Can't Find My Drink!

Don’t you just hate it when you’re at an event and are constantly picking up the wrong drink? I usually spend the rest of the time worrying about what germs I’ve picked up when I picked up someone else’s glass!

We’ve all seen those little wine glass markers that fit around the bottom of the glass – but what if you’re not drinking wine? Enter Drinkmarx, a new customizable drink marker for identifying your bottle, cup or can. They can easily transfer from one size drink to another, reducing the waste and spread of germs.

Drinkmarx are available in an array of colors and styles, so you can quickly ID your beverage, and be sure you’re not quaffing down something that doesn’t belong to you!

The cost is $9.95 for a package of 4 Drinkmarx: espresso, green, pink and blue, plus 120 decals to personalize.

Drinkmarx is also contributing a portion of all its net proceeds to fight hunger nationally/internationally through World Vision in addition to helping provide clean water through Tap Project.

For more information, visit www.DrinkMarx.com.

Organic Wine, Anyone?

We have organic fruits, vegetables, skin care products, hair care and everything in between, so why not organic wines? Congrats to HALL Wines, the Sonoma County, California vineyard and winery, for receiving an Organic Certification from the California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF), one of the nation’s oldest and largest organic certification and trade associations in North America. This comes on the heels of HALL St. Helena’s Gold LEED® Certification by the U.S. Green Building Council in July 2009.

HALL Wines uses no chemical fertilizers, synthetic pesticides or herbicides. Instead, it creates a habitat for natural predators, and plants cover crops to help build healthy matter in the soil. The HALL Team also spends a huge amount of time in the vineyards, monitoring water stress, vine health, vine balance and grape maturity to guarantee that the grapes are nurtured to reach their highest potential.

And if you think it’s easy to earn an organic farming certification process – think again. It can take up to three years! Each of HALL’s six estates located throughout Napa and Alexander Valleys follow the strict guidelines set forth by the CCOF. To date in 2010, 355 acres owned by HALL’s have been certified organic. The last of the estate vineyards, known as the Hardester Ranch with 145 planted acres, will receive its organic certification on August 18, 2010.

Kudos to Kathryn and Craig Hall, owners of HALL Wines, for making it their long-term mission to become a leader in earth-friendly California winegrowing. HALL St. Helena is the first Gold LEED® Certified Winery in the State of California, and maintains one acre of solar panels on its roof and uses 100% recycled water throughout its processes. All of HALL estate vineyards are enrolled in the Napa Green program, the wine industry’s most comprehensive “best practices” in land-use and wine production focusing on building environmentally sound, sustainable practices.

The CCOF, a nonprofit organization, was founded in 1973 and is one of the nation’s oldest and largest third-party organic certifying agencies. CCOF certifies more than 2,160 organic operations in 34 states and three foreign countries and serves over 350 supporting members - consumers, suppliers, businesses and individuals - interested in supporting its work.

For more on HALL wines, visit http://www.hallwines.com.

Call for Entries for The Earth Awards 2010

Have a great idea for more sustainable living? Well, the Earth Awards is inviting design submissions from all corners of the globe in six categories: Built Environment, Fashion, Products, Systems, Future and Social Justice. Ideas, great or small, realized or prototypes, will be considered but they have to distinguish themselves in six criteria: Achievable, Scalable, Measurable, Useful, Original and Ecological.

Put your thinking caps on because the grand prizewinner will receive $50,000 and category winners will get $10,000 each!

This year The Earth Awards’ Ceremony moves from New York City to London, where the Selection Committee will judge a shortlist of six finalists. This world-class exhibition will showcase the 2010 winning submissions, as well as past years winners. Along with the exhibition, the Financial Times will hold a Sustainable Business Conference and gala dinner inviting CEOs, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists to match innovation with investment, fulfilling The Earth Awards’ commitment to bringing winning innovations closer to market.

For more info visit: www.theearthawards.org

Submission deadline - May 10th 2010

Selection Committee Review: May 17th – July 23rd 2010

Awards Gala in London: September 16th 2010

Say Good Bye to More Plastics!

Are we slowly drowning in a sea of plastic? Some reports indicate that almost 90 percent of ocean debris is plastic!

Here’s some more frightening statistics -- Every year, there are almost 30 million tons of non-recycled plastics manufactured, requiring more than 1.5 million barrels of oil for production. Of this amount, less than 2 million tons of plastic are recovered for recycling. Add to that the fact that every hour, Americans throw away 2.7 million plastic bottles!

Rainbow Light® Nutritional Systems, based in Santa Cruz, California, is one company that isn’t taking this lightly. In fact, it recently converted its entire bottled vitamin line to sustainable EcoGuard™ bottles – a move that could keep an estimated 6million plastic vitamin bottles out of landfills every year! These new bottles are made from 100 percent recycled plastic, and are 100 percent recyclable.

Thanks, Rainbow Light for helping to rescue us from a plastic takeover! By the way, Rainbow Light multivitamins are the only certified organic multivitamins that are Allergen SafeGuard™ screened to be free of gluten, milk, eggs, fish and shellfish, nuts wheat and soy.

Rainbow Light® Nutritional Systems,is best known as the manufacturer of the No. 1 selling natural Just Once® multivitamin line, featuring Women’s One™, Men’s One™ and Prenatal One™. Last year, Rainbow Light expanded into the pet nutrition category with its new line of all-natural pet supplements, GreenDog Naturals™. Rainbow Light –making a difference for people, pets and planet.


For more info, visit

http://www.rainbowlight.com/CategoriesCompany.aspx?Category=370164b5-c16f-4856-996f-2ae9ea64162e.

From Trash....To Treasure!

Who says playing around in the trash doesn’t pay? In fact, picking through the recycling bin could even land you a TV gig!

In celebration of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day this April, PBS KIDS GO!'s Design Squad is launching the nationwide 2010 Trash to Treasure competition on April 5th at PBSKIDSGO.org/designsquad/contest.

Kids across the country aged 5 to 19 are being challenged to recycle, reuse and re-engineer everyday materials into new inventions. Three young innovators will win a trip to Boston to see their designs built and have the process chronicled for an upcoming episode of the engineering TV series.

The rules are simple. The invention should fit within one of the three categories: move things or people (Mobility), protect the environment (Environmental), or be used for indoor or outdoor play (Play). The invention should be made of at least two repurposed materials (fabric, paper, plastic, small electronics, wheels, clamps, springs, batteries, hardware, wood, bike parts, string, rubber bands, cardboard, kitchen gadgets, etc.) Kids will be given online tools to sketch out their ideas or upload a photo. (They don't need to actually build their invention in order to enter.)

Last year's winner, Max Wallack, 13, invented the "Home Dome"--a temporary shelter for homeless people and disaster victims.

Produced by WGBH in Boston, Design Squad is a reality competition show launched in 2007 and aimed at kids and people of all ages who enjoy “how to” television. WGBH Boston is America's preeminent public broadcasting producer--the single largest source of prime-time and children's programming for PBS and pbs.org, one of the most trafficked dot-org websites in the world.

Congratulations! You're the Proud Parent of an Olive Tree!

You may have heard of the benefits of olive oil, a staple of the Mediterranean diet. Olive oil is a natural juice that preserves the taste, aroma and vitamins of the olive. It’s chock full of antioxidants and various studies indicate it can protect again heart disease by controlling the LDL or “bad” cholesterol levels, while raising the HDL or “good” levels.

Now, the Texas Hill Country Olive Company is taking olive oil to the next level by letting customers adopt their own olive tree! Patrons who adopt an olive tree for a year can reap the rewards from their own tree -- like organically grown extra virgin olive oil, and the option to receive their olive oil bottles with custom labels. The company cultivates and mills olives, then bottles the olive oil on-site at their family run artisanal olive orchard. They also offer three specialty blends: Terra Verde, Master Miller’s Blend and Sola Stella.

In addition to the pure taste and healthy benefits, just think how impressed your family and friends will be when they see your name right there on the label!

Olives have been around for a very long time. They actually date back to 8,000 years ago when they were growing in Spain, and were commercially cultivated more than 5,000 years ago in Syria. From there olive farming spread across Greece, Rome, and the entire Mediterranean region.

Years later, Spanish missionaries introduced olives to the new world; planting trees in Mexico, California, and South America. Today Spain and Italy lead the world in olive production. The first successful olive tree plantings in Texas took place in the 1930's.

For more information on the Texas Hill Country Olive Company visit: www.texashillcountryoliveco.com

Will Frozen Yogurt Replace the "Coffee Break?"

I have to admit, I'm a lover of frozen yogurt, specially since my stomach has become intolerent of ice cream. So, my fellow yogurt lovers, Yogen früz, the world’s leading frozen yogurt firm, has some exciting news about this low-fat, tasty and healthy alternative.

Tommorrow, Yogen Früz plans to launch its latest NÜmixes flavor, Chai Latté, at Yogen Früz stores across North America. Yogen Früz’s Chai Latté is blended with low-fat or non-fat frozen yogurt offering a healthy alternative to your everyday coffee-break.

Yogen Früz’s proprietary blending process allows customers the opportunity to choose from an array of fresh fruits to create a personalized frozen yogurt treat. In addition, Yogen Früz’s NÜmixes program offers a fun spin on original flavors including: Chocolate Almond, Key Lime Pie, Piña Colada, and introducing the newest flavor Chai Latté.

Yogen Früz is offered in low-fat, non-fat and no-sugar-added frozen yogurt, which can be custom blended with a large assortment of fresh fruit and/or sweet crunchy toppings in a cup or blended into a nutritious fat-free, ice-free dairy or non-dairy smoothie. Yogen Früz adds one billion viable probiotic cultures to each serving of healthy yogurt. Probiotics have been shown to help with healthy digestion, immune system support, better mineral absorption and assist with lactose intolerance.

More info is available at www.yogenfruz.com. Happy and healthy eating!