Fast Facts

Get the quick-and-dirty facts on your real-time environmental impact coupled with a quick tip on what you can do.

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  05-21-2008

  Dodge Phthalates: Skip Synthetic Fragrances

  Hormone-disrupting phthalates have been associated with birth defects and cancer in lab animals.

  What Can You Do?

  Minimize the use of beauty products containing synthetic fragrances, and nail polish, which contain phthalates.

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  02-13-2008

  Be My Green Valentine

  In California alone, roughly 5 million elementary age students will hand out 5 million glossy and glittery valentines to their classmates.

  What Can You Do?

  That's a lot of love, but it's also a lot of paper. Here are a few greener ways for young Kevin to tell young Jane that he thinks she's neat. Keep in mind that your child probably has between twenty and thirty classmates, so the secret is to make it simple.

  • Homemade baked treats are fun, inexpensive and widely appreciated. And no trees are harmed in the process.
  • For take-home valentines, look for printed cardstock you already have lying around at home, like poker decks or baseball cards, that can be reinvented with a little effort. Type up a simple greeting, like "Thanks for being a great friend! Happy Valentine's Day." Copy and paste it thirty times, print it up on a single sheet and cut the printout into fortune cookie size slips of paper. The greeting can then pasted onto a Queen of Hearts or below the grinning image of an unsung sports hero for a funky and original way to express appreciation. Have your child pass them out to his or her friends along with an organic lollipop from Yummy Earth ($7.99/70; yummyearth.com).
  • If a bit of time is on your side, spend a messy evening making homemade paper with the kids (for a recipe for plantable paper, see www.thriftyfun.com). Use a heart-shaped mold and all the kids will have to do when it's dry is fill out "to's" and "from's." Beautiful.

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  Photo courtesy Shutterstock Images

  12-17-2007

  Magnum Force

  The American Association of Wine Economists estimates global greenhouse gas emissions from wine production and distribution to be 5,336,600 tons—roughly the same amount that one million passenger vehicles would emit in a year.

  What Can You Do?

  The good news is that because shipping wine typically involves moving lots of heavy glass filled with some less-heavy wine, the bigger the bottle, the smaller the carbon impact per ounce. On dinner outings with large groups of people, order a 1.5 liter (L) magnum that holds eight glasses rather than two .75 L bottles. Heller Estate's 2002 Organic Cachagua Cabernet Sauvignon ($45/1.5 L) is lovely and affordable for large dinner parties. For a splurge, try their 1997 Organic Signature Release Cabernet Sauvignon ($200/1.5 L) with flavors of ripe berry fruits, jammy cassis and dark chocolate. And if you're really thirsty, you can pick up a 1995 Cabernet Sauvignon in a three-liter bottle for $260 (www.hellerestate.com). The more, the merrier...