Watching a movie is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to entertain yourself and your friends. It is so popular of a form of entertainment that it generates billions of dollars each and every year. Since this activity is so popular, we at EcoYourself.com have been asking, how can we make this hobby greener?

Since movie theaters are still far behind the green movement, there’s not much you can do to green the experience except by using eco-friendly transportation to get to the movie theater. However, we can do something about movie rentals (movie rentals are already a fairly green option as they require less copies to be produced since each person will not need their own, but the copy can be shared). Services like NetFlix, which deliver movies directly to your house, allow you to order movies without having to drive to a movie rental store. Of course, if you are walking by one go for it! Both of those methods still require some sort of transportation, but numerous deliveries on one truck is much greener than one delivery in your own vehicle.  We like NetFlix, because they provide you with downloadable movie rentals on-line, and their physical deliveries even contain eco-concious packaging. For instance, their delivery envelope is easily turned into the return envelope by removing one sheet of paper, and their CD/DVD cases are thin paper cases instead of the large plastic you find at the video store. We hope that NetFlix considers using recycled paper for their cases someday, as this would be even more eco-friendly!

To greater reduce your carbon footprint, you can opt for an option that requires absolutely zero transportation by trying the pay per view system from your tv provider. We love Comcast’s OnDemand for it’s easy to use and we can watch what we order as many times as we want within 24 hours from the purchase.

Next time you and your friends want to green your fun, try these green movie watching tips, sit back, relax, and enjoy!

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!

[source]

We have recently come across a new sustainable company that sells organic acai (açaí ) products called Sambazon. Sambazon’s mission is to help locals in the Amazon create a more sustainable environment for themselves and their land by harvesting acai instead of continuing to clear-cut their tropical forests. This mission helps save the rainforest and provides a stronger economic situation for the indigenous people of the Amazon.

To help promote their goals, Sambazon started the The Sustainable Amazon Partnership with private and public groups to help develop sustainable management throughout Brazil’s Amazon Rainforest. Beyond saving the rainforest, their efforts include educating the local farmers, giving the women more opportunities for work, and establish organic standards in farming. You can even donate to The Sustainable Amazon Partnership at NYCharities.org.

As for their products, they sell all things acai. Acai is a berry with great nutritional properties. This purple berry contains numerous antioxidants, omega fats, protein, and dietary fiber, and is known to provide a natural energy boost without caffeine. We have acai all the time in smoothies, and our favorite recipe: The Rio Bowl (a very popular acai dish from Brazil). Check out their products. Our favorite product to purchase is their Organic Acai Smoothie Packs which we use to make smoothies and The Rio Bowl with bananas, strawberries, and granola! You can buy organic acai at various retailers including Whole Foods and Publix or directly from Sambazon.

Support a great company and help promote sustainability in the Amazon Rainforests of Brazil and enjoy the nutricious organic acai berry!

We love green technology, and we are excited to see that Amazon.com will be releasing a new version of The Kindle: Kindle DX. The Kindle DX has the same technology as the original Kindle (which is still sold) but has a display 2.5 times (9.7″ screen) the size of the original (6 inch screen). For more information on the original Kindle, please see our article: Switch to eBooks.

Amazon.com decided to develop this version to encourage even more people to go paperless. The larger display allows for PDFs, cookbooks, and other large formatted books to be read without a break in the visual display, so they can be read the way they were intended to be. With a PDF reader, and the original Kindle technology, the possibilities are endless for what can be viewed. Amazon.com also claims that the larger display provides a clearer brighter image, and days of viewing time in between charges. The Kindle DX can even hold 2,000 more books than the original with capacity for 3,500 books. At a price of $489 you can pre-order the Kindle DX at Amazon.com. The original is sold for $359 at Amazon.com.

For someone who reads book after book throughout the year, a lot of money is spent on purchasing paper. Although a high cost up front, the long term investment seems rewarding!

Every once in a while we are told to beware of the phantom effect when it comes to our appliances, but what exactly is the phantom effect (besides a term that sounds like our appliances are haunting us)?

The phantom effect is the byproduct of one of our luxuries, but that’s not saying much. Basically, when you have an appliance that can be turned “on” or “off” by a remote control, that appliance contributes to the phantom effect. Here’s why: the appliance is not completly powered off, it’s just in standby mode. What this means is that energy is still being used  by that appliance, although it appears to be off.

There are many ways you can decrease the phantom effect in your home or office. A very efficient way is to plug in your appliances into power strips. So when you leave the house for work or a vacation you can simply turn the power strip off. If this is done on all your appliances, the phantom effect will be reduced by 100%! If you have a single appliance in one area, just unplug when not in use.  If you would like to take this effort even a step further, you can purchase a Smart Strip that will recognize when your appliances are not in use and turn them off for you. This way, you need not remember every time.

For more information on smart strips read our article called The Energy Saving Surge Protector.

A while ago we wrote an article explaining the different types of light bulbs on the market called Eco-Friendly Light Bulbs. Many manufacturers of incandescent light bulbs now sell compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) for their energy efficiency, but many of their practices are still not very eco-friendly. We have found a great company that has put sustainability as its highest priority: Earthmate. 

Earthmate not only produces CFLs, they have created new standards for the industry to not only save energy, but to also reduce greenhouse gases and help stop global warming. They have made changes to how the lights are made. For instance, their CFLs contain 75% less mercury than most CFLs on the market today. They have also made changes to how they sell their product. The packaging is made out of 100% post consumer materials, and is labeled with soy ink, which is a huge change compared to most CFLs on the market being sold in plastic containers that require scissors for opening. To complete the process for their customers, they encourage their customers to find recycling centers in their community to recycle light bulbs when they are no longer usable. You can go to Earth911.org to find a recycling center in your area.

Earthmate lights can be purchased at Amazon.comwith prices 40% lower than department stores. We support Earthmate, because they not only made a green product, but they have also taken the concept of sustainability to the heart of their company.

The Motorola MOTO W233 Renew is Motorola’s first green cell phone. Yes, it is green in color, but also quite eco-friendly. The Renew is claimed to be the first certified carbon free cell phone on the market. Through on an alliance with Carbonfund.org, Motorola is able to offset the amount of carbon required to manufacturer, distribute, and operate the phone. 

In addition, the phone comes with a pre-paid postage envelope for you to recycle your old cell phone, and contains 100% recycled housing. All packaging is made out of recycled material, including the user’s guide. The battery is free of hazardous materials, has a longer life to require less charging, and the charger has less of a phantom effect. For more information on what Motorola has done to make this phone “greener,” check out their ECO FACTS.

We are excited to see some changes are being made in the cell phone industry, considering how many cell phones are sold, and how often people replace thier perfectly functioning cell phones with new ones. In addition, several cell phone giants are greening their cell phones by using more recycled materials and even solar panels on their phones. Companies such as those in the computer industry are even using the method of carbon offsetting for their computers such as Fujitsu in Japan.

Many of us cannot start out the morning without a cup (or several cups) of coffee. If you brew your coffee at home, you know that using a new paper coffee filter for every roast adds up quickly. In buying our first coffee maker, we made sure to buy a reusable coffee filter from Cuisinart. We paid $14.95 for it at Bed Bath & Beyond, but were able to find it for under $7 at Amazon.com (see link above). We have not noticed any change in flavor, can use it over and over again, and are happy to know we are not unnecessarily wasting materials.

If you find yourself still needing a disposable coffee filter, you can use an unbleached, recycled, or biodegradable coffee filter.

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.

Celebrate your favorite Moms while  helping Mother Earth with 5 great eco-friendly gift ideas any mother will love.

1. Give your Mom a special eco-friendly gift from Gaiam such as their yoga sandals or massaging mat (receive free shipping on any order until 5/15/09 using the following code: AFMOM4)!
2. Calm your favorite mother with scented soy candles to help soothe her day.
3. Send your mother an organic bouquet at organicbouquet.com. If you choose Friday, May 8th as your delivery date, you can save $10 on the delivery charge!
4. Adopt an animal with the World Wildlife Fund and get a Mother’s Day gift bag or adopt an acre of the  Appalachians with The Nature Conservancy in honor of your Mom.
5. Take your favorite photograph and place it in an eco-friendly frame for your favorite Mom to look at every day!

Make the mothers in your life feel extra special this mother’s day with an environmentally friendly gift. They will be glad to know they helped honor Mother Nature as much as you are honoring them!