New Community

If you have a green business, blog or website you are welcome to join our new “We Give Earth a Break” Community. Feel free to talk together, share experiences, share your websites, share your advertising methods, and talk about green. After approval you will be able to set up your own page, write in the forum, upload pictures, blog, and so much more.

Here is your invite: http://wegiveearthabreak.ning.com/?xgi=5G7o2zzr433tNZ

Adopt Our Trustmark

We just created a new trustmark entitled “We Give Earth a Break” if you have an earth friendly website Click Here to get our trustmark onto your site. Show others that you “Give Earth a Break” by being green with this trustmark.

Thanks!

Earth Hour 2010

MISSION, HISTORY & EARTH HOUR 2010

On Earth Hour hundreds of millions of people, organizations, corporations and governments around the world will come together to make a bold statement about their concern for climate change by doing something quite simple—turning off their lights for one hour. In the U.S. where we are already feeling the impacts of climate change, Earth Hour sends a clear message that Americans care about this issue and want to turn the lights out on dirty air, dangerous dependency on foreign oil and costly climate change impacts, and make the switch to cleaner air, a strong economic future and a more secure nation.

Participation is easy. By flipping off your lights on March 27th at 8:30 p.m. local time you will be making the switch to a cleaner, more secure nation and prosperous America. View thetoolkits, to find out what else you can do to get involved including leading the Earth Hour movement in your community.

SET YOUR CLOCK

On Saturday, March 27, 2010 at 8:30 p.m. local time, Earth Hour will once again cascade around the globe, from New Zealand to Hawaii

SPARKING A MOVEMENT

Since its inception three years ago, Earth Hour’s non-partisan approach has captured the world’s imagination and became a global phenomenon. Nearly one billion people turned out for Earth Hour 2009 – involving 4,100 cities in 87 countries on seven continents.

Last year, 80 million Americans and 318 U.S. cities officially voted for action with their light switch, joining iconic landmarks from around the world that went dark for Earth Hour, including:

• Empire State Building
• Brooklyn Bridge
• Broadway Theater Marquees
• Las Vegas Strip
• United Nations Headquarters
• Golden Gate Bridge
• Seattle’s Space Needle
• Church of Latter-Day Saints Temple
• Gateway Arch in St. Louis
• Great Pyramids of Giza
• Acropolis and Parthenon in Athens
• Christ the Redeemer Statue in Rio de Janeiro
• St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City
• Big Ben and Houses of Parliament in London
• Elysee Palace and Eiffel Tower in Paris
• Beijing’s Birds Nest and Water Cube
• Symphony of Lights in Hong Kong
• Sydney’s Opera House

Impacts of Climate Change

1. Because of climate change, the loss of Arctic sea ice is destroying the habitats of polar bears and walruses, threatening their survival.
2. Because of climate change, In the Caribbean, warmer temperatures are skewing gender ratios of sea turtles, undermining the stability of the species.
3. Because of climate change winter sports such as skiing, snowboarding and snowshoeing could become a thing of the past in many areas of the US.
4. From trout fishing in Montana to waterfowl hunting in Arkansas, many recreational activities enjoyed by Americans are at risk from climate change.
5. Most of us will experience climate change in the form of extreme weather: floods, droughts, heat waves and stronger storms and hurricanes.
6. Globally, climate change is causing glacial melt, sea level rise, loss of Arctic sea ice, increased insect infestation, wider spread of diseases and extreme weather events.

Understanding your carbon footprint

1. Most greenhouse gases are caused by the burning of fossil fuels for electricity generation and transportation.
2. Deforestation is another major driver of climate change, responsible for more carbon pollution than the entire global transportation sector.
3. A carbon footprint is a measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of carbon pollution produced.
4. Simple ways to reduce your carbon footprint include: walk more, use public transportation, only buy what you need and recycle.

Tips to living green

1. Purchase energy efficient appliances. They cut carbon pollution and save you money!
2. Make sure your dishwasher and washing machine are always full before you run them as this will save energy and money
3. Weather-proofing your home is a great way to save energy. Caulk your doors and windows, add insulation or add shades to use in the summer!
4. Leaving your computer for awhile? Put it on stand-by & it will take less energy than shutting down and restarting
5. Fix leaking faucets. The constant drip wastes water, energy and money, so repair them as soon as possible.
6. Eat more veggies! On average, it takes nearly 10 times as much fossil fuel to produce animal protein compared to plant protein
7. Unplug appliances and phone charges when they aren’t in use. If they’re plugged in, they’re drawing energy and costing you money.

All information taken from www.myearthhour.org Please go to www.myearthhour.org and pledge that you will turn your lights off for an hour it only takes a second.

Give Earth a Break Email Subscription

Give Earth a Break would like to invite you to sign up to join their email subscription. There will be product updates, information, coupons, specials, and much more. Check it out!

Click here to sign up—–>http://giveearthabreak.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=7f1709353e9730f20f4a464a9&id=769e54d6d2

*Note: This is not an email subscription to this blog, for that go to the right side bar. This is a subscription to the store http://www.giveearthabreak.com

Educate Others

I encountered a couple people over the weekend and ended up having a discussion about the environment. This girl I had met spoke  about how a prehistoric fish that is found great lakes that are sometimes 100 years old and grow up to 6 feet. As of now they are on the endangered species list. The fish was called a Lake sturgeon.

The girl was explaining how she was going to do an internship this summer to help these amazing fish breed. She explained how these fish were very particular in the way that they breed. Temperature, age, time, etc. all had to be to these fish ideal conditions for them to be willing to breed. I was interested in learning about something I had new.

Another girls asked why are you going to help these fish that should die anyways, she said that she should have evolved, and if they haven’t evolved they should just die out. People shouldn’t try to keep something alive that is just going to end up dying.

The girl explained how we have changed things about the environment so that it does not make for ideal conditions for these fish. She explained how water temperatures are higher then they used to be and that is due to the actions of humans.

I explained how it does not take a couple years of even tens of years for a species to evolve. The fish can not noticed the high temperatures and just change the way they breed right away. We are messing up their water conditions, so I think it is great for people to try to help them survive. We shouldn’t just let amazing prehistoric fish die, if we can help them.

She then came into a bit more of an understanding. However, I couldn’t help but realize by the words that were said how ignorant she really was about our environment and how important even fish are. Every single animal/insect has such an important role in our ecosystem and it did not seem that she realized that. If we can spread a little knowledge to others. Even if it is just a little at a time, maybe people will think twice about the things they can do to help.

Educate others whenever you can and let them know about the world around them.

Give Earth a Break Badge

Give Earth a Break just created a badge that you can put anywhere you would like….Please just don’t change the html.

Here is the code:

<a href=”http://www.giveearthabreak.com/”><img src=”http://giveearthabreak.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/freshgenerator2.png”></a>

The Badge will look like this:

Lucky Day on St. Patrick’s Day

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

It’s your lucky day~

Just for the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day we would like to offer you a coupon for 25% off any purchase. Just simply enter in “luckyday” as the coupon code. Only valid March 17, 2010.

Check out what kind of green products we have to offer. Go to our shop at http://www.giveearthabreak.com

Thoughts on “Blood, Sweat, and T-shirts”

I am not sure if you have heard of the show “Blood, Sweat and, T-shirts” that is on Planet Green. I just recently came across it while searching through On Demand channels. I watched the first episode and loved the show. It was about six young adults in love with fashion, they go to India for about 3 weeks learning how clothes are made, having to work at sweat shops and a cotton mill. They experience the poor work conditions and find out that child labor really exists.

I was surprised to see how horrible working conditions really were and to see how much they get paid. Every pound of cotton they picked they would earn a whopping few cents. If they were lucky they would make $2.00 a day. How can anyone live like that?

It was crazy to see how dirty work and living conditions, many would even sleep on the floors of the factories to save money on housing. Regardless of where they worked they always worked long hours, many time into the night to meet their quotas. It is so commendable to see how hard they work for so little money to give to their families.

The show was a really great eye opener for anyone who watches it and I would recommend it to anyone. Like most things we take our clothes for granted. Go to the store find a great sale on a t-shirt and not know where the shirt has been before it got to your hands. To check out more information about the show take a look at the website at http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tv/blood-sweat-tshirts/

Fair Trade assures that the workers work in clean work conditions, no child labor, that workers get decent wages, among other things. Whenever possible support the workers by buying fair trade items. You can check out the website for more information at http://www.fairtradefederation.org/

The more people that are aware the better. Many people don’t realize what is going on behind the scenes. The important thing is that we bring awareness.

Little things you can do or should remember

Okay so you all remember the little things you can do to “give the earth a break,” right? If not, here is a little refresher on all the little things that can be done…just because they are little things does not mean they aren’t important.

*Be sure to turn off the light when your done using it…one that can be hard to remember, but when made a habit is second nature. Be sure to get kids on board, we want to make sure they get in the habit too.

*Turn off the water when you brush your teeth. Only turn it on as you need it. I used to keep the water on myself and never really understood what the purpose was…weird and wasteful.

*Take faster showers! I know showering to some people is so relaxing but even showering for 5 minutes less will save gallons of water.

*Turn off you computer if your not using it. I know its convenient to have your computer turned on and ready to use when your ready, but it is sucking up a lot of energy. At the very least put it on a power saver mode.

*Use your dishwasher. Didn’t think I would say that huh? Well, you actually use less water using a dishwasher then washing those same dishes by hand. Oh and if its an earth friendly energy saver kind, special bonus points, you will be using even less water.

*Turn down your thermostat. It is much more earth friendly and cost effective to have your heat lower and an extra sweater or blanket on.

*Open your blinds and curtains. You don’t need to turn on any lights inside when you have a huge light outside called the sun!

*Use those cool curly florescent light bulbs. So easy…just screw them in and forget about them, they use less energy, last longer and give you lots of light!

*Use a permanent water bottle. Skip the plastic bottles, they fill up the land fill, they have lots of chemicals within the plastic and aren’t as cool looking as water bottles you can wash and clean.

I know your only incentive should be to help save this beautiful planet, but realistically take a look most of these tips will not only help out mother earth but also save you some money.

Hopefully, this helped you remember something you you haven’t been doing or helped you learn a new tip…like I always say every little bit counts and if every one at least does a small deed for the earth there will be big benefits.

Resources
-http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/article/0,,20152458,00.html
-http://www.ehow.com/how_4768878_small-things-can-big-difference.html
-http://www.worldwatch.org/resources/go_green_save_green

Grand Opening

Give Earth a Break! We are so excited to get started! We have a variety of green products, and don’t worry our collection will definitely be getting bigger. So, stay tuned!

As we have just opened our business we encourage you to give us as much feedback as possible. We want to get rid of all the bugs and be sure to make the shopping experience as pleasurable as possible. Feel free to email us at: giveearthabreak@yahoo.com

As a gift to you for celebrating our grand opening we would like to give you a coupon to celebrate with us! From now until March 24th spend $30.00 or more and get 15% off your entire purchase. Just enter in coupon code: grandopening

Thanks again for celebrating with us and we hope we check back with us again soon!

Our website: http://www.giveearthabreak.com