International Day of Peace

Did you know that today is an International Day of Peace? As betterworldbuys.com is undergoing change by updating our products, verifying new vendors, confirming relationships with our established and trusted partners, and assuring that our products and services are sustainable, we wanted to share a link to the details of the concepts behind this day, and ask that you respond with your ideas on how to come together to secure a sustainable future.

Go Native This Mother's Day!

Mother’s Day is almost upon us, and judging by the bustling business of my local nursery this morning, the hunt for the right flowers for Mom is well underway.  As you look through the many beautiful floral options, consider buying species native to your area. 

For those of us in Pennsylvania, the Penn State Agricultural Extension offers some excellent resources on their site to help you track down which native plants will do best in which soil types.  I’m a fan of perennials, and Bee Balm, Black-eye Susan, and Narrow-leaved Sunflowers are all in various stages of maturity in my backyard.  The Bee Balm is one of my favorites as it has so many uses (tea, salads, and as an actual balm to help sooth bee stings!)  Besides all that, it grows quite nicely with my strawberries. 


If you are more adventurous type, you might try buying Mom some edible flowers so she has a snack along with her pretty bouquet!  Be sure you consult a guide book or recipe book, however, with detailed pictures and assure you buy the flowers from a source where you can be certain they haven’t been sprayed with any harmful pesticides.  

Happy Mother’s Day! 

Green Showering Ideas

I love a hot shower as much as the next person, but the (younger) members of my household seemed to love this luxury in excess. Our low flow showerhead which was installed a few years ago puts out water at a rate of about 2.64 GPM (gallons per minute). I know this because I measured it with a bucket. This rate is above the manufacturers stated flow rate, but is lower than the flow rate in older fixtures. My concern wasn’t over the flow of the fixture, but more around the length of time my children seemed to meander under the soothing stream before determining they were clean.

After weeks of shouting up the stairs for them to hurry, or knocking at the bathroom door to expedite their showers, I was at a breaking point. I questioned if I was being too harsh, and so I secretly timed them one evening. Without being rushed by me, their showers lasted between 6 and 12 minutes. (Try to understand how difficult it was for me to sit quietly watching the stopwatch as the water was running …and running…and RUNNING…past 10 minutes!)

Armed with the facts on their shower times, I sat the children down and asked them if they knew how much water they used each night. They had no idea. We talked about our recent trip to Cambodia and Vietnam where clean water is so scarce and only bottled water was fit for drinking and brushing our teeth!

  *This is a photo of a water bottle along an irrigation channel in Cambodia

Everyone agreed that conserving water was important, so we set out to find a solution. Our shower puts out a flow of about 2.64 Gallons per minute (typical low flow fixtures claim a 2.5 GPM rate). We all agreed that we could complete a shower, and be completely clean (including shampoo and conditioner) within 5 minutes.

To help keep us honest, I purchased a small shower timer that mounted to the shower wall with a suction cup. It beeps after 5 minutes. The timer keeps me from yelling, and assures that we aren’t wasting as much water, both of which make me feel better.

So far so good!

What is the average time per shower in your household?

The Carpenteria Seal Rookery

As I walked, I could hear the soothing sounds of the ocean, and smell the calming scent of eucalyptus. The breeze danced through the grove of trees that surrounded the sandy path. Emerging from the stand of trees, I crossed the railroad tracks, and found myself at the edge of a cliff from which I could observe an entire colony of harbor seals.

The Carpenteria Seal Rookery is one of four remaining rookeries on the southern California coast according to www.sealwatchcarpenteria.com. It was enchanting to watch as the cows and their newborn pups played in the sand and surf as the pelicans looked on from nearby rocks.

Conservenature.org reports that "the number of Harbor Seals that inhabit the Pacific coast has greatly declined in recent decades". Some of the biggest threats to these magnificent mammals are water pollution and people, and the seals at Carpenteria seem ironically juxtaposed with the many oil rigs off in the distance, and the activity at the pier nearby.



To learn more about what you can do to get involved in conservation efforts or to adopt-a-seal, check out the Marine Mammal Center. Additionally, if you are seeking to recreate the calming scent of a grove of eucalyptus trees, consider trying our Yuza Mint Energizing Body Butter!

Are there other animal conservation efforts that are near and dear to your heart? If so, please share them with us by adding them as comments to this blog.

Trash Talk

I was returning from taking my daughter to school last week when I heard the trash trucks rumbling down the alleyway from a distance. Judging from the sound, I had just enough time to get into the house, gather up the glass, metal, plastic, and paper I’d been saving all week, and bring it out to the container supplied by my municipality for recycling.

With all the items I’d gathered from the back porch in one hand, and a paper bag full of cardboard and recyclable paper in the other, I made it to the alley in the nick of time.

I’d just set down the bin of recycling next to the recycling can from the township and lifted the lid, when I realized all at once that the truck was for trash only and not recycling. Sigh of relief. I no longer had to hurry. At that same instance, the gentleman picking up trash picked up the recycling bin I’d just carried from the porch and dumped it into the trash truck. As he was lifting it, I managed a desperate “Wait, that’s recycling, not trash.”
He dumped it anyway, and a quick strong wind blew several papers out of the bag with paper recycling and scattered them on the ground between us.

“It don’t matter,” he said.

“It really does though,” I replied. “It does to me.”

As I bent down to pick up those few scraps, he knelt to help me, and I realized that I was crying. I didn’t look up as I thanked him, and he moved away as the truck proceeded to the next house, so I hope he didn’t notice.
In that one, less than 60 second exchange, I was shaken to my core and wondering if he was right. Do the efforts of one person, one family, one town, really matter?

I believe it matters. What do you think?

Amy Reinert 1975-2012

I lost my best friend last week to an aggressive cancer. She was 36. Amy was my inspiration from our duets in the elementary school choir, into high school biology and chemistry, through college majors in environmental studies, and in educating others to conserve the world for future generations.

She inspired me most by living what she taught, and through her desire to always keep learning. She volunteered in the Peace Corps, worked tirelessly as a high school teacher, camped often, sang loudly, played hard, loved deeply, and had such a hearty overwhelming laugh that it sometimes took over her entire being, forcing her to sit down wherever she was to recover.

Doing right for people and planet was second nature to Amy, and her passing has again inspired me to do more with the short time we have, to be a better steward of the earth. And so dear friends, I’m starting to again blog for betterworldbuys.com as one step in my efforts to make the most of each moment.

If you were fortunate enough to have known or encountered the lovely Ms. Reinert, I invite you to respond to this blog with some examples of how she has inspired you!

I’ll sign off for now with the quote Amy used to wrap up all of her e-mails…

“Now I see the secret to making a good person:
It is to grow in the open air and eat and sleep with earth”
-Walt Whitman

For all you have inspired me to be and do Amy, I thank you.

Ski Green

My green guilt kicked in (again) last week as I enjoyed my favorite winter sport – downhill skiing – during a long weekend trip to the Colorado Rockies. We carpooled from the Denver airport over icy mountain passes in a (less than fuel efficient) vehicle that I will admit to being pleased to have had considering the many vehicles we passed which were either flipped over or crashed into the guardrail (we counted 6 auto and 2 truck accidents!) on our way to Vail, CO.

Skiing is an energy intensive sport, but Vail is one of the few resorts that have recently implemented self imposed energy reduction strategies. Using hybrid buses for mass transportation and making recycling receptacles readily available, were some of the more visible green efforts I noticed. Other efforts were noted in a Newsweek article last winter. Despite these surface efforts, however, I think the onus should be shifted to skiers to seek out ways to improve the green impact of our beloved winter pastime. Creating demand for energy efficient means of traveling to and from our favorite downhill destinations (like a high speed train or electric AWD vehicles capable of making the treacherous journey on I-70 safely) is just a start.

In addition, staying in green hotels, purchasing eco-friendly snow attire, and seeking out sustainable options for the boards we strap to our feet on which to speed more sustainably down the slopes, skiers passionate about our sport and our planet should be driving change.

If you are interested in learning more about skiing green, consider joining the Mountain Riders Alliance which is a “group of like-minded people dedicated to making a positive change in the ski area industry, as well as supporting the environment, surrounding communities, and what’s best for the ski community.