20K for your Green Idea

Win $20,000 to Put Your Green Idea Into Action

SunChips and National Geographic have joined forces to create the Green Effect, an initiative to inspire individuals to spark a green movement in their communities.

YOU could be the one to make a difference in your community—for the planet! Submit a description of your Green Effect idea by June 8, 2009. Ten finalists will be announced July 7, 2009. Online viewers and a distinguished panel of judges will review these inspiring ideas.

We'll award $20,000 each to five people or groups that have the best ideas for green change. The five winners will also be profiled in National Geographic, and the winners will travel to Washington, D.C., to share their projects with environmental leaders.

Visit National Geographic for details.

Making a difference!

Happy EARTH DAY!!!! So upon making my Earth Day donation to the IUCN I thought of carrying on with the idea below and start a auction to raise funds for this organization as well. Here is how it works:

1. Bidding starts at $30 for one Earthy Beginnings piece. (style/size will be determined by the winner)
2. To bid simply reply to this post below. Any comment/bid not denoting name, email address, and bid will be disregarded.
3. Auction will end this Friday at 5pm EST(unless otherwise noted)
4. Winner will have to make a donation directly to the IUCN for the amount they bidded on. You can donate to help support Red List assessment work or support specialist group field work (you will see this option on the donation page), this is up to you.
5. Winner will email me the donation confirmation email stating donation amount and I will ship to you the requested piece.

Simple? I think so! So come on help us make a difference. Remember that all donations are tax deductible. Want to make a donation to the IUCN anyway, GREAT! Just click on the banner below!

*Open to all who have access to a computer and a credit card. Don't need to have a Blogger account, can bid under anonymous but must include name and email address in comment box.

Kids Art Auction for Earth Day

Now this is a really NEAT idea any parent would appreciate! Donate your child's artwork to raise money for charity. This year all donations will go to The Nature Conservancy. To view details on how to join this or if you want to know how to place your bidding please go to Greenblemonkey for details. Its pretty quick and all you need is a flickr account which is free. Auction ends April 30, 2009. Below is my son's artwork I just put for donation.

ECHOage

A new way of celebrating a birthday party, ECHOage. This is for the socially and environmentally conscious child. Too much for a kid you think? Think again... Here's how it works: At ECHOage (online party planner) your child chooses an invitation, then a cause of his/her choice, and emails invites to guest. Guest are in turned asked for small contribution of $10-$30 (which they would spend on toys anyway). Once all contributions are collected from guests, half of the amount is sent to the charity by ECHOage and the rest is sent your child so they can get one special gift. It's never too early to teach your child the gift of giving. The pride they will feel on making a difference will be priceless I assure you! Make your next birthday party 'one gift, one cause'!

Now if you know of a great charity you can skip this altogether and send the money directly to them. However, the problem is that not everyone is comfortable asking for cash from their guest. So for those having such problem, ECHOage takes care of that!

Plastic bags?

With the surge of canvas totes I don't know why anyone would be using plastic bags anymore. Their accessibility has now progressed into our super markets so if you forgot yours at home pick one up! They are usually $0.99- $3.00 for the green ones on the spot. Check out these two at war...

Anya Hindmarch I'm not a Plastic Bag

VS.

A Stupid Bag

Infinite Photograph by National Geographic

Get lost in the photo mosaic application, made up of hundreds of images sent in by My Shot users. Go to NGM.com/infinite to test out the application yourself!

Lil Sugar

What can make a beautiful NYC afternoon better? Being featured in the ECO section of Lil Sugar that is! Check out the review here. Thanks to Lil Sugar for featuring our line!

Celebrating Earth Day - 20% off coupon

We're starting our celebration of Earth Day next week a bit early... cause it's never too early nor late to celebrate our planet Earth. No better way to start a celebration than with a 20% off your entire order coupon!! Visit our shop and shop till your drop! : )

Check us out next week as we feature all things green! Enjoy your weekend!! It's a beautiful one in NYC!! {about time! lol}

Original Paintings by Meredith Steele

Browsing through Etsy for new artwork to buy I came across Meredith Steele's unique paintings. Love the colors and retro feel they all have. Great for any retro inspired nursery/toddler room! Check out her Etsy shop here. My fav: Fisher Price Bert but of course!

*Don't forget to check out our Etsy shop while you are there!

Elly Nelly

I recently opened a Supermarket shop for Earthy Beginnings and while browsing their current designers I saw a mother & daughter team that makes pretty neat wall decals. Check out Elly Nelly wall decals below. My favorite: Hedgerow wall graphic (1st down).

Modern Changers by Netto Collection

Yet another reason to love Netto:

From our family to yours...

*Little bunny Emmanuel brought home from school

bECO Baby Carrier

Beco Baby Carriers are not only stylish but look mighty comfortable. I wish I had one of these when my son was small. Check them out here and look out for their organic line of carriers. They even have mini ones for the little parents in trainning. My fav: beco butterfly 2 in color sky.

Give a Gift, Restore a Forest

This is actually pretty neat green gift, one that gives back to all. Trees for a Change offers you the opportunity to celebrate another by planting a tree in a US National Forest in their name. These trees are planted to help restore destroyed U.S. National Forests back to their pre-wildfire state. Plantation is handled by the National Forest Service which chooses the particular National Forest they think will benefit the most from this reforestation program. This is much like the "Star Registry" concept but with an attainable and substantial impact in our environment. For more details on gift packages check out their website here.