A fellow member of Sustainalane introduced me to Merill’s All-Natural Compost Tea. Sustainalane is a community-powered directory of green products and businesses. Anyone can create a profile and contribute to the ever-growing directory.  

This is not the first time I’ve heard of “compost tea,” but Merill’s is all organic and can be delivered right to your door. 

 “Compost Tea is an organic, nutritionally rich, highly-concentrated liquid extract made by steeping aged compost in water. When the tea is made with well-balanced, aged, premium-quality compost, it is alive and teaming with healthy microorganisms and nutrients your soil and plants crave. The tea can be used in place of water when watering your plants, either as a root drench or directly on the foliage. The nutrient-rich tea is readily absorbed into the roots and foliage of your plants for almost immediate results!” 

Another green company, TerraCycle, produces Worm Tea. They even re-use old plastic soda bottles as packaging for the product. The idea for the company was conceived by two students from Princeton University. The young students began by reprocessing solid waste from the university’s dining halls and by the end of their summer experiment they had reduced the time it took to recycle waste from 1 year to 14 days. 

How did they do it? Vermiculture! TerraCycle manufactures all-natural garden fertilizer by feeding organic waste to worms and bottling the resulting worm poop compost tea as ready-to use plant food.  The plant food can be sprayed directly onto houseplants, gardens and lawns. It can even be distributed through irrigation facilities for mass agricultural use. 

 “TerraCycle’s products are environmentally beneficial, from production to application.” 

TerraCycle collects the used soda bottles it uses for packaging by organizing environmental fundraisers at elementary schools. The schools conduct a 3-week event where thy collect 20 oz. used plastic bottles.   

This once little company has gotten a lot of media coverage recently, proving that a little GREEN can go a long way.  To buy TerraCycle: Store Locator, Purchase Online 

 Good friends of mine are moving from sunny Florida to my old stomping grounds, Michigan. They will be driving with two very large cats and will stopping at least once along the way. Finding hotels that welcome pets can sometimes be quite a challenge. Thankfully, they have planned ahead and shared their little tip with me. 

 If you will be traveling cross-country this summer with your pets check out Petswelcome.com. They provide a service that allows you to search for pet-friendly lodging just by entering your address and the address of your final destination. You can even specify how far of the main roads you’re willing to venture. Whether you’re looking for a hotel, bed & breakfast, or a cabin in the woods, chances are they can help you find it. 

Their complete list of pet-friendly lodgings is also organized by major city. Two new sections, titled Big Dogs and Cool Cats, have just been added. Not all pet-friendly lodgings allow big dogs or cats, so make sure you check with the staff beforehand so you know what to expect.  You can read comments about the listings left by other traveling pet owners. The database includes US and international lodgings. 

Need an emergency vet while on the road? Petswelcome.com can help. A useful list of emergency veterinarians organized by state is available for free on their site.

 What are your tips for traveling with Fido and Fluffy?

 Yesterday I wrote about New York’s campaign against disposable single-serving water bottles that encourages New Yorkers to drink more tap water.  I thought it would be fun to cover some of the alternative reusable water bottles on the market today. Many of them are quite trendy, as well as GREEN. 

 I’m not a plastic girl. Lately there’s been a lot of concern over Lexan plastic water bottles (Polycarbonate #7) leaching harmful chemicals into the container’s contents. Not to mention, plastic often makes your water taste a little funny. This green chick prefers stainless steel. All you taste is good, clean water, not plastic. Glass is better than plastic, but not always the best for traveling and everyday running around. Many brands are also making aluminum lined bottles.  

One of my favorite brands is SIGG. They have practically a million different designs and you can usually find them at a good price. If you’re looking to make a statement, they have some beautiful designs. MySigg has 144 different SIGG bottles to choose from.  I like the ones with the metal hook, or the screw top design. You can use a carabineer to hook it to your backpack or reusable shopping bag. While your their check out the fun Aluminum Boxes. They have a food-safe coating, and a rubber leak-proof seal.   

Klean Kanteen also makes a stainless steel water bottle. They even have a cool sippy cup adapter for children. Reusablebags.com is currently running a sale on the 27oz. Kanteen. (They also carry SIGG bottles.) When you order from Reusablebags.com you receive a cool sticker that says “plastic bags blow.” How cool is that? 

 If you prefer aluminum try Zefal. Amazon has one for only $7.99. I really don’t know much about the aluminum bottles, or the Zefal brand.    

Need a little more motivation? Chris at LightStep.com lists 5 reasons not to drink single-serving bottled water. 

 My current water bottle crush:

 Fun Tip: Make your own reusable shopping bag with this easy pattern. Feel free to leave your own water bottle tip!

 

This week NPR (the only place for real news in my opinion) covered a new campaign in New York urging the city to drink more tap water and say no to the bottled stuff. 

 According to the City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden, NY paid top dollar for the city’s water system. The municipal water supply is safe, but many New Yorkers come from places where it may be unsafe to drink the water. Many American’s generally are just not as used to getting water from the tap anymore.   (more…)

 

Most consumer goods nowadays are way over packaged, making it difficult for those of us that keep a close eye on our household garbage production.  A good way to curb some of the plastic and paper packaging is to buy in bulk when it makes sense. Select larger quantities in a single bag or box. Packaging waste makes up ½ of all U.S. municipal solid waste by volume. I have not yet found the hard data, but I have read the claim that more of our food bill pays for packaging than actually goes to the food producers (farmers).  (more…)

 

When Mother Earth creates havoc it’s important to be prepared. This month’s addition of Pet Product News had some really great information on pet preparedness in case of a natural disaster or other emergency situation. Hurricane Katrina left millions of pets and pet owners in serious trouble when they had to evacuate. The article made some really good points and strongly suggests having a pet survival kit. Hurricane season is coming to a head in certain parts of the country and Texas is experiencing severe flooding.  Other disasters, such as fires and chemical spills should be taken into consideration.   (more…)