Love Your Mother (Earth)

When I hear the word "Disney" so many word associations come to my mind...happy, mickey, magic, fairytale, just to name a few. And now, they have given themselves another word to be associated with, Earth.

Well if you're still stumped on what to do for Earth Day (Green Girl will be going to see it!) consider this...

Tomorrow, Earth Day, April 22, DisneyNature will release their first film, "Earth", in theaters around the country. Narrated by James Earl Jones, Earth follows the lives of animals on our planet over a one year period, three families and species in particular, Polar Bears, Whales, and Elephants.

"Earth combines rare action, unimaginable scale and and impossible locations by capturing the most intimate moments of our planet's wildest and most elusive creatures."

As if all of this weren't enough, if you buy a ticket during this week, Disney will plant a tree in your honor!

To learn more about the film and to buy tickets, click here.
To watch a preview for the movie, click here.

Don't Know What to do for Earth Day???

Struggling with what you should do for Earth Day? Don't have any local options? Have too many??? Then check out Green Apple Festival. It's America's largest Earth Day celebration held in 10 cities across the country.

Each city will be holding various volunteer opportunities (park, lake, beach clean-up, recycling events...) from April 17-19. Then on Sunday, the 19th, in appreciation for your efforts and assistance there is a free concert!

Check their web site for further information on a city near you!!

Wallace The Green Dog!

Meet Green Girl Atlanta's dog, WALLACE the Green Dog!! Wallace is a one-year-old Cockapoo who loves chasing leaves, playing with new eco-friendly toys, and meeting new friends! Wallace is green in every way he can be, collars, toys, food, and shampoo just to name a few.

He's spreading the word about living green from one paw to another to their owners.

Check out his web site (which just launched)! And tell all of your furry friends about it : P

Stay tuned for the launch of his blog, where he will highlight and feature his favorite eco-products for pets...

Elmo Goes Green!

Elmo appeared on The Today Show this morning, though something was a bit different about him...he was Green!! Click here to view the NBC videos homepage, and find Elmo's appearance under The Today Show links.

Elmo's visit was to promote ways to be green (recycled art projects) and has a new dvd out, "Being Green: Elmo Goes Green to Help the Earth"!

Elmo strikes again :)

Iddy Biddy Steps for a Greener World...

Idbids are my FAVORITE! They are locally owned (yay Atlanta!) and are an environmentally friendly educational toy for kids!

The Idbids characters, Waverly the waterdrop, Lola the flower, and Scout the cloud, are "handcrafted using 100% organic Egyptian cotton which has been colored with natural organic dyes." And each character also has it's own starter kit, complete with a photographic storybook, field guide, an organic cotton bag, and wrapped eco-friendly materials and packaging.

What's new to the Idbids line??? Organic Earth Day t-shirts featuring your favorite Idbid. Be sure to get your today before Earth Day sneaks up on you.

Idbids, Iddy Biddy Steps for toys everywhere :)

Tote Green Fashion

One of the long-running misconceptions about "being green" is that it is not fashionable or chic, but these days that has been proved wrong!

For example, these fabulous tote bags sold at Nordstrom.com. Juicy, Dogeared, and Vert all have eco-themed bags for sale on Nordstrom's site. Tote bags such as these show that they can be used for more than just carrying groceries. I use them to carry out my recycling, when I run other errands (drugstore, blockbuster, etc.) and as a purse!

The Vert bags are made from organic cotton, but all of the bags sport fun Earthy-friendly phrases, such as, "I Might Like You Better If You Recycled," "Give Green a Chance," and "Viva la Green!"

Check them all out here!

Water, Water, Everywhere!

Or shall I say, Plastic Water Bottles everywhere. Statistics (from Earth911.com) show that in 2006, Americans drank about 167 bottles of water each but only recycled an average of 23 percent. That leaves 38 billion water bottles in landfills each year. What's even worse? Plastic bottles take 700 years before they begin to decompose in a landfill.

These are numbers that simply cannot be ignored. If you haven't already, go out today and buy a reusable bottle (preferably that is BPA free).

Our top pick...Gaiam's Tree of Life Aluminum Water Bottle. It's chic, it's green, and it's aluminum, so you don't have to worry about any plastic residue or BPA's!

Make this your next step to being a little bit greener. Plus, I learned I drink a lot more water when I have one of these with me at all times.

Use Your Email to Help a Good Cause

Everyday brings a new way to help the world we live in. Today, we can all bring awareness to the issues and causes we care about through our emails. Yes, it's that simple.

Reply for All is "a new way to support causes in a simple, practical, and sustainable way." The most simple way to use this service is to go to their site, follow the instructions, and put a link in your email signature. But you can also try to recruit more people to help the cause and use the service. The only downside, for some people, is it can only be used for email accounts on Gmail, Hotmail, or yahoo.

It's easy, it's green, and it's free! Do something green today, St. Patricks day, and bring awareness to the cause of your choice!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

It felt right to post this item today, since it has been raining in Atlanta for the last three or four days. I cleaned my home yesterday to kick off the beginning of my spring cleaning. This morning, after walking my dog, we both came inside soaking wet into my recently cleaned apartment. I was not pleased.

How to solve the problem and be green at the same time???

Mohawk's "Wipe Your Paws" recycled rubber doormat (18x10") is one solution. It is available on Target.com for $21.99 and is made of 100% Crumb Rubber.

Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval

More good news in the green cleaning world. Good Housekeeping magazine is extending their seal and certification to green products!! The Good Housekeeping seal has labeled and identified products that are of great quality, reliable, and worth your dollar for a hundred years.

Why is this good? There are many labels out there now (USDA, FSC, "natural", etc.) and there are also many companies claiming to be "green". This seal will be a great starter point for those who are beginning to get familiar with eco-friendly products or reassurance for those consumers who are already familiar.

For more information check out the Good Housekeeping web site.

We Hear Horton...Goes Organic!

I love seeing all of the big stores like, Target and Pottery Barn, carrying organic options in bedding and bath accessories. I've noticed over the last few catalogues for Pottery Barn the organic options are multiplying.

But one of my new favorites are the organic sheets Pottery Barn Kids is carrying, Dr. Seuss. Yes, they have the regular options in organic as well, trucks, and butterflies, and sailboats, and planes, but nothing beats The Cat in the Hat. Click here for the Dr. Seuss bedding and here for all organic options.

Yellow Pages for GREEN Businesses

Though the idea and practice of living green is growing and expanding everyday, sometimes it's still hard to track down what you need and when you need it. What's the closest green contractor? Where's the closest eco-friendly car rental?? Who is a green living consultant :) ? Now, there's a quick and easy online tool you can use to find the closest recycling sites, and various green businesses. What is this marvelous site you ask??? Living Green Pages. Just point, click, and search, and you're on your way to a greener way of life.

Eco Friendly Light Alternatives - Sun and Moon Jars

One of the things I love to do is suggest eco-friendly products to my clients. There are so many fun green products out there! And this is one of my favs, these jars are great! I've seen the sun jar before (available at most Target stores), but today for the first time I saw the "moon jar" which gives off a cooler, blue light.

I haven't purchased one yet, but the description says it needs direct sunlight, and then it charges by day and automatically comes on at night. The only downside, the packaging does not appear to be eco-friendly, but hopefully that will be their next step!

Check out the Moon Jar

Give One Hour to Make a Difference

I know it's hard to make your Green resolutions and keep them, or find time to implement new ones (that's why I started my company, Green Girl Atlanta, to help families find ways and time to be green), but luckily we all have a specific day and time to make a difference, together!

Sign up for Earth Hour 2009 right now! Earth Hour is one hour in which people, companies, and cities (Atlanta has officially signed on!) turn off their lights to support our Earth. Earth Hour stands as a call for change on how we treat the environment and natural resources.

Earth Hour takes place on March 28, 2009 at 830pm.

I signed up yesterday, and then today overhead two women talking about it, and figured it was some cosmic sign that I had to blog about it and get everyone else to sign up :)

New Green Megastore!!!

With the Internet, shopping, trips to the mall, toy store, heck, even to the grocery store, can all be eliminated now. But sometimes we want to go to the stores, to browse the products, compare them in person, and see them firsthand.

Green shopping lovers wait no more! Green Depot has a new store open in NYC. If you live in NYC, do us all a favor and go visit them at 222 Bowery. Even better, after you visit, write us and let us know what you thought. For the rest of us, at least they have an online store to hold us over until potential future franchise opportunities!!

Green Depot Homepage

What's Your Green IQ???

What level of green are you? How green are you? GoGreenOnline.com has a fabulous Green IQ game, be sure to check it out and learn just how much you know about "green" :)

http://www.gogreenonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=59&Itemid=130

Have a Green weekend!

Green Ideas

Do you have a cool green product people need to know about? Did you hear about a new eco-friendly clothing line? Share your thoughts with Green Girl! We are currently developing ideas and topics for our new blog and want to bring the BEST of green products here for you!

Don't Keep Your Greenness Bottled Up...well...maybe

One of my hopes for the New Year, is that the "it" Green thing of this year (the CFLs were 2006, reusable tote shopping bags 2007), will be reusable bottles and that people will start carrying their water around with them. Yes, some of these bottles are a little pricey, and yes, you have to remember to get the bottle, fill it up, and take it with you, but after a few days of doing so, it will become routine and you will no longer have to remind yourself to do it.

As for the price side of things, if you are like many people I know, you buy bottle water, at the grocery store, at Cosco, wherever. But, the cost of one Sigg, Nalgene, whatever your preference may be, bottle, will be paid back to you in probably just one visit that you don't buy bottled water. And think about how many bottles you won't be using! Just take a second now, how many bottles of water do you drink a day? Even if it is just one, that is 7 in one week, 30 in a month, 365 in a year...you get the idea.

So check out some fun alternatives today! They've got great options for kids too!
Nalgene, http://www.nalgene-outdoor.com/store/index.html
Sigg for Kids, http://www.mysigg.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=26

Green Girl Atlanta enters the world of blogging

Welcome to Green Girl Atlanta’s blog! This is our first (test) post. Stay tuned for all sorts of green fun with Green Girl Atlanta (including fun green tips and product reviews)! In the meantime, please visit our web site at http://www.GreenGirlAtlanta.com.

Also putting in his two cents, will be my dog Wallace (the Green Dog Blog), who is also making his efforts to be green.