Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Sustainable Travel in Las Vegas

Carbon Footprints in the Sand
Las Vegas Outfitter is a shining example of sustainable travel.
Escape Adventures has been rated “Best Outfitter on Earth,” by National Geographic, and they have received the highest rating ever granted by Sustainable Travel International, (a third party auditor which measures a company’s greenness).

With hundreds of tour companies claiming to be environmentally responsible, this will undeniably raise the bar for outfitters.

A world leader in multi-sport mountain biking and road cycling tours spanning the globe, EA’s mission is to keep their carbon footprints to a minimum (or even negative), while offering first class eco-friendly vacations.

Are you buying in to the world wide marketing ploy? Many times, companies claim to be green, when essentially they are only paying to pollute, by purchasing energy credits instead of working to reduce their bad energy consumption.

Conscious consumers are hungry for a better way to decipher real green from, light green companies who use “green” as nothing more than a marketing scheme. The future of outfitting will require actual business reform substantiated by third party audits, not just a quick fix of carbon credit purchases.

Jared and Heather Fisher of Escape Adventures have worked many years to acquire this outstanding honor. Since they started their outdoor adventure business in 1992, their mission statement has always been the same: to Promote human power and the natural environment.

The Fishers have raised the bar on many levels.

• Jared personally collects & recycles used kitchen vegetable oil from local restaurants to fuel tour vans; UNLV recently donated entire campus’ eco-waste to EA

• They grow their own organic garden & they feed its fare to guests on tour

• The Fishers recycle 90% of waste; tires, bottles, paper, plastic, glass- on tour & at shops

• They have public recycling bins at shops and even other businesses

• The Fishers compost all vegetarian food scrapes not only on tour but at work and home as well

• They have installed solar panels at both their Moab and Las Vegas locations, resulting in a negative power bill

• Awarded, “Certificate of Environmental Stewardship,” by Rocky Mountain Power, for purchasing 30,000 kilowatt hours of renewable wind energy (this in addition to producing more than enough of their own solar energy)

• Offer all employees $5/day to ride to work rather than drive

• Use recycled products and buy merchandise with little or no packaging,

• No plastic bags


Third party auditing by organizations like Sustainable Travel International, which has over 1200 companies adhering to their strict guidelines worldwide, holds the key to knowing whether a touring company, or any company for that matter, is truly green.

For more information on Sustainable Travel International, please visit http://www.sustainabletravelinternational.org.

For more information about Escape Adventures and Las Vegas Cyclery please visit www.escapeadventures.com or call toll free 800.596.2953

The Quest for the Perfect Diet Part 1

The Quest for the Perfect Diet Part 1

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Friday, November 14, 2008

Updates on The Green Bride Giveaway

Here is an updated version of The Green Bride Giveaway Prize Packages:

The Grand Prize Package consists of:

A signed copy of The Everything Green Wedding Book: Plan an Elegant, Affordable, Earth Friendly Wedding, other prizes include a $200 Gift Certificate from Encore Bridal as well as an organic cotton bridal tank top and a $25 gift certificate for eco-friendly gown preservation, $100 Gift Certificate from designer Rene Geneva redeemable at EcoChicClothing.com, $100 Gift Certificate from My Good Greetings, and a $100 Gift Certificate from Earthly Affair invitations, coasters and a reusable shopping bag from Eco-Artware, a 2009 calendar, plantable journal and plantable cards from Botanical Paperworks, 150 wedding favor seed packets from the Tender Seed Company, a recycled book journal from Ex Libris Anonymous, natural blush and a brush from Alima Cosmetics, milk paints from The Real Milk Paint Company, sexy eco-lingerie from Enamore, a complete line of earth friendly cleaning products from EcoDiscoveries, eco-confetti from EcoParti, a $50 gift certificate from Global Handcrafters, a sample kit of organic body products from Terressentials, an organic cotton t-shirt from GenGreenLife, a $50 gift certificate to the The Bamboo Fabric Store, a premium wedding website from MomentVille, a premium wedding photo sharing package from The Wedding Lens , a copy of the book How to Get Married in Green by Suzan St Maur, EcoSMART organic pesticide, $100 Gift Certificate from Pear and Peony, a free 1 year subscription to The Brides Best Friend e-magazine, and the Hain-Celestial product pack that consists of -Alba pineapple enzyme facial cleanser, JASON enzyme brightening power smile tooth brightening system, Alba Botanicals bronzing body lotion, Avalon Organics lavender body lotion, Zia fresh papaya enzyme mask, Zia citrus night-time reversal cream, and Avalon Organics vitamin C sun-aging defense cream.

The Second Place Prize Package Consists of:

A signed copy of The Everything Green Wedding Book: Plan an Elegant, Affordable, Earth Friendly Wedding, a $100 gift certificate from eco-chic wedding gown designer Tara Lynn, $100 gift certificate from Oblation Papers who create eco-friendly letterpress invitations, a plantable journal and plantable cards from Botanical Paperworks, a sample kit of organic body products from Terressentials, milk paints from The Real Milk Paint Company, a recycled book journal from Ex Libris Anonymous, a $50 Gift Certificate from Earthly Affair, a $50 Gift Certificate from Pear and Peony, a 1 year subscription to The Brides Best Friend Magazine, a free premium wedding website from MomentVille and the Hain-Celestial product pack which consists of- Alba pineapple enzyme facial cleanser, JASON enzyme brightening power smile tooth brightening system, Alba Botanicals bronzing body lotion, Avalon Organics lavender body lotion, Zia fresh papaya enzyme mask, Zia citrus night-time reversal cream, and Avalon Organics vitamin C sun-aging defense cream.


The Third Place Prize Package Consists of:

A signed copy of The Everything Green Wedding Book: Plan an Elegant, Affordable, Earth Friendly Wedding, $100 Gift Certificate from Smock -eco-friendly letterpress invitations, a recycled book journal from Ex Libris Anonymous, a free premium wedding website from MomentVille, a $25 Gift Certificate from Pear and Peony, a free 1 year subscription to The Brides Best Friend e Magazine, and the Hain Celestial product pack that consists of -Alba pineapple enzyme facial cleanser, JASON enzyme brightening power smile tooth brightening system, Alba Botanicals bronzing body lotion, Avalon Organics lavender body lotion, Zia fresh papaya enzyme mask, Zia citrus night-time reversal cream, and Avalon Organics vitamin C sun-aging defense cream.

Remember to enter the contest brides-to-be need to send an email to greenbridegiveaway@yahoo.com, in the email include their name, address, and email address, fiancés name and date of wedding and a paragraph or two about why they want to go green for their wedding and what steps they have already taken or would like to take to have an eco-friendly wedding. Please place “Green Bride” in the subject line.

Contest open to US brides only.

Creating a Blog Tour

I am putting together a blog tour to promote The Everything Green Wedding Book because the countdown is on.

Just a little over a month and the book will be on sale everywhere. Woo Hoo !!!

Anyone interested in participating in the blog tour? The tour will start Monday December 15.

To participate all you would have to do is add a quick post about The Everything Green Wedding Book to your blog or website and link to this site www.everythinggreenweddings.blogspot.com

If you have affiliate accounts with Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or other book stores you can link my book to your affiliate accounts.

I can send along green wedding planning articles, book excerpts, and promotional material about the book if you would be interested in participating in the tour.

The tour will start Monday Dec 15th and it will run for at least 2 weeks. If you could pick a day that you would like to post about The Everything Green Wedding Book that would be fabulous.

I'll include a schedule here on the site that links to all the sites and blogs participating in the tour.

Please email me at everythinggreenwedding at yahoo dot com to receive material for the blog tour.

Monday, November 10, 2008

New Products for Green Bride Giveaway from Hain-Celestial

I just received a box from Hain-Celestial, they have a lot of natural and organic brands, including several lines of health and beauty products. Well, they donated a bunch of stuff for The Green Bride Giveaway.

The brands included in the box are JASON, Alba, Avalon and Zia.

The box included three of everything so all prize packages will include these products: Alba pineapple enzyme facial cleanser, JASON enzyme brightening power smile tooth brightening system, Alba Botanicals bronzing body lotion, Avalon Organics lavender body lotion, Zia fresh papaya enzyme mask, Zia citrus night-time reversal cream, and Avalon Organics vitamin C sun-aging defense cream.

That's a pretty good addition to the Green Bride prize packs.

Thank you, Hain-Celestial.

Friday, November 7, 2008

New Etsy Store: The Wild Rose Garden

I have a new shop on Etsy, The Wild Rose Garden. This is where my handcrafted wedding items will be displayed. Right now my mother's beaded jewelry has been added to the shop. Slowly but surely I'm getting everything in there. :-)

Please drop by and take a look. My mom's jewelry sets are really beautiful, the photos don't do them justice.