A Real Valentine's Day Love Letter

Think about the most romantic love letter you've ever read. Is it filled with images that depict the lover as "lovely as a bloom," more temperate than "a summer's day" or as constant as the sun? Does the soldier promise his love that he will return, even if that return is manifested as "a soft breeze upon your cheek"?


When we long to connect to pure beauty or timeless truth, humans are drawn not to ourselves but to nature, the best aspect of our being.


The tree budding on a gray day. A goldfinch splashing in a fountain. The bluest sky that reminds you of a loved one's eyes. This Valentine's Day avoid the glittery wrappings that scar the earth. Give a gift from your heart, from your history or from your pen - Send a Love Letter.


Need a little inspiration? Join Eclipse-1.com for:

Reaching Across the Distance 

Love Letters 2012

a Live Internet Broadcast 

Sunday, Feb. 12 at 3 PM Pacific Standard Time

CLICK HERE http://eclipse-1.blogspot.com/2012/02/reaching-across-distance-love-letters.html

There will be original music, real love letters and inspiration.

Gifts of the heart and for the planet:
Fair Trade Chocolate
Cherished items
From the Hearth and Yard

Green Chocolate

Happy Valentine's Day

Are you giving your sweetheart a sweet gift?

If chocolate is on your list, take the opportunity to use your economic voice for more sustainable chocolate growing and harvesting.

Organic, free-trade and shade grown are all better options for the planet. All are more likely to be grown with reduced pesticide use, to pay growers fairly for their harvest and to protect more of the surrounding forest ecosystem.

For more on green choices when buying chocolate, check out the Fair Trade USA. Make your Valentine's effort a gift for two loves, your sweetheart and the earth.

Green Holiday Actions

Green Holiday Action #31

Over the holidays we went to Disneyland for the day. We were happily surprised that throughout the park all of the plastic bags used at the various stores are now made from 100% recycled materials and are in turn recycleable.


Of course the best choice is to not use a bag, but Disney is making an effort in the right direction. Positive actions need to be applauded.

Everyday you have choices. You can choose to be environmentally responsible - helping the planet and therefore yourself.

This started as an attempt to come up with 31 Green Holiday Actions and became the beginning of a community of friends and strangers sharing ideas about sustainability.

General Green Holiday Actions

• E Holiday Letters
• Holiday Lights
• Say “No” to Plastic Bags
• Helping Others Understand Global Climate Change
• Recycling Electronics and Saving Gorillas
• The Dickens, You Say
• Party Dishware Dilemma
• Classic Holiday Fun - A Christmas Carol
• Santa Route
• Veggie Tuesday and Thursday

Decorating and Wrapping

• Green Holiday Decorations
• Say “No” to the Shiny
• Santa’s Bags
• Christmas Tree? Go Live
• Recycled Holiday Tree
• Decorate a Living Tree
• Holiday Boxes and Bows - Recycling and Reusing
• Recycle Those Holiday Cards
• Recycling Christmas Trees and Greenery
  

Gift Giving

• Shopping On-line
• Trim Your Gift Shopping List
• Give Experiences
  
• Green Holiday Gifts
• Recycled Gifts
• Give From the Heart
• A Better Way to Carry Water
• Give from the Hearth and Yard
• Green Products as Gifts

We all know in our hearts that we are pushing the planet to the edge. We all know that we have to change the way be act on a daily basis, but change can be threatening. Still, if we work together and make little changes that are lasting, maybe we can leave our children a better world rather than one teetering toward calamity.

When I was 7 years old I wrote to then President Nixon about the gray whale that was rapidly disappearing from along the California coast. Enough adults and children kept after our public officials until the Marine Mammals Protection Act was passed in 1972. Given a chance, life on our planet is resilient.

Today the gray whale population has stabilized, blue whales and humpbacks swim in increasing numbers along California's coast. Right whales are breeding along the east coast of the U.S. Are whales and other sea life in trouble because of ship traffic, climate change and pollution in the ocean? Yes. But in the 1960s, we were afraid that whales would cease to exist because of whaling and fishing practices.


We can make positive change, if we work together. Let's make 2010 the year we save the planet.

Green Products as Gifts

Green Holiday Action #28

As we approach the beginning of a new year, I'm making a resolution to bring a Green Practice into our daily living each month.

We have a great place to start with some of the gifts we received this holiday season:

• organic cotton dish towels - Pay attention to the fibers you surround yourself with. Cotton is a natural plant fiber. People and other animals have been using the soft, insulating fibers of cotton for thousands of years. But growing cotton can be hard on the land, especially if pesticides and herbicides are used. Organic cotton is more expensive in the store, but less expensive in the long run because it does not contribute to other environmental problems.
• e-cloth - This is a new product for me, it is a special cloth that allows you to clean glass and polish surfaces using only water. I'm excited to give it a try. I'll keep you posted on how it works.

The choices you make on everyday items, especially cleaning products can make a big difference in the environment. Not only are you making choices that are healthier and more sustainable, but you are also letting the producers of products know that you will stand up for the environment with your pocketbook. The best way to take a polluting product off the market is to not buy it.

Give From the Hearth and Yard

Green Holiday Action #21

One of the important actions you can take for the planet and yourself is to know the ingredients that go into the food you eat. Palm oil is a common ingredient in packaged foods and even cosmetics and soaps.

While some palm oil is grown in sustainable ways, most is grown on large plantations that are chopped out of important tropical forests. Vast areas of Indonesian forest, vital to plant and animal biodiversity, are lost to supply palm oil for products sold in the U.S. The choices you make when you buy soap products or a box of cookies can have a direct effect on creatures a world away, like wild orangutans. I was surprised when palm oil was an ingredient in my dog's favorite natural dog cookie. For more on orangutan issues: Orangutan Conservancy.

When you give a gift from your own hearth you can make the decisions about ingredients–healthy, local, fresh. Some of my friends make wonderful gifts in their kitchens. For example:

• My friend Brian makes an incredible mustard. I made sure that I was on his Santa list again this year.
  
• Homemade baked goods typically have lower fat levels and calories because they don't include palm oil and fats with a long shelf life.
  
• My lemon tree has a bumper crop this year. With lemons in the market at 50 cents a piece, a bag of lemons in a repurposed net bag has been a welcome gift for many of my friends and neighbors.
  
• I tried a new recipe and made a cranberry liquor. People are asking to be on that Santa list for next year. But don't tell my sister, because I made it as a gift for her.

When you give from your hearth, you give from your heart and you make the choice for that heart to be green.

For more Green Gift ideas:

• Shopping On-line
• Trim Your Gift Shopping List
• Give Experiences
  
• Green Holiday Gifts
• Recycled Gifts
• Give From the Heart
• Recycling Electronics and Saving Gorillas
• A Better Way to Carry Water
  

Two Weeks of Green Holiday Actions

Green Holiday Action #15

Here's a great green gift idea from my friend Kim and her cat Hedley. They've started something new this year:

We have a lot of cats in our family. My sister, my mother, and my mother-in-law all have cats. Rather than buying yet another cat toy, I made donations to a stray cat organization.

What are you doing to make this a Green Holiday Season? Leave a comment or send me an e-mail at 4animalbytes@gmail.com.

How can you have a Greener Holiday Season?

In General

• E Holiday Letters
• Holiday Lights
• Say “No” to Plastic Bags
• Helping Others Understand Global Climate Change
  

Decorating and Wrapping

• Green Holiday Decorations
• Say “No” to the Shiny
• Santa’s Bags
• Christmas Tree? Go Live
  

Gift Giving

• Shopping On-line
• Trim Your Gift Shopping List
• Give Experiences
  
• Green Holiday Gifts
• Recycled Gifts
• Give From the Heart

Recycled Gifts

Green Holiday Action #13

By recycled gift I do not mean rewrapping something you didn't want and giving it to someone else.

I mean giving something you treasure as a gift to someone else. Some of my most prized possessions, the things that feed my soul, have multiple values. They are items of beauty or brilliance, but they also represent an aspect of someone important in my life.

Here are few of my favorite examples:

• a small glass vase I received as a wedding gift. My cousin Alice had bought it for herself on her own honeymoon 40 years earlier.
• a book of poetry by Edgar A. Guest that my grandfather held second to the bible for influence on his life. The truly unique part is this grandfather was killed in an accident when my mother was only three years old. My Aunt Florence gave me this book and through it I know a grandfather I never met. It is always on my night stand.
• a wooden glove box that my grandmother Dearborn gave me that had been hand decorated with woodburning by her mother. It has been my treasure chest since my 14th birthday.
  
• a tiny silver pin of a gecko given to me by my friend Gerri. Her husband made it for her, she wore it for years and then gave it to me. She knows I'm a lizard lover. (See western fence lizard.)
• 

Don't wait to will things to people that are important to you. Give beloved items while you can still tell the stories that go with them. Give good memories and the best part of yourself.

Green Holiday Gifts

Holiday Green Action #12

Looking for a unique gift? For the next couple of days I'm going to focus on green gifts because that is what many of us are thinking about.

How about a Green Action Gift? Many local conservation organizations are doing important work in your neighborhood as well as around the world.

Every region has dedicated individuals who are rescuing and rehabilitating local wild animals. You probably also have at least one animal or plant in your local area that is threatened with extinction. These small nonprofit organizations survive primarily on the support they receive from their local community. Many provide giving opportunities that offer unique connections to your local environment. Here are a few of my local favorites:

Friends of the Island Fox, Inc. (www.islandfox.org) Working to save the endangered island fox and providing community education in Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties. $250 funds a radio collar for an endangered island fox with quarterly reports on how that island fox is doing for a year; $10 funds annual vaccinations for a single island fox against rabies and distemper. (I am partial to this organization as I am on the Board of Directors.)

Ojai Raptor Center (www.ojairaptorcenter.org) Rescue and rehabilitation of birds of prey in the Los Angeles area. Adoption donations help to feed unreleasable birds that are used in education programs.

Nature of Wild Works (www.natureofwildworks.org) Cares for nonreleasable wildlife and provides community education in Los Angeles. You can support the welfare of specific animals.

Catalina Island Conservancy (www.catalinaconservancy.org) Managing and preserving the wild areas of Santa Catalina Island, including the endangered island fox. You can support specific island projects.

Habitat Works (www.habitatwork.org) Volunteers participate in local wildlife habitat restoration in the Los Angeles area.

Ocean Conservation Society (www.oceanconservation.org) Studies dolphins in the Southern California Bight off Santa Monica. Adopt a local dolphin.

These are just a few in the Los Angeles area. If you give close to home you have a better opportunity to know how your donated funds are spent. Look for organizations designated 501 (c) 3 non-profits, that way your donation will be tax deductible. And ask your friends for the names of groups or organizations where they have volunteered.

Tomorrow Recycled Gifts and then Giving From the Heart.

Give Experiences

Green Holiday Action #4

One of the easiest places to Green your Holiday Season is through the choices you make in gifts.

Most of us do not need more things. Give the gift of time together and shared experiences. Tickets to a cultural event–a play, museum, concert or movie, reservations for a special dining experience or high tea, or just set aside a date for an activity. All of these options can be Green Gifts.

For my parents 50th Wedding Anniversary a few weeks ago, we all took a ride on the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. It was an experience enjoyed by all–from my three-year-old niece to my seventy-year-old parents–and shared as a family.

A toy or piece of clothing has a limited lifespan, a memory lasts a lifetime.

As an additional bonus, these gifts financially support your local community. So stretch your gift giving imagination, and color it green.

Trim Your Gift Shopping List

Green Holiday Action #3

This year our family decided that instead of buying gifts for everyone in extended family, individuals that wanted to participate, would put their names into a hat and then draw a name for the ONE person they would give a gift.

From grandma and grandpa to the teenagers, everyone wanted to participate. The price limit was set by those on the most fixed budget.

Suddenly, I'm not running around spending time, resources and money to find gifts for a list of people. We've also reduced our use of wrapping paper and all the other resources that go with gift-giving. The best part might be that the sense of giving has a greater personal focus. I can concentrate on a great gift for one family member rather than just something for everyone to open.

I have a couple of Green Gift ideas, but more on that later.

What are you doing to make this a Green Holiday Season? Leave a comment or send me an e-mail at 4animalbytes@gmail.com.