I guess it would be how we’re all going to sustain and stay true to our green code.
Let us assess and break down what and how Christmas impacts us

The season for giving
I do believe the true meaning of giving here refers to the act of being selfless but in modern terms that probably translates as buying your loved ones gifts and their “heart’s desire” instead of that pair of shoes you’ve been eyeing all season. But the ‘sacrifice’ of the cash is just one part of it because you’ve got to find a way to balance the ambition with your conscience, ie: find the gift that will be what they want but in green which proves to be not so simple a task and often quite expensive.

The season for forgiving
There are 365 days in a year and only 7 days of it left once Christmas roles along. That’s 358 days worth of opportunity to be offended/hurt/let down/broken up by someone(s) which translates to a lot of pent up frustration, anger, hurt, fear and rage. In the long run the damage these negative emotions have on your core also indirectly affects your green lifestyle as you reach out for emotional comfort in the compensating form of destructive behaviors such as binge eating and retail therapy. You might think that these behaviors just wreck havoc on your weight and finances, but they also dig deep in carbon foot prints with the waste you create.

The season for miracles
Personally I feel that the miracle of Christmas isn’t about winning the lottery ticket or your old car miraculously turning into a brand spanking new Audi Coupe on Christmas morning. No, it’s about finding yourself, finding hope where it was lost. What’s the green bit on this one…I’m not too sure, but maybe it’s the awakening of some people to finally seeing and understanding why we all should care if the sunrises tomorrow, if the rain is acidic or if the animals are homeless.

So there you have it, my take on the Christmas Season and what it stands for to an eco loving woman.

Now I can’t say I follow fashion trends. One I don’t make enough money to do that and two, frankly I don’t think fashion trends suit everyone. But this one fashion trend I was recently introduced to intrigues me. It takes recycling or repurposing to a whole new level…but still not something for everyone, especially the faint hearted.

Today if you have spare change that’s between $150 to $300 and you don’t mind dropping it off at a nail salon, then you can give a new purpose or should I say new life to snake skin – the shedded variety of course.

For a good $300 you can have your nails custom designed to be the texture and look akin to a snake or maybe better said as one of those fancy Italian leather shoes or bags. The process would begin as with any normal manicure. The cleaning and shaping of your nails to the desired shape. Next comes the gel polish application which you’ll need to cure under UV light and after that, the fun bit. The manual labor of fitting the snake skin to your nail by cutting it, shaping it and trimming it to the perfect fit. The snake skin is then applied to your nails like wallpaper and a top coat is lacquered over it to seal it.
The manicure lasts for up to 3 weeks, if you take good care of it.
I think it’s a pretty ingenious idea to use dead skin – again a bit unconventional but the only concern that springs to my mind is if any animals are harmed in the process because as you and I both know – when a trend kicks off, it can cause all kinds of havoc.
So would you fork out $300 this Christmas for a serpentine look?

However…I’ll have to admit that today’s post was in a way inspired by recent events (ashes to ashes, dust to dust…) but with a slight twist you could say…as we’re going to be looking at an interesting gift idea!

Now I don’t know about you but I like my gifts to stand for something. I like them to be special not because I want it to stand out in a crowd, no. I want it to be special because it represents my thoughts and wishes for the recipient.

So what is this special unique gift you ask? Well the next chance I get, some people are going to get “eco-worms” in a box!
I can tell you’re already giving me that look of absolute disgust, but bear with me for a bit more before you throw the idea out the window. Trust me; the worms will be a welcome.

If you look past their wriggly exterior, you’ll see that worms have an uncanny ability to turn waste into living bacteria that posses the power to transform poor quality soil into a rich, living growing medium for plants and crops! Which really makes them the perfect gift for someone who is a keen supporter of keeping an eco friendly home and loves tending to the garden.

A gift of eco-worms will be a welcomed surprise as you learn about how much fun and contributing, having a worm farm in your garden can be to the environment. A worm farm will help you turn vegetable and fruit scraps into great potting soil or soil amendment through worm castings and worm tea – both odorless and priceless for your plants. Of course don’t be mistaken to think that they are made from mushed up worms – they are made by worms, not from them.

My friend was a great many things but above all he was a dutiful son, a wonderful brother, a loving husband and a magnificent friend. Surely the memory of a man so great cannot become extinguished with the last breath he draws? I think regardless of which faith you keep; when we are faced with death…we cannot help but wonder what is next.

Now I do appreciate that the presence of death, is hardly a time to think about eco sustainability and let us face facts…death or how we lay the body to rest after is anything but eco-friendly – think of the embalming fluids (formaldehyde), the expensive caskets, the carbon dioxide that your loved one becomes when cremated.

But it’s something that has to be done. Laying our loved ones to rest in an honourable and complete manner is necessary for closure. I recommend that you read this article by Gloria Campos which is entitled “8 Environmentally Friendly Burial Alternatives.. or 8 Options to the Boring Old Coffin”. It’s absolutely brilliant and quite inspiring.

She gives you insight into a world of eco-burial as you probably never imagine existed.

However, there is one eco-sustainable burial that isn’t on her list and that’s the POETREE.

POETREE is the brilliant brainchild of one Margaux Ruyant, a young French Inventor with the DSK International School of Design Pune, India. She designed a funeral urn that progressed with the emotional stages of grief and mourning.

The ashes of the departed is placed in the urn and a boxwood tree (an evergreen shrub) in planted in a biodegradable pot and placed onto the ashes within the urn. As the tree begins to grow, the pot will biodegrade, the soil within will mixed into the ashes and the roots of the tree will begin to grow into the mixture. This will take sometime and by the time it happens, it will be synonymous with the stage of letting go.

The POETREE is now ready to be planted into the garden where after a while, the cork based urn will disintegrate into the earth leaving only the tree and the ceramic ring top which will serve as a living memory of a great life now departed.

The true beauty of the POETREE is not so much it’s green effect but rather how it is designed to walk the stages of grief with you.

Continent: Oceania
Country : Australia
Poo Paper providing animal: The Kangaroo
Famous Kangaroo Poo Paper Brands:  Roo Poo Paper by Creative Paper Tasmania

Continent:  Oceania
Country: Australia
Poo Paper providing animal: The wombat
Famous Wombat Poo Paper Brands:   Creative Paper Tasmania

Continent: Europe
Country:  United Kingdom
Poo Paper providing animal: The Reindeer
Famous Reindeer Poo Paper Brands: The Exotic Paper Company LTD

If you are wondering how paper is made from these animals’ poo and you’ve got doubts about using poo paper because … well it’s made from animal waste…then visit this page on the Elephant Dung Paper website. They have detailed the process with photos to help educate consumers which should help you better understand why it’s safe and a great idea that you should support.

In fact it’s not just sheets of poo paper available these days; there are also other poo paper products available such as scrap books and greeting cards, so do check the possibilities out.

1.    Paint WITH feathers.
Just as different brushes will produce different strokes and textures, feathers will do the same.

2.   Paint ON feathers.
This is something fun and your kids would enjoy it but unlike painting with feathers where you require no real skills…painting on feather does. They make a beautiful canvas but they are quite difficult to paint on. But remember the old saying’ “Practice makes perfect.”
3.   Feather hair extensions
You know how it’s a lovely new trend to have feathers extended from your hair? Well you can do that  easily at home – although it would be more like a feather hair ascent because you’re just going to tie a few feathers together  (preferably those which are thinner and longer like those of tail feathers of peasants) then  secure them around a few strands of your own hair with a fine rubber band or tread.  Hide the joining area under a layer of hair so it looks like feathers are peeking out from under. Little girls would love them.

4.    Costume jewelry
Feathers are amazingly beautiful and if you had the time, just keep collecting the molted feathers and soon enough you’ll find a few that you’ll want to make into earrings and other creative jewelries. Steps are really simple too, go here for a “how to make feather earring”

5.    Donate them
There are on-going project s around the world with the following being the most popular
•    NWTF Feather Distribution Project
•    WIngwise Feather Distribution Project.

Both projects support the Native American tribes across the nation for their religious ceremonies and these feathers are collected for them. However if you do wish to donate feathers, you must read up on how to do so.

Patchwork
What it is?
Patchwork is a form of needlework that uses small bits of scrap materials to form a larger piece of fabric.
What is was back then?
Patchwork was usually made from tiny bits of scrap fabric and turned into warm blankets, quilts and rugs, all meticulously sewn by hand.
What it is today?
A very expensive form of needlework as patchwork fabrics are selected and purposely bought for “patching” purposes. They are planned and designed and have nothing to do with scraps. Also machines are used instead of hands to sew the pieces together.

Appliqué
What it is
A lovely form of needle art that also uses scrap pieces of fabric, buttons and incorporates the art of hand embroidery. In appliqué, these smaller scraps are cut into creative shapes and sewn onto a larger piece of pain fabric forming a picture or design.
What it is today.
Another rather expensive needlework as the scraps have been replaced with specifically made for appliqué products. And this time round, you may also glue your appliqué on rather than sew it on. Fast, simple and very pretty but just not quite the same.

For more creative sustainable craft ideas, drop by craftbits.com

1.    Threats with legal backing – which means fines
2.    Rewards for participation – monetary or objects it doesn’t really matter, people just want to receive.
3.    Masquerading – it’s funny how people will willingly participate when they don’t realize that they are.

Now I would have to say that one of the best masquerade efforts is probably glassphemy – the brainchild of David Belt, yes the same Mr. Belt who caused quite the stir back in 2009 when he showcased the do-it-yourself swimming pools made from Dumpsters. So what’s glassphemy and how does it mask recycling?

Well, it appears Mr. Belt put one and one together and came up with a recycling activity that appealed to the general public of New York (and quite possibly the larger population of the world).  Described as a visceral experience to purge some New York aggression, glassphemy is a recycling activity where people get to smash glass bottles, and the pieces then sent collected and sent for recycling. Sounds primitive and violent? Well primitive – not quite, violent- perhaps so. Glassphemy works in a safety zone that is a 20-foot-by-30-foot clear box installation prepped with high walls made of steel and bulletproof glass. The appeal about this “activity” is how patrons get to hurl empty glass bottles “at others” without actually hurting anyone because there is the bulletproof glass to act a safety barrier. Violent as it seems, some call it therapeutic to be able to act out the pent up frustration gathered from daily life.

With glass bottles donated by bars, glassphemy looks to be the only recycling activity that is set to go viral. But let’s hope the safety box holds up.

3. Treetures
This one is really cute. A world of green lessons brought to your kids by groups of characters split into the following

• Treetures
  Babies and Sproutllings
  Mudsters
  Forest Fiends

Treetures focus on trees – what are trees, how important trees are to earth, how to plant trees and how to care for them. They characters sort of remind me of the Bearenstain Bears, but they are different and they will encourage your kids to earn their very own “green hearts”.
4. Kid’s planet
If your kids have a soft spot for wildlife, then this is the site to encourage him/her to vist. Their Get the Facts page is amazing all the continents of the world so that means a whole lot of animal facts.

Now after visiting each of these sites for myself, I have to say that while great efforts went into developing these sites, we’re still a long way from making them a child’s pick. They’re on the right track by creating cute characters to guide the interest on the children, but still very far off when it comes to the quality of the graphics.