Global warming is a concern that is on everyone’s mind — or at least it should be!  There are many programs that allow you to calculate just what your carbon footprint is.  The Carbon Advice Group is one of these programs.  You can calculate the carbon footprint from your car, house, flights and business.  This program also sells carbon credits to offset the amount of carbon dioxide that we are sending off into the air each day.

These credits are then used towards their re-forestation projects, energy efficiency projects, and renewable and sustainable energy projects, specifically focusing on developing countries.  Some of their energy projects are focused on hydropower, crop waste power sources (cocnut fronds and sugar cane trash), and wind power.

Carbon Advice Group sells the credits to people to offset their carbon dioxide output and in return, invests the money in carbon dioxide reducing projects.  Businesses will get a carbon neutral logo for their letterhead, as well as stickers to display on windows, etc. proclaiming them to be carbon neutral.  All users will receive carbon neutral stickers for cars that have been offset.

I got a copy of this today from a support group I’m part of on Facebook.  I thought that it was too beautiful not to share.  Enjoy!

~written by Kim Steffgan~ *NOT ME!!*

Not long ago, astronauts found in the heavens gaseous celestial bodies-clouds of cosmic dust – which they think have finally answered the mystery of what exists between the small things in the universe, like planets, and the bigger things, like the sun.They call the cosmic dust “brown dwarfs” or “pre-stars” because although brown dwarfs have all the same elements to become a star, for some reason, they never did.

All stars go on to live full lives, from their hot, bright white dwarf stage, to their aged, cooler and dimmer, red giant stage. But “Brown Stars” only go so far. Instead of being born to live a normal star’s life, they remain cool and dim, hiding in the heavens, sprinkled in clusters among the other stars, one hundred fifty light years from earth.

But like our babies, their roles in the universe are very important. In fact, scientists believe they serve as a link between the small things and the big things, holding them together; A mid point between the beginning and ending of our universal story.

As we grieve our babies who died before reaching the stardom of their earthly lives, perhaps we can find comfort in the possibility that they are designated for this very special, universal role.Energized by our love, they are guardians of our memories of what was and our dreams of what someday may be. As we look to the heavens, seeking answers, we send messages of love to our “Brown Star” babies.

~written by Kim Steffgan~

Okay, just look at these shoes!  This is a sponsored post for the company but I do definitely love their shoes!  Perhaps I’m stretching the term “environmental” but they are cork wedges.  Cork is a sustainable resource because it’s harvesting does not damage the tree that it comes from.  You can remove the cork from the outer bark of the tree while the cork tree just keeps on growing!

These particular cork wedges come from daniblack shoes and are priced at $150.  They come in seven different colors and 3 different types of leather strapping — vaccheta leather, soft waxy calf and soft patent leather.  The different types of leather are available in different colors.  Not all combinations are available so check the options before you get your heart set on one of the combinations!

They have a soft suede lining on the insole of the sandal to make the shoes even more comfortable.  The cork wedge is 4″ high with a plaform of 1″ which makes it a great shoe choice for spring.  Shoes like this will lengthen the leg by extending the line and drawing the eye towards the shoe — especially in this eye catching red.

These cork heels are from the same company, daniblack shoes.  These 4″ cork heels are priced at $170 and have mirrored accents and padded insoles for comfort.  The fabric used on the top is denim so these shoes would look fantastic with jeans or more dressy with a skirt.  These shoes really scream bohemian while still having a modern edge.

I don’t know if everyone has been following the tragic story of Caylee Anthony.  I’ve been glued to the story.  Not only do I have a daughter about the same age as Caylee Anthony, I too had a child at the age of 19 and lived with my parents with my child.  There are just so many similarities between my life and the life of the Anthony’s.

Caylee Anthony went missing and was gone for a month before anyone reported her missing.  Her mother, 22 year old Casey Anthony, had left home with her after a family arguement.  Casey is a pathological liar who was incapable of loving anyone but herself, it seems.  Caylee’s skeletal remains were found just before Christmas near the Anthony home.  Casey has been charged with murder as well as fraud, theft, etc. in the circumstances surrounding her beautiful daughter’s death.  There have been numerous twists and turns, including Casey’s father recently becoming suicidal and being hospitalized.

This morning as I was driving my oldest to junior high, the son I had at 19, I heard about the Caylee Anthony doll.  The same company who has made money from other high profile people such as Sarah Palin or Michael Vick decided it would be a good idea to make a doll called the Caylee Sunshine Doll.  They have recently suspended sales which were supposed to start today.  Not that they have cancelled all sales, they have just put them on hold.  This from the same company that brought us the Michael Vick dog chew toy!

The new American President Barrack Obama seems like a great choice for Americans as well as for the planet.  He mentioned the environment in one way or another over 20 times during his inauguration speech.  He wants to create clean power, sustainable practices and develop green technologies.  He has already made many important decisions — to close Guantanamo and to end the torture of prisoners.  He still has yet to get his darn kids that puppy he promised though!  I wonder just how many of his promises he’ll be able to follow through with.  There are many benefits to following through with environmental goals, even during a recession.

Developing green technologies will naturally create new jobs.  These new jobs can not only lower the soaring unemployment rates, they can also stimulate the economy by increasing the flow of money.  More people with more money means more spending.

On a more personal level, going green can be very economic if it’s done the right way.  You can make your home greener by making your own cleaning products from natural ingredients.  You can make your family greener by limiting what is brought into your home.  Cutting back on spending naturally means cutting back on waste as we “trim the fat” from our budgets.  This will cut down on packaging wastes and generally reduce the amount of materials going to our overflowing landfills.  When we spend money we don’t have to buy things we don’t need, the planet and our pocket books suffer!

Acobay is a new social network type site that allows you to choose things you are interested in and “meet” people who are like you.  There’s even an urban legend saying that long lost twins found each other there because they had exactly the same interests.  True or not, the site is still pretty cool.  You can also use it to promote your blog or introduce different products to a wide group of people.  I’d definitely recommend checking it out.

This is a sponsored post for Acobay.

I found this cool line of laptop bags for women that are not your standard, dorky “man bag” that is all black.  These bags are stylish, colorful, useful and streamlined.  I like the one pictured here especially because it comes with a matching cosmetic case!  What more could a woman want from a laptop bag?  It looks like a stylish purse instead of a technology laden geeky bag.  This picture shows the Tuscany Leather Laptop Bag with itps padded, removeable sleeve for the lap top as well as the matching cosmetic case.  This particular bag comes in pink, green, red and beige but there’s a whole variety of bags to choose from.  Go to their site following my links here and check out the selection and great prices.  The prices range from $25 for a laptop sleeve to $150 for the bag pictured here.  If anyone is looking for a great gift for me, or that special woman in your life who’s constantly lugging around a laptop, go to Rainebrooke. Even the name is cute — it’s the names of their two little girls — Raine and Brooke.  The only thing that could be better is if their bags were environmentally friendly…hmmmm.  Maybe that’s something to suggest to them?  This post is sponsored but I really do love these bags!  Such a great idea, I wish I had thought of it!

It seems like one thing that I can never get enough of is memory.  My memory is definitely fading, lol, but that’s not the kind of memory I’m referring to.  I mean computer memory, specifically, laptop memory.  We often take the laptop with us when we watch ouf kid’s sports and if the battery doesn’t give out then there’s a problem with the memory.  Between me and the computers we have, we could constantly get more memory it seems like.  Well, more memory at least for me.  Any idea where I could purchase some of that???

With the new preisdent of the United States, the world is looking forward anxiously to change. A change in policies, a change in healthcare, a change in education, in human rights, and most importantly to me, environmental awareness. Here’s a good article that is well researched and written about Reinventing America. The author, who has sponsored this post, goes through different areas that need to be addressed as well as practical solutions to real problems. He talks about simplifying our lives, spending less, creating less waste, public health care, reinventing education, simplifying government, becoming transparent in our words and actions, supporting commerce, prioritizing social welfare, boosting technology, becoming more frugal and reinstilling values of integrity. Please check out this post, it’s chalk full of information, links and great ideas.

This is a sponsored post.

Lately, we’ve been organizing like crazy.  There is nothing that I like better than an organized house.  One area we have yet to tackle is the garage.  We’ve been looking at different garage storage solutions but have yet to put anything in place.  We definitely need some shelves and storage ideas for the garage as soon as possible.  At the moment, we can only park one vehicle in our two car garage and we’re lucky to squeeze that one in.  Check out this family run company carguygarage.com who sponsored this post to find some great ideas to make the garage into another room in the house.

This is a sponsored post.