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Showing off my age here a little bit, but man do I love this song. When I was little, my buds, my cousin, and my brother would do our own band aid version, i.e badly, but fun. I included the lyrics/tab.
-Merry Christmas from the GreenDimes Team
Green Career Spotlight These Green Thoughts 
It gets me excited. So what I want to do is write a weekly post that spotlights green careers. High tech, low-tech, it doesn ‘t matter. For example, a really good friend of mine is a wind salesman. Didn’t even know there was such a thing. So if you know or come across an interesting green career, let me know about it. Guest bloggers are more than welcome to submit.
Have a wonderful holiday,
Sanjiv
We love Treehugger.com (right, Sanj?), and we love the holidays- so below I have shared their last few tips to get us through the week. I hope you are all done with your shopping, have arrived safely to your destinations, are with your families and geared-up for a great last week of the holiday season 2007.
- Holiday cards bought in one year would fill a football field 10 stories high! If each of us sent out one fewer card, that huge mound would be reduced by a full story, saving over 50,000 cubic yards of paper.
- Local postmasters tell us that up to 20% of all mail is incorrectly addressed or otherwise undeliverable. Save time, money and resources by updating and paring down your list.
- Having a party? Turn down the heat before guests arrive. Their extra body heat will help warm the room.
- Reuse packaging cartons and shippings materials. Old newspaper makes for excellent packing, too. Shred some at work and bring it home, if you can.
Hugging trees in Colorado,
Kendra
Here's one way to recycle...or did they drink all that just for the tree?
Happy Holidays! -Sanjiv
Green Holiday Rush Guide
No, I’m not talking about telecommuting your Christmas toast or “family-styling”
your silverware. No, these are easy green tips for Christmas:
Shop Last Minute online. Check out Discovery Channel’s website treehugger.com. Specifically their Holiday Guide’s Top Green Gifts for 2007 (shh, we’re in there)
Inflate those tires! It’s a biggie:
[Christmas is a big travel day] X [properly inflated tires] = [tons of saved gas] (that’s a multi-variable Calculus education people)
Carpool. Yeah, he’s annoying, but pick up Uncle Lester on the way. You can give him a jigsaw puzzle in the backseat and every time he’s about to finish, veer into warning bumps in the break-down lane.
Eat organic, buy local, reuse grocery bags. I know, ham-flavored pesticides are hip new Christmas trend, but stick with the organic stuff.
Use cloth v paper napkins – Do you really want a see-thru paper napkin over Uncle Lester’s lap when he decides his belly needs a little “breathing room”
Play. In general, the more you’re outside sledding, the less energy you’re using inside watching the big screen.
Have your own Macy’s Christmas Parade! Okay, now I’m being silly.
Now for those who say, “hey, that
sounded like your Easy Green
Thanksgiving Tips post” um, it is. But
sacrifices have to be made for our new GreenDimers, folks.
Happy Holidays, (you too, DMA)
-Sanjiv
A que hora es? Oh yeah 2 yrs of Spanish
Sustainable Harvests, our other tree-planting partner would like to thank you fellow GreenDimers for all your support this past year. They are doing some amazing things in Central American rain forests. Here are some their highlights in addition to the millions of trees they planted.
-Converted 6,000 acres to sustainable uses, ergo saving 30,000 acres from slash-and-burn destruction.
-Improved nutrition through more than 200 organic vegetable gardens.
-Increased farm income up to 800%.
-Built 165 wood-conserving stoves (saving 1,650 trees per year)
What caught my eye were the wood-burning stoves. Apparently people were using open fire places in their homes breathing smoke fumes equals to 8 packs of cigs a day. The pic is a lorena stove provided by Sustainable Harvests for cooking and heating while the smoke is funneled out of a chimney. Very cool solution.
Thanks GreenDimers and Happy Holidays,
-Sanjiv
No fancy shmansy holiday party for us, no way.
We have waaaay more fun than that. So last night, in lieu of a proper, sit-down dinner Team GreenDimes hit the alley. Yep, the bowling alley was the site of our holiday bash. And what a time it was...
3 teams, one prize. Oh, the glory of it all! Leopard bowling shirts abound- it was Justin, Andrea, Luna and Daphne who took the trophy- with Ted, Pankaj, Sanjiv and myself not far behind. Hey, I can hold my own (115).
I have one unrelated, but burning question though: why do they serve 'finger food' at a bowling alley? And is this why I have a cold from hell hitting me like a ton of bricks this morning?
Anyway, from our family to yours- Happy Holidays, Happy Days.
-Kendra
Sanj's Top 5
Phew…I made the cut…barely. Here’s what’s great about our blog. We give weekly features like the oddest eco-odditities, the most horrific junk mail horror stories, and in depth tree bark analysis. (no, but good tree content)
4. sundance ecommunity - myspace.com/ourplanet
This has nothing to do with our partnerships at all. Nope… seriously, these are killer sites with cool impact maps and hip green videos.
I love how you scroll down and can choose from 15 green articles/videos… a day.
2. NPR.org
Well, actually I listen to them on the radio every day, and they always give great analysis on some green topic in their ”Climate Connections” feature, so I’m guessing the green section on the site is just as good.
1. AskPablo.org
He’s a little heady, but if you ever wondered “what’s better for the environment, A or B”, this sustainability engineer is ready to answer. It’s B.
Kendra's Top 5
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5. Grist.org
Fresh content latest environmental news and interesting/ relevant blog
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Hosted by National Geographic, which I love, and full of great info and tips, nice blogs (7- each with their own blogger and topic)
*
3. cuesa.org
Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture- housed in the Ferry Building in downtown San Francisco, CUESA goes far and wide to promote farmers markets and green eating. There are great recipes and a season chart for all of your produce-buying needs!
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2. greenbiz.com
Love business, love green
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Fascinating look into the lives of a family living a ‘no impact’ lifestyle in NYC of all places. Great tips, interesting conversation and soon to be a movie!
Can you draw in the faces?
Leave it to the Grist.org to steal my idea. I was going to do an unbiased write-up of all the candidates and their positions on the environment. Leave it to the Grist to take my idea to interview every Republican and Democrat, research their positions and records, create easy-to-read charts and videos and drop down menus...
And leave it to me to steal their link.
Vote for favorite piece of junk mail. Aw weird, no replies.
-Sanjiv
From one blog-ette to another, this girl has got it going on.
A co-worker- our GM Dan, who you have all met in one post or another- sent us a link to Laura's blog, and encouraged us to all have a look at what she is up to. And if I do say so myself, she is certainly on to something here.
Laura is a little girl who set out to do little things... and it has turned into a BIG deal. It's similar to our thinking here at GreenDimes- if everyone does small (and good) things in their own everyday life, these things add up and have a large impact in the world.
Laura has given us a great example of this- and is doing something to 'make a difference' each day for 25 days (Dec. 1-25). Click here to read her blog, gather ideas and put together a plan of your own! I am, at least for today, going to do something that is going to make a difference. Don't know what it is yet, but I'll keep ya posted:) You should do the same. And don't forget to come back and tell us about it.
www.twentyfivedays.wordpress.com
Enjoy,
Kendra
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