Greening Christmas . . .

After opening all those Christmas presents, you can reduce the amount of garbage you create by recycling wrapping paper, boxes and old electronics. Check out this website for 15 Things You Can Easily Recycle After Christmas:  http://blog.biggreenpurse.com/biggreenpurse/2011/12/avoid-post-christmas-clutter-15-things-you-can-easily-recycle-after-christmas.html

Christmas Gift Ideas

Why not buy more sustainable gifts when shopping for Christmas gifts this year? Look for quality products made in the USA (less shipping resources consumed, more local jobs supported) that last and have minimal/recycled packaging. Check out the daily green website for some great gift ideas: http://www.thedailygreen.com/living-green/green-gifts

Light Up Your Christmas and Save . . .

For those who still have incandescent Christmas lights at home, LED holiday lights are brighter, last up to 100 times longer and use up to 90% less energy. LED holiday lights are cool to the touch making them less of a fire hazard and safer for you and your family.

2011 LED LIGHTING EXCHANGE SCHEDULE: Friday, December 2, 5:00 pm to 10:00 pm and Saturday, December 3, Noon to 10:00 pm during December Nights in Balboa Parkin front of the Prado Restaurant. Please bring a valid California ID or a copy of your recent SDG&E® bill to exchange up to 3 incandescent strings for led strings.

"Small Business Saturday"

"Small Business Saturday" (November 26, 2011) is about pledging to shop locally to support local, small businesses instead of shopping online or at large box stores. This doesn't have to be just at Christmas time and it helps the environment best when you are buying services or goods that are local not made in China and shipped thousands of miles to get to you. A bonus is that it helps create/keep jobs in the US.

Story of Broke

Our country can do better for the environment and our economy. This new video from Annie Leonard about our government and our environment is worth a look.

http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-broke/

It is almost that time of year again. Try having Apopt-A-Christmas-Tree deliver your tree this year. They have special pricing for early orders. You can keep it and plant it after Christmas or have it picked up and delivered to reforest areas affected by wildfires. www.adoptachristmastree.com

Fair Halloween

Since Halloween is during fair trade month, why not give fair trade chocolate to trick or treaters. You can get fair trade Divine chocolate at the book store or order smaller treats here: http://sweetearthchocolates.com/level.itml/icOid/242