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June '08 Eco Festivals Across the Nation

Nice weather brings the outdoor festival season into full swing (what could be better?!) and from the look of things you could keep mighty busy from all of the activity. We picked a handful of eco-related festivals taking place throughout the country during the month of June. This is just a smattering of what's going on. All of them look pretty fun and some rather quarky. Drop us a line if we missed any great eco events taking place in your area.

• May 31-June 01 - Union Street Eco-Urban Festival in San Francisco, CA www.unionstreetfesival.com
• June 01 - Seed Source 1.0 in San Francisco, CA www.seedsource.org
• June 01-05 - WINDPOWER 2008 Conference & Exhibition in Houston, TX www.windpowerexpo.org
• June 01-05 - Clean Technology 2008 in Boston, MA www.zerofootprint.net
• June 04-05 - Earth Now Expo 2008 in Las Vegas, NV www.earthnowexpo.com
• June 06-08 - Harmony Festival 2008 in Santa Rosa, CA www.harmonyfestival.com
• June 05 - World Environment Day www.unep.org
• June 07 - 2008 Sonnenschein Festival in Hohenwald, TN www.sonnenschein-tenn.org
• June 07-08 - Green Pasadena in Pasadena, CA www.green-technology.org
• June 08 - Green Roots Festival / Bikes Not Bombs Bike-a-thon in Jamaica Plain, MA www.bikesnotbombs.org
• June 12-13 - Greener by Design in Alexandria, VA www.greenerbydesign08.com
• June 13 - The 8th Annual Ann Arbor Green Fair in Ann Arbor, MI www.a2gov.org
• June 10-20 - LOHAS Conference 2008 in Boulder, CA www.lohas.com
• June 17-20 - 2008 BIO International Convention in San Diego, CA www.bio2008.org
• June 20 - Bronx Green Roof Tour in Bronx, NY www.greenhomenyc.org
• June 20-22 - The Energy Fair in Custer, WI www.the-mrea.org
• June 21-22 - Earth Works Expo in Denver, CO www.earthworks2008.com
• June 22 - Green the Heartland in St. Louis, MO www.zerofootprint.net
• June 22-25 - Sustainability 2008 in National Harbor, MD www.wef.org
• June 28 - Venice Eco-Fest 2008 in Venice, CA www.earthdayla.org

If you go to any of these festivals let us know what you thought about them!

Stain Guru: Ketchup

We're all looking forward to the upcoming holiday weekend. Some of us will be lucky enough to escape the city, while others will be hanging in the urban jungle that we call Philadelphia. One thing is for sure, when the weather is nice everyone wants to throw a cookout. The only downside? That ketchup stain that suddenly appears on your sparkling white jeans (it is Memorial Day Weekend after all).

Stain Guru to the rescue!

How to remove: Ketchup

1. Use a dull knife or spoon to remove as much excess ketchup as possible.

2. Flip the fabric over and run cold water through the back of the stain.

3. Pour a small amount of white vinegar on the stain. Rinse well.

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 to remove as much of the ketchup as possible.

5. If stain persists, apply a stainfighter and soak in warm water for 30 minutes.

6. Wash as usual.

Keep an eye out for more Summer Stain Guru Tips coming up! Mustard, BBQ sauce, Watermelon and more...

How Green Is Your Laundry?

The Sierra Club posted a fun little quiz called, "How Green Is My Laundry?" We took the quiz here and some of us scored much better than others. Well, there's always room for improvement! We did feel they could have included a question or two about laundry detergent. It is an important factor in the greening of your laundry. Take the quiz and see how you pile up:

http://www.sierraclub.org/howgreen/laundry/

One of our favorites - Project Laundry List

Project Laundry List is one of our favorites and for good reason. It is a non-profit organization whose goal is to demonstrate through art, education and advocacy how personal choices can make a difference on the environment and on its people. Their main tool - clothes lines. Hanging out clothes on a drying rack or clothes line is one easy way to reduce energy consumption at home. It cuts down on energy use and saves money. What better combo? The average household will save $100 per year by hanging clothes out to dry. Plus, hanging out your clothes leaves them feeling soft and smelling fresh. 

Think about the energy and financial savings if you hung your clothes out to dry and washed your clothes in cold water. Cold water washings use 75% less energy than hot water washings and save the average household $65 in energy bills. Now, all these savings are starting to stack up! The weather is nice everywhere at this time of year, so give it a shot.

Here are two places that offer a wide variety of drying racks and clothes lines for any household type:

www.gaiam.com or www.ikea.com

To learn more about Project Laundry List, visit www.laundrylist.org

Unscrew America

Unscrew America ranks up their with gcycle.org as a totally quarky, but totally helpful site. It is all about getting America to change its light bulbs to CFLs. It offers tips on which light bulbs to buy, what you save when you make the switch and other fabulous random facts. Check it out at www.unscrewamerica.org. Here is a glimpse: