A new book about sustainability has just been released called Sustainable Materials: indispensable, impartial popular by authors Julian Allwood and Jonathan Cullen. To learn about the book, please visit http://boingboing.net/2011/11/17/sustainable-materials.html

Here are some ways to Green your holidays this year.

Kickoff your holidays the Green way by cooking your Turkey through a paper bag. Here is the recipe found at http://www.greatpartyrecipes.com/how-to-cook-a-turkey.html On the website, you can also find more green ways to cook your Thanksgiving turkey.

Paper Bag Turkey
1 whole turkey, 23-25 pounds
1 large brown paper bag (grocery bag)
Butter, soft but not melted
Salt or garlic salt and pepper to taste

Remove neck and giblets from cavities. Rinse the turkey and pat dry with paper towels. Stuff, if desired.

Thoroughly coat the turkey with butter using your fingers or a paper towel. Season generously.

Place the turkey in the paper bag. Seal the bag with staples, paper clips or a needle and thread. (Use 2 bags if 1 is too small.)

Place the turkey on a sturdy shallow baking pan. Bake at 325° for about 5 hours. Reduce the cooking time to 4-4 1/2 hours for an unstuffed or smaller turkey.

And no, the paper will not burn, and the turkey will not taste like paper. But you will enjoy all those little gasps of appreciation when you “unwrap” your perfect paper bag turkey.

When Turkey day is done:
Buy a real Christmas tree instead of a fake.

Decorate your Christmas tree with natural materials such as popcorn and cranberries.

Use tablecloths that are made out of fabric.

Use silverware and dishes that are not disposable.

Send out online invite cards.

Buy Eco friendly gift cards made out of bioplastic materials such as corn based and a material called Mirel. Target sells these types of cards.

Wrap up larger gifts with pillowcases and smaller gifts with newspaper.

Give battery free gifts.

Choose meat and vegetables that are locally and sustainably grown.

Organize a media swap full of movies, books, CDs, etc. with family and friends.

The 1st day to drop off your old Christmas lights at the 58 Walmart store locations is Sat 11/19/2011.

Please Join us at the four CBL malls from Nov. 19th to Dec. 10th to giveaway mall coupons and flyers regarding the Holiday Light Drive. To volunteer please contact cindy@stlouisgreen.com Also, don’t forget the Holiday Light Drive at 58 Walmart Stores-Statewide, which will continue from Nov 19 and ends December 4th. The drive for remainder locations ends January 31,2012. See locations

Start off your Holiday Season the Green way and come join St Louis Green and Operation Food Search in collecting and recycling holiday lights at the four CBL Malls: West County, South County, Mid Rivers, and Chesterfield, Beginning November 12th. The Drive will last until January 31st. If you would like to Volunteer, please contact cindy (at)stlouisgreen.com Looking forward to your participation!

Fall is in full swing and there are a surprising number of green events in November. We hope you can make it to some of these!

Early in the month is the fourth annual fundraiser and celebration for EarthDance, known as the Farmers Formal. On November 5th , this event is open to anyone and tickets are $75 per plate. All proceeds go towards the sustainable farming education programs by EarthDance. Purchase tickets at www.FarmersFormal.org.

The Rams have had a great turnout of volunteers for the Green Team, people who get to watch the game for free and help collect recyclables from fans. But to get through the season with a strong Green Team, they are still looking for more volunteers. If you support the Rams, this is a fun way to lend your support to them as they green their operations. Get off the couch and come on down to the stadium! Email lboaz@rams.nfl.com to check for available dates!

Sustainability and the Build Environment of the St. Louis Region is an exhibition that explores the idea of sustainability through art. This unique event allows you to see visual art, architectural designs, and community projects that demonstrate sustainable lifestyles in the St. Louis region. The exhibit will be open from November 11 through January 7 and is free to the public.

At the end of the month is the Midwest Energy Policy Conference. This is the fifth annual conference that brings in regional and national experts to discuss energy regulations, energy efficiency, power sources, investments and plans for our energy future. This conference focuses on constructive and honest dialogue among a diverse set of stakeholders – speakers and attendees. The early bird price is still available through November 17th. For more information about how you can attend this conference November 30 – December 2, visit www.regform.org.
We are excited to tell you about a new development in the effort to divert waste from landfills! St. Louis Green has joined forces with Operation Food Search to keep more waste out of landfills and use the donations to feed the hungry. The acquisition of the Operation Food Search Furniture and Metal to Food programs by St. Louis Green allows each organization to better service and expand their existing programs. The collection programs will continue but with expanded capabilities. At least 10% of proceeds and 100% of the in-kind furniture and metal donations will go to benefit Operation Food Search’s mission to feed the hungry.
For more developments and events, check out www.StLouisGreen.com. We post new events on our calendar on the website, and also announce them on Facebook.

Happy October! Is there such a thing as a green Halloween? The costumes, the decorations, and the candy all provide a great opportunity to make our lives more sustainable. Tell us how you plan to reduce, reuse, and recycle this Halloween at www.facebook.com/stlouisgreen.
The holidays are just around the corner. Have you started getting out your winter decorations yet? Soon we will all be plugging in those strings of holiday lights and seeing how many of them survived another year. If some of them don’t work, that’s actually good news for us at St. Louis Green because we want those lights for our Holiday Light Recycling Drive starting November 13th! We are teaming up with Operation Food Search to make this the biggest and best Holiday Light Recycling Drive yet, with a portion of the proceeds donated to a program to feed hungry kids on the weekends. We do this to keep these recyclable materials out of the landfills, and this year we need your help to reach our goal of recycling 50,000 pounds of holiday lights! We tried to make it easy and convenient with 200 drop-off locations in the St. Louis area. Find the closest drop-off location at www.stlouisgreen.com. If you would like to provide a drop-off location at your work or school, let us know soon!
It’s football time in St. Louis and the Rams need your support. This year, instead of watching the game on TV, see the game live at the stadium for free! When you volunteer to collect recyclables from fans during the game as part of the Rams Green Team, you get to be part of a fun group and do some good for your team. Email lboaz@rams.nfl.com to check for available dates!
Speaking of sports teams keeping waste out of landfills, the St. Louis Cardinals had a very successful year donating food to Operation Food Search. Instead of putting leftover edible food in the trash, the Cardinals donated thousands of pounds of prepared food to be given to the hungry.
As useful as foam packing peanuts are, sadly there are a lot of environmental problems with the polystyrene they are made of, especially during the manufacturing process, when used to hold hot food, and after disposal. The least we can do is recycle those Styrofoam food containers and foam packing peanuts. Did you know that at any time you can bring in this material to Kirkwood Recycling? They are open 24 hours a day and 7 days a week! Help Kirkwood Recycling contain the chaos by dropping off the peanuts in a bag or a box.
In October, we also have Food Day 2011, the Greening Midwest Communities conference, and many other events. For information on upcoming green events, check out www.StLouisGreen.com.

Green Scene for September Healthy Planet
Finally, fall is on its way here, and with it comes all the great events we are used to seeing every September!

The Green Homes Festival you might remember from last September is a little different this year. It is the Green Homes and Great Health Festival, and the new focus on health means that you can get all the same great information about greening your homes, as well as yoga, Tai Chi, free health screenings, and everything else you need to know about sustaining our lives here on Planet Earth. It’s 9am to 5pm on September 24th.

If you are looking for a cool volunteer opportunity, you’re going to love this one. The Rams need friendly volunteers for their Green Team. You get in free to the Rams game, and you’ll work alongside other volunteers to collect recyclables from fans. This could be a fun volunteer activity to do with a group from work, your church, or even a family activity that parents and kids can enjoy together. Just email lboaz@rams.nfl.com if you are interested!

Don’t forget, you can still participate in the Cardinals “4 A Greener Game” program to collect recyclables between innings.

If you don’t yet know how to green your Back to School experience, here are a few tips to get the school year started off right. Green school supplies are widely available – especially paper and notebooks made with recycled products. Bagless lunches have become a no-brainer. There are so many great reusable lunch bags, food containers, and even cute washable sandwich bags available for sale. Do you have a favorite washable or reusable lunch product? Tell us what it is on our St. Louis Green Facebook page!

The Butterfly House is having a great event for kids ages 7 and up with their families. From 11am to 2pm, kids get to learn about Monarch butterflies, their life cycle, migration patterns, and how to tag live monarchs. The class is included with the price of admission. Get more information about this class and these amazing creatures at www.butterflyhouse.org.

Now that it’s cooling off just enough to go outside and get your hands in the dirt, it’s time to start thinking about fall planting. As much work as scientists are doing on carbon sequestration, don’t forget one of the best and easiest ways to deal with carbon is by planting a tree. And fall is the best time to plant many trees! As you are planning your fall plantings, be sure to save your plastic pots for the Missouri Botanical Gardens recycling drive. They collect plastic plant pots of all types every fall, so just set those aside until it’s time to recycle! What else should we be doing in our gardens this fall? Tell us on Facebook and share the idea with us all!

Aug 1, 2011

Parent’s interested in being Green for Back to School supplies? Thinking about all those school supplies you need to purchase? Do you wish your child’s school was doing more to be green? There may be more that you can do than you realize! Meet with EarthWays staff and others to discover a variety of ways you can make your student’s year at school a green one! Pricing includes one adult and up to three accompanying children allowed (ages 5 and older). Please attend the Green Parenting Class at the Missouri Botanical Garden Commerce Bank Education Building on Aug. 7, 2011 from 1:00pm-2:30. The cost is $28 Missouri Botanical Garden member; $35 nonmember (price includes 1 adult and up to 3 children). http://www.earthwayscenter.org/

The St. Louis Cardinals need your help with their 4 a Greener Game program. Come down to Busch Stadium and help collect recycling between innings and see the game for free. Great for groups large and small, business community outreach, or individuals who want to help out and catch a game. Be sure to sign up to reserve your spot. http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/stl/community/green.jsp

On August 13 & 14 from 9am- 5pm an American Wilderness and Remote First Aid Course will be offered at the Alpine Shop in Kirkwood. Whether you’re a scout, an outdoor enthusiast or you work in a remote environment, course gives you the skills you need to respond to an emergency when help may be delayed. This 16-hour course is based on the Boy Scouts of America Wilderness and First Aid Curriculum and Doctrine Guidelines. The course also offers enhanced content and topics to meet OSHA’s Best Practices for the Workplace First Aid Training Programs-particularly important for occupational environments that are impacted by federal regulations. Course participants must be at least 14 years of age and possess current certification in adult CPR/AED. Cost: $135 (cost includes Reference Guide) To register E-mail: Ambre@GinkgoAdventures.com or call 314-496-1332.

FORM Contemporary Design Show on August 13, 2011 is presented by The Luminary Center for the Arts as a forum for exceptional designers to showcase their work, connect with a community of other designers and sell directly to supporters. Proceeds from the event will go directly to the designers and to support The Luminary Center for the Arts, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit artist resourcing platform created for the production and presentation of innovative art, music and cultural projects. The event is being held at The Temtor Building located at 8125 Michigan Avenue. http://formdesignshow.com
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July 1, 2011

Looking to turn your organic waste into a rich soil amendment with the help of a tumbling composter? Roll into the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, located at 3763 Forest Park Ave, to learn how to make this tool and get answers to your composting questions. If you would like to take one home, pre-made or special-order composters will be available for sale. The free composting demonstration is being held on July 6th from 6-7. RSVP to restore@habitatstl.org

Preserving the Harvest will be held on Thursday July 7 from 7-9pm at the Kemper Center at the Missouri Botanical Garden. Deliver the healthful wealth of your garden to your family’s table all year long! Leasburt, Missouri Master Gardener, teacher and veteran preserver, Laura Friz, will demonstrate basics and share expert tips covering canning, drying, and freezing all types of fresh produce – and she’ll whip up a batch of microwave pickles! http://mobot.org/gardeninghelp/AdultEducWeb/classes.asp

Are you a – Nonprofit leader, board members, donor, project manager of nonprofit construction projects looking to learn more about renewable energy? There is a great event being held at Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood on July 26th from 4-6. Higher Education Institutions have shown leadership on renewable energy, across the nation; but the structuring of the available incentives can make it a challenge to make renewables projects feasible. Items that will be discussed are a number of strategies that can be employed that make it possible to achieve affordability (even zero cost!) for Higher Education to invest in renewable energy. http://microgrid-energy.com/partial-content-areas/events/

The St. Louis Cardinals need your help with their 4 a Greener Game program. Come down to Busch Stadium and help collect recycling between innings and see the game for free. Great for groups large and small, business community outreach, or individuals who want to help out and catch a game. Be sure to sign up to reserve your spot. http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/stl/community/green.jsp

Love those Bugs!! The 4th Annual Bug Hunt is being held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m at the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House, 15193 Olive Blvd., Chesterfield, Mo . Learn behaviors of insects in their habitat by transforming yourself into an insect through games and activities. Step outside and see if you can beat our own native insects by capturing them with one of our entomologists. For children ages 2 to 13 with their families. www.butterflyhouse.org