Economic downturn have you thinking about taking your lunch to work or school?

If you’ve thought about it and you’re considering carry a lunch bag or box, you’ll be happy to know there are lots of interesting and trendy ways to do it and still be considerate to the environment.

Below are a few examples of reusable lunch bags and stainless steel lunch boxes we’ve run across lately. And there is nothing that says you can’t pull out your old “Star Wars” lunchbox from your youth and carry it to work with you. Be bold.

Happy holidays!

Thinking of an after Christmas present for the kids?

If you missed something on your list and you want to add a fun and sustainable gift, try out some great SIGG brand reusable drink bottles. Designed in sizes especially for little hands and with great, child-friendly graphics, these drink bottles can handle hot or cold drinks.

See the Hello Kitty branded bottle below at Park + Vine on Vine Street in Cincinnati.

The Cincinnati Park system launched a new website this week; making it even simpler to find a good place to:

• check out a holiday floral display
• learn about green initiatives
• look at greenspaces and street trees
• and explore nature

Check out the new CincinnatiParks.com!

We’ve heard the stories of everything from rising sea levels to huricanes being caused by Global Warming, but being singularly focused on climate change as the single most important reason things are happening may be short-sighted.

CNN has an article today in their Planet in Peril series that makes this point very clearly. The current drought in the United States that has been ongoing for the past 3 years, has nothing to do with global warming or even a lack of rainfall.

It has to do with us.

Population migration in many areas of the country are occurring without the infrastructure and reservoirs to hold the necessary water supply for rapidly growing metropolitan areas. Atlanta is a prime example.

We are trying to grow food in the desert southwest. A desert means you have to pump the water in from another location, taking water that was adequate for the source location and now reducing their supply for the desert’s agricultural industry. Just because we can do it, does not mean we should do it.

Here in Cincinnati, we’ve been blessed with a good supply of fresh water so our concern may not be lack of water currently, but the continued access to clean water. We need to make sure that we support and encourage good public infrastructure to treat our water supply and keep it safe to drink.

However, in the future, states and cities in need of water, may look at us and our water supply as their source too. Which isn’t as far fetched as it may seem.

Want to reduce your water usage?

Here are a few easy things you can do:

• Drink tap water instead of bottled water
• Use low-flow shower heads and faucets
• Use low-flow or dual-flush toilets

What can your business do?

• Create low-water use ways of manufacturing products
• Install low-flow fixtures in your office

If you think this is nice but not necessary in your life, you might want to rethink that position. One guarantee in the future is that water is going to cost us all more. So saving water will also save you money.

Read More

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/12/11/drought.problem/index.html

Well, if you didn’t think companies going green would make a difference during a recession, think again.

Clorox company saw their net income rise 15% last quarter, according to GreenBiz.com. They attribute that rise to three product lines that are considered green or sustainable - Clorox GreenWorks cleaning products, Burts Bees line of natural personal care products and Brita, maker of water filters.

Read More

http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2008/11/10/green-products-clorox

It was recently reported here and here that P&G’s offices are creating 21% less waste than a year ago.  In the last year alone, water and energy use were reduced by 6-8%.

P&G has been working hard around the office and has decreased waste in their facilities by 50% over the last 6 years.  That’s a really impressive footprint reduction.

P&G has released improved products recently with environmental benefits like Tide Coldwater.  Read more about the P&G sustainability initiatives here.  We all look forward to increased sustainable considerations from the consumer products giant - to help decrease waste creation and water usage in our own homes.

Need some ideas to keep the environment in mind during the Holiday season?

Check out this list of 10 ways to go green for the Holidays from the Cincinnati Zoo’s website.

Sometimes a passion and a great idea can turn into a good green business. The locally based company, GreenBird, has created a totally green paper birdhouse.

The GreenBird recycled paper birdhouses are designed to last one nesting season and then may be added to a compost bin for use in next years garden. They were designed to aid in education in recycling, bird study, bird habitat loss, local and global ecosystems, climate change, citizenship and art projects.

Their recycled paper birdhouses were recently selected by the San Diego California’s Project Wildlife 2008 volunteer gifts.

GreenBird houses are available in Cincinnati at Mica in O’Bryonville and Outside or Park+Vine in Over the Rhine.  During the season, they are available at Greenfield Plant Farm in Anderson Township and Greenfield Plant Farm in Maineville, Ohio.

You can find out more by visiting www.GreenBirdHouse.com.

Are you a local company with a green business specialty?  Share it with us!

The Enright Ecovillage in Price Hill is a great place to get ideas to green the average home.  Interested in seeing it for yourself?  There’s currently a house for sale in the Enright Ecovillage that was rehabbed with many energy efficient features, including cellulose insulation, electric air-source heat pump, and high efficiency gas furnace. These improvements will lower monthly heating and cooling expenses, improve comfort, and reduce carbon emissions.

This house has:

• Landscaped yard with raingarden
• Electric heat pump
• 90%+ efficient gas furnace
• Exterior walls insulated to R-13
• Attic insulated to R-50
• Double pane, low-e windows
• All new electric and plumbing

The Ecovillage is a community fostering a sustainable urban neighborhood, who promotes preserving the planet through social, economic and healthy lifestyles and demonstrates urban revitalization using these principles.  This might be a good time to check out living in the ecovillage…or at least a neat-sounding rehab.

A new “green” service is available in the Cincinnati area.  You might call it a version of Freecycle for moms.

From the release:

Freepeats.org connects Cincinnati-area parents with baby, children’s and maternity items.

Atlanta, Georgia – November 16, 2008 – Angie Wynne, founder of the popular frugal parenting website, Baby Cheapskate (babycheapskate.com), recently announced the expansion of Freepeats.org, an online forum which allows parents to pick up gently-used baby, kid, and maternity items for free from nearby parents who have finished with them.

“Preparing for a baby’s arrival is expensive,” says Wynne, “and so is raising one. Common estimates put the cost at $10,000 in the first year alone. And this is at a time when many families are trying to get by on one parent’s income. At the same time, many of the expensive baby items parents spend their money on get used only for a very short time. There’s still plenty of life left in them. If parents can find good-condition second-hand clothing, toys, and gear, they’ll shave hundreds of dollars or more off that $10,000 total. Besides that, we’ll keep usable items out of the landfills.”

Freepeats opened in the Cincinnati area on November 16. Freepeats groups are also up and running in 36 other major U.S. cities with dozens more openings planned for 2009. “I want parents all across the country to have access to the savings that Freepeats offers,” Wynne says. “We’re opening the forums just as fast as we can.”

For Cincinnati-area residents who join Freepeats there’s be a $4.95 nominal, one-time membership fee. Meanwhile, it is Wynne’s hope that residents will get hundreds of dollars’ worth of gently-used baby items for the price of the cost of the gas it takes to go pick them up locally.

Freepeats has now registered more than 14,000 members. Offerings have included bouncers, swings, cribs, infant formula, baby and toddler clothing, zoo tickets, diapers, strollers, high chairs, baby gyms, parenting books, toys, and more. The site has been featured at Discovery.com’s Planet Green website, Apartment Therapy.com, Nickelodeon’s Parents Connect website, Green Deals Daily, Readers Digest, and others.