Litter bugs!

This is a short little rant by me about throwing things on the ground. You’ve been warned.
Today the girls and I had a great day at the park, then right after the park we headed over to the post office. I was putting little miss K in the car when I realized that my Birkenstock, I know so crunchy, was sticking to the pavement. I tried to pretend that it wasn’t gum, but we all know the feeling of stepping in hot gum. It sort of oozes through the tread on your shoes and finds its way into every nook & cranny.
I immediately start doing the get the gum off my shoe dance, and B thinks it’s so funny looking that she joins in. Now not only do I have gum on my favorite pair of shoes, but my 3 year old is mocking me without even knowing she’s doing it.
So here’s my issue people.  Why throw anything on the ground when there are garbage cans everywhere?  Not only does it make our streets, highways and parks look horrible not to mention what it does to animals, but don’t you realize that you could be the one to step in your own stupid gum? If for no other reason than that, please throw your garbage away!

Survey Says

Hi all! I’m trying to get a better understanding of how/why people choose to live green or not. If you have a minute and don’t mind filling out random little surveys I’d really appreciate it. Thank you!!!
Please answer the following questions in a comment to the site.  Thank you
1. Do you try to live a green lifestyle? Please tell me why for both yes & no answers
2. What do you think will make the biggest positive impact to the environment? (driving less miles, eating organic etc)
3. How do you try to reduce your impact on the environment?
4. Do you talk to your children about being environmentally responsible?
5. Does fear play into your environmental choices?
6. If money wasn’t an issue what is one thing that you would change about your life/house to make it more eco friendly?
7. Do you recycle?
8. What is your biggest challenge when it comes to being Eco friendly?

Again Thank you!!!!

Drastic Plastic challenge

I’m just doing a little horn tooting today. It’s been over a year since we last had plastic baggies in our house, of any size. Yes sometimes this has been a huge pain! Like where do you put a half used onion, if you put it in a plastic container the container stinks for life. But the feeling of keeping so many sandwich baggies out of the landfill is worth it! I will say there are days when it would be so nice to shove a sandwich into a little plastic baggie and then throw that baggie away when done, but after the first few months it was easy.

If your feeling up to the challenge, try giving up the one use plastic baggies.

There are a lot of cool other options out there.

check out some of these sites
http://mightynest.com/shop/reusable-sandwich-snack-bags/magenta-reusable-plastic-sandwichsnack-wraps-set-of-2

http://www.ecoditty.com/ This company uses organic cotton to make their super cute and colorful sandwich bags, really you should check them out!

http://lifewithoutplastic.com/boutique/cotton-hemp-sandwich-p-313.html

Know you have a few places to start your no toss plastic challenge.  I’d love to hear how you do!

Conversation with a preschooler

Have you ever talked to a preschooler? It is one of the funniest, sweetest things I’ve ever had the chance to do.  I’m sure it’s more enjoyable since the preschooler is my own, but preschoolers are a funny breed.   They are learning about the world around them and every experience is new and hopefully exciting.  Sometimes my preschooler takes things so  literal all I can do is think yeah technically that’s right, but not really what I meant. Like eight & ate.  A resent misunderstanding “If I eight it is it still this many” (holding up 8 little fingers) Um, OK anyone else want to explain this one?  Today’s misunderstanding might be my all time favorite, for now at least.

Exact conversation:
Me “B we need to brush your hair it’s a birds nest”
B “OK mom” as she’s scratching her ear
Me “does your ear hurt?”
B “I think the bird built the nest in my ear”

It’s the innocents that makes them so literal and it’s the innocents that I want to try and keep for my girls as long as I can, as I’m sure most parents do.  I think that might be why it’s so hard for a lot of parents to talk to their kids about the environment and being green.  I think a lot of the Green Eco lifestyle comes out of fear and being scared of what will happen if we don’t live green.

We have started talking to B about living green. We don’t use the term “being green”, could you imagine what a preschooler might think if you told them they were going to be “green”. B already knows that banana peels or conana (as she calls them) don’t go into the garbage, but go into the chicken bowl.  She reminds us to bring our canvas bags to the store and don’t forget to turn off the lights when you leave a room cause she will not let it slide.  She also knows that we eat organic foods because “they are better for everyone.” All these little things are fun, helpful & practical. We are trying to encourage her to start habits now that are Eco friendly, that she will do w/out thinking about as she gets older.

We also talk about not wasting things like water, food & even toys. Toys I know sounds weird, but really everything that is throw away ends up in land fills.  We try to give all of the things in our house a second home when we are done with them. We involve B in the process of going through old stuff & bringing them to the goodwill, salvation army or where ever they need to go. Just another habit.  So why do this & how do you start?

I think anything that has to do with young kids and big topics it needs to be brought to their level and have a positive spin on it. With this particular topic I think the more fun you make it the more kids will enjoy it. Make a game out of it.  See who can remember to turn off the most lights each day or build a container to start a compost bin and turn it into a family project, nothing says fun like worms and dirt.

I think the why is simple, young kids need to learn to care about the world around them at a younger age than any other generation has before.

I would love to hear more ways that you make being Green fun for your kids.

B is already sharing all her Green secrets with little K

Christmas in July

This may sound crazy but every time I get a new design project started it’s like waiting for Santa on Christmas.  With the artist that we are currently working with it’s even harder than that to wait. Stephanie Corfee is amazing! Don’t believe me check her out, Stephanie Corfee’s site http://stephaniecorfee.com/.  I have found myself lost for over an hour reading her blog and looking at her etsy shop, http://www.etsy.com/shop/stephaniecorfee.  I know I sound a little obsessed, maybe I am.  Can you see why??? These are the happiest feet I’ve ever seen!

Stephanie is the creator of “Grow”

I am so fortunate to have Stephanie as part of the Green as Wee Grow artists.  I actually find myself giddy thinking about the endless possibilities that lie ahead when working with Stephanie.  She has a free spirited style that makes me smile. I think what first drew me to Stephanie was the color of her pieces, it’s almost like they are giving off light.  We have two of her pieces hanging in our house, one in my room and one in my daughters.  I find it impossible to look at these pictures and not have a smile on my face.

With how crazy this world is anything that can make me smile when looking at it is worth being around.  Babies & toddlers have that same effect on me.  There’s something about the chubby little legs and arms, the toothless grins and the laugh that form the most irresistible little people! Being around these little crazy beings always makes me feel hopeful.

So what could possibly be better than to have Stephanies art work on clothing for these adorable little people, I’m guessing not much! We are in the works to have at least 3 new Stephanie designs added to our Green as Wee Grow collection!

Can you say excited, like waiting for Santa!

Fun Foto Friday

What happens when my 3 year old gets a hold of my phone and finds the camera. Here’s a few of her masterpieces.

I love the fact that these pictures are from her point of view and that they show me exactly what she finds interesting.  I usually don’t realize that she’s taken any pictures until I attach my phone to the computer and I’m asked if I’d like to download all the photos. I think we are going to get our little budding photographer a cheap, but nicer camera than what she has.  The one we got her is impossible to figure out what your looking at, really bad quality photos.  I think that’s why she ends up finding my phone all the time. She loves to take pictures, these are just 3 of the more than 40 that I downloaded recently.  I’m not really sure about the rabbit photo.  I don’t know A. How she got Tinky to sit there or B. if the rabbit just did it on her own regardless I love this picture.

Read those Labels?

How often do you read labels? I mean really read labels? We check to see what size clothes we are looking for, and sometimes the fat, sodium, fiber labels of food. But how often do you check the label of where your food is actually coming from? I shop at Whole Foods and always just blindly assumed that Whole foods always did what was best for me, Naive I know! Recently I saw this video that shocked the holy heck out of me!  Video is below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=JQ31Ljd9T_Y

Below is a link to the Whole Foods response to the above video.

http://blog.wholefoodsmarket.com/whole-foods-market-responds-to-wjla/

After watching this I sprinted, no joke, to my freezer to check out what was hiding there.  Luckily most of my frozen products said product of the USA, but some of them didn’t have a product location at all. But low and behold my frozen broccoli, which I use in my veggie lasagna, had it Product of China.  Into the chicken bin they went.  The ones that were blank I’m not throwing out, but I won’t be buying again unless it has the product location info on it.

Check those labels! Not only do frozen foods come from China, but so does some milk products! Milk is dried and then shipped to the USA where it is packaged for US companies.  I don’t know about you but I prefer my milk to be fresh and it’s not just me I have to think about.

Take care and read those labels who knows if your California blend is even from this country!

Come See Us

Wee will be at the birth and baby fair in San Francisco June 6th.  Here’s a little blurb about the event and where it is.

If you’re new to parenting or expecting a baby, make a note of an upcoming
event — the San Francisco Birth and Baby Fair brings together reps from
pregnancy, birth, parenting and baby related resources for a day of
information, education and shopping. Baby experts — from midwives and
educators, to baby photographers — will be on hand to address your
questions and interests. The Birth and Baby Fair also offers free workshops,
refreshments, and goody bags. Check out baby and maternity clothing,
including items from local designers, most discounted from regular retail
price.

San Francisco Birth & Baby Fair Stats:
Sunday – June 6th – 10a to 5p
at the Fort Mason Center Herbst Pavilion
99 Marina Boulevard
San Francisco, CA 94123
www.BirthandBabyFair.com <http://www.birthandbabyfair.com/>

This will be our first show with birth and baby and we are very excited to be apart of this show, hope to see you out there.

Here are a few of the products that we will have available on that day, we will also be bringing some of our new bedding and hopefully our PJ’s will be ready to go.

These are just a few of the products that we will be bringing. Hope to see you there.

A little something for the boys, I’m hoping that our pirate ship will be ready by the 6th as well.

If your in the area come and visit us, we’ll be there all day!

Up on the Rooftop II

I’m sitting in a coffee house looking out across the street and guess what I see..  Super flat roofs, wasted space basically.  I look at the bakery across the street and think about how cool it would be if they had a roof garden. Once you made your purchase you could venture upstairs to eat your sweet treat and drink your coffee in the fresh air.  Isn’t this space that you are paying for but not really using?  Why not maximize your patrons experience by offering them an extra treat on a sunny day.  In California this would be an almost year round perk.  What about places like Arizona where it’s super hot during the day, wouldn’t it be nice to go to a restaurant when the sun had slipped below the horizon and sit up high where your away from the asphalt and possibly enjoy the breeze that might be blowing in?

Imagine what might happen if business’, apartment buildings or any other large scale building added green roofs to their design.  I don’t know the ins and outs of how to make something like this work, but I know it can be done and that it has been done many times.  So why aren’t more business’ looking into this “real estate”?  Luckily some are.

Check out this restaurant in New York http://www.230-fifth.com/rooftop-garden.php

230 Fifth New York

This  restaurant looks amazing and what a great way to add space, character and a little something extra to your business all while helping reduce carbon and cooling the temp around the city.

One of the biggest perks to the roof top garden is how they help cool the city/town around them.  When large surfs are green/living, they absorb the heat and the suns rays before they have a chance to reach the pavement.  Big deal right, well ya it is.  Have you ever wondered why around 4PM on a day when it’s been hot all day long it seems to get a little hotter when it should be cooling off?  Well heat gets trapped in the asphalt of our streets, roofs and in general all of the hard scape that makes up our urban jungles.  Around 4PM the heat is still being released from all this cement making ground level temperatures still feel like it’s noon w/out a tree.  Roof gardens help absorb the heat that normally gets trapped and uses it to help produce oxygen and grow.

For apartment buildings or other buildings without land space roof gardens would give the occupants/employees a place to enjoy fresh air and explore the joys of gardening.  Now I’m sure most companies don’t want their employees spending a lot of time outside tending to a garden when their is work to be done inside, but everyone should have a break and what if you had 30 employees who spent their 15 min break gardening or just spending time outside.  I might be a little nuts, but I would bet that you would end up with happier more productive employees who really take pride in their company, a company that cares and takes pride in their employees.  I know it’s not always practical since a lot of people where suits to work and gardening in a suit sounds awful, but enjoying the garden could be done in a suit.

Alexander Deppert, Wikipedia Greenroofs.com

This building is pretty extreme looking, but the garden on top is pretty amazing. I actually like how the building looks like rock layers and then the garden sits on top.  There are so many different types of roof gardens from this extreme green to the 230 fifth restaurant (photo above) to almost everything in between.

I think the coolest roof garden business I’ve heard of is from a restaurant in Chicago called Uncommon Ground’s you really should check out their website http://www.uncommonground.com/ This restaurant has their own organic garden on top of their restaurant.  They pick the herbs & veggies that they use in their meals daily from their own garden, talk about using space! This is a picture of their raised planter beds on top of the restaurant.  I’ve heard about other more rural restaurants that have gardens in the yard that supply the food for the restaurant, but this is so much more inventive and what a great use of space.  Here is the link to the info about the roof garden on their site http://www.uncommonground.com/pages/green/24.php

The California Academy of Science recently gave themselves a face lift.  With this lift they also gave themselves an amazing green/living roof !  The whole things is amazing.  I’m hoping to spend this Thursday at the museum, I’ll post some pictures!  But you can check them out at http://www.calacademy.org/

here is a picture from the site, it shows a close up picture of the roof.

I love the idea of a green roofs taking over.  Wouldn’t it be amazing if you were flying and looking out the window all you could see would be different shades of blue and green? Imagine how amazing the air quality would be, all these plants sucking up the CO2 and making oxygen all while keeping our houses cool during the summer and warm during the winter.  I really don’t see a negative side at all.  I’m hoping that we will be able to put a new form of green roof on our house, one that our foundation can support.  If we are able to get this project started I will let you all know, ideas to actually getting it started are always hard.

Just a little extra info

http://www.asla.org/meetings/awards/awds02/chicagocityhall.html Chicago City Hall, green roof

http://www.greenroofs.com/projects/

http://www.wbdg.org/resources/greenroofs.php Really interesting site about the science behind roof gardens.

Bright ideas

I was recently in Costco during the day, normally I go at night.  It was sort of cloudy out but the clouds were moving pretty fast, there is a point to this I promise.  Anyway I was walking through the store and all of a sudden it got dark I mean really dark, I thought the power had gone out.  I looked up and sure enough the lights were out, then I realized that the whole store had skylights placed evenly with all the over head lights.  The power hadn’t gone out, but a cloud had passed over the store.  Costco doesn’t turn on their lights during the day they let the sunlight light the store!  Could you imagine the huge impact if all major stores, that could, starting using natural light in their stores!  Huge savings for them and the Earth.  So Kudos to Costco for thinking outside of the grid!  If you have any other stores like this to share I’d love to hear them!

Also next time your in Costco look up, I’d love to know if the skylights are in all Costco’s!