Who Says Chic and Sexy Handbags Can't Be Eco-Friendly?

Chic & Sexy Recycled Seashell Bag from UrthBags.com

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Monica Ralli, the founding force behind UrthBags.com. Two minutes into our phone conversation and I knew she was the "real deal" - as passionate about making a difference in this global community as she is about her beautiful eco-friendly handbags "designed with a purpose". My favorite chic and sexy handbag is pictured here - the "Elaine" (MSRP $82), but there are lots of other beautiful/smart/sexy designs available to go with every fashion style.

Of course, in my opinion, the bags are much more beautiful because they are not only made from eco-friendly materials (recycled shells, magazines and juice boxes for example) but they also help sustain women working worldwide.  You can read more about UrthBags's vision, help save the world,  and... oh yeah, purchase a chic and sexy handbag for yourself or another savvy fashionista (whatever color of "green" they may be) by visiting their website. 

**Facebook Special** Don't forget FB fans receive 15% off any UrthBags purchase! Just use coupon code: FBFAN15 at checkout.

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Earth Day Around the World

How will you celebrate Earth Day this year?

Earth Day is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the environment, and will be celebrated in the US on April 22, although there will be tons of Earth Day/Week celebrations around the world.

From Wikipedia: "In the United States, Earth Day is celebrated each year on April 22. The United Nations celebrates Earth Day each year on the Spring Equinox, which is often March 20. This is a tradition which was founded by peace activist John McConnell in 1969. The first governmental recognition of Earth Day, authorized by the city of San Francisco, was on the Spring Equinox in 1970. The United Nations adopted this holiday the next year and celebrated Earth Day for the first time on the Spring Equinox in 1971."

Here's just a sampling of Earth Day celebrations around the globe:

• Climate Rally at National Mall, Washington, DC
• Earth Day Events in Southern California
• Convergence Festival: Earth Day Conference and Celebration in Ireland
• Earth Day Canada - search for events
• Earth Day Events - Australia

Can't make it to one of the above listed events? Why not celebrate Earth Day at home with friends and family... maybe you'll be inspired by these plastic bag artists: http://www.oddee.com/item_97040.aspx  or you'll be inspired to plant some wildflowers... you can get some FREE from Mount Sinai (LA). Whatever way you decide ... decide to make a difference.

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The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

The area of the Pacific Ocean dubbed The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is 1,700 miles of floating plastic trash --think bigger than Texas. In fact, some say it stretches from the coast of California to China (an area estimated to be larger than the Continental U.S.)  For arguments sake, let's just say it's beyond BIG - it's almost unfathomable.  The vast majority of trash is Styrofoam and plastics - things that aren't biodegradable.


Awareness is the first step -- but certainly not enough to change or remedy the situation.  That's up to us.  It's up to us to dramatically reduce not only our plastic consumption, but also the amount of plastic waste that goes straight to landfills, and ultimately ends up in the Garbage Patch.

Feel like getting involved?  Check out these resources and stories of other eco-activists that are hoping to make a difference:

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is Worse Than We Thought - Inhabitat.com

Stop Trashing The Ocean: The Great Garbage Patch Facebook Page

Plastiki - Boat Made From Recycled Plastic Bottles Set Sail to Raise Awareness

Alternative Stoves & Solar Ovens

An Alternative Stove Worth It's Weight in Gold:
Last Christmas I opted to support a variety of charities in lieu of buying gifts for friends and families. In the process of searching for organizations, I came across the Darfur Stove Project - a program that brought together a group of UC Berkeley engineers and the women of Darfur, who have endured not only poverty and displacement, but the constant threat of rape every time they leave a camp to gather wood for cooking.
Check out the project story, donate if you can, and please pass it on to others.

The Berkeley Darfur Stove® is four times more efficient than traditional 3-stone fires and two times more efficient than clay stoves. The efficiency and design of the stove has many benefits including:

• less time outside of the camps collecting fuel wood, reducing the risk of exposure to rape.
• fully enclosed flames reducing the danger of the dense straw and stick shelters from burning down.
• reduction of smoke production compared to other stoves, reducing smoke inhalation and lung disease.
• saving time by cutting down fuel wood treks, allowing women to pursue income generating opportunities.
  
  Source: darfurstoves.org
  

The website also has instructions for building your own Berkeley Darfur stove. What a great project this would be for a science class, a scouting adventure, or even a family project for your next camping trip.

Eco-friendly Solar Ovens

Solar Cookers or Sun Ovens harness the energy of the sun to bake, boil and steam a wide variety of foods. They're eco-friendly, relatively portable (depending on size), and uses a free fuel source. Even if you're not ready to cook full-time on a solar oven, it's a worthy investment for part-time use.

There are a variety of types of solar cookers: over 65 major designs and hundreds of variations of them. The basic principles of all solar cookers are:

• Concentrating sunlight: Some device, usually a mirror or some type of reflective metal, is used to concentrate light and heat from the sun into a small cooking area, making the energy more concentrated and therefore more potent.
• Converting light to heat: Any black on the inside of a solar cooker, as well as certain materials for pots, will improve the effectiveness of turning light into heat. A black pan will absorb almost all of the sun's light and turn it into heat, substantially improving the effectiveness of the cooker. Also, the better a pan conducts heat, the faster the oven will work.
• Trapping heat: Isolating the air inside the cooker from the air outside the cooker makes an important difference. Using a clear solid, like a plastic bag or a glass cover, will allow light to enter, but once the light is absorbed and converted to heat, a plastic bag or glass cover will trap the heat inside. This makes it possible to reach similar temperatures on cold and windy days as on hot days.

Alone, each of these strategies for heating something with the sun is fairly ineffective, but most solar cookers use two or all three of these strategies in combination to get temperatures sufficient for cooking. -- Source: Wikipedia.org

Prices for solar ovens can vary from $40 to a small model for camping or fishing, to more than $350 for a large model designed for use as a primary stove. Solar Cookers International has a great "Solar Cooking Archive Wiki with lots of information and recent news. The wiki covers a variety of topics from the basics of solar cooking to water pasteurization and global usage.

Saying No To Whaling

Greenpeace remains a leader in the campaign to stop commercial Japanese whaling. The Caribbean island of Dominica is the latest to join in their efforts to saying "No" to commercial whaling. Dominica was once an ally of Japan's endeavors, but has now committed to being a whale-friendly country. Dominica is sometimes called the “whale watching capitol of the Caribbean” and is the only country in the world where the sperm whale resides all year long, although sightings are most common between November and March. Studies show that whale watching is a much more lucrative business venture than hunting them. Hopefully, more countries will come on board. For more information, visit Greenpeace.org.