November Reusable Bag Contest Winner!

Congratulations to our winner of the November reusable bag contest, Small Footprints! They will be winning two of our reusable gift bags:

* The Yuletide Greetings Reusable Tote Bag

* The Holiday Presents Reusable Tote Bag

We've also just added some brand new reusable gift bags to our store this week (we just posted about them yesterday here).

Want to enter our next contest? We've made some people pretty happy with their free contest giveaways, as you can see here, here and here. To be the first in line for our next contest, follow TheGreenerMe on Twitter for contest updates, our fan me on Facebook.

Happy Holiday shopping!

Introducing the New Penguin, Polar Bear, and Frosty Reusable Gift Tote Bags!

EcoGreenBags has introduced four new reusable gift tote bags to our collection just in time for the holidays! Let's take a look at these festive new holiday bags...

1. Emperor Penguin Chick Tote Bag

A cute baby Emperor Penguin chick surrounded by a giant icy heart. Great gift for the cold weather! Perfect to reuse again and again.




2. Frosty the Snowman Bag

He's all natural you know! Made from a repurposed top hat, some old sticks, and all natural snow, Frosty made going green "cool." Get this icy cold tote bag for the holiday season as a shopping tote, reusable gift bag, or to carry all of your daily essentials! Great for school, too.

3. Season's Greetings Tote Bag

With a multitude of holiday symbols, this bag covers all of the bases for the Christmas season. Stockings, winter snowflakes, doves, Christmas trees, bowties, ribbons, swirls, presents, stars and candy canes abound make this an ultra festive bag to give your presents in, or to take with your while doing your shopping!

4. Polar Bear Tote Bag

One of the most popular new holiday additions has been our Polar bear reusable tote bag. A cute Polar Bear cub on a piece of floating ice is a cute reminder to make that extra step to go green for the holiday season! Slow global warming by cooking up some of your own meals instead of getting take-out, using less heat during the winter by bundling up, and by switching to reusable bags to help curb the production of disposable plastic bags.

To view our entire selection of reusable bags, reusable SIGG bottles, and organic t-shirts, visit our store today and buy an eco friendly gift for someone you love!
Ecogreenbags.com

Avoiding BPA in Your Lunch

When it comes to your food, BPA has been popping up all over the news for the harmful effects it can have on your body. Forbes Magazine writes: "Some studies have linked it to cancer, diabetes, heart disease and developmental problems in children. Health advocates say exposure to the chemical could present a particular problem to developing fetuses."

Going BPA free with food can seem tough, especially if you're relying on disposal plastic items like ziploc bags and baby bottles. Fortunately, one such item that can help that toxic dose of BPA is reusable sandwich bags. These ones in particular are BPA free, and are easily hand washable.

Some other suggestions for avoiding a heaping helping of BPA:

* Limit consumption of canned goods. Canned products have been shown to contain amounts of BPA, especially harmful to children and pregnant women.

* Go BPA free with your baby bottles. Search the net for truly BPA free bottles.

* Opt for glass jars instead of plastic. Plastics, especially some #7 plastics, have been known to contain trace amounts of BPA. Glass is a good alternative.

An Easy Quick Fix to Substantially Reduce Your Energy Bill

When it comes to saving energy on your electric bill, there are hundreds of tiny things you can do... or there's one giant thing you can do. That one thing is to unplug things after you're done using them. Don't leave the toaster plugged in, or the smoothie machine, your pencil sharpener, and buy an energy saving power strip for your computer. This one act alone can cut your electric use by 10% or more. Known as the "phantom load," energy sucked gets sucked from your appliances and gadgets just by being plugged in. Nevermind if you're computer is off, if the toaster isn't being used, or if the TV is off. It all drains power. Surge protector power strips cost under ten bucks from most stores, and can pay themselves off in just a month (especially if you have a computer).

5 Things to Do to Prepare Your Body for Winter

When winter rolls around, it's only natural people are going to get more lethargic with the lessening sunlight, stay inside because of the colder temperatures, and eat more because of the holidays and cold. Come spring, we might have a little bit of regret and extra work to do to shed those extra pounds of the winter... but there are a few small things you can do to prepare your body for winter and be in good shape come springtime. Read on for some suggestions!

1. Take a walk daily, even if only for ten minutes. If it's raining, walk ten minutes on the treadmill, or use weight bands while watching TV. The extra exercise will keep your metabolism up, and keep your waistline from growing.

2. Use the supermarket to your advantage Park your car far away, and lap the entire store before starting your grocery shopping. Keep a brisk pace throughout the store and you'll also have grocery shopping done sooner.

3. On Thanksgiving, plan on going for a walk. A long walk or a ride to the beach with family is just the thing to get you away from the food, and spend some quality time with the family!

4. Use Root Vegetables in Your Recipes. Just because winter is here doesn't mean that fresh produce has gone away. In the fall and winter, root vegetables are at their peak, and will start to arrive at grocery stores. This guide gives you some great ideas on how to cook root vegetables.

5. Stock up on Frozen Fruits. When winter arrives, we often deprive ourselves of fruit and vegetables since they cost more and are not as fresh. Fresh frozen fruits have a lot of taste and work well in fruit smoothies. If you can find organic fruit, that might be an even better choice.

These small steps might help you prevent getting sick during the winter by keeping your immune system stronger, not to mention improve your cardiovascular health.

Avoiding Mercury in Fish - Which Fish to Eat, and What to Avoid

You've probably heard all of the bad stuff about fish and mercury, and the contradictory statements about the benefits of eating fish. With all of this information, it can be confusing-- should we eat fish or not? And what kinds of fish should we even eat, if any?

First, you should know why we can't eat fish with mercury. Mercury exposure and poisoning can lead to damage to the lungs, brain, and kidney, as well as several different types of diseases. While mercury can be found in other foods and even in the air, fish consumption has been found to be the likely culprit in many cases of mercury poisoning.

How to Avoid Mercury Poisoning

Avoid eating fish that are the highest in mercury, which are, according to the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council):

Mackerel (King)
Marlin
Orange Roughy
Shark
Swordfish
Tilefish
Tuna (Bigeye, Ahi)

There are many more fish that you could possibly be eating, so check the full list of fish containing high amounts of mercury here. Not to worry though, because the article also lists many more safe fish to eat that outnumber by far the mercury contaminated species, like varieties of shrimp, clams, scallops, haddock, salmon, flounder, and tilapia.

Don't Stop Eating Fish!

There are far too many benefits of eating fish to stop eating them. Instead, just have this list handy and make educated decision when buying your fish. The essential Omega 3 fatty acid can be found in many fish, which aids in cardiovascular health, the development of the fetus in pregnant women, and may be linked to slower decline in brain loss and memory in older people.

Twelve Tips To Go Green for Thanksgiving

Scary news I know, but yes Thanksgiving is only a few weeks away. Where did the summer go? And how is Thanksgiving, and dare I say Christmas, right around the corner. With holidays coming up there are several ways you can have a greener holiday. These tips are easy enough for anyone to use-no excuses allowed for not being able to follow at least one or two of these eco friendly Thanksgiving tips!

1. Turkey. Consider purchasing a locally farmed turkey which was free range and organically raised. This will bring to your table a fresh turkey with substantially less chemicals than a store bought turkey.

2. Vegetables. When making veggies to go with the turkey, search for vegetables that are in season and perhaps local to your area. If local veggies are not available look for organic veggies in your local supermarket as they are grown with less chemicals.

3. Gravy. Make your own gravy vs. the kind you can buy in a can. Not only will this save you a serving of BPA (which has been discovered to be present in canned foods, as it leaches from the can) but it also tastes so much better!

4. Stuffing. Consider using an all natural bread for your stuffing, either made from scratch or picked up from a local all natural bakery.

5. Coffee. Serve a fair trade, shade grown organic coffee after dinner as people are relaxing after the filling meal.

6. Pumpkin Pie. When making your pumpkin pie, search for a pumpkin or two that has been responsibly grown. Again if locally grown pumpkins are no longer available, search for an organic pumpkin as the growing process for organic vegetables uses a lot less chemicals and pesticides.

7. Drinkware/Dishes. ALWAYS use reusable plates, cups and utensils for all appetizers, meal and dessert, along with any drinks.

8. Football Games. When going to a football game of your old home team or your current home team, always bring with you a thermos and a Not a Paper Cup (or a BPA free SIGG bottle for cold drinks) . This will save you from spending money at the local coffee shop and buying a coffee in a paper or Styrofoam cup which will only be thrown away.

9. Carpooling. Are you traveling for Thanksgiving? Consider the other guests going and see if it makes sense to set up a carpool. This will consume less gas, less wear and tear on cars and on the road, and you will have great company to chat with along your route to dinner.

10. Leftovers. Does Noni (Italian grandmother) always send you home with leftovers? Plan ahead this year and bring your own containers for the leftovers. This eliminates having containers which will need to be recycled after you are done with them , or possibly even thrown away if they aren't able to be recycled.

11. Extra Hot Air. If you have no little ones around this holiday dinner, keep the oven open for a little bit after the turkey is done cooking. This will add a bit of warmth to the house and may help cut down on your heating expense for the day :)

12. Grocery Shopping. When grocery shopping for your produce, be sure to use reusable produce bags instead of the plastic bags provided by the grocery store. Don't worry if your bags get a little dirty, they can washed in the washing machine after you are done with them! The less plastic consumed the better the Earth will be!

November Reusable Bag Contest: Reusable Gift Bags!

We've held a slew of reusable bag contests over the past year, and we're starting November off with another one! This month, we're upping the stakes. How? Win two reusable bags from our cool reusable gift bags section! Each bag is valued at $18.50, and the bags will be shipped anywhere in the USA at no cost to you.

What You Can Do With These 100% Canvas Cotton Reusable Gift Bags

Not only are these great to give as gifts, but they're perfect to use instead of a stocking, or to tote around your holiday baking items (fresh cookies, bread, and treats!). Bring them to the grocery store as your holiday reusable bag, or give them as a unique green gift.

To help spread the word about going reusable this holiday season, we'll be giving away two of our reusable holiday tote bags. First, our Yuletide Greetings tote bag, which features a vintage style gingerbread man, along with some festive colored lights surrounding him. It's double-sided with the same image, so no one will miss this striking holiday design from any angle! Second, our classic wrapped presents reusable gift bag. A large pile of presents will remind you of all of the packaging you'll be saving from going reusable!

How to Enter the Contest

Entering the contest couldn't be easier.

1. Simply visit our store,
ecogreenbags.com,
and tell us your favorite tote bag in the store. Find one of our reusable gift bags, browse our large selection of grocery bags, or if you'd prefer, name off your favorite organic t-shirt or SIGG bottle!

2. Then, come back to this post and tell us what your favorite bag is. Leave the name of the bag in the comments, and make sure we have a way to get in touch with you (that means link to your Twitter account, your personal website, etc., just make sure we can get in touch with you!).

3. The winner will be drawn at random on November 30. Contest ends November 29, 2009 (that's a Sunday night), at 7PM EST. Look for an announcement here for the winner, but don't worry, if you're the winner, you'll be contacted asap. Contest is open to U.S. residents only. We will contact the winner to arrange shipping (which we will pay for).

So the question is, what's your favorite bag from our store?