Join the Green Divas and our friends at Eco-Friendly Printer and take the weekly KNOW YOUR GREEN QUIZ. A new prize awarded every week! Go to our Facebook page find the quiz and weigh in with your answer.  The quiz will run from Saturday to Saturday.  We’ll draw a winner from all the correct answers and announce the winner on our live show on WMTR from 10-11am EST every Saturday.

Congratulations to this week’s winner, Kirby J Pelligrin!

Play along next week.  Check Green Divas facebook page and chime in for a chance to win $50 Gift Certificate from the Eco Friendly Printer!

Next week’s quiz:
What is CNG to the food industry?

a. Council of Native Growers
b. Certified Naturally Grown
c. Consumers Natural Guarantee
d. Council for Nutritional Goodness

WIN A BASKET OF NATURAL SKINCARE PRODUCTS:  To enter the drawing, go to the European Wax Center in Denville and tell them The Green Divas sent you and have a chance to win a wonderful goodie basket.  Call 973.933.4005 and make an appointment for a FREE wax treatment for first-time customers. It’s not just about removing hair, it’s about revealing beautiful skin.

GUEST GREEN DUDE: Reports from Green Dude Paul Miller, Coordinator for the Town of Morristown Office of Sustainability:

• The Green Divas & the Morristown Office Of Sustainability team up for Earth Day Experience 2012: Stay tuned for the next few months to hear about our plans for the April 22 rockin’ Earth Day Experience in Morristown. You will be able to find information on the Sustainable Morristown website. 
• Green Drinks on March 3rd – A social gathering in Morristown to have a fun eco-networking time.
• Morris County Sunday Supper Series on March 25th at the Black Horse Restaurant in Mendham.

SLEEPING NAKED IS GREEN SEGMENT:

This weekly segment is sponsored by Essentia, The Only All Natural Memory Foam Mattress in the World!

Every week we will discuss an entry from this hilarious and totally practical book, Sleeping Naked is Green by Vanessa Farquharson.

Listen to this week’s 5-min segment – SNiG #18 – Shovel Snow by Hand & Use Sand Instead of Salt

Tips for eco-friendly shoveling and de-icing:

SHOVELING

• If you HAVE to use a snow blower, there are electric ones that are a little bit easier on the ozone layer.
• Employ neighborhood kids!
• Take the opportunity to get some exercise (but be cautious if you are out of shape or experience any symptoms of cardiac distress)
• Get out early and often to keep on top of it during a big storm
• Spray the shovel with cooking oil and the snow will slide off and not build up
• Use an ergonomic shovel to minimize back injury
  • Check out this whacky shovel called a snowovel – snow shovel on a wheel.

ICE

Avoid rock salt or Sodium Chloride

• Salt can leach heavy metals and carry them into soil and water supplies
• Salt builds up in the soil like fertilizer
• Salt run off from sidewalks and streets can increase salinity in local bodies of water, causing long-term damage
• Salt residue can inhibit plants from absorbing necessary nutrients and water
• Salt corrodes roads, walkways and vehicles
• Bummer on pets’ paws
• Salt close to roads can attract animals and put them in danger of being hit by a car

Don’t bother with the kitty litter or the fireplace ashes

• They don’t work
• They can contaminate the environment
• They can be kind of messy in the spring (I know from experience)

Use sand if traction is all that is needed

• It won’t melt the ice, but it can help provide some traction w/ minimal environmental impact
• Don’t get nuts as it can clog up sewersIt can be bad for hardwood floors if tracked inside

Be wary of ‘eco-friendly’ de-icers

• Do your homework – great article in Grist.
• Calcium Chloride is a little better than some traditional products, but still not perfect

TAKE TWO (And Call GD Lisa in the Morning): Valentines day

Think Chocolate!!! – a great Valentine’s gift that can be healthy if you choose carefully.

• First, please by fair trade chocolate – Fair Trade is a socially responsible, market-based standard for products made in developing countries, where working conditions and pay may not be regulated and may be considered unfair or unjust to the workers.  It creates better trading conditions, whereby socio-economic and environmental sustainability are a priority and the producers derive a more direct and substantial benefit from their work. Listen to our SNiG segment on fair trade.
• Dark Chocolate has lots of medicinal benefits.
• Make sure you look for chocolate that is sweetened with agave and other natural sweeteners other than processed sugar or corn syrup. Look for chocolate with virgin coconut
• Eat about 3 to 4 oz a day
• It is good for your heart and stimulate your endorphin production
• Chocolate is high in flavenoids which you are the goodies you find in cranberries, apples, onions, tea and red wine
• It can lower blood pressure
• Dark chocolate can lower the bad boy LDL cholesterol by up to 10%
• 1/3 of the fat is the same as olive oil
• 1/3 of the fat had a neutral affect
• 1/3 is the not-so-good fat
• Has 300 compounds and chemicals in each bite
• Eat chocolate with at least 65% cocoa in it
• Improves blood flow to the brain and heart – two very sexy organ
• Green Dude Paul recommend having cocoa nibs on hand, which is a cocoa in its natural raw form for snacking

FEATURED GUEST: Carol Westinghouse, President of Informed Green Solutions

Green Solutions website is all about getting your environment to be clean and healthy, as well to inform people on what things they can do to keep their evnironment clean and healthy.

Indoor Air Quality Committee – Carol began the Envision Program in Vermont geared to get schools and any work place environment safe and green.

Environmental Working Group did a comprehensive study on cleaning products and their hazards.

GREEN DIVAS GOOD TO KNOW STUFF:

•  Support your local economy! Shop eat and invest local
• Certified Naturally Grown, offers farmers certification from growing natural foods. Look for the label CNG.
• SlowFoodnNJ.org – Come to the Slow Food Winter Market on Saturday Feb. 11 at Morristown High School from noon to 2pm.

“Like” us on Facebook and mention G2 Organics to get in the running for G2 product give away!