Recycle your Wine Cork!

In Europe wineries have been encouraging cork recycling for decades. Now the idea of cork recycling has caught on in the good old USA.

Yes you read that right, cork can be recycled. 

Cork is a renewable resource is does not have to be landfilled. You can recycle cork into many useful products.  And I don't mean this idea.

If you like to DIY then collect cork and use it for create projects such as making a cork board or for other fun projects.

Learn more about cork recycling:

ReCORK

ReCORK is largest global producer of wine bottle corks. They really want wine drinkers to recycle cork.

ReCORK lists places to drop off cork for recycling.

Read the North Bay Biz article "A Cork of a Different Color"

Cork ReHarvest & Whole Foods Markets

Cork ReHarvest managed to convince a big American grocery chain to recycle cork. Hoorah Whole Foods for providing receptacles in all your stores to recycle cork. Lets hope all groceries and other stores that sell wine will emulate your company-wide wine cork recycling program.

Cork is a natural resource.

Please recycle cork!

10 Tips for a Green Kitchen Remodel

So you finally want to remodel your kitchen?

Naturally you want your renovation to take into account all the best green features, right?

Well here are ten tips to help you on your quest to green your kitchen!

Visit our squidoo Lens with 10 Tips for a Green Kitchen Remodel.

Have you heard of ChiWalking and ChiRunning yet?

If you like to excercise then you know about Tai Chi  - that meditative form of martial art (it looks like slow-mo kung fu). But have your heard about ChiRunning® and ChiWalking® yet?

ChiWalking blends the health benefits of walking with the core principles of Tai Chi. Walking is low-impact, and probably the healthiest form of daily exercise for all of us.

As with Pilates, yoga and Tai Chi, ChiWalking and ChiRunning both emphasize body alignment and mindfulness and at the same time they strengthen the core muscles of your body.

Advantages include:

1. Reduce pounding and pain
2. Reduce dependence on leg muscles
3. Run hills safely and effectively
4. Reduce the chance of injury
5. Increase your endurance

I recently had a Chi Walking and Running class with Hazel Wood from StridebyStride.com. Hazel is a Certified ChiRunning and ChiWalking Instructor who has learned from Danny Dreyer, the inventor of these techniques. Hazel now teaches these techniques to individuals and groups. They are great techniques for injury free walking and running based on Tai Chi principles.

The five mindful steps of ChiWalking:

1. Get aligned
2. Engage your core
3. Create balance
4. Make a choice
5. Move forward 

Stride by Stride coach Hazel Wood teaches ChiRunning® and ChiWalking® to runners and walkers of all abilities. Think this kind of health coaching can help you out? Contact Hazel for a free consultation.

The Chi Walking and Chi Running books by Danny Dreyer are also highly recommended:

20 Best LOCAL Business Listing Sites

Are you marketing your LOHAS Business locally?

Here's a tip:

Get your website listed on as many of these LOCAL Business Listing websites as possible.

Start at the top and work your way down the list!

20 Best LOCAL Business Listing Sites

What does LOHAS stand for really?

The acronym LOHAS stands for Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability.

This is a demographic defining a particular market segment focused on sustainable living, health and fitness, "green" environmental products and services, personal development and social justice.

LOHAS consumers are a relatively upscale and well-educated population segment. Many realize that being green and healthy does not always come with a price premium.

The term LOHAS was invented by the lifestyle company Gaiam to describe the rapidly growing multi-billion dollar market of healthy green consumers.

LOHAS businesses practice "responsible capitalism" with environmentally sustainable goods and services. In this way LOHAS businesses help make the world a better place.

The LOHAS marketplace includes goods and services such as:

• Organic and locally grown food and beverages, health food
• Organic and natural personal care products
• Holistic health
• Hybrid, electric, alternative transportation
• Green and sustainable building
• Alternative and Renewable Energy
• Energy efficient electronics/applicances
• Socially-responsible investing
• Natural household products (paper goods and cleaning products)
• Complementary, alternative and preventive medicine (Naturopathic, Eastern)
• Fair trade products
• Mind/Body/Spirit and New Age genres
• Social Justice
• Eco-tourism and eco-adventure travel

LOHAS consumers come from all age and demographic groups. They are comprised of artists, writers, designers, scientists, doctors, lawyers, engineers, creative professionals, managers, venture capitalists, technicians , solution seekers, and socially conscious consumers.

Paul Ray is the eminent sociologist who coined the term "cultural creatives" for the LOHAS consumer group. He determined that this category includes one out of every four Americans.

The five LOHAS segments as defined by the Natural Marketing Institute (NMI) include:

LOHAS (17 percent):
Active environmentalists dedicated to personal and planetary health. Heaviest purchasers of green and socially responsible products. Early adapters who influence others heavily.

Naturalites (17 percent):
Motivated mostly by personal health issues. Tend to purchase more LOHAS consumable products vs. durable items.

Drifters (24 percent):
People with good intentions who follow trends when it’s easy and affordable. Currently quite engaged in green purchasing behaviors.

Conventionals (26 percent):
Pragmatists who embrace LOHAS behavior when they believe they can make a difference. Primarily focused on being careful with resources and doing the ‘right’ thing when it saves money.

Unconcerned (16 percent):
Focused on getting by, they are either unaware or unconcerned about the environment and societal issues, mainly because they don’t have the time or the means.

Now that you know more about this market segment we leave you with some more information from Green America on the LOHAS marketplace.