- Rather than using traditional favors, donate between $1 and $2 per guest to your favorite environmental association or organization and print something in the programs to let your guests know about it.

- Visit a website like http://www.idofoundation.org where you can find out about a multitude of different ways to raise money for charity through wedding favors, honey moon and even your gift registry.

 - Give each and every one of your guests an 11-watt compact fluorescent light bulb. By replacing a 50 watt incandescent bulb with their wedding favor, each of your guests will be saving an incredible 685 lbs worth of carbon dioxide, counteracting the carbon dioxide that was released into the atmosphere by your guests traveling to your wedding. Carbon dioxide released into the air contributes to global warming, so this particular wedding favor could be doing a world of good.

- Consider gifting something recycled and handmade, such as a handmade paper bookmark with wildflower seeds embedded inside. This is an extremely beautiful, thoughtful and useful gift that your guests will get enjoyment out of after the wedding. If you do not want to give a bookmark, consider individually packaging a small envelope of wildflower seeds for each of your guests.

- Get tree saplings from the National Arbor Day Foundation, available through http://www.arborday.org and give them to each of your guests.

- There are a number of edible earth friendly wedding favors, including delicious organic milk and dark chocolate candy bars that are earth friendly and elegant. Each of these bars comes with an at risk animal featured on its cover, and the covers come in enough colors that there is no doubt you’ll be able to find one that suits the colors of your special event.

The Green World Project, available at http://www.greenworldproject.org offers evergreen tree seedling favors that come presented in a stylish little tube with instructions both on using the tube as a bird feeder, and planting the tree sapling!

- There are also a number of companies out there that specifically craft wedding favors that are environmentally responsible and eco friendly, such as Favors 4 Wedding, located at http://www.plantamemory.com, which offers a myriad of different and unique wedding favors including seed favors and flower bulb wedding favors that come in a multitude of different design options and color options as well.

- You may also consider simply opting for something handmade. Paint pictures for all of your guests, or write them special messages. Create handmade bookmarks or other unique favors. Tie in something natural, biodegradable, reusable, or otherwise ecologically friendly and you have a treat that your guests will surely love.

Turning your wedding reception and ceremony into a green celebration is not difficult, it only takes a little bit of creativity and a serious love for the world around you.

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Wedding Favors Go Green

Wearing jewelry always seems to have played an invaluable role in the society of humans, with jewelry objects dating back to pre historic Africa. The importance to jewelry remains consistent even today for a number of reasons, including as an amulet, ornament, a symbol of wealth or a variety of other purposes. Silver and gold mining processes throughout the years, however, have devastated ecosystems and thousands of miles worth of waterways which has devastated the future for this beautiful and unique trade. Additionally, diamond mining has become largely a blood diamond trade, with these blood diamond exports becoming responsible for numerous heinous crimes committed on humanity as they are funding wars through illegal sale.

There are plenty of ecologically responsible and environmentally friendly alternatives to conventional styles of jewelry, but they require that you do a little bit of research into sourcing, environmental practices and labor associated with their manufacture. Fair trade practices are slowly being introduced into the jewelry industry, though it will take time to achieve the primary goals of these practices. The endeavors for artisans and jewelers who are working to supply ecologically friendly alternatives to jewelry are continuing to help develop the level of change that is necessary on a widespread basis in order to create a truly sustainable industry for jewelry and other similar items.

Another available option is recycled jewelry, with the majority of all recycled jewelry being handmade today. There are many stunning and beautiful pieces available that are constructed from handmade wood components and recycled metal components that would otherwise end up in a trash heap. One of the best places to find a showcase of stunning handmade artwork composed of recycled components is on the online website Etsy, available at http://www.etsy.com. Here you will find a number of innovative independent artists who are crafting their own unique eco friendly jewelry from some truly surprising elements.

Artisans all over the world are working hard to eliminate the strife associated with the traditional jewelry trade in favor of a natural and eco friendly jewelry industry comprised of recycled components, natural elements, synthetically created gemstones and recycled metals. The more the word gets out about this incredible movement, the more people will begin to turn to the beauty of organic and ecologically friendly jewelry in favor of the traditional gold, silver, diamond and gemstone jewelry that is eating up our ecosystem.

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Eco Jewelry

Location - Choose a favorite natural spot and consider an outdoor style wedding in order to accentuate the beauty of your special day. This is also an outstanding way for you to better connect yourself with nature, and to remind yourself for exactly why you make environmentally friendly and responsible decisions every single day. You can also hold your ceremony and your reception in the same location in order to prevent having your guests drive more than they have to for the sake of your wedding celebration.

Wedding Gown and Tux - You may want to consider choosing a resale clothing store when buying your gown and tux, and purchase vintage when you can. You may also want to consider purchasing a simple dress and suit that can be worn in the future, or an organic silk or hemp wedding dress to go about things organically. You should also learn how you can donate your wedding gown and tux to charity if you do not plan on wearing them again. Photos last forever, you do not need to hang on to your gown.

Wedding Invitations - You should opt for 100% PCW recycled paper invitations, especially those that are not processed using chlorine. You may also opt to encourage your guests to recycle their invitations. One way to do this is to have flower seeds embedded in the cards so that they may be planted following the wedding. Forgo envelops when possible, and opt for self mailers and small simple designs to use less paper.

Food - Try to opt for a caterer that offers organic and vegetarian entrees. Consider renting real classes, cloth napkins and other permanent ware instead of disposable plates and paper napkins, or use biodegradable and compostable flatware and dishes, which are made from tropical leaves, sugar cane or cornstarch.

Floral Arrangements - Choose florists that bring their flowers in from organic farms and other locally grown sources. You may also consider choosing a wildflower grower to create your own bouquets and wedding table arrangements. Opt for live potted plants in place of cut floral arrangements for the centerpieces for your tables. Give these away as gifts or enjoy them in your home for years to come.

Alternatives to Rice Throwing - You may opt for throwing bird seeds rather than rice in city weddings as long as the seed will not cause havoc to the ecosystem where your wedding is being held. You may also consider throwing biodegradable flower petals, blowing non-toxic handmade bubbles, or simply ringing handballs in place of throwing anything.

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Eco Chic Green Wedding

- Free Trade – When you are looking for eco-friendly jewelry, you will want to see that metals and gems are purchased from vendors that are ethical and adhere to Fair Trade standards, which protect worker’s rights.
- Ethical sourcing – Metal and gem mining operations have an effect on the earth so many eco-friendly jewelers reuse metals. This doesn’t degrade the quality of the metals in your jewelry and the reuse of metal falls in line with ethical ecological practice.
- Canadian Diamonds – Canadian diamonds are mined without conflict and while fully protecting workers rights. There is some question about the mining operations impact on Canadian wildlife and wilderness, but Canada does have strict environmental laws that mines are expected to work within.
- Created Diamonds and Gemstones – The stigma that once was associated with created stones is gone. Technology is such that created diamonds and stones are of the same quality and beauty as natural stones. They are essentially created in the same manner that Mother Nature creates them in, just in less time. Testing labs are developing sophisticated procedures to reliably differentiate between lab created and natural diamonds. This is a credit to the created stone – they can no longer be identified as created without the help of science.

Jewelry is important to all cultures and it would be silly to think that we will all forego jewelry for the sake of being earth-friendly. We can however find ways to make our jewelry purchases more meaningful by considering buying jewelry that is made from recycled metals instead of mined metals. Using created gemstones or stones that have been donated (your grandmom’s engagement diamond, perhaps), relieves the pressure that is put on both humans and the earth to produce diamonds and other gems.

It is a radical change to ask for an engagement ring that is made from reused gold and created or reused gemstones, but it’s an idea whose time has come. It is also a credit to each of us, and the jewelers who participate in creating eco-friendly jewelry. The pieces that are produced from this new way hold in them history, science, and a feeling of pride in knowing that even a small trinket can help make a difference to people and places that we may never meet or see.

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Eco-Friendly Jewelry

Low Impact Clothes Shopping

If you want to reduce your ecological impact when it comes to clothes shopping, here are some things you can do:

- Hit the resale shops – Yes, you read that correctly. Go buy someone else’s clothes. There are resale stores that sell clothing and other items, charity stores, such as Goodwill and Salvation Army, and vintage stores that specialize in selling funky old vintage clothing. You may actually find brand new, still with the tags on clothing items in any of these stores. You will often find excellent quality, clothes that are still in very good shape. Some people love to shop at these kinds of stores. Finding bargains is fun, and participating in the hunt for something cool and interesting is fun. Some people are sensitive about buying and wearing other people’s underwear and shoes (that’s understandable), but most people are fine with wearing shirts, pants, dresses and coats that others are no longer using. Resale stores are a great place to purchase children’s clothes. Kids grow so quickly that there is little time to wear them out. Buying form a resale store is a way of recycling too. Those clothes may have ended up in a landfill (one would surely hope not!).
- Buy clothing made from organic fabrics – You can find clothes for kids and adults made from organic cotton or hemp in a number of places. These clothes are made from fibers that were farmed without the use of dangerous chemicals and then made into fabric without the use of petroleum softeners, brighteners, retardants, formaldehyde and other dangerous chemicals and practices. Organic cotton and hemp are naturally sturdy, but comfortable. Plus organic cotton and hemp are farmed using sustainable practices such as crop rotation. Good for us and good for the Earth.
- Do more with less – Is it really, truly necessary to have twenty pairs of shoes, or ten pairs of jeans, or five party dresses? Really? If you want to have less impact on the environment with your clothes shopping habits – purchase less. You will save money and gas (fewer trips to the mall, or fewer deliveries from the shipping company).

For some, adopting low impact clothes shopping habits is easy, but for others this is a radical idea. Not everything works for everyone. It’s worth considering your habits carefully and making even small changes that will make you a lower impact shopper.

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Low Impact Clothes Shopping

There’s an urban legend that says if you rub a gold ring on your lipstick and it produces a brownish mark, there’s lead in it (the lipstick, not the ring). That urban legend is untrue, so the only way to tell if lead is in your particular brand is by testing it. The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics has found that some lipsticks do have appreciable amounts of lead in them.

What brands are affected?
Not every brand and every shade of lipstick was tested. However, there is a complete list of the lipsticks that were tested along with their results. It is available in PDF by visiting www.safecosmetics.org and looking for the report “A Poison Kiss”. Interestingly, price made no difference at all. Some of the most expensive brands tested high for lead while some of the least expensive brands tested low or no lead.

What level of lead in lipstick is considered safe?
Zero. Lead in any amount is not safe. Recent scientific studies show that any exposure to lead is potentially harmful. Lead can lead to learning, language and behavioral problems in children, and infertility and miscarriage in women. Lead does not break down in the body, but builds up over the span of a lifetime. Unfortunately, the FDA doesn’t limit lead in lipstick, so manufacturers are welcome to use any ingredients they please – even those that may contain lead.

What should you do?
First, check out the list of lipsticks that were tested and use that as a guide to buying zero-lead lipstick.  But more importantly, you can write your Congressmen and women and ask them to help get the laws changed so that manufacturers will be held responsible for making sure that lead is not one of the ingredients in any of your cosmetics. Upon hearing to the test results by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein and John Kerry sent a letter to the FDA demanding that action be taken.

With the recent news of lead paint on children’s toys, we probably shouldn’t be surprised to find it in our cosmetics. This is an unfortunate call to action. We need to be vigilant in protecting our families and ourselves from harm. One of the ways we can do this is to call or write those who can change the laws and push manufacturers to take responsibility for cleaning up the processes that are allowing the products we use everyday to be tainted by lead. It’s sobering to think that that tube of luscious red lipstick that makes you look so hot can also make you sick.

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There’s Lead in My Lipstick?

The best way to know what you’re buying and using on your skin and hair is to read the labels. Since the FDA does little to regulate what ingredients are being used in cosmetics, you should educate yourself about the words you don’t want to find on the ingredient list. They are: mercury lead acetate, formaldehyde, thimerosal, toluene, petroleum, ethlyacrylate, dibutyle phthalate, coal tar and potassium. Not only bad for people, these ingredients are bad for the environment. You will notice that petroleum is one of the no-no ingredients listed. That’s because it’s a fossil fuel. If you don’t see petroleum on a label, you still might have petroleum products in your cosmetics. Look for mineral oil, paraffin, and propylene glycol – all pretty common in lip glosses and balms.

If you want to make things easier on yourself, look for the USDA Organic seal. Organic is better because it’s safer for you and better for the environment. Simple and easy. Organic products may expire before those that are made with our long list of bad ingredients, so pay attention to expiration dates.

Beware of what you’re putting on your hair. Even though you rinse off what you put on your hair fairly quickly, some products still contain toxic elements, and your hair and scalp are absorbent. Check ingredient lists for these: SLS or SLES, coal tar, petroleum or petroleum derivatives (see list for cosmetics above), formaldehyde, phthalates, and synthetic fragrances.

It’s sobering, isn’t it? We want to wear cosmetics and have clean hair. We may even want to cover the gray. Is that so wrong? Certainly not, but caution is still advised. The products that rest on our skin every day and soak into our hair and scalp could be toxic to us and toxic to the environment. But the good news is that good, safe alternatives can be found. Read your labels and do your research. Here’s to your good looks and your good health!

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How to Find “Green” Cosmetics