting out of shower sans conditioner and applying oil to the driest parts of your hair.
- Cooking oil - eat some, or toss into a smoothie to get your daily dose of lauric acid, an amino acid that helps you process fat. Yes, a fat that helps you shed other fat. Nirvana.

Look for coconut oil that's fresh, virgin, non-GMO, and unrefined at your local health food store... I'm off to dream of a Caribbean vacation and pack extremely lightly.

Jen Boulden
Co-Founder, Ideal Bite

By Metro.net

Metro is partnering with the hit musical WICKED in a campaign entitled "When traffic gets WICKED, Go Metro!" This will be the first time that the Broadway production of WICKED has partnered with a government entity, and it will allow for the subway and train system to reach the large audience of Broadway's biggest blockbuster with an attractive promotion.

Metro will be offering its riders a 20% discount to see WICKED on Tuesday evening performances at the Pantages Theatre. Metro riders can redeem the discount by simply presenting a valid Metro Pass or Metro Rail ticket at the Pantages box office, directly across the street from the Metro Red Line's Hollywood/Vine Station. The discount can also be redeemed online with a password, which is available to Metro riders.

Metro Board chair Pam O'Connor said, "When WICKED opened at the Pantages Theatre our first response was to begin discussions about working with the show, since we knew it would be extremely popular and just across the street from one of our stations. The show presents us with a forthright, beautiful, strongly principled heroine, who is green - who would be ideal in our general message of environmentalism, while the title of the show gave us an easy tagline for the promotion. When WICKED was willing to work with us, we realized we had a win-win for Metro and the public."

Marc Platt, producer of WICKED said, "Partnering with Metro is exactly the kind of activity that our show should be pursuing during our long run engagement of WICKED at the Pantages. One of our greatest priorities is to be a part of the community we are in. Helping to motivate people to ride Metro is a great way to support caring for the environment and we are pleased to be putting our show into campaigns that support riding public transportation in Los Angeles.

"This campaign will include images of our heroine, Elphaba, riding Metro to escape the traffic. This is the first time we've allowed a character to be depicted outside the stage world of the show - but the cause of public transportation was worth our breaking new ground with our show."

To promote the offer, Metro will distribute brochures on its buses and trains, send out e-blasts to its riders and businesses that support the "Going Metro" program, place information on its website, create a Public Service Announcement and podcasts that will air on cable and regular television, produce artwork for buses and trains - both interior and exterior - that feature the "Elphaba" character riding Metro, launch a publicity campaign, and directly reach out to its employees. WICKED will include a Metro message in some of its advertising and on its popular website, www.wickedthemusical.com/la.

About WICKED
The Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles is home to a new production of WICKED, the smash hit musical that the New York Times called, "one of the most successful shows in Broadway history." Winner of 15 major awards including the Grammy Award and three Tony Awards, WICKED is the untold story of the witches of Oz. Long before Dorothy drops in, two other girls meet in the land of Oz. One, born with emerald-green skin, is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. WICKED tells the story of their remarkable odyssey, how these two unlikely friends grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch.

Riders can receive the Wicked Tuesdays promotion in person at the Pantages Theatre Box Office at 6233 Hollywood Blvd. or online at www.ticketmaster.com.

For more information www.metro.net (search CNG) or call 1-800-COMMUTE.

By Mary Beth Gonzalez, iVillage.com

The upcoming Holiday Season provides a great opportunity for all of us to enjoy the bounty of the earth and celebrate our green way of living. In past years, my husband and I have done our best to celebrate a natural Christmas, but this year we intend to go all out. We "dark Greenies" will be traveling to my parent's home in Florida for the holidays, not necessarily the picture postcard locale of snow colored New England hills we associate with the season. But we will be nonetheless making this Christmas if not white, very very Green. We plan to give my wonderful "light Green" parents the Gift of Green so we've offered to help prepare the Christmas feast and celebrate with an organically Green spin on traditional holiday favorites. I've worked hard thinking up the following menu.

Harvest Holiday Centerpiece:
- Acorn squash, yellow squash, butternut squash, persimmons, mangoes, green apples, chestnuts, kumquats and red pears on a bambu oval serving platter

Christmas Eve Dinner:
- Four raw milk cheeses with 7-grain toast points, organic Adriatic fig spread and homemade membrillo quince paste
- Organic mesculan salad with red and yellow organic heirloom tomatoes and Emma's organic balsamic and herb vinaigrette dressing
- Wild salmon roll with lobster stuffing
- Organic green kale sauteed in extra virgin olive oil and fresh organic garlic
- Organic strawberries, blueberries and raspberries topped with Amish raw cream

Christmas Breakfast:
- Organic fresh squeezed carrot, apple, celery juice
- Dr. Nick's wild smoked salmon scrambled eggs with yellow organic onions and raw cheddar cheese
- Organic smoked bacon from local farmer Elmer King
- Homemade organic whole wheat toast with raw butter and organic blackberry fruit spread

Christmas Lunch:
- Organic spinach salad with hard boiled organic eggs
- Emma's grass-fed natural beef and organic sausage 3 bean chili
- Raw sour cream
- Organic 7 grain French bread with raw butter

Christmas Dinner:
- Wild smoked salmon and capers on 7 grain toast points
- Diamond Organics Dried Organic Fruits
- Organic, grass-fed, 16 pound roast turkey
- Mom's organic sausage and herb whole wheat stuffing
- Nana's whole berry cranberry sauce
- Dad's creamed pearl onions
- Dad's organic yukon gold mashed potatoes with cream cheese and chives
- Steamed organic brussel sprouts and baby carrots
- Sparkling organic apple cider
- Emma's homemade organic whole wheat crust pumpkin pie with raw cream fraiche

Come join in the planning and share what good Green things you are cooking up this Christmas.

Mary Beth Gonzalez
iVillage.com
Please join my Going Green group and read my Green Blog

By TerraChoice.com

Green-wash (green'wash', -wosh') - verb: the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service.

1. Sin of the Hidden Trade-Off
e.g. paper (including household tissue, paper towel and copy paper): "Okay, this product comes from a sustainably harvested forest, but what are the impacts of its milling and transportation? Is the manufacturer also trying to reduce those impacts?" Emphasizing one environmental issue isn't a problem (indeed, it often makes for better communications). The problem arises when hiding a trade-off between environmental issues.

2. Sin of No Proof
e.g. Personal care products (such as shampoos and conditioners) that claim not to have been tested on animals, but offer no evidence or certification of this claim. Company websites, third-party certifiers, and toll-free phone numbers are easy and effective means of delivering proof.

3. Sin of Vagueness
e.g. Garden insecticides promoted as "chemical-free." In fact, nothing is free of chemicals. Water is a chemical. All plants, animals, and humans are made of chemicals as are all of our products. If the marketing claim doesn't explain itself ("here's what we mean by 'eco' ... "), the claim is vague and meaningless. Similarly, watch for other popular vague green terms: "non-toxic", "all-natural", "environmentally-friendly", and "earth-friendly."

4. Sin of Irrelevance
e.g. CFC-free oven cleaners, CFC-free shaving gels, CFC-free window cleaners, CFC-disinfectants. Could all of the other products in this category make the same claim? The most common example is easy to detect: Don't be impressed by CFC-free! Ask if the claim is important and relevant to the product. (If a light bulb claimed water efficiency benefits you should be suspicious.) Comparison-shop (and ask the competitive vendors).

5. Sin of Fibbing
e.g. Shampoos that claims to be "certified organic", but for which our research could find no such certification. When I check up on it, is the claim true? The most frequent examples in this study were false uses of third-party certifications. Thankfully, these are easy to confirm. Legitimate third-party certifiers - EcoLogo, Chlorine Free Products Association (CFPA), Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), Green Guard, Green Seal (for example) - all maintain publicly available lists of certified products. Some even maintain fraud advisories for products that are falsely claiming certification.

6. Sin of the Lesser of Two Evils
e.g. Organic tobacco. "Green" insecticides and herbicides. Is the claim trying to make consumers feel 'green' about a product category that is of questionable environmental benefit? Consumers concerned about the pollution associated with cigarettes would be better served by quitting smoking than by buying organic cigarettes. Similarly, consumers concerned about the human health and environmental risks of excessive use of lawn chemicals might create a bigger environmental benefit by reducing their use than by looking for greener alternatives.

TerraChoice.com

By Heather Stephenson, IdealBite.com

Lately, I've been trying to drink green tea each day. This is a difficult accomplishment for someone who drinks as much coffee as I do. Pots of it. No, seriously. Pots.

A few years back, my voodoo witch doctor (everyone needs one) told me that the antioxidant properties in green tea would make me live a longer, happier, healthier life. Of course, this is not why I started to drink green tea. Oh, no. Longer life? What kind of incentive is that?

Fast forward a year or so. I read an article about how people who drink green tea lose weight more easily than those who don't. Viola! Green tea drinker is born. (Amazing how I won't do something that might keep me from having cancer, but tell me I'll be able to fit back into my leather pants, and I can't sign on fast enough... sad, sad, sad).

The same thing happened with my shampoo. For years, I've read the ingredients labels on shampoo bottles in complete puzzlement. Now, I like SAT words as much as the next person, but if I can't pronounce it, I'm not sure I want it soaking into my largest organ, my skin. And then I learned that parabens (search for the terms methyl-, ethyl-, or butyl-paraben on your beauty product labels) - preservatives found in nearly all beauty products - are estrogen disruptors, meaning they mimic estrogen in your system and may just lead to certain kinds of cancer as well.

Again, didn't change my shampoo. Until I learned that the same estrogen-mimicking might just cause you to retain more weight.

Needless to say, I've been drinking a bunch of green tea and phasing out parabens ever since.

Years later, I still don't fit into the leather pants, but that might be because I learned that dark chocolate and red wine are very good for me, so I make sure to have lots every day.

Heather Stephenson
Co-Founder, Ideal Bite