Articles by susan

By Susan Seliger

Does this happen to you? Once you start dreaming about exotic places you’d love to escape to – natural wonders of the world where there are no malls or tinsel or shopping lists – you just can’t stop. There are so many things you haven’t done yet in life — like a safari on the Serengeti in Tanzania or swimming with the sea lions in the Galapagos or a trek to the Amazon and Machu Picchu – just puckering up to say Machu Picchu puts me in an adventurous state of mind.

Well, stop dreaming – Natural Habitat Adventures has come to the rescue. This eco-conscious company is offering, not one but FIVE,  big vacations for two – one every year for five years – to the most exciting natural destinations in the world. Beyond those mentioned in my dreams, they’ve also got trips to walk with the penguins in Antarctica and the Falklands as well as a trip to Manitoba to schmooze with the polar bears.

I’ve entered – and so can you – every day up until the deadline, Feb. 28, 2009. Hope to see you there – if not, give the sea lions a smooch for me. Start clicking.

Photo credit: Llama in Macchu Picchuu: from Nurse healthwriter blog

By Susan Seliger

Looking for a way to save money on gifts — who isn’t? Give the best gift of all – and it won’t cost you a penny. Volunteer to help a green charity of your choice. And you can do it right from your home computer.

“Virtual volunteering” is on the rise. And a wide range of groups need your help. You can pitch in with groups devoted to the environment, human rights, disaster relief, animal protection, and more. As a virtual volunteer, you provide skills these organizations need, such as contacting donors or writing letters or grant proposals or other materials they need to publish or post on the Web.

Good Green Charities

To find great environmental charities, go to The Charity Navigator web site, a great guide to intelligent giving, and they will provide you with a list of the best charities in all kinds of categories. You can even break it down by location, if you’d rather volunteer the old-fashioned way – in person.

· Click here for a list of the Top 100 four-star-rated environmental charities recommended by the Charity Navigator:

· Sierra Club, devoted to preserving the environment for the next generation:. Their motto says it all: “Explore, enjoy and protect the planet”: http://www.sierraclub.org/

· The Nature Conservancy, which has protected more than 119 million acres of land and 5,000 miles of rivers — and operates more than 100 marine conservation projects globally.: http://www.nature.org/

Good Charities

Here are some others to consider that were listed by Bottom Line newsletters as willing to engage virtual volunteers. If your favorite charity is not among them, contact them and propose helping out virtually – and start a new trend.

· Network for Good, founded by America Online, Cisco Systems and Yahoo (866-650-4636, www.networkforgood.org).

· Points of Light Institute, a Washington, DC-based organization that recently merged with a similar group, the Hands On Network (202-729-8000, www.pointsoflight.org).

· Taproot Foundation, which puts together teams of working people who want to help charitable groups (415-359-1423, www.taprootfoundation.org).

· ServiceLeader.org at the University of Texas at Austin (512-232-7062, www.serviceleader.org).

· VolunteerMatch, my organization, with volunteer opportunities from more than 55,000 nonprofit organizations (415-241-6868, www.volunteermatch.org).

· UN Volunteers, an arm of the United Nations that can be contacted by E-mail at information@unvolunteers.org and by phone in Germany at 49-228-815-2000. Its Web sites are www.onlinevolunteering.org and www.unvolunteers.org.

· Wisconsin and Minnesota-based Nibakure Children’s Village (612-578-6560, www.nibakure.org) recently needed three volunteers to work online two hours a week on fund-raising for an orphanage in Rwanda.

· Family-to-Family (914-478-0756, www.family-to-family.org), an organization that helps feed families in needy communities nationwide.

(Illustration credit: Sierra Club)

By Susan Seliger

They’re oh so cute – those Mini Coops and fuel-efficient, too. They make you want to tie a ribbon on one and drive it right over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house you go for the holidays. Well, maybe you can – for free.

Champignon Minis is giving away one Mini Cooper, valued at over $18,000, just in time for the holidays. It won’t take a miracle — just a click. So see if you can get lucky before the deadline: 12-31-08.

(Photo credit: The Horse’s Mouth )

By Susan Seliger

Do we need more stuff? No. But we all need to eat. And there’s no lovelier gift for friends and family than gathering everybody together – and NOT cooking. Dining out is definitely a splurge, but the beauty of this gift is that the giver gets to enjoy it, too. Naughty, but nice. And if that isn’t the holiday spirit, then you can just put a lump of coal under my Chanukah tree.

So pick an eco-friendly restaurant in your neighborhood, and tell everybody, this is our gift: Friendship, fun, family spirit – and FOOD. There’s no reason not to make it fine food, while you’re at it. So here are the Top 10 Eco-friendly Restaurants that Bon Appéti magazine picked for 2008, where the fish is line–caught, the meat grass–fed, birds are cage–free and the rest is local, sustainable, organic and all-around mouth-watering (and oh yes, healthy).

THE TOP 10 ECO-FRIENDLY RESTAURANTS
1. Primo – Rockland, Maine
2. Firefly Grill – Effingham, Illinois
3. Hook – Washington, D.C.
4. Ubuntu – Napa Valley, California
5. Café Cenizo – Marathon, Texas
6. The Kitchen – Boulder, Colorado
7. La Provence – Lacombe, Louisiana
8. Spoonriver – Minneapolis, Minnesota
9. Blue Velvet – Los Angeles, California
10. Local Burger – Lawrence, Kansas

If none of these are in your neighborhood, go to the Certified Green Restaurant Association and find places that have been certified as green – or are working towards those estimable goals.

For more always delicious food ideas, go to Bon Appetit.

(Photo Credit: Local Burger restaurant)

By Susan Seliger

1. Buy a live tree – the smell beats plastic — and plant it in your backyard come the New Year. If you’ve given up your car in pursuit of the greener life, you clever soul, here’s a good list of sources for live trees online, delivered to your door.

2. Decorate with solar powered LED Christmas lights – They save power and money and are a step beyond plain old LED lights, which are a step beyond the traditional strings. They can range from $20-60, but here’s a source for $19.99 from Solar Illuminations.

3. Use one present to wrap another present — like a napkin or tea towel or scarf around a ceramic mug or box of organic dark chocolate.

4. Choose 100% recycled wrapping paper – or a decorative bag that you close only with a ribbon so the recipient can then easily recycle the bag for their gift to someone else.

5. Unwrap presents SLOWLY – it helps to savor the delicious moment of anticipation AND you can carefully fold the pretty paper and use it again next year.

6. Buy gifts that use no batteries or rechargeable batteries.

7. If you must go the mall, carpool with friends and family – make it into a little party as you travel there and back.

8. Stock the house and the refrigerator with food that is local and organic – it’s fresher and healthier.

9. Tired of STUFF? Give food and local/organic wine as presents. Who doesn’t like home-baked cookies?! No time for that? A bottle of wine from a local vineyard is always welcome. A good olive oil comes in handy, too – and the mono-unsaturated fatty acids are great for health-conscious friends. Whatever the yummy food, if the label says organic and local, it’ll show you really care.

10. Save money decorating the house with holiday cards – hang a string from one corner to another and hang all the beautiful cards you’ve received from the line – like a laundry line. It’s colorful and festive and a reminder of what the season is really about – nurturing ties to friends and family.

(Photo credit:

By Susan Seliger

What better holiday present for yourself – or a friend you like to drive around with – than a cute, fuel-efficient, smart fortwo car? (This gift will be appreciated by four-legged friends as well. ) Even better — you may be able to get it free. You could be one of the 12 lucky winners in the QVC 12 Days of Christmas Sweepstakes who will drive one away.

And if you don’t win the green car, you still have over 1000 chances to win another form of green — free shopper dollars worth anywhere from $50 to $250. The deadline is 12-12-08.

(Photo credit: Smart Car Blog)

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By Susan Seliger

With the housing market in the toilet, and the EPA saying that water-saving appliances may help sell your house faster (see last post) , we thought you should know about this unusual hybrid.

Take two essential household appliances and stick them together, and what do you get? This entry to the Greener Gadgets Design competition: the Washup washing machine-toilet by Sevin Coskun.

OK, it’s a little scary – especially if you find yourself waking in the middle of the night to pee. But it’s intriguing, right? I mean, would you have thought of saving water by plopping your washing machine on top of your toilet so that the gray water from the washing machine can be used to flush the toilet? No, you wouldn’t. But Sevin Coskum did and entered the concept into the Greener Gadget Design competition. Check out the other clever gadgets. And thanks to the blog, Home Appliances Rule! for pointing out this unusual plumbing marriage.

One good feature: it will certainly teach the gentlemen in the house to close that toilet seat lid — at least before they take the clean clothes out of the washer. Or oooops, you may have to do that load of wash over again.

(Photo credit: Home Appliances Rule!)

By Susan Seliger

There is one bit of a good news in this terrifyingly tumultuous housing market. Going green can help you sell your house — at least that’s what the EPA believes. While traditional houses are spiraling downward in value across the country, according to the Environmental Protection Agency homes that incorporate environmental features – especially green plumbing fixtures – are what buyers are looking for.

EPA’s optimism about the green housing market stems from a McGraw-Hill Construction study (conducted when the housing market was very soft but not yet in its current panic) which predicted that the current market share of green housing (6-10%) would double in the next five years. The study also found that 60% of builders believed that green features in a home would help them sell houses in a down market

While Sales figures on green homes are hard to come by, a number of studies indicate that home buyers are coming to expect green fixtures and features. Makes sense — house buyers are looking for ways to save money – not just on the price of the house – but on the long-term maintenance. They want to save on energy costs. But they also seem to like water-saving fixtures. Builders are also turning to these water-saving fixtures, especially because many localities (in California and other areas where water is scarce) have made water-saving a requirement for new housing projects.

Anticipating the demand for saving water in home-building, the EPA’s WaterSense program (which certifies water-saving appliances) launched a New Housing Project in August 2008 to sign on builders who will produce at least one home that meets the EPA’S standards for a water-efficient home – ready for sale within six months of the launch.

So look for water-efficient homes to come onto the market in early 2009 from the following builders who were selected to participate in the pilot program.

• Anderson Homes; Raleigh and Chapel Hill, North Carolina
• Aspen Homes of Colorado; Windsor, Colorado
• Cleantech Homes; Beverly, Massachusetts
• Dorn Homes; Tubac, Arizona
• Greenlife Homes; Houston, Texas
• Nappier and Turner Construction Company; Hendersonville, North Carolina
• Tim O’Brien Homes, Inc.; Waukesha, Wisconsin

To find water-saving fixtures that have been approved by the EPA, look for those that have the WaterSense label.

For more about water-efficiency in new homes, go to the EPA’s WaterSense web site.

Photo credit: EPA web site

By Susan Seliger

This eco-friendly cruise couldn’t come at a better time. The recent cold snap along with the chilly, lonely feeling I get when I look at my retirement savings (what retirement savings?!) has put me in the mood for a trip to a sunny place. Though in this economy, I probably wouldn’t turn down a free, seven-day cruise even in the summer.

In addition to an eco-friendly cruise ship, and vegetarian feasts on board, you’ll also be treated to daily spa treatments along with yoga and meditation classes. The perfect antidote to financial angst. Dust off your mantra — I’m thinking of trading in my current one: It’s only money for an updated version: Yes, you Om.

But hurry up—not much time. The deadline is nigh. The sponsors of this cruise contest – Yoga Journal and Earth® Footwear – are giving you until 11-30-08 to try your luck. Go on — click – you don’t even have to buy a lottery ticket.