One Bottle, One Filter

I'm lucky to live in a place with great water. That's why I've never had any qualms about drinking from the tap. Despite this, I was definitely a plastic water bottle junkie for way too long. But because of the great tap water we have, it's been easy for me to ween myself off. I know that not everyone has this pleasure, so when I came across this water filter comparison chart I wanted to pass it along. It compares ten filters on price, replacement cost, total cost based on capacity, and on which different chemicals it removes from the water.

With a SIGG (or any other reusable, BPA free bottle) and a filtered water system, you can be greener in their hydration no matter where you live.

Get Local with GenGreen

A few weeks ago at the Green Festival I signed up for GenGreen, and thought you might want to as well. GenGreen is a website that lists information on green related resources by state and city. So, they make it easy to find information that is relevant to you. GenGreen has listings for green events, businesses, organizations, cooperatives, transportation, jobs, recycling centers, as well as other individuals. Though the listings for the Detroit area are sparse, using GenGreen I found out about the 8th Annual Ann Arbor Green Festival that I'll definitely hit up on June 13th.

GenGreen will also be launching a Green Marketplace later on this year. From what I read it seems like it will be like Greenzer or Evo, but with an emphasis on local options.

Green Tube

The first television channel dedicated to eco-related topics will be launching June 4th at 6pm. Planet Green, the latest venture within the Discovery Networks family of media, will feature 24 hours of content relevant to the eco-concious lifestyle. Although I usually don't have much time for television, I'll be sure to check this out when I do. Here are a couple of shows that will be featured on the channel that I think look pretty interesting:

Wa$ted!
"This eye-opening half-hour reality series makes shrinking your ecological footprint appealing and virtually effortless. What's an ecological footprint? It's a way of describing the scope of the damage that each household does to the planet. Annabelle Gurwitch and her charming co-host Holter Graham are out..."

Greenovate
"Saving over 40% on energy bills while also increasing property value by 25% sounds impossible, but Greenovate shows viewers just how to make this lofty dream a reality in their own households."

G Word
"Being green is no longer just for granola-loving hippies. It's a lifestyle, an attitude, a state-of-mind, and it's shaking up the pop-culture landscape. Forget what you think you know about what being green means and get ready for G Word..."

Greenzer Goes Live

Last week, Greenzer's public beta site went live. Greenzer, like Evo, lists thousands of green products from several retailers and puts them in one place. After finding the product you want, you can click to be linked to the retailers website, where you can make a purchase. The site seems to have a limited amount of retailers so far, but they seem committed to making the shopping experience richer over time. What is great about both sites is the rating systems they use to score each product. These allow for simple understanding of how guffly the products are. Pretty cool.

Think Outside the Space

Is anyone else tired of Myspace? I have to say that I am. I've recently noticed that Myspace doesn't add any value to my life or business. I write blog articles and post them onto my profile; and nobody reads them. In fact, most of the friends that I have don't even write in their blogs at all. I guess it's cool for the person that just wants to keep up with some old friends; but for people who actually want to educate--and be educated--there are far more effective ways to communicate online.

Take the Gaia Community for example. I also have a profile on Gaia with about seventy-five percent less friends than Myspace. Of course, I have eighty percent less page views on Gaia than I do on Myspace; but the Gaia page views are much more valuable. More people on Gaia are interested on what I'm doing; thus they leave me great feedback. I also find Gaia to be much simpler to maneuver through than Myspace.

Another useful networking site that I found is the Earth Day Network (EDN). The members of this site are dedicated to doing their part to better the world. I know that my friends on (EDN) are interested in guffly living, so I know to focus my time more on them. The functionality of (EDN) is even guffly. It was so easy to register and set up my profile. It literally took me 5 minutes to register, add photos, music, and widgets to my profile page.

The point is this: if you're trying to share knowledge with people over the Internet think about other online networks than Myspace. While Myspace is fun; there are other networks--in any area of interest--that are way better channels for transferring information.

Happy Earth Day!

Eco-Tips to You

As some of you know, Guffly living is all about simplicity. If a product or practice can help us become more responsible people; and doesn't require us to drastically change the way we live, then that's Guffly. I found a service that is just that.

Ideal Bite has a service that emails their members a daily tip for becoming more eco-friendly. According to the About Us page on the site, each tip was selected because it is a "small change that adds up."

Signing up for the service took me about 25 seconds; and it was super-easy. Now I'll get a daily tip to help me on my quest in living responsibly. You should get it too.

Life's Not Fair...but maybe we can help

Growing up, one of the most common phrases to come out of my dad's mouth was, "life's not fair." This was usually after having heard me whine and complain about a rule or situation that I just didn't agree with. Over time, unfortunately, I've realized that my dad was right. However, as someone who cares about the world and the other people in it, I do my best to make things a little bit more fair. That's why I'm on the lookout for fairly traded goodies. And, like many of you, Jordan and I are looking for easily accessible information and products.

We know that we are interested in learning about products and practices that involve more sustainable means of production and benefit the producer equally to the retailer or distributor. I've researched some of the governing bodies of fair trade - including the Fair Trade Resource Network, the International Fair Trade Association, the Fair Trade Federation, and Transfair. These sites are great places to start looking for basic info on fair trade policy and practices. Likewise, if you dive a little deeper, you can find information on the tangible, actionable steps you can take to participate in fair trade.

First, I suggest starting with Transfair's 'Where to Buy' database. From searching within Michigan, this seems to be the most extensive list of retail shops with fair trade products. Second, try Coop America's list of Fair Trade Retailers. This list is organized by product type, so you have to search around a bit to see if anything is in your area. Next try the Fair Trade Federation's membership list. If you input your city and state and check the 'retail business' tab, you'll find any businesses in your area who are affiliated with FTF.

One exciting development in fair trade shopping is eBay's latest, Project Good. Like eBay, the marketplace will feature several different sellers with a wide variety of products. What makes Project Good different that eBay, however, is that the products will not be sold through auctions and will have set prices like a traditional eCommerece store. Not so sure eBay knows too much about fair trade? Well, I wasn't so convinced myself. However, the retail giant is partnering with World of Good on this project and, from what I have seen, it appears to be a genuine and authentic endeavor.

These options should give you a starting place for finding great products that are also fairly traded. If you know of any others, please leave us a comment!