Featured EcoLiving Ideas:

 Green Majors in College 

 Being green is no longer simply a hobby or something that you do at home. Helping preserve the environment can now be your job - your passion can also help increase your income. With President Obama proposing to create 5 million new green collar jobs with

a stimulus of $150 billion,

opportunities toward getting a 'green' degree are becoming more readily available. Universities over the past decade have begun to offer programs that range anywhere from Environmental Engineering to Green Law, which means your interests in science, business, or even politics can turn into a green career.

To assist students in practicing sustainability, Arizona State University has created a new school - School of Sustainability. The program covers the entire spectrum of environmental issues, and not surprisingly offers up to Doctoral Degree. Classified as "transdisciplinary degrees," the school emphasizes the bridge between the science aspects of green and the social, political and economic aspects. For people who want a taste of everything, ASU has managed to make almost every subject go green. Read More!

Sustainable Coffee Part 1: Looking Into the Future With Tiny Footprint Coffee.

This is the first of a two part series on sustainable coffee.                             

It would be nice if all treehuggers can devote some of their time and go re-plant rainforests in South America. But who seriously has the time or the money to do that? Fortunately, for those of us who would still like to help negate the rapid rate of deforestation, but cannot make it to the tropical beauty of countries like Brazil and Peru, a relatively new and small coffee company has just made it a lot easier.

Tiny Footprint Coffee (TFC), founded in April 2010 and based in Minneapolis, has made it its mission to plant one tree in Ecuador's Mindo Cloudforest, for every pound of coffee that it sells. During Ecuador's planting season, which begins in late December and ends in early March, TFC will plant 2,000 trees, based on their 2010 sales estimates. The trees have the potential to absorb 1.4 billion pounds of carbon dioxide over their lifetime. Can you already smell the cleaner air?? Read More

 

Designing Green with Robin Baron: Home is Where the Hearth Is.

Oh...to cozy up to a warm fireplace in these cold (and snowy!) months. It's almost everyone's fantasy...I know it's mine! Unfortunately, many of us don't have wood burning, or even gas, fireplaces to cuddle up to. Even having the ability to easily install one seems to be a fantasy for most of us. The good news is that there are now many great looking options. These units are ventless, affordable, eco-conscious and so easy to install that any of us can use them...yes...even us city folk!
  

Fireplaces naturally save energy by allowing the thermostat to be lowered, but did you know that traditional wood burning fireplaces allow 85 percent of the heat to escape through the chimney? Not to mention the smoke, ash and soot that float into your home. The new flexible fireplace units run at 80 percent efficiency and, when installed to high quality specifications like many companies advise for their products, can add more points to your LEED Certified home. Many of these flexible fireplaces use bio ethanol, a renewable liquid fuel which is produced from agricultural by-products. It burns clean with no smoke and no harmful emissions. Others, like the ones from Spark Modern Fire, use natural/LP propane, another clean burning fuel. With so many companies and looks to choose from, you can have just the design you want; from creating a traditional fireplace look, to a sleek, stainless steel version, or even a free standing portable unit...claim your style and make it your own!

Read More!

GreeningOur Schools: Beyond the Bake Sale - Eco-Friendly Fundraising for Schools

In these cash-strapped times, Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs), are looking for creative, simple and low-cost ways to keep money flowing into their coffers. Bake sales have been an old standby. But with 31 percent of U.S. school-age children overweight or obese, and growing concern over global environmental challenges, many schools are looking to move beyond the bake sale. Today, there are a wide range of eco-friendly and healthy fundraising options that can bring in cash, help the environment and teach valuable lessons.

 1) Making money without having to sell lots of stuff. Why sell people unhealthy or environmentally unsustainable junk that they don't want or need? Believe in your cause, set goals, ask for what you need, and be grateful for what you get.

 Annual Fund Drives and Corporate Matching Programs: One of the basic tenets of fundraising is, "You won't receive unless you ask." If you have a legitimate need, a target audience that supports your goals, and you've made your case, there's no reason to believe that you won't get what you need, if you ask for it. Schools can make thousands of dollars through organized phone-a-thons or fund drives. Corporate matching gift programs can double a donation; donors must fill out a form from their Human Resources department and follow the steps to submit the matching gift. Secure, online payment options make giving easy, quick and paperless. Read More!
 

The Accidental Locavore: Thinking About Seeds. How to Really Go Green.

 

For example, according to Edible Hudson Valley, one hundred years ago there were 7100 named varieties of apples grown in this country. Now, there are only 300. What happened to the other 6800? Extinct! The International Seed Saving Institute has this as part of their mission statement, "We are on the verge of losing in one generation, much of the agricultural diversity humankind created in the last 10,000 years." Read More!
 
 

From the EcoPlum Blog : Party Like its 2099

My Son Noah, Circa 2000

When I was a kid, I was obsessed with gadgets. I remember going to the Science Museum in Boston and playing with a really cool calculator that made clicky noises when you pressed the buttons - my parents had to tear me away from it. I even made a hand held "communicator" out of a juice box and tin foil that had an antenna, buttons, and was capable of transmitting secret messages to other kid spies all over the world. In my wildest fantasy I could not have imagined that something as cool as an iPhone would exist in my lifetime. I grew up before personal computers, cell phones, MP3 players, Windows and the internet existed. Then I think about my ninety year old dad, whose childhood pre-dates even television, and I am blown away by the technological progress we have made in the last century. OK, so we don't yet have the flying cars pictured in the futuristic 1970s Woody Allen comedy "Sleeper" - but we're pretty damn close.

 So when I look at my son with his android phone that does just about everything but brush his teeth for him, and my daughter watching videos on her iPod I think - where do we go from here? Clean energy, that's where. Read More!
 

Upcoming Events in February

Kids Night on Broadway Pre-Show Event
 
Come see EcoPlum at the Broadway Green Alliance Table!
February 8th from 3 - 6pm
Madame Toussaud's
234 West 42nd St


Green Drinks NYC

 February 8th from 6 - 10pm
The Park
118 10th Ave @ 18th street
(212) 352-3313


MAKING GREEN FROM GREEN Sustainable Business Workshop Night
 
Sponsored by the Columbia Business School Alumni Club Sustainable Business Committee
February 15, 2011 · 5:30 pm
Citi, ICG Conference Center · 26th floor · 388 Greenwich Street
Register Here


Want to list an event?  Please send to info@ecoplum.com.