More Hip Than Hippie #79 - Heat Up Your Home

Thermostats aren't the only thing rising when the outside temperature drops. Energy bills tend to skyrocket this time of year as we attempt to stave off old Jack Frost. With some simple tips and heating alternatives, you can save money and the planet. With all the good you'll be doing, you'll warm up in no time!

Beer and Chocolate:

Beer: Blackberry Blonde from Etna Brewing Co.

Chocolate: Flavor 70 cinn from sweetriot, cacao nibs covered in 70% dark chocolate with a hint of cinnamon. Greenneck hipster Laura also sent some Lake Champlain chocolate truffles. You rock Laura!

Hip News and Finds

Finds:

• Reindeer on a bun. If you're ever in Chicago, you might be interested in picking up a reindeer hot dog for $8 Not so sure about this one. . .
• And the winners are. . . The winners of our green Christmas song are Ashley in Third Place, Rebecca in Second Place, and Sarah coming in First Place. Way to go girls!
• More Hip merch! More Hip Than Hippie t-shirts have arrived! Check Greenfeet.com, they will be available for purchase soon!

News:

• A Christmas Kiss! Read some fun facts about mistletoe from About.com.
• Be on ABC's "Wife Swap"! The popular ABC show "Wife Swap" is looking for a green family to be on an upcoming episode. If you're interested, send an email to Rachelle.Mendez@rdfusa.com.

Home Heating Alternatives

• The Duraflame Natural firelog is made with 100% renewable resources.
• Try Hot Logs, firelogs made from 100% recycled materials.
• The Java Log eco-friendly coffee firelog.
• The Daikin Inverter Heat Pump is 300% efficient.
• The Harman PC 45 Corn Stove burns shelled corn.
• The Dell-Point Europa 75 with Greenfire Technology is virtually smoke-free.

 

Listener Emails

Once again, we have a bunch of great listener emails. Keep 'em rolling in at hip@greenfeet.com. And don't forget to post articles, links, and speak your mind at our MHTH forum!

• FEED333. Michelle wanted to let us know about FEED333, a campaign that aims to feed 3 million children in 33 days. The effort started on November 29.
• Deconstructing Dinner. Meetul recommends the podcast Deconstructing Dinner for some yummy advice about food and cooking.
• Alan recommends checking out the Rocky Mountain Institute for great environmental info.
• Recycling plastic bags with style. Jenny from Georgia found a great way to recycle plastic bags. She suggests knitting old plastic bags into a much more stylish bag. They look beautiful and they're helping the planet! What a great idea!
• Leonardo Dicaprio and a plug for More Hip! Karen found a site where Leo Dicaprio posted an open answer question asking what you do to help fight global warming. Karen responded by plugging More Hip Than Hippie. Thanks! We have the greatest listeners in the world!
• Go green between the sheets! Kellie just found out that Victoria's Secret will be using eco-friendly paper for it's popular catalogue. Yay!

Email us at hip@greenfeet.com. Don't forget to vote for us at podcastalley.com and podcastpickle.com. Send us a voice message at our Skype address "morehip" or +1 530.554.2605. Don't have Skype ? Get it - it's free!

More Hip Than Hippie #78 - Thinking Outside the Gift Box

Tired of giving scratchy wool sweaters and CD's for holidays? Shake things up this year by giving an alternative gift. We've got a few links to help you find something for everyone!

Beer and Chocolate:

Beer: Xingu Black Beer from Brazil.

Chocolate: We tried several different kinds of chocolate sent to us by listener Tom. Thanks Tom!

• Glico Pocky Chocolate - chocolate covered biscuit sticks.
• Meiji-Kinoko No Yama - chocolate mushroom shaped snacks with biscuit stems.
• White Chocolate Azuki Bean Kit Kat from Japan.

 

Hip News and Finds

Finds:

• More Hip merch! More Hip Than Hippie t-shirts have arrived! Check Greenfeet.com, they will be available for purchase soon!
• A little Dittie just for you. Tampons need style too, that's why there's the Dittie, feminine care products with "diva-worthy" style. Think tampons with a fortune cookie type message on the outside. We're not so sure about this one!
• Holiday Contest! Don't forget to submit your green holiday song by December 15 for your chance to win More Hip Than Hippie merchandise. Send us a voice message at our Skype address "morehip" or +1 530.554.2605. Send email entries to hip@greenfeet.com.

News:

• About.com has reported that the EPA may abandon health standards that regulate lead in the air. What are they thinking?

More Hip Book Club

Our next book? In January, we'll be starting our second book, Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

Thinking Outside the Gift Box

• World Wildlife Fund
  • Symbolic Animal Adoption - choose from a wide variety of species and your donation will be used to fight threats like habitat loss and poaching faced by critically endangered species.
  • Planning on giving big this year? Make an Extraordinary Gift with donations ranging from $1000- $2.5 million. The gifts go directly to the supporting the program of your choice.
• Oxfam America Unwrapped
  Each item purchased is a donation to Oxfam America's many programs and will help people living in poverty throughout the world.
  Some of the gifts available:
  • $20 irrigates a farmer's land for 2 months.
  • $75 buys a cow for a family.
  • $90 provides gender rights training for community activists.
  • $100 starts a small business.
• Nonviolent Peace Force
  • Peace Bonds support unarmed peacekeeping activities such as accompanying mothers who are journeying to retrieve their children who have been abducted as child soldiers.
• For the wonderfully wacky
  • The "Monthly Doos" 2007 Dog Poop Calendar,
  • Butt Face Soap that lets you keep one side of the soap for your face and the other side for. . . well, you get the idea!
  • Just Say Ho holiday button.
  • Bacon Strips Adhesive Bandages.
  • A Christmas Story Leg Lamp.
  • Talking Mother In Law Nutcracker with classic catch-phrases like "You call this a meal?" and "Oh please, get a real job".

Listener Emails

Once again, we have a bunch of great listener emails. Keep 'em rolling in at hip@greenfeet.com. And don't forget to post articles, links, and speak your mind at our MHTH forum!

• Beer. . eh? Julia from Canada wrote in to let us know about her favorite beer, Picaroon's Irish Red. Also, check out Just Us Coffee Roasters Co-op, an organic and fair trade coffee roasting company in Nova Scotia.
• Save the planet taking care of your dirty laundry. Alan had some suggestions for cutting down your energy use when doing laundry. He recommends Nellie's Dryerballs (pick yours up at Greenfeet!), which help reduce the time it takes to dry clothes. You can also try using a spinner, which reduces drying time by getting out excess water stored in clothes.
• Wrap it up. Howard came across an interesting alternative to traditional gift wrapping used by the Japanese called Furoshiki. It's a traditional cloth that is used to wrap gifts, clothes and other goods.
• Breath easier with this gift. Laura discovered CarbonFund.org, a site about offsetting your carbon footprint. Give the gift of a cleaner planet, for the holidays offset a friend's carbon output by purchasing a ClimateTag. A tax-deductible donation of just $55 will neutralize all of your pal's global-warming gasses.
• Shift your gift! Jason wanted to spread the word about ShiftYourGift.com, a new option in sustainable holiday shopping. The site has compiled 50 of the top sustainable gifts for the holidays, and 5% of every sale goes to the non-profit organization of your choice.
• Safe cell phones. Alison was wondering about the safety of cell phones and the dreaded cell phone radiation. Check out IndyStar.com for the facts about cell safety.

Email us at hip@greenfeet.com. Don't forget to vote for us at podcastalley.com and podcastpickle.com. Send us a voice message at our Skype address "morehip" or +1 530.554.2605. Don't have Skype ? Get it - it's free!

More Hip Than Hippie # 77 - Check Your Charity

Ever wonder what charities really spend their money on? While most non-profit organizations are legit, others spend more money on big benefits and fund raisers than on the programs that support the actual cause. We'll go over a few tips for giving wisely this holiday season, so that you know your generosity is helping those who need it most.

Beer and Chocolate:

Beer: Samson Stout and Redrum Ale aka Trail Ridge Red from the Estes Park Brewery in Estes Park, CO.

Chocolate: Equal Exchange Organic Very Dark Chocolate.

Hip News and Finds

Finds:

• Is there anything technology can't do? At Fontifier.com you can make your own handwriting into a font for your computer. Now handwritten notes are as close as your keyboard!
• Musical memories. Did you know the brain holds on to musical memories even when the music is absent? That's why Earworms Musical Brain Trainer CD's use song drills to teach foreign languages. Pretty cool, huh?
• Holiday Contest! Don't forget to submit your green holiday song by December 15 for your chance to win More Hip Than Hippie merchandise. Send us a voice message at our Skype address "morehip" or +1 530.554.2605. Send email entries to hip@greenfeet.com.

 

News:

• Global Warming goes before Supreme Court. For the first time, oral arguments dealing with global warming are being heard before the U.S. Supreme Court. The case will determine if the government has the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.

   

More Hip Book Club

Our next book? In January, we'll be starting our second book, Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

Check Your Charity

When donating to charities this year, make sure your money goes to helping the people who need it the most. Check out some of these websites for tips on how to give wisely:

• Tips for giving wisely.
• Check out the Top-Rated Charities.
• CharityNavigator.org
• Give.org

Help others while taking care of your holiday shopping. Here are some great sites:

• Get handcrafted goods at World Stock
• AGreaterGift.org
• TenThousandVillages.com
• Global Exchange.

Listener Emails

Once again, we have a bunch of great listener emails. Keep 'em rolling in at hip@greenfeet.com. And don't forget to post articles, links, and speak your mind at our MHTH forum!

• Water, water, everywhere! Ever wonder how much water goes into processing everyday beverages? Heidi did and was amazed by her research. Check out her findings about how much water we really drink.
• Go local. Dee found a great article on how to make locally grown foods more accessible.
• Go green with Bare Naked Ladies. Kellie wanted us to check out this recent blog from Jim,the bass player for BNL. The November 22 entry gives some stats on how much BNL has sold in carbon offsets in the form of CO2 offset stickers.
• Love the luffa? Planet Protector found an article about how to grow your own luffa sponge at Groovy Green. The luffa is actually a vegetable that you can grow in your own garden. You'll never be so satisfied by exfoliation!
• Ski resorts turn to wind power. Tara discovered that two ski resorts near her in Maine are now operating on 100% wind power.
• Reaction to removal of breast feeding mother from Delta Airlines flight. Jennifer in Kentucky was just one of many mothers to participate in nurse-ins at Delta airport counters in 35 cities. The protest was held on November 21st.
• Apparently, the truth really is inconvenient. Alison in NYC found an article about the obstacles blocking Al Gore's documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" from classrooms. The National Science Teachers Association reportedly turned down 50,000 free copies of the documentary about global warming over concerns of introducing "special interests" in the classroom. The NSTA failed to mention that Exxon Mobil has donated over $6 million dollars to fund programs like "Building a Presence for Science" and also has a representative on the group's corporate advisory board.

Email us at hip@greenfeet.com. Don't forget to vote for us at podcastalley.com and podcastpickle.com. Send us a voice message at our Skype address "morehip" or +1 530.554.2605. Don't have Skype ? Get it - it's free!