Green Event Shop is blessed to have made contact with some brides who are firmly committed to making their weddings green. These eco-pioneers are working to create memorable events that express their concern about the environment. Their stories might help others.

Jess Gillette in Minneapolis purchased several Wedding Packages from Green Event Shop. Their solution for green centerpieces? “We have taken felled white birch trees and cut them into three different sizes,” explained Jess. “They will be drilled to create natural vases and candle holders. We will let them go home with our guests.”

Bethany Campbell in Palmer, Alaska chose to go green for her wedding because “I think it is important to stick to being conscious of the environment even when it is inconvenient.”

“I had family members tell me they really didn’t want to wash dishes for such a large group,” wrote Bethany. “I refused to use disposable table settings because I find it irresponsible. Besides using all compostable table settings, my wedding dress is a beautiful A-line hemp dress. We plan to donate all of our leftover food to the womens’ resource center. We used 100% recycled paper for our envelopes and our invitations were frameable prints done by a local artist. We have made a webpage for people to rsvp.

“I really am excited about having this celebration and it makes me feel even better knowing that I am not harming my surroundings in the process,” concluded Bethany. “Thanks to you Green Event Shop!”

Advice and help for small Green businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area is available Friday, May 16, as part of Small Business Week. The U.S. Small Business Development Center (SBDC) will present a program at PG&E’s Pacific Energy Center, 851 Howard St. from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

The day will feature specific presentations:

– The Green Restaurant: Incentives, Examples and Resources, 9:30 to Noon.

– Running a Green Business, 1:00 to 3:30.

– Keynote speech by Hunter Lovins, author of “Natural Capitalism”, 3:45

– Reception and Green Vendor Expo, 4:30 to 6:30

You can register for these free classes and and see a list of events throughout the week at www.acteva.com/go/sfsbw

Green Event Shop will be there for sure.

Americans rank last in a new National Geographic-sponsored survey that compares environmental-consumption habits in 14 countries, according to McClatchy Newspapers.

The newspapers said:

Americans were least likely to choose the greener option in three out of four categories: housing, transportation and consumer goods, according to the assessment….The rankings, called “Greendex,” are the first to compare the lifestyles and behaviors of consumers in multiple countries, according to the National Geographic Society.

India and Brazil tied for the highest score, 60 points out of 100, McClatchy said. U.S. consumers scored 44.9.

Results are based on 1,000 online respondents per country interviewed in January and February by GlobeScan, an international polling firm.

If you want to read the whole McClatchy story, google “survey of environmental consumption” or go to:

http://www.miamiherald.com/983/story/525129.html

If you want to see how you score, take an abbreviated version of the survey at:

http://event.nationalgeographic.com/greendex/

San Francisco officials are considering expanding the city’s already aggressive municipal recycling and composting program. Mayor Gavin Newsom says he will ask the Board of Supervisors to make mandatory the now voluntary recycling of cans, bottles, paper, yard waste and food scraps.

About 70 percent of the city’s waste is diverted from landfills. Newsom’s proposal would significantly increase that, he says. Currently, the voluntary program uses trucks to pick up three streams of waste using three different colored cans in front a residence: one for trash, one for recycling (such as paper and bottles and cans) and one for composting (food scraps, soiled paper, etc.).

Newsom said his plan is modeled on Seattle’s. According to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle:

“Under Seattle’s law, a business owner or apartment landlord can be 

fined if more than 10 percent of what gets tossed out in garbage 

containers is considered recyclable material. They receive two warnings 

in the form of a tag left on the trash can, and the third warning tag 

comes with a $50 fine.

“Homeowners in Seattle don’t face financial penalties, but they can 

receive a warning tag on their trash cans directing them to sort out the 

recycled goods. If they don’t comply, the trash company has the right to 

refuse to collect the garbage until the problem is solved,” 

the paper said.

“San Francisco officials say they don’t intend to be punitive and 

levy many fines. But Newsom said the possibility of not collecting 

violators’ trash is a real possibility,” the paper reported.

“When the garbage stays, the impact is rather profound and people change 

their behavior,” Newsom said.

“San Francisco’s mandatory recycling program would be more sweeping 

than Seattle’s by requiring residents to recycle not just the standard 

aluminum cans and old newspapers, but compostable food scraps and 

yard clippings as well,” the paper reported.

Compostable Organics Out of Landfills (COOL) by 2012 was the message of a campaign launched last month at a conference in San Diego.

BioCycle Magazine, one of the sponsors, reports that COOL 2012 (www.cool2012.com) is designed to connect to “the Zero Waste Communities movement that is spreading across North America.”

The magazine reports that COOL “is a national initiative to inspire and educate state and local jurisdictions on the importance of getting compostable organics out of the landfill

“The underlying problem with continued disposal of compostable organics is methane generation….As a greenhouse gas, methane is 23 times more potent than CO2 on a 100-year basis….Biodegradable materials such as paper products, food scraps and yard trimmings amount to half of the nation’s discarded resources. The methane generated by these decomposing materials has become the number one source of man-made methane – and a major player in climate change.”

The City of Santa Cruz banned polystyrene (better known as Styrofoam) in January 2008. Green Event Shop. com offers high-quality, environmentally friendly hot and cold cups that are a perfect alternative to Styrofoam. Our cups are 100% biodegradable and compostable. Although Santa Cruz is at least two years away from offering a city compost pile or curbside recycling, city officials see big benefits in banning Styrofoam because it is so likely to end up in the ocean.

According to a Santa Cruz brochure: “Plastic is not biodegradable and takes hundreds of years to break up…even if plastic breaks up, it is never really gone because there are no organisms that can break down the minute polymers…Our modern society uses billions of plastic [and Styrofoam] items. An area twice the size of Texas—called the North Pacific Gyre—is accumulating plastics at an alarming rate. It is estimated that this area near Hawaii contains around three million tons of floating plastic!”

Other coastside towns are following suit. They, too, want to protect the ocean from plastic and polystyrene marine debris. Chris Morgan, Waste Reduction Manager for the City of Santa Cruz said the city had been working “to educate the public about polystyrene since 2002 and it really paid off when we took the ordinance to the council…We engaged local groups such as Save Our Shores, Surfrider and Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. We received over 70 letters of support and not one against—which is unusual.”

On May 22, 2008, 300 people will gather at Little Earth of United Tribes, an urban Native American community in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to dedicate the installation of the first solar air heater. Feast celebrants will be eating with Spudware forks, drinking from bioplastic cups and serving on plates made from sugar cane fiber, thanks to office packages ordered from Honor the Earth is committed to creating a Green Event.

“We went to Carlton College to ask where we could get compostable “disposables” for our Feast,” explained Tom Reed of Honor the Earth. “That’s how we found Green Event Shop. Minneapolis doesn’t have widespread curbside composting, but we do have a composting facility.” That is where Honor the Earth will take what is leftover after its NO TRASH event.The Executive Director of Honor the Earth is Winona LaDuke, Green Party candidate for U.S. Vice President on the 1996 and 2000 ballots.

Green Event Shop.Com Launches Green Event Blog

Green Event Shop opened for business recently. Our products are sturdy and doubly Green because everything is compostable and everything is made from renewable resources. Everything is in stock and ready for your next Green Event.

We pack and ship 100% biodegradable, compostable plates, cutlery, cups in six, handy packages, so you don’t have to buy more than you need or run around trying to find what you want. You can also create your own package using the A La Carte option in the shopping cart. We hope you will turn to Green Event greenevent.biz to make your next social gathering a NO WASTE event. We provide bioplastic “trash bags” so your party leftovers can go to nourish local farms and gardens.

We started this blog to share stories about people nationwide that are throwing Green Events. A midwife in the Navajo Nation sick of Styrofoam cups ordered an Office Package from Green Event Shop. A mother in Kentucky organized a Green Bar mitzvah using one of our Birthday Packages. And, a teacher in Austin, Texas bought a picnic package for a Brazilian fete and then deposited his party garbage in compost silos in his backyard. We think their stories are inspirational.

We also want to highlight steps that people, places and communities are taking to do away with “disposable” plastics and Styrofoam that end up either in a landfill, or worse, in the ocean as marine debris. Either way, these utensils that were used for minutes remain for thousands of years wreaking havoc on the environment. There are alternatives like cups made from corn, forks made from potato starch and plates made from sugar cane. Green Event Shop sells them all at affordable prices. Everything is in stock and ready to be shipped to you within a few days.

Join our discussion. Write partygirl@greenevent.biz with your own stories and successes.

Visit www.greenevent.biz