Wondering how to live greener? You've come to the right place. Each week we challenge ourselves to try a new task ... or "amp up" something we're already doing. We raise our awareness, learn from each other and develop Eco-friendly skills which will improve our lives and protect our planet. Doing so together gives us power ... the power to Change The World!
If this is your first visit, please click HERE for information and a complete list of all the challenges we've taken on so far.
This post contains great information and I encourage you to read through it at your leisure ... however, if you are short on time, you might find the following quick links helpful:
Last week was fun! We considered an area which most people don't think about ... cocktails. It turns out that there are quite a few ways to "green" our libations. I was surprised to learn that beer in cans has a lower carbon footprint than glass bottles. Thanks to a question by Aimee, I discovered a site, CorkWatch, which lists wines with natural corks. Several sites discussed using local fruits and herbs to make drinks and others talked about "green" snacks to complete our home bars. Whether we are enjoying a drink at home or serving cocktails to guests, we learned how to make the experience both enjoyable and Eco-friendly!
The Honor Society are those people who help us spread the "green" word by writing an article about our challenges and/or leaving pertinent comments.
In I’m dreaming of a green Christmas…, Mrs. Green talks about how she and her family celebrate the season. Of course, we'd expect no less than a green holiday from Mrs. Green and she does talk about ways to keep things earth friendly, but you might be surprised to learn that she and her family celebrate the shortest day of the year rather than Christmas! I love her reasons for doing so!
A holiday without a tipple or two? Argentum Vulgaris says "Bah Humbug" to that! In Change the World Wednesday – 19th Nov he talks about the libations he'll be including in his celebrations. He brings up some interesting points about beer in cans and boxed wine ... and why he avoids both!
Lois isn't serving adult beverages this year but in Change the World Wednesday, Plus Keeping Warm she discusses the operating costs of an ice machine. It's a surprising amount!
Aimee stopped by and shared this: "Most excellent topic! However I'm curious, how do you know if the wine you are buying has a natural vs synthetic cork until you open it? Speaking of corks, when we went to wine country, one of the smaller vineyards uses glass corks - so awesome as we now use that cork to keep our other wines fresh after opening them as it has a better seal than using the original or those rubber things. Anyhoo - we are not doing any entertaining this year, just keeping things quiet and intimate as our first holiday as married folk :) For Thanksgiving I am going to make a turkey (local pasture-raised organic) and a pumpkin made from one we grew in our garden, and for Christmas we'll just make something simple on Eve and for Day we're going for Chinese at our favorite (yes, and organic!) restaurant downtown. For the occasional winter cocktail we love ginger toddies, with Draper Girls local organic unpasteurized cider and New Deal's organic ginger liqueur (http://www.newdealdistillery.com/our-products/ginger-liqueur/) made here in Portland. SOOO good!"
Clare did a great rundown of her home bar. In Christmas Cocktails -The Green and Eco Friendly Way! she talks about her beverage of choice, what's available in her area, and recycling containers.
"Save Our Planet, For 'tis The Only One With Beer!" That saying was shared by Randy who offers us another package option for his favorite libation ... a growler. Ever heard of one? Randy tells us all about it in A Growler For The Environment #CTWW.
Ann shared our CTWW banner in Save the world: emergency survival sleeping bag.
Mary dropped by and shared this: "This is a great challenge! You don't usually think about being green with alcohol, so this is great, especially with simple facts that wine is the greenest! Thanks for sharing this!"
The The Green Daily mentioned a CTWW article ... was it yours?
Our Twitter friends joined the conversation and shared the following:
From @GreenQueenofMod
- Holiday libations go #green. Take the challenge: ow.ly/ExMZY I infused local #vodka with basil!
From @fruitsherbrooke
- we infuse our #vodka with chocolatecherry jelly #yeglocal cherries
From @lbpaints
- Reused glass containers. bit.ly/WiIHb5 pic.twitter.com/vgUHGo5PMu
- Soda pop glasses bit.ly/WiIHb5 pic.twitter.com/dkrI0BPpNB
- Cut and melted wine glasses. bit.ly/WiIHb5 pic.twitter.com/1YxyqB37FQ
- Glassware made from recycled car windshields! ;-) bit.ly/WiIHb5 pic.twitter.com/vFntt7nV5M
The #CTWW Gang are those folks who tweet our challenges using the hashtag #CTWW. If you're a Twitter member, I recommend following them ... they share great things. Let's meet them:
My Final Thoughts:
This challenge, like so many others that we've tackled, points out that green living is about everything we do. It also reminds us to be diligent in our choices and to always think about the bigger picture. Everything, from the type of fruits or grains used to make adult beverages to the distillation process to the recyclability of the packaging ... it all matters. This challenge also shows us how easy it is to green up any activity. To that I say, "Cheers"!
Thanks, everyone! If you wrote an article, I Stumbled, Tweeted, Facebooked and posted it on Google +. You can help spread the "green" word by using the share features located below this post.
This Week's Challenge:
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| How can we improve? |
Here's your challenge ...
Using the comments below, please answer this question:
What would you like to see on Reduce Footprints in 2015?
I'd like to know if there's anything you'd like us to add, delete, or change. How can we improve? Does Meet & Greet work for you? Do you find guest posts valuable and, if so, what topics would you like to see? Can we improve upon the Recipes, Reviews, and Special Offers pages? All suggestions are welcome so ... the sky is the limit ... consider this your "wish list" for a new Reduce Footprints blog!
What would you like to see on Reduce Footprints in 2015?
I'd like to know if there's anything you'd like us to add, delete, or change. How can we improve? Does Meet & Greet work for you? Do you find guest posts valuable and, if so, what topics would you like to see? Can we improve upon the Recipes, Reviews, and Special Offers pages? All suggestions are welcome so ... the sky is the limit ... consider this your "wish list" for a new Reduce Footprints blog!
Are you up for helping me improve Reduce Footprints? I know that you are!
See you in January! Until then ...
WE'RE CHANGING THE WORLD ... ONE CHALLENGE AT A TIME!