A green stimulus package for your eyes, ears and mind…

• About Thin Ice on PBS – Friday, 8:30-9:30pm (ET),  APRIL 17 preview the video
• GO GREEN EXPO in NYC – Fri – Sun., April 17-19, 2009. Get Going!
• This sounds cool – Today, Thursday, April 16th EarthAid.net launches a free online service which measures household energy savings, bundles it to be sold as a carbon credit, and then sends cash payments to consumers. (more…)

• What’s the Carbon Footprint of Email Spam? – cs monitor
• Battle Over Offshore Drilling in Arctic Dwarfs ANWR – npr
• Everyone’s a blogger…Doris Day Blogs About Animal Cruelty – ecorazzi
• Go to school…Finding a Job in the Green Economy – newsweek
• Greenwashing…Most Green Products Seen to Make False Claims – reuters
• Everyone’s going vegan…Vegetarian Cat – ananova

Having designed and produced a WE CARE video for Sephora when they first launched, I was impressed with their commitment to customer service and innovation. They were the first beauty retailer to offer an in-store environment encouraging consumers to “test and try before you buy.”  With successful eco and body friendly brands such as: Juice Beauty, Cargo PlantLove, Josie Maran and L’Occitane on their shelves, they’re now launching their own so-called green line of cosmetics, Sephora PURE.

The first product hot on the shelf is PURE’s Wanderlust Edition Palette, packed with three trendy shadow colors, three basic brown shadow colors and a blush, all encased in sustainable bamboo and recyclable metal, ($36).  Many more PURE products will follow this fall.

Not sure of those product ingredients?  Check out Sephora’s online glossary for helpful info.

1. Store your info and important documents on a small digital hard drive or flash memory drive.  You’ll save a bunch of storage space and organizing time.  You’ll also be backing up your important info.  Eliminate the need for storage media like CD’s and DVD’s that take up space and require plastic in their manufacture.
2. Downsize the amount of paper you get in the mail.  Get electronic statements whenever possible.  You’ll save a bunch of trees and eliminate the fossil fuel burned up by the mailman delivering your mail.
3. Get a smaller ride.  You’ll reduce your carbon footprint, and save on gas, parking and car insurance by transitioning to a smaller vehicle.
4. Downsize your living quarters.  Do we really need all these giant homes?  You’ll lower your heating, electric and water bills by going small.  Pursue a more efficient and manageable lifestyle.
5. Get rid of, or downsize, that mega-lawn of yours.  Every year lawnmowers produce millions of pounds of toxic emissions.  The EPA estimates that 17 million gallons of gasoline are spilled filling lawnmowers each year.  Fertilizer is very energy intensive to manufacture and pollutes countless waterways nationwide.  Lawns also create mono-cultures that create a desert for bees and hummingbirds.  Get out there and build some native plant rock gardens, go au natural, or get creative in moving away from that high maintenance status symbol you call your lawn.
6. Reduce your caloric intake.  Eat more veggies and less meat.  A smaller, healthier you, will make a stunning environmental statement, plus you can reduce the CO2 emissions associated with cattle and dairy farming.  You’ll also be able to fit into all those clothes in your closet that you thought you had “outgrown.”