If you simply like to meet new people, like to talk about things green, or want to change the world for the better, we have found a great opportunity for you: Green Drinks. Green Drinks is a program currently in 494 cities worldwide where you can meet up with local green doers just like yourself.

These are fairly informal sessions where once a month people from your area can meet up and discuss eco-friendly activities, government regulation, education, health, and anything else related to things green over a couple of drinks. Last night we met up with the Lowell, MA Green Drinks group at Lowell Beer Works. The group contained bloggers like us, people from the construction industry and auto industry, chemists, and simple green do-ers alike. The discussion last night was mostly geared to health and cleaning products, and it was great to see the opinions of people from so many backgrounds. We look forward to next month’s Green Drinks and we encourage you to join the green discussion in your community!

If you find that Green Drinks does not exist in your city, you can simply start up your own! To learn how to start your own Green Drinks and the code of Green Drinks check out their Start Green Drinks page.

We are very excited to see that one of the EcoYourself.com’s blogger’s previous high schools was just recognized for their green initiative! Central Catholic High School of Lawrence, Massachusetts was recognized near the end of April, 2009 with the “Environmental Stewardship Award” from the Massachusetts Inter-Faith Power and Light Association.

Central Catholic was rewarded based on their teaching of the responsibility “to be stewards in preserving and sustainting the resources of the earth.” Activities include the efforts of the Project Recycle Club’s (which goes back many years) daily collection of plastic and glass at every lunch period and weekly collection of used recyclable paper. The school has also replaced nearly 100 old windows with insulated windows and added a high-efficiency HVAC and electrical system. As for the local river across from the school, a retention pond was built to catch run-off from the school’s parking lot to keep pollutants from enterting the water. This river, the Spicket River, is also cleaned annually by the students of Central Catholic.

Congratulations to Central Catholic High School! We hope to see even more efforts made and future recognition received!

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Almost every major store now sells reusable bags in an effort to cut down on paper and plastic. This weekend we found another approach to help satisfy these needs. ALDO Group has changed its outlook when it comes to packaging to embrace the classic theory to ”reduce, reuse, and recycle.”

What has ALDO done to change its packaging so drastically? ALDO no longer gives its customers bags, and instead a handle has been added to their shoeboxes. Their shoeboxes are now only made out of recycled material and printed with soy ink. They are even encouraging their customers to reuse their shoeboxes to store collectables such as CD cases and photos by providing a label index with the box. And if you so desperately need a bag, because you are buying so many pairs of shoes, accessories, or handbags, ALDO’s bags are now 100% tree free to encourage responsible forest management across our globe. How about those changes for a creative start?

Check out their Take the Box, Not the Bag campaign. We give ALDO a big green thumb up for making these changes and hope more retail stores will take on these same goals of completing the circle.

Fujitsu is taking a big step in helping our environment. They have released into the Japanese market a green laptop that could be considered powered by wind. What does could be considered mean? Well, for every laptop sold, Fujitsu is buying a certain amount of green-power energy credits.  The amount of energy credits purchased for laptop sold corresponds to each laptop being charged for 4 1/2 hours a day for four years. Basically, Fujitsu is trying to offset the carbon emissions their computers create, and by doing so making their product and company a greener one.

Although this is not a technological advance, it’s certainly one step closer to a greener lifestyle. The question now is: when will fujitsu release this business idea to the rest of the world, and will they ever develop a laptop that is literally powered by wind?

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Most colleges today incorporate how to live a green lifestyle in their class room lessons, but only some of these colleges go the extra mile and try their best to practice what they preach. The famous Princeton Review has released a list of the top green colleges on the US. They are as follows:

• Arizona State University at the Tempe Campus
• Bates College in Lewiston, ME
• College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, ME
• Emory Unversty in Atlanta, GA
• Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA
• Harvard College in Cambridge, MA
• State University of New York at Binghampton
• University of New Hampshire in Durham, NH
• University of Oregon in Eugene, OR
• University of Washington in Seattle, WA
• Yale Unversity in New Haven, CT

As Massachusetts residents we were a little disappointed that only one of our colleges has made the top list. This is why EcoYourself urges other MA colleges to make the list next time. Until then, great job Harvard and the other colleges that made the top 11!

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If you can’t find a LEED certified or eco-concious hotel where you will be vacationing, or these places are simply just too pricey, Marriott is offering a great alternative by parterning with Spirit To Preserve. Marriott offers its guests a program in which they can offset their carbon emissions during their stay for $1 a day ($10 minimum donation will offset 10 nights of stay). Your carbon offset donation, along with the 2 million dollars already donated by Marriott, will help preserve the State of Amazonas in Brazil. By supporting these rain forests, Marriott is helping by preserving the health of our environment and preventing climate change. These rain forests help to release more oxygen into the atmosphere and keep carbon dioxide out. 

Out of the 1000 Marriott hotels around the world, 275 are ENERGY STAR certified by the USDA. Marriott had the first hotel in the US that was LEED certified, and they are continuing to LEED certify new hotels. Check out Marriott’s Rewards Program to save up for free nights at any of their hotels worldwide.

For more ways to make your vacation greener check out this article about Eco-Tourism. Travel green!

Our favorite online shoe and handbag store (Endless.com) is having an Earth Day sale on all of their Eco-Chic Shoes & Handbags (over 2,000 products)! You can get $15 off an order of $80. They have free 2nd day shipping and free 365 day returns. This is a great chance to get your eco-shoes and reusable bags so you can celebrate Earth Day in style!

Here are a couple of fun facts about some of the Endless.com brands:

1.  TOMS donates a pair of shoes to a child for every pair that they sell.
2. Matt & Nat uses plastic bottles to make their vegan handbags.
3. Nahui Ollin makes handbags out of candy wrappers.
4. Cri de Coeur plants a tree for every pair of shoes sold and offsets their carbons emissions through carbonfund.org.

These brands and numerous more are providing earth-friendly products and using socially responsible practices. Check them out at Endless.com!

You do not have to sacrifice fashion for nature. Shop eco-chic!

Before this Earth Day, you may not have known what these three things have in common: Leonardo DiCaprio, EBay, and Global Green USA. Now you will. Leonardo DiCaprio is holding an auction on EBay in which all sales will go to Global Green USA. The auction includes items and experiences donated by Leo. The experiences include meeting Leo at his newest movie premier while also staying at an eco-hotel and driving an eco-car! He is also auctioning signed costumes from past movies and guitars from top artists. Auction ends April 22, 2009. Now this is a new spin on what we can do on Earth Day! Check out the EBay auction here.

Leonardo DiCaprio is a board member of Global Green USA. Global Green USA helps support green building in America’s schools, affordable housing, and cities in an effort to help the climate and lower greenhouse gas emissions. With this goal they are able to help lower energy bills and promote green jobs! Global Green USA even has major efforts in New Orleans to help rebuild the city. You can get involved with Global Green USA by signing up for Global Green USA’s newsletter, making a donation, becoming a member, or finding a cause to help support! Search Global Green USA’s website to learn more about green building and the changes they are working on today!

Not from the USA? Global Green USA is the American arm of Green Cross International (GCI). See what you can do in your country!

National Geographic and Sun Chips are joining forces to give you a chance to win $20,000 for your green idea through their very own contest called The Green Effect.

The purpose of The Green Effect is to have everday people like you and me submit a green idea to help improve the environment and living conditions in their community. 5 people or groups will be chosen to win $20,000 each to carry out their vision! 1 winner will be chosen by online voters, and the remaining 4 by a panel of pre-selected judges.

Check out the website and start thinking of great ideas to improve your community! Submissions will be posted on the website when you enter, even if you do not win. See if you can get other people interested in your idea and efforts. Have some fun with it! 

If you have a green idea, this is your chance to show the world what changes you could make. Small steps can create big changes.

Disney is doing a lot to celebrate Earth Day this year, and we would like to give you a sneak peek!

Disney is promoting its Plant a Billion Trees campaign at all of its Disney Stores. For every dollar donated to this campaign, Disney Stores will plant a tree! So far over 95,000 trees have been planted.

At every Disney Store, a campaign called Recyling is Magic will be featured on Earth Day. Each store will have bins for the recycling of plastic bottles, and they will be selling earth-friendly products (many made out of plastic bottles themselves). In exchange for three plastic botles, Disney Store will give you one magical t-shirt, which is made partially of recycled plastic bottles.

Starting April 13th, Disney will also be featuring Boys and Girls Club of America’s Earth Day Murals at all the Disney Stores.

Disney has some great educational resources too. Disney has a book called No Place Like Earth in which the Mickey Mouse Club celebrates Earth Day. Even Playhouse Disney has gone green for the month of April!

Perhaps one of the most exciting events Disney will have on Earth Day this year is the release of its new movie, Earth. This movie will be the story about 3 different animal families making their treck around the world! The previews look great. We cannot wait to see it!

Be a Kid! Celebrate Earth Day the Disney Way.

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