Go Green Orange County

Go Green Tip #6 - Do You Know Where Your Plastic is Going?

Chino — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 05:14:52 +0000

Next time you are drinking a Diet Coke in a plastic bottle, take a minute to look at the bottom of the bottle. There should be an arrowed triangle with a series of numbers with it. These numbers tell the recycling plants what they can be used for from plastic lumber to stuffing for sleeping bags.

Try Green Apparel with Rain Frog Apparel

Chino — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 21:22:15 +0000

It is a real joy to come across Green Businesses in Orange County. These days, the apparel industry is watered down with a dime a dozen clothing lines that all seem to look the same. Here in Orange County, one can not spend a day without coming across an Affliction Shirt or some other brand of monumental consumerism.

Rain Frog Apparel is a fresh new company based out of The OC and is really making a mark on the fashion industry as well as paving the way for eco friendly apparel. Karen E. Spaeder started Rain Frog Apparel with the goal of not only providing eco-friendly clothing options, but also contributing to charitable organizations that work to enact global change.

One of the great things about Rain Frog Apparel is that their shirts are made out of bamboo which is extremely sustainable and is also super soft. For those of you who have never felt bamboo in a fabric, it is as soft, if not softer than cotton. They offer a variey of prints that are cute but also display a Green message as well.

Please click on the link below and help support Green Orange County Businesses.

www.rainfrogapparel.com

Greener Gadgets Conference in New York

Chino — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 22:17:32 +0000

Just came across this news from Engadget.com about an upcoming conference to help promote greener, more eco-friendly consumer products. It seems as though some of the top dogs in the world of consumer electronics will be there such as Nokia, Sony, and HP which really is an indicator of makingour planet a bit greener.

You can check out the Greener Gadgets website .

Go Green Tip #5 - Green Laundry

Chino — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:08:48 +0000

Another easy tip to quickly jump on the Green band wagon is to simply wash your clothes in a green manner. When we purchase our house, we immediately purchased an energy saving Washer and Dryer. By doing this, we will save up to $100 on electricity a year as well as cut back on the amount of water used for each load.

Why stop there when you can also try purchasing some eco friendly detergent as well as fabric softener. We prefer Seventh Generation Natural Laundry Detergent as it not only smells great, but also gets rid of stains as well.

Click Here to Purchase Seventh Generation Natural Laundry Detergent

Most Green City Is…

Chino — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 16:42:58 +0000

According to RenewableEnergyAccess.com Hastings, Nebraska was deemed the winner of the “Be a Better Planet” Greenest City in America challenge. The top prize includes $250,000 to be used towards city-greening projects. California had two cities in the top ten with San Carlos and Walnut Creek.

Orange County still has a long way to go but it is great to see competitions like this that really push on the green iniative and really help push us towards sustainability.

Go Green Tip #4 - Beat the Heat

Chino — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 00:33:18 +0000

It gets hot here in The OC in the summertime. I noticed that while walking my dog at night, it seems as though the majority of people in our complex run their air conditioning at night. Even though it is summer, it is actually quite nice once the sun goes down but most find it nice to just flip on a switch and let the air run all night which is not only expensive, but also and energy waster as well as running the ac can put out as much as 363 pounds of CO2.

Last weekend, after being tired of the heat, I went down to Lowes and picked up a ceiling fan. Even though I am pretty handy with home improvements, I found it to be very easy to install. After about an hour or so, I was up and running and saving energy in the meantime.

Go Green Tip #3 - Get a New Lawn Mower

Chino — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 23:03:49 +0000

I know how lazy we all can be and using those gas powered lawn mowers seems like an easy solution to keep up the yard but it is far from easy on our environment. Gas lawn mowers pollute up to 10-30 times more than a car. It is estimated that lawn mowers contribute up to 10 percent of our air pollution.

A great way to “go green” and help the environment is to get a push lawn mower. For a person with an average size yard, this alternative is not only a great way to reduce emissions into the atmosphere, but is will also help burn more calories as well. So go get in shape and help save the planet.

Earth2Tech.com - Helping Green Technology

Chino — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 18:31:27 +0000

GigaOM lust launched a new tech oriented blog called Earth2Tech. For all the tech nerds out there, think techcrunch but with a eco-friendly theme. The site is based out of San Francisco and is devoting their time to really report on the tech industry and their eco-initiatives towards going green.

I think this is a great move for GigaOM. With the tech industry being so revolutionary these days, Earth2Tech will hopefully be at the forefront to really push for companies to move towards sustainability and earth conscious efforts.

Some great features of Earth2Tech is that they focus on not just big companies and their green efforts but on startups as well which will hopefully be a great place to learn of new green businesses getting off the ground.

To Bike For

Chino — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 19:06:02 +0000

My good friends over at To Die For Clothing have been doing their part to help promote Going Green by inspiring people to get up and ride a bike. Every few weeks, the entire TDF Crew sends out emails to friends and fans to meet up in Costa Mesa and ride bikes around town. This glorious event has been dubbed “To Bike For” and has been gaining serious momentum amongst the locals.

Living in Orange County, the majority of people take for granted their beloved automobile and the guys at To Die For are really doing their part to promote self reliant energy by riding bikes.

I encourage everyone to take part in the next “To Bike For” and meet some new friends and get some exercise all while helping out the environment. I will be attending as soon as I get a bike.

www.todieforclothing.com

Go Green Tip #2 - Use Your Own Grocery Bags

Chino — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 21:08:08 +0000

My wife and I have been doing this for a while as a way to cut back on having so many excess plastic bags in our cupboards. A plastic bag can take 1000 years to biodegrade while also emitting harmful greenhouse gasses.

Some grocery stores even offer incentives for using your own grocery bags. Our local Trader Joes gives out raffle tickets everytime we use our own tote bags and gives out drawings for $50 gift certificates each month. Henry’s market gives back 5 cents for each bag a customer brings in that is their own as well.

Seriously, this is one of those things that anyone can do to help the environment as we all show for groceries. Plus, when using your own tote bag, they tend to be stronger than any paper or plastic bag so the chances of having the bag break or bottom fall out are pretty slim.

View Recycled Cotton Canvas Tote Bag in Our Shop