The Rochester Area 2010 Think Green Fair will take place from 10am-9pm on June 26th, 2010 at the Olmsted County Fairgrounds, Graham Park. Join us for this full full day celebration of green living and sustainability in southern Minnesota!

What is Thinking Green? Thinking green means learning to live in a way that will reduce your impact on the environment, improve your quality of life, and save you money. Thinking Green is about coming together with neighborhoods, communities, organizations, and businesses to ensure that the choices we make today will not compromise the quality of life for future generations.

The fair will include a green expo, workshops, speakers, musical entertainment, local food, artisans and children’s activities providing you the opportunity to think green in all aspects of your life.

MORE >>>> http://www.cleanenergyresourceteams.org/get-answers/11/03/2010/rochester-area-think-green-fair-invites-exhibitors

Spring is here and it’s time for spring cleaning. Think green when spring cleaning this year by using eco friendly green cleaning products, finding new life for unused items and properly disposing unwanted medications.

“Spring cleaning is the perfect time to begin making choices that protect Florida’s natural environment,” said DEP Director of Sustainable Initiatives Deas Bohn. “Whether choosing to use non-toxic green cleaners, learning the proper methods for prescription drug disposal or implementing a household recycling plan, these choices not only protect and preserve natural resources, but help to save money and protect human health too.”

Many common cleaning products are hazardous to the environment when poured down the drain or thrown away. Consumers can use recipes to make green cleaners at home that are equally as effective as traditional products, and safer for people and the environment. DEP offers tips and recipes for green cleaning at: www.dep.state.fl.us/pollutionprevention/green_cleaning.htm.

For those who don’t have time to make their own green cleaners, there are now hundreds of environmentally friendly greeen products widely available through stores and the Internet. Important safety and environmental features of these green products include being non-toxic, biodegradable, made from renewable resources and petroleum-free. The Green Seal, EcoLabel or other third party certification assures environmentally friendly contents. Old cleaners should be properly disposed of at the nearest city or county household hazardous waste collection center rather than being thrown in the trash.

Another way to think green this spring is to find new life for unused or unwanted items. DEP offers the following tips to give unwanted items a second life:

1. Non-profit thrift stores accept gently used items and usually gives donors a receipt to use for tax purposes.
2. Give away old clothing, household items or lawn care items to a neighbor, friend, or co-worker who may need them.
3. Freecycle Network is a web-based, nonprofit organization that helps people offer up items that other people will happily take (www.freecycle.com). Also, you can offer things for free to people in your area on an online bulletin board or newspaper.
4. Host a yard sale or sell your older items on an online bulletin board.
5. Recycle everything that you can, such as small pieces of unfinished wood, glass jars and boxes gathering dust in your garage. Also, recycle household hazardous wastes such as oil, batteries, fluorescent lamps, paint, and pesticides (www.dep.state.fl.us/waste/categories/hazardous/pages/household.htm).
6. Recycle unwanted televisions and electronics. Recycling your television, instead of throwing it away keeps waste out of landfills, and allows the recovery of electronic components that contain lead and other toxic materials. (www.dep.state.fl.us/waste/categories/electronics/pages/televisions.htm).
7. Convert scrap paper into telephone answering pads or scratch pads. Print drafts on the blank side of used paper. Reuse file folders and ring binders.
8. Many office product suppliers will take back empty ink/toner cartridges, recycle them for you, and allow store credit towards future purchases. (www.recycleplace.com) will pay up to $1 for returned ink/toner cartridges.
9. Reuse packing cartons and shipping papers.
10. Save and reuse gift boxes, ribbons and larger pieces of wrapping and tissue paper.

In addition, when disposing of expired or unwanted prescriptions, and over-the-counter medications this spring, it is important to choose a method of disposal that won”t compromise the environment. The preferred method of disposal is with the household garbage rather than flushing medication down the toilet or drain. This method helps protect Florida?s water bodies and drinking water by reducing pharmaceutical traces.

“The proper disposal of expired or unwanted medications helps protect Florida’s residents and visitors as well as local waters and aquatic life,” said Mary Jean Yon, Director of DEP’s Division of Waste Management. “We encourage all Florida residents and visitors to be smart about the appropriate methods for disposal of unwanted medications as well as household items and cleaning products.”

To protect the environment, please use these guidelines instead of flushing medications:

1. Keep in the original container. This will help identify the contents if they are accidentally digested.
2. Mark out your name and prescription number for safety.
3. For pills, add some water or soda to start dissolving them. For liquids, add something inedible like cat litter or dirt.
4. Close the lid and secure with duct tape or packing tape.
5. Place the bottle(s) inside an opaque (non see-through) container like a detergent container.
6. Tape that container closed.
7. Hide the container in the trash. Do not put it in the recycle bin.

Selling green products is a process that began to gain momentum in the last four years for Bill Snider, owner of an Ace Hardware store. Offering green products is part of a plan Snider has to gain an edge on larger businesses like OSH, Home Depot and Wal-Mart.

Ace Hardware is a business cooperative that allows owners like Snider to customize their businesses to meet the needs of customers. Such freedom has allowed Snider to re-engineer his hardware store into a pioneering green business within the emerging trend known as the green economic revolution.

He decided to house green products after gauging customers’ needs and asking for feedback on what products they’d like to see in his store.

Snider says. “I get to listen to what customers want and part of what they want is to learn about new products. And the new products customers are increasingly buying are things that work with the environment.”

One such example is a biodegradable garbage bag that sells for about $5 compared to a non-biodegradable bag that sells for about $3. Four years ago Snider bought a large inventory of the biodegradable bags, convinced that customers would “get it.” They didn’t. He had to put the bags on sale for $1 each just to get rid of them. But over the last year, the biodegradable bags have begun to sell, even at the original price.

Snider sees the path for growing a green business as an educational process. Often customers come to him seeking a green products he doesn’t have, like Dr. Earth organic gardening products. He’d never heard of it before, but customers started to request it. He took the cue and decided to stock the product. The products are found in a center aisle display and Snider has found they generate increased sales and new customer inflow to the store.

At other times, it’s Snider who’s educating his customers. “Compact florescent light bulbs save money and energy compared to the regular light bulbs, but they cost more. So a year ago I put a display right by the cash register and had the cashier offer every customer an opportunity to buy a bulb at no risk; money back guarantee. Now I have them displayed back in the lighting section because customers are educated on the environmental and cost benefits of CFLs and are coming into my store specifically to buy them.”

CFLs are also an example of how the learning process flows from Snider’s store “upstream” to suppliers and other impacted institutions. “The untold story on CFLs is the mercury vapor in the bulb,” says Susan Marconi, marketing director at Snider’s store. “Disposal of these bulbs requires special handling and shipping so they don’t break. And they should be disposed of at a hazardous waste facility. We’re telling bulb suppliers and the local government that there needs to be a process for disposing CFLs that’s cost-effective and convenient for customers.”

Another part of the educational process is labeling. “There are no rules established by government that really helps the customer figure out which product is truly green compared to those merely labeled green,” Marconi says. “We spend a lot of time reading labels and keeping our staff educated on what they say and don’t say.”

In addition, Snider and Marconi try all of the green products before they decide whether to add them to their inventory. “Some work and some don’t,” Marconi says. “Our customers want performance first and they want to achieve this performance in a green manner.” One particular product they tested–an organic cleaning product made from lemons and oranges with a high concentration of citric acid. They found the product worked on wood and linoleum but scarred granite and tile counter tops. Instead, they decided to carry a lesser-known plant-based cleaning product called Natrics with no petrochemicals that’s very effective, biodegradable and safe to use on all surfaces.

What are the lessons entrepreneurs can learn from Snider’s experiences? Here are a few that will apply to your business:

1. Educational marketing. A sea change in customer procurement is underway. Price and performance are still core buying parameters, but customers want green educational services as well. Some need help figuring which are green products. Others already know they want to buy a particular green solution and are looking for a “green store.” An educational marketing strategy that fulfills the informational needs of the customer is a growth path toward increased sales.
2. Competitive advantage. An educational marketing strategy that engages and educates customers creates strong customer loyalties to a supplier’s brand. Establishing a portfolio of such brands that big box retailers don’t stock or discount creates a lasting competitive advantage.
3. Learning is the ultimate competitive advantage. Going green is a grassroots phenomenon. Customers working with innovators like Snider and Marconi are shaping the green economic revolution. Going green is a process of listening and learning that engages customers, work associates and suppliers. The playing field is wide open with no dominant competitors. It’s a huge opportunity for risk-taking entrepreneurs to figure out products, services and new business processes at the grassroots level. Today’s grassroots green business holds the potential to become tomorrow’s national IPO.

Things got a little too heavy for the Academy during “The Cove” team’s speech for Best Documentary. When the film’s star, Ric O’Barry, held up a sign with an activist statement on it, the Academy panicked, abruptly cuing the music and cutting away right as the film’s director, Louie Psihoyos, was about to make his speech.

The sign that scared the Academy said “Text Dolphin to 44144.” What exactly was so offensive about it?

According to TakePart, sending the text will sign you up to get messages about how to help end the dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan.