Archive for Christmas
15 Ways to Reuse Christmas Wrapping Paper
Posted by: | Comments
Hopefully the majority of your gifts were wrapped in alternatives to traditional virgin content wrapping paper. In the event you find wrapping paper and tissue littering your floor here are 15 ideas to continue its life:
1. Used wrapping paper makes a great cover when repackaging ornaments for your Christmas tree. It keeps them protected and ready for the next holiday season.
2. Make festive coasters by gluing wrapping paper to circles of cardboard or juice can lids; apply several coats of decoupage medium or white glue thinned with water, or laminate with self-adhesive clear plastic.
3. Shred wrapping paper and use in the base of gift bags/baskets/boxes or in place of packing material when sending a package.
4. Use to make bookmarks or (text) book covers.
5. Use as a scratch pads for note taking.
6. Use the prettiest wrapping paper as background material for scrapbooking.
7. Cover a shoebox with wrapping paper to make a decorative storage container for Christmas ornaments.
8. Reuse wrapping paper taken from large gifts to wrap smaller gifts; if it’s wrinkled you can always spritz with a little water and iron on a very low setting to remove creases.
9. Make tiny Christmas gift tags or cards.
10. Learn origami.
11. Use as matting for photographs.
12. Piece scraps together with glue on a sturdy box to create a gift box.
13. Cut out the best scenes or images for use in (kids) art projects.
14. Make paper snowflakes or people.
15. Make beautiful loopy Wrapping Paper Bows with nothing more than small strips of paper, invisible tape and a small square of cardboard. See instructions below.
I hope you find these suggestions useful but ultimately finding an alternative to traditional gift wrap is best. Click here to access one of our previous posts that outlined 10 alternative wrap ideas to help with the transition.
Here is wishing you and your loved ones a very merry/happy whatever-holiday-you-celebrate from everyone here at Planet Forward. Try to keep it green.
Cheers!
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Green Gazette (Issue 22) Christmas Trees, Indian Air Pollution and Propane Scooters
Posted by: | CommentsHello again and I trust your weekend is going well and that Winter hasn’t shown itself just yet wherever you read this (unless of course you happen to love Winter). If more proof of global warming was needed a friend of mine visited the midwest this week only to find temperatures about 15f above normal and autumn colours hanging around 2-3 weeks longer than normal. Record rains have savaged much of NW Europe in the last week also and the concern with stronger, wetter storms every Autumn seems to be well founded. However, I’m not a weatherman but I do have some eco stories to share with you so sit tight!
As we’re only 4 weeks from Christmas (and right into the preparation phase) I thought it would be a good time to ask can you find an organic Christmas tree? The obvious choice would be an artificial tree that you use for decades but they of course have a high quantity of plastics in their production. So a natural tree is your heart’s desire so what should you do? Follow this link for a list of organic tree farms, the odds are good as 22 states are represented and there are probably others that did not make the list. The key to an organic tree is really rather simple, instead of being chopped 6-12 inches above the ground these fir trees are potted with sufficient roots so they can be replanted. The only thing to consider is the timing of replanting - dependent on how cold your region is you may need to wait until spring to replant the tree. For your green investment you get an indoor natural holiday tree and a beautiful shade tree for your garden afterwards. Naturally they are regional trees and grown free of pesticides. Consider an organic tree this holiday season and let the blog know how it works out for you. I’m still looking for an organic option near me - but driving 700 miles round trip to acquire one seems to be defeating the purpose.
You may have noticed Barack Obama’s recent Asian travels and the subsequent state visit to Washington by the Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh. 
There’s some really good news on the eco-front to trickle down from this. The United States and India have signed a green pact and this includes US support in establishing a National Environmental Protection Agency within India. The US have committed to providing scientific and organisational support to India in getting a body in place that will vastly improve the environmental aspects of production, inspection and improvement with national and global compliance. Steps like this are integral as India is rapidly becoming one of the largest production economies on earth and while it is encouraging to see European nations and North America continue to make strides; if giant economies such as India, China and Indonesia are not improving their own standards it will be very much a case of two steps forward but three steps back. Pollution control is a local, regional, national battle for all manufacturers but the ultimate goal of improvement can only be accomplished on a global scale. More of the same please from the White House. You can read more here….
I’m seeing more and more people riding Segways (there are flocks of them in Los Angeles) Mopeds, electric bikes and fuel powered scooters. 
I’ll confess that I’ve considered a moped (except in the Summer!) but here’s a novel spin on the powered scooter idea - propane powered! The GoPed ProPed is being manufactured for the California market at present and the benefits of a propane scooter are quite amazing. Starting at $499 the little green scooter puts out 96% fewer carcinogens and 97% fewer particulates than a standard four-stroke gas scooter engine. It can reach speeds of 21mph and has a range of 20 miles from a 16.4oz propane canister. Sit back and do the numbers - that equates to over 150 miles per gallon. The scooter can carry 400lbs so while I don’t expect this to replace an individual car I think for a teenager going to the mall or the movies its got to be better than driving Dad’s SUV 5 miles and burning half a gallon of gas for a 5 minute drive.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Green Gazette (Issue 19) Sarah Palin, Green NBC, Get wind of this…
Posted by: | CommentsGood evening again wherever you may be reading this, I hope you’ve had a chance to visit the rest of the Planet Forward site during your clicking. We’re getting to that time of year when gift gifting is expected and with all of our products you are doing double duty.The recipient of the present thrilled and helping the earth move away from using daily products that are not eco-friendly. Just an idea! Right then, eco-news has been good the last few days so I’ll jump right in.
You may have seen the Newsweek cover featuring Sarah Palin in her running gear this week that is getting national attention. Inadvertently (I’m 
sure) Palin has helped promote the green movement by wearing an very noticeable training top manufactured by New Zealand Sportswear company Icebreaker. Here’s the beautiful piece - the striking red running jacket is made from New Zealand merino wool which harvested from free range sheep that are raised on the country’s southern Alps. The company advocate non-synthetic fabrics made with oil and you even get a special code (per individual item) that allows you to track exactly where your piece of clothing originated. So does this mean that S Palin has changed her mind and is now a friend of the environment? Can we expect her book to confess that she has seen the error of her ‘drill baby drill‘ sentiments of 2008? Of course not….but it’s great that her noxious media blitz has in error brought a small eco-friendly business a huge place in the the spotlight. Nice one Governor…or just what is it you do now?
So has anyone notice anything different about NBC this week? I very rarely have the television on but even I noticed they are slap in the middle of ‘Green Week’. If you’ve watched I’d be curious to know if this has been a high-profile ‘event’ or the network looking for leverage in ratings? I figured I’d let you make up your own mind but also refer you to the official section on the NBC site and I do recommend the blog if you have time. In truth 
the network and the webmaster have made a lot of legitimate effort and I think it’s pretty cool (cooler still if it remains a permanent feature of their website). Check out car enthusiast, no that’s not right, Car Nut Jay Leno’s collection of electric vehicles while you are there. The site is interactive with a lot of video, many celebrity comments and the blogs are growing and becoming regional. I think if other networks imitate the step NBC have made and/or this becomes an annual ‘week’ you’d have to say it’s a success. I hope both happen - and that peacock looks pretty sweet in emerald.
So from California to…California….I’m really fascinated with this company and what they
A Helix Wind Turbine
expect to add to what is already a wonderfully progressive environmentally focused business named Helix Wind. As you’ve probably noticed more and more cell phone towers are still popping up virtually overnight and adding that little bit of extra ugly to the landscape as they do so. This company (who specialize in wind energy) are testing in the next few months a prototype cell tower that will 100% be powered by wind so that the tower will be completely self sufficient. If you argue that it’s ‘too late’ I’d politely disagree, in California alone the current count of 3,500 (!!) cell phone towers will be increased by a further 1,200 towers in the next 5 years and that’s just California. If this testing phase is a success I’m hoping all future towers are taken off the grid and manufactured by Helix, they look fine and they are as green as you could ask for. Good Luck! Learn much more about Helix Wind and check their videos out on their site.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!