A Good Green Clean

This kitchen is in need of a good all natural cleaning! All of surfaces shown, with the exception of the stainless steel, can use the prescribed ingredients.

In my opinion, we are a bit brainwashed into believing that unless we smell the powerful odor of ammonia or other noxious fumes, our homes aren't clean. This couldn't be further from the truth. Natural products are just as effective if not more so.

You will have noticed many new "green" cleaning products emerging on market shelves. Many of them are good products and are non toxic to us and the Earth. The Method line of cleansers, Seventh Generation and even the Lotus Cleaning System are all wonderful products. Even Clorox is jumping on the bandwagon with their GreenWorks line of cleansers. However, they are expensive, and the jury is still out whether they are 100% natural. Thankfully, the most natural ingredients are effective and are affordable. Introducing...

Baking soda, white vinegar, and lemons. Just like Grandma used.

Vinegar is an all purpose cleanser and its cheap. One part water to one part vinegar will clean your kitchen and bathroom, floors, sinks, and tubs. It breaks down soap scum and water marks. For the toilet, use straight vinegar or sprinkle in baking soda. Never use any of these on marble or granite, or any natural stone for that matter. Nor stainless steel. I would use soap and water on stone, and a natural granite/marble/stainless polisher like Method offers. Or try the new Clorox product for that, which claims to be safe on stainless and sealed stone. Also, add a squeeze of lemon to polish fixtures for a nice shine. Lemon rinds are great in your disposal to freshen it up. And you can polish your wood floors with olive oil and lemon. Baking soda is great as a stain and odor remover for carpets and other surfaces. For tough stains, sprinkle baking soda on a 1/2 lemon and scrub.

Using natural cleansers is especially important when children enter into the equation. The less exposure to toxic chemicals during their fragile growth years, the better.

More info on using natural products can be found on About.com. Read more!

Why is the Press Not Asking About the Environment?

I wish I had a good answer. I guess they have more interest in asking about non-issues like "Was Bill Clinton the first black President?" Ok I kinda enjoyed that one. But seriously, climate change is on the forefront of people's minds. All the polls agree, yet the press continuously stays away from it.

If you have been watching any of the debates, you will have noticed this trend. According to the Alliance for Climate Change, A League of Conservation Voters study found that ABC's George Stephanopoulos asked presidential candidates more than 767 questions -- only 5 of which were related to global warming. CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked more than 402 questions -- only 5 were about global warming. Sadly, other political commentators and reporters have shown a similar disregard for this key issue.

The climate crisis needs to be addressed, and the right leadership in Washington will be the first step in solving the issue. If you want to hear more from the candidates about the environment, please sign the petition from the Alliance for Climate Change, found below. Please cut and paste it in your browser. Thanks for your help.

http://www.climateprotect.org/presspetition Read more!

Don't Buy New ~ Refill Your Printer Cartridges

Well, now that we are headed straight for a recession, we need to think about ways to stretch our dollars. One way to save some coin and reduce waste is to refill your printer cartridges. Rather than spending $35 bucks on a brand new black ink cartridge, you only pay $10. Color costs only $15 vs. $55. And contrary to what you might be thinking, there are no messy refills for you to deal with. All you do is hand them the old cartridges and you are done. Sounds pretty good, right?

It really is, so check out Walgreen's Pharmacy , which is a national chain. Visit the photo department, and they will refill your cartridges on the spot.

FYI The national office supply stores are not selling this service, obviously, since they sell the new ink cartridges. I already double checked for you.

Being a greenie is getting easier all the time!

www.walgreens.com Read more!

Fast, Energy Efficient Cooking

No, it's not a campfire or a blow torch.

I have a childhood memory of my mother making our dinner using a pressure cooker. It had a small weight on top of it that would bobble around when it reached full steam. I have to admit, it seemed a little intimidating, knowing that if you touched it the wrong way, it might explode all over the kitchen.

Fast forward to adult life. One of my holiday gifts was a pressure cooker. ( So much for jewelry and clothes.) Oh no, I thought. I'm not using that thing. It's old fashioned, it's passe, and most importantly, that thing is dangerous!

After a few years, I decided to open the box. I read the instructions. I inspected the pot. Hmmm...no more bobble weight on the top. The new models seemed pretty much idiot proof now. So I gave it a try, with careful supervision. I sauteed a little onion, carrots and celery and threw in some chicken parts, seasoning and water. I sealed it up and turned on the heat. I sat there, staring at the thing to make sure it didn't explode. It didn't, naturally. And in 15 minutes, I had made chicken soup. I was amazed. I will try this again, I thought. And I did. Again and again. Now I am a huge proponent of pressure cookers. I use it all the time, and my family is amazed at what comes out of there so quickly. Pot roast, chicken, our lamb and french bean stew...in the time you would boil pasta!

At some recent family gatherings, the ladies would congregate and swap stories, one of which was about their beloved crock pot. In only 8 hours, they would come home to a nice hot meal. That's all good but 8 hours? Not only is the pressure cooker faster, but it uses a heck of a lot less energy. 8 hours vs. 15 minutes. I mentioned this to the ladies. And they say,"Oh yeah, but I'm afraid of it." Aren't we all? Hell, if we can give birth, this is a cakewalk.

There are several good ones on the market. If you have an interest in an energy efficient way to cook your family a nice, healthy meal, this one is my choice.

Fagor Pressure Cookers. This is a great company out of Spain that makes good quality products. Go to www.fagorpressurecookers.com. Read more!

FDA Claims Cloned Animals Safe to Eat

Is it just me, or does the title to this article seem disturbing to you? A little bizarre? Unappetizing?

The photo is of Dolly, a stuffed replica of the first cloned animal in the world. Yummy! (Ick.)

As a self proclaimed "greenie", I have been delving into facts about the food we eat, and the more I learn, the more I become repulsed, especially by raw meat. Let alone cloned meat!

Can you imagine going to Morton's of Chicago, the famous steak house, and they bring over the presentation cart, and they offer you the Clone Rib eye?

On January 16Th, the papers reported that the FDA declared cloned animals and their progeny safe to eat, and now they can make their way to a supermarket near you.

I don't have any scientific evidence to support that drinking milk from a cloned cow or eating it will harm us in any way. But it seems to me that whenever the human race tries to take short cuts from natural evolution, things go awry. Didn't Europe ban genetically engineered crops? OK so cloned veggies are bad but live animals? No problem!

The question is now, will they even label it? How will we know what we are eating?

It seems to me that corporate America is so incredibly greedy that they would feed us anything for a buck. If you go to the market and pick up one of the most highly recognized food brands, you can see that the ingredients in the products are totally artificial and very bad for you, but they are used simply because they are cheap and us fat Americans will eat anything that tastes good.

What are the implications to our health and to our environment? The health piece is up for debate, and environmentally, doesn't cloning mean more cows and sheep and pigs, faster and faster? We know that cow poop produces enough methane to help climate change occur nicely, so why more? How many more do we need? Has demand increased dramatically or something?

But is cloning immoral too? If God didn't create it, who cares! We can make it ourselves? How do we know this won't lead to some freak doctor cloning babies for infertile couples next? We don't. Welcome to our world.

I highly recommend taking an particular interest in all the ingredients in the products you put in your mouth, and especially your kid's mouths. Cloning to me is not natural so don't do it. Read more!

Who Cares about Carbon Offsets?

Apparently, a lot of companies.

According to a recent article in the New York Times, individuals and corporations have spent over $54 million dollars last year on carbon offsets, which are credits towards tree planting, wind farm projects, solar plants, and other eco projects. This figure is likely to double next year, with the rising awareness and popularity of the "green" cause. Major corporations like GE, Bank of America, VW, and Dell offer offsets with the purchase of their products.

With the growing popularity, skeptics are beginning to ask questions. Who are these little known carbon offset companies? Is the money going to good use? Is this really offsetting carbon in the atmosphere? How is that measured? The FTC, which regulates advertising claims, recently began hearings on the "green markets", including offsets.

Companies like Terrapass.com and Carbonfund.org have been the benefactors of this new trend. You can visit their websites yourself and make your own determination. But one corporate sponsor takes it a step further. Gaiam Living, the eco retailer's management insists on visiting the actual site before donating a percentage of their profits. They want to see first hand how their dollars are put to work, and that it's completely legitimate.

Not a bad idea.

Unless you have the time and money to actually visit these companies, you might try other options. Plant your own trees instead. Invest your money directly into a green mutual fund or solar company's stock. Trade in your SUV for a hybrid model or Prius. Or simply sell your house and live in a turkey coop with no electric or running water like Burt's Bee's multi-millionaire co-founder, Burt. Uh, maybe not. Read more!

Sustainability+Cocktails=Green Drinks

There's nothing like a nice stress relieving cocktail! Now you can booze it up AND meet interesting environmental types at a pub near you, thanks to Green Drinks International. Green Drinks is a non profit company that set out to create informal meetings/cocktail parties where environmentalists could meet and talk. With the explosive popularity of eco living, GreenDrinks has sprouted up in 309 cities worldwide, including Seoul and even Kabul for heaven's sake! Hey, climate change must be really serious if they are even meeting about it in Kabul! Anyway, it's a great cause and a wonderful opportunity to meet people and network.

Find your next meeting at http://www.greendrinks.org. Bottoms up! Read more!

Pre-NH Blogger Debate - Obama or Hillary?

I know this is a blog about the environment but my choice for the next President happens to be Hillary Clinton. I agree with her stance on the environment, I like her voting record on it, and I do believe she cares about this huge issue. Bill certainly does. He helps to raise awareness of climate change frequently for his foundation, drives a hybrid SUV and they have greened their whole house.

One of the main reasons why I like Hillary is because she understand that the problems we face with the economy, jobs, the energy crisis and climate change can be bundled together and solved with the right incentives from government. Take a problem and create a solution - makes sense. Yet she is the only one who says so and has a plan to do it.


Now in regards to the televised debates this weekend, am I totally crazy, but isn't she CLEARLY the most knowledgeable, the most focused, the most experienced, and with a proved resume of "change"? Didn't she come across extremely well to the public, both smart and thoughtful, highlighting important details about her position on a host of topics? That's what I watched. Yes, she is tough, thankfully. I also watched as the #1 seeded candidate, Barack Obama, was like a parrot, echoing sentiments from other candidates that sounded good rather than stepping up with his own policies and input. Is it "change" for the hell of it, or "change" for the better? And John Edwards, who is obviously an intelligent, passionate person, stands for change as well, but the cowboy mentality of defeating the "bad guys" isn't enough. And can someone PLEASE tell him that every time he says "The U- nited States of America", which was at least 4 times that night, he sounds like a real dope which clearly he is not? It's a turn off.

Can you see Barack Obama meeting with the Russians or Musharraf? I can't. Talk about electing another guy who has his cabinet run the country for him because he has no idea what he is doing. It didn't work for these 8 years, and it won't work again. Also, another great point came from Rudi Giuliani, who said Obama never ran a city, a state, or even a company so how the heck can he run the country? Exactly.

So can someone please tell me why this left wing man of color is the favorite in conservative white states?? I have to say I admire him for making it happen, but I still don't get it. I like Hillary, and her "thighs of steel" too, and I would love the opportunity to hear why she is NOT electable? Anyone? McFly? Read more!

Our Focus for 2009 - Saving your "Green"

Can you believe it's the year 2009?? I feel like a dinosaur just saying it.
It sounds so futuristic yet it is here. Where has the time gone?

All I can say is "Thanks Goodness" that 50 is the new 40, and 40 is the new 30 and so on!

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of our readers out there who faithfully tune into our posts.

This new year brings more opportunity for us all! I Dream of Greenie plans to continue to offer you the lastest information on green lifestyles and products, while very importantly keeping our eyes keenly on discounts and special offers. This will be our prime focus.

With the state of our economy in a tailspin and the outlook for the next few years looking grim, we need to keep each other informed of how we can stay green, but on a tight budget. We will continue to work diligently with vendors and companies to offer exclusive discounts and free giveaways to our readers throughout the year. Let's keep green alive but at a discounted price.

We also plan to expand the site to provide you with more information. An additional sidebar will list various links to resources in all categories found through the world wide web so you will have everything you need on one site.

And as always, we will attempt to keep our sense of humor while doing all of this. Let's keep it light with a smile on our faces people!

Best to you in the new year, GreenKristine. Read more!

Clinton Reveals "Thighs of Steel" to Ensure Iowa Victory

Read more!

New Year's Resolutions - Get Green!

Happy New Year World!

I'm sure, like myself, many of you are thinking about ways to make the New Year much healthier and better than the last one. Maybe add some purpose to your life? Just kidding. So, I have put together a few suggestions that can be simple to implement yet meaningful to your health and to the planet! ( We had thunderstorms on New Years Day in New York, uh hello, not normal weather! Is this getting your attention?)

1. Go Organic. First of all, Americans are the fattest people on the planet because we are the richest. In reality, we don't need to buy or eat much of what we bring home, but we do so because its socially more acceptable than a nice drug or alcohol addiction! How about buying less and buying quality, such as organic? Start with staples like milk, eggs, tomato sauce, salad, things that you eat a lot of, and then move to veggies. And get off the processed food. It's not real!

2. Consume less. AKA "reduce." I mean this in every way. Think twice before buying meaningless nonsense that does nothing more than take up space. If you really don't need them, think again. And I'm not saying to trade your Manolos for Birkenstocks, grow out your underarm hair and live in a hippee commune! Just be smart about it. Being too materialistic is simply tacky anyway.

3. Recycle more. You would be surprised how many containers from the market can be recycled. It's not just about glass and bottles anymore. Plastic egg container, olive oil drums, crumbled Gorgonzola containers, even those dreaded plastic bags from the supermarket too. More detail coming soon.

4. Change those light bulbs. I have said it before and I'll say it again. Buy the compact fluorescent bulbs from my man Rob on EBay (Seller ID 6801goodbuy) - he has great deals- and change every light bulb in your house. They are much cheaper than they were last year and you will save $$ on your utilities too. This is a biggie!

5. Reconsider beef. Did you know that the methane gas that cows produce from their waste is more harmful to the environment than the carbon from automobiles!?? I know it sounds ludicrous, but it's true. Not only that, but meat processing is a major cause of e coli poisoning and its loaded with antibiotics and other harmful drugs. Do you ever wonder why we are getting those colds for longer and longer and why antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria are surfacing, and killing people? We eat food that contains antibiotics and our bodies are/have become resistant. I quit the stuff 6 months ago and don't miss it at all. More on this in future posts.

I hope someone on this planet will find this advice helpful and will take action because I would really like to see some snow in winter in New York. I'm not asking a lot here, greenies! Read more!