Filed under: Food, Home, Tips

Cheers to a green new year! Photo: George Marks, Getty Images

While you’re busy making New Year’s resolutions for 2010, don’t forget the one you made just before your guests started arriving at last year’s shindig: Throw a greener New Year’s party in 2009. Believe it or not, there’s still time to check this one last resolution off your list.

Taking your New Year’s Eve gathering to a greener level is easier than you think, especially if last year’s party was as gluttonous as most NYE parties tend to be. The mixture of post-Christmas procrastination, alcohol and general euphoria isn’t known to inspire thoughtful planning or execution.

Still, the keys to a smaller New Year’s print can be summed up in three adjectives: local, reusable, and bikeable/walkable. OK, that last one’s kind of two adjectives, but you get the point.
Local: When planning an unforgettable NYE party, two things are clearly essential — Food and Booze. We’ll start with food. Two of the priorities that stand out in your menu are organic and local. For a variety of reasons — supporting farmers markets, food mileage, etc. — it’s probably best to shoot for local first, organic second.

If you can find locally-produced cheese cubes made from free-range cows fed all-organic, pesticide-free grass — that’s optimal. If you are trying to decide between organic cheese imported from Spain and local cheese that’s not USDA organic, well … it’s up to you.

When it comes to booze, going local is easier than ever and going local and organic is attainable in plenty of markets. When you hit up the local liquor store to stock up for your party, ask a salesperson to direct you to the locally-produced brands. Micro-breweries and distillers are cropping up all over the country and many of them produce a very high-quality adult beverage.

Reusable: The reusable factor comes in when you consider what your guests will heap all of those locally produced hors d’oeuvres on and pour their local beers into. Aside from the fact that aficionados will cringe at the thought of drinking a fine wine from plastic stemware, plastics in general are not nearly as recyclable as we’d like to believe.

By busting out the glass and ceramic dishes, you may end up with a bit more cleaning to do on New Year’s morning, but you save a ton of waste. If your party is simply larger than your supply of dishware, then look for recycled paper plates, or other sustainable dinnerware. EarthShell produces sustainable single-use dishware from potato starch, limestone and water.

Bikeable/Walkable: If you’re content to stay put all night, great. If you plan to make a pub crawl, keep it within walking or biking distance. Not only will this help keep you on the right side of the law, it will cut emissions and possibly help you discover new neighborhood bars and restaurants which will cut your travel footprint year round.

If your heart is set on ringing in the new year at a locale that’s out of bike-range, try to get more familiar with your town’s public transit system, or at least fill every seat in every car you take. Either way, you’ll still be living up to your New Year’s resolution and all it took was a very little bit of planning.

Throwing an Eco-Friendly New Year’s Bash originally appeared on Green Daily on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 12:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Food, Home, Tips

Cheers to a green new year! Photo: George Marks, Getty Images

While you’re busy making New Year’s resolutions for 2010, don’t forget the one you made just before your guests started arriving at last year’s shindig: Throw a greener New Year’s party in 2009. Believe it or not, there’s still time to check this one last resolution off your list.

Taking your New Year’s Eve gathering to a greener level is easier than you think, especially if last year’s party was as gluttonous as most NYE parties tend to be. The mixture of post-Christmas procrastination, alcohol and general euphoria isn’t known to inspire thoughtful planning or execution.

Still, the keys to a smaller New Year’s print can be summed up in three adjectives: local, reusable, and bikeable/walkable. OK, that last one’s kind of two adjectives, but you get the point.
Local: When planning an unforgettable NYE party, two things are clearly essential — Food and Booze. We’ll start with food. Two of the priorities that stand out in your menu are organic and local. For a variety of reasons — supporting farmers markets, food mileage, etc. — it’s probably best to shoot for local first, organic second.

If you can find locally-produced cheese cubes made from free-range cows fed all-organic, pesticide-free grass — that’s optimal. If you are trying to decide between organic cheese imported from Spain and local cheese that’s not USDA organic, well … it’s up to you.

When it comes to booze, going local is easier than ever and going local and organic is attainable in plenty of markets. When you hit up the local liquor store to stock up for your party, ask a salesperson to direct you to the locally-produced brands. Micro-breweries and distillers are cropping up all over the country and many of them produce a very high-quality adult beverage.

Reusable: The reusable factor comes in when you consider what your guests will heap all of those locally produced hors d’oeuvres on and pour their local beers into. Aside from the fact that aficionados will cringe at the thought of drinking a fine wine from plastic stemware, plastics in general are not nearly as recyclable as we’d like to believe.

By busting out the glass and ceramic dishes, you may end up with a bit more cleaning to do on New Year’s morning, but you save a ton of waste. If your party is simply larger than your supply of dishware, then look for recycled paper plates, or other sustainable dinnerware. EarthShell produces sustainable single-use dishware from potato starch, limestone and water.

Bikeable/Walkable: If you’re content to stay put all night, great. If you plan to make a pub crawl, keep it within walking or biking distance. Not only will this help keep you on the right side of the law, it will cut emissions and possibly help you discover new neighborhood bars and restaurants which will cut your travel footprint year round.

If your heart is set on ringing in the new year at a locale that’s out of bike-range, try to get more familiar with your town’s public transit system, or at least fill every seat in every car you take. Either way, you’ll still be living up to your New Year’s resolution and all it took was a very little bit of planning.

Throwing an Eco-Friendly New Year’s Bash originally appeared on Green Daily on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 12:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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See comics from the last 30 days!

See comics from the last 30 days!

Go into the dealership armed with discount information. (CarMax photo)

Did you know that the absolute best day of the year to buy a car this year was, gulp, Christmas Eve (with a projected 7.25 percent average discount)? That’s according to the useful (and free) information at TrueCar, which is dedicated to demystifying auto pricing.

Don’t worry if you didn’t buy a new car on Christmas Eve, by the way, because New Year’s Eve is almost as good (7.04 percent). Six of the Top 10 best days are in December, so you might want to take a look before the calendar turns over.

The site is full of interesting information like that, by the way. The most heavily discounted 2009 sedan is the Saturn Aura (24 percent)-and that’s because GM is dumping the remaining inventory before it kills the brand. For 2010, the Mercury Grand Marquis is the most heavily discounted (13 percent), and that’s because its average buyer is eligible to receive Modern Maturity. The Corvette is the most heavily discounted coupe (18 percent), and that’s probably because despite being the object of many a young man’s lusts they don’t sell all that well. Jeep’s 2010 Grand Cherokee is heavily subsidized (15 percent) because Chrysler is a basket case right now….

Go into the dealership armed with discount information. (CarMax photo)

Did you know that the absolute best day of the year to buy a car this year was, gulp, Christmas Eve (with a projected 7.25 percent average discount)? That’s according to the useful (and free) information at TrueCar, which is dedicated to demystifying auto pricing.

Don’t worry if you didn’t buy a new car on Christmas Eve, by the way, because New Year’s Eve is almost as good (7.04 percent). Six of the Top 10 best days are in December, so you might want to take a look before the calendar turns over.

The site is full of interesting information like that, by the way. The most heavily discounted 2009 sedan is the Saturn Aura (24 percent)-and that’s because GM is dumping the remaining inventory before it kills the brand. For 2010, the Mercury Grand Marquis is the most heavily discounted (13 percent), and that’s because its average buyer is eligible to receive Modern Maturity. The Corvette is the most heavily discounted coupe (18 percent), and that’s probably because despite being the object of many a young man’s lusts they don’t sell all that well. Jeep’s 2010 Grand Cherokee is heavily subsidized (15 percent) because Chrysler is a basket case right now….

Filed under: Home, Polit-eco

President Obama at Home Depot, Photo: Jewel Samad, Getty Images

You may have heard murmurings about the Obama administration’s “Cash for Caulkers” proposal, designed to motivate Americans to make those costly home energy-efficiency upgrades through tax rebates. Well, don’t judge it solely on the basis of its dorky name — which unwisely reminds us of another controversial and supposedly eco-friendly stimulus program.

Instead, let’s take a look at the facts about the $23B incentives program, laid out by the President at a Home Depot in Northern Virginia (where else?) last week. For starters, the official title of the program is Homestar, which reminds us of a quirky cartoon, not a bloated bailout package for a poorly run industry. See, it’s getting better already.

IMO, for this program to be truly successful from an environmental perspective, it needs to lead directly to energy savings that wouldn’t otherwise have been realized (unlike Cash for Clunkers). That’s the tricky part.

Sure, it’s a nice gesture to stimulate the home improvement retail industry, and we always get all the spiel about creating “green jobs” — but will the benefits actually outweigh the costs?

According to NRDC’s Switchboard, the most current version of the Homestar program proposes two levels of assistance: Silver and Gold. The “silver” level would apply to the simpler retrofits like sealing ducts, adding insulation and the like. In other words, things you’re already likely to do, but just need that extra push. The “gold level would include the more involved, holistic changes — presumably carried out by an accredited home-energy contractor.

Whereas the silver-level upgrades would obviously make homes a bit more efficient and helps stimulate retailers, the gold-level incentives are this program’s real bright (yet still fairly murky) spot. Under the proposed plans for the gold-level home retrofits, energy auditors and contractors would work together to both improve your homes efficiency and then retool it for its new needs.

For example, once your home has been decked out with Low-E windows and sealed up tighter than Fort Knox, you could get further incentives by downsizing your A/C and heating units, provided that they further reduce your home’s energy footprint. That’s where the green jobs play in, consumers can keep getting rebates as long as their contractors are playing by the rules.

The Homestar program’s biggest question mark seems to be: How will the government actually measure the energy savings of each retrofit? To ensure that the taxpayers were getting their money’s worth, it seems like there would need to be a home energy auditing body the size of the IRS — and how many people that you know want to invite the IRS into their homes.

While energy audits are now being made mandatory in certain areas, a totally optional governmental probing could be a deterrent. Of course, congress could just adopt ridiculously loose standards (as they did with Cash4Clunkers) and then scratch their heads when people get rebates for buying 80-inch Energy Star flat panel TVs.

Don’t need an act of Congress to get started? Check out the NRDC’s tips for winter weatherization.

Cash For Caulkers: Because Baby it’s Cold/Hot Outside originally appeared on Green Daily on Thu, 24 Dec 2009 15:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Home, Polit-eco

President Obama at Home Depot, Photo: Jewel Samad, Getty Images

You may have heard murmurings about the Obama administration’s “Cash for Caulkers” proposal, designed to motivate Americans to make those costly home energy-efficiency upgrades through tax rebates. Well, don’t judge it solely on the basis of its dorky name — which unwisely reminds us of another controversial and supposedly eco-friendly stimulus program.

Instead, let’s take a look at the facts about the $23B incentives program, laid out by the President at a Home Depot in Northern Virginia (where else?) last week. For starters, the official title of the program is Homestar, which reminds us of a quirky cartoon, not a bloated bailout package for a poorly run industry. See, it’s getting better already.

IMO, for this program to be truly successful from an environmental perspective, it needs to lead directly to energy savings that wouldn’t otherwise have been realized (unlike Cash for Clunkers). That’s the tricky part.

Sure, it’s a nice gesture to stimulate the home improvement retail industry, and we always get all the spiel about creating “green jobs” — but will the benefits actually outweigh the costs?

According to NRDC’s Switchboard, the most current version of the Homestar program proposes two levels of assistance: Silver and Gold. The “silver” level would apply to the simpler retrofits like sealing ducts, adding insulation and the like. In other words, things you’re already likely to do, but just need that extra push. The “gold level would include the more involved, holistic changes — presumably carried out by an accredited home-energy contractor.

Whereas the silver-level upgrades would obviously make homes a bit more efficient and helps stimulate retailers, the gold-level incentives are this program’s real bright (yet still fairly murky) spot. Under the proposed plans for the gold-level home retrofits, energy auditors and contractors would work together to both improve your homes efficiency and then retool it for its new needs.

For example, once your home has been decked out with Low-E windows and sealed up tighter than Fort Knox, you could get further incentives by downsizing your A/C and heating units, provided that they further reduce your home’s energy footprint. That’s where the green jobs play in, consumers can keep getting rebates as long as their contractors are playing by the rules.

The Homestar program’s biggest question mark seems to be: How will the government actually measure the energy savings of each retrofit? To ensure that the taxpayers were getting their money’s worth, it seems like there would need to be a home energy auditing body the size of the IRS — and how many people that you know want to invite the IRS into their homes.

While energy audits are now being made mandatory in certain areas, a totally optional governmental probing could be a deterrent. Of course, congress could just adopt ridiculously loose standards (as they did with Cash4Clunkers) and then scratch their heads when people get rebates for buying 80-inch Energy Star flat panel TVs.

Don’t need an act of Congress to get started? Check out the NRDC’s tips for winter weatherization.

Cash For Caulkers: Because Baby it’s Cold/Hot Outside originally appeared on Green Daily on Thu, 24 Dec 2009 15:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Home, Shopping Guide

Festive patterned reusable bag makes great wrapping! Photo: Envirosax

The countdown to Christmas is winding down. Now you have a mountain of vegan chocolate, WWF t-shirts and a Soda Stream sitting on your dining room table, waiting to be wrapped.

Don’t blow your eco-friendly gift status now!

With a little creativity, you can make your gift even more special, and green. Try one of these wrapping ideas:

• The Gift in the Gift — tie a festive holiday dish towel (made from organic cotton, of course!) or a pretty scarf around a smaller box or item, or place some homemade goodies in a tin they can use all year!
• Bag it — anyone who’s been using her recycled shopping bag all year is probably due for a replacement. I’m hoping to see one of the stylish Envirosax prints under the tree this year. For a less flashy, even more eco-friendly choice, go for the recycled cotton Enviro-tote from EcoTech.
• Classic Paper Updated — gift bags are popular for a reason. Just as beautiful and twice as easy to use as traditional paper, you can pick from a huge selection of 100% recycled craft paper gift bags or handmade Lotka paper plantable bags that are embedded with wildflower seeds. Added bonus, you might even get the bag back next year!

Almost anything can work as a wrapper — a pillow case, funnies from the Sunday paper, a leftover scrap of wallpaper — the only limit is your imagination.

Wrap and Go Green originally appeared on Green Daily on Thu, 24 Dec 2009 12:02:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Home, Shopping Guide

Festive patterned reusable bag makes great wrapping! Photo: Envirosax

The countdown to Christmas is winding down. Now you have a mountain of vegan chocolate, WWF t-shirts and a Soda Stream sitting on your dining room table, waiting to be wrapped.

Don’t blow your eco-friendly gift status now!

With a little creativity, you can make your gift even more special, and green. Try one of these wrapping ideas:

• The Gift in the Gift — tie a festive holiday dish towel (made from organic cotton, of course!) or a pretty scarf around a smaller box or item, or place some homemade goodies in a tin they can use all year!
• Bag it — anyone who’s been using her recycled shopping bag all year is probably due for a replacement. I’m hoping to see one of the stylish Envirosax prints under the tree this year. For a less flashy, even more eco-friendly choice, go for the recycled cotton Enviro-tote from EcoTech.
• Classic Paper Updated — gift bags are popular for a reason. Just as beautiful and twice as easy to use as traditional paper, you can pick from a huge selection of 100% recycled craft paper gift bags or handmade Lotka paper plantable bags that are embedded with wildflower seeds. Added bonus, you might even get the bag back next year!

Almost anything can work as a wrapper — a pillow case, funnies from the Sunday paper, a leftover scrap of wallpaper — the only limit is your imagination.

Wrap and Go Green originally appeared on Green Daily on Thu, 24 Dec 2009 12:02:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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