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The Spill, Personal Stories, and an Easy (and not so Easy) Way to Help
It’s been almost a month since my last post. Why the radio silence? Well at first I was just overwhelmed by the Gulf Spill and I wasn’t quite sure I could write a post that would do justice to the...
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Busting the Green vs. Clean Mentality
So I have this dear friend who just won’t give up the bottled water habit. I have told her about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, about the fact that it takes 700 years for a plastic bottle to begin to...
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Sign the KSCA Petition | Kid Safe Chemicals Interactive Magazine |...
Just passing along some really important information from the Environmental Working Group: Dear Gia, We have huge news. The toxics reform bill, H.R. 5820, the Toxic Chemicals Safety Act, has been...
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Video Killed the Radio Star
Do you remember where you were when MTV debuted on August 1, 1981? (If you’re too young to remember, then hurray for you). I was at a sleepover at my friend Allison’s apartment on West 95th Street in...
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Spam Spam Spam Spam – Wonderful Spam
…or How Big Cities Will Transform the Way We Eat I’m not talking about the kind of spam you get in your inboxes, I’m actually talking about the canned meat of Monty Python fame. Why? Well, I don’t know...
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EcoPlum Got a Facelift!
Yippee!! Our new site has arrived!! We are so excited and can’t wait to share it with you. Thanks to our friends at PlanetMediaZone in Denver, we have a whole new look. Hope you like it. We also...
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Did you know 1 in 8 people lack access to safe drinking water??
It’s Blog Action Day and this year’s topic is WATER. To get the conversation started, I will share some facts about water (many of which, I must admit, I was unaware of prior to this post) and they are...
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Black, White and Green
Kids tend to see things in black and white: You don’t like me? You must hate me. He’s not smart, he must be stupid. For many of us, the tendency to present a False Dilemma carries forward into...
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Time to Invite Others to the Party
As I’ve mentioned frequently, a few years ago I was clueless about environmental issues. I didn’t even know about the effect of cow farts on climate change. But then I had my “AHA!” moment and became...
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Awesome Video!!
OK, I don’t usually use my blog just to post a video, put I just love this and had to post it: Have a wonderful weekend!!
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Party Like it’s 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...
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Sy, Can I Steal Your Tag Line?
In case you haven’t noticed, we are an e-commerce site. We sell stuff. Our tag line is “Where it Pays to Buy Green.” EcoPlum started out as a place to buy eco-friendly products and earn rewards in the...
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No Nukes!
Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant, Flickr, CC: Tony the Misfit I haven’t really thought about nuclear power for a while. Aside from the occasional goof about how President Bush would pronounce it...
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The Dirt on Compostable Dinnerware
Photo by Diana House You would think that it’s a no brainer to replace plastic, styrofoam and paper disposable dinnerware with bagasse or another compostable kind – the latter doesn’t sit in a...
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A Shift in Thinking
Last weekend was my son Noah’s Bar Mitzvah (that would explain my infrequent posts over the last year). It was AWESOME!!!! But I’m not here to boast or bore you with my personal feelings of pride and...
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Calling all Social Entrepreneurs
Last weekend I went to my 30th high school reunion (yes, I’m that old). I was blown away by how good everybody looked. Earlier this spring, I went to my 20th business school reunion and I have to say...
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Please vote for Pamela
This weekend I was up in Cape Cod with my kids and all their cousins. The cousins were about to spend a whole week with their Grandmas. My husband and I decided to take them all for a bike ride to...
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We’re all in the same boat!
photo by Gerry Thomasen Flickr Creative Commons Did you ever hear the one about the group who goes out in a small boat together? One of the passengers pulls out a drill and starts drilling a hole...
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A Lesson from Mike on Getting Things Done
Image Credit: David Shankbone 2011 I hope those of you living on the East Coast all came through hurricane Irene without any damage to your homes and property and of course hoping all your loved ones...
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Ten years later
Ten years. Ten years since the most terrifying day of my life. A day that filled me with fear and shock and horror and unbelievable sadness. A day that brought loss and grief to so many fellow New...
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Make Halloween Less Scary for the Planet!
Halloween is such a fun holiday for kids and adults alike – who doesn’t like dressing up in a costume and eating candy? Unfortunately, it’s one of our more wasteful days: Halloween costumes alone...
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Eco Friendly Shopping Picks: Guilt Free, Fair Trade Jewelry
With the holiday season quickly approaching (yeah, I said it), I am reposting all my Eco Friendly Shopping Picks articles from my column on One Green Planet. This one on Fair Trade Jewelry was...
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Eco-Friendly Shopping Picks: Green Gift Guide
“Green Shopping” is a bit of an oxymoron. I mean, one of the fundamentals of going green is to reduce consumption, right? So what’s a green retailer to do on Black Friday? One of the reasons I...
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Slow Food – Where Have You Been?
Moderator David Barber from Blue Hill, and panelists Josh Viertel from Slow Food USA, Gary Hirshberg from Stonyfield, and Mark Crumpacker from Chipotle. © 2011 Bruce Katz Wow. Life really can get in...
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It’s Biodegradable, I Swear! Part I
Pepper So after years of making fun of dog owners in the city, I became one myself: a city dweller with a canine friend. Meet Pepper. Of course now I think having a dog in the city is the best thing...
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It’s Biodegradable, I Swear! Part II
Last time I wrote about how easy it is for marketers to “greenwash” by claiming their products are “eco friendly,” “green,” and “natural” with very little regulation and enforcement around these...
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Eco Friendly Shopping Picks – Mother Earth and Mother’s Day
Earth Day is behind us, but let’s not forget about Mother Earth when we shop for Mother’s Day gifts! Want a really unique eco friendly gift for Mom? Check out these incredible notebooks from Vintage...
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The Three Rs of Green Living – Revisited
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. So cliche. Yet so ignored. Dare I say that it almost goes against what we are taught from day one in our consumer driven society? Poopy diaper? Throw it out! Make a mess?...
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Eco Friendly Shopping Picks: Dads, Grads and Summer Plans
This is such a crazy time of year with graduations, other end of school year activities, preparing for camp and summer, and of course Father’s Day! But what to get Dad? I’ve always found shopping for...
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Power to the People
Professor Meredith Hill and Gia in the CSS Community Garden A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to speak about my career along with some other sustainability professionals at a 7th grade...
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The Itsy Bitsy Spider
As a blogger and publisher of a green media site I get a lot of emails from people sharing their thoughts and asking for my advice (for whatever it’s worth). One email I got recently from somebody...
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It’s 9/11
Here is the post I wrote last year on the 10th anniversary of 9/11: Ten years later by Gia on September 10, 2011 Ten years. Ten years since the most terrifying day of my life. A day that filled me...
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The Sound of Silence – In the Wake of Another Extreme Weather Event
It’s amazing how the absence of something can have such a profound impact. The absence of noise. Not ALL noise is gone (this IS New York City after all), but one particular type of noise is missing....
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Eco Friendly Gift Ideas
HAPPY HOLIDAYS! If you could take 6 1/2 minutes to watch this video of me showcasing some of my favorite eco friendly gift selections from EcoPlum – I would greatly appreciate it! The self produced...
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Top Five Reasons 2012 Made Us Pay Attention to Climate Change
It’s that time of year when we look back and reflect on the past year and make silly lists. Well this list is far from silly – it is quite sobering news for many of us to accept. In 2012, climate...
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Gia’s Tips on Safe Cosmetics
I like this vlogging thing. It’s much easier than writing. I’ll continue to use the excuse that I have a broken finger as long as I can to make these videos instead of writing a post. This month I...
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Gift Giving Returns with the Spring – Make it Eco Friendly!
Just when you think you are out of the woods with gift giving, the spring season returns with all kinds of consumer driven holidays: Easter, Mother’s and Father’s Day, Graduations, and all those spring...
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EcoPlum Salutes Green Moms
It’s almost Mother’s Day! Yay! One of my favorite days of the year! I recently attended an event about food waste, moderated by Ron Gonen, the Deputy Commissioner of the New York City Department of...
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A Trip to the Farmer’s Market with Smelly Scraps in Tow
Three years ago (oh my how time flies!!) as I approached my 46th birthday I wrote all about how I was going to get a composter and start composting at home. Well as it turned out, I never got that...
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Fast Fashion has to Slow Down
A few years ago, those checking labels for chemical ingredients in their food, buying organic produce, or looking at the sustainability ratings of seafood were in the vast minority. Organic and natural...
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Being a Conscious Consumer Need Not Consume You
By now you probably know that I was not always a conscious consumer. To be precise, in the days Before EcoPlum (B.E.), I was quite an unconscious consumer. I used to shop for anything, anytime, with...
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An Inconvenient Truth about our Shopping Habits
If you have ever watched Seinfeld or any other comedy based on Jewish humor, you know that we Jews are not generally the most optimistic people. Remember the Nanny’s mother and her constant criticism...
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Using Technology to Empower the Consumer in Beauty and Fashion Purchases
Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sunshinecity/ I was so excited to see that the Environmental Working Group has come out with an iPhone (and Android) app for its Skin Deep database. For...
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Mindycara: An EcoFashionista’s Dream
When my high schooler was a tiny two-year-old tot, he went wandering over to the next table at Starbucks to play with the cute girl sipping warm milk with her mom. As I ran over to get him, I started...
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WHO SAYS BEAUTY IS ONLY SKIN DEEP?
When I was a little girl, my mom used to tell me not to write on my skin. “The ink is like poison,” she would say, “and it goes directly into your blood stream.” While I’m sure that my mother caused...
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Fifty is the New Thirty: Finding my True Calling
Photo Credit Andrew Leonard www.UtterApparel.etsy.com As I approach my 50th birthday, I’ve been doing quite a bit of self-reflection. In my personal life, I couldn’t be more satisfied: my husband and...
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Beautiful Jewelry from… Trash?
You may have seen our article series here at EcoPlum called The Stories Behind our Products. Well reading about our creative and talented artisans is certainly interesting, but how about a close up...
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Being a Part of Something Big
I was born in the 60s and often think about how crazy that decade was. President Kennedy was killed when my mom was pregnant with me, our good family friend Andrew Goodman was killed in Mississippi...
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Greener by Choice Podcast: Buying Eco-Friendly Products Pays Off
Earlier this month, I had a the pleasure of being a guest on CS Wurzberger’s podcast: Greener by Choice. CS, also known as The Green Up Girl, is on a mission to provide you with the inspiration,...
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We’ve moved our blog posts to our new site!
THE NEW ECOPLUM BLOG CAN BE FOUND AT http://shop.ecoplum.com/blogs/sustainable-living
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