GreeniacsArticles
Green Living
Eco Winter Wonderland
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Written by Shireen Qudosi
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| Thursday, 12 November 2009 | ||||
Eco Winter Wonderland While most people go into hibernation mode during winter, wanting nothing more than to curl up around a fire with hot coco, there are those of us who start going slightly delirious at the thought of being caged in for the cold winter months. However, unless you’re in the Arctic, there’s no reason why you have to induce self imprisonment during the season. With a mix of both creative and practical thinking, you can have just as much of a ball during winter as you have during the summer by bringing the outdoors indoors.
Even though we may be penny pinching these days, we can still have a fabulous get together – and with the slightest bit of effort and inventive spirit, we can host a splendid evening boasting of eco-chic brilliance. When thinking of winter, my first thoughts escape straight to a “Winter Wonderland” theme and with a slight obsession for eco-friendly entertaining, I’ve been able to source some charming ideas. One of the great things about winter is that you can get really creative and free-spirited with the décor. (During what other season would you get away with bringing trees indoors and then decking them with magpie-envying pieces?) When you think of “wonderland,” think odd, magical and strange. Think Alice in Wonderland meets the Snow Queen, where everything is just slightly off the wall, creative and wonderfully mad – with a rich frosty touch. ![]() Setting the Scene… Ambiance is everything. This is especially true if you’re going to host an evening of kaleidoscopic proportion. Think white candles, silver accents, pops of color, reflective surfaces– just about anything that would catch the eye. The great thing about the holiday season is that just about anything goes and the best way to get this is to pay attention to details. Make sure you include lots of accents and clusters of décor pieces. A quick inexpensive and recyclable option is to top your cake platters with old Christmas tree ornaments. This ensures that you’re using them not just around the holidays, but in a clever festive way that actually gives you the thrill of holiday decorating without sacrificing a tree for it. You can use either tiered cupcake platters or single level ones. Standard cake platters are also great to use as a base for nesting pillars of candles among pine cones and branches from your yard.
Not forgetting our Winter Wonderland theme which embraces creativity, start by breaking convention and bringing in a tree earlier in the year – then turn it upside down. The idea has been popular for a few years now, and it’s both gorgeous and eco-friendly since these trees are of the faux variety. Another simple idea that heats up the evening was discovered in Sunset Magazine, which suggested that “vases of varying heights [can] contain conifer sprigs in an inch of water.” White votive candles behind each jar adds a mesmerizing glow. This is a much more sustainable décor idea than flowers, since branches can be found in most yards and can last up to a month in an inch of fresh water. The idea makes even more sense when the scarcity of naturally available flowers during the winter and the high cost of store-bought stems are taken into consideration. The Feast No matter how much time and energy you’ve invested in creating a lush atmosphere, there’s one key element that always wins out – and that’s taste! Your party doesn’t have to have a five course meal but it does have to have rich savory foods perfectly paired with a winter setting. For a beer bottle budget, try either a cheese and bread fondue party and for dessert take the evening outdoors. Set your patio or deck with a couple patio heaters about a half hour before you expect guest to step outdoors – this way by the time you enjoy the next half of your evening, you’re in a nice toasty niche.
Next, have your guests collect twigs from around the yard and bring them back to serve as marshmallow skewers. Pair that with organic chocolate and your classic cup of hot chocolate, and you’re set for the evening. “Eco Winter Wonderland” is written by Shireen Qudosi and brought to you by http://www.air-n-water.com Images in order of appearance: The White Company; Sunset Magazine; Flickr User Lisa23366; Martha Stewart Living
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| Last Updated ( Thursday, 10 February 2011 ) | ||||
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Green Facts
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An aluminum can that is thrown away instead of recycled will still be a can 500 years from now!
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Washing your clothes in cold or warm instead of hot water saves 500 pounds of carbon dioxide a year, and drying your clothes on a clothesline six months out of the year would save another 700 pounds.
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Americans use 100 million tin and steel cans every day.
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States with bottle deposit laws have 35-40% less litter by volume.
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In the United States, automobiles produce over 20 percent of total carbon emissions. Walk or bike and you'll save one pound of carbon for every mile you travel.
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You’ll save two pounds of carbon for every 20 glass bottles that you recycle.
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Turning off the tap when brushing your teeth can save as much as 10 gallons a day per person.
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Every week about 20 species of plants and animals become extinct.
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Current sea ice levels are at least 47% lower than they were in 1979.
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Glass can be recycled over and over again without ever wearing down.
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Recycling aluminum saves 95% of the energy used to make the material from scratch.
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Recycling 1 million laptop computers can save the amount of energy used by 3,657 homes in the U.S. over the course of a year.
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Americans throw away more than 120 million cell phones each year, which contribute 60,000 tons of waste to landfills annually.
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A tree that provides a home with shade from the sun can reduce the energy required to run the air conditioner and save an additional 200 to 2,000 pounds of carbon over its lifetime.
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Recycling for one year at Stanford University saved the equivalent of 33,913 trees and the need for 636 tons of iron ore, coal, and limestone.
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Rainforests are being cut down at the rate of 100 acres per minute.
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Recycling 100 million cell phones can save enough energy to power 18,500 homes in the U.S. for a year.
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You will save 100 pounds of carbon for each incandescent bulb that you replace with a compact fluorescent bulb (CFL), over the life of the bulb.
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Less than 1% of electricity in the United States is generated from solar power.
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Refrigerators built in 1975 used 4 times more energy than current models.
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In California homes, about 10% of energy usage is related to TVs, DVRs, cable and satellite boxes, and DVD players.
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Nudge your thermostat up two degrees in the summer and down two degrees in the winter to prevent 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.
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It takes 6,000,000 trees to make 1 year's worth of tissues for the world.
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Shaving 10 miles off of your weekly driving pattern can eliminate about 500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year.
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77% of people who commute to work by car drive alone.
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If every U.S. household turned the thermostat down by 10 degrees for seven hours each night during the cold months, and seven hours each weekday, it would prevent nearly gas emissions.
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You will save 300 pounds of carbon dioxide for every 10,000 miles you drive if you always keep your car’s tires fully inflated.
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A laptop consumes five times less electricity than a desktop computer.
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One recycled aluminum can will save enough energy to run a 100-watt bulb for 20 hours, a computer for 3 hours, or a TV for 2 hours.
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Americans throw away enough aluminum to rebuild our entire commercial fleet of airplanes every 3 months
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Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kill as many as 1,000,000 sea creatures every year.
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Due to tiger poaching, habitat destruction, and other human-tiger conflicts, tigers now number around 3,200—a decrease in population by about 70% from 100 years ago.
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For every 38,000 bills consumers pay online instead of by mail, 5,058 pounds of greenhouse gases are avoided and two tons of trees are preserved.
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A steel mill using recycled scrap reduces related water pollution, air pollution, and mining wastes by about 70%.
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The World Health Organization estimates that 2 million people die prematurely worldwide every year due to air pollution.
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A single quart of motor oil, if disposed of improperly, can contaminate up to 2,000,000 gallons of fresh water.
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Bamboo absorbs 35% more carbon dioxide than equivalent stands of trees.
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American workers spend an average of 47 hours per year commuting through rush hour traffic. This adds up to 23 billion gallons of gas wasted in traffic each year.
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82 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. come from burning fossil fuels.


While most people go into hibernation mode during winter, wanting nothing more than to curl up around a fire with hot coco, there are those of us who start going slightly delirious at the thought of being caged in for the cold winter months. However, unless you’re in the Arctic, there’s no reason why you have to induce self imprisonment during the season. With a mix of both creative and practical thinking, you can have just as much of a ball during winter as you have during the summer by bringing the outdoors indoors.

A quick inexpensive and recyclable option is to top your cake platters with old Christmas tree ornaments. This ensures that you’re using them not just around the holidays, but in a clever festive way that actually gives you the thrill of holiday decorating without sacrificing a tree for it. You can use either tiered cupcake platters or single level ones. Standard cake platters are also great to use as a base for nesting pillars of candles among pine cones and branches from your yard.
For a beer bottle budget, try either a cheese and bread fondue party and for dessert take the evening outdoors. Set your patio or deck with a couple patio heaters about a half hour before you expect guest to step outdoors – this way by the time you enjoy the next half of your evening, you’re in a nice toasty niche.
