Category Archives: Living Green

e2 Business + Green Drinks

It’s time for the annual SLCgreen Drinks event!

Join SLC Green Drinks and SLCgreen for a special evening at the Hotel Monaco on February 24th from 6-9 p.m.

You’ll have a chance to meet Salt Lake City businesses who have made a commitment to sustainability with the support of SLCgreen’s e2 Business Program.

The evening will feature appetizers from Bambara restaurant, beer from Uinta Brewing, wine from Kiler Grove Winery and a short update from SLCgreen members.

This is a great opportunity to meet the e2 businesses that are strengthening the sustainable business community in Salt Lake City.

Come show your support!

SLCgreen e2 Business + SLC Green Drinks
Monday, February 24th
6:00-9:00 p.m.
Hotel Monaco (15 W 200 S)
$5-10 suggested donation
Please note that Hotel Monaco is located on the TRAX line.

e2-SLCgreen-Drinks-2014

Green your 2014

NewYearsResolutionLogo

Update: Catch the feature on KUTV 2News! Our very own Tyler Poulson shares a few tips to save $$ and reduce your impact at home.

Step into a leaner, greener YOU in 2014 by committing to a SLCgreen New Year’s Resolution. Challenge yourself to lose 3,000 pounds of CO2 (or more!) by completing household action items that help the environment and save you money.

Make your green New Year’s Resolution for 2014
(Like most things, our form is best viewed in browsers other than Internet Explorer)

Don’t overlook the impact a single family can have on our environment. The average Utah household emits over 80,000 pounds of CO2 annually through its home energy, transportation, and dietary choices. This is equivalent to driving one-way from SLC to New York City 94 times in a Prius. (Do we have your attention now?)

Increase your impact by directing friends, relatives, co-workers and strangers to make their resolution. It is, after all, the sum of all our individual actions that create the future we leave for the next generation.

Just remember: every pound of CO2 counts!

Check back for our New Year’s Resolution “Carbon Counter.” We’ll be posting how much CO2 we’ve collectively resolved to reduce in 2014!

Upcycle Your Holidays

For the crafty and creative among us, we came across this excellent resource to help you “upcycle” your holidays!

Check out the “Holiday things” board from Unconsumption on Pinterest for projects that cleverly repurpose and/or reuse everyday items in your home!

A few of our favorites…

paintchiptrees
1. Holiday trees using old paint chips. Love it! Continue reading →

[VIDEO] Get Inspired to Clear the Air

‘Tis the season for New Years Resolutions.

While you’re revisiting resolutions to exercise, eat healthy and spend more time with those you love (a great way to start the new year!), consider making one more resolution — to help clear the air.

Through the winter Care to Clear the Air project (2010-2012), a series of videos captured the stories of residents making a resolution to limit their impact on air quality by driving less.

Watch the videos below to hear from people that have done everything from moving closer to where they work, to biking, carpooling and taking public transit.

Their stories will inspire you to make your own resolution to help clear the air!

Kyle LaMalfa shares his commitment to take public transit.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-ThTQPBKEU&w=560&h=315]
Continue reading →

Shift Your Spending This Holiday Season

The official holiday shopping season kicks off the day after Thanksgiving with a day known as Black Friday. Practically everyone knows that.

But have you heard about Small Business Saturday? This shopping holiday is held the Saturday after Thanksgiving and encourages shoppers to visit their local brick and motor businesses.

Local First Utah’s Shift Your Spending Week kicks off on Friday, November 29th with a similar goal. They suggest setting a goal to shift 10% of your spending this holiday season towards locally owned businesses.

According to them, if we all shift just 10% of our spending to local businesses, on a yearly basis, $1.3 million will stay in the Utah economy.

Shop e2

Salt Lake City’s e2 businesses are local businesses that have made a commitment to reduce their environmental impact.

Be sure to stop by Earth Goods General Store, Liberty Heights Fresh, Cali’s Natural Foods, Artistic Framing Company, C.G. Sparks, Retro Rose, The King’s English Bookshop, Golden Braid Books, Landis Lifestyle Salon, Matrix Spa, Sacred Mountain Healing Center, Cactus and Tropicals, Especially for You and Huddart Floral Company this holiday season.

Local First Utah’s Top Ten Ideas to Shift Your Spending this Holiday Season

  1. Support local artists! Check out local galleries or pottery studios for unique, handmade gifts.
  2. Spend a day in a neighborhood business district. Stroll through your nearest cluster of locally-owned businesses. In Salt Lake City, check out OnlyInSaltLakeCity.com for detailed neighborhood descriptions.
  3. Give the gift of fine dining! Many locally owned restaurants provide gift certificates which can be used year round.
  4. Shop locally, online. Many local retailers and manufacturers also have a convenient online option. There is no need to send the money to an out-of-state megalith.ShiftYourSpendingLogo
  5. Browse and buy at a your local bookstore.
  6. Give an educational adventure. Buy memberships to local museums, gardens, zoos or aviaries.
  7. Make a gift basket filled with Utah’s Own products.
  8. Give the gift of experience: buy certificates to a locally owned spa, yoga studio or cooking school.
  9. Donate to a local non-profit on behalf of a like-minded friend.
  10. Winter markets abound throughout the state allowing craftspeople and artisans to sell their hand-crafted goods directly to the public. Pick up a one of a kind gift at a market near you!

Creative Ways to Spend Black Friday

Over the past decade, the day after Thanksgiving has come to be known as Black Friday. Heralded as the beginning of the holiday shopping season, big box retailers across the country open early and stay open late, offering special promotions and discounts to draw in shoppers.

If fighting the crowds isn’t your cup of tea, we’ve got some creative ways to spend your Black Friday. Continue reading →

Tips to Green Your Thanksgiving

Photo Credits:

Photo Credits: misterjt, The Vault DFW, oogoom, trpnblies7 via Flickr.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner! And we have some tips to help you “green” the holiday that is synonymous with giving thanks (and over indulgence).

Buy local.

  • Stop by the SLC Winter Market this Saturday (November 23 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.) to pick up essentials like root vegetables (carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams), hearty greens like kale, and specialty items like honey.
  • Also check out Cali’s Natural Foods, a Salt Lake City e2 business, for tasty local produce (open on Fridays and Saturdays). If you need some inspiration, Buzzfeed has delicious vegetarian Thanksgiving recipes!
  • What about the turkey? If you cannot imagine Thanksgiving without one, there are some great local resources for free range, hormone-free (dare we say happy?) turkey. Liberty Heights Fresh, a another e2 business, offers two choices, in addition to lots of other local veggies and specialty foods. Continue reading →