The best thing about sustainable green practices now is that so many companies in different industries practice it. This includes the beer, wine and spirits industry, of which well are featuring a few.

New Belgium Brewing Company (Fort Collins, CO)

The first wind powered brewery in the United States, New Belgium Brewing promotes beer culture, world-class beer and responsible ways to enjoy beer. Born through the adventures of a boy on a bike, New Belgium Brewing exclusively made and brought Fat Tire to the public. As a sustainable brewery, they make sure that they are alternatively empowered.

Being alternatively empowered means increased efficiencies in the brewing process, a utilized green design in the entire building, an improved wastewater treatment process, sustainable eventing, actionable advocacy and supporting innovative technology. So, remember when you buy a Fat Tire on bottle or tap, you are supporting all these sustainable activities.

The Winery (New York, NY)

The Winery is a specialty wine store located in South Harlem in New York, that focuses on promoting and selling small-production boutique wines. They proudly offer quality wines from producers who give particular respect and care to nature and the environment. They also try to support local production and non-profit communities as much as possible.

Death’s Door Spirits (Washington Island, Door County WI)

Vodka and gin are their specialties, and they believe that great spirits only come from good practices, and that’s exactly what they do. All their ingredients are herbicide- and pesticide-free. All ingredients are sustainably grown on Washington Island or sourced as locally as possible.

Frey Organic (Mendocino County, CA)

Operating since 1980, Frey Organics is America’s first organic winery. For 30 years, Frey Organic has practiced consistent sustainable ways, including organic and biodynamic grape growing, biodynamic farming, organic gardening, and more. Supporting Frey Organic not only means supporting an organic and sustainable winery. You also support a green and sustainable Mendocino County.

Hall Wines (Napa Valley, CA)

Besides delivering some of the best wines in Napa Valley, Hall Wines is also California’s First Winery to achieve a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold Certification. To achieve this prestigious certification, they made sure to include sustainable design elements, such as radiant floors for precision wine-making and maximum energy efficiency, solar panels and solar energy, local materials (sourced within 500 meters from the winery), recycled building materials and water conservation.

Next time you drink a glass of beer, wine or spirits, find out if they practice sustainable green practices. You might be surprised to find out that they actually do.

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For a lot of us, we have dedicated ourselves to living a green life at home. But what about outside the home? What about at work? Is it easy to translate the same dedication to a green life at the office or at work?

Redefine commuting

Let’s face it. Bringing your own car has more cons than pros. You need to worry about traffic, gas, tolls, parking spaces, parking availability and parking fees, among others. Consider carpooling with your friends or officemates. If your city has a great public transportation system, consider taking the bus or train going to work. You could walk or take your bike to work.

Telecommuting

Another option to avoid even being on the road, if you don’t have to, is telecommuting. Work from home instead of the office. Commute to the office only if you have to but limit it to just some days in a week. You can maximize email, instant messaging and video conferencing to communicate with your other co-workers at work without having to leave the house.

Computers and other office equipment

Be sure to activate your computer’s energy-saver settings. When leaving for the day, don’t just press standby and shut down your computer. Make sure to unplug other equipment (including printer, scanner, etc) when not in use, as they contribute to power wastage when plugged but unused.

Green Materials

Use only recycled materials for papers and envelopes. There are also recycled pencils and refillable pens and markers available for use. Better yet, go paperless and keep communication online. Reading memos and reports online, instead of printing, saves paper and space, by eliminating file cabinets.

Break Time

Bring your own lunch to work in reusable containers. It’s cheaper and eliminates or minimizes packaging waste. Bring your own tumbler to work, too, where you can pour in water, your coffee or juice. You don’t have to stay inside with your lunch, though. Go outside and walk to the park or nearby benches and have your lunch there. It’ll be good to breathe in the outside air and will re-energize you through the rest of your workday.

Influence Others

Encourage your co-workers, family and friends to join you in living a green life. It’ll be more fun to share this lifestyle with other people. And it’ll be more fun for the environment.

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Let’s start the year the green way. Here are some green tips for different parts of your life.

Spring Cleaning

Remove all the clutter. Go through drawers, cabinets, inside the closets, the garage, attic and everywhere you can think of. Start going through all your things one by one. It will take some time to get through all this, so be sure to set aside time for this activity. Or better yet, get the help of a family member or a friend. Create separate piles for things you’ll never use, things you can reuse and things you can donate or recycle.

Spring Break

Plan the ultimate road trip and avoid flying to your destination. Travel with family or friends to take advantage of the car’s space. Be sure to stay at a green hotel with good ratings. Or stay at a rental house with lots of other friends. You’ll save money and have more fun! Support local establishments. Eat local and buy local. And always remember to dispose trash properly and recycle.

Dating

How to find someone who shares your green ideals? Try online green dating sites like Green Singles or Green Passion. Or volunteer at your local environmental organization to meet other like-minded people. Take them to green restaurants or restaurants that serve locally-sourced food. Or make your own food and plan a picnic. Cook food for your date using locally-sourced food and organic alcohol.

Work From Home

Choose an area in your place that will give you no distractions and allow you to be very productive. Determine what kind of desk you’ll need, if you need lots of drawers or a wide space or a foldable one. Be sure to do your research and invest in desks made of sustainable wood. And make sure your chair is ergonomic and has good lumbar support designed to go easy on your posture and muscles. Before buying office supplies, check your place first for supplies you already may have to avoid overstocking.

Workout

You don’t need to join a gym to work out. You can do it at your own home. Do lunges and squats while watching your favorite shows on TV. Lift weights while watching the news. If you want to go out, go running or biking outside. Encourage other people to join your workouts. And don’t forget to go green with the equipment you use. Buy used bikes and/or weights, eco-friendly yoga mats.

Next time, we’ll discuss how to apply green tips in your life.

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The holiday season might have passed, but being green is great all year round. I found these gifts at thegreenguide.com:

• Portable Solar Charger – At prices thar hover around $20, portable solar chargers are affordable, yet highly effective, green gifts. The newest Solar Style SC002 Solar Charger comes in lavender or silver, weighs just 131 grams, and has an output voltage of 3.6 or 5.5 volts. This charger has a built-in battery with enough power to charge most cell phones, MP3 players, and digital cameras, yet it can fit easily in a pocket. It is ideal for emergency kits and extended travel without power supplies.
• Coffee sleeves – In the movie Made of Honor it was said that the character Tom Bailey invented coffee sleeves and was able to make his living off of it. I wish they hadn’t been invented, because they are yet another paper product to add to the list. Know a coffee lover? You can save them from using the coffee sleeves that they trash by purchasing a durable one. To make the gift more personal, you could even make it yourself!
• The Gift of Charity? – At charitygiftcertificates.org, you can purchase “gift cards” to give to friends that allow them to pick a charity to donate whatever amount that you put on the card to a charity of their choice. It’s a new concept, giving money that will strictly be used for charity purpose. You can pre-select a charity, too. Why not pick one that works toward saving our environment?
• Paper Recycling Factory – The paper recycling factory teaches children how to use waste paper to create greetings cards, note pads, and other paper supplies. It’s a fun gift that gets kids excited about taking steps to reduce waste. At about $30, it is one of the more pricey items on the list.

For these gifts, waiting until the next holiday season or until a recipient’s birthday just isn’t logical. If you see a green gift that you or a friend will use, go out and get it, because the environment is always in need of some help.

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Now, this is interesting. Go Green Fitness in Orange, CT, uses the people in the gym to generate their power. That is right, this new gym at 500 Boston Post Road features a room with 24 exercise bikes where riders pedal during spin class and generate electricity that is used to power the building. It opened a over a month ago and has been a successful business thus far.

While people pedal, they can see how much energy they are producing in watts. How does this energy convert itself into a useful source of power? Well, the watts from all of the pedaling travel to a converter box in the back of the room. This box then routes the energy into the building’s electric meter. From the electric meter, the power is split between the various businesses.  The amount of energy that this gym produces due to the spin class has been estimated by the owner himself to meet up to 72 percent of their electricity demand. I think that their logo, “Powered by the People” suits this company very well!

Of course, making their own energy is something to brag about, but apparently the gym even looks beyond amazing. For instance, the spin class is able to watch a flat-screen television that shows images of nature throughout each class. There are also LED lights that change color in the rooms. Look at that, they are even using LEDs to be resourceful. It is also a clean and healthy gym–especially with floors and walls that are intended to be as hypo-allergenic and clean as possible. Not only this, but the walls are coated with antibacterial paint.

Kravitz, the owner, definitely did a good job incorporating the spin class into a great investment for the company.

If you think he sounds interesting, I read an article from December 8th that stated “Kravitz is seeking to hire spin instructors and plans to grow the business to include nutritional counseling, personal training and other services. He also hopes to grow Go Green Fitness into a franchise.”

I think it is interesting that more gyms are not doing this. However, I won’t be surprised in a few years from now if I see that every gym starts doing what Kravitz did to lower energy bills.

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This holiday, why not challenge yourself to reduce the amount of wrapping supplies you buy? With a bit of creativity, you quickly can find innovative ways to wrap just about any gift. My sister got me thinking about this idea already, as we already have exchanged gifts for Dutch Christmas on December 5th. She surprised me with her idea of gift wrapping (pictured). The trash bin was filled with gifts, and indeed, the trash bin and the scarf around it were gifts as well. (I’ll be going to college next year, so she figured she would give me a head start on my dorm decor.) Here are a few green gift wrapping ideas:

• Make the gift part of the wrapping. A trash can might not be the best way to go unless you have  a college dorm or Oscar the Grouch theme going on. However, there are other gifts that could do the trick: a fleece blanket wrapped around some pajamas or a watering can filled with gardening tools. Top it off with a scarf, and it can become quite the package.
• Buy blooming wrapping paper.  Blooming wrapping paper is a gift in itself. The paper is embedded with wildflower seeds. After its job has been served, this gift wrap can be planted directly into the dirt.
• Add a compact fluorescent bulb instead of a bow. It’s quirky. Yes. But effective? Yes.
• If you can’t think of anything else, newspaper makes excellent green wrapping paper. To avoid making newspaper look like just a cheap wrapping paper alternative, pick sections that the receiver enjoys, comics usually work well, or get creative with some magazine clippings.
• Save all the bags and bows when all is said and done. With a bit of double sided tape, a used bow is as good as new. Even large pieces of gift wrap can be saved for smaller gifts in upcoming years.

Why not make it a challenge among your family members to see who has the greenest and most creative wrapping? See what you can do; you will be proud of the results.

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Every year, we worry about what presents to give to our family, friends, and all the people in our lives. And every year, we worry about how we’ll be able to afford it all. This year, why not make it affordable, easier and more personal? How about eco-friendly, DIY Christmas gifts? Here are some ideas:

1. Aprons – great gifts for the people who love to cook. Make it more personal by stitching a name on it or even a title showing off individual specialties.

2. Homemade Pastries - everybody loves food and always will appreciate a gift of homemade cookies or cake or other pastries. I remember every year, I always looked forward to my neighbor’s Christmas gift, which was chocolate chip cookies. Best cookies I’ve ever tasted!

3. Bookmarkers - this gift works especially for all the book lovers out there. They sometimes read several books at a time. And they’re gonna need something to mark the places they left off in all the books they’re reading.

4. Bath Oils – women will especially love this gift. Just combine 1 bottle of organic olive oil with 1 tablespoon of castille soap, and pour in a bottle or jar. Add a fragrant essential oil of your choice one drop at a time. You also can add some dried herbs inside for decoration.

5. Christmas Coupons - this will work especially well for kids giving it to their parents or couples to each other. Include coupons for taking out the trash, cooking, a hug, massage, cleaning the house, walking the dog, a kiss or any other activity you can think of. Be sure to hold your end of the bargain when coupons are redeemed.

There’s still a lot of other ideas you can use for an eco-friendly Christmas gift. The trick really is to be creative and imaginative. Don’t hold back. But always keep the recipient in mind when making gifts because what you like may not be necessarily something they want to get.

Good luck!

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Need some boxes for moving, shipping, or storage? What ABC calls, “…a special place that will help you save on boxes and on the environment,” Used Cardboard Boxes takes used cardboard boxes and distributes them to buyers. In addition to being eco-friendly, these boxes are cheaper than traditional packing, and  buyers will never have to spend additional cash on the shipping fees to get the boxes to their homes.

Will they be of lesser quality? No. These boxes are considered “used”, but really they are boxes that are guaranteed to work as well as the “new” ones. The majority of their “used” boxes come from large companies who might have made misprints and overruns; many haven’t seen a day inside a delivery truck! Some of the boxes have been used once but are guaranteed to be of a satisfactory quality. Best of all, they are cheap.

How much cheaper are they? Used Cardboard Boxes never charges for shipping, as long as the purchase is within the continental US. (The boxes will arrive within the standard one to two business days.) They try to bring these boxes to you at low prices that easily beat what other companies charge for their new boxes. Same quality, lower prices, more eco-friendly, the choice is obvious. This company has never cut down a tree, and has estimated that by their work they have saved over 15,000 so far.

If you work for a company that has a sizable supply of “cardboard waste,” consider contacting UsedCardboardBoxes.com; they will offer to buy these boxes for more than a recycling company and make your firm one step closer to being as environmentally friendly as it possibly can. This web site was another finalist for the 2009 Green America’s People’s Choice Award, earning its nomination. They serve their mission well, “rescuing” tons of used boxes so that they can be used for another shipment before landing in a dump. Keeping these boxes in the system, rather than sending them through the recycling process, cuts down on general energy use. UsedCardboardBoxes is simply the optimum source for purchasing cardboard boxes.

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Portland, Oregon, and San Francisco, California, top the list of the greenest cities in the US. But how is that ranking determined? Which factors are considered to be placed in the list of green cities?

Air Quality

Top green cities all have less polluted air and more public smoking bans. Anchorage, Alaska, has the best Air Quality Index median at 19 and St. Louis, Missouri, has the worst at 79.

Electricity Use and Production

Green cities are highly encouraged to use solar or wind power, instead of those with unfriendly emissions. Rebates and property tax exemptions are given as rewards for the people’s efforts.

Environmental Perspective

The government’s environmental concerns also were considered. Committing to environment care as a top priority results in achievable and good results. Among the top green cities, environment care was always in the top five of their priorities.

Environmental Policy

The city’s environmental policy is taken into consideration. The presence of this policy is enough for a city to be considered as part of the green city list.

Green Design

Green designs are encouraged in these cities and even have their own city policies to accommodate it.

Green Space

Green spaces include parks, athletic fields, public gardens and waterfronts, among others. The overall city area percentage it occupies also affects a city’s ranking in the Green City List.

Recycling

When a city recycles more than seven categories, they rank high on the Green City List.

Socioeconomic Factors

When a city manages to keep its national average of families above minimum wage and the poverty line, they score high on the list.

Transportation

Cities which make an effort to get people to stop using their cars and instead use other means of transportation (including walking, biking, bus/rail/subway) rank high on the list.

Water Quality

Based on the Safe Water Drinking Act, hefty fines are charged on cities with serious health violations.

This is all very technical, but it’s important to know the factors. It makes us aware of what we can do to help keep our cities part of the Green City List or to introduce it there.

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Did you know that sewage contains 10 times the energy needed to treat it? If you think about it that way, you would wonder why we have not been actively reusing what is available in order to produce energy. With all of the talk about finding new sources of energy, such as hydrogen fuel cells or solar power, why have we not been using our own waste?

Ironically, wastewater treatment plants are some of the major users of energy. In the U.S. alone, they consume about 21 billion kilowatt hours per year. Think about it, wastewater treatment plants can use their waste directly in wastewater treatment. This would reduce the facility’s overall need for conventional electricity. Turning sludge into energy is beneficial to the environment as well. Most methods of sewage sludge disposal are harmful to the environment. Some of these methods are land filing, ocean dumping, compost, and incineration. These methods contaminate the underground water reservoirs and ocean waters.

There are different methods of turning sludge into energy. One way would be to use a low temperature thermochemical conversion from sludge to oil. In this process the sludge is dried to evaporate any unwanted water and useful materials are conserved and extracted. These useful materials are substances, such as gas, oils, and chemicals. However, companies, such as Energy Answers International, have developed technology that will co-combust the different types of sludges with municipal solid waste to form energy in combustion facilities.

There are many different groups of people all working to find new sources of energy with the focus on renewable energy. Using sludge may be one of the cheaper ways to form energy, but it is still technology that needs to be developed. Seeing that the idea of using sludge is not that new, I am curious to see if this field really will ever expand into something big, or if fuel cells and other ideas will overpower the interest in sludge.

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