Happy 3-day weekend, hope you’re outside!

Photo by Cristen at Beth and Don’s annual extravaganza

New Yorkers, save the date for May 29

The Combustibles are having a benefit party/auction/extravaganza in midtown.   A mere $15 at the door gets you beer and snacks, not a bad deal and for a trashy cause.

Event Composting

Tipster Julie S turned me on to Earthgirl Composting, a struggling doorstep composting service in Vermont (if you live there, take note!). The waste picked up from households is delivered to a local company that makes compost and sells it to organic farmers. In addition, they do “event composting.” I’ve never heard of event composting before, but I bet a lot of green brides out there would be interested in offsetting the environmental impact of their weddings by composting the leftover cake and other waste!

Photo ripped from Earthgirl Composting Web site.

Mulch Fest, Brook Park Style

Paris, France

Blogging for Positive Global Change

Ruby Re-usable has nominated everydaytrash for a Blogging for Positive Global Change award. It’s a meme, or blog-driven chain letter with the aim of highlighting bloggers who “have taken the weight of the world upon their shoulders and are trying to build awareness among their readership in order to create a more sustainable and enlightened future.”

Here are the rules:

1. When you get tagged, write a post with links to up to 5 blogs that you think are trying to change the world in a positive way.

2. In your post, make sure you link back to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme.

3. Leave a comment or message for the bloggers you’re tagging, so they know they’re now part of the meme.

4. Optional: Proudly display the “Bloggers For Positive Global Change” award badge with a link to the post that you write up.

In the spirit of sharing the love, here are the official everydaytrash nominations:

• The Temas Blog, for tireless and comprehensive coverage of Latin American trash and environmental issues;
• Bring Your Own, for inspiring us all to do the same;
• The ETSY Trashion Blog for promoting trashion; and
• Ecorazzi for keeping environmentalism snarky and fun.

The Possibilities are Endless … Compost!

Mark your calendars, May 6-12 is International Compost Awareness Week. This year’s theme is “The Possibilities are Endless … Compost!” Make what you will of it.

The U.S. Composting Council has these suggestions for celebrating:

Successful promotions in past years have included:

• Compost sales - many communities offered compost for sale with the days proceeds going to selected local charities
• Openings and tours of composting demonstration gardens as well as centralized composting facilities
• Tree planting ceremonies using compost to prepare the soil for planting
• The setting up of a “Grow A Row” garden, using compost to prepare the soil, with the fall harvest being donated to the local food bank
• Backyard composting training sessions, offered for residents as well as through school visits
• A “Compost Tea Party” where residents were invited to learn about composting including how to use compost and make Compost Tea?
• Talks by well-known gardening experts on gardening experts on gardening and the use of compost
• TV & radio shows as well as newspaper articles on gardening and the use of compost as well as how to compost?

humbug

  I would include a special valentine’s round-up, but I’m burnt out on green love this week.

Its a nice day for a green wedding…

The Times has a lovely piece in today’s Sunday Styles section about the growing trend of environmentally friendly weddings. It’s a topic I know my side bar buddies Ethical Weddings and Great Green Wedding keep in mind when posting. Of course the number one way I can think of the reduce your ceremony’s footprint (not to mention your and your parents’ energy output) is to not throw such elaborate parties. That said, I’ve been to one of those farm to table places upstate, where the article mentions the couple held their rehersal dinner–crisp weather, more kinds of carrots than you knew existed, pigs wandering about, compostable cutlery, picturesque carriage trails perfect for hikes and runs…I could imagine a fantastic feast served there.

Update: For even MORE on green weddings, check out this post of the same name  over at hippy shopper.

further holiday trash…

The good blogger of The Goode Life has thrown a green list on the pile, also by category. My favorite is the frenemy, that middle ground aquaintance.

AND

Fabulously Green adds some fabulous pampering items.

ethical weddings

It seems that Katie over at Green Girls Global has a side gig compiling a guide to green suppliers for those planning weddings.  It’s a young and growing initiative that may just be the catalyst to stopping my bitching and moaning about bridesmaid dresses and gift registries. 

Happy European paper week!

Looks like our developed world friends across the Atlantic are holding a little conference on paper this week.  I look  forward to any documents that might come out of such exciting sessions as:

• The burning issue: Wood for energy or for paper?
• Giving guidance or causing confusion - How far should ‘green’ public procurement go? Or
• Mind the gap: Where do industry and policy makers stand on waste?

Holiday Trash

In what should no longer be a shockingly quick transition, it is now officially holiday (read: Christmas) season. Construction paper turkeys and all things harvest have been stripped from store windows to be replaced with snowmen, candy canes and token symbols of non-Chirstian festivals. My family has been emailing around such specific wish lists that shopping for each other has become more choreographed inventory filling than thoughtful selection. Of course, wish lists guarantee that what we get is what we wanted, thus reducing holiday-related waste and, worse, regifting. [I've been trying hard to see wedding and baby registries as well as brand-specific Christmas wish lists as environmentally friendly and efficient and not just tacky and materialistic.]

Green-themed gift ideas fall into a similarly questionable category. On the one hand, the products recommended are recycled, Earth-friendly and what-have-you. On the other hand, suggested gift lists play into our stuff-driven culture and I, for one, am often tempted to treat myself to a slew of new purchases at this time every year.

Here are a few of the seductive links I’ve come across so far this season…

• Fabulously Green shares ideas for the modern home;
• Green Loop compiles sustainable fashion and organic creams;
• Cool Hunting starts what is sure to be a long season of helpful gift suggestions with a roundup of stylish wrapping papers (some green);
• Great Green Baby continues its year-round mandate of green gift suggestions, while Great Green Goods includes seasonal items such as menorahs made from recylced glass and pipe;
• The Grist holiday list takes an intellectual approach to the quest; and
• The Groovy Green Blog argues the virtues of a living Christmas Tree.

More roundups of roundups are sure to come as the holiday lists come drifting in.

Feeling like a dirty Capitalist? Purge on this buy nothing Christmas link or check out the recycled trees rounded up by The Temas Blog.

Always a bridesmaid…

In my quest to find a use for my small collection of bridesmaid dresses, I came across uglydress.com and just had to share. The three red dresses I’ve sported down the aisle are not that bad in the grand scheme of things one might have to buy, alter and wear in public on behalf of a friend getting married. But they aren’t exactly reusable, either.

Just what are we supposed to do with the dress when the pageant is over? I refuse to throw them away and I don’t know any little girls with dress-up boxes (and wouldn’t encourage this sort of gender-specific dress-up item anyway).

My mother, always hopeful about these things, suggested I have the skirt of my last bridesmaid dress shortened and that I wear the apple-red satin ballgown as a cocktail dress. With a triple-layer of black lacey stuff under the skirt and a halter neck, the cocktail party I wore that thing to would have to be on ice (in which case I wouldn’t have right muff for the occasion anyway).

So, I’m left with the aforementioned halter gown, a maroon seperates number (the top of which presumably could be used as the shell of a suit, if I had the sort of job that required wearing suits), a spaghetti strapped ankle-length dress that might have been reusable if it didn’t constitute the physical proof of that time my cousin joined the navy, married a stripper and forced me to be the “red” in their patriotic-themed ceremony. Also, it’s just a little too orange, which always kills a red dress.

I know there are used dress sites, but I’m looking for something bigger and badder ass to do with my collection. An installation project perhaps? A hipster crafts project? Please post any and all ideas as comments.

Campus Sustainability Day

From the president of Columbia University:
Dear fellow members of the Columbia community:

On Wednesday, Oct. 25, Columbia joins other colleges and universities around the country in marking Campus Sustainability Day–an event designed to spark discussion and action to reduce the environmental footprint of college campuses. Columbia’s students, faculty, and staff have a long-standing commitment to responsible environmental stewardship–and this day is an opportunity not only to reflect on our accomplishments to date, but to build on them for the future.

The event will take place from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Low Plaza and will feature information tables, sustainability kits, and a live Webcast from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. linking us with campuses nationwide.

Columbia researchers have led the way on environmental issues worldwide–from El Nino to asthma in urban neighborhoods, climate change, and environmental policy making. Locally, Mayor Bloomberg recently announced an expansion of Columbia’s efforts to advance environmental protection–New York City’s engagement of the Earth Institute to advise its new Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability.

This semester, working together as a community, we are taking a fresh approach to thinking about and managing our own environmental impact, with the establishment of the Office of Environmental Stewardship, under the direction of Nilda Mesa. We have a number of new initiatives getting underway. Among these are:

* Examining ways to reduce our energy consumption, limit our greenhouse gas emissions, and obtain power from renewable energy sources in the future;

* Incorporating environmental and energy enhancements in new construction projects at Columbia;

* Improving our recycling practices and establishing composting programs;

* Launching a Sustainability Advisory Council that will include academic, administrative, and student members;

* Expanding the Environmental Stewardship Web site to serve as a virtual forum for exchanging ideas and tips related to the environment and our daily lives.

The address of the site is www.columbia.edu/cu/environment. I invite you to join our celebration of Campus Sustainability Day. It is a good step toward working together as a University to help preserve and enhance the environment of our campus, our community, and our planet.

Sincerely, Lee C. Bollinger