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!
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
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!
