Terro Fruit Fly Trap

So we come home from summer vacation to a kitchen full of fruit flies. I thought they would just go away in a few days, but as we filled the veggie and fruit basket on the counter with our farm stand purchases,  they just multiplied!  Clamoring on the cabinet doors and landing on every bit of food I had out was very annoying!  Then I remembered my handy Terro Fruit Fly Trap from the Terro company – a non-toxic, ready-to-use, fast-acting trap that prevents flies from breeding and multiplying.

I just poured the food-based liquid into the trap (which looks like a piece of fruit) and placed it under the cabinet, near the fruit basket (which I emptied) where they were lingering.  Within an hour they were all hanging out on the fake fruit and overnight they were all gone – dove into the trap!  Amazing!

Thank you Terro!  — Green Diva Jen

Jeff will be calling in tonight on the Green Divas Radio Hour to update us on his travels, talk about his book and of course talk with us about how cheap being green is.

Tune in and turn on a friend!
Thursday, July 15, 2010
7 – 8pm EST
HomeGrownRadioNJ.org

Benjamin with Peat the Penguin

Meet a new green toy and book brand called the GREENZYS that’s arriving just in time for the 40^th anniversary of Earth Day – which is Thursday, April 22, 2010. The creation of New Jersey (Mahwah) homemaker and mother of two, Lisa Keyser, the GREENZYS are an eco-friendly, literary-based brand of high quality books and toys geared towards preschool aged children

The Green Divas will be interviewing Ms. Keyser on their annual Earth Day radio show on April 15th from 7-8 PM EDT at HomegrownRadioNJ.org

The plush toys promote green living and teach eco-friendly practices to youngsters through heartwarming stories and endearing plush toys that are both environmentally safe and fun.  They are made in socially responsible factories from soy fibers and non-toxic dyes with packaging made from recycled paperboard.

“The Greenzys” book is a heartwarming tale that teaches the concept of environmental conservation, or “green” living.  Characters include Peat the Penguin, an ardent supporter of recycling, reusing and reducing and Willow the Elephant who collects rainwater for her plants and uses her trunk as a water hose.  The book and toys debuted in FAO Schwartz and on FAO.com April 5.

Another environmental bonus and in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, for every GREENZYS purchase made between April 5 and December 31, the Arbor Day Foundation will plant one tree in our nation’s forests.

For more information about the book, go to thegreenzys.com

Twenty plus years ago I moved to Austin Texas.  Almost immediately I gave up my New Jersey hair spray and bought myself a pair of Birkenstocks.  I worked at a small coffee shop and rode my bicycle to work.  I was a supporter of the hippie feel, and laid back lifestyle.

Then arrived my first child, and along with her a minivan and a multitude of equipment.  Still wore the Birkenstocks, but my lifestyle changed.

Forgive me Mother Earth for I have sinned.  I have over the years been guilty of using paper towels, paper plates, and store bought diapers.

The convenience has been too tempting for me to resist.

Now that I am at the age where all of my children are out of diapers and I am not yet in them, I have become a more aware of what is going on outside of my own little universe.

I remember a commercial back in the 1970’s that showed a Native American by the side of a littered highway, he looked on in disgust as the collective “we” have soiled his land.  A small tear falls from his eye.

That campaign was so successful that recently when my sixteen-year-old daughter was driving and the car in front of her threw a plastic bag out of their window she was appalled. She honked her horn, and when the offenders did not react, my daughter did.  She pulled over, got out of the car and picked up the trash herself.

So how come everything else about going green seems so difficult?

I want to help the earth be around for a few more millennia.  Barring the Aztecs are wrong, and no immediate asteroid is on its way for a visit.

I began doing some research.  With the help of a friend and my fiscally responsible brother we, as a family have made some changes.

I have replaced most light bulbs in the house.  We no longer buy paper towels.  And most recently we have become champions of unplugging.  Anything that holds a charge gets completely unplugged when not in use. 

I try to buy organic fruit, but always balk at the price.

My neighbors have compost, and I have looked into making one myself, but does that truly make a difference? 

I am fortunate that I live in a city where we have curbside recycling. Each house was given a very large bright blue bin with wheels (were they recycled themselves?).  This bin hold two weeks worth of paper, plastic, glass, cans, anything with the numbers one through eight on it inside the little triangle.  No sorting, no washing.  Throw it in, and voila!  Be a good citizen.

There are certain “green” things I absolutely will not do.  I will not now, or hopefully ever use an item called a Diva Cup for my monthly flow.  I am nowhere near that evolved.

It is a fact that my thumb is black.  I can’t grow anything.  I have tried.  I am not much of a cook to begin with, planting my own garden would be pointless.  I have no more idea what to do with rosemary than admire the smell.

I shop at thrift stores, out of necessity rather than consciousness.

When Al Gore’s movie, An Inconvenient Truth, came out I watched it waiting with anticipation to see what changes I can make at home.  I was saddened with each new scene of Big Al getting on his private jet.  At least I waste fuel in economy.

More disappointing was the only suggestions made were during the credits.

I am taking baby step, starting with Birkenstocks, and maybe someday ending with making my own soup stock.

What about standards for all the great stuff we find on sites like AlternativeConsumer.com, FeelGoodStyle.com and of course TheGreenDivas.com? What about clothing manufacturing, which by the way is traditionally a pretty harsh industry on the environment? What about other textile products, great sustainably-designed kitchen gadgets, and what about all those awesome accessories - eco-bags/purses, belts, jewelry, shoes!?!

I found one promising standard system . . .
BuyGreen.com seems to have a rating system that works. It is a flexible system and offers an opportunity to become more educated about certain types of products and their inherent characteristics in terms of their basic product life cycle. It also seems to work well across a diverse range of products from clothing, to toys and yes, accessories! They even offer office products.

The four main categories are designed to rate a product from ‘cradle to grave’ and represent a product’s basic lifecycle. The categories used are: source material, manufacturing, use, and disposal. Every product offered on their website uses a rating box, which has all four of these categories represented by an icon. If the product meets or exceeds that categories requirements, it will be displayed in color. If not, it is there, but in grey.

There is also a number rating for overall green attributes 1 – not so many: 100 – lots of good green attributes.

You can see an example of this in the image in this post. Note that this hemp blouse has a fairly good rating. The ‘use’ icon is not highlighted. Not really sure what that is about exactly. But, if you want to learn more, you can go to their informative standards page and understand what their rationale is.

I’ve seen some very rudimentary attempts to rate products, but this one is by far the most detailed and perhaps most useful one I’ve come across. Go BuyGreen.com!

eat. blog. be merry!
GD Meg

We’ll have a ‘Guest Green Diva’ on this week too! The talented author and journalist, Lorraine Ash will be sitting in with yours truly as Green Diva Jen will be out this week.

You’ll hear about Lorraine’s most recent green adventure as she did research for her latest feature, Morris County’s Green Scene, in Real Morris magazine. We’ll talk about Lorraine’s newest book, Life Touches Life.

Lorraine and I will both talk to Ed and find out what the latest is on his TV Show, Living with Ed, his book, websites, acting gigs, speaking gigs (ala GreenFest last weekend here in NJ).

Thursday, April 9, 2009
7 – 8pm EST
HomeGrownRadioNJ.org

Don’t forget you can IM us with questions for Ed and/or Lorraine during the interview! See the HomeGrownRadioNJ.org website for the various IM services available.

Or please feel free to send questions in advance via comment here! Please let us know at least your first name and where you are from and we’ll be sure to mention you on the air.

Until then,

eat. blog. be merry!
GD Meg

We still have the wonderful Sara Snow too! So, it will be a green super hero hour on the Green Divas Radio Show!

So, please tune in, click on, listen up . . .

TONIGHT
7 – 8pm EST
HomeGrownRadioNJ.org

Don’t forget you can IM us with questions for Ed and/or Sara during the interview! See the HomeGrownRadioNJ.org website for the various IM services available.

Until then,

eat. blog. be merry!
GD Meg

The Green Divas will be chatting with Sara Snow, Ms. Green Lifestyle herself. Having hosted a couple of shows on Discovery Network and being a green lifestyle columnist for treehugger.com, Sara now has her own book, Sara Snow’s Fresh Living: The Essential Room-by-Room guide to a Greener, Healthier Family and Home.

The book is a wonderfully easy and quick guide to simple things you can do to go green at home. It literally goes room-by-room and then ventures out beyond the four walls with some great advice.

Sara will offer listeners some ideas of ways to get started ‘going green’ at home or ways to go a deeper shade of green.

So, please tune in, click on, listen up . . .

This Thursday, April 2, 2009
7 – 8pm EST
HomeGrownRadioNJ.org

Don’t forget you can IM us with questions for Sara during the interview! See the HomeGrownRadioNJ.org website for the various IM services available.

Until then,

eat. blog. be merry!
GD Meg

ecomii co-founders, Colton & Tushar

You back yet?

Until then,