These are a few of our favorite videos that parady green issues

You probably have already seen at least a couple of these, but we figured any treehugger would enjoy seeing them again.

This green parody, Coal, by Free Love Reform was done so well some people didn’t realize it was a commercial until the last few seconds.

Another great green parody by Free Love Reform, Pizza Dabbers.

When this BP Spills Coffee video came out in June, it would have been too soon to laugh if this green parody video by UCBComedy.com wasn’t so damn funny!

This Grocery Store Wars video was an instant classic created by the brilliant minds at FreeRange Studios.

Another one of the greats by FreeRange Studios . This one is about factory farming. Check out their continuation of this story as well, The Meatrix II and The Meatrix II ½.

If you know of any more we should add please leave us a comment and let us know.

In five steps

Recycle

Place recycling bins next to every trash can with each possible type of bin that makes sense for the area. The cafeteria is the best place to start. Make sure each bin is clearly labeled. In fact, a nice trick to ensure understanding and compliance is to show examples above the recycling bins. (See the picture from Whole Foods.)

Buy Local Food Whenever Possible

Sounds like a pretty cool field trip, too. This is a great opportunity to teach students where their food comes from.

Start a Garden

Grow your own organic food, and get the students involved. The best way to get students to start eating healthier is to get them involved in the process of producing healthy food. And gardening is therapeutic. Before you start thinking that you just don’t have enough room to start, research gardening in small places, and ask the students for their thoughts. Don’t forget to compost to further reduce landfill waste and as a means to enrich your garden soil.

Reduce Paper Consumption

Recycling is great, but reducing is better. Put used paper in the fax machine to print on the back side, or try web based fax services like eFax. Post important updates on websites and get parents to sign up for email lists. When you do buy paper, choose environmentally friendly, recycled paper.

Educate and Involve

Get the students and parents involved. Get them excited. Teach students and teachers the benefits of turning off lights when not in use. Make sure everyone knows how and where and what to recycle. Get feedback and ideas whenever possible. Create exciting projects. Why not encourage the shop class and the science class to team up to build a solar panel or a wind turbine for the school?

Being green, or being environmentally considerate, is more a mindset than a certain set of actions. It’s all about conservation, consideration, sustainability, and looking to the future. With the right mindset, your daily choices will result in a greener lifestyle.

Reduce, then Reuse, then Recycle

Recycling is great, but reusing something that may otherwise be thrown into the recycle bin requires little-to-no energy. You can always recycle the item later. Reducing your consumption is the best choice. If you don’t need it, don’t buy it!  Consumption for the sake of spending money or “keeping up with the Jones’s” is not a sustainable lifestyle.

Before making any purchase, a green consumer will consider both the environmental implications caused by the manufacturing of the product as well whether or not the product is something the individual really needs in the first place. If you don’t need it, don’t buy it.

Older is Generally Better

While the new Lexus 420h hybrid SUV is pretty sweet to look at and gets pretty decent mileage, discarding an older Honda Civic for the new hybrid is not the greener choice. The environmental footprint of building a new car is massive. It will take years for the slightly improved mileage to pay off that footprint.

Local is Better

Buying an apple at a local fruit stand versus purchasing an apple at your local grocery that was shipped cross country or across the ocean is a greener choice. The shorter the distance traveled, the smaller the carbon footprint.

Buy Used

There are some very trendy used clothing stores where you can get designer clothing for 20% (or less) of the full price. Used cars, used bicycles, and used televisions can all be had at a substantial discount guaranteeing you a cleaner, greener conscious.

Strive to be Self-sustaining

Living off the grid is great, but even small steps can enrich your life by giving you piece of mind, a healthy hobby, and a healthier body. Consider starting a small vegetable garden. Maybe just start with tomatoes. After your initial success you’ll probably be hooked and begin taking more and more steps towards being self sufficient.

Avoid Chemicals

Most chemicals are not good for the environment or for us. Limit your use of plastics, use low VOC or no VOC paint when remodeling your home, and forgo chemical air fresheners and detergents. You’ll live a greener lifestyle and enjoy a healthier home.

Conclusion

Take a few steps and start thinking about your choices and actions as you go through your day. It’s all about consideration. As time goes on, you will train your brain to be more and more aware of environmental implications.

For an easy step by step guide to reducing yoru carbon footpritn while savign money be sure to check out Going Green Today.

In the film Healing Cancer from the Inside Out, narrator Mike Anderson explains that carcinogens provide the seeds for cancer, while a diet rich in animal proteins and fats (a typical Western Diet) provides the fertilizer.

To support his arguments, he reminds us that indigenous cultures eating traditional diets have low incidences of cancer. But when they begin eating western diets, cancer rates explode.

In Okinawa, cancer rates are extremely low in the midst of rampant environmental toxicity. When Okinawans immigrate to the United States and consume a Western diet, their cancer rates soar.

Anderson’s final argument is the surprising lack of correlation between smoking rates and lung cancer in the United States. While smoking rates have dropped significantly in the last 50 years, there has been no corresponding decline in lung cancer. Again—carcinogens and toxins are the seeds. Our unhealthy diet provides the fertilizer. Conversely, healthy foods provide the cure.

The news is not that we are bombarded with cancer causing chemicals in our food, medicine, and our environment, but that the Government’s advisors are actually admitting this.

A recent report from the President’s Cancer Panel, Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk, is a hard hitting report that calls on America to rethink the way we fight cancer, including, but not limited to, a much more serious regulation of cancer-causing chemicals.

On page five of the report they say, “With nearly 80,000 chemicals on the market in the United States, many of which are used by millions of Americans in their daily lives and are un- or understudied and largely unregulated, exposure to potential environmental carcinogens is widespread. One such ubiquitous chemical, bisphenol A (BPA), is still found in many consumer products and remains unregulated in the United States, despite the growing link between BPA and several diseases, including various cancers.”

The report also states that only a few of the 80,000 chemicals we use in the U.S. have been tested for safety and “Many known or suspected carcinogens are completely unregulated.”

Full Report: Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk, What We Can Do Now

This 1985 Toyota MR2 gets 30 mpg and is still running fine. It derserves some recognition.

In a sea of larger, seemingly much more imposing cars the 1988 MR2 sticks out like a sore thumb hitchhiking back to a time only recently forgotten, the bike rack, a flag it waives unabashed, with a youthful vigor that contradicts it’s retro style.

The car shouts “I’m over here!” with unequivocal confidence in the otherwise quiet graveyard of larger but comparatively complacent and submissive automobiles.

It’s ready. It’s waiting. It’s beckoning. It needs to be driven. Stepping into this car gives one the feeling of transformation to an unbridled state of mind. This car is not controlled by the driver any more than the driver is controlled by the car. Instead a symbiotic relationship is formed where the driver intuitively understands the need to get squirrely on every single corner with little regard to speed or traction.

While not particularly powerful or commanding, persuasiveness is unquestionably one of the prevailing virtues of the MR2. Driving with pure abandonment of any consideration towards opinions of onlookers, this vehicle long ago put away any pretense of shame or self-consciousness.

After the ride, upon exiting, with no remorse, this car tosses you out awkwardly, pouts, taps, and hisses relentless with indignation. It will not rest for long.

Act Now! (satire)

In light of President Obama’s continued efforts to clean up our environment by pushing for clean coal and nuclear power, signing the extension of the Patriot Act, and his inspiring warlord like acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize, we at Organic Lifestyle Magazine have decided to release this limited edition commemorative presidential coin featuring our president Barack Obama on one side and our former president George W. Bush on the other.

In Greed we trust.

As Obama continues to disappoint liberals and conservatives alike with broken promises and general short comings this minted official fake coin is bound to increase in value.

For only $49.95 you can have this official “Two Sides of the Same Coin” presidential memorabilia. If you order now we’ll pay shipping and handeling!

Disclaimer: This coin is not real. Half of all proceeds from people who send us money to purchase this coin will be donated to the Tea Party. The other half will be donated to the Green Party.

Disclaimer 2: We would never ever donate money to the Tea Party, ever!

Disclaimer 3: We will not be donating any money to anyone. We tree huggers will keep it to ourselves.