April 22 is just a week away, meaning Earth Day is almost here. In honor of this event, I'm holding a pair of contests for readers AND writers!

GET YOUR GREEN ON Contests
Show your Earth Day spirit by spreading the word about my "Green" Challenges!

Do either of the following for YOUR chance(s) to win!

1. Post a message about either challenge on your groups, discussion boards, or social networks (like Twitter, Ning, Facebook, etc.). Include a link to the challenge in your post (http://squidoo.com/greenwriter OR http://squidoo.com/greenreader). Post links to these promo spots in the comments, and I will give you 1 entry for each different place you promote the challenge. (No "Spam" type posts, please; one post per group, network, etc.) --TIP: Earn your first entry right now if you're on Twitter by clicking the TWEET THIS button at the bottom of this post!

--OR--



2. Grab the "GAGA" icons on this page OR the "Green Reading" Icon on my MySpace Profile (right click the graphic, then choose Save Image As...). POST THIS ICON with a link back to the challenge (http://squidoo.com/greenwriter OR http://squidoo.com/greenreader) on your blogs, websites, MySpace pages, etc. and Post the URLs where the graphics are located here in the comments. You'll get 1 entry for every different place you post this graphic.

CONTEST ENDS on EARTH DAY, WEDNESDAY APRIL 22nd 2009, AT MIDNIGHT PST.

PRIZES:

For GREEN READERS: a free, eco-friendly pdf copy of my TWIST OF FATE anthology!

For GREEN WRITERS: a promotional package including a blurb on my site, plus your choice of either a guest post or author interview on my blogs on MySpace and Blogger, along with a promo shout out on Facebook and Twitter (with links to your site or twitter/facebook account)!


BONUS ENTRIES!!!!!!!!! --1 entry for TAKING the challenge yourself and posting in the comments one thing from the challenge list you will do this year to "green" your reading or writing. (Writers: GREEN WRITING CHALLENGE. Readers: GREEN READING CHALLENGE.)


So celebrate Earth Day this year by Getting your green on. Spread the word about green writing and reading practices, earn chances to get a prize--and either way, by participating we ALL win!

Admittedly I have limited interest in television, and not just because of the electricity it uses...but there ARE shows and channels I find well worth the interest. One that recently made the cut onto my very brief Channel Favorites list? Planet Green.

This is a station right up my alley--24/7 programming on how to make life greener. While I only watch a couple hours four or five times a week (if that), I've learned a great deal about ecologically sound practices--everything from green building to healthy cooking and food salvaging--right off city streets.

Your cable or satellite package needn't carry the Planet Green channel in order for you to take advantage of the information. Check out PlanetGreen.com for sustainable tips, wrap ups of recent shows, and links to folks raising green to an art form. Right now they're in the middle of April's Earth Month--yes, they've taken the traditional Earth Day celebration and expanded it. Check it out!

A couple weeks ago my husband and I were driving in the car talking about the holidays being here yet again, a fact that the few merchants I bother to patronize started trumpeting back in September. As we discussed the much-dreaded nightmare of the Christmas shopping rush, we came to a realization...more than ever this year we had no interest in doing it.

We've taken some big steps this past year to reduce our dependence on the consumerism machine--not that we've abandoned that ship, but we did alter our habits quite a bit--and are reluctant to climb right back on board just in time for the biggest manufacturing glut of the year. So instead, we're voting Christmas off the island.

That does not mean we're giving up our holiday! In fact, we're ADDING to our festivities by celebrating the planet--by having a recycled season. Instead of the usual truckloads of gift packs, processed foods, and expensive gifts of all kinds, we're opting for:

 

*Recycled gifts and decor via freecycle, thrift shops, and yard sales
*Homemade gifts and cards
*Homemade decorations
*Homemade gift wrapping
*Homemade foods, from organic, local, and freeganned items when possible instead of prepackaged imports
*A focus on tradtions, family, activities, and togetherness rather than shopping and gift exchange

Some people I know would turn their noses up at the thought of giving Grandma a dusty, secondhand knick knack from Salvation Army Thrift, but they might be surprised what one can find like new, still in the packaging. Other people I wouldn't buy used for I CAN do homemade gifts for instead...like two Christmases ago when I fashioned tote bags out of strips of old magazines, newspapers, and Yellow Pages. They were a major hit, and NO ONE thought of these as "cheap used junk."

While I'd like to say we're going to be completely self sufficient this holiday, we're not there yet. A very few select "New" items will be purchased from the churning Stuff Mill...for our daughter. But it's progress, and I have this funny feeling we're about to discover this adds a whole new dimension of meaning to our holidays and traditions...when we start focusing on creating treasures and times together instead of when the next sale starts. Happy Holidays!

About The Freakin' Freegan:
Freegans are individuals--often, but not all vegans--who seek to minimize participation in a wasteful, consumer-driven society that so greatly impacts our environment and sense of material values. They reduce their ecological footprint in ways that are sometimes unique and controversial, the most notable the practice of "dumpster diving" to salvage some of the millions of dollars' worth of perfectly good food, furnishings, and other household items trashed by a throwaway economy each year.  In a world where a child dies of hunger every two minutes, such wastefulness is shocking. 
This blog series discusses my household's experiment with freeganism. For more on freeganism, visit freegan.info.

This week was an even smaller haul, but I did spare over a dozen orange and cranberry juice containers from the garbage dump. Their expiration dates were stamped with that same day and the juices were still cold, so  I popped 'em straight into my freezer where they'll be just fine for a while. We pull them out as desired for a beverage or to add to my morning smoothies. Speaking of those smoothies, I just barely finished off the previous trip's bananas...quite a boon!

About The Freakin' Freegan:
Freegans are individuals--often, but not all vegans--who seek to minimize participation in a wasteful, consumer-driven society that so greatly impacts our environment and sense of material values. They reduce their ecological footprint in ways that are sometimes unique and controversial, the most notable the practice of "dumpster diving" to salvage some of the millions of dollars' worth of perfectly good food, furnishings, and other household items trashed by a throwaway economy each year.  In a world where a child dies of hunger every two minutes, such wastefulness is shocking. 
This blog series discusses my household's experiment with freeganism. For more on freeganism, visit freegan.info.

Freegan Outing 2

The night's goal was to salvage what we could and seek new venues where good items are trashed.

Despite learning on our first outing that our area goes to great lengths to lock waste down tight, we had found one potential site...and a midweek recon turned up a second (and a perfectly good watermelon sitting on the ground outside the dumpster). Tonight we hit those first and got lucky right away. The first stop yielded four bunches of small wrapped bananas, a wrapped head of cauliflower, and a good head of lettuce. Most of the bananas had some spots but were quite serviceable, so I froze them to add to my morning breakfast smoothies. Much more produce had been destroyed, but had we room at our apartment for a proper compost pile we could have salvaged some to throw in. I'll  gauge the interest of local gardening friends...perhaps another time.

Our second stop found that last week's open bin (packed with amazing vandekamp's baked goods) was padlocked. Oh well. Off we went to seek new venues, and after four dumpster armories found one open...though empty. Will stop by again and see what the discount store wastes.

We were pleased, but wished we could say we didn't get more to share because all our local merchants donate usable items to the poor/food banks/etc. This is not the case. Some things are donated, but far too much is destroyed, locked and hidden so it can be sure to clog the landfill without a better use. Pity. 

I want to be a freegan, but it may not be too easy...and not for the reasons you might think.

For those of you unfamiliar with the term, "freegans" are a growing number of people who are taking conservation and recycling efforts to the next level: they reclaim a shocking amount of perfectly good food, household goods, clothes, etc from the dumping grounds of our wasteful, throwaway society. In short, among many other things, freegans are dumpster divers. More on freeganism:



I wasn't a stranger to the concept of dumpster salvage, having "rescued" some perfectly serviceable toys, furnishings, and decor items in my day that were destined for the garbage man. But food and items tossed out by stores? I'd only heard of this recently, and just this week my husband and I got a real itch going to try our hand at something a bit more daring than thrift shops, freecycle, and craigslist. We wanted to go "freegan."

Our goals: to reduce impact on the environment, minimize our financial contribution to a consumerist society that encourages harmful production practices and throwaway mentality, and share a communal spirit by helping others join in and offering food to local charities, friends, and any who wanted it. And certainly, I won't deny any money saved on produce and other household needs is a major plus as well.

Our quest began with research, done by punching up every video, web site, and article we could find on the subject. We were a bit surprised to find our so-called environmentally conscious state of California rather underrepresented in the freegan community, but inspired by what we saw overall. Armed with a little knowledge, a flashlight, and a happy sense of conviction, we took a baby step step into a larger view of world consciousness.

Freegan Expedition 1

More of a recon than climb-and-grab, we quickly discovered just WHY this blog began with the statement, "it may not be too easy..." and possibly why California isn't the huge freegan mecca we expected. Hitting a number of local stores just after 11pm, we found our little town armored quite well against any with the audacity to reduce waste and help the hungry. Our findings:

Store 1: Trash bins enclosed and locked
Store 2: Completely enclosed, internal mechanized garbage containment system, trash deposited via chutes from inside the store.
Store 3: Same...however, a separate exterior dumpster had one boon: the world's largest roll of Saran Wrap, perfectly clean.
Store 4: Trader Joe's: Same as store 2.
Store 5: Warning notices posted everywhere that salvage and trash gathering is prohibited, violators prosecuted within an inch of their lives and yadda shmadda
Store 6: Ah, finally. Dumpsters separate from the building, piled with an obscene amount of wrapped baked goods like Van deKamp's. Just one problem: several patrol cars parked line-of-sight at a nearby gas station. It was decided that it was better not to risk being seen rooting for goodies.

We'll continue our trek, though we obviously aren't in downtown New York or another such place where items are often bagged and set out with a wink and nod. And while freegans freely "share" advice about what stores throw out what goods and when, we haven't been able to locate any in our area yet. Maybe we'll have to become Those Freakin' Freegans for OUR town!

What do YOU think of freeganism? Ever saved a lamp or chair from the garbage? Dived for dinner? Know any in Southern California? Let me hear from you!

Stay tuned for more updates as our freegan adventures continue...

Green...Rolling...ACTION!

My latest foray into greener methods of web promotion came to me one morning when I woke up. It's not often that my brain plays commercial advertisements during or after my dreams, but it happened that morning...the idea for a promotional webmmercial.

Why is this green? Well, the promo is designed to heavily spotlight the eco-friendlier world of reading ebooks. This commercial will feature Yours Truly in various exciting "fantasy" settings...as I read ebooks with a variety of devices.

Script, storyboard, and location scouting is already done; cast and crew are in the process of final confirmation so filming can begin later this month (I hope!). The promo will be debuted here on the Green Writing Challenge as well as several other venues. Stay tuned!

 

June 8 is World Ocean day, an awareness campaign to promote sustainable habits that will preserve severely overtaxed oceans. Besides the devastating impact the post-industrial revolution has had on the marine ecosystem--according to Greenpeace, over 90 percent of our larger food fish (tuna, halibut, swordfish, cod, etc.) has already been fished out in the past fifty years--the ocean is primarily responsible for the very oxygen we breathe, as well as cleaning our drinking water and regulating our climate. Yet our habits threaten the delicate balance on which so many world species rely.

What can you do for World Ocean day? Join one of the many events taking place world wide, or do your own. Host a beach clean up, visit your local aquarium, read up on the plight of our marine ecosystem...anything to promote awareness. In fact, why not begin by signing a petition to make World Ocean Day an official, worldwide event? This was first proposed back in 1992, but only a handful of countries thus far have come on board. So join the ten thousand of us who have already signed on to the cause HERE.

Then, celebrate by spreading the word! Save the ocean, save ourselves. Happy World Ocean Day!

For more information on World Ocean Day, world wide events, and activity suggestions, visit these links:

The Ocean Project
World Ocean Network
Ocean Conservancy

Couldn't resist...what a great idea. And all on the net...very "green!"

Those Raven Nights!

Raven Radio, as mentioned in Romantic Times Magazine, is moving to nights! Tune in every Wed at 11-12 PM EST and join Authors Michelle Pillow and Mandy Roth as they talk about everything, nothing and the paranormal. Guests include NY Times and USA Today Bestselling authors as well as those wonderfully talented authors soon to be there, editors, paranormal tour guides, psychics, ghost hunters, specialists and more!

www.ravenhappyhour.com or http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ravenradio

Listeners are welcome to join the live chat or call in to the show to talk to us and our guests. The show will move to its new evening schedule, May 28^th where listeners can catch us every Wednesday at 11PM to 12AM EST. We have a lot of authors on the upcoming line up and you can see a full schedule of guests here: http://ravenhappyhour.com/raven_podcast_schedule_of_guests.htm

WANT TO JOIN THE VIRAL CONTEST AND HELP SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT RAVEN NIGHTS? Go to Raven's blog to learn how you could win free advertising packages! Contest open to authors, readers and other groups! http://ravenhappyhour.com/ravenblog/?p=463

They're here! News has it that the IRS has begun depositing tax stimulus rebate checks even sooner than expected, as part of President Bush's plan to hopefully inject funds into a sagging consumer economy.  People I've talked to have mentally spent the money several times over, and I'll admit I was one there for a bit. Granted, even the maximum amount doesn't exactly add up to a winfall, but who couldn't think of a few things they could buy with it? Assuming it isn't gobbled by gasoline and food prices that conveniently rose just prior to this bonus.

But wait! "Money talks," the saying goes, and these dollars in particular are some bits o' green the government is most interested in hearing from.  So since we have the White House's rapt attention on the matter, just what would we have our dollars say?

WWND?

What Would Nature Do? With so many average Joe taxpayers about to be on the one-time dole, why not send a loud message that what Americans truly want most--what they're willing to invest these dollars in to see happen--is NOT a glut of here today, trash tomorrow consumer goods,but rather a sustainable future?

What better use of the money our government could be spending on the environmental crisis than to do so ourselves? Shout loud and clear that we are willing to take action with the funds they place in our hands...as they should do themselves.

Some ideas for things we can acquire to send this message AND help our cause at the same time:

Low flush toilets
Water saver shower heads
Solar rechargers
CFL lightbulbs for every fixture in the house
Locally grown produce
Trees
Vegetable/fruit seeds and plants
Native plants/vegetation to replace that "All American Lawn"
Permaculture supplies
Reusable totes for groceries
Composting kits
Water filters (to replace bottled water)
Join an organic food co-op (like organic.meetup.com)
Donate to environmental causes
"Vintage" clothing and goods
Energy Star model refrigerator/dishwasher to replace older models
Bicycles
Eco-friendly household detergent and cleaners
Solar lighting for outdoors
...and so on. And instead of seeking the Cheapo Deal from the Big Boxes, why not make as many of these purchases from local Mom and Pops?

Ever watch the news when disaster is impending or has just hit? People flock in a panic to stock up on supplies of water,canned goods, batteries, flashlights...anything they need to prepare for the siege ahead.  Well, the environment is in a state of disaster, and we are under siege.

What might our government do if they see its citizens using these leisure funds to "panic buy" conservation and sustainability, rather than a glut of here-today, trash-tomorrow impulse goods?

Such action could speak louder than dozens of global warming films or tens of thousands of activists.

So why not use this IRS green to GO green? Let the Almighty Dollar shout from the solar-paneled rooftops that WE WANT CHANGE...and we "consumers" must have it NOW. Supply and demand.  Tell your friends, too!