What's your earth conservation plan (ECP)?

I got intrigued by an ad I saw for esurance while I was watching some HGTV last night. Erin the esurance agent and her sidekick - a laidback fellow - were promoting steps esurance is taking to help the environment. They're a paper free company and all policies are in electronic form, plus through their community outreach they've planted around 20,000 trees. I was impressed! Sounds like I should shop my insurance.

When I went to the site today, I found an even bigger deal and that's their partnership with Earthlab. Check out Earthlab's ECP calculator to get an idea of both your daily habits and carbon footprint that usually only takes into account transportation and energy consumption.

I got a 260 - the range is 150-900. Not bad, but could be better. They have some great tips on lowering that number.

Enjoy!

Spring Flings

Honestly, sometimes it's hard to live green when there are some many fun things to buy! Reduce, reuse and recycle. If you take it seriously, it usually means you should stave off the strong temptation to buy the latest and greatest at the local boutique or specialty store like Banana, The Gap or my budget friendly crush - Old Navy.

The latest set of new arrivals at Old Navy features super soft jersey dresses and tops to pair with smart shorts and chinos.

Sadly, they haven't embraced the organic movement yet and in talking to a couple of sales associates, they don't offer ANY organic cotton. Sad. I'll be they're working on a 'green' group. This little number at right is $29.50 online.

Happily, the earth and body friendly options are improving, check out this cute 100% organic cotton print dress at Aventura Clothing. $29.99 for the Sheridan Organic Sundress. Tres green!

Enjoy!

I'm Not A Plastic Bag

We know! But if you haven't been guilted into swapping your paper or plastic addiction with a canvas or all natural material tote bag yet, now's the time. Cafe Press has some great designs to add to canvas bags. For around $17 you too can voice your love for all things green as you sail the aisles of Trader Joe's. Don't miss the frozen section and check our their easy recipes!

Or consider a full green assault and choose an organic cotton or recycled cotton tote from reusablebags.com.

Enjoy!

Green Coffee, Eggs and Ham

You all know about shade grown and free trade coffee, but I discovered another way to keep your daily cuppa easy on the earth.

If you use a standard coffee machine with cone filters, try using the smaller size 2 cones instead of the lager size 4. I know, sounds small, but saves on paper. Also consider using the unbleached versions or check out this great Hemp filter, size 2.

Now the next caffeine hit won't mean a hit to mama earth.

Drink up!

Prizey.com Goes Green

And we're thrilled! Prizey.com the web's leading directory of online giveaways for the discerning contest entrant (100% spam and linkbait-free enjoyment!) is hosting their Eco Baby Giveaway and has generously included us in the prize pack. Okay, so we give some stuff away, but this is a fun site with rotating 'blockbuster giveaway' programs that feature some wicked merch.

We're in fine company with Green to Grow's BPA-free bottles for babes. HABA's wooden and plush toys for tots and from The Soft Landing: Natursutten natural rubber pacifiers, which apparently should be replaced every 4-5 weeks. I feel like a bad parent with the pacifiers I still have from the hospital. Fortunately, my little binkie boy kicked the habit around 5 months. Win and you'll get a 6 months supply. And last in the line up is Amnesty International's Citizen of the World toddler tee or onesie.

Prizey on!

Feed the world - one grain at a time

John Breen is at it again and he's a total inspiration. The founder of thehungersite.com, which was purchased by greatergood.com at the height of the late nineties dotcom bubble, just launched FREE RICE dot com. The site's fantastic. Each visit lists a word for which you have to click on the correct definition. Each click generates 10 grains of rice to the UN World Food Program (they spell it British); the same beneficiary that thehungersite.com launched with a decade ago now. Nice that John kept up relations.

The site takes me back to SAT vocabulary prep tests and while I never felt that smart then, I do now. Maybe the words are easy and I think they're meant to get progressively more difficult as you keep guessing correctly. Either way, you're rocking the rice campaign.

The program is completely legit. Advertisers like Liz Claiborne, Toshiba and RD - Reader's Digest - those I just saw listed at the bottom of the page pay for our eyeballs. Hopefully their ad buy with John will turn us all into electronics-purchasing, alarmist magazine reading, middle aged sartorialists with a heart. I'm game.

Happy defining!

Sustaining the Earth, Sustaining Our Community

Pediatric Interim Care Center’s Newborn Nursery facility in Kent is a nonprofit medical facility for infants suffering from prenatal drug exposure. We at Satsuma thought that there were no babies more deserving of our organic, hypoallergenic, antibacterial blankets than these most vulnerable babies for whom even the softest touch can cause extreme discomfort. We were happy to be able to donate blankets to this wonderful facility and want to give the big kudos to the amazing community of nurses, social workers and doctors that work around the clock with these most needy babies.