One Minute Ways for Couples to Help Save the World

We are so excited about the story about What You Can Do in The Nest, an online magazine for couples (check out the article on pg. 9).

There are many fun and easy ways couples can help save the world in just a minute - check out the list and videos below and let us know your ideas at www.facebook.com/whatyoucando!

1) Click to Give Whether you're checking up on your fantasy football team or online shopping, check out www.greatergood.com and click to help issues such as hunger, animal welfare and breast cancer prevention.

2) The Giving Season Celebrate the spirit of giving at your holiday party - ask guests to bring canned goods to donate to a local food bank.

3) Turn Off the Tap Hold a contest to see who's better at remembering to shut off the tap while brushing your teeth to conserve water. First one who forgets has to buy a nice bottle of wine or dessert.

4) Online Buzz for Good Along with posting cute pics of your dog and/or kids, use your social media power to raise awareness for a cause that inspires your passion once per month.

5) Look for the Little Green Frog If it's your turn to grocery shop, look for the Rainforest Alliance's "little green frog" symbol on products such as chocolate and coffee to help preserve our rainforests.

6) Shop Local Also at the grocery store or farmers market, choose local produce when possible to reduce your carbon footprint (i.e. the emissions contributing to global warming).

7) Protect the Night To keep your home safer and help protect the darkness of night (which is crucial for the environment and human/animal health), reduce inside lighting and choose shielded or motion sensing exterior fixtures.

8) Ocean Love Download the Seafood Watch app from the Monterey Bay Aquarium to help choose sustainable seafood at your favorite restaurants.

9) Time to Unplug When heading out of town for the weekend, unplug your electronics (make it easier by using power strips) to reduce energy consumption and your power bill.

10) Start a Kindness Chain Get creative with ideas to spread kindness in your community - cook a delicious meal for an elderly neighbor or help a mom with her groceries at the store.

Day 31 of 31 - Happy New Year!

Day 31 of 31 - Happy New Year!

What are your New Year’s resolutions this year?? Thinking of making any green changes? You know we are!

Day 25 of 31 - Green Holiday Party

Day 25 of 31 - Green Party TIps!
Merry Christmas! If you're hosting a Holiday Party, consider some of these green tips.

Day 16 of 31 - Learn about the Night Sky

Light pollution: it’s what prevents most city-dwellers from enjoying views of the starlit sky. But it also harms wildlife and contributes to global warming. Watch this video to learn how to help protect the night.

Day 14 of 31 - Make Your Holiday Party Green!

Hosting a holiday party? Make it green festivity. Email your invites for starters and save paper and money!

Day 13 of 31 - Rethink your wrapping!

Day 13 of 31 - Give our planet a gift this season! Save money, paper, and have fun using green wrapping paper.

Day 12 of 31 - Carpool to Work

For those commuting to work, consider sharing the ride with friends or
colleagues. Organizing a car pool takes just a moment, but goes the distance in lowering your carbon footprint.

Day 8 of 31 - Traveling Green

The holidays are certainly a time for travel and vacation! It only takes a minute… to help the environment by using these energy saving tips on your next trip.

Day 7 of 31 - Beware of Phantom Power

Are you brightening this holiday season with beautiful holiday lights? Watch this video to learn more about how not to light up your electricity bill.

Beware of Phantom Power!

Day 5 of 31 - Remember the Rainforest

Remember the Rainforest while making your purchases -

It only takes a minute to help save the world’s rainforests. Watch this video for tips from The Rainforest Alliance.

Alicia Beats the Heat

Whew! What a week we had huh? I am not one for the heat. I get grouchy, blotchy and tired. In other words, I am no fun to be around. AT ALL. In fact, I don't have much patience for the cold weather either. I have about a 20 degree span of comfortability. Anywhere from about 55 - 75 degrees is my ideal. That's a bit of an exaggeration, but once we hit the triple digits? There will be a reckoning!

With heat reaching 105 degrees in New York and a heat index of 115 degrees, last week I gotta say, my first reaction was annoyance! I know it's summer and therefore Mother Nature has license to make it as hot as she likes wherever she sees fit on this continent of ours. I, however, disagree with the adamant and persistent attack that she enforced on us. I mean, we deal with the snow and the shoveling, we shouldn't have to deal with this kind of heat.

And then...as I went to restaurant after restaurant and their lights dimmed and their air conditioners failed cause of power outages, I got scared. Really scared. What was happening? This heat was not normal. Was this global warming? Eh Gads!

I am a subscriber of Green Energy and use a lot of recycled or green products in my home. I also recycle, reuse and reduce as much as possible, but on a recent vacation, I realized that's not the norm throughout this great country of ours. Even in 2011. And that makes me sad. We all gotta pitch in folks. We gotta help to fight these issues in our own homes first. If we want change to happen, it has to start with us.

If this past week freaked you out at all, or annoyed you in any way - consider watching these videos for some ideas on how to help stop global warming. Or please feel free to share ideas of your own.

All of these big changes start with us, we have to do something about it.
Take Action!

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Alicia's Eyes on Vacation

Whew. Its been a long time since I've written anything. Confession time, I was on vacation and it was awesome!

For the past 25 years, my family has been going to Long Boat Key, Florida. It's such a beautiful place with white sand beaches, great restaurants and shopping and wonderful people. This year we got to go for two weeks, and it was a huge treat.

The hotel where we stay is called the Long Boat Key Club and they have always been interested in sustainability and the environment. However, this time, I noticed that they received Florida's official "Green Lodging" certification which means they are recognized as one of the premier environmentally conscientious lodging facilities in the state. They are also the first resort and club in the Sarasota area to be awarded the "Green Business Partner" certification by Sarasota County. And their 291- slip, deep-water marina, is recognized by the State of Florida as a "Clean Marina", based on their commitment to implementing and maintaining environmentally friendly business practices. What a great place for the What You Can Do creator and producer to spend two weeks vacation. Not only is the place beautiful and peaceful, but you don't have to feel badly about negatively impacting the environment.

Over the next few blogs, I want to talk about the trip - about wildlife, the night sky, food and going green. Stay tuned for more.

And if you're going on a vacation this summer consider an ecofriendly one!

Alicia

In Honor of Earth Day - Support Your Parks!

Living in New York City has its downsides. We don't get to spend a lot of time in nature. Since moving to the city, I have lived on the Upper West Side, and there is a very good reason for that. I love Central Park. I can't imagine living in this city without having walking access to it. When you're in Central Park, it's so big, you can almost convince yourself that you're in the country for the day. Almost.

My favorite spot in the park is Bethesda Fountain. It's pretty close to my apartment, so I can walk there easily. I love seeing the statue change throughout the seasons. I find myself there on every walk. I just like to check in and say hi, she's become a familiar face and one of my favorite landmarks in the entire city. But there are so many gems. The Zoo is amazing. The Alice in Wonderland statue? Amazing. And who can forget the Turtle pond?

When I was growing up, the first sign of spring was always seeing a Robin on our lawn at home. Now the first sign of spring is seeing snowdrops and daffodils poke their heads above the dirt in the park.

Since today is Earth Day, if you find yourself in NYC, consider visiting the Spring Flowers in bloom in the park. On a Central Park blog, I found this bit of info on the Top 10 place to see Spring Flowers. Definitely worth visiting. In the park right now you can see Magnolias in bloom, tulips and of course daffodils.

This blog also features the Top 10 Romantic Spots in park. So if you want a romantic respite with your honey, think of doing it in this lovely park. And you don't have to be ooey-gooey either. Jack and I just like to walk in the park, share an ice cream cone and watch the sea lions swim at the zoo.

To kick off this day, I'll take a walk in the park and just take in the beauty that is abundant. I've visited the park so many times for fun and for work. We shoot in the park often (it's our favorite location to shoot in the city), and each time I visit, I find something new.

So support your parks! Remember that they are a gift and we have to take care of them. Leave them cleaner than you found them, so that they can last for generations to come.

Diary of An American Shopper Goes Green

So last year, I wrote the blogs Diary of an American Shopper. In November 2009, Julie challenged the On the Leeshers to take on an idea that we wanted to commit to for thirty days. I decided that I wanted to buy American. And I was committed. I was so impassioned that I continued this goal for many months. I did slip up, but to this day, I try to buy things that are made here. It's something I believe in.

Well, as this 46 day challenge has progressed, I knew that taking on the idea of shopping would come up. One video that we produced was with Green Pages. The National Green Pages™ is a directory listing nearly 3,000 businesses that have made firm commitments to sustainable, socially just principles, including the support of sweatshop-free labor, organic farms, fair trade, and cruelty-free products.

Through Green America's green pages program, I can order a catalogue or search on line for companies that have sustainable practices. Say I want to buy eco-friendly party goods...I just search for them online. Or maybe I want to find eco-friendly craft supplies (not that far fetched), no problem. I thought this was great, and will add it to my bookmark bar on my computer so I remember to use it for searches.

Will you check it out?
Let me know
Alicia

Stop sending me Junk Mail

If you're anything like me, you get junk mail. Piles of junk mail. So much junk mail that one day, you find a note in your mail box that says - "Dear Miss, please clean out your mailbox, thanks your mail man." (This was an actual note. I got it last year when I was away for a long weekend).

And I know I'm not the only one. My dad gets so much Junk Mail that he has a super-sized mailbox (I think he is afraid of the note). He is till getting junk mail addressed to my mother who passed away 6 years ago. What is that about?

A few years ago, I signed myself up for the Do Not Mail list. It worked for awhile, but recently, I feel buried. I figured it was time to sign up again. When I signed up before, I had to pay a fee, but now - it's free. And simple. Took no time at all, so I signed up Jack and my dad as well.

Interested? Visit - The Do Not Mail List and get rid of the junk! The trees will thank you.

Let me know your crazy junk mail stories.
Thanks!
Alicia

Help your car save Gas

So driving to Massachusetts yesterday, Jack shouted the expletive "Holy #&%, gas is now over $4." This gave me pause. First of he interrupted my performance of Thunder Road with bad news, WTF? Second of all, will songs like "No Particular Place to Go," "Drive My Car" and "Fun Fun Fun" become obsolete becuase people won't know what joyrides are? And third and perhaps most important, why are we all slaves to the pump?

Over a year ago, I decided to only use my car when I need to. I opt for public transportation when traveling to and from work as well as around the city. My car is efficient and gets good gas mileage, but still those numbers add up.

But I'm lucky, I'm able to utilize the MTA. What about people that live in the suburbs? And what about shuttling around kids to practice, piano lessons, dance, etc? It's gets insane.

So here are a few tips from the US Department of Energy.


1. Remove excess weight from your car, but removing all unnecessary items from your car and trunk. An extra 100 pounds in your vehicle could reduce your MPG by up to 2 percent
2. Keep up with your car's maintenance. Fixing a car that is noticeably out of tune or has failed an emissions test can improve its gas mileage by an average of 4 percent.
3. Keep your tires properly inflated. You can improve your gas mileage by up to 3.3 percent by keeping your tires inflated to the proper pressure.
4. Observe the speed limit. You can assume that each 5 mph you drive over 60 mph is like paying an additional $0.24 per gallon for gas.

5. Do not idle - turn the car off if parked too long. Idling gets 0 miles per gallon.
6. Use cruise control. Using cruise control on the highway helps you maintain a constant speed and, in most cases, will save gas.
7. Use overdrive gears. When you use overdrive gearing, your car's engine speed goes down. This saves gas and reduces engine wear.
8. Use the recommended grade of motor oil. You can improve your gas mileage by 1–2 percent by using the manufacturer's recommended grade of motor oil.
9. Organize your errands and trips to travel the least amount of distance.
10. Remove roof racks. A loaded roof rack can decrease your fuel economy by 5 percent. Reduce aerodynamic drag and improve your fuel economy by placing items inside the trunk whenever possible.
11. Stagger your work hours to avoid peak rush hour traffic.

Please share your thoughts, tips and comments.
Eager to hear from you!
Alicia

Magazine Swap

I've always been a subscriber to magazines. I used to love Sassy. Remember that one? Though my reading material might have changed since growing up (I've now added Gluten Free Living, Eating Well, The New Yorker and Fine Cooking to my subscriptions), the casing hasn't. I'm still a fan of magazines. But what do you do with them when you're done? You can recycle them, of course, or you can pass them on.

I love to pass on my fashion magazines or a good article to my sister. Anything else that I have left over, goes to my dad's office. His patients are outfitted with a wide assortment of magazines, and unlike many offices, his stacks remain current.

Another great place to donate them is to arts programs. I have made many a scrapbook, gift, card and collage from pieces of magazine. Basically, they're the gift that keeps on giving.

What do you do with your left over magazines?
Let me know!
Thanks, Alicia

Learn from a Kid - Turn it off

It's so simple really. Probably the easiest thing to do when it comes to saving energy. Turn off your lights. Turn off electronic devices when you're not using them. Turn off your power strip to prevent phantom power.

Funny thing is, I never really think to do it. I know. I'm the producer of What You Can Do, and I never climb under my desk to turn off my power strip at the end of the day. I only turn it off when I'm going away. I realize this is ridiculous.

In the office, we have four desk setups. Jess only plugs in her computer, and she unplugs it most of the time it's not in use. Julie, Melissa and I all have power strips because we work with drives for backup. I'm not sure about them, but I have a lot of room for improvement.

The sad thing? We produced our video on Phantom Power last winter. We learned that the Department of Energy estimates that 75% of the energy used to power home electronics is consumed while the products are turned off. So what's wrong with me?

The other confession - I leave my kitchen light on too much. I'm great at turning off the bathroom light. My bedroom? Got that covered. For some reason, it's only the kitchen that catches me up. Gonna change that too. Maybe I have to think like the kids we interviewed on Earth Day. Almost everyone listed, 'turning off the lights,' as the way to save energy. And I wonder, if we learn this so young, and know it to be a fact, why do we trip up so often?

Dunno - but I'm gonna rectify that.
How 'bout you?
Alicia