Can a poster make you change your life? This Holstee Manifesto Poster may – you decide.
Can a Poster Make you Change your Life?
How to Start Eco-Walking in 5 Simple Steps
Note from Sweet Greens: The following eco-walking tips was submitted by Angie Lilly. Angie is a passionate photographer who loves nature and likes to show nature’s beauty by getting into the nitty-gritty details of the natural world. Her work includes macro shots that show nature up-close and personal. You can view her work in her Etsy shop: FotoMacro.
A couple of years ago, my partner and I came across a blog by Samuel Huber called Eco-Runner. Huber is granted the title of Eco-Running’s founder and Wikipedia defines Eco-Running as “the variation of recreational running in which the participant collects the litter that is found along the path traveled.” Isn’t that a wonderful new idea?
My partner and I are most definitely not runners, but we love to walk and hike locally in our neighborhood, town and parks. We decided to create a modified version of Eco-Running that we like to call Eco-Walking.
We started small, just in our neighborhood and we could not believe what we discovered. In our very first outing, we collected 33 recyclables, four 13 gallon trash bags of litter, and two abandoned shopping carts that we returned to a local store – all within one mile of our home. We were in shock! How could people do this to our little slice of the earth?
Over the course of the next five months, we continued to count the recyclables we collected and they totaled 395. Almost 400 pieces of litter that we recycled while cleaning up our city streets. At this point we figured we knew the statistics, would stop counting, and just do the work.
We have told friends and family about Eco-Walking and even my mother is doing it now on her daily walks. She does not have access to recycling in her area of West Virginia, but just getting the litter off the road and into the trash is better than nothing. It still helps the local wildlife, waterways and beautifies the area.
Besides being a wonderful hobby, Eco-walking is a great form of exercise and very life-fulfilling. Getting outside, while enjoying and helping nature is a wonderful feeling. It spurs you to move beyond your comfort zone and really get a good work out by getting in that ditch or reaching for that piece of trash that may be just out of reach. We love it and would encourage everyone who walks to give it a try. We have even been known to pick recyclables out of the trash cans at local parks and take them home to be recycled. Some may say that is going a bit far, but for us it’s just part of the game. It’s like a scavenger hunt – find the “treasures” and help save the planet a little bit at a time.
If you think Eco-walking is for you, and I hope I have inspired you to do so, there are a few tips to get you started:
#1: Wear Gloves
Remember to bring a pair of globes or use a grabbing tool because litter is dirty.
#2: Dress the Part
Wear good, solid, ankle supporting shoes – you will be climbing up and down hills and jumping into ditches.
#3: Stay Visible
Wear bright colors if you are traversing a busy roadway, you want to be easily seen.
#4: Pack your Supplies
Take a large reusable (washable) bag for the recyclables and disposable/compostable bags for the trash. It’s much easier to sort as you collect than to separate recyclables from the garbage at the end of your walk.
#5: Have Fun
Eco-walking is a hobby that almost anyone can enjoy, regardless of age. I hope you get out there! Take your kids, your parents, your friends, form a Eco-Walking search party and make it a game. Together we really can make a difference, even if its just one neighborhood at a time.
Do you practice Eco-Walking?
Will you join the walk?
Join the Campaign to Stop Exxon’s “Megaloads” project in Montana
Hello, Friends. Have you been to Montana? Eben’s Godparents (our best friends) live in Montana and since Mr. Sweet Greens and I both grew up in Utah, we have been lucky enough to spend a lot of time in Montana. Montana is the perfect outdoor recreation location with fantastically clear water and out-of-this-world skies. If you have ever been to Yellowstone National Park or through one of the 120 National Scenic Byways that wind through Montana, then you can understand why I am so smitten with Montana and the “west” in general. That is part of the reason why the following information that I have to share with you is so important to me.
Highway 12 is one of these 120 National Scenic Byways – it’s a windy mountain two-lane road that passes through the national forests and along Lewis and Clark’s historic route. This pristine, beautiful byway could be permanently and hugely impacted by the introduction of ExxonMobil’s “megaloads” program – a succession of hundreds of HUGE (200 foot long, three story high) trucks that carry refining equipment to Alberta, Canada’s dirty tar sand fields.
Whether or not, Exxon believes that their “megaloads” program will have no impact on Montana or Idaho – they are wrong! Can you imagine if there was an accident? How can they guarantee that this would not happen? Not to mention the huge impact that this “program” would have on rural residents, ranchers, outfitters, and guides – not to mention the environment, wildlife and natural beauty that Highway 12 has to offer.
We are already well aware of ExxonMobil’s capacity to hide the truth, when they lied about how far the Silvertip pipeline was buried under the Yellowstone River, the amount of time that the spill lasted and their assurances that flood waters could not impact the pipeline. And if Exxon’s trucks are allowed on Highway 12, other companies are sure to follow – making Highway 12 a permanent industrial corridor. I would say that alone qualifies as a huge impact!
Please join me and the 7,000 people in the Rocky Mountain region and across the country by signing this environmental petition in opposition of Exxon’s mega-haul program.
Have a Lovely Green Weekend + A Few Green Things
Hello, Friends! How are your weekend plans coming? We are going to spend the better part of our weekend snorkeling at one of our favorite reefs. Snorkeling is hands down, Eben’s favorite ocean activity – he is so brave and would happily venture out into the open ocean by himself – which makes a mother a little crazy.
I love to sit on the beach with my toes in the sand catching up on a good read. This weekend I will be devouring the huge stack of magazines I found on our thrifting trip! I imagine the rest of the weekend will be spent in the sun devouring ice cream sandwiches.
While I pack up my magazines for the beach, here are a few green things that I thought you would enjoy.
– The coolest slides ever – I wouldn’t be able to resist and would always choose the slide, would you?
– This totally cracked me up because my Mom would always make us rake the carpet.
– 5 easy ways to reduce your laptop’s energy consumption.
– Today Only! Organic cherries are on sale.
– I want to reupholster a chair in the future!
– Best idea EVER – poptails – think: a popsicle and cocktail in one!
Have a great weekend, see you back here on Monday.
xo,
Sweet Greens
HOW TO: Make Organic Homemade Lemon Ice Cream Sandwiches
Frozen ice cream cookie sandwiches in the summertime can’t be beat. There’s just something magical about grabbing an ice cream sandwich and heading out to the backyard to gobble it up. However, most store-bought options are anything but magical, packed with artificial colors, flavors, and other ingredients that we can’t even pronounce – these sweet processed treats leave a lot to be desired. Not to mention most of the packaging isn’t even recyclable. Instead, you can make your own organic homemade ice cream sandwiches using whole ingredients that will have your child sweet treat dreaming all summer long.