I had this dog GG, featured stage left. She was a battered adoptee that needed massive training, so I haphazardly got these Beggin' Strips from the g-store. Okay, first off, the ingredient list has the word "meat" in it. Beef is meat. Pork is meat. Horses, monkeys, and allegedly Arby's roast beef are meat. Second, they were bright red and smelled like twice baked meat vomit.

But I was desperate. So I fed them to her. And apparently she was very hungry because she would go nuts trying to please me to get a treat. A la Puppy Crack - makes you spin around in circles for a serious chemical high. I tasted it too (I was jonesing I guess. Kidding.) Let me tell you: it tastes nothing like bacon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Sorry G-money girl!)

Now with the Crick, I wanted to keep her off crack, and was soooooooo pleased to find the Pet Promise brand. (We tried the holistic food at Pet Smart but it costs an arm and a leg, smells kind of like a vitamin bottle, and the Crick wouldn't eat it.) Pet Promise also offers all-natural bison jerky as treats (that my ex used to actually eat... says a lot, hu?). And great food selections. Both Cricket and Froggy both dig the food. And I LOVE that it supports the sustainable ranching micro-industry, and that Dr. Weil is behind the brand.

Off to ponder whythings like SPAM (with subscript, A Food Product) and Dog Food need to specify "FOOD" - like it could be a question.

- Jen

PS: here is an interesting blog posting from Snopes about the content of conventional dog food: Most commercial pet foods contain bone meal and protein concentrates which are produced at rendering plants throughout the world. Rendering plants produce these meat products from the carcasses of animals collected from many sources, including pet shelters and road kill. Whether the food is nutritious or over-processed, cancer causing poison is a matter for debate, but it is true that unless you are feeding your dog "human grade" food, they are eating the rendered carcasses of dogs, cats, possums, skunks, raccoons, and anything else that happens to get flattened on the highway. Don't believe it? Check this out: http://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow/mad6301.cfm

OK, so my guess is that every green blog in the US is going to use that headline today, but so be it.

Today, Google launched Summer of Green in Google Maps.  Users can see fun and funky places for the green traveler to visit in 5 American tourist destinations: NYC, SF, LV, Orlando and LA – complete with video guides, commentary, and other local green links.

So, if you are thinking of going on a green picnic in any of those areas, grab your bamboo basket and organic napkins, and check them out at http://maps.google.com/green.

Herein ends my nod to pretending to be a news blog.

-Heather… off to sleep after a redeye flight that I haven’t carbon-offset yet…

Heather and I have this very intense business relationship, largely because we are also friends and so don't mind spending countless hours together - whether in person or phone/IM/email.  Today though she gave me this blog to write (she picks the blog writers and likes this power as she is a bit maniacal that way). 

Don't get me wrong... I love to write and correspond with you Blogging Biters... but some tips just don't inspire me.  And cellulite is one of them.

So I was sitting here thinking if there was a way that I could throw Heather under a truck a bit to "get her" for giving me this blog.  But then when you are talking about girls and cellulite you really don't want to mess around.  So instead I will be self effacing and tell you a story...

Once a boyfriend told me that I was getting some "gravel".  I was like, "what are you talking about, dude?"  And he was like, "you know, looks like you've been sitting on gravel."  I looked around for some real gravel to scratch his cornea with. 

Anyway, yes, this tip was submitted by yours truly. I am using this scrubby thing from Kate's Caring gifts along with some eco-washie stuff just to stimulate blood movement in that area, and I think it is working a weensy bit.  Could also be the riding horses or walking the Crick... who knows.

Some people are just pre-disposed to it at as well. Gravel sitters, unite.  It is natural but it is natural to try to get rid of it.  May the eco force be with you. Off to run with the Crick in the rain.. Jen

So I went to an event tonight where Al Gore spoke about his film "An Inconvenient Truth."  (Full disclosure: I haven't yet seen the film.  I promised I'd attend with a friend, so I am going later this weekend).

But let me tell ya - that Al?  He's good on a stage.  And I don't care what your political affinity is - you should see this movie.

Seriously - from where I sit, one of the best things you can do to help the greening of the world is to make this film a blowaway success.  We all know how celebrity/Hollywood has an insane impact on the public consciousness.  And I don't mean to suggest that this is the best medium through which to educate or that everyone will leave the theatre with a new insight into life on the planet (although I am sure they will).  What I mean is that - if this film becomes a huge financial success - the ongoing press alone will set in motion a chain of events that could have an enormous impact.

In the end, it's too bad that actors seemingly have more power than politicians - that Hollywood's megaphone is more powerful than an NGO's.  But that just is the world as we know it.

So let's use it to our advantage.

Click here to find a theatre near you showing An Inconvenient Truth.

-Heather... off to dream of pirates (you have to have read today's tip for that one to make sense)...

I remember when the simple fact that a light could be motion-sensor triggered at all was positively mind-boggling.  How on earth could I walk in front of something and make it go on? (Then again, I also remember when a remote control was fascinating beyond all comprehension).

So the fact that motion-activated, solar-powered outdoor lights exist is actually nothing short of magic, if you think about it.

Get some.

-Heather... off to contemplate other technologically magic things such as the fact that I could have 150 emails in my inbox already...

It was 1993, and I was living in CA with my surfer boyfriend during summer college days.  It was there in this throw-back hippie beach town of Leucadia (45 min of San Diego) that I discovered Trader Joes.  I really thought that I had died and gone to heaven.  I spent all the past week's tips that I earned at Yacht Club waitressing.  And one of the many things I bought was Soy Dogs.

Let me just say they were kind of gross. I felt like I had put Barbie's leg into the microwave and was some sort of bee-boping canibal.

But today, EVEN IN MT, the options for alt dogs are so much better! They taste beefy and the texture isn't so BLEAGHK.  They can hold their own on the grill too.  Plus, you can make an easy lunch with them or cut up and put in your Amy's Organic Mac & Cheese for a weird organic experience (that would be the meal of max chemicals if we were eating it in our highchairs 30 years ago).

Off to find my fuzzy corndog, Cricket. (BTW, she is going to be competing for the new Old Navy Mascot....we will send out notice when it comes to vote for her!) - Jen

While Jen lives in Montana now, I'm actually a Montana native.

Being “from Montana” is different now than it was 15 years ago when I first left.  When I first went off to college and people met me and learned I was from Montana, I would hear things like:

“Do you have electricity?”
“Is there a cow in your yard?”
“I’ve never been to one of those Midwestern states…”

Putting aside the fact that Montana isn’t really Midwestern, for years, when people would hear that I was from Montana, I might as well have been saying that I was from Zimbabwe.  There was this strange exoticism to it.

Now, things have changed.  Sometime in the past 5 years, the phrases shifted.  Montana may still be exotic, but it’s "exotic" like Aspen or Fiji or the the Alps… people want to be there.  Most often, now, I hear things like:

“Montana is my favorite place.  I want to buy a cabin there.”
“My friend SoandSo has a ranch there and I go fishing once a year.  It’s great.”
“Oh – that is my dream vacation.”

It’s so odd to see how things have shifted.

But it’s not nearly as odd as the fact that – being from Montana – I never properly camped (like you people all talk about camping) until well after I had moved out of the state.  And I could never explain it to people. Why go camping?  I had a forest in my backyard.  I had a homestead cabin I could visit and take friends to for slumber parties that had no electricity or running water.  I just never really thought about “going to the woods” for any outdoor activities.  The woods were just there, and we were in them.

So now – even though I crave a good camping trip to shake up my NYC life – I got no gear. 

Thankfully, I don’t need to buy any for the few times I get out in it – the world is making it ever easier to share things that would just sit in closets for 360 days each year.  Given the fact that camping isn’t exactly a skill sport, borrowed gear works just as well for most of us.

Check it out at: http://www.lowergear.com/

-Heather... off to count the leftover wine bottles from my birthday party...

I learned about the retail process for things like stereos, TVs, computers, and was appalled.  Apparently they (the companies) deliberately hold things back for new releases of the product at least every six months.  So for example, think of all the old boom boxes that go to the landfill because people walking through Wal-Mart see the "next generation" one with a certain new feature and must have it because it is only $29.99. 

Designing for rapid extinction is what I call it.  For the product, for us.  There is already too much crap in the world from what-is-meant-to-be disposable (like plastic bags and diapers) without retailers also making disposable boom boxes.

Anyway, it is Monday and I am without coffee... sorry to "go off" but this is one of my hot buttons. What is the solution?  Closed loop manufacturing and retailing processes.  We lease the boom box from say Sony and then at the end of the life-span, Sony must take it back and disposing of it is very cost-prohibitive. So what do they do?  They start making 1) products that last, and 2) products that can be easily recycled into the next generation.

Off to find some coffee... I am out but luckily the Leaf & Bean in Bozeman is not, and their coffee is (dare I say) as good as or even better than Starbucks (which the town has fought to keep out, interestingly enough) - Jen

Once my brother and I, when we were little, devised this incredibly stupid plan to take the money our parents gave us to put in the church offering plate.  Then we were even more stupid to talk about it in the same room where my mom was supposedly asleep. We are 8 and 10, but that was my introduction to charitable taking (and then taking a spanking).

Then I got into this 'armchair activist' mode and wanted to do more than give money (yes, I gave money to one charity a quarter, usually WWF or some animal related charity, and when I was at IBM it was great b/c they would match it).  I got pretty active with 20/20 Vision and before I knew it they had some TV producers coming out to follow me around my NYC office, back on the subway, back to my home where I whipped out my laptop and wrote my congressman a very pointed letter that really showed I did my research (or at least showed I could plagiarize the cliff notes 20/20 provided pretty damn well). 

Yes, thought it would be my big break into the world of eco-entertainment, which would have been much better than high-tech startups that I was into, but alas, it never made it off the cutting room floor.  It was 2000, so maybe a tad early.  I bet it would make it now. We are at a tipping point...anyone else feel it?

Off to tip to bed.. Jen

So I've been quite proud of the fact that I stayed in Brooklyn for 4 whole years. 4 years ago, the Red Hot Chili Peppers' last album provided the soundtrack for my initial move here, and today, their latest is providing the soundtrack for what will be my last summer in Brooklyn (yeah - there's another move on my horizon).

But I love this place. More than I do any other I have been. It's the first place where I have felt an attachment and obligation to my community, a connection with my neighbors. It's the first place that has made me wish I had money to invest - in the little shops and restaurants, in housing and parks. I - quite simply - believe in Brooklyn so much more than I do in that other island across the river.

So the whole idea of community investing is actually my new favorite thing: it just makes more sense to me to SEE where my money is going... I mean - why send my money to some big banking HQ to let THEM decide whether or not my neighbor gets a mortgage? Wouldn't it be so much more rewarding to feel part of that home or business purchase?

Well, I don't have any money to invest right now. But when I do, I am going to try to invest ALL of it locally - in things I believe in, in places I can touch and see.

-Heather... off to wander Brooklyn, listening to "Snow (Hey Oh)"...

This week of tips is a bit "scholastic" but it definitely gets my dorky side excited.  When we talk about Money, we talk about the most powerful lever of change.  And then when we talk about a concentrated effort to put money in effective, conscientious investments... well, now you will see even the Exxon's of the world pay attention (okay, well not while their profits are 5 gazatrillion, but alas, we shan't go all political on you). 

Anyway, in theory, this is the BEST way to put your money where you mouth (and heart) is. I have to be honest and tell you my checking account is not with one of the banks listed in the tip; about two years ago I tried to give my money to Shore Bank but they didn't allow business accounts, and I had a small consulting business.  However, I do do online banking and bill paying and it is the BEST thing since sliced bread.  And I am going to start the process with Blue Marble to get some edu on once I have some investment money again, how I can invest it to return the most financially and socially. I know we all say this, but DAMN it feels good to live in line with your values. 

Off to pay my bills on time with a click of a button... I love it b/c I know the companies hate it when they can't assess the late fees.... mwahahahhaah not on me anymore! Jen

Wikipedia defines emissions trading as "an administrative approach used to reduce the cost of pollution control by providing economic incentives for achieving emissions reductions."

I define it just plain cool.  Finally, a great example of how market forces can be used for good, and not reward companies for raping Gaea of all her natural resources. (Heather, if you are reading:  I know you are about to vomit on how "crunchy" that sounds, but this is payback for you throwing me under a truck last week... mawahahahah.)

Let me go on (and hopefully turn Heather inside out like the slugs she killed when she was 8 - and apparently even then a yuppie according to one of our Biting Bloggers)....

Our economic system is broken.  200 years after the industrial revolution, we are still rewarding companies for using the same type of EXTRACTIVE business model that bankrupts our natural economy. For example:  a company that makes tires that don't decompose and fill the air we breath with pollution, and because that tire company doesn't have to pay for those public costs (for the superdorks out, let me just give you a shout out... come on, let's say it together, "externalities"!!!), the COMPANY benefits, at a cost to the general public.

I could go on and on, but if you are at all interested in this topic, let me drill it home (ha, no pun intended! Drill, get it?) Note to organic chocolate makers - stop sending me so many samples, I have to do some serious writing and it is hard when you are on an intense sugar / cocoa high!).   

SO, there are two tire companies.  One uses "clean technology" - let's just call them state of the art smoke stack scrubbers that removes particulates (ie: air pollution) from the air BEFORE being pushing it out into the atmosphere.  The other is stupid, and hasn't bothered to update its process or systems, and hence the air it pushes out is black.  So now the government sets pollution limits.  CLEAN company is UNDER, and STUPID company is OVER.  Clean sells Stupid its surplus of "pollution units" - hence, making it money.  Stupid has to buy them, hence, rendering itself noncompetitive and eventually out of business. 

Die stupid companies! Long live the clean, smart ones!

Okay I am off to walk off this chocolate buzz... Jen 

Not missing a beat (bah-dump-bum!) JoetheDrummer asked about Thursday's tip - he wanted to know what subject could have me so completely stumped.

So I told him about today's shower bucket tip, and how so many of you had suggested we write it. JoetheDrummer looked a little puzzled. Granted, we both speak English, but after a week of Transatlanticism, I just assumed that he didn't understand the words I was using. It took me a few moments to realize that he just didn't think the bucket in the shower thing would WORK.

{insert British accent here}

"Heather. Aren't showers things that spray? And a bucket... well, it's about this size ‘round, yeah? And, well, wouldn't the shower sort of spray all ‘round it and not get IN?"

At this point, this British bloke (we gotta call ‘em blokes) starts staggering down the street, arms encircling an invisible bucket, lurching back and forth, trying to catch nonexistent droplets of water falling on a dry Brooklyn sidewalk in an effort to prove his point. Passersby stepped politely out of his way, worriedly glancing back over their shoulders at Joe's shuddering dance.

It all made for an amusing walk, but his point is a reasonable one. So, for all you shower-bucket-lovers out there (and trust me - a LOT of you wrote in this suggestion, so we expect lots of answers)... do you put the bucket under the tap but possibly have it flow over before it's warm, or do you stick it in the middle of the shower spray, hoping to catch as much as possible?

-Heather... off to wash my hayfever-reddened eyes (any of you struggling with tree pollen this year?)...

Wow, so sound more scientific than sassy today! I am going to "go off" on GMOs and tell what I know, what I think, because I really honor you Biters' opinions, and would love to know your thoughts.

And here's the fun part: I know it really works, because I did an unplanned product test. I slapped some sunscreen on my back before heading into my garden yesterday and spent about 5 hours in the crazy sun.

However, as Gumby-like as I can be, I managed to miss a triangle shaped area in the center of my back.

I know that it's triangle shaped for a reason: it's the color of a red brick building. Kind of pretty, really, but not the look I was going for.

The rest of me (where I could put the Lavera) just has a healthy glow.

Go all-natural sunscreen!

-Heather... off to chop of a piece of my aloe plant...

Speaking of proper disposal - remember to pack your garage out after you hang out in the woods: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/05/yet_another_rea_2.php

When I was a kid, soda can rings weren't really an issue. We had something called the Pop Shoppe (which proves my 1940s-style upbringing better than maybe anything else out there). Every month, we'd get a palette of glass-bottled local soda in the summer. Enough to maybe have one a day or one every other day. Every possible flavor under the sun from lemon-lime to cherry to cola.

And each month, we had to take the empties in, where they were cleaned and refilled and delivered to some other lucky family a month later.

Wish we still had Pop Shoppes...

-Heather... off to plant all the fun flowers I bought at the farmers' market this weekend...

But every so often, when feeling quite magnanimous, I send Jen a list of blogs for the week that gives her the choice to pick between 2 different topics and write on whichever one strikes her fancy. In those cases, I write the alternate blog that she DOESN'T want to write.

Well, like an idiot, this week, I told Jen she could choose between the tequila blog and the condoms blog (I mean face it - they're sort of similar topics). I should have known better. Of COURSE Jen chose tequila and left me holding the (um, er) bag with the condoms tip.

So rather than go into gory detail, let me just say this: trash ‘em when you are done. This is information we all don't want to think about, but the fact is, used condoms have to be fished out of sewage treatment plants by hand anyway (and then are landfilled), so you are just prolonging the inevitable by flushing.

Of course, in other ways, "prolonging the inevitable" can be a good thing when it comes to condom talk. But that is a discussion to be had over a glass of wine.

Or a shot of tequila.

-Heather... off to call my parents and assure them that I'm still a virgin...

That is one of my favorite toasts when doing shots of tequila... it translates to "up high, down low, in the center, down the hatch!"

I am not so tough that I could sip tequila like a fine malt liquor, but I do like a shot every now and again to really get the juices going. And margaritas made with fine tequila and fresh lime are TO DIE FOR... and of so much better than the type you get from Mexican chain restaurants in Nebraska (or Montana or anywhere except S. CA and Miami and S. Texas). 

And luckily I never got sick on tequila in college so I can still enjoy it from time to time.  In fact, in college, we just did body shots with it, so indeed I have fond memories.

Off to adorn my sombrero in anticipation.... arriba! Jen

I hate that even today "green" still hast to fight the stigma of being inferior, costly and/or producing stink... ie: those folks that don't shower to save water, or what-have-you.

On top of this, I sweat.  I don't perspire.  Perspiring is for princesses, and although I have three friends that think I have princess qualities (I don't really), I don't perspire, I sweat like a pig.  And it is not clean smelling, I have to tell ya... it is that stinky "stress sweat."  The kind that stains your white tanks yellow. 

So, I am the ultimate tester for eco-deodorants... and a-testing I have been (sorry Cricket for those days where it didn't really turn out so well).  As the tip says, ALBA worked as well as my paraben-filled Secret, and the others that we listed I can wear on non-stressed, non-hot days.  I actually have taken to using the Miessence organic one before going to bed, after my shower, to get a jump start on it.  I don't care that my body is absorbing it since it is probably even good for me.  And should I have a scary dream, I won't stink up my PJs with stress sweat.

Off to give away all the products that didn't work to people who like practical jokes... I will tell them it works great and to wear it for good luck at their next meeting with their boss when asking for a raise. Jen

I used Red Jellyfish long distance service (back when they had it - I think they just do internet now) and I have to tell you, it was the only bill I did not mind paying.  It showed right on the statement how much of the bill went to saving X acres of rainforest.  It made me want to jump right back on the phone and call all those people that I love and hadn't told in a long while.  So I did, and of course gabbed about this eco-phone service while I was chatting up my loved ones.  The effect:  my life was dramatically enhanced, as was others, other people signed up to save rainforests, and this is what I call the virtual circle of gabbing goodness.  Pay it forward, baby!