Don't get cheated at the gas pump

In New York State it is considered illegal to charge one price for gas if purchased with cash and a higher price for gas purchased with a credit card. In a Daily News report 30% of the gas stations they checked, charged a lower price for cash purchases. It is considered "bait and switch" by drawing the customers in with the advertised "Cash" price, however when they get to the pump and try to pay with a credit card it a higher price per gallon. You can report them to the Better Business Bureau, but they usually receive a small fine and a slap on the wrist, so I just make sure to bring cash for the pump. If they are charging a different price for a credit purchase, 10 to 15 cents higher a gallon, then they must post that price and then advertise that they are discounting "cash" purchases. I'm not sure the policy in other states.

Arm and Hammer Essentials

A while back I posted about Arm and Hammer Essentials, it is a cleaner that comes in a concentrated form that you use with a refillable bottle. When you are finished with the product instead of buying a new large bottle of cleaner you buy a smaller concentrated bottle which you mix with tap water. I also have a link to the right where you can get a free starter kit and all you have to do is pay shipping and handling. I am using the stuff and it's very good. They have several scents to choose from and they work very good at cleaning all different types of surfaces. It also is less expensive to purchase refills and of course cuts down on the production of plastic bottles. So take a look at Arm & Hammer Essentials.

Matthew Modine starts "Bicycle for a Day" - Saturday Sept. 20th.

Actor Matthew Modine is asking for your help. On September 20th Modine wants you to ride your bicycle, skateboard, rollerblade to work, run errands, enjoy the city, whatever just leave the car keys at home. “The idea behind my project Bicycle for a Day is to help people understand that there is something they can do,” he recently wrote on his organization's webpage. “In fact, just one simple thing they can do every day to become part of the solution. If everybody does this one thing, the cumulative effect could be tremendous.” ”The environmental situation is a great opportunity for us all to work together to find solutions. Bicycle for a Day is just that— citizens of the world joining together globally and acting locally.” Modine's event launches at New York's South Street Seaport, however he hopes it will become an annual national event. Thus far fellow actor Liam Nesson has joined the cause and is helping to promote the event. Together they are hoping to have 20,000 registered riders before the Sept. 20th date, they only have about 3,000. So click on the link below and sign up, I did it's free to become a member.

http://www.bicycleforaday.org/home

Just a bit on recycle bottles

There is a bill that New York State is looking at that has been shot down the past few years. The "Bigger Better Bottle Bill" is a bill that would have a five cent deposit on all bottle beverages not just soft drinks. This would include bottle water, sports drinks, and all others that do not currently collect a deposit. NYPIRG, an environmental group is currently pushing for the bill to be passed, believes that it would result in nearly 3 billion more bottles returned and recycled a year. It would cut down on overflowing landfills by reducing trash and result in cleaner communities.

I'm all for it, but is it enough? What I mean by that is people don't recycle bottles now because "it's only five cents", but if more bottles are included for deposits and the fact that it can add up to a dollar faster, will it change their attitude and their habits. Deposit amounts have been the same five cents for twenty five years, maybe it's time for an increase. How about by weight, 20 oz. water bottle 5 cents, a glass 1 liter bottle 10 cents, etc. just a thought. When my friends tell me "it's only five cents" I tell them yeah but with 40 bottles I can have a home cooked dinner of chicken, rice and vegetables (chicken thighs 99 cents a lb, rice pretty cheap, and vegetables average 89 cents a lb bought in bulk BJ's).

What do you think?

Answer your corn phone

Bravo to Samsung and their new line of eco-friendly cell phones. In today's world of "Keeping up with the Jones" and getting the latest gadgets to play with, cell phones are often replaced within a year or two with little regards to the impact on the environment.

However Samsung brings you the E200 Eco Cell Phone. The plastic housing of the phone is made up of bio-plastics created from corn, the box which it is packaged in is made of non-coated, recycled paper, and like another green phone from Samsung, the W510, it does not contain heavy metals like lead, mercury or cadmium in the headset. So kudos to the Samsung Corporation and hopefully we will be seeing more like this from big corporations in the future.

So what are you doing for the environment?

Bike theft up in New York City

For the "Only in New York" file, A undisclosed report states that thus far in 2008, bike thefts have surpassed the entire total of thefts in 2007. "Experts" believe that it is because there are more environmentalist who attempt to do more biking than driving so there are much more bikes on the road. Hey New York Bad Guys give us a break we are trying to save the earth for the people, what are you doing?

You don't have to buy a Reusable Bag . . . Make one!

http://wildonionstudio.wordpress.com/2008/06/01/tee-bags/

I read this on the Wild Onion website and I thought it was a great idea. Also if you have kids it's a great little project you can do with them to get them interested in the environment.

A quick word from our sponsors . . .

A beautiful piece of art from my friend Caroline.

Hello everybody, I don't actually have any sponsors but I do have some friends and some favorite links that I like. Take a look to the right and visit them. A bunch of eco sites and this and thats.

Drop me a comment if you want to be added. But I will ask you to do something "green" that you don't normally do.

James Bond goes Green

Bond, James Bond.

In the next James Bond picture, coming out in November, Quantum of Solace, Bond takes on a nasty powerful business man who doesn't care about destroying the environment as long as he makes a buck. No kidding, I'm sure there is more to the storyline but for the sole purpose of this blog that's all I care about. But even more so he turns in his usual Aston Martin and will be driving a fuel efficient Ford Ka. That's a picture of the female lead of the movie Camille (played by actress Olga Kurylenko). I couldn't stop looking at the actress so I added a picture of the car for all the guys out there.

If Mister "Shaken not Stirred" can drive one, how about you?

Poland Spring doing their part

If you drink bottle water you may have noticed that Poland Spring has a new shape to their bottles. The Eco-shape bottle holds the same amount of water and uses 30% less plastic. You can really feel the difference, it's lighter and easy to crush. Bravo! I still recommend a reusable bottle but when I'm out and about and I get water I make sure it's an Eco-friendly bottle. Then I just reuse the heck out of it. Remember that it's still very important to recycle your bottles after you are done with them. Of all water sales last year only approx. 29% of the bottles were recycled.

It's great to see a big company do something to help the world, what are you doing?

Catching up with . . . ME!!!

I've been lucky that my big bro is in town with his wife and two kids. I have such a great time with them and I especially enjoy spending time with my bro. He always makes his famous meatloaf for me and he says it's nothing special, but it is because he makes it for me. Anyway we just got back from a retirement party for my Aunt and I am stuffed. For those of you who don't know, I will now answer to the name "The Vending King of New York" it's a bit regal I know but you can't give yourself a nickname and you have to go by what people call you. At times my head gets so big that I will refer to the "King" in third person. Otherwise still trying to be green and still looking for the "ONE", any ideas for either?

I was doing laundry earlier today and found a bunch of receipts in my pockets. I always try to tell cashiers not to give me a receipt and I get the blank look. But most registers print it anyway and since I know they will just throw it out I take it and recycle it at home. I know I wrote about it before but this is my "push". I think it's a great idea to just dump your receipts or scrap paper that you would have normally just throw out in a recycle bag. Maybe you'll see as I did that I use to throw out about a pound of paper a month that could have been recycled. This past Christmas I asked Santa for a paper shredder and got one that I use regularly. I have a stack of papers that I keep separate from the recycle paper that I tie up and shred once a week. I just read what I wrote and I am thinking what you are too, that I have way to much time on my hands.

What ideas do you have? How are you going to make a change?

I quote Jerry Springer "Take care of yourself and to each other."

Gift wrapping idea

I had to buy a gift for a friend last week and when it comes time to wrapping I either wrap it in something recyclable like newspaper or something fun or groovy that matches that person's personality (ex. I printed out a picture of a baseball player and used it as wrapping paper). Or I just don't wrap it at all. I sometimes do the quick way out and grabbed a gift bag. Bad idea. If it isn't a fancy party like a wedding or a such and it's a get together with friends why not put it in a reusable grocery bag. You can purchase them in your local supermarket and they are about the same price as a gift bag, without the paper, and it encourages people to bring their own bag to the supermarket. Also as a smaller side gift to fill up the bag add a box of recycle bags or rechargeable batteries or any thing to save the planet. Or as a gift idea why not a bag full of items to get people started on changing their ways.

My cousin Ingrid left a comment about the plastic bag posting. She said it's done in the UK already and if you bring your own bag to the store you earn store points. Why are we not doing this already????


I left this in a post before, Recycle as much paper as you can, including store receipts and scrap paper. It may seem small but do actually adds up. I have a recycle bag in a closet and I tear up any receipts and paper that I use to just throw away, well in a months time I actually weighs close to a pound. Just something to think about.

Arm and Hammer Essentials

https://www.tryessentialsfree.com

Arm and Hammer came up with a way to help the environment. Their new Essentials line is a cleaning product that you purchase in a concentrated form and mix with regular tap water in the original bottle. So when you run out of the cleaning product you purchase a new concentrated solution that is approx. 25% cheaper and just add water. So you cut down on the usage of plastic bottles and you save money and the environment at the same time. Now try it free, click on the link above and just pay for shipping and handling. I just ordered mine.

Diane Lane Wants A Sustainable Ocean

I am a big fan of Diane Lane, for the obvious reasons that she is attractive and is a good actress, but now I'm an even bigger fan. I read this little piece on www.ecorazzi.com

Diane Lane is so fun to watch on screen — I’ve seen Under the Tuscan Sun, like five times. Though you might be surprised to learn that off-screen she is known as a “bag lady”. At a recent fundraiser for Oceana she explained how she keeps reusable bags everywhere, and that is how she’s picked up the friendly nickname. She is passionate about the state of our oceans saying, “If we all make a very slight adjustment then we can all still have some whales, some walruses, and be able to swim in the ocean [and] not die from eating the food we’re fishing out of the ocean. People are becoming sick and don’t know it. The governments aren’t going to tell you anything about it, what’s in it for them?”

No plastic bags in LA stores beginning July 2010

Last year San Francisco passed a plastic bag ban in November and in two years LA will follow suit. California supermarkets already have a bin in the front of the stores that you can place plastic bags for recycling. It wasn't until months later that some markets here in New York did also.

The City Council in LA voted to ban plastic shopping bags starting July 1, 2010. I say GREAT but why the delay? It is to give the City a chance to pass a different bill that will charge shoppers a 25-cent fee for paper or biodegradable bags or allow them to use their own bags. I know that either way it's a good move, but one that will take two years to implement. Then God knows how long it would take to spread across the nation and get to the east coast.

Of the 25-cent fee, 3 percent will go to the retailer, 3 percent to the state and the rest will go to the city for to fund an education campaign.

It is reported that currently 2 billion plastic bags are being used in California and only 5 percent of plastic bags and 21 percent of paper bags are recycled.

Sorry it's been awhile . . .

Sorry that it's been awhile, I've been busy with other things and also a little frustrated that my friends haven't taken this blog seriously. I will write when I am inspired, hopefully YOU can inspire me. Write to me, let me know what you're doing to change the world. My awesome niece Jordan sent me a comment that I didn't read until today and it got me to write this post. Thank you for getting me back Jordan.

Steve Nash and Nike Turn Garbage Into "Trash Talk"

BEAVERTON, Ore. (13 February, 2008) — Steve Nash is the All-Star guard for the Phoenix Suns whose passion for environmental awareness forged a partnership with Nike (NYSE:NKE)to create the Nike Trash Talk, the first performance basketball shoe made from manufacturing waste. Nash will debut the Nike Trash Talk tomorrow night in Phoenix against the Dallas Mavericks.

Read more HERE

Top China plastic bag maker closes

Top China plastic bag maker closes amid green drive

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's largest plastic bag maker has closed following a state-led environmental campaign discouraging plastics use, Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday.

Read more HERE

IFoundYourCamera.Net

Just a little something I saw on PostSecret.com

An interesting site called IFoundYourCamera.Net

Simply it post pics from cameras that were found so the owners can identify them.

For ‘EcoMoms,’ Saving Earth Begins at Home

A great article in the New York Times was sent to me by my friend Caroline.

For ‘EcoMoms,’ Saving Earth Begins at Home

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — The women gathered in the airy living room, wine poured and pleasantries exchanged. In no time, the conversation turned lively — not about the literary merits of Geraldine Brooks or Cormac McCarthy but the pitfalls of antibacterial hand sanitizers and how to retool the laundry using only cold water and biodegradable detergent during non-prime-time energy hours (after 7 p.m.).

Move over, Tupperware. The EcoMom party has arrived, with its ever-expanding “to do” list that includes preparing waste-free school lunches; lobbying for green building codes; transforming oneself into a “locovore,” eating locally grown food; and remembering not to idle the car when picking up children from school (if one must drive). Here, the small talk is about the volatile compounds emitted by dry-erase markers at school.

Read more HERE