How to throw a Green BBQ: A Memorial Day Must

This weekend we celebrate Memorial Day! Bring out the white pants! Summer is starting! And though clearly, we want to do our part to remember our fallen soldiers, nothing says a "Monday with no work" and "kick off to the summer" better than a gool ol' fashioned BBQ!

However, BBQ's can be very wasteful of the earth's natural resources; paper, plastic and beer. Now you might be wondering, "How do I do it differently? Better? Is it possible to have a Green BBQ?" The answer dear readers is yes. Just follow the tips below...

Recycle Beer and Soda Cans...
Most people will just toss them in the trash, so if you're hosting, make sure to put out SOMETHING that you label "RECYCLE" that people can toss their empty cans and bottles in. Then just toss it all in your blue bin. If your building or home doesn't have a recycling bin go to this website Earth911.org and they will help you find out how to get one in your area (the city provides them for free.) Plus, your local supermarket is usually a good bet for a recycling drop off point. If you're NOT hosting the Q, and you don't see a place for people to put their used bottles, be a good guest and do it yourself...find a trash bag or empty box and put a few empty cans in it as an example and voila...you've just saved about a billion beer cans from going in the trash.

Buy Compostable or Recycled Plates and Cutlery...
Please don't tell us you're using Styrofoam cups and plates. Please. Brands like Preserve and Seventh Generation make recycled plastic table ware that are way better for the environment than regular paper or plastic tableware. They sell them at Whole Foods and other party supply stores (or buy them at Amazon through this link.). They are good looking (they come in colors and natural bamboo), sturdy and not too much more expensive then the usual disposable plates, cutlery and cups. Or even better...host a high-class BBQ and use real plates and cutlery (and bite the bullet at the dishwasher that night).

Use real cloth napkins...
Go to Target and buy a few packs of colorful napkins and you will reuse them all the time. It really adds a touch of class to your soiree. Or if linen napkins are out of fashion at your
backyard kegger, then buy recycled napkins. (You can't recycle dirty used napkins and paper towels so it's a huge waste.) The same goes for tablecloths, buy a real one and reuse it. Those plastic ones are so flimsy they'll fly off in the middle of the party anyway.

Save the Dolphins...
Cut the rings on the beer and soda rings. If you don't you are a bad person. There, we said it. If you have a beach function this weekend then be sure to clean up all of your trash so it doesn't find it's way into the ocean.

Hemp beer...
It has no THC in it (it won't make you high) and hemp is a sustainable crop that can grow without pesticides, so it better for the environment that growing cotton and wheat. Anyway, the hemp beer has a nutty taste and will definitely be a hit and a conversation piece at your function.

Ditch the water bottles, serve water in pitchers...
Save the world and some dollars by serving water at your party out of a pitcher with glass cups next to it. OK, fine, or plastic cups if you recycle them. Then you won't be picking up half empty water bottles the next day either. Why you ask? Read our recent investigation of the water bottle issue.

Shop at the Farmer's Market for your produce-
Then you know the food is locally grown and way tastier and in season and not being shipped from Mexico! Here's how to find a farmer's market in your area.

BBQ in Season...
Right now is the beautiful transition form spring into summer produce. It's time for strawberries, asparagus, artichokes, tangerines, fresh herbs, cherries, fava beans, blueberries, green garlic, radishes, avocados, leeks and cherimoyas. Dsign your menu for the weekend around these ingredients. (Why is eating seasonal better? Check out our Seasonality post) And we're not going to tell you that you can't have a burger at your little BBQ bash, but why not offer up Veggie burgers too...so much better for the environment. (Why? Check out our veggie post).

When it's time to take out the trash and recycling...
Take it out in recycled trash bags, they sell them at Whole Foods next to the other compostable and recycled products. "Did you know that if every household in the US alone replaced just one package of 20 count drawstring tall kitchen bags made from virgin plastic with these 65% recycled ones, we could save over 45,100 barrels of oil - enough to heat and cool 2,500 US homes for a year. And, 824,800 cubic feet of landfill space, equal to 1,200 full garbage trucks and avoid 16,800 tons of pollution." greenfeet.com

Buy reusable decorations...
If you are the type to get up at 6am to put flags in the front yard then consider investing in your passion for decorations. Buy a flag or some red, white and blue bunting to fashion into rosettes or drape in swags. Control the temptation to buy paper and plastic disposable decorations, if not for the environment then in the name of good taste. Click here for some flag decor ideas from Martha.

And there you have it...everything you need to know for Green BBQing all summer long...so put on a bathing suit, kick back in a lawn chair, toss your beer bottles in the recycling bin, and sing it with us...Summer time and the livin's easy....

Tips for a Greener Wedding

Here comes the bride…All dressed in Green…

Welcome to Wedding Season 2007!!!! Since we here at Green/Pink are in our late 20's we are spending our weekends this spring and summer traveling to weddings, showers, bachelor/bachelorette parties.

Yes, weddings are beautiful, they meld two people into one, blah, blah, blah. But if you think about it, they also create a lot of waste. Those programs, menu cards and invitations you had to have? Bye Bye trees! Those hydrangeas you HAD to have even though it was the dead of winter? They had to be flown in from South America—thousands of pounds of CO2 later. And of course, the decadent filet mignon you want your guests to munch on…who cares that meat-eating is one of the foremost causes of global warming?

We’ve highlighted a few key areas to think going green with when you plan your wedding (or when you’re giving advice to your stressed out engaged friends and family!). The key thing is—it’s not all or nothing. Your wedding doesn’t have to be totally green or not at all…we’ve highlighted the easiest ways to reduce the waste and up the green factor when planning a wedding (or any fancy event). You don’t have to do them all—even just making ONE ASPECT of your wedding green (like recycled paper invitations) makes a huge diff.

But for all the bridezillas (present and future), don’t worry. Having a green wedding doesn’t mean you have to walk down a dirt aisle in a hemp wedding dress. Luckily, green weddings are fast becoming de rigeur and there are tons of classy options which are often less expensive than the less-than-green options.

Flowers…Try to work with the season you are getting married in, to avoid flying in flowers. Also, ask your florist about organically grown flowers—you don’t want pesticides at your wedding! Get an idea of what flowers are in season when.

Favors...Don’t give away something that your guests are just going to throw away (trust me, they don’t want anything with your names on it—you’re the only one who wants something with your name on it), give something green. If you wanted to give your guests chocolates, go for an organic, free-trade brand. How about carbon offsets to combat the miles they traveled to be at your wedding? Or if you have a favorite charity, you could make donations in everyone’s names. Or you could donate a TREE in their names, or give them a sapling to take home (creating new life just like the couple is creating their new life…). The possibilities are endless and might inspire your guests to be more eco-conscious.

Invitations...and reply cards and menu cards and place cards and programs and…every other possible thing you are using paper…go with recycled paper. For invitations this does reduce your choices, but there are definitely some elegant recycled choices out there. See if you like those first.

Food…we understand if you don’t want to serve your guests a vegetarian feast. But a lot of venues and catering companies offer organic selections that are just as delicious if not more so. Also, just as with flowers, it’s important to be aware of seasonality. If you HAVE to have fresh tomatoes at your wedding, then don’t get married in November. And even if you’re having a more casual wedding…the disposable plates, flatware, etc. are a nightmare green-wise. Real is better.

Centerpieces…if you’re not huge on flowers, there are loads of gorgeous, green ideas…candles (soy, perhaps?), vases filled with fresh fruit, autumn leaves for a fall wedding, potted plants that can be re-planted in your back yard after the wedding….

Photographer…most wedding photographers are already digital, thank God. Besides getting to pick from about a billion more pictures, it’s a lot more eco-friendly (you don’t have to print out every proof, guests can look at your pix online, less use of the icky non-green chemicals you need when you develop photos).

Dress…to be honest, there aren’t tons of choices here yet. There are organic cotton dresses, but we know you have your dream dress in mind…this one would be for the dedicated greenie bride only.

But wait, you say, finding vendors and ideas for green wedding sounds like a lot of hard work…well, no worries, we’ve found the ultimate GREEN WEDDING SITE. It’s called Green Elegance Weddings and it’s not your Birkenstock-wedding site (hence the word ELEGANCE in the title). They’ve got tons of green ideas and info including an amazing Green Resource directory with listings for apparel, invitations, flowers and more. It also has lots of regular wedding stuff like time lines and tips for writing vows, for picking a location and for dealing with the emotional roller coaster that planning a wedding can be.

Green Weddings…as one of our favorite wedding gurus (Martha, of course!) would say…”It’s a good thing.”

Safety of Plastic Water Bottles: Hydrate Healthy

What did you do yesterday? We spent Sunday after our Cinqo de Drinko celebrations laying around on our couches rehashing the night with our girlfriends on the phone, whining to our boyfriends/husbands to get us breakfast burritos and drinking lots and lots of water. The container we drank said water out of, was the difference between eco-chichood and eco-geekdom.

Disposable water bottles are bad for the environment... duh. We blame the water bottle frenzy on the 80's, all that working out and super models drinking water in the public eye made your trusty Evian the new must-have accessory. And then that bred a generation so dependent and accustomed to water bottles they are, literally scared to drink water from a tap (yes, this is us we know, we fess up.) But even if you think you get parasites from drinking tap water (okay, this really may be true in Los Angeles), there are some other options besides going through 50 plastic bottles a week...

According to Refill Not Landfill.org

The everyday convenience of bottled water is quickly becoming outweighed by its negative impact on the environment. 8 out of 10 plastic water bottles used in the United States become garbage or end up in a landfill. (Container Recycling Institute) The energy we waste using bottled water would be enough to power 190,000 homes. But refilling your water bottle from the tap requires no expenditure of energy, and zero waste of resources. (PBS Point of View 2004) Making all of the bottles for the US requires more than 1.5 million barrels of oil annually. That's enough to fuel 100,000 cars. (Earth Policy Institute)

What if I re-use my water bottle for a few days?
You can recycle water bottles but it's not good to reuse them because the low grade plastic they are made with (#1) cant be heated (if you put them under hot water or in the dishwasher, they melt) and therefore cant be properly cleaned between uses. The most dangerous part of reusing everyday water bottles is that they aren't often properly cleaned and dried before they are reused.

I need to have a water bottle with me during the day, what do i use?
Get a reusable aluminum or plastic bottle from a company like Sigg, Nalgene or New Wave Enviro. Now Nalgene water bottles may have been the one thing the Eagle Scouts and theater freaks at your high school had in common, but they have come up with some great new designs, check them out nalgene-outdoor.com. Just be sure to buy the grade #2 bottles not the grade #7 (http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200311/lol5.asp)

And if the thought of filling your bottle with tap water scares you, it's time to buy a water filter for your home! There are definitely lots of options out there, including some built in to your sink or refrigerator, but for less of a financial investment, we like the Brita water filter which has tons of options (attached to your sink, pitchers you can store in your fridge). Also Brita is pretty much available everywhere: Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, Amazon, supermarkets, etc.

Get to know the Grades of Plastic!
Okay, so you're going to stop using your Evian bottles over and over again (not good for you because you can't actually clean them). Now, one thing to consider when you buy a REUSABLE plastic bottle is its grade (if you go with aluminum reusable bottles, you are cool, but if you do plastic, you need to make sure it's a decent grade for the sake of your health!). Look on the bottom of the bottle for a small plastic triangle with a number in the middle. If you see a number 2, 4 or 5, the bottle is safe. If it has some other number, don't use it as a water bottle. Those other plastics can make your water taste like plastic and leach harmful chemicals into your body.

Plastics to Avoid

#3 Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) commonly contains di-2-ehtylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), an endocrine disruptor and probable human carcinogen, as a softener.

#6 Polystyrene (PS) may leach styrene, a possible endocrine disruptor and human carcinogen, into water and food.

#7 Polycarbonate contains the hormone disruptor bisphenol-A, which can leach out as bottles age, are heated or exposed to acidic solutions. Unfortunately, #7 is used in most baby bottles and five-gallon water jugs and in many reusable sports bottles.

We leave the medical and health risk of the different plastics in your hands dear readers, but for the health of the environment, get a reusable plastic water bottle, an aluminum canteen or a Scottish lambskin pouch. Or consider this...drinking water the old fashioned way... out of a glass!

p.s. If you want to know the facts about the safety of heating and freezing plastic then read this article from John Hopkins University that answers some of our pressing plastic quandaries.