World Water Day

Aren't we lucky? We wake up each morning- brush our teeth, hop in the shower, make a cup o' joe and off we go on our way.

Today is World Water Day - a great reminder that throughout the world there are many less fortunate. Today, take a moment each time you sip or use a drop of H20 and remember how fortunate you are to have this consumable right at your tap. We take so much for granted, right?

Being in the paper industry we are all too aware how much water is consmed in our industry and we have tried to do our part to conserve, consume less and carefully research the production practices of the mills that produce our paper. We read the Whole Living Daily WATER IQ TEST below on Huffington Post {and failed miserably} and it reminds us, once again, how precious each drop is.

Click HERE to see a larger view: By Whole Living Daily via huffingtonpost.com

Have a {LED} Ball on New Year's Eve!

It's hard to believe that another year has come and gone, and this will be our final post for 2011!

As we bid adieu to a very good year, we were so pleased to hear on the news this evening that the ball (ya know, THE ball) in Times Square will be illuminated for the first time with LED light bulbs.

We're all a glow with fun facts: ;)

Image via Royal Phillips Electronics

Extra extra! Read "all the news that's fit to print" about the Times Square jewel HERE

Ball images via forummedia.us

Wishing you all a beautiful, bright green New Year!!!

Eco-Hotels in NYC: Element and Yotel

As you may know- we attend a trade show now and then! I attend shows as both an exhibitor and/or as a buyer for my store, On Paper. Whenever we travel we try to seek out greener hotels and two new faves when we head to NYC are ELEMENT where we stayed last trip and YOTEL where we stayed last week while attending the New York International Gift Show.

We highly recommend ELEMENT - It's new, has many truly green features but during the NYIGF it was completely booked - which is a good thing and means more and more people are putting eco at the top of their reservation list! You can check out the hotel on their website here.

Element Hotel - photos via Elementtimessquare.com

Yotel is brand new. If you can get past the name and the somewhat Vegas/60's/motel-ie exterior- Yotel is a pretty great NY find. And super cheap if you can snag one of the NYIGF rates.

Before selecting the hotel, I read that if Steve Jobs were to design a hotel- this would be it. Say no more- good enough for me!

Check-in is on the street level and features self check in kiosks- super easy- and a robot for storing luggage. Fear not, there are real people too- who hand you your key and will happily handle your bags.

The rooms are super tiny (repeat after me- tiny!) But warned in advance I found much appreciation in the incredibly well designed multi-functional space. And compared with several hotels where I've stayed- this felt roomy in spite of it's pint size.

Photos via yotel.com

The most clever part of the room design is the bed that raises and reclines serving double duty as bed/sofa. It's a great concept and leaves you wondering why no one has done this sooner.

Also clever and true to green design, the hotel maximizes it's open space providing common areas that are vast both indoors and out. The hotel boasts a fabulous outdoor terrace and it's fantastic on a summer evening.

Overall- Yotel is a great eco sensitive hotel. It's not glitzy and definitely not a be-seen scene. And make no mistake- it's not "luxury" as they claim. But it's cool- innovative technology focused efficient design, low key and best of all - a short walk to Javits!

E Waste

In honor of Cyber Monday- thought we'd interject a bit of a reality check...

Think all of that email marketing is really great for the environment? Think again. As this powerful graphic (a collaboration from Good and Column Five Media) illustrates, global electronic waste is a mounting problem.

Each year in the U.S. alone we throw out 47.5 million computers and 100 million cell phones. Globally, electronic waste is mounting up to 40 million TONS per year, and much of that waste is cargo-ed to foreign countries for disposal.

Unfortunately- there's not an Ap for that- so next time you think you need the latest and greatest new model phone, pad, pod, puter- consider hanging on to that device for at least another 6 months. Less waste = yep, less waste!

Image/eco specs via Goodis.com