I like to think that alcohol in and of itself is good for all mankind.  It makes people happier, friendlier, and much more likely to dance like a fool if given the opportunity.  Unfortunately, your favorite spirits are probably not the most eco-friendly drinks on the block (or bar).  Instead of forgoing your Saturday nights, just swap your faves for these green alternatives and feel free to party on!

Veev:  An excellent substitute for vodka, Veev is actually manufactured from acai berries which are packed with antioxidants and anthocyanins.  What makes this drink even better, however, is the company’s commitment to the environment.  Veev donates $1 towards the Brazilian rainforest for every bottle sold, preserving their sustainable acai supply.  Veev is also the first carbon-neutral liquor company, powering all of their distillers through renewable energy.  Pass up the Smirnoff  and throw one of these back with friends (but don’t forget to toast to the Brazilian rainforest first!).

OneHope Sauvignon Blanc: I bought this baby on a whim at BevMo (5 cent sale, anyone?) and felt an instant karma boost.  With every bottle sold, OneHope donates 50% of the profits to the American Forest, a charity aimed at protecting, restoring, and enhancing our native trees and forests.  If you’re not a sauvignon blanc fan, there are several other wines to choose from, each with their own cause.  Drink chardonnay for breast cancer, merlot for AIDS, or zinfandel for our troops overseas.  Whichever you choose, you can bet you’ll feel a little buzz of goodness with every glass. Read More »

When your favorite cream blush or powder foundation is empty, do you just toss it in the trash? By recycling your used beauty products, you can help save the planet and get brand new products for free!

Mac’s Back To Mac Program
Return six Mac primary packaging containers to the Mac counter at your local department store or via mail, and you’ll get a free lipstick of your choice! For more information, click here.

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I have this theory that anything that’s good for the planet is good for your health as well.  You’ve heard it all before:  ditching the car, eating organic greens, and drinking tap water are all great ways to maintain your well-being.  But did you know that adding a little green to your workout routine can actually bump it its effectiveness and your subsequent sexiness?  Read on, my friend…

Treadmill vs. Trail: Treadmills use a lottt of energy – about 6 hours of lights on a Christmas tree-worth in only 30 minutes (obscure analogy, I know).  Running outside, however, requires no additional energy except for that needed to manufacture your workout clothes.  I don’t expect you to run outside just for the environment’s sake, but what if I told you that running outside can up your calorie burn and save your joints from strain and impact?  Not only are trails more likely to have inclines that torch calories like a wildfire, they also have a bumpier terrain which causes your muscles to make tiny corrective movements. All in all, this can increase your calorie burn by up to 10%!  Run on sand, and burn 1.6 times more calories!  Plus, dirt trails, wet and dry sand, and even asphalt (never run on the concrete sidewalk!) are softer than the surface of treadmills and will better protect your knees and ankles from impact and future joint pain.  Trust me, running in nature sure beats trotting alongside that 50 year old man sweating like a pig in his 1976 gym shorts. Read More »

I have a love/hate relationship with Sephora. I love walking through there and playing with all the makeup, but I hate how there is just so much. How am I supposed to know which brand is best? Which one looks best on my skin? Which mascara is worth $45 and why is that better than my $6 mascara at home?

It’s all quite overwhelming.

And that’s why I choose my friends based on how good their makeup looks. Ok, so that’s not (totally) true, but I do depend on my friends to guide me in the direction of quality products for my face. When they tell me they love a product or brand I trust them, and I haven’t been disappointed yet.

Most recently, a friend of mine started going on and on (and on) about Tarte cosmetics. I knew nothing about them, but after spending an hour with this girl (of which, only 5 minutes were not spent talking about Tarte), I decided to take the brand for a test run myself. I ordered some of their most popular products online (it seems that various beauty editors are quite enamored as well) and tried them out.

And let me just say – I am addicted. Like seriously addicted. Not only are the products super high quality, but they are completely natural, healthy and earth friendly as well! I’m a major recycling dork (I even reuse Ziploc bags….) so that is something that is really important to me.

Anyways, I tried out a bunch of things, but here are my all-time favorite Tarte products: Read More »

Are you committed to living green?  Are you committed enough to work at making your school devoted to becoming green, as well? Do you like moolah?

Keep on reading, ladies. Keep on reading.

There is a new contest on the block and we want everyone to get involved. America’s Greenest Campus, running from now until October, is aimed at college students nationwide in an effort to reduce their school’s carbon footprint.

In order to participate, you have to sign up with any .edu e-mail address and then encourage your friends, classmates, and professors to sign up as well… and commit. Commit to what? To making your campus a greener and more earth-friendly place to live and learn. Read More »

Happy late Earth Day! You probably don’t think of tech gadgets when you think of saving the planet but you should. I mean think about how many new cell phones you’ve gotten in the past two years. For most people it’s at least two (or more if you’re accident/drop-in-the-toilet prone).

Where do you think your old phones go? There’s no magical cell phone farm where they go to live out their last days in a texting spree. It’s more like a industrial landfill where they sit until the end of time.

And well that’s just not great for the Earth. The amount of tech junk that’s hanging out would make Captain Planet cry.

So what can you do to help with that? Well, you could buy less stuff, but that’s not too realistic. Especially with all the cool shiz that comes out monthly (thank you, Apple!) and the short life many of our gadgets have.

So what can you do? Why recycle, of course! Read More »

Here are some quick and simple steps from two…er…lovely ladies on saving water and using it wisely. Once you get past the unsightly upper-lip hair and interesting makeup choices, these girls provide some useful information.

Just another easy way to give somethin’ back to Mama Earth.

In honor of Earth Day, I just want to remind everyone again how important it is to start making changes in your life to live greener.  I’m not saying you all have to go out right now and start a compost heap, convert your cars to biodiesel, or throw out your whole wardrobe and only buy clothing made from organic materials.

Just do something.

I know some of you are probably wondering what kind of impact you can make–you’re just a college student, after all.  While you may not think that just one person makes a difference, think about it on a larger scale.

For starters, think about all the paper you go through in just one semester: you have a syllabus for every class (which is sometimes multiple pages), countless handouts from professors, and all the papers and assignments you have to print out and hand in.  I know students at my school whose professors make them print out PowerPoint Presentations from the web and bring them into class, which sometimes are more than 20 or 30 pages per chapter!  Read More »

As with most large movements in history, young people nationwide are leading the way in the fight towards a more planet-conscious future.

College students from coast to coast are studying ways to reduce waste, toxic emissions and other harmful habits and creating more efficient and earth friendly alternatives. Others are simply making better choices; turning off lights, recycling old notebooks and using cold water for their monthly trips to the laundry room.

Some very conscientious students at various schools are even taking it a step further by living and breathing the Green lifestyle in Green Co-Ops.

Most people think of Co-Ops as Hippie Houses full of free love, pot and rarely-used showers. This new brand of Co-Op, popping up on campuses every day, may have some similar features (like pot, I’m sure), but is a far cry from the original. Read More »