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Looking for a way to dispose of your faithful, but now prickly Christmas tree? You can access local information from www.Earth911.org or call 1-800-CLEANUP to find areas where you can recycle your Christmas tree. Some areas even offer a pickup service.
Knee-deep (literally) in the holidays with the flood of seasonal catalogs, it's no wonder that I often question how many millions of catalogs are sent out each year. Given that the life-cycle of a catalog in my home is about 12 seconds (the average time it takes to lug them to the recycling bin) one might wonder why catalogs are still so prevalent in these days of online shopping. Well, with the boon of the internet shopping, catalogs are not only not declining, they're actually increasing. Even online giant Ebay which doesn't even sell its own goods sends out a catalog.
Now here's a bright idea! Recently, I attended the San Francisco Green Festival and picked up a Solio charger, made by Better Energy Systems. This ingenious pocket-sized device unfolds three leaves (or blades as they call them) to expose solar panels. These in turn charge an internal battery that can later charge your phone, ipod or even digital camera. You can also charge directly from the sun or even charge up the internal battery from a wall outlet. It's the perfect mobile charger to keep your wired world juiced up. With increasing popularity of mp3 players and gadgety phones the Solio makes the perfect green gift for almost anyone. My ipod has been "off the grid" now for a month.
As an added bonus, Better Energy Systems is a green business that offsets the CO2 produced to manufacture Solio and is actively involved in reforestation programs.