I love that almost all of the Green daily actions that I take, involve saving money and in the case of brewing my coffee at home, quite a lot!

Those daily visits to the coffee shop can really add up, so today I am pledging today to brew my own organic coffee and tea at home. Making a public pledge can be a powerful tool for personal change so I encourage all of you to visit www.goodearthcoffee.com today and take the pledge – what’s really fantastic about this, is that a dollar will be donated to the Trust for Public Land for each person who takes the pledge. Go visit www.tpl.org and see what a great non-profit this is: they are basically protecting what few Gorgeously Green spaces are still left – so that you and your children can still connect with nature despite the fact that industry and the corporate world want to cover it all in asphalt.

So keep paper cups out of the landfill, save money and protect our Green earth today!

I was in a giant big box store yesterday and needed to buy some toilet paper but alas, there wasn’t a square of recycled paper in sight. Every brand of toilet paper, tissues, paper towels and paper napkins, were made out of virgin pulp – meaning they are made from trees that are cut down from ecological areas. It just doesn’t make sense that these companies are still cutting trees down when we have such little forest left! The virgin timber-based pulp industry is also the third greatest emitter of global warming pollution in the world.

Always try to buy paper made from 100% post-consumer content. There are many fantastic companies like Seventh Generation and the 365 Wholefoods brand, whom only use recycled content.  Also look for 100% post-consumer printing paper and legal pads at Staples.

For more fascinating information on paper and what actions you can take to help, visit
www.nrdc.org/paper

If any of you haven’t taken our survey yet, please do! It’s short and sweet and you get automatically entered to win a mega-prize at the end of this month. www.GorgeouslyGreen.com/survey

Isn’t technology weird: the more connected we are, as we become glued to our blackberries (yes, I have to admit that I succumbed, after saying I never would!), the more disconnected we are becoming.

If I spend an entire day staring at a computer screen, talking on my cell phone and or, checking my blackberry, I feel strangely wired and detached from reality. These miracles of communication are taking us further and further away from a deeper and hugely important connection to the world around us. My husband and I vowed we would never be that couple that indulges in Blackberry- clicking, rather than talking, but its tough, if it’s buzzing away in your pocket, how on earth do you ignore it; my husband came up with a really simple solution: TURN IT OFF! What a relief, with all the gizmos shut down for the evening, we can actually talk, see each other and connect - what a treat!

I think it’s important to have full-on days away from it all, hours to ruminate and dream. I’m going to have a communication-free day once a week - yes that’s going to be my new big thing. I’ll keep you posted!

There is nothing more sobering than a power outage. I know many of you on the East Coast have just been through one. They scare me, not so much because I have to go out with frizzy bangs (no blow dryer), but more because they remind me how totally and utterly dependent we are on coal and oil. I was at my doctor’s office this morning and due to an outage, the elevators in the giant tower block had come grinding to a halt. As I geared myself up for the butt-firming climb up to the sixth floor, I notice a frail old gentleman with his shaky hands gripping onto a walking frame. He told me that he needed to get up to the 5th floor- he was clearly afraid and confused. He obviously couldn’t manage the climb so had to make his way home. This incident led me to think about everything electrical in my life, inside and outside the home. I don’t like feeling so dependent, in the same way that as a Nation, we don’t like feeling so dependent on foreign oil. With utility prices going through the roof and gas pump prices soaring, many of us are seriously thinking about alternatives. We are now hearing about green collar jobs and a burgeoning green economy in the renewable energy sector, yet how long is this going to take to really get going? We clearly have little time to lose. Do you know anyone who is involved or investing in this new green workforce or economy? Would love to hear from you all.

Who is your vote going to? Who is the greenest candidate? It is so exciting to see this incredible buzz going on. I was lucky enough to get invited to the democratic debates here in Hollywood last week and it was like going to a rock concert: crowds of chanting, screaming Obama supporters waving their signs outside the Kodak Theatre. The audience, chock full of celebrities in their front row seats, hanging on every word.
A shift is occurring and change is on its way - we all want that change and let’s just hope that our new president will “be the change” that he or she wants to see in the world.
For detailed information about the green credentials of each candidate, go to http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/Election-Guide-2008-47110201

Hey girls - so I’m really interested to hear you all weighing on on nuclear power as an “alternative” energy source. I’m not a fan because I think we’re moving into dodgy territory if we start building more nuclear plants (according to Co-op America, we would need 17,000 new plants to begin to make a dint in global warming, and we currently draw power from only 400). Building even a fraction of this number of nuclear plants could pose some very serious risks: toxic waste, cancer risk, and nuclear proliferation, being the worst. Moreover, uranium is a finite resource that we will eventually run out of.
Better concentrate on risk-free alternative technologies like solar and wind power and of course, CONSERVE your energy - one switch makes a difference.
To learn more about nuclear power go to coopamericanews@coopamerica.org

How can we go out into the world and make a difference. Here is a list of organizations that I love. One click will take you to their website and you can see if it’s something that touches you.