Conservation 101: the Compete to Conserve Blog

Do you believe “giving more” isn’t the same thing as “buying more”? Are you planning to celebrate the holidays in a way that won’t tax your wallet — or the planet? Well, now is your time to shine! Because from now until Monday, January 5, 2009,* Compete to Conserve invites you to enter our first annual holiday competition: “Give More & Use Less.”

Share Your Ideas for a Green Holiday Season

Post photos, videos, or a simple written entry on our official competition page: http://www.competetoconserve.com/competition/view/14/coming-soon-give-more-and-use-less-holiday-competition

One Grand Prize Winner Will Receive Our Ultimate Green Your House Gift Bag, Which Includes:

• One reuseable bag made from recycled materials

Share your ideas to win our Ultimate Green Your House Gift Bag (valued at $125).

• One Compete to Conserve baseball hat

• One .6-liter reuseable SIGG water bottle

• Six water-saving faucet aerators

• One shower shut-off valve

• One hot-water gauge

• Four 60-watt soft white CFLs

• One 32-ounce bottle of Lucky Earth Waterless Car Wash

• One 16-oune bottle of Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Countertop Spray

• One Energizer rechargeable compact battery charger with rechargeable batteries

How Will You Use Less?

There are lots of opportunities to use less during the holiday season, whether it’s hosting a party, giving gifts, decorating, or simply sharing time with family and friends. Tell the Compete to Conserve community what you’re doing, and you can inspire others — as well as win a bounty of green prizes to start your new year right.

* Be sure to post your entry by 11:59 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time to be entered to win our Ultimate Green Your House Gift Bag.

Every year, even in flush economic times, my family says we’ll pull back on holiday spending — there’s nothing we really need. We all like the idea of giving to charity, but it’s still nice to have something to unwrap Christmas morning, especially for the kids. So here’s a list of five conservation-minded charities the staff of Compete to Conserve thinks make great gifts:

© Davide R. Schrichte. All rights reserved. A manatee nurses her calf.

For just $25, you can adopt the manatee of your choice and keep tabs on your adoptee throughout the year. An adoption includes:

• A photo of your manatee (we have our manatees’ photos framed on our wall at home)
• Your manatee’s biography
• An adoption certificate
• A membership handbook
• Four newsletters throughout the year with updated reports on your adoptee

The club also sells children’s books and plush manatees that make great gifts for kids. Money raised from the club goes toward protecting endangered manatees and their habitat, much of it in Florida.

Adopt a manatee at: http://www.savethemanatee.org/adoptpag.htm

photo credit: Lord Biro

Defenders of Wildlife

We’ve got a soft spot for penguins, but you can also adopt other animals, including wolves, polar bears, snow leopards, sea turtles, and beluga whales. Most of the adoptions start at $25 and include a small plush toy, photo, and fact sheet.

Money raised goes toward protecting imperiled wildlife and wild lands through education, outreach, and political and legal action.

Adopt the animal of your choice at: https://secure.defenders.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=wagc_homepage#AllAnimals

Surfrider Foundation

photo credit: mikebaird

Who doesn’t love the beach and think our coastal waters should be protected for all to enjoy? Even non-surfers can support the Surfrider Foundation’s mission to educate the public about threats to our coasts and to encourage grassroots activism.

For $44, you can give the gift of a membership to the Surfrider Foundation, which includes:

• An organic Limited Edition Surfrider Foundation t-shirt or all-purpose tote bag
• Six issues of the Making Waves newsletter
• A sticker to show your support

Purchase a membership at: https://www.surfrider.org/membership/gift_membership3.cfm?specialGift=holiday

photo credit: nojhan

Heifer International

Heifer International aims to stamp out world hunger through community involvement and sustainable development. Donors may fund a specific project, such as natural resource management in Tanzania, or pay to provide an impoverished family with livestock.

Buy livestock for a family at: http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.204586/
Fund a project at: http://www.heifer.org/site/?c=edJRKQNiFiG&b=3538797&msource=pcb07

Register for the charities you want to support.

Think of it as the philanthropist’s gift card. Changing the present allows you to register for charities, in the same way a bride registers for gifts. If you’re serious about not getting gifts this holiday (or Valentine’s Day, birthday, wedding, any event at all), this is a great way to let friends and family get you something you want — and let them get a tax deduction, too.

Register at: http://www.changingthepresent.org/registries

When considering chic alternatives to paper gift wrap, or even the standard-issue cloth shopping bag that has become de rigueur for all eco-minded consumers, try experimenting with the Japanese tradition of furoshiki.

Furoshiki—literally “bath (furo) spread (shiki, a form of shiku=to spread)”—originated as a way to carry one’s clothes to, and mark one’s territory at, the public bathhouse. The centuries-old custom gradually developed into a stylish and functional wrapping technique, consisting of a square cloth made of silk, cotton, rayon or nylon tied in various styles and shapes to wrap gifts, clothes and other items.

More recently, the Japanese government introduced a campaign to promote furoshiki as the embodiment of the “3Rs” of environmental awareness: reduce, reuse and recycle. Indeed, the versatile cloth can artfully arranged as a shopping bag or purse; as a carryall for your lunch or picnic nosh, doing double duty as a placemat or tablecloth; and as gift wrap, serving as a second gift.

In 2006 the then-Japanese Minister of the Environment, Yuriko Koike, designed the “mottainai furoshiki” as part of the government’s campaign to raise awareness of waste and its impact on the environment. Printed on cloth made from recycled PET bottles, Koike’s “mottainai furoshiki” capitalized on the Japanese concept of mottainai—the idea that it’s a pity for “something to go to waste without having made full use of its potential.”

According to Koike, “furoshiki is so handy that you can wrap almost anything in it regardless of size or shape.” It may be handy but to the uninitiated, it can seem a bit complex. To help modern furoshiki users master the numerous style and shape options, the Japanese Ministry of the Environment published an official “How to” guide.

Furthermore, Koike declared, “As my sincere wish, I would like to disseminate the culture of furoshiki to the world.” As part of that mission, officials attending this summer’s G8 summit in Hokkaido, Japan, received—among other environmentally friendly souvenirs—reversible furoshiki wrapping cloths.

In the United States, the technique of wrapping with furoshiki has been featured on The Martha Stewart Show and Good Morning America, where San Franciscan Vicki Mihara Avery demonstrated the green wrapping technique in 2007.

To check out different kinds of furoshiki, visit http://www.ecoshikis.com/ and http://furoshiki.com/home.php. Or, see Gift Wrapping With Textiles: Stylish Ideas from Japan by Chizuko Morita.

You can also make your own furoshiki: head to the fabric store to choose your own cloth, or use a scarf or shawl you already own.More