Yes, we had a fun show nibbling on Crunchies, healthy, freeze-dried, gluten and sugar-free snacks. 

Happy Earth Week Green Divas & Dudes! This weeks show was full of ideas for ways to appreciate mama earth — for Earth Day and every day. We learned a LOT about cork — what a great resource and why we should protect the cork forests from Patrick Spencer, director of Cork Forest Conservation Alliance, and of course GD Mizar’s DIY segment was on upcycling wine corks into adorable wine glass charms! Always fun when Elise Jones from NBC’s Green is Universal calls in — Elise talked about the new Earth Day Share and Tell campaign. Keep reading to find out more!

and/or listen to the podcast of this fun Earth Day Green Divas Radio Show!

Special GD Correspondent Report: Elise Jones

Elise Jones told us all about NBC’s Green is Universal‘s new Earth Day initiative, Share and Tell. Join, post, swap and get all kinds of goodies. Green is Universal has partnered with yerdle, a new online platform that helps you share stuff with your friends. Many of NBC’s networks and shows have created yerdle swap pages (primarily on Facebook). Check out some of the fun things on pages for Access Hollywood, Bravo, CNBC and many others. Fun Earth Week activity!

Green Dude: Eco-Ed Schwartz

BE PART OF THE GREEN DIVAS (AND DUDES) EARTH DAY EVERY DAY VIDEO!

Eco Ed always has great ideas, but he spontaneously erupted with this one on the air and we LOVE it! We really wan to know what YOU are doing this Earth Day, so why not send us a 10-second video either telling us or showing us what you are doing to celebrate mama earth this Earth Day and how you will do it throughout the year. We will compile a fun video and you will be a green diva or green dude star!

Here are just a few ideas, but we know you all can get pretty creative . . . 

1. Unplug: this Earth Day try to put down the phone, the laptop, the iPad, and the remote and go outside. Be with nature in some way, read a book, or play with kids.

2. Do one simple thing: whether its changing your light bulbs, planting one herb pot, or doing meatless monday. You don’t need to make a hundred drastic changes, just do one meaningful thing.

3. Get local: try getting your local schools involved in doing something for the environment or sign up for a local clean up project for trails and waterways. (Eco-Ed loves river clean ups!)

4. Have fun: Earth Day is a great excuse to get outside and hang out with your family and nature. Eat a healthy meal, play a board game or a card game (not video games) with the family, dance to awesome music, try to do some yoga outside — anything you want!

Listen to this special Earth Day segment, get some ideas and send us your ideas, pictures and videos to our Green Divas Radio Show facebook page! C’mon it’ll be fun!

GD Mizar’s DIY: Re-Purposing Cork

Green Diva Mizar went craft crazy this week, making garden markers with old wine corks — during the show! This week, GD Mizar used her giant supply of corks from wine bottles to create wine charms. There is just so much you can do with cork — key chains, earrings, place settings, cork boards, place mats, flooring (the list is truly endless!).

GD Mizar’s DIY on upcycling cork for step-by-step instructions on how to make the wine charms from wine corks and learn more about how cork is produced.

Listen to this fun podcast of Green Diva Mizar DIY on upcycling cork segment!

Feature Interview: Patrick Spencer

This week, Patrick Spencer, director of the Cork Forest Conservation Alliance, called in to tell us a LOT that we really didn’t know about cork and why we should care about the cork forests. There are many misconceptions about cork. For instance, many folks assume that cork is a limited resource, requiring trees to be cut down and therefore, they would choose screw tops or plastic tops rather than wine sealed with cork. However, cork trees are NOT cut down. The bark is removed without harming the tree it regenerates every 9 years! How awesome is that?

Cork trees take up 7 million acres in the Mediterranean, and they are instrumental in keeping the area from becoming desert. 90% of the forests are owned by individual families who have been producing cork for generations.

Patrick heads up the Cork ReHarvest initiative, which is leading the way in cork recycling. Cork ReHarvest partners with food stores like Whole Foods Market to encourage and help people recycle their corks through cork dispensaries at their stores and various outlets. This campaign has collected 14 million natural wine corks so far! Once recycled, the corks are used for commercial products like kitchen items, furniture, or floor tiles. Some wine corks are ground up with newspaper and molded into biodegradable shipping materials.

To help raise awareness about cork, Patrick and the CFCA is developing a super creative traveling art campaign that features a sculpture made entirely from cork and includes an interactive QR code. They have an Indiegogo campaign to help raise money. Please check out the fun video for the QR Cork Art Cube Project, and consider a donation! 

Please listen to the podcast of this great Earth Day Green Divas Radio Show!