Wanna invest in the political future of our country? The Iowa Electronic Market lets you do just that.

The idea behind the futures market, which is run by the University of Iowa's economics school, is that economics can predict political outcomes. Example: It correctly forecast George W. Bush's 2004 win over John Kerry. 

Snap up some shares of Democratic dropout John Edwards for a paltry $0.002 today, and if a miracle happens, you could walk away with a few hundred bucks.

-Toshio...off to predict the near-future: a weekend of boozing at the Andersen Valley Boontville Brewfest...

Last night, an oh-it'll-take-15-min tax-prep process turned into an hr-and-a-half-long search for a school-loan-interest-deduction statement and digital-receipt PDF-making ritual. (Never say I don't love you, hyphen.)

Just say it: Taxes are painful, even if you're paying some poor (rich) sot to efile them for you. Solace? This tax season, I'm offering a foot or so of some tree to continue on living its life instead of shuttling a bunch of numbers to the IRS for me...and I'm offering y'all some misery to keep you company as you take care of your own.

-Jenifer Morgan...off to think about whether I'm going to spend that $11 refund all in one place...

I have friends in London I desperately want to visit, but with the insane exchange rate I'd need to take out a bigger-than-micro loan to pay for it. On the other hand, when my Brit friends cross the pond to America, they go buckwild. $15 for a cocktail? Cheap as chips. $250 for a jacket? Not at all a rip-off.

For people in the developing world, the exchange rate is even more insane. With the cash you'd spend closing out the pubs on a Saturday night in Leicester, you can start a whole business.

(For the record, London's not even the most expensive city.)

-Toshio...off to count my pennies...

Today's tip is one of those no-brainers, so it seems a bit superfluous to blog about it.  Go to your bank sites and sign up for paperless statements.  The end.

 Let's talk about more fun (green) things instead:

Mercury is in retrograde.  Has been for a bit.  Apparently, when Merc is retro, travel and communication and technology are impaired (so THIS is why my computer is crashing) and people you used to know long ago crawl out of the woodwork (so THIS is why I am getting emails from ex-boyfriends and phone calls from old bosses). 

I've been drinking store-bought kombucha like a crazy woman.  I don't know if I'm healthier, but I'm certainly more poor, and have been drinking less wine.

I've decided I no longer want to marry either Mark Morford OR Gavin Newsom.  Leo DiCaprio, however, seems to get eco-hotter every day.

OK, so the mercury thing didn't really have anything to do with being green.  Sustainable fish, anyone?

-Heather... off to sunny happy hour... to drink something OTHER than kombucha this time...

To due clickititus in my pointer finger, it is very hard to write this blog.  I am chicken pecking with my other nine fingers.  Speaking of chickens, had a Chicken Coop Consultant over last night.  I am totally going to build one.  Plus he is hot.

Off to not click anymore, I bet I saved at least 20 acres of forest while on that conference call. - Jen

So, I bought a Prius.

For whatever reason, this makes me feel like a middle-aged mom. While I love the fact that I only have to put gas in it about every 5 weeks, I haven't gotten attached to it enough to name it yet. Trixie (my biodiesel Benz) - she got her name in the first week I had her. Mr. NoName Prius, on the other hand, has been around for nearly 3 months now, and I still have no idea what to call him/her.

Thoughts?

Still - I get a full tax CREDIT - not even a write off - so I can't complain.

-Heather... off to stare at my Prius and pray for naming inspiration...

You want to know the best way to cut carbons where they count?

Take the MyFootprint.org quiz which will tell you how many planets we would need if the rest of the world's population lived as you do, then do the analysis to see where you racked up the most points (this cool tool lets you know how). 

Share your score with other Biters, here. (Come on, I will tell you my score if you tell us yours!  Mine is 4.6 Planets.  I need to cut down on air travel for the biggest impact to my score. But I can't, so I will make sure to buy offsets for those flights instead.)

Off to talk to Billy at Native Energy about getting some offsets for all of us at the Bite - and even our subscribers, just for signing up... Jen

PS:  we were interviewed on a TreeHugger radio spot for exactly this notion... some of our compadres have some interesting thoughts on cutting carbons and New Year's resolutions in general...

TreeHugger Radio 14: New Year’s Edition

As we step into double-0 seven, TreeHugger Radio has asked some of the brightest stars in the green blogosphere about their resolutions for the New Year. We queried Heather Stephenson and Jen Boulden, creators of Ideal Bite; consultant and brainy green hottie Summer Rayne Oakes; Ben Jervey, founder of The Big Green Apple; designer, architecture student, and Inhabitat creator Jill Fehrenbacher; green business guru Joel Makower; and TreeHugger writer Jacob Gordon. Resolutions range from reading more books to eating less meat, from pushing green design to watching Wal-Mart. ::TreeHugger Radio (listen)

The following was written by April, an MBA candidate at the GreenMBA Program (class of December 2006)

There is an article in this month’s Plenty magazine, not about global warming, but about global worrying, the “eco-anxiety” brought on by the overwhelming task of undoing the damage we’ve done to the environment (http://www.plentymag.com/article/11feature). When you are the only person on your block who fills their recycling bin to the brim, you may start to think, “Am I it? Does all this fall on my shoulders? Doesn’t anyone care what’s going on besides Marvin Gaye and me?!”

I’m here to tell you that yes, there are other people who care what’s going on.

John Stayton, one of the founders of the GreenMBA Program, holds a Spring semester event called “Two Fish Café” – an open mike night to re-charge our batteries and reconnect with alumni. At our Cohort’s first Two Fish, one performer was a soft-spoken young farmer who’d joined the program with the intent of developing his farm into a retreat center. He’d lost a close friend recently, he said, and wanted to sing a song for him. In a shaky voice, he began Paul Simon’s “The Boxer.” By the time he was halfway through the song, the entire room was singing along. When he finished, there wasn’t a dry eye (or an empty arm) in the house. It was in that moment, group-hugging a fellow student, that I realized I had become a part of a community I would always feel safe in, would always have a friend in.

Some people say that at the end of Simon’s song, the boy, like the boxer, is hurt, but not beaten. In the road ahead of us, we will have struggles, and disappointments, and hurts too numerous to count, but we will always, always have each other.

And that, my friends, is the only way we can evolve and survive.

For more information about the GreenMBA Program, check them out at: www.greenmba.com.

To join in the discussion or fire questions to Green MBA, April or Ideal Bite, feel free to comment.

Why is it so difficult to buy gifts for Dads?

I took a little informal survey amongst my friends, asking if it was easier to buy for Moms or Dads, and – no great surprise here - got the following replies:

“Dude.  Moms are just easier – mainly because you can just send flowers.”

“It’s harder to figure out what dads even LIKE for some reason.”

“Oh Sh-*!  It’s Father’s Day soon???!”

I’ve always been at a loss to know what to buy for my dad.  In part, I’m sure it’s because he’s relatively easily pleased.  He’d be as happy with a set of golf balls as he would with a trip to a beach or a homemade painting.  In a weird way – with everything as an option - gift-giving gets complicated. 

So – since my dad reads this blog (and clearly, I can’t tell you all what I am getting him) – why don’t you share your own great green gift ideas for father’s day?  (Or just give my dad a shout-out for being our #1 Biter Dad, since he works for us for free…)

-Heather... off to put my air conditioner in my bedroom window… ugh, summer has arrived…

Um... so I haven't done my taxes yet.

That's a long story.  But I don't want to think about that just now.  I'll think about that later.

For now, I want to think about something else, and get your Biter opinions... after having to sell my lovely car, Celeste (RIP), in order to help fund the Bite last year (and well, because I don't need her here in Brooklyn), I'm in the market to buy another car at the end of this year to get me back to the West (and get me around the East Bay once there).

Now, if I buy a hybrid, I MIGHT get one of the nifty tax write offs (however, each manufacturer gets a certain allocation of the tax write offs for 2006, so by the time I get a car in December, I might not be able to claim it).  Even if I don't, I'll get such good gas mileage, the tax credit is an afterthought.  However, I am quite intrigued by the whole biodiesel thing, and I lovelovelove VWs, so if I can score a biodiesel Beetle, I just might go that route...  Hmmmm.  Big decision.  Anyone want to help?  What do you Biters think?  Wanna help me buy a car in a few months?

-Heather... off to check out Daryl Hannah's cool new video blog on biodiesel...

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

For today's blog, please visit:

http://idealbite.blogs.com/ideal_bite_blog_about_it/2005/10/sri_move_the_ne.html

I grew up in the middle of the Rockies, but I honestly never went hiking until I was about 10 or so. My best friend's dad took us on a hike, and I remember - at first - thinking that it seemed stupid to walk at a slow pace through the woods, no real destination in sight.

But somewhere on that aimless walk, I understood that call to the woods. It made some sort of inexplicable sense to me.

Years later, sweaty Brooklyn summer, I received a heart-wrenching call. My best friend's dad - a dad of sorts to me - had died unexpectedly. My heart broke mainly for my friend. But a little piece of it mourned for me - for that loss of the first person who really showed me the woods.

That first lost Father's Day, I bought a plot of trees from the American Forests in memoriam. To this day, it might be the best money I ever think I spent.

This fall, I'm heading to that best friend's wedding in Italy. And we are doing a hike in honor of her dad.

A little Montana Rockies blending into the Italian peaks, and again, I think it's fitting.

-Heather... off to look at old photo albums...

Not sure about you all, but dealing with house-hold administrivia is not one of my favorite things (as are rain drops on roses and ex-gay cowboys).  And I don’t have a PA (personal assistant) or BSM (big strong man) in my life to offload these things.

So the thought of having an auditor come out and give me a list of things to do, thereby increasing my hugungous to-do list, gave me some minor anxiety.  HOWEVER, that anxiety was just trumped by the fact that I lost my heat – the propane tank ran dry unexpectedly, so clearly my house isn’t as energy efficient as I had thought!

As I tried to fall asleep under 40 blankets, dressed in 2 pairs of wools socks, artic long underwear, a scarf wrapped around my head and the space heater practically shoved down my pants, I resolved to getting the energy audit done. I am sure there are some low hanging fruit type of fixes – like re-insulating in key places and closing off certain rooms that are not being used. I did put the water heater blanket on, which seems to help, and my windows and appliances are high performance, but alas, going through 400 gallons of propane in 2.5 months isn't that cool.  (It was however negative whatever degrees for much of that time.)

Biters – has anyone had an energy audit done yet?  If so, do tell!

Off to make the donuts - over the woodburning stove (don't you just love old commercials?) - Jen

In many ways, I think my answer to the question is yes. I am hypercommunicative. I am easily bored. I like to feel connected and far-flung all at the same time. Thus, the internet and cell phones and the convenience of things like online banking all appeal to me.

But every so often, I find myself yearning a bit for an earlier lifestyle. Something about our wired world (which has made so much possible, don't get me wrong) gives us all this rampant permission to be, well, sort of irresponsible. Remember the days when you'd actually have to make a plan to meet someone somewhere, and you HAD to show up or you wouldn't be able to reconnect? Or when you would need to schedule phone conversations for Sunday evenings or wait weeks for letters from your best friend?

Of course, I'm just waxing a little nostalgic. And of course, as co-founder of a daily email and blog, I clearly fall on the side of tech appreciation.

But every so often, I do wish for a cell-free day.

-Heather... off to program my Treo so I can get my email on the go...

OK, I really can't stomach writing about credit cards in today's blog, because trust me - I have a heady relationship with my credit cards already and think about them too much. Instead, let's celebrate the dawn of a new year...

Yep. Yesterday was the start of the Lunar New Year. The Year of the Dog, as the Chinese would have it. 

Not being a huge fan of dogs (well, except for Cricket and Harlow, of course), I'd be inclined to think that the Year of the Dog would be a sort of boring year - slobbery and whining.

But I gotta say, I am looking forward to it (because while the Year of the Rooster was truly transforming and amazing for me, it was also a bit of a thrilling and bloody cockfight, and I'm looking forward to some snuggled-up warm fuzzies instead). 

• Loyalty
• Unconditionality
• Goodness
• Playfulness

Do you know the notion of “stuff-stress”?  You know, where all your STUFF is causing you stress?  You have to care for stuff, store stuff, clean stuff, find stuff, dust stuff, move stuff, maintain stuff, unload stuff, re-organize stuff, shuffle stuff around to find other stuff. WHEW.  That’s a lot of doing stuff to stuff.

I tend to date some strange characters. One of my boyfriends, after living a few years with me in NYC, decided to absolutely disavow materialism, and even gave up his shoes! Of course this made for a great topic of catty conversation with the girlfriends, but down deep I really understood… you have to look for shoes, clean you shoes, tie you shoes. 

Maybe it is my age, or maybe where I am in the ‘socio-economic’ non-cosmic order, but I feel that most of those around me have ENOUGH STUFF.  My favorite gifts to give are acts of service…. a car wash for my Dad, doing a little water color painting for my friend, a massage for my lover, and yes, a tree or a panda in my mom’s name.

I know it is hard not to give a physically wrapped something, but it is kind of like a diet… it gets easier as you wean yourself from stuff, wanting it less, and needing it less to be representative of how much you care for someone.  If anyone has noticed the same, or has ideas on how to make the leap from STUFF to NONSTUFF for the holidays, chime in!

Off to fill out the Panda gift card… naming it Poopsie after my mom… her nickname.

Happy Holidays everyone! Jen

So I have to say that it took me a good 4 years and a switch of a broker to get into some SRI funds.  Most traditional brokers have their systems and relationships (and hidden fees!) so totally locked, that asking them to consider other funds is like asking them to dance naked in the streets.   I am sure you could call some of the funds up directly, but I don't have the bandwidth to really monitor my investments, and the .5% or whatever it is to  have someone else do it is worth it.  Anyway, I am with someone now who got me into a CALVERT fund. 

I am waiting for the next evolution... Sustainable Investment. This is where the companys' business models are regenerative, and whereby their existence improves the environment and our society. 

Until then, thought I would dork-out and spout some stats so you can see that more and more people are doing it... and this one of the HUGEST things you can do to make companies start to pay attention to the environmental actions (good or bad). 

• 1/9 = The share of professionally managed US dollars in socially responsible investments.
• 240% = The growth rate of SRI investment portfolio growth experienced from 1995 to 2003. (By comparison, overall assets grew 174 % over the same time period.)
• 21 = Number of countries where an array of socially responsible investment products are now available.
• $2.16TR = The amount of socially screen investment money (as of December 2003) in a professionally managed portfolios.
• 7% = The growth rate of socially screened portfolios during 2001 and 2002 despite sluggish market conditions that caused a 4% drop in broader professionally managed portfolios.
• 52 = The percent of the top 250 Global Fortune 500 companies that produce environmental, social, or sustainability reports in addition to financial reports.
• 2:1 = The ratio of votes cast by SRI funds, compared to their conventional peers, in support of corporate governance resolutions and ‘vote no’ campaigns. SRI funds are far ahead of ‘conventional’ mutual funds when it comes to voting on environmental, social issues, and corporate governance issues.

Off to sell some organic lemonade or something so I can move the needle more with my dollars - Jen

The deal with green building and energy effeciency homes is that usually the buyer needs to spend the money up front, and then reaps consistent savings over the life of the asset. This is a financing opportunity.  (So good to see eco-incentives making dollars and SENSE to financial institutions!)

They are still a niche product, and the lack of home appraisers who can evaluate energy efficiency can create some glitches, but we are getting there.

Here is the background logic driving the green mortgage adoption rate:

An energy-efficient home can save a homeowner one third to one half on home energy costs. The estimated dollar savings of an energy-efficient house are added to the borrower's income thereby qualifying the homebuyer for a larger mortgage. By increasing borrowing power, the green mortgage providers allow borrowers to fold the costs of energy improvements into the total mortgage amount. To retain the borrower's cash for more immediate costs, 100 percent of the energy improvements and 15 percent of the value of the home can be paid for and financed over the duration of the mortgage. In addition to saving the homeowner money, energy-efficient homes are less polluting and more comfortable, require less maintenance, and increase the resale value of the house.

Companies such as Fannie Mae and SunTrust Mortgage - among others - are offering green mortgages.

If YOU (you know who you are dear Biter) have gone through the process of getting a green a mortgage, please share your thoughts with fellow Blogging Biters!

Off to dream about building the most beautiful green home and developing an eco-ranch once Ideal Bite hits mainstream. :-)  - Jen 

I admit, I just recently got into eBay in a big way.  Funnily enough, I was looking for a certain Chanel concealer which is definitely not attainable in the state of Montana, and my friend said, “I use that concealer too.  I get mine on eBay!”

At that point I knew I had to get on the eBay train. For YEARS my father has been an eBay addict - so much so that he has all these stars next to his eBay user info.  (So much so that he bought a Jaguar off of eBay.  So much so that my mom invites the UPS guy to Christmas dinner, as he is practically one of the family.) 

My first experience with eBay was actually when I sold all of my MBA books on eBay a year or so ago, as those campus books stores give you about $2 for a $200 book when you sell it back to them.  eBay made it super-easy to sell the books… all you had to do was put in the book’s ISBN number and they even found a picture of the cover to display with your listing!

But then I got busy and I forgot about eBay for bit.  Until I need this specific concealer.  Which brings me back to my addiction…

It was a cold winter night with nothing much to do besides work more or look for things to buy on eBay.  I opted for the latter.  I was having fantasies of spring coming to Montana, and of galloping all over the place on horseback.  So I started there.  To my great surprise eBay had everything from saddles to crops to jodhpurs to field boots to live horses (it’s true). I bid up a storm, as the prices were too irresistible, and so was the bidding process. (There are books about selling and buying on eBay that give you strategy suggestions. I just kind of went for it and did pretty well, IMHO.) Then I realized I needed to fund my eBay habit, so I searched high and low for things to sell.  I found a Tiffany’s ring that I no longer loved, and that thing went for the “buy now price” (ie: what I considered to be full price for a used ring) within a few minutes!  I then listed some riding boots that didn’t fit even though at the shop I was optimistic my foot size would somehow change, and those sold for more than 50% of the purchase price.

I was now creating a surplus in my PayPal account (like an online checking account that works with select online merchants, and they are linked up with eBay), and it was a good thing.  We (Heather and myself) used my surplus to buy our 100% wind-powered website hosting agreement for IdealBite.com with Elfon. (Heather, I am thinking Super Bowl ad next, you better keep an eye on your mutual funds. Just kidding.  Kind of.)

I used to feel a bit guilty about my consumptive habits.  Now I love the notion of avoiding the stores and new product production.  Until we design products with a cradle-to-cradle mentality, new products are often just days (not years) away from their final destination at the landfill when the leave the factory.  I think of eBay as my #1 recycling center.  (Especially since in Montana it is hard to recycle even glass.  Alas, a challenge for another day).

Off to see if my favorite eBay seller has any great deals on a hemp collar for Cricket.

- Jen