My Friends Wrote This Post For Me

Friends have been filling me in on lots of eco-friendly goodies for the blog, but I haven't had time to conglomerate all of the fun into a post. So here we go, a whirlwind round-up of what some other Light Greenies are doing and seeing in their quest to keep the planet a bit nicer.

• Sara, in Oakland, sent a couple of items. First up, when we were walking in Rockridge, we saw a house with a LEED "Platinum" certification plaque on the front. LEED (Leadership in Energy-efficient and Environmental Design) is program that environmentally-friendly building projects go through. There are a variety of levels of LEED certification, but platinum sounded like an A+ to me. I'm ashamed to admit that Sara and I both agreed that someone with a LEED Platinum certificate would probably be insufferable... well, I can't vouch for the personality traits of anyone involved, but Sara sent an article she found stating that this house is the "greenest" in America -- or at least the greenest that LEED has certified. I think it's especially cool because they took a beautiful old home and simply updated it, so it retains its character.


• Sara also sent me a link to Natural Home Cleaning, a company in Oakland which is sweet because a) it is a worker-owned co-op (sounds Commie, I know, but co-ops are cool!); and b) they clean homes using only safe and natural products. Sara wondered if Houston might have something similar -- and a quick google later I turned up Organic Home Cleaning. Now, I haven't tried them out -- ahem, I do all my own cleaning ... sometimes -- but it's nice to know that Houston can be green just like those folks out on the left coast.


• Other Sarah, here in Houston, recommends biodegradable dog waste bags from Simply Out!. Her dog Nicky gives them two "un-opposable, and unopposed" thumbs-up.


• Also in Houston, Melanie gives an (opposable) thumbs-down to Green Works Natural All-Purpose Cleaner. Green Works hasn't gotten the best reviews from my amigas, although the toilet cleanser seems to work fine. It seems that sometimes green products coast on being green, without also working. Many experiments with organic shampoo have borne this out. Hopefully, Clorox will continue trying ... wouldn't be amazing if someday a chemical company transformed into an all-natural company ... ah! we can only dream.


• Darci, in Spokane, WA, is a fan of Fresh Abundance, a small grocery selling local and organic products. They also deliver weekly produce boxes with a surprise assortment of vegetables and fruits, which allows participants in the program to experience produce they might not otherwise try.


• Finally, Maritza came to our birthday party bearing another brand of ecologically-responsible partyware - dispozables, by iPack.

And over at My Charming Kids, baby Stellan is doing a bit better today -- keep praying and sending good wishes to Stellan and his family.