Nice right? Tall, well shaped, watching over what could be a blank field. Well, my pal Scott over at Health and Men has a sad story up about this tree today. One you should head over to read. Scott usually blogs about health and music, but today this story put him in a mood, so he veered off topic to cover it. And I’m glad he did. It’s a great, thoughtful post, that will make you think. Also, I like this post because if issues like one tree can’t affect someone, somewhere, well, just where does that leave us. It’s not just the green bloggers pulling for trees.

I don’t love the story, I don’t like the idea, but it makes you appreciate how trees can affect us, our thoughts, and our land. Read Scott’s post.

Have you ever lost a significant tree – or more than one?

To learn more about tree conservation visit Scenic America.

November current events at Tree Hugging Family – themes, reviews, news, and more…

[images via, Scott's blog & Buy Nothing Day]

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I feel that just keeping track of my use has helped me reduce my consumption of paper towels. I figured I was already being good by not using them to dry my hands, for napkins, or most cleaning jobs, but I found out I was reaching for them more than I thought. I used one roll from May 1-23, and have used a little of a second roll since then. I’m going to work on using even less in the coming months.

If you’re trying to lower your paper towel use, one inspirational tool you might try is a “These Come From Trees” sticker. The stickers are helping raise awareness in many places, particularly public restrooms.

One reader, Tammy, also suggested putting the paper towels in a less convenient spot, like under the sink.

Do you have any special tricks to help yourself remember to use fewer paper towels?

Here are the links to the paper towel challenge posts for this month:

Paper Towel Challenge

Paper Towel Challenge Update

Organic Dish Towel Find

Cold Turkey Paper Towels & and the What Questions

Finished a Roll

If you tried to reduce your paper towel use this month, please let us know how you did.

Image via stock.xchng.

Click here to learn about all the current contests, themes, and green challenges going on at Tree Hugging Family in June 2008

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The Arbor Day Foundation has an easy chart that shows when your state celebrates Arbor Day. Some communities celebrate with week-long events, others for just a day. However, many celebrate in April, so if this is something that you and your family is interested in, I’d check the list today.

For those not in the U.S. you can check their handy list of Arbor Day events around the world.

Does your family celebrate Arbor Day? How?

[photo via stock.xchng]

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Many of us are welcoming spring today, so I thought it would be nice to go over some nature loving, tree hugging, eco-friendly ideas that will carry the entire family through the better part of spring and into summer.

1. Quit looking at nature through your frosty windows. It’s warming up, so get out there and enjoy nature in real time, in real life, in full blown color.

2. Throw open your windows wide and let in the fresh air. Natural ventilation is actually a really effective green home goal to aim for. Proper cross ventilation naturally helps to remove any indoor pollution caused by molds, mites, varnishes, paints, cleaners, and more.

3. Have a spring reusable bag sewing party.

4. Use the spring lilacs to create something sweet.

5. Celebrate spring like other cultures do:

• In Egypt, you throw open your windows and breathe deep on the first day of spring. Later have a picnic.
• In Poland a large straw doll is dressed up in old clothes, and then thrown in the river – ok, maybe don’t do that one (not great for fish).
• The festival of colors, or Holi, is a Hindu spring festival, observed in North India and Nepal where children squirt colored water on each other to celebrate.
• What other spring traditions do cultures celebrate? Tell me what you know.

6. See the zoo babies.

7. Try left-over heat cooking for your spring recipes. This means turn the stove top or oven off when food is almost done. Pasta, veggies, rolls, and even meats in the oven will be ok (and fully cooked) if you turn off the heat a few minutes early. Just leave the oven door shut, the pot top on, etc. Imagine how many minutes of energy you will have saved by next spring.

8. Enjoy new blossoms and leaves sprouting to life on the trees.

9. Build a rain barrel to collect spring showers.

10. Rent lawn equipment that you know you will only use occasionally.

11. Alternatively, start a neighborhood co-op of lawn equipment. Purchase together and share major item.

12. Visit a waterfall – this is the best time of year for waterfalls, snow is melting, and the water comes crashing down.

13. Spring clean – just don’t spring clean with chemicals and other icky stuff. Make this year’s spring cleaning actually clean and healthy.

14. Learn which fruits and veggies are in season and eat bunches of them. Buying in season and locally grown is better for the earth, your wallet, and your health.

15. Choose a recycled plastic picnic table.

16. Fold a “springing” froggy out of recycled paper.

17. If your coffee shop of choice serves single serve sugars and creamers, choose a new favorite coffee shop or ask them to get large, bulk containers of cream and sugar.

18. Visit a wetland area – there are still enough wetland areas so that it’s safe to assume that there’s one near you, but there may not be for long. Without conservation we could lose some major wetland areas. I’d visit soon because it’s not clear yet that enough people care to save them. Ask your local visitors center where you can find a wetland area near you.

19. Get some cool spring worthy eco-toys. These new toys from Green Toys are created from curbside recycled milk containers. The actual shop should be open in the spring sometime, but until then you can contact the company directly with purchase inquiries. They have a great Sand Play Set or Organic Gardening Set.

20. Is it still too cold for flowers where you live? Make some colorful recycled tissue paper garlands to add spring to your house. (Use that used holiday tissue that I know you saved). Better yet, make a garland and give it to a neighbor, friend, elderly home, or children’s ward at a hospital.

21. Rejoice in spring flowers.

22. Help your kids to join Journey North.

23. Buy a reclaimed wood garden bench so you can sit outside and read.

24. This season, and each season have your car engine tuned up and serviced. Following a decent tune up schedule will reduce the amount of pollution your car emits by 20%. Better yet you’ll save on fuel – good for the earth and wallet.

25. Hunt for birds nests – don’t touch though, just look.

26. Build your own compost bin for recycling spring garden and kitchen scraps.

27. Visit a rural farm. Notice how a farm in spring differs from where you live. Unless of course you do live on a farm – then visit a city park and observe the same differences.

28. Go ahead, green your entire Easter celebration.

29. Or at least make your own recycled magazine Easter baskets.

30. If you go on a green picnic this spring make sure six packs with plastic rings aren’t on the menu. One, the plastic rings when not cut can kill birds, fish, and other wildlife. Two, plastic won’t degrade until well after your great grandchildren are celebrating their springs. And three, there’s no need to have them. Many canned drink products now come in boxes instead of with rings. If you’re buying canned drinks, get those instead.

31. Get some eco-friendly rain gear for the whole family so you can go splash in spring puddles.

32. Get your spring garden seeds organized using recycled milk cartons.

33. Rent a greener car on your spring break vacation.

34. Don’t defrost the Easter Ham in the microwave. Microwave defrosting wastes more energy than planning ahead and defrosting in the fridge.

35. Go searching for the end of a rainbow.

36. You still have time for a spring garden clean up.

37. This year combine your spring cleaning with some green audits: Try green auditing your trash, bathroom, or your pantry.

38. Get in the habit of nighttime watering now. Watering your lawn and garden is much more efficient at night than in the daytime. In the cool of evening plants lose almost 50% less water than in the heat. That adds up to a ton of water saved each year. Of course you can double your water saving efforts by using your saved rainwater.

39. On each of your spring outings pick up one piece of trash. If everyone did this that would be over 300 million fewer pieces of litter on our streets, in our parks, and so on, daily.

40. Relax… think about simplifying your life and time.

41. As summer gets closer consider organizing a summer toy lending program with other families – this cuts down on consumption, teaches kids about sharing, and uses fewer resources and energy. Get ideas for your lending program here.

42. Now that it’s warming up, turn your heating down by 5 more degrees. Each 5 degree decrease saves up to 11% energy consumption a year.

43. If you go camping, leave nothing behind in nature. Pack up all your belongings and carry them out of the forest with you.

44. Get up close and personal with some fresh grass – ponder a single blade. Think about all the good reasons why you shouldn’t add chemical poisonous fertilizer to your grass this year

45. Get that recycling under control.

46. Learn to love slow mail – the quicker you send your mail or ask for packages to be delivered to you, the worse it is for the planet. Transportation is hugely connected to pollution and global warming. The more transport we require the worse it is. Quit with the two day mail services. You don’t need stuff right away, and if you know you will, plan accordingly.

47. Try out one of 10 great organic gardening projects for kids this spring.

48. See how many toads you can count at the local river or lake. Can you find tadpoles too?

49. If you take out an off-road vehicle this spring, stick to where you should be. Running over habitats is not cool – you could destroy an animal’s home, kill rare plants, and harm tree roots. Stick to wide trails that are deemed ok for off-road travel.

50. Get away from it all. Imagine what life would be like away from all the hustle and bustle most of the time.

51. Blow bubbles! Make some homemade bubble mix out of a tablespoon of glycerin, a cup of natural liquid soap, and a gallon of water (give or take). Make your own bubble wands out of recycled items like…

• Butter or yogurt tub tops with holes punched in them.
• Green plastic strawberry containers.
• Bent wire hangers.
• That fly swatter you never use.
• Pipe cleaners bent into fun shapes.

52. Hang out with a family of ducks.

53. Dare your family to take at least 5 small steps for the environment by summer.

54. Go on a wildflower hike.

55. Clean out your closets – give good clothing away to the thrift store, make cleaning rags out of the worst, and save the cherished pieces for a memory quilt.

56. Make sure your family participates in eco-friendly boating (if you boat).

57. Slap a fresh coat of paint on the house – non-toxic, VOC-free paint of course.

58. When spring cleaning, don’t forget the car. However, use a bucket of water and an old rag to scrub away dirt, not the power spray on the hose. Every minute you run the hose you’re wasting 10 (or more) gallons of water. There are people in other countries who can’t even find one decent glass of water to drink, and animals and fish who have lost whole water habitats due to water waste. There’s no excuse for excessive water waste.

59. Go bicycling as a family – double your efforts by actually having an errand destination; the grocery store, library, the park for lunch. Every time you don’t take your car, you’re doing the earth some good.

60. Plant a tree – it’s almost always a good time to plant a tree, but spring is really nice because a new tree’s roots won’t be shocked by the cold anytime soon.

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Green Handkerchief:  Nice for a reusable handkerchief. 100% cotton and vintage to boot. Adorable design and so much less waste than using paper based tissues.

This is one reusable item I’m a little concerned with, mainly because I always wonder about the overall germ issues – and believe me, I’m not germ-a-phobic or anything. But when you’re sick you don’t feel like washing a million cloth handkerchiefs. Cedar’s dad is a big user of cloth handkerchiefs and they work well for him but I’m not sure they work well for Cedar when he’s sick. He tosses them everywhere (ick). That said, it’s a ridiculous use of paper to use traditional tissue. I suppose this is something I should look at. When I was a kid, my mom made everyone use old cloth diapers as tissue – which yes, is pretty green, what with re-use and all, but I didn’t like the germ issues then either.

I  love this fresh reusable grocery / anything bag. I’d use it for lots of stuff. It’s way cute and of course cuts down on your paper and plastic bag use. This one is burlap, zig zag stitched (no fraying), and does have handles – you just can’t see them in the photo.

According to the seller, these Seedeaters Gift Cards are, “Hand made using collected and rescued fabric with hand drawn details. The card used is between 75 and 100 percent recycled, the majority of which is post consumer waste paper. The envelopes, are 100% recycled.”

I’m not the biggest fan of cards in almost any form – just because it’s got to be one of the least earth friendly ways to send love and caring. However, once in a while I will send a card with a letter inside (to make use of the space) and Cedar and I will make them out of recycled goods. But, I just couldn’t resist this adorable bird design. If you send a recycled card try to write more than just your name. Make the card something full of happy thoughts – in my mind that can help to offset the energy it takes to send a card and the paper use.

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The ‘I am not a paper cup’ cup:

Porcelain not paper – but strikingly similar. Visit Cooking Gadgets to learn more about this handy alternative to disposable.

[Thanks to Gayla for the heads up]

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I will say that these baking cups are great. They’re reusable so save both paper and money. Also, they come in fun shapes that kids will adore.

Like…

Silly Feet, Diamonds, Triangles, and more.

If you get the cool silly feet cups you and the kids will have hours of fun making cute little guys like this:

You can read more at Baking Delights and buy these cups at Wilton. One small (and fun) step that reduces paper waste, transport waste, and energy consumption.

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The Sugar Maple is considered the best source for maple sugar — read more about specific Sugar Maple characteristics. Grow Native also has some great info for Sugar Maple huggers.

NPR recently offered an alarming, but great article on the future of the Sugar Maple as global warming continues to advance. Sugar Maple trees are delicate; or I should say sensitive and while global warming is not healthy for anyone or anything on the planet it could be very bad for this beautiful tree and the generations of growers and maple sugar harvesters as well.

It’s a sad situation when trees need to adjust to our poor actions and all the more reason to try and think and act in an eco-sensible manner.

Who wants to see this tree vanish?

How kids can hug the Sugar Maple:

On the topic of tree preservation one great website for kids to visit is the Smokey the Bear kids zone. Games, stories, activities, and more make this an invaluable site that parents and kids can visit together. Kids can even join the Smokey club and receive email updates on forest and fire safety news.

Another good related website is the Maples page at Environmental Education for Kids (EEK!). There is a kid-friendly story about how maple sugar is made, legends behind the tree, and links to recipes.

One small step you can take today:

Read the NPR article and stop for a minute to consider which actions you are participating in that might be detrimental to the success of trees on the planet. That’s the best tree hug you can give.

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Eco-Libris is this very neat website that’s promoting eco-savvy by means of reading and books. Their goal is a world where books and reading does not have a detrimental affect on the planet. Books are; as we well know mostly paper. And we all know paper comes from trees. As a big reader myself I do get stressed out about books vs. the planet. If you’re wrestling with this too then Eco-Libris can help.

Eco-Libris is doing something akin to balancing. Balancing books and trees. How it works is you decide how many books to balance out and Eco-Libris will plant a tree for each book balance. providing you now with a simple and affordable way to do something about it. All you have to do is to choose how many books you want to balance out with Eco-Libris, pay for it online, and a tree will be planted for each of these books.

I recently received an email with the following helpful information from Raz, who works with Eco-Libris.

“The process itself is fairly simple – upon entering our website, customers decide how many books they would like to balance out. They then pay for it online and a tree is planted for each of these books. Customers also receive a sticker made of recycled paper for every book they balance out saying “One Tree Planted for this Book” and can later display these stickers on their books’ sleeves.

We have partnered with three highly respected US and UK registered non-profit organizations that work in collaboration with local communities in developing countries to plant the trees. These trees are planted in high ecological and sustainable standards in Latin America and Africa, where deforestation is a crucial problem, and planting trees not only helps to fight climate change and conserve soil and water, but also benefits many local people, for whom these trees offer many benefits and an opportunity for a better future.

We hope that people who buy books as gifts these holidays (and a book is always a great present) will green up their gift with us, balance the gift book and add our sticker to it.”

Right now another cool deal Eco-Libris has going is their own holiday gift guide that can help you find the best green-minded books for gift giving.

Overall I think this is an excellent idea and a great gift too. If you are concerned about how your reading habits affect the environment check out Eco-Libris today.

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