We’re introducing a new feature for Live Green Cincinnati, the monthly challenge.  We’re planning to provide a regular greenED [a.k.a. green + environmental direction] suggestion to encourage you to make one small lifestyle change each month on the way to minimizing your environmental footprint and improving Cincinnati.

Want to get in on the action?  Join our monthly newsletter to be a part of the greenED challenge.  The monthly guide will let you know about upcoming events, provide green product reviews, define green terms, remind you of the most popular ideas and articles from the regular Live Green blog, and more.

As a clarification, you can still receive our daily articles by subscribing to our RSS feed through a feed reader. If you currently receive daily articles through our email feed, you will want to sign up for our new monthly newsletter as well since these are delivered through different email systems.

Sign up for the monthly greenED challenge news here!

Many companies are envouraging virtual meetings via teleconference and videoconference to save the costs of traveling.  One side effect of more virtual meetings is saved paper.  If the meeting attendees are scattered across different locations, an electronic copy of the agenda and presentation works much better than mailed, printed copies.

Paperless meetings can also be a benefit to face-to-face meetings.  Look at this example of the Hamilton County Commissioners going paperless for meetings and saving both a pile of trees, the time of copying the documents, and a decent amount of money.

Planning a workshop or seminar?  Consider saving all the agendas and presentations and supporting documents for the meetings to a USB memory stick.  Have the memory stick imprinted with your company’s logo and you’ve got an instant paperless workshop or tradeshow giveaway.

Every week, Live Green Cincinnati is introduced to someone who’s out making Cincinnati a greener place. When we started the site, the intention was to be a good starting place for anyone in the city looking to find information or inspiration to reducing their environmental impact.

What can I do to help?
Many of you have asked how you can help or how you can get involved. Here’s my answer: Let us pick your brain!

How can I get involved?
The city is filled with good people working hard to make things happen. You have a experiences or specialties or ideas that would be great to tell others about. Let us know about them.

• Fill out the I Make Cincinnati Green questions.
• Write a guest post for the Live Green Cincinnati blog. Some of our friends have given us humorous and useful insight to Freecycle and dumpster-diving.
• Email your events or news releases.
• Join us on LinkedIn or MySpace.
• Tell us how to best reach you.
• Join the daily article email or RSS feed.
• Join the monthly email newsletter list.
• Get out and get to know us. Green Drinks is a great place to find us.
• Post your opportunities or company logo. Utilize our advertising opportunities and job board to share your message.
• Spread the word. Link to us and tell your friends.

We are looking forward to giving you more of the green you need. Thanks for reading and we sincerely hope you want to get involved! Together we will prove that it can happen here!

A few weeks ago at Covington’s Maifest, we discovered a retired engineer who had turned recycling into an art form. Shao Lin and Sompit Xia at The Can Do Planes booth transformed used aluminum cans into model airplanes, cars, boats, animals, and so much more.

It’s a pretty incredible idea for material reuse. Making a toy or gift is a great way to reduce the consumption of always buying newly made products. Do you have a crafty reuse idea to share? If so, contact us!

The paper versus plastic debate can be superseded when you utilize a reusable bag. Using small “stuffable” tote bags like the ChicoBag and Envirosax (both available at Park+Vine) makes it easier - just stuff one in your purse, bike bag, backpack, briefcase, or glove compartment so you’ll have it when you need it.

I gave my mom two spring colored ChicoBags for mothers’ day in May. A week after, she called me to share a story of her first public ChicoBag experience. With the clever little carabiner that is attached to the ChicoBag, she could clip them to her purse so she’d have them at the ready. After work she made a stop at the drug store to get a few of the things on her shopping list. When she made it to the checkout line, she told the cashier that she didn’t need a bag and proceeded to baffle and amaze both the cashier and everyone in line by unclipping, unstuffing, and right-side-outing her reusable shopping bag like magic. After a stalled pause and an awkward silence she added, “my daughter tells me that I need to reduce my environmental footprint.” Interestingly enough, that stirred nods of understanding from the cashier and the other moms in the checkout line. So the experience was memorable, but not traumatic. Happily for me, she enjoys saving a bag and will continue to use it.

Similarly, I remembered to bring a sackful of reusable bags to the grocery this week. I expected the mixture of bags from my gift with a subscription to Martha Stewart magazine, a Star Wars convention, a small corner store in Montreal, and a few other random places to be received with confusion. Not so!

To my surprise, the cashier at Kroger not only knew to use my bags without asking, she also immediately credited 5 cents per bag to my bill. I saved 30 cents from my food purchase and six bags worth of trees or petroleum. Not bad for one visit.

It just goes to show that local stores are getting used to people bringing their own bag. Two years ago when I brought my own bag to a store, it felt a lot less comfortable to use them and in some instances caused a few stares. Now at some places like Findlay Market, you hardly see anyone accepting a disposable plastic shopping bag from a vendor. Change is happening because of us, keep up the good work!

Styrofoam take-out containers got you down? Check out this earth-conscious doggy bag from Marcella’s in Columbus at the Short North District.

This BioPlus Earth container is made from recycled paperboard, endorsed by the Green Restaurant Association, and is recyclable to boot (just make sure you’ve cleaned out any food residue, the paper needs to be clean to be accepted by Rumpke in our curbside bins).

Don’t accept styrofoam for your next doggy-bag. It’s a second rate material that is not recyclable and generally not biodegradable (translation: it will be around in the landfill for a long, long time). Ask your local restaurants to ditch the styrofoam and make the transition to a more environmentally responsible product like the BioPlus Earth containers.

Still using styrofoam cups for your coffee at the office? Quit that and start a win-win program that will support a local business and be kinder to the environment: check out these biodegradable hot drink paper cups made at the Clovernook Center in North College Hill. You can order in bulk from the Clovernook Center, or pick up a small pack for picnic or home use at Park+Vine. Or better yet, bring your own mug to work.

Today’s green tip is a guest post from an experienced blogger, local food expert, and Freecycler: Valerie Taylor. She has great advice to offer, please enjoy her 6 easy ways to have a great Freecycle experience.

Freecycle is a great way to help the environment. Members of local Freecycle groups all over the globe post offers for items they no longer need or requests for items they’re looking for and then freely exchange those items with no strings attached. Items you’re no longer using can instead of being sent to a landfill be given to someone who will use those items.

Items you’re in need of can be requested from other members, keeping you from contributing to wasteful overproduction of material goods. It’s a great idea, a win-win-win situation that is good for the giver, good for the recipient of the gift, and good for the environment.

I’ve been using Freecycle for nearly five years, and the number one complaint of most Freecycle members is NoShows – those irritating people who respond to your offer enthusiastically, agree on a time they’ll be there to pick up your item, and never show. Many never even bother to email to apologize or explain. It’s enough to put you off Freecycle if you let it.

The good news is it’s ridiculously easy to prevent 99% of NoShows with very little extra time or effort on your part. A few small changes in how you word your offer and choose your recipient can eliminate nearly all NoShows.

1. Post your offer only to your most local group first.

If you offer your item on multiple groups, you may be offering it to people who live an hour or more away. Unless your item is very valuable, many people may reconsider the inconvenience and cost of getting there and decide it isn’t worth it. If you post an offer and don’t get a response after a day or so, post it to your next most local group and so on.

2. Always put your location in your offer post.

With gas prices as they are, it doesn’t make sense to drive twenty miles for an item that cost three dollars new even to keep that item out of the landfill. If you let people know where the item is upfront, you’ll get fewer responses from people for whom the drive isn’t reasonable.

3. Always ask for their location in your offer email.

This does two things. First, it tells you how far they’d be traveling for your item. If the item you’re giving away is common or inexpensive and the responder is forty miles from you, you can assume they didn’t bother to figure out how far they’d be traveling and will probably be a NoShow. Second, if they don’t bother to tell you where they’re coming from, you can assume they didn’t bother to read your email carefully or don’t feel compelled to comply with your request. Either way, they’re probably not the most considerate person in the world. People who aren’t considerate are often likely to be NoShows.

4. Never never never just automatically give your item to the first person who responds.

There are any number of “vultures” on every Freecycle list who just sit at their computers all day pouncing on offer after offer without even thinking about whether they really can use the item or even have a way to pick it up. Especially for large or difficult-to-move items, wait a day and collect replies. Then read through all the replies and choose someone who seems like they’ve at least thought about why they want the item and how they’ll get it home. Bonus points to anyone who seems to be also thinking about your convenience instead of their own.

5. Don’t give your item to anyone who responds to your offer with, “I’ll take it. When can I get it?” or something similarly rude.

People who are rude in email are likely to be less-than-considerate in person, too. If you select someone who is polite in email, they are also likely to show up when they say they will or let you know if some conflict has arisen.

6. Don’t give your item to anyone who gives you a sob story about how desperate their need is.

Why? People who give you a hard luck story are trying to play on your sympathies to make themselves seem somehow more ‘deserving’ than others who might respond to your offer. People who try to manipulate you in this way, whether or not their story is true, are also likely to treat you inconsiderately in other ways.

Most members of Freecycle are kind, generous, considerate people.
Don’t have your Freecycle experience spoiled by those few who aren’t.

Valerie Taylor moderates the CinciEast Freecycle group and blogs at CincinnatiLocavore.

The start of the festival season in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky brings a tip for festival goers on how to be green.

Here’s a video pod from Maifest in Covington KY to give you a tip for your festivals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIJLpIIq8cE

Another top secret festival tip is to leave your car at home and walk to the neighborhood festival or forget about parking your car and take a bus or shuttle. Enjoy your summer festivals and parties, but remember to think green.

This environmental take on wedding planning was originally run in the the Live Green Cincinnati column in the Pulse on May 13, 2008.

Weddings may be based on age-old traditions, but that doesn’t mean you can’t innovate and transform your ceremony into an environmentally friendly affair. Choose to have your personalized, time-honored commitment while keeping a small environmental footprint!

Consider these options to green your wedding:

Rethink your registry. Consider registering with a local store or an environmentally minded store like Park + Vine. Recommend that your guests wrap gifts in recyclable newsprint or a reusable canvas bag so there’s no wrapping to throw in the trash. You can also forgo the obligatory toaster and waffle-maker purchases by asking your guests to make a donation in your honor to the local park system or even to a Web site that allows you to choose which charity or socially conscious project you want to receive your gifted funds, for example GlobalGiving.com.

Give eco-friendly favors. Consider using small potted plants, recyclable paper origami doves, or a bowl of fruit stamped with your name and wedding date as ideas for guest favors. Giving something living or edible will allow your guests to enjoy their favors without adding any waste to the landfill.

Light up your life. Choose to have your wedding and reception during the day so that you and your guests can enjoy the great outdoors and save energy by taking advantage of natural daylight.

Use vintage class. Finding your wedding formalwear in a vintage shop is a thrifty way to find an amazing and unique look. Using a gown or tux that has been passed down in the family is an even better way to reuse, and it can create a very intimate family bond on your big day.

Give your decorations a longer life. If you can reuse flowers from a wedding earlier that day or decorations you inherited from a parent or grandparent, you can conserve natural resources. If you buy or make your own flowers and decorations, consider donating them to an assisted living facility or your community center so that they can be enjoyed by someone else as well.

Send green invitations. Consider paper with post-consumer recycled content when printing your invitations. You can also find seeded paper, which can be planted after it’s used. If your guests are connected, try sending a digital invitation to use no paper at all. There are even online RSVP services so that your guests can confirm attendance with a call or Web site visit instead of using self-addressed, stamped reply cards.

Serve local fare with flare. Select a caterer or chef who will prepare your party food using locally grown and raised food. Nothing beats the taste of fresh, in-season tomatoes and corn grown right here in Ohio. You can also ask that the tableware be reusable and not disposable to minimize waste. If you want to go all out, add the food scraps to your compost pile and use it to help grow a backyard garden with foods you can eat while you celebrate each month you’ve been married.

Consider this: Location, location, location. Choose a location that is near the majority of your guests. Destination weddings may be dreamy, but whisk her away alone on the honeymoon instead of transporting the guests the extra miles. Getting hitched in your local church or community center can make carpooling or even walking more convenient for your guests. Having the wedding and reception at the same venue in the center of your community or at a hotel saves gas and travel time, all the while reducing the chances of any of your guests driving after the champagne.

If you’re up for the challenge, put together your something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue in an environmental theme. You’ll open up a new level of creativity in the event planning, and you may even save a few bucks in the process!

Live Green Cincinnati is a resource for locals looking for a way to get inspired. If you’ve ever had a light bulb (or CFL) moment of your own, share it with us!

To submit an idea or a guest-authored story for posting, simply contact Live Green Cincinnati. We look forward to learning something new from you.