Who doesn’t love a nice, comfortable pair of flip flops?

The summer is almost here, so flip flops are the perfect shoes for guys to wear with shorts and a t-shirt, or for ladies to make a fashion statement in a cool summer dress.

One way you can sport flip flops while also saving the environment is to purchase recycled flip flops…

Who doesn’t love a nice, comfortable pair of flip flops?

The summer is almost here, so flip flops are the perfect shoes for guys to wear with shorts and a t-shirt, or for ladies to make a fashion statement in a cool summer dress.

One way you can sport flip flops while also saving the environment is to purchase recycled flip flops. These flip flops are often made from reused materials such as rubber tires, fabric and cork, so they help reduce landfill waste. They also happen to be very comfortable.

Make a Flippin’ Decision

No matter what music festival, baseball game, green gathering or other casual event you attend, you’ll see people wearing flip flops.

Whether you practice living an eco lifestyle or not, it’s important to choose a pair of well-made, recycled flip flops instead of a cheap pair that you’ll just throw away after a few months. Instead of ending up in a landfill, your flip flops might just make it through a few extra summers.

Check out these cool recycled flip flops for women and men, and decide which pair best suits your personal style:

Women

Teva Lennox Sandal

Canvas and leather upper is made from 100% recycled material, and there is a 50% recycled rubber outsole.

Ocean Minded Laguna Sandal

Cushioned sandals with 100% recycled bottom sole.

Simple CA Bana Sandal

These sandals are made from washable suede, cork and rubber, and recycled paper forms are used to construct them.

Chaco Sunflower Sandals

These are embroidered with cute flowers and have a recycled rubber sole.

Body Glove Castaway Sandal

Made with organic cotton and cork, plus recycled foam and tire rubber.

Chaco Intersect Eco Tread Sandals

Provides great arch support and is made from 25% recycled rubber.

Men

Reef Remixed Sandal

Soles are made from recycled rubber tires.

DVS Ziggy Wolfgang Sandals

Midsole is made from a blend of cork and Ecotrue, and the sole is made from 100% recycled tires.

North Face Ex-Girlfriend Sandals

Top straps contain recycled PET lining.

Body Glove Castaway Sandal

These are made from organic cotton and cork, as well as recycled foam and tire rubber.

Timberland Rippler Thong Sandal

Contain organic cotton canvas and 30% recycled rubber outsoles.

Gravis Hempurpedic Sandal

Made with renewable hemp and recycled foam that shapes to your foot.

Unisex

Lazy Boy Natural Flip Flops

Vegan and cruelty-free, these are made from natural hemp and recycled race car soles, bicycle inner tube straps and rubber footbeds.

Splaff Flopps

Produced in a 100% waste-free environment, these flip flops are made from recycled car tires and bicycle inner tubes.

Ho Chi Minh Tire Sandals

100% recycled tire sandals made in Cambodia.

You really can’t go wrong with a pair of flip flops in the summer. And with a pair of eco-friendly flip flops, you’ll not only be doubling their lifespan, but you’ll also be helping out the environment.

We’ve shared with you a couple of green credit cards, including the Eco-Friendly Credit Cards from Brighter Planet, the Veridian Corn Credit Cards and the Surfrider Foundation’s New Green Credit Card, but now we have one of the greenest cards to date: a biodegradable credit card from Discover.

We’ve shared with you a couple of green credit cards, including the Eco-Friendly Credit Cards from Brighter Planet, the Veridian Corn Credit Cards and the Surfrider Foundation’s New Green Credit Card, but now we have one of the greenest cards to date: a biodegradable credit card from Discover.

Known as the Biodegradable Discover More Card, it was created because of consumer interest in green products. The biodegradable credit card has these green features:

• Made from biodegradable PVC plastic (great for plastic recycling)
• 99% of the card will break down completely within 5 years
• Card breaks down in soil, water and compost
• Leaves no toxic residue when it degrades

In addition to the green features, the biodegradable credit card lets owners receive5% to 20% cash back rewards all year round, and you can earn up to a 1% cash back bonus on all purchases.  You also get travel benefits and credit card fraud protection.

Now that you know about this cool biodegradable credit card, keep it in mind as you try to improve your credit and protect the planet.

Bates College, a private liberal arts college located in Lewiston, Maine, was recently recognized as a top green school by the Princeton Review and ecoAmerica’s Green Honor Roll, which rated over 600 colleges on their environmental policies, practices and academic offerings.

Maybe Bates received the rave review because 82% of its entire campus food waste is composted, recycled, or sent to a food bank or pig farmer, or maybe it’s because of the annual trash to treasure Trashion Show, which showcases some of the coolest outfits made from trash that was once bound for the landfill.

Bates College, a private liberal arts college located in Lewiston, Maine, was recently recognized as a top green school by the Princeton Review and ecoAmerica’s Green Honor Roll, which rated over 600 colleges on their environmental policies, practices and academic offerings.

Maybe Bates received the rave review because 82% of its entire campus food waste is composted, recycled, or sent to a food bank or pig farmer, or maybe it’s because of the annual trash to treasure Trashion Show, which showcases some of the coolest outfits made from trash that was once bound for the landfill.

The Trashion Fashions

The Bates College annual Trashion Show was created in 2007 by the Dining Services and the school’s EcoReps, a group of students responsible for bringing recycling initiatives to the college. The event is basically a chance for students and staff to go “Project Runway” on the school by designing cool fashions made from recycled materials.

Some of the categories include:

• Most creative
• Most wearable
• Most fashionable
• Most unique
• Best overall

This year’s trash to treasure project winner (pictured above) was Sarah Dice-Goldberg of Highland Park, New Jersey. Her amazing dress was made primarily from recycled shopping bags.

Wow, the Trashion Fashion show is a huge hit at Bates College, and we think that it should be incorporated into every college’s sustainable initiatives. Students’ wearing their trash is way better than students letting it pile up in their dorm room!

For 25 years the Surfrider Foundation has been dedicated to preserving our planet’s oceans, waves and beaches.  Now you can help this non-profit grassroots organization and CardPartner, a company that helps organizations and charities create credit card programs, protect the world’s water by purchasing the new Surfrider Foundation Visa Rewards green credit card.

By simply activating your card the bank will donate $50 to one of the Surfrider Foundation’s water conservation programs.

For 25 years the Surfrider Foundation has been dedicated to preserving our planet’s oceans, waves and beaches.  Now you can help this non-profit grassroots organization and CardPartner, a company that helps organizations and charities create credit card programs, protect the world’s water by purchasing the new Surfrider Foundation Visa Rewards green credit card.

By simply activating your card the bank will donate $50 to one of the Surfrider Foundation’s water conservation programs.

The Visa Green Credit Card

Just like the Eco-Friendly Credit Cards from Brighter Planet, the new Surfrider Foundation green credit card offers many amazing benefits such as:

• No annual fee
• 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for the first six months
• Earn points at hundreds of participating retailers
• Earn up to 15 bonus points per dollar at select merchants
• Redeem points for FREE airline tickets, merchandise and more
• Purchase protection
• Zero liability protection for unauthorized purchases
• Emergency cash and card replacement
• 24-hour roadside assistance

You can even choose between one of five Aaron Chang images for the visa green credit card: “Del Mar,” “Blue Wave,” “Pipeline,” “Teahupoo,” and “Isabell.”

This is a great way for you feel good about charging on your credit card. Now your love for shopping and the planet can go hand in hand!

To learn more about different types of credit cards check out Student Finance Domain.

Today, more people are living an eco lifestyle than ever before, so it was bound to happen: climate friendly food labels.  Most consumers read food labels to check ingredients that are in the product, but now consumers in Sweden will be able to read climate-change friendly labels to check the manufacturer’s total greenhouse gas emissions.

The first company to premiere the new good climate friendly labels will be a small milk producer from Stockholm. The label will reveal how the company reduced its energy and nutrient consumption by using manure over chemical-based fertilizer.

Right now, the climate friendly labeling process is voluntary, so not all companies will have the label on their products. The companies who do want the label on their products will have to prove that they have reduced greenhouse gas emissions in order to earn one.

If more companies catch on and see this as a positive initiative, maybe it will spill over from Sweden into America. It would be great for us to see the green energy use of our favorite products.

Let’s just hope that companies don’t abuse the system.

Source: New Scientist

Apple iPhones have become one of the most popular smartphones in the world. According to Fortune Magazine, iPhone sales increased by 245% in 2008, making Apple second only to Nokia in worldwide smartphone sales.

Besides having access to email and instant messenger, one cool aspect of the iPhone is the abundance of applications that you can download for it. For those of you living an eco lifestyle, there’s a new go green application that can be used to deliver useful green tips and news directly to your phone. It’s called The Green Brief.

Apple iPhones have become one of the most popular smartphones in the world. According to Fortune Magazine, iPhone sales increased by 245% in 2008, making Apple second only to Nokia in worldwide smartphone sales.

Besides having access to email and instant messenger, one cool aspect of the iPhone is the abundance of applications that you can download for it. For those of you living an eco lifestyle, there’s a new go green application that can be used to deliver useful green tips and news directly to your phone. It’s called The Green Brief.

Keeping up with the Green

The Green Brief green application was developed by Climate Change Communications Ltd. as a way to give people constant access to green information without them having to be directly in front of a computer. There are two ways that this is done:

• Tips – Eco friendly living tips that focus on home, business and travel are delivered to your iPhone.
• News- An RSS feed is embedded into your iPhone that updates you with environment, green technology and new green product news.

Does this sound like a cool go green application to you? If so, you can download it for only $2.99 at the iTunes Apple Store.

Source: 1888 Press Release

Did you know that the average desktop computer consumes about 354-kilowatt hours of energy a day, and that 90% of that energy consumption comes from the computer being idle? So can you imagine how much energy a supercomputer consumes?

Researchers at IBM realized that about half of a supercomputer’s energy consumption comes from cooling the system to keep it from overheating, so they have designed a new green energy savings computer that will recycle the water-cooled microchips into heat for the surrounding room. It’s called the Aquasar.

Did you know that the average desktop computer consumes about 354-kilowatt hours of energy a day, and that 90% of that energy consumption comes from the computer being idle? So can you imagine how much energy a supercomputer consumes?

Researchers at IBM realized that about half of a supercomputer’s energy consumption comes from cooling the system to keep it from overheating, so they have designed a new green energy savings computer that will recycle the water-cooled microchips into heat for the surrounding room. It’s called the Aquasar.

How does it work?

The eco friendly aspect of IBM’s Aquasar energy saving super computer lies in how the microchips are cooled. Most supercomputers cool the water between the processors, but the Aquasar brings the liquid as close to the chips as possible without getting them wet. The cold water is then heated by the chips, recycling it into the outside air.

The Aquasar, which is located at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, now provides heat for the university’s heating system. Maybe in the future it can heat universities and dorms around the world.

Don’t forget to check out our computer recycling page.

Source: Wired

Did you know that about 5%-10% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions are related to the manufacturing and transporting of concrete? In fact, about 20 billion tons of concrete are produced every year, and that certainly has an effect on your carbon footprint.

To reduce the global impact of concrete Engineers at MIT have created a more durable, eco friendly concrete that can last up to 16,000 years. This means less manufacturing of concrete, fewer CO2 emissions and less overall pollution.

Did you know that about 5%-10% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions are related to the manufacturing and transporting of concrete? In fact, about 20 billion tons of concrete are produced every year, and that certainly has an effect on your carbon footprint.

To reduce the global impact of concrete Engineers at MIT have created a more durable, eco friendly concrete that can last up to 16,000 years. This means less manufacturing of concrete, fewer CO2 emissions and less overall pollution.

Franz-Joseph Ulm, one of the inventors of the eco friendly concrete, says, “More durable concrete means that less building material and less frequent renovations will be required.” So through nanoengineering the engineers created a green concrete that was much stronger and more durable than regular concrete.

You can read all about the MIT study here.

This seems like a great idea if it truly is eco friendly concrete. With less CO2 emissions from the manufacturing of concrete, we could definitely focus on greener building objectives for the future.

Source: Inhabitat

Memorial Day weekend is the perfect time for getting together with family and friends. It means that summer is on its way, the kids are getting ready to finish school and neighborhood pools are officially opening. It’s also an ideal time to have an outdoor picnic that supports your eco-lifestyle!

Memorial Day weekend is the perfect time for getting together with family and friends. It means that summer is on its way, the kids are getting ready to finish school and neighborhood pools are officially opening. It’s also an ideal time to have an outdoor picnic that supports your eco-lifestyle!

Since most people have Memorial Monday off, the 3 day weekend leaves many options open for celebrating the holiday. One option that you should consider is learning how to have a green Memorial Day weekend. If you can make this weekend eco-friendly, then you will be reducing the carbon footprint of everyone who shares in your festivities.

Here are some green steps that you can take before, during and after the picnic:

Before the picnic….

• Get rid of any stuff that has accumulated in your yard by donating it to thrift store, or let it be reused when you sell it on eBay or Craigslist.
• Mow your grass with an old-fashioned push mower. Gas and electric mowers are more expensive, and they also leave a huge carbon footprint.
• Purchase an electric grill powered by wind energy or a solar powered grill to have the most eco-friendly cooking experience with your food.
• Clean off dirty lounge chairs or other outside patio furniture with green and natural cleaning products instead of using toxic chemicals.
• Instead of going to a grocery store, support your local farmer’s market. Walk or bike to it to reduce your automobile emissions. Or, if you have a garden, pick your own organic ingredients from it!
• Want to keep pesky mosquitoes away from you while you eat? Lather on some organic bug spray and repellant. You can also leave a cup of sugar water away from the crowd and bugs will flock towards it instead of you.

During the picnic…

• Use biodegradable utensils, bowls and cups to create less waste for your local landfill. Have guests write their names on the items so that they can be reused.
• Keep a recycling bin (like one from Recyclingbin.com: Eco-Friendly Bins & Containers) next to the trash can so that people know you support plastic, metal and paper recycling.
• Give guests reusable napkins so that they can be rewashed and used again.
• If you do have a charcoal grill, use lump charcoal made from natural and sustainable wood and try to avoid using lighter fluid.

After the picnic…

• Use biodegradable plastic trash bags to clean up any surrounding trash.
• Let your guests take home any leftovers so that no food goes to waste.
• Clean the grill with soap and water instead of using harsh chemicals.
• Compost any leftover food scraps in a special compost pile in your back yard. You can also throw those lawn clippings from the other day in the pile!

You can have a fun, affordable and green Memorial Day weekend if you just commit yourself to earth-friendly practices. Plus, if you can commit to these practices on Memorial Day, then you can do it every time that you have a cookout!

Living an eco lifestyle includes going green in every aspect of your life, from using natural cleaning products that work to wearing organic clothing.

But did you ever think that a vending machine, which operates 24 hours a day and consumes thousands of kilowatt-hours of energy each year, would also be able to become a green energy efficient vending machine?

Living an eco lifestyle includes going green in every aspect of your life, from using natural cleaning products that work to wearing organic clothing. But did you ever think that a vending machine, which operates 24 hours a day and consumes thousands of kilowatt-hours of energy each year, would also be able to become a green energy efficient vending machine?

According to the Pepsi Bottling Group, the company has created “the most climate-friendly vending machines ever placed in the United States.” And these green vending machines are going to be tested in high-traffic areas in our country’s capital – Washington DC. (Check out the Washington DC city profile at GradPower.com)

The PepsiCo Green Project

The PepsiCo company has been dedicated to becoming a leader in sustainability since its creation of Performance with Purpose, a business motto which states that the company’s financial success will go hand-in-hand with its social and environmental performance.

So how are these new green vending machines going to reduce the carbon footprint of the PepsiCo company?

• Machines use carbon dioxide (CO2) instead of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)
• Use insulating foam so less energy is consumed
• Generates 12% less greenhouse gas emissions

Overall, these green vending machines have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 282,000 metric tons/year, which is equivalent to removing 52,000 cars from the road in a year.

So what are PepsiCo’s other green plans for the future?

• Reduce water consumption by 20%
• Reduce electricity consumption by 20%
• Reduce fuel consumption by 25%

Energy conservation is at the top of the company’s list. Hopefully, with the success of these energy efficient vending machines, Pepsi will not only be remembered for its classic taste, but also for its green efforts.

Source: Beverage World