Fresh Finds

New Green Guide Blog

It is with great pride and enthusiasm that we launch our new blog The Green Room. Look for all your favorite bloggers to contribute to this all-inclusive source for green news, product recalls and safety concerns, as well as sharing fun anecdotes and the coolest new products. The Green Room can be found here.

Also, look for our new RSS feed here.

Thank you,

The Green Guide Staff

© The Green Guide, 2008

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Making Use of Ocean Trash

Nothing irks me more than plastic at the beach. Getting ready to dive head-first into a wave and getting knocked on the head by an empty orange juice or (even worse) water bottle can seriously kill my saltwater high. That's why I love the underlying genius behind this new Sand Play Set from Green Toys. The toys are made with recycled milk jugs--jugs that could have wound up in the ocean as errant litter from an uncovered garbage barge or washed from a storm drain and out to sea.

The play set is also a great tool for teaching kids the value of recycling. And where better to do that than at the ocean, which is getting inundated with our recyclable garbage? As much as 90 percent of marine trash is plastic, and the U.N. Environment Programme has estimated that every square mile of ocean contains 46,000 pieces of floating plastic. If you need proof, look at the ever-expanding Eastern Garbage Patch, an area in the northern Pacific Ocean twice the size of Texas that is so full of waste, scientists have stopped trying to shrink it; now, they're just struggling to find ways to keep more trash from piling on.

To pick up one of these sets, visit Green Toys to find a brick-and-mortar retailer near your or buy one on Amazon for $19.95.

© The Green Guide, 2008

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Nonstick and Safe?

As our columnist Amy Topel found, sautéed onions and mushrooms slide right out of Xtrema's Nano-Glaze cookware (featured in the June print issue of National Geographic Green Guide). Unlike chemically finished nonstick cookware, Xtrema's ceramic pieces feature ultrathin ceramic glazes, which provide easy cleanup without adding undesirable chemicals to kitchen air. Ceramic also retains heat longer than stainless steal or aluminum, reducing cooking time and energy consumption. Read more from Amy at Amy's Green Kitchen.

Individual pieces, including pots, pans, and a teapot, range in price from $39.99 to $149.99. The purchasing website listed in the June issue is no longer available, but you can visit www.ceramcor.com for more information on the products and call the company at 732-604-1925 or email Bob Bergstrom at bob@ceramcor.com for information on getting a set of your own.

© The Green Guide, 2008

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