How Big are your Feet?

Do you know how big your feet are? Here's a better question - do you know what your "carbon footprint" is? Even if you don't, let me give you an easy way to figure it out - if you drive everywhere, fly everywhere, or travel a lot, then you are contributing more than your share of CO2 to the air and could probably stand to look at alternative ways of transportation, when possible.

Most of us simply are not aware of what we are doing that could easily be rerouted to a "greener" alternative. The first step is to calculate your "carbon footprint".

Online tools such as GlobalForce's various carbon calculators will help you determine these, and give you ways to "offset" your necessary carbon emissions through other actions, like riding a bike if the errand is 2-3 miles instead of using a car, walking to a friend's house in your neighborhood, buying eco-friendly products that don't hurt your family or the environment, or planting a garden or a tree.

http://globalforcenetwork.com/neutral

I have found some cool things out about trees recently. I always knew they were great to have around - that is why I love living in NC with its beautiful trees and rolling hills - I love walking in my neighborhood and looking at the variety of trees we have here.

But did you know that a little change in our daily habits could make a big difference to these trees? Deforestation is happening at an alarming rate, driven by our consumerism and ignorance of the cost of virgin tree fiber vs. recycled products (paper towels, toilet paper, etc).

In my newsletter this week, I give these mind-boggling statistics, found by Seventh Generation -

if every household in the U.S. replaced just ONE 4 pack of 400-sheet virgin fiber toilet paper with a 100% recycled package - we could save:
 

--1,450,000 trees

--3.7 million cubic feet of landfill space

--5.23 million gallons of water (a year's supply for 4,100 families of 4!)

--and avoid 89,000 lbs of pollution!

So that's your tip for the week! Buy some recycled paper products today and do your part for the planet! :) 

Make sure you check out our green community at www.facebook.com/globalforce and get some more green tips from our members throughout the week - have a great green week!

Kids Can Save the Earth!

If you have been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that I love kids and working with kids. I worked at a kid's summer camp last summer, and if you go to my blog posts here from last summer, you'll see how cool that was. Now I tutor young kids and some older kids, and here online, I educate people how to involve their kids in "going green". 

Often, though, I see kids as being the catalyst for parents "doing their part", as kids learn in school - through programs like Kids For Saving Earth (http://www.ksegreenshop.org/) - see here how they are helping school curriculums, church youth groups and kids clubs to go green in unique and fun ways - and Journeys to the Past (http://journeystothepast.com) - by Jacque Nunez and her husband, American Indians living in CA who help school age children connect to the earth and its history, preserving her heritage through storytelling and interactive programs that are interesting and informative for kids.

My radio show today will highlight both of these websites and the part kids can play in helping preserve the earth for their generation and beyond. I hope if you don't listen live, you will listen to the archived version here - http://www.blogtalkradio.com/queen-of-wellness/2010/05/13/kids-can-save-the-earth and then you are welcome to post comments or question on my green facebook group -  http://www.facebook.com/globalforce - I'd love to see you there!

Happy Mother's Day to the Earth

What is the best thing about spring/summer? Enjoying the sunny weather after the cold winter, through walking or biking or hiking...whatever you want to do outside, just enjoy it!  Nature was created for us to enjoy, and I love living in NC because the weather is so beautiful this time of year... and as I take my daily walk in my hilly neighborhood (no gym membership for me) and smell the honeysuckle and look at the beautiful flowers and trees everywhere, I am reminded of why I love "green" since I am surrounded by it! :)

If you are interested in eco-friendly products and green living,  most likely, it is because you care about Mother Earth, the planet God created for us to live on, and we need to value what has been given to us. You understand that we have finite resources to enjoy and we need to make the most of them. It is in our best interests to use less fossil fuels, to conserve where we can, to recycle and use less resources where possible...all these things contribute to making everything we have last longer and be more useful to us. Most of us can't live "off the grid" but we can admire those who do, and make steps in that direction.

So what are you doing to educate yourself about green living topics? First of all, you are reading this, so kudos to you! If you are a member at www.facebook.com/globalforce,  then you are aware of various online sites that alert you to problems that exist and various ways to help. I am always fascinated by the creativity to tackle some of our biggest problems head-on and I am pleased to see those that get actively involved.

Secondly, you can get a newsletter from me (Go Green, Live Rich - green tips every week) and get more aware of what the simple things are that you can do to conserve and use more natural resources and products. You CAN save money and save the earth at the same time!

Go to www.laurelsgreenplanet.info to sign up and learn more about me and why I am passionate about green living. I want to GIVE rather than TAKE and so I invite you to join us!

Join the Global Force call on Tues or Thurs evenings (notify me on the Facebook group site if you can attend and I'll reserve a spot for you!) and learn more about what Global Force is doing to contribute to the global mission, with education and eco-friendly solutions to products we use every day!

Here is a poem that one of my local green friends has shared with me - please enjoy! 

Mother Sun, Mother Moon
by Diana Henderson

On a sunny summer morning, the breeze whispers, "Mother,"
And I perceive her face among the pure white clouds,
Touch her essence in the softness of rose petals,
Feel her warmth in the rays of the sun.
Memories of silken hands upon childhood's blooming cheeks,
Embraces soft to soothe wounded pride or scraped knees, 

Smiles from eyes and heart to dry the fiercest tears 

Encouraging voice and tender words to quell the deepest fears.
 

On a quiet summer evening, the moon whispers, "Mother,"
And I see her spirit in the pure white moonlight,
Sense her sweetness in the fragrance of honeysuckle,
Glimpse her brilliance amid gleaming stars in a velvet sky.
Yet none of these, while glorious and bright,
Captures her spirit or compares to her loving nature.
Her light sings strength and effuses truth.
Hers are gifts enough to induce blossoms in the desert,
To sow seeds of life in the wilderness,
To bring beauty to a dying world.
To all of us, she offers her most prized treasures--
Charity, kindness, understanding, patience, wisdom, beauty
And, most of all,
Love.