The Gift Exchange

Like many individuals and businesses alike, GiftTree is making an effort to reduce our ecological footprint. We believe that small changes can make a big difference. We already recycle all cardboard, paper, and aluminum cans, but we continuously look for new ideas to implement.

For example, in hopes of eliminating the use of plastic utensils, we’re currently in the middle of a utensil drive. Employees have been asked to bring in utensils that they can donate to our lunch room. I know I have mismatched silverware that’s rarely used at the back of the utensil drawer at home. Why not bring them in to work where they’ll be much more useful?

We also have an espresso machine in our lunch room. Possibly because coffee is like fuel here at GiftTree, especially during the hectic holidays, but it also helps us be more environmentally friendly. We use ceramic mugs and it reduces the number of trips to our local Starbuck’s. If only five GiftTree employees replace one Starbuck’s coffee with an espresso made here at work each day, that’s a savings of 1,300 paper cups a year, not to mention 1,300 fewer trips in the car.

GiftTree has an employee suggestion program where employees contribute ideas that can help improve operations, the work environment, basically any suggestions to improve the company and how we do business are accepted. For the month of June, our theme is reducing the amount of paper we use. One suggestion is to eliminate printed papers for meetings. Thanks to an employee suggestion, GiftTree will be purchasing a projector for our conference room. This one, simple solution will save reams of paper each year.

What is your company doing to reduce your impact on the environment? We’d love to hear your suggestions too!

As our society becomes more environmentally aware a new trend in weddings is sustainable nuptials. How may you wonder does one have a green wedding? Well it goes back to basics; recycle, reduce, and reuse. Here are some tips to have a beautiful day while still being conscious of the environmental footprint you’re leaving.

• Make sure recycling bins are on hand at the venue for empty champagne bottles and other festive beverages.

• Purchase a used wedding gown, borrow a friend’s, rent one, or wear your mother’s. No one will know the difference and you’ll feel even more beautiful for reducing waste. You also won’t have to figure out what do with it once your big day is over. Also, it could easily be used as your something “old.” Read the rest of this entry »

My kids think I’m a great cook, but believe me when I say that I used them as guinea pigs when they were still living at home. One time I accidentally put curry powder instead of cinnamon in my pumpkin pie recipe at Thanksgiving, and another time I made a meatloaf and added ½ cup of dry mustard instead of ½ teaspoon. They still won’t let me live it down.

If only someone had been clever enough back then, to invent the Green Basics Organic Spices set that we have now. Pure genius whoever thought of making these one teaspoon spice packets! Tuck these into a gift basket for the newlywed or new home owner, and you’ve spared an innocent family years of untold cooking grief! No more messing up the lasagna or spaghetti recipes, everything is pre-measured.  Superior quality and a great gift for the cook in the family make this a win-win situation. You’ll love the fresh organic spices, and they’ll love the tasty feasts you prepare with them, (unless of course you use them in the wrong dishes.) Do you have any great cooking follies you’d like to share?

Going green is a popular ecological movement across America, and yet birthday parties for kids are still in many ways environmental nightmares. Parents often provide bags of confetti for surprise parties, and use streamers and other paper products as decorations. Plastic table cloths, crepe paper, and cheap goodie bags filled with dollar toys often head straight to the land fill. And let’s not forget about the mountains of discarded wrapping paper.

The good news is that it is easy to host an environmentally conscious party without sacrificing fun or coming off as a fervent tree hugger. Here are some great ideas to get you started:

-Use washable dishes and napkins instead of paper plates and napkins.

-Save party hats and decorations for the next birthday and re-use them (kids never know the difference!).

Read the rest of this entry »

I have a printer and a fax machine in my office. The fax machine recently ran amok. It was a simple fix, just a quick cartridge change and a cleaning, but the machine was down for about a week. After I fixed the problem, the fax queue began to unload. Sheet after sheet spewed forth from the machine. All totaled, 21 sheets of paper were expended. Unfortunately not a single sheet was requested information or even desired information. Everything from vacation deals to mortgage payment plans to beachwear offers had infiltrated the fax machine, wasted paper and ink. When the fax machine has not had a period of interrupted service, these unwanted fax don’t seem to make much of an impact. Coming in all at once makes one realize how much paper and resources are truly wasted. If 21 sheets are wasted in one week, 1092 are wasted in one year. That’s over 2 reams of paper from my office alone. I used to simply recycle the paper. Today I took the time to call the number on the bottom of each fax so I would no longer receive unwanted messages. It didn’t take long. Imagine how many resources we could save if we all took a moment of our time to stop the waste. I’m curious if there is a global registry to contact to be removed from all unsolicited fax applications. –Sort of like the National Do Not Call Registry. Anybody know of something like that?

Hopefully your answer will be “Neither, I brought my own.” In an effort to reduce, reuse and recycle, most stores and markets nowadays offer reusable shopping bags at a very affordable price. The idea is to eliminate the use and disposal of plastic bags that fill our landfills. A lot of times the reusable shopping bags are very stylish and almost make it impossible for you NOT to buy them. So not only are you helping the environment, but you will look good doing it!

Here are some facts about plastic bags I found about plastic bags…

Assuming people will use a reusable grocery bag twice a week for 2 years, here’s what you will eliminate:

• 140 - city dollars spent on disposal
• 11 - pounds of garbage
• 832 - plastic bags
• 60 - enough petroleum to drive a car 60 miles

More facts:

• 14 plastic bags contain enough petroleum to drive your car a mile
• 17 cents per bag is the price many cities pay in disposal costs
• 14 billion plastic bags are thrown away in America each year
• 0 paper bags biodegrade in landfills
• 70 percent more global warming gasses are released making a paper bag than a plastic bag

Don’t be caught transferring your plastic bagged groceries into your trunk. We each can make a difference, and so easily.

Earth Day is on April 22nd, but the entire month of April is full of earth inspired events and a general focus on getting “greener.” I decided to take the ecological footprint quiz by the Earth Day Network. If you haven’t taken this quiz before, I would encourage you to give it a try. It’s actually very interesting.

Apparently the average ecological footprint in the US is 24 acres per person. When I saw that my ecological footprint is a mere 13, I was about about to toot my own horn. But then I kept reading…With an ecological footprint of 13, there would still need to be 2.9 planets to keep me in the lifestyle in which I’ve become accustomed. Not so good.

So, I’ve decided to look for ways that I can do better. I already recycle paper, glass, and aluminum cans; I bring reusable bags to the grocery store; I am replacing my old school light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs as the old ones die out; and I am in the process of planting a garden. I know there must be a ton of basic steps that I can take to be more environmentally friendly. I’d love to hear your ideas!

There are many benefits to having your own composter, for one I’ve heard that you can reduce your household waste by up to 30 percent. This is good for the environment and your wallet! Plus if you like gardening you have ready-made fertilizer for practically free. If you don’t already have a composter they are readily available at your local home improvement or gardening center for less than $100.00. You can also find many websites online that will teach you how to build your own.

Here are some tips and tricks to get you started:
What to Compost-
Leaves
Small amounts of grass clippings
Weeds (no seeds please)
Straw
Wood shavings
Garden plants
Vegetables and Fruits
Tea bags
Coffee grounds and filters
Bread
Pasta and rice (no sauce)
Read the rest of this entry »

If you wish to leave a smaller eco-footprint by purchasing earth friendly products, the labeling used can put a quick stop to your journey if you are not careful.

Here are a few tips/explanations I have found helpful in my quest to go green.

Be wary of claims of “all natural”. While you may think you are purchasing a product that is organic, the word “Natural” on products is unregulated and often meaningless. The same goes for cruelty-free. There is no official definition and no organization to verify claims.

Labels to look for:

Processed food products can have different percentages of organic ingredients. If the label claims “100% Organic”, the product has 100% organic ingredients, the ultimate goal. If it is labeled “Organic”, the product is at least 95% organic. If it states “Made With Organic Ingredients”, at least 70% is made with organics. (The product will not carry the USDA organic seal.)
A food alliance seal certifies farms for sustainable practices and fair working conditions. No genetically engineered crops are used.
Salmon Safe. Businesses protect watersheds through natural pest control and management of run-off. Look for the logo on wines. Corporate and university campuses can also achieve certification.
Fair Trade Certified. Democratically organized farmer organizations receive a guaranteed minimum floor price, do not use harmful agrochemicals, and have safe labor conditions.
This is the symbol I look for most often to reduce my footprint on the earth. Look for the Green Seal on cleaners, skin care, paper products, paints and more to support companies with high environmental standards and reduced waste.

I just returned from the International Home and Housewares Show. Not surprisingly, going green was a big part of the show. I was glad to see many of the suppliers putting forth the effort to support consumers in their attempts to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. One small change can make a huge difference. There was a huge section at the show that concerned everyday goods and I had the chance to check it out. One of the smartest ideas I saw involved an ordinary trash can. Let me know if you do the exact same thing I’ve been doing…

I live in Portland, Oregon and we are pretty progressive when it comes to Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling. My family and I recycle, but I must admit that we could be better at it. We are very good at recycling items from the kitchen and office areas of the house. The bathrooms?–not so much. It is primarily because we only have one small trash can in our bathrooms. When it comes time to empty them, I don’t generally sort through them and separate the contents. What I spotted at the show was a trash can (made of recycled plastic by the way) that had two compartments. One was for trash, one was for the recycled items. Viola! Problem solved. I’m going to keep an eye out in the stores for the trash can and then purchase one for each of our bathrooms. Until then, simply putting an additional trash can (one for true trash and the other for recyclable materials) will reduce the amount of goods we send to the landfills by quite a bit.