Now in its 11th year, Starbucks Coffee Company is offering its “Grounds for Your Garden” program, where customers can pick up a free bag of used coffee grounds for their gardens at the Starbucks cafes. If this all sounds like crazy talk, read on… spent coffee grounds added to gardens provide a natural compost, making the soil richer and healthier. Coffee grounds are considered a good nitrogen source and when combined with brown material such as leaves or straw, they generate heat and speed up the compost process. This helps absorb moisture and can also aid in improving the texture and fertility of the soil.“One bag of coffee grounds is good for a small sized garden,” said Paula Strebig, marketing specialist for Starbucks. “When coffee grounds are added, most acid-loving plants really thrive and it helps plants grow. They get a rich green color.”

In a recently published article on AlterNet, Dara Colwell sites how Americans are working harder than ever before and are doing so at a greater cost to the environment. Even though research continues to suggest that practicing a simpler lifestyle, while using fewer resources, makes people happier.

“We now seem more determined than ever to work harder and produce more stuff, which creates a bizarre paradox: We are proudly breaking our backs to decrease the carrying capacity of the planet,” says Conrad Schmidt, an internationally known social activist and founder of the Work Less Party, (the Vancouver-based initiative aimed at moving to a 32-hour work week — a radical departure from the in early, out late cycle we’ve grown so accustomed to. “Choosing to work less is the biggest environmental issue no one’s talking about.”
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It’s Spring, a time to stop and smell the roses.

…With it, Bloomscape has finally broken into the world and onto our doorstep!

Their company ethos is definitely one we support,…affirming that life is better when it’s simple and includes plants.

Plants reduce stress and improve air quality. And well, there’s no need to explain how simplicity adds to life!

While you’re there, be sure and check out their insightful design tips.

My favorite: Choosing Your Plant Colors.

In an appeal for action on global warming, Greenpeace activists are building a replica of Noah’s Ark on Mount Ararat — (the spot where the biblical vessel is said to have landed after the great flood). The ark will be revealed in a ceremony on May 31, a day after Greenpeace activists climb the mountain and call on world leaders to take action to tackle climate change.“Climate change is real, it’s happening now and unless world leaders take urgent, decisive and far-reaching action, the next decades will see human misery on a scale not experienced in modern times,” said Greenpeace activist Hilal Atici. “Those leaders have a mandate from the people … to massively cut greenhouse gas emissions and to do it now.”

As many countries struggle to address global and national standards for carbon emissions, delegates from the U.N. are meeting this week in Germany to prepare for December negotiations on a new set of international rules for controlling emissions. The new accord would succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which ends in 2012.

Send in your old phones and empty ink-jet cartridges so they can be reused.

Why:

• Every year over 400 million cartridges are discarded into our nation’s landfills with a combined weight of 200 million pounds.
• A laser cartridge discarded today will take over 1000 years to decompose.
• Manufacturing a new laser cartridge typically requires three and a half-quarts of oil – a non-renewable fossil fuel. In comparison, a remanufactured laser cartridge only uses a quart and a half of oil.

  DETAILS

One of Green Spa Network’s Founding Seed Spas: Auberge Resorts,Mill Valley, California, www.aubergeresorts.com

There’s a new initiative currently under way as six leading North American spas look to form a network devoted to bringing environmentally sustainable operating practices to the growing spa industry. The Green Spa Network aims to help spas and spa professionals reap both the financial and social benefits of implementing environmentally friendly business practices. The intention of the organization is to synergise greening efforts among network members as a way to support spas in reducing their ecological impact, while improving energy efficiencies and reducing operational costs.

What a concept! With nearly 14,000 facilities generating $9.7 billion in annual revenues, spas are a leading leisure industry and naturally suited to be at the forefront of the green movement. According to Janice Gronvold, a longtime spa expert and founder of Spectrec, From day spas to destination resorts, the industry typically utilizes environmental resources for a myriad of water-based treatments, laundry services, pools, verdant landscaping, and golf courses, making it a major consumer of water, energy, and precious natural resources. Adopting green practices not only reduces environmental impact, but also supports spa marketing programs, raises environmental awareness among guests, and contributes to spa financial performance. Conservation is clearly a competitive edge, says Gronvold.

The Green Spa Network is registered as a not-for-profit trade organization and operates as a grassroots collective. GSN is fully committed to empowering the broader community of spa owners, operators, employees, contract practitioners, spa guests, and consultants, all of whom support the industry’s growth and are in a position to create a groundswell of interest in adopting Earth-friendly practices.

Anj

The lovely EcoSmart fireplace is an adaptable open fire. Great for those of us living in smaller spaces. Fuelled by denatured ethanol, it’s a clean burning fire with no utility connection. Easy to maintain and a joy to be near!

Get ready to make some smores!

EcoSmart

If, like the 53% responding to a Crain online poll, you’re supporting Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s plan for congestion pricing, targeting cars and trucks entering the city below 86 Street during business hours (as are most of the other traffic congested cities in the industrial word), you may be ready for what’s coming next month? I’m not talking aboat the $3 gallon of oil @ the pump (soon 2b near you).

No I’m referring to the annual tradition of a great but not so green city… The 16th Annual Bike Month NYC, presented by Transportation Alternatives and the New York City Department of Transportation and Department of Health.

FAB.

Bike Month NYC is for and by people like you.

Learn more

Although the weather outside may be disillusioning…it’s SPRING! Time for us to all get off our humps and do some Spring Cleaning.

Among the many Green tips we found out there, the below are a few of our team’s favorites:

• Clean & polish wood with a mix of vegetable oil, essential oil of lemon, , mint, eucalyptus or your fave, and beeswax.
• Toilet: Scrub with baking soda; follow by wiping seat with white vinegar
• Kitchen sinks: try making your own sink scrub using one part vinegar, four parts baking soda and several drops of your favorite essential oil (or oils). Scrub the paste on with a sponge, let sit for a few minutes then rinse.
• Windows: Vinegar again, this time in a spray bottle, will do the trick. A lot of people recommend wiping vinegar-sprayed glass with crumpled newspaper, but a lint-free washrag works well too. Don’t clean windows when they’re in direct sunlight, because they’ll dry too fast and look “streaky.”
• Carpets: Before vacuuming, shake baking soda over the carpeting; it will help to absorb odors. For spot cleaning, try that natural wonder, vinegar. Spray it on, scrub out the spot with a washrag and don’t worry about the vinegar smell; it dissipates quickly.
• Upholstery: Sprinkle stale cushions and chairs with…you guessed it, our old friend baking soda, then vacuum after letting it sit for a while.
• General odors: Make your own scented sprays by mixing distilled water, isopropyl alcohol (keep this away from heat and flames, as well as from children and pets) and a few drops of your favorite essential oil in a spray bottle, then spray wherever needed. For especially stubborn smells, some people swear by zeolite, a natural mineral with tiny, tiny pores and an ability to soak in the worst of odors.

Eco Options, a new Home Depot line of products is expected to reach 12 percent of the chain’s total by 2009, making it the largest “green” labeling program in America. The Atlanta-based home improvement retailer has begun to classify environmentally friendly products in its U.S. stores.

Home Depot will determine what products to add to the Eco Options line of products. So far the company has identified more than 2,500 Eco Options products, including front-load washing machines, programmable thermostats, cellulose insulation, natural insect repellents, vegetables in biodegradable pots, organic plant food and compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs. (More than 50 million CFL bulbs were sold by Home Depot in 2006).

Following Wal-Mart in trying to educate shoppers about issues, like climate change, the world’s largest buyer of building materials, has the power to persuade thousands of suppliers, home builders and consumers to follow its lead.
As part of its Eco Options launch, the company will give away 1 million CFL bulbs at its stores on Earth Day, Sunday, April 22.

FAB