Monthly Archives: May 2009

Check out these gorgeous hammocks from Ting.  This green hammock is green in more than one way — it’s made of re-purposed seat belts!  The belts are reclaimed from cars at the wreckers and reused by weaving them into these hammocks.  These belts are literally garbage that has no other purpose once the car has been finished off.  This is definitely a cool way to recycle garbage into something useful, chic, comfortable, and functional.  Now you can kick back and enjoy nature while helping to save it at the same time!  They come in orange, beige, black, lime green, silver, chocolate or even black and white checkerboard pattern!!  It takes about 6 weeks to get this custom made hammock delivered but the wait would definitely be worth it.

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Just the place for me — looking for people with opinions! lol I joined this site today that sends you surveys that they want you to complete to get points.  They send no more than two surveys to be completed a month — I took one and it’s really pretty easy.  The point value of the surveys varies depending on the length and complexity of the survey.

You can earn extra points by having friends and family members joining under you.  Join now and you can be part of my referral circle!  This can be a really quick and easy way to earn cash online. You get 100 points just for joining and can earn up to 75 points for each person that you refer to the system.  If your have 2,000 points in your account that’s worth $20 cash!  15,000 points is worth $150.  Another good thing about this system is that you don’t have to pay extra shipping and handling if you pick one of their great reward prizes.  The rewards arrive at your house without any cost to you at all!

The site is called My Opinion Now and offers a variety of different cash and prize incentives.  In addition to the cash and prizes you can earn through the rewards, companies sometimes offer you free products to try out for participation in their different surveys.  This is such a great way to reward yourself and your friends and it requires very little time to do.  I joined today, you should too!

This is a sponsored post with 100% real opinions.

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There’s a whole range of pet supplements that contain all natural ways to help your pet.  Kelp is used in some of the products as a natural way to supplement your pet’s diet with vitamins and minerals that are missing from his diet.  This can really help to improve his skin and coat while at the same time, improving digestion in an all natural way.

Salmon Oil is made from 100% wild salmon (not farmed!) and has all kinds of great fatty acids in it to imrpove your dogs coat and skin as well.  It’s also been shown to be great for a dog’s heart strength

The Kitty garden grows 100% organic wheat, oat, rye and barley to help supplement their diets in the most natural way possible.  This can aide in digestion and decrease the frequency of hairballs.

Going green has gone to the dogs!  Sorry, couldn’t help it.  The point is that if you shop carefully, your pet’s products can be as environmentally friendly as yours are.  Supplements and vitamins aren’t just things that us humans need.  Sometimes your pet can really benefit from their use as well.

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Your gown doesn’t actually have to be colored green to have an eco-friendly dress.  There are many other choices which include the use of bamboo, hemp, organic fabrics, vintage fabrics, and soy dyes.  A few designers are going eco-couture with their wedding collections this year as the environmental fashion wave hits.  Some of these dresses are even available at the best bridal prices on the market.  Designers such as Deborah Lindquist and Adele Weschler offer green bridal gowns that are truly green.  It’s definitely worth shopping around to find eco-chic designs for the biggest day of your life.

If you don’t find something eco-friendly that you like, another good idea is to reuse your dress.  There are companies out there that can transform your wedding dress into beautiful pillows that will help you to remember and cherish the day as well as get additional use out of the dress.

Another good way to green up your wedding is to buy a used dress or to rent a dress.  That way, a whole new dress does not need to be made.  This idea in particular can save a lot of money on your wedding budget as well so that you maybe can afford that eco-tourism honeymoon you’ve always wanted!

This is a sponsored post with 100% real opinions.

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Mesothelioma has only one known cause — exposure to asbestos.  In most cases, this exposure happened in the workplace.  Even sadder is the cases that occurred because of the asbestos brought home on clothing and exposed family members to it.  The truth is that the manufacturer’s of these products knew of the hazards associated with asbestos exposure.  They chose to hide the truth from worker’s using the products to avoid any future liabilities associated with the risks involved, such as mesothelioma.

Mesothelioma has a number of treatment options available however it must be noted that there is no cure yet.  Survival rates have increased in recent years in some classes of patients so there is hope on the horizon.  The treatment plan choosen by the doctor and patient together will be different depending on which stage of cancer the patient is in when the disease is discovered.  If it is discovered early, surgery may be an option for treatment.  Surgery is one of the traditional treatments for mesothelioma along with chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

Some of the non-traditional Mesothelioma treatment options include photodynamic therapy, gene therapy and immunotherapy. Photodynamic therapy involves using the energy from light to destroy cancer cells.  This treatment is still in the experimental stages for mesothelioma but has some some promise in conjunction with surgical treatments of other cancers.  Gene therapy is a new treatment option in clinical trials that involves the targeted destruction of cancer cells instead of non-targeted destruction of cells involved in chemotherapy.  Immunotherapy, also known as biological response modifiers, involves using a patient’s own immune system to fight the cancer.

If mesothelioma is something affecting you or one of your loved ones, make sure that you have a specialist working with you to decide on your treatment options both traditional and non-traditional ones.  Try to get as much information as you can on all possible options and keep up your hope.  The mind-body link can be quite crucial with diseases such as mesothelioma.  Positive imagery, hope and forward thinking can keep up your spirits and has also been shown to improve outcomes.  Visiting websites with lots of information can help you to become part of your own treatment plan.  mesotheliomahelp.net has a rich base of information on everything from treatment options, definitions, support and help for patients, legal options and ramifications, diagnosis and detection information, information about asbestos history and use, understanding prescriptions, living with mesothelioma and much, much more.

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Real Property Management can help owners to overcome the issues involved with renting, leasing, buying and selling properties.  They have received many awards for their service in the industry and help to manage over 20,000 units throughout the nation.  Imagine the savings involved in 20,000 units going green(er)!

Property management companies can be a huge benefit to home owners to help to deal with tenants and properties.  What most people don’t realize is that there is a whole new area of property management referred to as green property management.  This type refers to the process of rehabilitating rental properties to meet certain green standards including energy efficiency, water efficiency, recycling and waste reduction, improved air quality, green building practices and alternative energy sources.

These green technologies can be completely DIY by the investor in the property or can be jointly tackled with your management company.  These types of upgrades are often qualifying for various government incentive packages as well as decreasing maintenace and running costs of properties in the long term.  Going green can also help to attract more people interested in renting, leasing or purchasing your properties as well as the general public is becoming increasingly educated on the many benefits of environmental sustainability.

Investigate whether your property management company is going green themselves and whether or not they can help you to achieve your environmental goals.

This is a sponsored post with 100% real opinions.

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How do you get antivirus software that’s eco-friendly?  How about open-source software?  An article from 21st century citizen details why freeware is better on a global scale.  It cuts down on packaging, obviously.  When you can just download it straight from the computer, nothing is packaged in cardboard three times and sealed in plastic.  Downloading removes the use of all that unnecessary materials from the cycle.

Open source software also allows software to be put out without resource heavy management, validation procedures and anti-piracy issues.  This saves the cost and resource issues involved in these processes.  You also don’t have to worry about advertisement using extra energy, paper, money, time, or any resources whatsoever.

Antivirus software is some of the most important software that can be installed on your computer.  Sometimes it’s the only thing between you and the hackers trying to get at your information.  There’s some great sites now that review the different antivirus software programs available.  I’d definitely recommend checking out these sites before buying or installing anything.

This site goes over the advantages, disadvantages, prices, features, supported operating systems, technical support, virus definitions and program updates that each antivirus program has.  It even has links to where you can buy your software if you choose to go that route instead of the open source route.

If you’re going to purchase an antivirus program though such as Norton download it instead of using the resources involved in driving your car to the mall and buying a box full of packaging.  Make sure you check out the various options available to you in your antivirus software and get the one that would suit you and your needs best.  You don’t want to buy something to only have to replace it in a couple of months.  Your computer, budget and planet will all thank-you!

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Check out this awesome purse made from vintage belts.  A company named Ting sources old belts from Paris, London and L.A. to make these cute purses out of.  If that’s not enough reuse for you, the inside pockets of the purse are lined with men’s tie silk.  I love that you can tell that the strap is definitely an old belt.  It makes this purse a great conversation piece and a way to get people talking about sustainable practices.

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With the economy in the toliet and prison populations steadily rising, going green behind bars has become more than a means to help the environment.  Prisons are steadily going green in an effort to save money.  The sustainable practices have some great side effects besides costs savings — they are giving the prisoners valuable work experience in green technologies and practices that can be used to help secure employment upon their release, they are helping to reduce the carbon footprint of these huge facilites which house hundreds of thousands of people, save resources, ensure a healthier food supply through organic farming, give the inmates something else to think about, talk about and particpate in, etc. etc.

This post will focus on the gardening projects currently being run behind bars.  This idea has really taken hold.  For more information, check out the book Doing Time in the Garden: Life Lessons through Prison Horticulure by James Jiler.  The author helped set up an organic farm at Riker’s Island.  This program really highlighted how social connections can be made and strengthened between disparately separate groups of the population — inmates and gardeners who were often students or community volunteers.

These organic farms have helped to provide fresh, nutritious produce to the facilities while reducing costs for buying food.  Rainwater collection techniques have been used with much success at various prisons to irrigate their pesticide free plants.  Composting has also become popular for these organic gardeners.  Anything from tomatos to flowers to lettuce to beans to melons to onions to carrots or fruit trees have been planted and tended by prisoners with nothing but time on their hands.  One prison, Cedar Creek in Washington, grew 8,000 pounds of organic produce last year.  They’ve even started keeping bees on site!

Helping these inmates to reconnect with nature has even more positive benefits than a reduction in carbon footprints or food budgets.  Gardening may help to rehabilitate some of these prisoners to become more productive, peaceful and law abiding members of society who can really create and help out their communities.

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Spring is finally here and with it comes the wedding season.  Black and white are becoming the hottest colors for weddings and some of the bridesmaid dresses on the market really reflect this growing trend towards this trend.  Traditionally, bridesmaid dresses have come in an assortment of easter egg shades of pastels that the girls never wear again.  Those colors are still available, of course, if that’s what you prefer.  But it’s astounding the range of colors and styles that are currently on the market.  This dress shown here is being sold for less than $160 which is a great price for such a beautifully made dress by a designer.  You might want to pick one up even if you’re not a bridesmaid!

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