News from EcoPlum - "Too Cool for School" Edition

What's New at www.ecoplum.com
September 2010 Newsletter

Greetings!

It's the most wonderful time of the year! At least that's what Staples used to tell us in their TV commercials in which the parents danced around the aisles plucking school supplies off the shelves while the kids moped and wallowed in their misery. September is a tough transition month, no matter how old you are. I went to see the comedian Lewis Black in concert last month, and he said that at 62, he still suffers from the "back to school" blues this time of year. But the flip side of all this is that September also brings many new beginnings: the Jewish New Year, the harvest, new friends, new clothes, football and for some, their first time off to college!

Well for those of you just starting college or going back, Jaime brings us the Top Ten Ways to Go Green in College. Not even thinking about college yet? Trying to just figure out how to get your school-age children to eat healthy food, avoid toxic products, and learn how to reuse and recycle? We are thrilled to introduce a new quarterly feature here at EcoPlum: Greening Our Schools with Emily Fano! For back to school, Emily brings us a three part series on School Food. Very interesting!!

Speaking of food, don't forget to find out what's fresh in Anne's latest Accidental Locavore column. What other fall activities do you have planned? Need to paint your dorm room or bring a fresh look to your home? Robin has the scoop on Eco-Friendly Paint. Just want to pretend it's still summer and go see some movies? Find out what Leonardo DiCaprio is up to in Dede's Green Scene.

Where is Chryso's Beauty Buys this month, you ask? Well Chryso is taking a little time off to SPEND WITH HER NEW BABY GIRL!!!! Markella Grace D'Angelo came into the world on August 6th at 9:46pm. She weighed in at 8lbs 3oz and measured 20 inches. Congratulations to Chryso and Peter!

Here at EcoPlum we've got our own new beginning: we are re-launching our website with a new design, new features and functionality, new products, new partnerships, and lots of new fans! In fact, we just gave away two EcoPlum stainless steel water bottles to our 2000th Facebook fan and the person who referred her! Congrats to Alicia and Bill McCarty!

We're not quite ready to unveil the new site, but will be doing so later THIS MONTH! This is so exciting, and as you know I've been all over the radio talking about it! We've also been giving away Green is Good T-shirts on Facebook to celebrate! Stay tuned, we'll be sure to let you know when our new baby arrives!

As always, thanks for your ongoing support. Happy new beginnings to all!

Best,

Gia Machlin

President and CEO

Please feel free to forward this newsletter to your friends and family!

In this issue

Meet Marcia!

Featured EcoInfo

Greening Our Schools

Designing Green with Robin Baron

Dede's Green Scene

Accidental Locavore

Upcoming Events

From The Blog

Ecoplum Photos

Meet our team. This month...Marcia

Marcia Robbins is an international Media & Entertainment executive with 20 years' experience launching cable channels, multiplatform content, and digital media in the U.S., Europe, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific. Her corporate and consulting career includes start-ups and new business for the BBC, Discovery, CBS, Rainbow Media, Scripps, Gaylord, online portal StarMedia, and all the major studios of the Motion Picture Association of America. Committed to growing our green economy, Marcia is active in marketing and advising sustainable business initiatives, including EcoPlum. She is affiliated with HAF Consulting, a global boutique supporting investors in pursuit of telecom, media and technology properties.

As the BBC's Vice President, Joint Ventures Latin America/Iberia, Marcia managed its key relationship with Discovery for Animal Planet and People + Arts, with oversight for the P&L, marketing, programming strategy and selection of documentary, history, lifestyle and entertainment content from the BBC's vast library. Globetrotting for CBS Cable, Marcia opened over 40 markets around the world for CMT: Country Music Television and led Latin American channel growth with the turnaround and relaunch of Spanish-language news channel CBS TeleNoticias. Working in Europe, she conducted marketing due diligence on over $3 billion in completed acquisitions for a leading private equity investor and triple-play operator and restructured its business plan for a digital and interactive television platform, with VOD rollout.

With a passion for representing content creation, strengthening associated brands, and building distribution, Marcia has immersed herself in these businesses with an analyst's focus, marketing creativity, the ability to forge strong multicultural partner relationships and an eye on the bottom line.

Marcia has an MBA from Columbia University in International Business, Marketing and Finance and a BA in Economics and Psychology from the University of Virginia. She started her career in Washington, DC, managing survey research and operational projects for the Consumer Expenditure Survey and International Price Program of the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics.

Featured EcoInfo

Top Ten Ways to go Green in College

The green movement is taking over the world. Businesses are opting for alternative energy, shoppers are buying organic and people are becoming more aware. Despite this, many college students believe that opting for a sustainable lifestyle is impractical, as they cannot afford to buy local, organic products, or pay a few extra dollars a month for alternative energy sources. For example, when faced with the option of buying a dozen sustainably raised eggs for $5 from the local farmer, or a dozen industrial eggs for $1.50 from the local grocery store, college students will more often than not choose the latter. They also will more likely settle for coal and oil powered electricity, which is cheaper than wind or solar energy. Despite these two examples, there are many other cheap, affordable and eco-friendly changes students can make to go green. Here are 10 easy swaps college students and young adults can make to reduce their ecological footprint: Read More!

Running Green

Running shoes are very important when it comes to being comfortable during a long run. But what if you can do more than just slip into a nice pair of sneaks, and improve your run by donning an eco-friendly pair, knowing that your footprint in the world will be a little less noticeable? Well, now you can! Recently, two of the major running shoe brands, Brooks and New Balance, have come up with ways to make sneakers more environmentally friendly, while keeping them looking stylish. Nike on the other hand, although not yet producing "green" shoes, has expanded its efforts to reusing old shoes by literally grinding them up.

Brooks, one of the most well known running shoe companies, has designed a sneaker made from 75 percent post-consumer recycled materials. The "Green Silence," a racing flat, features Brooks' signature midsole made with BioMoGo, which can biodegrade in roughly 20 years, or 50 times faster than the conventional athletic shoe midsole. All dyes and colorants are also non-toxic, and Brooks has manufactured the laces and packaging from 100 percent post-consumer recycled materials. Talk about going green all the way... Read More!

Greening Our Schools: The Food Revolution Part One

This is the first of a three-part series focusing on the transformation of school food in America. This first article will compare the Italian and American school food systems and will help readers understand why it's truly time for a School Food Revolution in the U.S..

Summer is gone and it's time for children to go back to school - back to their classrooms and cafeterias. Some 31 million children in American public schools eat breakfast, lunch and snacks - at least 60 percent of their daily calories - in school each day. But our children are going hungry - for good food.