This is something that’s been rattling around in my head for a while, and I thought it might be worth spilling it all here and seeing what you guys think. I write in a lot of places about how to be green, and I get a lot of pitches from companies [...]]]>

This is something that’s been rattling around in my head for a while, and I thought it might be worth spilling it all here and seeing what you guys think. I write in a lot of places about how to be green, and I get a lot of pitches from companies who want me to review their newest green product. But what does green really mean?

Over at Feelgood Style, we talk about green beauty and fashion, and every time I get a pitch from a cosmetics company, I find myself wondering if they’re green enough. One company makes cosmetics that come in fully compostable packaging, but they use artificial “fragrance,” which can mean any number of toxic, artificial chemicals. Are they green? What about a company who’s recipe is totally free from mystery ingredients, but their packaging is plastic?

I’m even running across this as I start my fall garden! I avoided products from Scotts (even “organic” ones), because they’re a major distributor for Monsanto’s RoundUp. Not familiar with RoundUp? It’s a pesticide, and it’s terrible for the environment. You can read a bit about some of the problems with RoundUp here.

Right, so! In my effort to avoid Scotts, I picked up organic seed starter from Burpee, only to learn that 3-5% of their seeds are from Monsanto. Is 3-5% a small enough number? Am I being green by supporting Burpee’s organic line, when I’m also supporting a company that sells genetically modified seeds?

How to be Green

Some companies are making a genuine effort, while others are just greenwashing. So many companies co-opt the word “green” as a marketing gimmick, that it’s hard to suss out who’s really making an impact and who’s just trying to break into this growing niche of green consumers. It’s up to us to read the labels, do the research, and see beyond the marketing.

But I think if we really want to get at the heart of how to be green, it’s about more than what we buy. It’s what we choose not to buy and what we choose to make ourselves. I think the key to really being a green consumer is to…consume less! That can mean just opting out of the newest and shiniest thing. It can also mean using your crafty skills to reuse what we have and turn it into something new.

My friend Kelly Rand has said many times that she thinks handmade can save the world, and I think she’s really got it right. I also think that handmade can mean different things for different folks. Maybe that means planting and nurturing a food garden, instead of buying produce from halfway around the world. Maybe it’s cooking a meal, rather than ordering wasteful takeout. Or turning an old t-shirt into a reusable shopping bag.

We all have the power to make these small changes, and I think the real way to be green is to do our best to reduce our impacts however we can.

Does that make sense? I sort of feel like I’m tossing out a half-baked idea here, and I’d love to flesh it out with you guys. What does green mean to you?

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• IF: Summer Crafts!
• How To: Build a Spiral Container Garden
• Unusual Planters Made From Everyday Items

© Becky for Glue and Glitter, 2011. | Permalink | Comment
Post tags: be green, DIY, environment, garden, green, handmade, Hippie, how to be green, recycle, recycling, repurposed, reuse, upcycling

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[Creative Commons photo by Chad Hanna]

He talked all about making sustainable living accessible [...]]]>

Last night, a group of us hit up Charis Books to see Scott Kellogg, co-author of Toolbox for Sustainable City Living. I was the girl scribbling furiously in my notebook.

[Creative Commons photo by Chad Hanna]

He talked all about making sustainable living accessible to everyone. The Rhizome Collective and the book he wrote with Stacy Pettigrew focus on DIY solutions to food, water, and energy security problems. You can check out my notes on the talk over at my post on Ecolocalizer!

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• What does green mean?

© Becky for Glue and Glitter, 2009. | Permalink | Comment
Post tags: activism, Charis Books, Hippie, Rhizome Collective, sustainability

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For the past few years, I’ve been buying Slingshot organizers each December. I like the layout of the pages, [...]]]> I tend to overextend myself. Really, there is only one thing keeping me where I’m supposed to be, on time, and prepared. That thing is my trusty dayplanner.

[My well-loved 2008 Slingshot.]

For the past few years, I’ve been buying Slingshot organizers each December. I like the layout of the pages, and all of the cool doodlings and tips keep me entertained on the train if I forget my book. This year, though, I think it’s time for a change. I forgot to pick up a new Slingshot (maybe I should have written that on the calendar somewhere?) and then today ran across this awesome tutorial on making your very own planner out of trash on greenUpgrader!

Guess who is going to be digging through her recycle bin tonight? They give the option of printing out pages or drawing your own. I might go for a combination….we’ll see how it goes!

[via Re-Nest]

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• What does green mean?
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• Tis the Season: Recycled Newspaper Gift Bags

© Becky for Glue and Glitter, 2009. | Permalink | 5 comments
Post tags: calendar, Hippie, organizing, planner, Slingshot, upcycling

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Moogsmum used this tutorial as a guide for making gift bags from recycled newspaper! She is a genius! Check out her round up of awesome recycled paper crafts.

[Image Credit: Moogsmum]
Related Posts: What does green mean? Related Posts:

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© Becky for Glue and Glitter, 2008. | Permalink | Comment
Post tags: gift bags, gifts, Hippie, newspaper, paper crafts, recycling, upcycling

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So I had this really great conversation not too long ago with Liz and Lori while we were working on swag for ICE. We got to talking about where Glue & Glitter was headed, and what I was really trying to go for. We sort of talked about what’s really…me? And we got [...]]]>

So I had this really great conversation not too long ago with Liz and Lori while we were working on swag for ICE. We got to talking about where Glue & Glitter was headed, and what I was really trying to go for. We sort of talked about what’s really…me? And we got on the subject of cooking, of kitchen stuff and food-related crafts. It got me thinking. I woke up the next morning full of ideas that I’ve been working on sort of pulling together. It’s time to give this place a facelift and focus my efforts again. Why not do a new design while I’m at it, right? So here it is!

What strikes me most about the kitchen is the waste. There are so many little changes you can make in that single room that really add up to a huge impact. Something as small as using cloth towels and napkins in place of paper ones makes a big difference when you think about how often you use that stuff every day. Even the act of cooking is so much greener than takeout when you consider all of the packaging and whatnot involved in ordering that Chinese delivery. If a cute apron encourages you to get in there and put a meal together, or a Lunch Kit would get you packing your lunch for work or school, I hope that I can make one to inspire you!

I’m also going to be working on moving the recipes from Apron Strings over here and eventually phasing that blog out all together. It feels really good to combine my food obsession with my crafty life!

My goal has always been to make products that help folks cut waste out of their day-to-day, and what better place than in the kitchen? Food is my passion. I’ve got some new, fun projects on deck on that front. The shop is closed right now, since tomorrow Dave and I are headed to LONDON tomorrow! It will be back up when we get home the weekend after this coming, though. I’ll have some recipes set to come out while I’m away, so keep an eye out!

<3

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© Becky for Glue and Glitter, 2008. | Permalink | 4 comments
Post tags: cooking, facelift, Hippie

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© Becky for Glue and Glitter, 2008. | Permalink | 3 comments Post [...]]]> George Marshall discusses how treating global warming as a strictly environmental issue allows government and industry to treat it as “not my problem.” Video after the jump!
(. . .)
Click here to read on!

© Becky for Glue and Glitter, 2008. | Permalink | 3 comments
Post tags: global warming, Hippie, video

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The raw apple and pear tart pictured above may be the hippiest thing to ever emerge from my kitchen. And that includes the Mission: Possible where we all made green cleaning supplies. The crust is raw and completely cribbed from this recipe. I [...]]]>

The raw apple and pear tart pictured above may be the hippiest thing to ever emerge from my kitchen. And that includes the Mission: Possible where we all made green cleaning supplies. The crust is raw and completely cribbed from this recipe. I ended up using only about 2 cups of walnuts instead of 2.5 and probable not a full 1.5 cups of dates, since my tart pan is a little on the small side. For the filling, I marinated a couple of sliced up apples and pear in brown sugar, lime juice and maple syrup, then ground it coarsely through the blender…not enough to make applesauce, just enough to make it feel like pie filling to me. The whole thing is topped with the remaining 1/2c walnuts mixed with a couple of tablespoons of maple syrup. Oh, and of course blueberries. Because pretty much everything I make ought to involve blueberries for the foreseeable future. I’m thinking I’ll serve this on Wednesday night when folks come over to watch MST3K!

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© Becky for Glue and Glitter, 2008. | Permalink | 2 comments
Post tags: Food, Hippie

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In [...]]]>

In other treehugging news, Project: Dump the Shower Water on the Front Garden is going strong. I’ve never been so good about watering my plants before! The collards are getting big…it might be time transplant them to bigger pots this very weekend! I’ll post some pictures if we do that!

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© Becky for Glue and Glitter, 2008. | Permalink | Comment
Post tags: Etsy, Hippie

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