I've been a Sonicare toothbrush user for the past 6 years.  And unless you use one -you can't understand the addictive qualities of a battery operated toothbrush (think vibrator for your teeth... ).  Recently, the green part of me has been having internal dialogs about using my electricly recharged, battery operated bohemith of a toothbrush which is 7/8's un-recyclable plastic and just how 'green' a choice that is.  And as my toothbrush base got older and more feeble - I realized that instead of feeding my tooth brushing pleasures - I should probably look into another, more 'green' alternative.

My girlfriend Katie recently gave me a Preserve toothbrush she picked up from Trader Joe's.  Made by a company called Recycline, the handle of the Preserve toothbrush (as well as it's case which you can use for traveling) are made from 100% recycled plastic.  And check this out - they use the plastics no one else does - like #5 Stoneyfield farm yogurt cups.  They come in soft, medium and hard bristles which are made from virgin nylon and seem to brush as well as all of the other 'manual' toothbrushes I have ever used.  They also carry a line of razors (HECK YA), tableware, and kitchen gadgets - all from recycled plastic, dishwasher safe, and all recyclable. 

When you're done with your razors or toothbrush, you can send it back to Recycline in their postage paid envelope to be recycled into picnic benches, faux-lumber, and plastic decking.  Or you can toss it in your local recycle if they accept #5 plastics.  I've been using my Preserve Toothbrush for nearly two weeks, and although nothing can compare to the feeling I get when using a vibrating personal appliance  - it cleans my teeth just fine, I'm making one more positive change for our environment and I'm burning calories at the same time. 

 PS - be sure to remove the battery from inside your rechargeable toothbrush before tossing.  You can find local companies who will recycle your batteries at the website http://www.rbrc.org/call2recycle/. 

Since embarking on my greener living journey - I am awe struck by how much garbage my 'Recycling and am trying to be greener' family still throws away.  We reuse everything we can, I have forced my husband to use sandwhich boxes instead of bags for his lunch and we have invested in reusable coffee filters.  But still - our trash can fills up faster than our laundry pile (which is stinking fast).  Whether it's the plastic bag inside the cardboard cereal box, the cap to the PETE plastic water bottle, or the #5 yogurt container from my organic dairy - there is still so much that we can't reuse and inevitably goes into the landfill. 

That's where TerraCycle, Inc. comes in.  The ingenious folks at TerraCycle.net spend their days devising new ways to use the stuff that traditionally goes into the trash.

Imagine your trend setting little one sporting a backpack, lunchbox or folder from recycled juice pouches, cleaning your house with non-toxic natural cleaners packaged in recycled pop bottles, and bringing life to your garden with TerraCycle's flagship product - Worm Poop.  They have come up with the most awesome ways to reuse the stuff we don't think twice about.  Yogurt containers become flower pots.  Cookie wrappers are turned to into chic woven totes.  All manufacturered on this continent.  All made from usuable trash.  These guys are taking the green thing to a whole new level.

Best part is that they are not only saving the world one bottle cap at a time, but they also have an amazing fundraising program for your school or organization to get you to think twice about just throwing it all away.  They pay you for every juice pouch, soda bottle, yogurt cup, and cookie wrapper you collect by joining their various brigades.  Clean up your town and raise money for your group - it don't get much greener than this!!!!

Junk mail sucks.  I mean - it really sucks.  Somewhere around a 100 million trees are used every year in order to create the paper junk mail is written on, 250,000 homes could be heated with just one days supply of junk mail, and we, as Americans, are the lucky recipients of about 4 million tons of junk mail every year.  You can bet that the vast majority of that junk mail is not recycled, but sits rotting in our landfills.  Yep - junk mail just sucks.

Traditionally, in order to be removed from 'direct mailing' lists, you would first have to figure out who it's coming from (the company themselves or a direct mailing cooperation), hunt down the contact information, contact them personally and then request your name be removed (which you may be lucky enough to do by phone, but chances are they will require that you write in).  And according to my mailbox, I have hundreds of advertisers to track down..  A daunting and highly time consuming task to say the least.  

Enter the Junk Mail Avenger - Greendimes.com.  For a one time fee of $20, greendimes.com will do the tedious task of contacting all of those companies on your behalf to remove you from their junk mailing lists.  I recently signed up and have already seen a significant decrease in the bulk of my mailbox contents since doing so.  Not to mention that by decreasing the amount of mail sent to me, it's just one more way to decrease the amount of carbon being dumped in our atmosphere.  Stop junk, save the trees and fight global warming.  You go greendimes.

PS - If you can't part with the $20, then here's a great site listing out the steps you need to take to do the work yourself.  http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs4-junk.htm. 

I was just up on a pregnancy site reading entries from new mamas the world over.  One theme was common among them all - the green thing is on the move.  I was delighted to see so many women who, now faced with the future of their children's children, are thinking of the stability of our planet and societies.  So cool.  What was not cool was the guilt many admitted to having.  Not like being a mother in itself is a cesspool of guilt, now we get to lob on our inadequacies as a planetary stewards with our less than perfect parenting skills.  Sheeze.

I'm here to remind you that just by making conscious decisions you are on the road to a greener world.  Check out an article I wrote on 5 easy and super cheap ways to save money while going green. http://coolerchoices.com/page10779.asp.  In addition to those tips - pay attention to who you are buying from.  Choose companies who employ green business practiced like offsetting their carbon footprint and supporting other green businesses.  Buying a product from a company who donates portions of their sales to make a positive impact opposed to one that is just making a buck and possibly donating for the write off will make your green go farther (both monetary and environmentally).  So take a breath and relax.  You can totally do this. 

You Go Green Girl!!!!