How To Make Simple Recycled Crayons For Your Children

If your house is like most, you have lots of broken crayon pieces in the art bin. Here is a fun way to recycle those broken pieces into new fun chunky crayons.

Instructions:

1. Gather all of the broken crayon pieces and remove the paper and break into smaller pieces.

2. Spray a mini muffin tin with vegetable oil (you could also use a candy or soap mold) and fill each spot to the top with different colors crayon pieces.

3. Bake at 275° for 8 minutes. Remove them from the oven and swirl with a toothpick if you would like or leave them as is.

4. Let cool and pop them out.

These are perfect for smaller hands and are so much fun to make with your children. We use these in goodies bags for birthday parties and holidays.

Would You Like To Become A Sweet Greens Sponsor?

Are you interested in becoming a Sweet Greens sponsor? To get started, let me tell you a little more about me. Besides being the owner and editor of Sweet Greens, I also write sustainable living posts for Cascadian Farm and Applegate Farms and green parenting, children’s how-to projects, and green design posts for Inhabitots. I am also a member of the Target Inner Circle where I share an insider’s look at the ways Target is committed to environmental sustainability, education, community safety, and healthy living. I am helping to educate others and improve the eating habits of families across the country via my partnership with Stonyfield.

Sweet Greens was started as a way to share my green lifestyle ideas with others. As the mother of one little boy, I understand what is influential when it comes to shaping the next generation. With coverage of green family lifestyle tips, green parenting tips, green do-it-yourself projects, green how-to projects for kids, eco-friendly product reviews, recipes, and giveaways – Sweet Greens offers eco-conscious families a curated guide to raising a family that is happy, healthy and green.

In the News: Sweet Greens won the Most Popular Story and Readers’ Choice Award at Inhabitots! My article 5 Easy Craft Projects that Reuse Orange Juice Cartons won Inhabitots’s Editors’ Favorite and Readers’ Choice Award. My article 6 Essentials to Pack in Your Child’s Lunch Box won the Inhabitots’s Editors’ Favorite and Readers’ Choice Award. I am also responsible for writing Earth Day, Every Day for Cascadian Farm’s monthly newsletter, and Sweet Greens was just named one of the 100 Best Organic Living Blogs. You can see more press, interviews, articles, and awards here.

What do I write about?

– Green Lifestyle Tips for Families
– Green Do-It-Yourself Family Projects
– Green How-To Projects for Kids
– Organic, Vegan and Vegetarian Recipes
– Green Product Reviews + Giveaways
– Green Design for Families
– Green Design for Kids

Sweet Greens readers are young, eco-conscious families who are interested in the best green ideas to incorporate into their family lifestyle and have a major influence amongst their friends and acquaintances. Sweet Greens audience has a high percentage of females with an emphasis on young, affluent families.

75% FEMALE | 25% MALE
80% BETWEEN THE AGES OF 18-39
34% EARN MORE THAN 100,000 ANNUALLY

Sweet Greens has grown quickly into an incredible community of green-minded individuals and I expect to continue to grow quickly as more people become interested in living a green lifestyle.

Here are some ways I work with sponsors:

BANNER + TEXT ADVERTISING
NEWSLETTER SPONSORSHIPS
PRODUCT REVIEWS + GIVEAWAYS
EDITORIAL SPONSORSHIPS
SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGNS
FACEBOOK + TWITTER PARTIES
CUSTOM CAMPAIGNS

If you are interested in working with Sweet Greens, please contact me directly at hellojennielyon@gmail.com. I will be happy to answer any questions that you have, send you my media kit and look forward to creating a green partnership with you.

How to Offset Your Carbon Footprint with Terra Pass

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Does your town offer a green power program that is simple to use and affordable? If not, you can consider buying your own with a Terra Pass.

Terra Pass allows you to use carbon offsets to lighten your carbon footprint, by purchasing a carbon offset pass. A Terra Pass offsets the carbon pollution that comes from your car, air travel, or home energy use and is very affordable.

The carbon offset doesn’t stop the pollution that is made but there’s real green power being put into the grid and the green power offsets the carbon power you are using. If we all started offsetting our carbon footprint, utility companies will start to shut down the dirty power plants and start to use green energy instead.

Check out Terra Pass and leave me a note telling me what you think.

Greener Ways To Manage Your Money

Many of us like to maintain a firm grip on our finances. As technology evolves, and we become increasingly conscious of our impact on the planet, it is possible to embrace greener ways of managing your money. Here are some steps you can take today. 

Sign up for emails and online updates

Many banks and financial organizations send out paper statements, telling you how much money you’ve got in your account and outlining recent transactions. If you haven’t already requested online statements, now is the time to alter your communication preferences and sign up for emails and virtual updates. With an app or an online account, you can check your balances, move money and take a closer look at where you’ve spent your money at the click of a button with no need for banks to send out statements that will end up on a pile of unopened mail and flyers. 

Online resources and web-based research

It’s common to have questions and queries about money and financial products and services. Next time you’re keen to find out more about dealing with debt or you’re thinking about borrowing money, look for advice and information online and take advantage of live chat and virtual consultations, rather than getting into the car and traveling to the bank. The world was changing pre-COVID-19, but now, it’s easier than ever to access information and resources online. You can compare loans and credit cards and read up on different mortgages on the web and seek debt advice and learn more about the four U.S. constitutions at www.DTSS.us. If you are undertaking research online, always make sure you use reputable, secure sites and take your time to make decisions if you are opening accounts or borrowing money.

Look for organizations that support green causes

Businesses all over the world are making an effort to do their bit for their environment. If you’re looking to take out a loan, sign up for a credit card or open a new account, look for a bank or a lender that supports green causes and invests in environmental initiatives. It’s worth taking a bit of time to compare different organizations and see what kinds of schemes they are backing and the measures they are taking to protect the environment. 

Switch to online banking

More and more of us are shopping online, but how often do you transfer money via an app or pay bills via direct debit? If you’re still going into the bank to take money out or transfer cash to other accounts, switching to online banking will save you time, effort and gas. With online banking, you can pay a bill, transfer funds to your savings account or pay friends and family in an instant, and you can check your balance on the go. For more information about the benefits of online banking, take a look at this article. 

There are so many simple ways you can make a positive contribution to protecting the planet. If you’re keen to go green, why not start using these strategies to manage your money, save time and energy and reduce your carbon footprint? 

Greener, Healthier Living For Physicians

Whether diagnosing, caring for, or treating people, physicians have a great responsibility to take care of their patients. And with that, naturally, physicians experience a lot of pressure and stress.

Stress for medical practitioners begins to accumulate before they begin practicing as a physician, through their studies and work experience. 

Some stress is essential, healthy even for individuals to give people a boost and motivation to get out of bed in the morning, go to work, and complete work by a set deadline. However, practicing physicians are known for experiencing an unhealthy amount of cortisol. As identified in a recent survey, the impending levels of stress result in 45% of resident physicians resulting in burnout— leading to 7.4% to 32.7% of those surveyed regretting their decision to become physicians. 

Furthermore, almost half of the doctors surveyed who were experiencing burnout chose to isolate themselves and attempt to cope with their feelings. 

It’s disconcerting to read about doctors who do not receive the care they need to live healthy, happy lives. Doctors are the ultimate carers and problem-solvers. Thus little thought is often given to their needs and what they require to be fit and well, in body and mind.

Is It Your Workplace? 

If you’re a physician reading this, you are likely feeling low or perhaps stuck in your role. It’s essential to know with the skills and experience you have. There are a wealth of opportunities out there; for instance, Practice Match has an internal medicine career search that lists all the available medical jobs near you. Never settle for a job that makes you unhappy. The variety of choices means there’s bound to be something that suits the lifestyle you want. 

And so if you’re unhappy in your career, and you believe it is the job that causes it. Don’t remain, look elsewhere, for a healthier environment to work in.

Suppose you like your place of work, but believe you’re not dedicating enough time to recuperating and living a healthy life like the one you profess your patients need to lead. The below greener, healthier living tips are for you.

Invest In A Healthy Diet

It may be tempting to pick-up a quick ready-meal for work, particularly when you’re stuck for time. However, repeatedly ingesting ready-meals, takeouts, and coffee is not sustainable for helping your brain and body work in optimum condition. Over time, anxiety and stress coupled with unhealthy food and beverages may speed up your path towards burnout. 

You know nutrition shall fill you with energy and vitality. Enabling you to cope much better with the influx of stress you experience daily. But, understandably, time is scarce for making healthy meals. 

As a solution, there are a few options you could incorporate into your routine. Such as batch cooking healthy meals for the week ahead. Alternatively, investing in purchasing boxes of food from companies such as Hello Fresh, that provide convenient fresh and affordable meal kits straight to your door.

Get Grounded With Nature

Pharmaceuticals and medication play a large part in subsiding feelings of overwhelming stress and anxiety while working as physicians. However, it’s also true that many physicians don’t like to report their issues of depression or stress because they’re afraid of the stigma attached. Thus, many doctors tend to suffer in silence and don’t seek their medical help or prescriptions they desperately need. 

If you’re against the idea of having a prescription on your record, as an alternative, please try and at least take large, regular doses of nature. Visit the beach with your family, walk through the local park on your lunch break, and use your vacation time to holiday in a log cabin in the woods.

Nature will enable you to feel grounded; it relieves symptoms of anxiety and depression. While also boosting your immune system and reducing blood pressure. 

But, if you’re short on time, bring nature into your office. Plants and trees indoors will enhance your health and help to create a tranquil atmosphere for patients.

Having the intellect and perseverance to become a doctor is admirable in itself. But to ensure the daily stressors, you will inevitably experience the duration of your career don’t get the best of you; it’s essential to focus on adopting a healthier, greener way of living. Abound with fresh and healthy seasonal food and time spent in and amongst nature as much as possible. In doing so, every time your stress levels rise, you will have tools in place to chip down those levels time and time again and focus on the three things that are most important;

Three things in life – your health, your mission, and the people you love. That’s it. Naval Ravikant