Feeling the flow, working it

So we are feeling the flow and working it (thanks Happy Gilmore, I bet that doesn't show my age too much) finally with Leftover Love.  Just a little bit of local support has made a huge difference.  Now I feel certain that we can make this concept, taking your own reusable containers to restaurants, as common as taking your own grocery bag to go grocery shopping.  All these small actions will make a huge difference, and the planet and everyone on it is so grateful.   And as always thanks to everyone who has offered so much support.
http://helendining.blogspot.com/2012/04/leftover-love-take-your-own-containers.html

Keep those signatures coming, if we can hit a 100 I am sure we can use it to influence some of the chains.  Yeah we are after you chains mwhahahaha (evil laugh, but in a nice way) be ready :)

This is big

With the help of WFAE there are now some restaurants actually participating.  This is huge.
http://wfaeats.org/2012/04/10/leftover-love/

Happy Birthday

I would like to start off by saying that I hope everyone had a great Earth Day yesterday.  Hopefully we all did something that will benefit the planet in some way.  My efforts to better the planet came to me in gift formation.  Yes I recently celebrated another birthday (don't worry if you did not send a gift, there are no deadlines, kidding of course, and don't even bother asking how old, I will put it this way I only sort of remember when fire was invented anyhoo), and received two lovely gifts that I wanted to share.  The first gift was an awesome drying wrack.  I love it, and now that the weather is warming up, I am able to use it a bit more.  This particular item is allows me to place things that normally would require extra time in the electric dryer.  Things like cloth diapers and or big rugs, whatever really, are placed on the wrack, are then generally forgotten about by me, and by the time I remember again they are dry.  Just saved an entire dryer session.  So lovely.  It does not require clothes pins so that is nice and it also does not require assembly or hanging a line (which is just as good an option).  Anyway for people like me it is perfect and I love it.  And I am sure my wallet with thank me too, as I am hoping it may put a small dent in the power bill.  Anyway great gift or just everyday idea if you want to try it, of course that is if you are not already doing it.  I know there are tons of people out there, especially in warmer climates, that are way smarter than me and use the sun to dry clothes without me telling them.  Just thought.
The other gift was an awesome container from Tupperware.  It is called FLATOUT!  And guess what, it is designed to use for things like oh I don't know, taking leftovers home from restaurants.  Sounds like Leftover Love to me.  Another awesome gift that I am very grateful to have received.  So if you have not found a container yet to use as your reusable doggy bag, this is a great one to look into.  Here is the link if you are interested.
Thank you to all for all my birthday gifts, and to all the people that gave them to me.  Your generosity and support means so much to me.

So last thing just another super desperate plea to get 40 more signatures on the petition.  Lets keep the momentum going.

Anyone out there

And reading this right now, please sign the petition.  So so so close (and desperate, haha, no really) to those 100 signatures.
Thanks so much.
http://www.change.org/petitions/restaurants-still-using-styrofoam-doggy-bags-stop-using-stryofoam-create-incentive-for-patrons-to-bring-own-doggy-bags

I am impressed

All I have to say in this post is that I am so glad there are so many smart people out there.  I recently discovered something called Pavegen when I was flipping through the pages of a magazine.  The article made it sound like something very futuristic.  But after looking it up and finding the site for it, it is not in the future it is now.  What it is is these tiles that you put down that collect the kinetic energy from footsteps.  The energy is then stored and used to power small, and potentially large, things.  The tiles have already been placed around certain parts of London.  And will be used for the upcoming Olympics.  really is so ingenious.  Using the power and energy that we create and turning it into usable energy to power stuff we need.  I must keep this entry short, as I really cannot explain any more than I have or my head may explode.  Normally I do not get this excited over techy stuff, but this one really impressed me.  Makes me sleep a little bit easier knowing there are smart people doing smart things to help better the planet and those that live on it.

http://www.pavegen.com/

Just a little side note.  Please sign the petition, if you have not already.  Pass it along to anyone you think may be willing to sign.  I want to be able to use the signatures to make restaurants realize that I am not a lone voice whining all the time, but there are others out there who want them to change some old habits.  Power in numbers right, so lets gets some numbers.  We are doing good, but can do better.  I am shooting for a 100 and know that with some help it will be possible.

Thanks a bunch.

Picnic for the Planet

I recently found something that I think goes along very nicely with my Leftover Love Earth Day idea, and that is the Nature Conservancy's Picnic for the Planet ( http://www.nature.org/earthday/index.htm ).  So just a reminder my idea was to try  and get some sponsors, have some containers made with the sponsors listed on said containers, distribute them to restaurants to hand out on Earth Day, wait there is more, then get those restaurants to participate in my super awesome Leftover Love incentive program, and then we save the world.  I know awesome idea, which totally helps protect the green and the blue of the planet, just need a little patience while I try and coordinate these efforts.  Now what the Nature Conservancy is doing is the exact same thing, except they already have sponsors.  They have created a super fun incentive, which happens to be based around eating (see the connection, love it, eating that is, as well as the connection), to help save the planet.  It is a fundraiser called Picnic for the Planet.  There are a number of different ways you can participate, such as host a picnic, join a picnic, or donate.  And all of them involve me, I mean you, eating something delicious, while promoting the cause of conservation.  Sounds like a  win/win if you ask me.  It is a worthwhile cause that I felt was certainly blog worthy and hope that you check it out.  I know that whether my idea comes to fruition or not (hope springs eternal and just in case there is always next year) I will definitely be participating in the picnic.

P.S. if you have not already done so please sign the petition to stop the use of styrofoam, as well as all disposable, doggy bags.
http://www.change.org/petitions/restaurants-still-using-styrofoam-doggy-bags-stop-using-stryofoam-create-incentive-for-patrons-to-bring-own-doggy-bags

Recent Travel

Well I am sure that everyone who reads this blog (yes my imaginary friends count) have lost a lot of sleep with the lack of posts recently.  That has all come to an end as we (my imaginary friends go everywhere with me) are now back from our travels.  And guess what I have made some startling discoveries on this trip.  Other places in the world also care about the world.  Now I know you may think that is crazy talk, but it is true.  Here are some awesome ways that I found people are trying to protect our planet.  Example one, a lovely hotel in Vietnam offered the same shampoo and conditioner as you find in most places, except for their bottles were not plastic, but clay pots that they refilled.  Now yes I know that means you can't take them with you, but seriously who wants a million plastic hotel bottles of shampoo.  I was super impressed with this effort and encourage all other hotels to look into it.  As always if you don't do it for the environment think about the cost savings.  Another hotel in Thailand did a similar thing, but instead of cute clay pots they just gave you a huge bottle of shampoo.  Same concept just not as dressed up.  But it worked.  And just fyi both of these hotels were super nice, so don't get the idea that they were some cheap dumps.  Far from it.  OK second example, again about hotel rooms.  We traveled through 4 countries in Southeast Asia and in each hotel they required you to place your key card into a slot in the wall that allowed the room to be powered.  What does that mean, when you leave the room nothing is running.  Why?  Because you have to take your key with you of course.  What a huge power savings this is.  I have also heard that this is done throughout other countries, such as Australia.  It is absolutely brilliant.  Now I will say that where we were was very hot so we did have to sacrifice a few minutes of our time once we returned to the room to let the AC cool things down again.  But after you have been out in the hot sun all day what is a few more minutes of heat, and the answer is,  nothing.  Such a great idea, again hope hotels that are not doing this look into it, just think of the cost savings with that one.  And my final environmental example is face cloths.  Don't worry I will explain myself.  In many of the restaurants we went to they used face cloths, wash cloths, or small towels, what ever you want to call them, instead of paper towels.  OMG BRILLIANT is all I have to say.  And not only brilliant, but charming as well, so much prettier to see a basket of neatly rolled towels than a box of paper.  This goes along with the leftover love idea of just cutting down where you can on unnecessary waste.  The restaurant yes may have to wash a few towels, but has saved a bunch of energy, trees, and other resources by not using something disposable.  So there it is, other parts of the world do care and hope remains that we can save this planet with a big group effort.  And yes 7 billion people is a big group.

Major Leftover Love Updates

With the awesome help of the local NPR station I think we may be finally be breaking some new ground with Leftover Love.  There has been an article published on their blog (http://wfaeats.org/2012/04/10/leftover-love/)  and I recently heard that they have gained the interest from some local eateries in participating in the Leftover Love incentive program.  I am so appreciative of the help that the station has offered and know that great things will come out of this.  But the core of this effort is always the individual.  Whether or not restaurants jump on board, always remember to help cut down on waste by taking your own container to use for leftovers.  It is really that simple.