Green Gift Scene

In one way or another, almost every form of energy we use originates as energy from the Sun. Solar energy directly powers photovoltaic cells and thermal collectors. Indirectly, we get power from plants grown by the Sun, oceans heated by the Sun, and Earth’s weather systems sustained by the Sun. Even the energy stored in fossil fuels originated as energy from the Sun, captured by plants and animals millions of years ago. Physics Solar Workshop explores the topic of solar energy, focusing on photovoltaic cells. By building 12 models and conducting 30 experiments, you will learn how solar cells transform light into electrical energy, and how motors and mechanical devices can optimize the work done by this energy. Get your kids started now on a fun way to learn about physics and solar!

Prices and more information : Thames & Kosmos Physics Solar Workshop

Sometimes you need to relax and a lot of folks do so by the relaxing sounds of running water. Now a lot of us don’t live near a body of water and certainly wouldn’t waste precious water by running it from a faucet. So why not hook up a solar powered cascading fountain. This fountain is self-contained with a recirculating pump to allow a finite amount of water to be used. This fountain requires no wiring or plumbing so setup is a breeze. It will even work indoors if you put the solar panel near/in a window. So get ready to relax as the soothing sound of water pours out of the pitcher and down four bowls while using the power of the sun.

Prices and more information: Light Terra Cotta Cascade Fountain

I’ve been trying to eat mainly organic and locally produced produce more and more, but we all know how hard that is. In my area, the supermarkets are carrying more varieties to their credit, but the price is high and the quality is often low. Couple that with the likelihood that those organic kiwis traveled many miles to get that store, potentially never to be bought, and the need to find other organic produce sources is evident. Why not try growing your own? There’s no better way to make sure that the fruits and veggies going into your body are as pure and carbon-neutral as can be. This book is written with both the expert and beginner gardener in mind, giving you the basics and more so you can maintain a garden year-round. It’s published by Rodale press, which always puts out good how-to stuff.

Prices and more information : Rodale’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening

At Thanksgiving, my teenage nieces delighted in showing me their “new” bracelets made from recycled soda can pop-tops. Of course, I complimented them on how cool they were, without knowing what they were made from. I’m no jewelry expect, but I couldn’t tell at first glance! They have nice colored stones woven into them along with an elastic band to fit any wrist size. The girls say that they are very comfortable to wear, probably since the tabs have been polished. It’s great that today’s generation of kids is the most environmentally conscious ever. So this holiday, instead of getting the special young lady in your life an over-priced designer piece, try something like this that is beautiful in more ways than one.

Prices and more information : “Bracelets With A Conscience” CYPRESS

So I’m a huge Jimmy Buffet fan and we have a large group go down to his concerts every year. This past few years there have been lots of folks running petroleum fueled generators to run various household appliances. The one that seems to be in the highest demand is the margarita blender. Well, I found a solution to having a generator power a blender (which wastes precious fuel and pollutes the environment), how about a human powered blender. Yup, this one has a hand crank that allows the user to spin the blades fast enough to crush that precious ice for those tasty margaritas. Simply attach this to a table using the supplied clamp, load it up with your favorite beverage components and crank away. In short time you’ll be sipping a tasty beverage. Check it out!

Prices and more information: Human Powered Blender

So I got my nephew this solar powered robot for Christmas. I sat back and wondered what I could do to help the next generation learn of the different energy forms available but at the same time make the learning fun. I believe in my nephew’s lifetime that solar will become an ever increasing form of energy and the sooner his generation starts to learn and understand it, the better for us all. So get your kids excited about green technology - you never know, they might solve the energy crisis someday.

Prices and more information: Solar Powered Robot

As some of you may know, I’ve been on a solar kick for the past few months. I just received these in the mail this past week. I was able to give them a test yesterday. No too bad for LED lights. I’d like them a little brighter but if you are looking for subtle lighting outside your house, these will work. If you are competing with your neighbor on who can light up the night sky the most, these aren’t for you. The nice thing with these lights is that you can choose from either the 104 light (42 feet) string or the 208 light (55 feet) string. Either will give you hours, if not years worth of use with their super-efficient LED lights.

Prices and more information : LED Solar Holiday Lights

If you are like me, you like to eat Organic fruits and vegetables whenever possible. The problem these days is that Organic food is pretty expensive. I have thought about growing my own at home in a garden. My big problem is, I am terrible at gardening, I have whatever the opposite of a green thumb is. I recently came across the Easy Bloom Plant Sensor. This is one of the most ingenious devices I have seen in a long time. What you do with it is, stick it in the ground where you want to plant your plants. After 24 hours, you take it out and hook it up to your PC via the USB port. It then takes the information it collected about your soil and cross references that with a database of over 5000 plants and tells you what would thrive the best based on your soil conditions. I think this is an awesome idea, it takes the guess work out of planting a garden since you will know that what you plant will grow in your yard. Growing your own vegetables at home is a great way to save money and eat healthy since you know what is in your food. Also plants help to keep our ecosystem running. I highly recommend the Easy Bloom Plant Sensor for anyone you know who likes to garden, or someone like me who can’t grow plants to save their life. Check it out today.

Prices and more information : Easy Bloom Plant Sensor

Oprah Winfrey’s new favorite product, the Amazon Kindle is an amazing new technology. If you are an avid reader but concerned about all the paper that goes into printing a book or newspapers, then the Kindle is for you. The Kindle is the size of a paperback book, weighs only 10.3 ounces and can hold 200 titles on its built in memory, you can add an optional SD card for even more storage. I know what you are thinking, books and newspapers don’t waste much paper, so do they really have that big an impact on the environment? Well consider this, not only does it take paper to make books and newspapers, but it takes trucks to deliver these items as well. A truck to drive the book to the bookstore, a truck to deliver the papers to paper machines and homes. Potentially, you take a car to the bookstore to purchase the books that you read, that is a lot of emissions to pump into the environment don’t you think? The coolest feature of the Kindle is that it has built in wireless internet access and you can set it up to automatically download the daily newspaper, you don’t even have to have your own internet access at home, or even wireless at home, it is all built in so you have nothing to do. Every book you buy for the Kindle gets backed up so if you need to delete it to make room for more books or you delete it by accident, you can download it again and again with no additional cost. Try doing that with iTunes. You can even shop that Kindle store right from the device, so if you want to find something new to read, you don’t even need to fire up the computer to shop. It can search your book titles, it has allows you to make bookmarks and annotations and has an ergonomic design and full QWERTY keyboard. Reading a book and not sure of the meaning of a word, no problem, just look it up using the Kindles built in dictionary. Have trouble seeing the text in some books, no problem there either, simply increase the text size to one you can see better. The Kindle also has built in access to Wikipedia. The battery life with the wireless left on all the time is not bad, you need to recharge it every other day. With the wireless off, you can use it for a week or more before you need to recharge, so it is energy efficient as well. The other nice thing is that most titles are 9.99, that is a savings over the cost of a regular book so if you read a lot, the Kindle will pay for itself over time with the money you save on the books. You can even download the beginning of any book for free so you can get an idea if you will like a title before you purchase it. The selection of books is huge too, there are about 190,000 titles available and 105 of 112 current New York Times best sellers. I was skeptical of the Kindle at first, but then I got a chance to use one that a co-worker has, I was really impressed with it, and I am not easily impressed with electronics, trust me.

Pick one up today, and if you use the code OPRAHWINFREY at checkout before 11:59 PM on 11/1/08, you will get 50 dollars off the cost.

Prices and more information : Amazon Kindle

With ever increasing cost of energy comes innovative ways to cope with those costs. These high costs are providing in-roads for new technologies in wind, hydro and solar. Since I’m a solar fanatic, I wanted to point out a very good book to help everyone understand what is out there, how it works and how to lower your fossil fuel use. Giving solar a chance provides you with clean renewable energy while lowering your carbon footprint. No matter how big or small your solar unit, every little bit helps and learning about solar is a good start.

Prices and more information : Solar Living Source Book

Winter is on the way and soon ski bums like me will be planning their annual pilgrimage to the slopes. Running a ski resort is a major operation that has impact on the surrounding environment. Operating ski lifts, lodges, grooming equipment, restaurants, and more all are potentially damaging elements that many ski resorts are trying to mitigate in order to be better stewards of their surroundings. As you plan your ski trip this year, here are some tips to start your research and make sure that your chosen resort is both snowy white and earth green.

Some of the most poisonous, toxic, and generally nasty items found in the home are cleaners. Ironic, eh? However, many people are reluctant to buy the green alternatives, usually because of doubts about their efficacy. Here’s a great way to get a friend into green cleaning. Help your them try these out and rid their home of unwanted and dangerous chemicals. It contains the basics you need to get your home truly clean and comes in a reusable bag.

Prices and more information : Healthy Household Gift Set