Happy Earth Day: New Way to Get Earth-Happy Products

We wish you Happy Earth Day today!

And since we're in the business of Earth Day everyday, we also want to announce our online store is up and running on our brand new in honor of Earth Day website.

It's a one stop web shop for tools and resources to help you live lightly, sustainably, beautifully on your patch of earth.

Check out the new All Shades of Green online store here.

From composters to fair trade coffee, you'll find it all there.

As for what's going on in the store. We've got our water-wise workshop this evening and as a post-Earth Day effort, a storewide 10% off sale on April 30th, May 1st and May 2nd. (Some items will be up to 40%, too.)

Earth Day L.A.: Living Water-Wise in L.A. Workshop

Are you trying to decide what to do on Earth Day that will be meaningful, connect you to your community and help you on the green path beyond this one day of the year?

If so, our sustainability coach Deborah's Earth Day workshop may be up your alley. After all, we're currently in a drought and most of the earth along with most of our own bodies consist of water.

How to Live Water-Wise in Los Angeles

Earth Day, Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

@ All Shades of Green in Silver Lake

Topics this workshop will include:

*History and background of water use in Los Angeles.
*Deeper awareness of the element of WATER, our most precious resource.
*How it moves and flows.
*How to conserve it, re-use it, purify it, and store it.
*How to design a landscape and garden for water conservation. 
*Creative ways to implement water-wise changes in your life.

*Participants will also receive a discount on water-wise products.*

To reserve your space, email creativegreen@hotmail.com or 

call us at the store 323-665 - 7454.

Earth Day Ball in Silver Lake

This Wednesday, Earth Day 2009: Silver Lake Hosts a Ball (of a different sort).

The Silver Lake Chamber of Commerce has been collecting plastic bags this winter/spring and will be tying them together to form a giant plastic ball in Triangle Square (site of the Saturday farmers' market) on Earth Day. It's a tribute to the kids' book the United Nations Environmental Programme put out, Theo and the Giant Plastic Ball (download the free PDF of the book here) and an effort to increase awareness of the problems with plastic.

Our community is estimated to dole out 6,000 plastic bags a month--part of the million bags a minute consumed worldwide. From now on though, a number of local businesses are just saying no.

You can support Silver Lake's journey to becoming a "Bring Your Own Bag Neighborhood" by coming along and joining. Details here.

And read up on plastic bag facts from Californians Against Waste.

We hope you have a ball celebrating the earth this week.

EcoHomeResource.com's Article Featuring ASOG's Sustainability Coach

We're delighted to share with you an article from EcoHomeResource.com 

featuring our Sustainability Coach Deborah, 

her latest non-toxic home workshop, and the wisdom therein.

Here's an excerpt:

"Creating a healthy home atmosphere means more than using appealing colors, creative lighting and comfortable furniture. These do impact the perceived atmosphere, but what about the actual atmosphere? 'Atmosphaera' is Latin, created from the Greek words athos (vapor) and sphaera (sphere). It literally means the air around you. Indoor air pollutant concentrations can be 15 to 50 times higher than outside. All the color and creative lighting in the world won't create a truly healthy atmosphere if the air around you is toxic..."

Read the rest of the article, "Improving the Air in Your Home," at EcoHomeResource.com.

Doesn't that make you want to check out a workshop?  We hope to see you at one soon.

You can always check out what Deborah's up to at Creative Green too.

Where to Find Us for Earth Month

We'll be getting out a little more this month

 in honor of celebrating the planet and inspiring action to save it.

So hope to catch you at the following events and if you're there, please stop by and say hello!

South LA Earthfest 2009

Saturday, April 18th

10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza

3650 W. Martin Luther King Blvd.

Find out more: http://southlaearthfest.org/

Los Angeles Children’s Earth Day

Sunday, April 26, 2009

10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Star ECO Station

10101 W. Jefferson Blvd.

Culver City, CA 90232

Find out more: www.ecostation.org

World Fest

Saturday, May 19th

10:30 a.m.- 7:30 p.m.

6350 Woodley Ave., Encino CA 91406

Find out more: www.worldfestevents.com

Water-Wise Living in L.A. Month: Water Calculations

We've heard about our carbon footprint, but part of the footprint we leave on the earth is how much water we consume. And it's pretty staggering how much we depend on water for the most basic daily activities.

We love this water graphic from GOOD that demonstrates just how much H2O goes into our daily shower, daily beverages, and daily bread.:

And it's not just the water we can see we're using--washing our hands, watering our plants. There's a whole hidden world of water behind the things we use; in other words, the water used to make the things we use.

For example (still according to GOOD here):

*Every flush of the loo takes six gallons of water (or 1.3 for a low flow/dual flush), which makes sense.

*But that slice of bread that doesn't conjure any water associations actually took 11 gallons per slice in the making. Wild, right?

*Here's the biggie, and just another environmental reason to limit red meat intake (as livestock production also contributes more to global warming than transportation):

*A hamburger? 634 gallons of water!

*A steak? 1,500!!

See the whole water from morning til night graph.

And, calculate your own daily water use/water footprint at H2O Conserve. It is amazing to see the questions asked, from laundry to gasoline to recycling and the way the gallons really add up!

Hughie Sink--Order Now!

We're planning on putting in an order for Hughie Sinks by this Sunday, April 12th, but we need your help to get them in the store. We need ten orders to be placed by Sunday or we won't get any at all. 

So, if you're interested, please give us a call at the store (323) 665 - 7454 or shoot an email to info@allshadesofgreen.net.

(They run for about 40.00 to 45.00).

Why would you want one? The Hughie is this amazing water-saving/reusing product that fits like a glove in your kitchen sink. It captures the water you use to wash dishes or hands or to rinse veggies and then allows you to you simply pick it up and use that same perfectly good water to soak your plants. Genius, right? We think so.

See it in action here.

So if you're interested in having one of your own to save water and save money and be a creative re-user of this precious resource, give us a buzz.

And thanks!

Eco-Friendly Easter Baskets

That's right, we've got Easter baskets in the store!

 Choose from what we've put together, or create your own.

For kids:

Or for grownups:

TAP Project

As we're focusing on WATER this month of celebrating and preserving the earth, 

here's another water movement:

UNICEF'S Tap Project.

What is it?

Well, you may have seen the billboards around town asking you to text to support the cause (and you can still do that--details about TAP texting here), so here's the full scoop. During World Water Week (March 21-28), you could go to a restaurant and pay $1 for the tap water you'd normally enjoy for free. That buck would go to helping the world water crisis.  

According to TAP,
*"Every day, 4,200 children die of water-related diseases.
*Nearly 900 million people worldwide lack access to safe drinking water."

Even though that water-focused week is over, you can still learn more from UNICEF's water and sanitation page and support the work it does:

"$10 can provide 400 children with enough clean drinking water for one day.

$61 can provide a small scale water filter intended to provide safe drinking water to small groups or families.

$150 provides 2,500 packets of Oral Rehydration Salts to help save the lives of children suffering from diarrheal dehydration due to drinking contaminated water."

It doesn't take too much to make a huge difference.

IndieBound: Shop Local, Shop Indie

We want to tell you about Indiebound, a site that supports local, independent businesses (like us!). While the site is tailored to books--you can look up a book at shops near you and see indie top seller lists--it's also geared toward all things indie.

Here's what it says about why to shop locally, at independent purveyors:

"The Economy

Spend $100 at a local and $68 of that stays in your community. Spend the same $100 at a national chain, and your community only sees $43.
Local businesses create higher-paying jobs for our neighbors.
More of your taxes are reinvested in your community--where they belong.

The Environment
Buying local means less packaging, less transportation, and a smaller carbon footprint.
Shopping in a local business district means less infrastructure, less maintenance, and more money to beautify your community.

The Community
Local retailers are your friends and neighbors—support them and they’ll support you.
Local businesses donate to charities at more than twice the rate of national chains.
More independents means more choice, more diversity, and a truly unique community."

Here's the All Shades listing at Indiebound.

And you can find other independent stores just footsteps from you.

How Do I Recycle That? (Batteries)

Yes, you've made the switch or are making the switch to rechargeable batteries (the only way to go). But wherever you are that process, you still may have to dispose of the old-fashioned kind, and even rechargeables will eventually fade.

So, what to do with your old single-use batteries? 

Well, what not do is to throw them in the trash. Batteries contain heavy metals and other toxic substances  (nickel, mercury, lead) which can contaminate our land and water sources if left to sit in a landfill. And since three billion dry cell batteries are purchased in the U.S. every year, recycling is super important.

Recycle them instead!

I was recently pleased to see a battery collection bin at the Los Feliz Library.  You can also drop yours at a household hazardous waste collection around town (see a list of collection events sponsored by the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County here). 

Or, consider using Battery Solutions for your home or business. There, you can purchase an iRecycle kit where you and your friends'/family's/co-workers' batteries (and even mobile phones) can go in, be mailed off, and Battery Solutions will do the work of sorting, shipping, and recycling from there.

Here's a list of places to drop off your batteries for recycling in L.A. (courtesy of Earth 911).

FLOW the Film

Since we're talking about  water this month, we just have to recommend a documentary: 

FLOW.

It's a film about water that everyone should see. We're made of water, the earth is made of water, and water matters.

The first bit is about what we've done to our water reserves through polluting it with chemicals and pesticides and even rocket fuel and the problems that causes, for us and for our aquatic friends. (There's a great bit on the water bottle industry, too.)

But the bulk of the film takes on the question: Just who owns water?

And unfortunately, since water is a 400 billion industry (just behind oil and electricity), the answer is often wealthy countries and corporations, leaving many of the world's poor to go without or to have to pay for something they can't afford.

The film's website will help you take water action with orgs like charity: water and other water-worthy groups before or after you rent/buy it.

And you can see the FLOW trailer here.  And if you see the film, tell us what you think.

Los Angeles: Conserve!

According to the Environmental News Service (and we can all attest to this by living here), California is in its third year of drought. In fact, reservoir levels are at their lowest since 1978, only a third full. In Los Angeles, we may even be facing a downright water shortage of 12% this summer.

The LADWP is telling us to conserve 24/7 and Mayor Villaraigosa has a twenty year plan to get us back on track, the first phase of which is in place now. Not complying with the new ordinance will even cost you--for every drip over a 15% reduction in your water use, you'll pay a premium rate for from the LADWP.

Here's what we all need to know about from Water Conservation Ordinance:

We CANNOT:

*Use water to wash any hard surfaces such as sidewalks, walkways, driveways
or parking areas, unless flushing is needed to protect health and safety;
*Use water to clean, fill or maintain decorative fountains unless the water is
part of a recirculating system;
*Serve water to customers in eating establishments unless requested;
*Permit leaks from any pipe or fixture to go unrepaired;
*Allow for the washing of a vehicle without using a hose with a self-closing,
shut-off device;
*Permit watering during periods of rain; 
*Irrigate landscaping between the hours of
9 a.m. and 4 p.m.;
*Water outdoors for more than 15 minutes per watering station, 10 minutes for
other irrigation systems;
*Allow runoff onto streets and gutters from excessive watering... 

To take a proactive approach, here are a few ideas for

what we CAN do to conserve this precious resource:

*Fix leaky faucets.

*Use a broom or rake instead of a hose to clean off driveways.

*Take your car to a car wash that assures you it's recycling and treating its water (more on truly CLEAN car washes here).

*Install low-flow showerheads and faucet aerators (we've got you covered).

*Run only full loads of laundry (cooler water will save energy too, as will sun-drying).

*Turn the faucet off when you brush your teeth. You'll save up to five gallons of water per day, depending on your brushing habits.
*Reduce your shower time--even cutting back one minute will save five to seven gallons of water every time! (We've got the 4-Minute Shower Timer in the store to help you keep your commitment.)
*Most of our water use is outside, so plant drought-tolerant and native plants in your garden that don't need a lot of water to flourish.
*If you have a lawn you can't part with or are growing edible goodies, make sure to water in the early morning or evening before any moisture is lost to evaporation.

Let us know in the comments if you've got any more water-saving wisdom to share!

April Showers (and Earth Month!)

Happy Earth Month!  

This April at All Shades we're focusing on WATER, cleaning it, conserving it, and using it wisely.

Stay tuned for watery tips and products all month.

We'll also let you know the Earth Month events we'll be visiting around Los Angeles in April

 and where we can catch up with you outside the store.

No More Chlorine: RainShow'r Dechlorinator

This ASOG blogger feels better knowing that her shower water is filtered with one of the Rainshow'r Dechlorinators we carry. In fact, it gets rid of 90% of the chlorine pouring through a showerhead.

What's the fuss about chlorine?  Most municipal water, including ours, has chlorine to act as a disinfectant, something that's ruled out a lot of disease over the years. However, the by-products of chlorine could have some health risks, including cancer, as well. And since many of us are filtering it from our tap water, absorbing it through our skin and inhaling it into our lungs in a warm shower isn't too enticing either. 

According to Rainshow'r, "chlorine... attacks your hair, skin, and lungs... and can leave your hair dry and brittle and make your skin flaky and itchy. It can also trigger negative reactions in children, the elderly, and people with chlorine-sensitivity."

I know from my time spent in chlorine-heavy pools that this particular disinfectant is not for me. And I can attest that now my hair and skin are softer and less dried out with my filter.

Come check out the Rainshow'r dechlorinator specially chosen by our in house sustainability coach for your safety (and your future softer, silkier hair).

Plus, you can easily use it with a low-flow showerhead to save water while you suds up in your efforts to reduce your use and green even your shower time.