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Okay, so my Maltese is far from fluent, but I can at least say, and write, Happy Christmas (yes, that’s the exact translation, not MERRY Christmas). While many of you are home and readying yourself for tomorrow’s holiday, I’m stuck at work awaiting the delivery of a package I really should have had delivered to my home (blast, those last minute gifts!!) Anyway before I enjoy a four day weekend, Christmas, Boxing Day and my regular weekend pass from the asylum, I just wanted to put in a few “green” suggestions for your holiday.

Do recycle! Consumption and disposal of goods that could easily be recycled (glass bottles, plastic bottles, cans and wrapping paper) nearly doubles over the holiday season, so do your best to collect them and place them in recycle.

Be frugal! While there’s loads of food during the holidays, there’s also loads of food waste. Rather than ending up tipping the excess in the bin, send holiday guests home with food, or make care packages for the homeless and if you still have scraps and waste, compost it. If you don’t have your own composter (currently I don’t) check with your local community garden to see if they will accept it. Remember all compostables should contain fruit and vegetable waste only and not meat or fat.

Finally, let that whole Dickensian Christmas thing overwhelm you. Have a little more cheer! Be a little more patient and for at least once a year, let’s be all the good things we once hoped we would be.

Best wishes for a Green Christmas!!

One of my favorite shirts that indicates the ever increasing “greening” of my world says simply, B(eco)ming. It shows my dedication to change while acknowledging I’m not quite in Ed Begley Jr. territory, just yet. Becoming eco-friendly requires a lot of reading and keeping up with the latest products introduced on the market and sometimes it means delaying a change until a product that works for you becomes available. Such is the case with feminine protection.

Your choice of personal hygiene products is a very subjective thing, so I’m not revealing my choice. I’m just laying the options out there, so you can make an informed decision about the products you use monthly, which over a life time can make a real difference in what is or isn’t dumped into our landfills and/or water systems.

Reusable Sanitary Pads.
If you’re a user of sanitary napkins or panty liners, GladRags offers all cotton reusable pads that are an eco-friendly alternative to disposables. The set is comprised of a flannel envelope fitted with snaps that holds terrycloth inserts. GladRags are available in a variety of colors and patterns as well as un dyed organic cotton options and are designed to last approximately 5 years. Their website offers a variety of products including panty liners, overnight pads, organic cotton tampons and laundering supplies.
Packages begin at $11.99 for a 1 day pack which has one holder and two inserts.
www.gladrags.com

The Menstrual Cup
The menstrual cup collects flow rather than absorbing it. The Keeper Cup is made of natural gum rubber latex. For those with sensitivities to latex, The Moon Cup is made of silicone. Both hold approximately 1 ounce of flow and is simply dumped, rinsed and reinserted several times over the course of the day. The cup comes in two sizes, A. for women who have delivered a child vaginally and B. for women who haven’t experienced a vaginal delivery. The cup isn’t for everyone as you have to insert it correctly to be effective and  this could get a wee bit messy in communal bathrooms, unless you carrying a second cup, case and wipes to discretely empty the cup as necessary. Because the cup can last up to 10 years, it can save hundreds compared to conventional disposable protection. The cost is $35 (plus $2 shipping and handling) www.keeper.com

Organic Cotton Tampons

Seventh Generation, who makes a variety of earth friendly products from paper towels to cleaners, makes an organic cotton tampon that is free of chlorine. While they are not the only manufacturer of organic tampons, these are rated higher in quality and ease of use that those made by Natracare, and the cost is more in line with conventional brands like Playtex. Seventh Generation are also easier to find as they can be purchased locally in Whole Foods and other health food stores as well as on line at www.amazon.com, www.luckyvitamin.com. Box of 20 averages @ $5.45 but price can vary widely so it’s best to check with an online site like price grabber to find the lowest pricing and ensuring your earth friendly purchase is wallet friendly as well.

If you’re in the northern hemisphere tonight’s full moon ought to be quite a show. This full moon will be closer to the earth, just 221,560 miles away, compared to it’s usual 238,855 mile distance. According to NASA, that will make the moon 14 percent bigger in tonight’s sky and 30 percent brighter than many other full moons in 2008. In areas where street lights are at a minimum, and where visibility is good, you’ll be able to view a landscape bathed in an eerie glow.

And as the moon’s gravitation pull affects the ocean, tides will be higher too. So for those of us in the Philadelphia metro area, who’ve had basements dampened by 2.5 inches of rain, you might want to avoid that bottom step when high tide occurs at 1:29 am.

Do you know what 350 is? It might just be the most important number in the world.
According to climate scientist Dr. James Hansen, 350 parts per million is the amount of carbon emissions that we need to return to, in order to sustain life on earth as we know it.

Do we really need to do anything about this?
Well if you’ve seen, as we have in Philly, temperatures vacillate from 19 degrees to 61 in the span of 2 days, the short answer is HELL YES!!

Currently our Carbon emissions are at 385 ppm so unless we want to see, oh, I dunno, the whole human race die out, it might be good if we worked with each other, our government and the governments and concerned citizens from across the globe to do something before it’s too late.

What can you do? Well the easiest thing you can do is spread the word. Just getting the message out is the first step. Once you know, you’re more likely to act and although we’re currently over the limit, there’s no reason why local activism can’t effect a global change. For more information and ideas on how you can support awareness of 350 or ideas for starting an action of your own, visit www.350.org.

When you’re “greening” there’s often so much contradictory information that sometimes you just have to pick your battles.

In the realm of Christmas trees, there was never any choice for me.
I choose real every year. It’s what I grew up with as the symbol of the season and although I have two mini artificial ones as ancillary decorations at home and a fake “Charlie Brown” tree, that adorns my cube at work, I just couldn’t use a fake branched specimen as the centerpiece of my holiday decor.

But recently some pundits have cried foul on the real Christmas tree claiming the resources (water and energy) used to grow trees, not to mention the possible use of pesticides outweighs the benefits of the oxygen produced and soil preserved during the growing stage of a live tree. While that is a consideration there are many other factors that make a real tree the better option. Here’s the list of pros and cons.

Artificial Christmas trees are not biodegradable and even if you bought one every six or seven years, that means over the course of your lifetime you may be responsible for six to eight trees being tossed into a landfill and just sitting there.

Live Christmas trees can be recycled into mulch and reintroduced into the earth as a nutrient.
If you purchase an real tree annually, you may have mulched or reintroduced seeds and vital nutrients back into the soil, sixty or more times.

Artificial Christmas trees are most commonly manufactured in China. Just think of the petrol consumed to ship them from the manufacturer to your local Home Depot

Most Christmas tree farms sell their trees locally to the surrounding communities.

Then there’s the process of manufacturing fake trees. Most artificial ones are made from plastic and PVC. One of the byproducts emitted during the manufacture is Dioxin, one of the most toxic man-made chemicals on the planet.

Live Christmas trees grow from seed and they emit human friendly oxygen. During their growth, the planting of trees assists in preventing soil erosion. And don’t worry about cutting down trees. Like fruit or veg, Christmas trees are a crop, specifically cultivated with the intention of being cut, screwed into a tree stand and decorated with your most glorious (or garish) baubles.
And unlike fruit and veg, pesticides aren’t required so the argument about the chemicals being used and seeping into the ground water, really doesn’t, pardon the pun, hold water. The only thing you should do is buy native. Don’t purchase a white pine tree, if that’s not native to your area and will require the use of fossil fuels to be shipped in from further distances.

So whether it’s Pine, Douglas Fir or Blue Spruce get thee to a X-mas tree lot and drag a bit of the fresh outdoors in. You can feel good knowing the tree sitting in your home is truly a “green” option.

When it comes to watching your weight during the holiday season, it is decidedly not the most wonderful time of the year. Our bodies want to hibernate and as the holidays loom, calorie laden treats lurk at every turn; a warming cup of cocoa here, a glass of holiday cheer there. I’ve even begun receiving chocolates, cookies and brownies via the post.
(What happened to that erstwhile Christmas shipment of Florida citrus.)

Then, when I pulled on my fave comfy pair of baggy round the middle trousers, I noticed something different. My navel was threatening to swallow the button and when I inhaled. When I exhaled, well let’s just say, if anyone had been standing across the room, they would have discovered that a Red Ryder BB gun wasn’t the only weapon that could put your eye out. And it’s not just me. My husband couldn’t continue to rely on the “you shrunk my clothes in the wash defense” much longer.

So now, instead of waiting for Miss Oprah to initiate her Best Life Week in January, I’m keeping the food diary, eschewing carbs and not raising a cup of holiday cheer.

Sure some friends have decried that this as the worst possible time to reign in the holiday merriment, but there will be parties and events to attend over the coming weeks and the last time I checked they called that wardrobe staple the little black dress.

I’m not a big fan of flying, but unless the United Kingdom is going to scrooch closer towards the east coast, whaddaya goin do. Britain is my second home and when the pound dropped to it’s lowest level in years, I had no problem saying a big fat F.U. to the recession and booking a trip for New Years. The problem is my increasing “greenness” means I really do care about how each trip affects our Carbon Footprint. Well worry no more, now British Airways, along with a whole host of airlines and travel agents will calculate the CO2 emissions of your trip and then provide you with a dollar figure that you need to contribute to offset your ecological toll. For just $68 bucks I’m golden. So when you’re lucky enough to score a deal in airfare or international currencies, don’t forget to include ecological tithing in your travel costs.