TreeHugger on Martha Stewart's "Going Green Week" [Reminder]

I would love to see some Patagonia clothes.

Definitely Patagonia.

Ohhh and maybe some Teko socks. Because Teko socks rocks!

Okay so I'm lame. Try not to be as lame as me, but that would be great:)

How about the Solio?? Or maybe going a little bigger with rainwater collection systems for the garden, passive solar water heating. Examples of eco-linens and eco-furniture would be great.

I recommend sharing the idea of the 16 year old nonprofit, the Green Restaurant Association. How we are engaging consumers, building the greenest restaurants from ground up, and changing this industry. You can learn more at www.dinegreen.com or contact our office about our ten city expansion.

Michael Oshman

I don't watch Martha Stewart but if she hasn't talked about compact fluorescents very much, I would say that cfls are easily one of the most important and practical green products on the market.

Also, no-stink and compact composting systems would be a good topic.

Also, no-stink and compact composting systems would be a good topic since she does a lot of cooking on her show (from what I remember). If she used one regularly on the show it would be even better.

Wow, this is great news! So many ideas!

• Plastic bags made from vegetable oil. Everyone uses plastic bags, and even though some of us have caught on and bring our own bags to stores, we still use plastic bags for many other things, especially our kitchen garbage bins. Make viewers aware where to buy bio-degradable, vegetable-oil based plastic bags


• Eco-friendly, non chemical household cleaning products.
  Best example: 7th generation products. But also talk about how people can make the wast majority of household cleaning products themselves, with few common ingredients.


• Ditch regular paper towels - replace with reusable paper towels.
  These sponge like reusable paper towels can be used again and again, can be washed and used again...and they pick up more then the leading quicker-picker-upper! Heck I even use them to clean windows or any other glass surface with just water and I have no streaks! Bye bye windex.
  


• Composting bin products.
  For people who do not wish to build their own (or are just not handy), there are myriads of composting bins on the market, many are for appartments as well
  


• Home renovations eco products.
  Many people do some sort of renovations at home. Few know that there are starting to be products out there, that have low emmisions (paints is a good example) and are eco-friendly


• Toilet paper made from recycled paper.
  Too many city folks still think our forests are unlimitted! They should be made aware that toilet paper from recycled, not-bleached-again paper is readily available in many leading supermarkets
  


• Tip: use mason jars instead of tupperware.
  Quite a few scientific reports suggest that plastics, such as tupperware, when exposed to high heat (microwaves) or cold (freezers) gives off dangerous chemicals that leach into the food they contain. Instead, buy mason jars - they come in all sorts of sizes, are cheaper then tupperware and you can put them safely into microwaves (without the lid), freezers, fridges, dishwashers. They cost also less.
  

These are some ideas of off top of my head. I tried to mention things that would come in handy to most of the folks (and have the greatest impact on environment - simple things done by many people = great improvement). Most of these products or tips are also super cheap and would improve the health of the individuals as well, not just help the environment! Hope this is of value.

big outcome for treehugger! congrats. i think its key to have a good sense of her market/viewer base and which products will have the best response and generate the strongest green impact when her viewers embrace them. i think energy and water efficiency products that show long term cost-savings are a must. also, GreenOrder, the enviro/market research group in NYC might be able to give some impact-oriented tips.

How about reusable shopping and produce bags? Plastic bags have gotten so bad that some countries now limit their use and require shoppers to pay for them. Maybe show some organic cotten shopping bags and reusable produce bags. I use old mesh onion bags for produce and have some cotton grocery bags that I have had for years and don't show any wear at all.

Ohh yes, well I still love my Patagonia items, and Teko socks rocks.

But in all reality Compact Flourescents is a great place to start.

And showing off the Tesla as something that is just out of this world cool, could also be awesome. But might not be practicle.

Recycled office supplies; 100% PCR Paper, binders (no PVC), boxes.

Compostable Cups (bioplastics) and utensils.

Go for a theme of everyday stuff that everyone buys, such as organic clothing, linens, eco lightbulbs. That way people can see how substituting their current purchasing can make a difference, rather than having to buy something completely new to them, like solar panels (also good though).

I feel some important household issues that should be made aware to the public are:

1) in-home recycling & food composting,

2) DIY possibilities with solar energy,

3) environmentally (and health!) friendly carpets, paint, unholstry, etc.

Not sure if these are suitable for the Martha show, but they're important issues everyone should know of.

I'd love to see the menstrual cups discussed. Diva Cup or MoonCup (UK) and the Keeper (made from rubber) are 3 good examples.

Switching to the DivaCup has cut down and SO MUCH trash from my house.

Way to go Treehugger! Bringing green to the masses!

The Martha crowd might like these:

Catchall Basket- made from discarded potato chip wrappers
Lunch Sack - used billboards
Modmix - organic cocktail Mixer
Kimono Clutch - Purse made from vintage Kimonos

For Simran:
Del Forte Denim
Stewart+Brown Long Sleeve Polo
Eco-Ganik Butterfly Stamp Dress
Eco-Ganik Corduroy Blazer

Eco friendly Cleaning Products for sure

7th generation or home made cleaners

definately

Everything nikdo said, plus these:

- Eating local / organic (the triple threat: personal health + the health of the environment + energy conservation)

- Shopping at local farmers markets / supporting your area's farmers (using your reuseable shopping bags)

- Disposable utensils made of all natural plant products (you've featured tons on your site over the past few years)

- THE MAGIC, THE WONDER, OF BAMBOO (AND MAYBE SOME HEMP TOO?)

Wicked news TH, what a coup!!!

My top three would include:

1) CFLs naturally

2) Alternative cleaning tips - the value of vinegar and baking soda etc

3) Alternative shopping bags

Namaste

Al

Also I would hope a mention of Freecycle would creep in to the conversation...

Namaste

Al

My kids and I love our organic cotton PJs from Hanna Andersson.

In addition to the great comments already made, how about promoting stainless steel travel coffee mugs. Let's completely eliminate the paper (or worse, styrofoam) single-use cups from coffee shops.

Also, I would mention using stainless steel water bottles like kleen kanteen or the colorful SIGG bottles for kids. Using them would eliminate all those wasteful juice boxes and plastic water bottles.

Another worthy home product to promote is linoleum flooring instead of vinyl. Most people are completely ignorant of vinyl's negative effect on the environment. Plus, linoleum is a great flooring material. We did our kitchen floor with Forbo's marmoleum tiles and it looks great, cleans well, and feels nice underfoot.

I'd also recommend promoting water conservation by featuring an adjustable flow shower head. It is easy as pie to install and use. You can turn it on full blast for rinsing and reduce the flow the rest of the time. Save water and enjoy your shower.

I think Martha Stewart might need to do more than one show!

ProGrrl:

Of course eating organic is a huge one, and buying from local farmers as well. Why I didn't mention it is because the article seemed to ask for eco products, and it's hard to say on a national tv "buy local". People want brand names and "where" to buy and in such case you can't give out names since local farmers are of course different in every region.

But I wholeheartedly agree that that is one of the most important and responsible aspect of eco living. And if it can be talked about on the show, I would be immensely pleased. People still don't realize just how important it is to go organic: not just for their own health, but that of our planet as well.

Info on green home heating - are we getting anywhere?

Encourage smaller houses - but maybe not, Martha is building large ones down south.

Would like Martha or someone to encourage warmer colored fluorescent bulbs for table lamps, etc. The current blue-white is very cold for room lighting. They are available in long tubes now.

I think it would be easy to mention Dr. Suzuki's 10 ways to help the environment, they are inexpensive and anybody to can do them for their first step toward "Greening Themselves"

How awesome!
I definitely second the glass instead of plastic.

As far as For Simran:
www.enamore.co.uk

I think Martha's audience might dig the designer organic fabrics now available for home sewing projects...beyond beige with www.harmonyart.com.

Dog beds by www.belladogga.com would be a good product to highlight as well as www.cottonmokey.com for fun colorful organic baby bedding.

Conserveindia.org is my personal favorite for recycled materials into cool new products.

Have a great time...we'll be watching!

For the appearance on Martha's show, in addition to organic cotton clothing, don some attractive hemp clothing. Wear a solar-powered watch. Wear a solar-vest that generates electricity to power your iPod. Promote tree-free paper made from bananas, hemp, old jeans, recycled dollar bills, wheatstraw and kenaf. Kenaf and hemp are leading paper suppliers. Contact Vision Paper in Albuquerque for kenaf products. Contact Living Tree in Oregon for hemp paper products.
Gar Smith
Editor Emeritus, Earth Island Journal
(510) 843-3343 (THE-EDGE)
(510) 524-0690 (home)

Patrick, thanks for the input. I totally forgot about Suzuki's 10 ways to help the environment. That is a good suggestion.

David Suzuki is a wonderful man, he should have gotten his nobel price eons ago (he has been nominated few times, if I recall correctly). He is my role model and I admire him deeply.

1- Eating organic & local (good for health, tastes better, cheaper in-season, money stays in the region with local foods, etc)

2- Reusable grocery bags- they don't break, you don't have to store 10,000,000 of them and have them taking up room in your kitchen

3- Home improvements: CFLs- slash your energy bill; ceiling fans- reduce your AC consumption; linoleum/bamboo flooring- durable, attractive, easy to clean, less harmful outgassing; repainting (when you do so)- use casein-based paints for less of a headache, less pollution at the source, etc etc.

4- Freecyle/garage sales/estate sales/craigslist- you can often get a deal on great furniture in all these places, and even pay less for something that's better quality than the particleboard "Made-in-China" desk/entertainment center/table that you would have picked up. Oftentimes this furniture is more durable and more attractive, as well as not using up more resources. And of course, the outgassing that goes on with some particleboard is either already done with or a nonissue with reused furniture.

5- Natural/homemade cleaning products- often better, better for you (who hasn't choked up or had their eyes water when using something like Formula 409 in an enclosed space?), and often cheaper- as well as a sign of your home-making prowess.

6- Home fragrances. What do these signify, after all? That you're trying to cover something up with "Wild Spring" or somesuch nonsense? A better testament to housekeeping ability is the smell of nothing- nothing to cover up, or, if you want to think of it another way, nothing to compete with your or your guests' perfumes.

Congrats TH!

I think Simran can promote 'green' clothes by wearing something made of bamboo, organic cotton, or something made of recycled plastic.

Pick a few things, only a few things, and emphasize those. I've done enough mass communications to know that people will remember very little of what they see and hear unless it is repeated several times in different formats. Don't try to do too much. Hopefully the show will be so successful that TH will be asked back. On that note: we THers should all call or email Martha Omnimedia to say how much we really liked the show, how we learned something new about being green and where can we buy the way cool clothes that Simran was wearing?

I second KPods nomination.

So probably CFL, and the need to recycle the CFL.

Maybe some Composting, and an Inhouse garden type thing.

Then have Simran wear some nice Teko Socks, and Some Hemp, Organic Cotton Clothes. Maybe have some a Capilene Crew Shirt over (it is the fall, and closing on the winter, and rains can be cold) and mention that it protects from the cold, and is great against water, and is comfortable. Can be recycled and is made out of recylced materials.

Focus on the reusable replacements for common disposables.

Organic Cloth Diapers
Water Bottle
Handkerchief
Cutlery
Shopping Bags
etc.

I agree with KPod that you shouldn't talk about too many things. I think given the audience and its size, you should probably focus on a few things that are easy for people to do, that really make an impact that they can understand, and things that are "stylish." To me, the idea is to get a lot of people to do a little bit, which will add up to a big impact, as well as show a lot of people that doing things for the environment doesn't have to be difficult--hopefully, later on, we can get them to commit to bigger changes. Some examples that people have mentioned in this vein are CFLs and green cleaning products. You could mention for example that not only are green cleaning products better for the environment, but they're also better for the health of the person cleaning (and any young kids around). And, like the episode "Off the Grid" from 30 Days did, you could mention how much electricity would be saved if every household in America replaced just one standard lightbulb with a CFL. In addition, you can mention easy to get, inexpensive, and stylish home furnishings that are greener than the standard (an example might be PVC-free shower curtains from Ikea).

Bonnie, excellent post!

I totally agree with all your points, you explained them very nicely.

I'm here for the first time and I really love this community and the like-minded people. It really makes me feel at home, because to so many people, when mentioning eco issues and what they can do to make things better, I seem like an extremist, because 'it's too late to save eart anyways' and 'we all have to die from something sooner or later'. I rather live longer and hand a nice place to live to our children, not a wasteland.

Thanks again everyone

i suggest to introduce "effective microorganism" as a cleaner having a positive impact on the pipes too

http://www.emamerica.com/data/products/earth-shine-all-purpose-cleaner/

possible also to mention the bioremediative use of em in mold plagued buildings

http://www.emamerica.com/data/environment/soil-bioremediation/

I suggest wildlifeworks.com for organic cotton apparel and accessories for Simran.
For example:
-Wildlife Works Felines Rock tee
-Del Forte Denim Juniper Trousers
-Used Rubber USA handbag (or a gorgeous recycled aluminum tab handbag from escama.com)

wow. conrats Simran! definitely listen to Summer about clothes:p

but also what peiopel are saying about less is more... kinda true-- but i wouldn't go for an easy thing like CFL (yawn) but 1 think meaning 1 category, so here's my suggestion; do a TH Bathroom-- have those PLUSH ADORABLE amazing Ikeuchi towels, and that hott cork mosaic bathroom flooring, those cute BEE cleaning products, the lilly showerhead or better yet the Tiara-- save energy and be sexy at the same time! the C2C diapers would be a nice family touch, and you could even then toss in a simple gizmo that is easy to understand and would lead to a family of 4 saving lots of money every year, and even helpful martha-like hints (or you could toss it to her/writers) on how to care for your natural fibre showercurtain...

wow. again, congrats!

I agree that there should be a comprehensive theme as Beastie said and I quote, "Go for a theme of everyday stuff that everyone buys, such as organic clothing, linens, eco lightbulbs. That way people can see how substituting their current purchasing can make a difference, rather than having to buy something completely new to them, like solar panels (also good though)."

I think one of the most important things though is not just to make a few suggestions and leave the people stuck there. Get them engaged. Speak about possible support groups that people can join as a way of sharing ideas and continually learning and expanding their eco-horizons.

That's wonderful and I can't wait to watch!

Stewart+Brown is the best match for Martha and Simran. - especially the cashmere and surplus wool hats.

Beklina is glad to supply you with anything from our Stewart+Brown collection.

I also think Martha would adore I. Ronni Kappos German Vintage Glass necklaces! -let us know and we'd love to supply them for the show as well.

Yeah!

www.beklina.com
::your green boutique::

With regard to the mention of the Solio above - it does *not* work, and the suction cup for mounting on a window melts easily. They also do not respond to customer service emails. Very unhappy with this company.

Why not some organic lawn care products and some organic ways to get rid of pests? Sooooo many people are quick to use chemical/pesticides on their lawns and in their homes. There are safer alternatives to lawn/garden care!

I hope MSL will be willing to post on their website, timed with this show airing, links/info for purchasing the products you feature.

The whole 'shop local/organic' could really be a whole show for Martha. What foodie wouldn't want to do a whole show taped at farmers markets, wit