The Story of Bottled Water

Today is World Water Day and in honor of that I am sharing this fantastic website with you - www.storyofbottledwater.org This 7-minute animated film discusses the myths about tap and bottled water.

Fortunately for our planet, more people are becoming aware about how ridiculous it is to buy plastic bottled water. A Harris Poll found that 29% of the people surveyed switched back to tap water this year. "Bottled water usage is in decline in the United States for the first time in three decades, thanks in part to the hard work of our partners on this film. We hope this film helps to drive the final nail in this huge rip off," said Annie Leonard.

Olympic Medals are Green

No they didn't change the traditional medals of Gold, Silver and Bronze to green, but they did use reclaimed metal for the first time in this year's Olympic and Paralympic medals. Vancouver-based Teck Resources extracted gold, silver, and copper from old electronics using a smelting process on cathode ray tube glass, circuit boards, and other computer parts. A total of 2.05 kg of gold, 1,950 kg of silver, and 903 kg of copper were reclaimed and used. Even though this is just a small percentage of recycled material in each of the 1,000 medals awarded, it is a start. The mining of gold and other metals is harmful to the planet, so reducing the amount of mined metals to any degree helps the planet. Hopefully future host cities will be inspired to build on this effort and increase the amount of reclaimed metals in future Olympic medals.

Green Buying & Selling

Reduce your impact on the planet by choosing to shop greener.

1. Buy used if possible.

2. Remember your trash can be someone else's treasure - sell unwanted items on ebay or craigslist or donate them to the local thrift shop.

3. When making purchases ask yourself whether you really need to upgrade something that works just fine.

4. Rent seldom used items instead of purchasing them.

5. Shop locally and support small businesses.

Yummy Organic Tea

I just discovered a delicious new organic tea - Tazo's Organic Apple Red. It is an African red tea with a touch of apple, cinnamon, and caramel. It is caffeine free, so it is perfect for the cold nights we've been experiencing lately.

Tazo tea boxes are made from 55% post consumer recycled materials and are recyclable. For more information on Tazo's organic teas check out www.Tazo.com.