Are you looking for some fun, new art to hang on the wall?  A lot of local personalities, organizations and even well-known celebrities have created one-of-a-kind decorated masks that can be yours - all to help raise money for a local school.  The Innovations International Charter School of Nevada is a bilingual K-12 Clark County school with a creative mind for learning. 

Donny & Marie Osmond, Patricia Arquette from CBS’ The Medium, Mayor Oscar Goodman, Disney’s Lion King, Terry Fator, Channel 8’s George Knapp, and even “The Donald” Trump (his mask is made of dollar bills!) are all helping to increase the mind power of the kids over at Innovations.  The school’s fundraiser is called “Unmasking the Mind Art Auction & Gala” and it’s this Saturday night at The House of Blues at Mandalay Bay.  Tickets are $60 to the event. 

Before the event, you have a chance to contribute by bidding on these beautiful, unique and even funky masks created with their own message in mind.  My son, Ethan, and I created our mask with the Living Green theme (up top) and naturally - I hope you’ll bid on it!  We spent a lot of time on it and it was great fun!  Bidding starts at $50 for all masks and the on-line auction is going on now until Wednesday, Oct. 21 at midnight!  So sign on and get in a bid.  I hear George Knapp’s mask has a hidden camera in it, so be careful where you hang it in the house!  Just kidding.

If you’re an avid cyclist or you just ride your bike for fun with the kids, biking is healthy for you and the environment.  And more people are looking at their bike as their commuting vehicle of choice.

RTC’s Viva Bike Vegas is returning this weekend to encourage Southern Nevadans to get out on the open roads to enjoy and help preserve the beautiful desert scenery.  The Saturday morning event will offer a 35-mile, 62-mile and 118-mile route for riders.  Cyclists will take off from the Regional Transportation  Commission’s office at 600 S. Grand Central Pkwy. (across from the Factory Outlet Stores).  Other family members can hang back and let the kids ride in the kids’ bike rodeo.  Lunch will be available for purchase, but the sunshine will be free of charge.  You can register at the RTC’s website.  While there, check out the plans for a new bike transfer station downtown where you can ride in, park and lock your bike, and even take a shower before heading off to work.  A bike repair shop will be on site, too for those flat-tire troubles and other necessities to keep you safe on the road.  Ride on RTC!

If you live in an apartment, how many times have you carried your trash bag to the garbage cans knowing it was full of recyclable bottles and newspaper?  Don’t you wish they’d put some recycle bins out there for you and your neighbors to live a little greener?

Well, SB 137 is one of the 150 new Nevada laws that went into effect October 1st, and it says that recycling bins will be made available for residents of apartments and condos in Clark County.  Haleluah, right?  Not exactly.  There are some challenges with the new law.

It will be easier for new apartments and condos to abide by it because SB 137 says ALL NEW construction of apartments and condo projects must have dedicated areas for recycling bins - separate from trash bins - worked into their building plans that must be approved by the county before ground is even broken.  But as you and I both know - the new apartment construction is at a slow drip now.

So where does that leave apatment complexes that have been around for years?  According to the new law, ALL aprartment and condo complexes must have recycling bins available - separate from trash - for recyclables.  That means your plastic bottles, cans and newspapers should have a place for them OUT of the garbage bins.  Because existing apartments have limited space, it may make it more challenging to make room for recycling.  But they will have to, according to the new state law.  And frankly, for many of those older complexes that have tried to provide bins in the past, it seems they oftentimes get contaminated with plain ol’ garbage being thrown into them.  So most of the residents have to be on board for it to work.

If you don’t have it in your complex, you can contact your apartment manager and ask for them.  You can contact your Clark County Commissioner.  And then if you still don’t get results, you can contact the Southern Nevada Health District and file a complaint.  They have a hotline just for complaints.  It’s 759-0600.  If apartments still don’t comply after a warning, then the fines kick in.  And they can run from $500 to $5000.  So I’d say, it really can pay to live green!

It’s Green Consumer Day and it may be a good time to reflect on our buying habits.  Many of us consider ourselves to be eco-conscious, but are we true eco-consumers?  Do you consider the resources used to make a product before you buy it,  and even if you knew - would it change your buying habits? 

A recent video called, “The Story of Stuff” shares a theory on how consumerism is stuffing our eco-awareness away in the closet, while we go do more shopping.  The video was produced by a group called, ”The Story of Stuff Project” and definitely has strong political views of how our buying of stuff has spun out of control.  Whether you agree with the point of view or not - just watching this video did make me think about how voracious our appetites for stuff has become and how readily available more and more stuff is all the time.   

And could we really change the cycle of the way stuff is produced, consumed and disposed of simply by demanding earth-friendly products from manufacturers and retailers and becoming more vigilant in reusing and recycling our own stuff?   I may not agree with everything in the video - but I sure wanted to clean out my garage after watching it!

Las Vegas is the halfway stop of a 16-city tour for the Living Zero Home.  All American Homes, GE, and Planet Green are showing off the eco-home featuring Energy Star products, with technical help from the U.S. Dept. of Energy. 

MGM Mirage - which has its own program for employees called, “Conservation Begins at Home” - is hosting the Living Zero Home to help educate the Las Vegas community on energy savings.  The Home provides hands-on demonstations of energy-efficient lights, insulation, windows, appliances and more in a real-life home setting. 

You can get info on tax credits, construction incentives and applicance rebates available for homeowners who make energy-saving changes in their home.  Check out the link to NV Energy with all of the energy-saving rebates available to Southern Nevadans right now.  There are some good savings to be had.

You can also sign up to win a 42″ LCD HDTV that will be given away at the end of the tour.  (Sheesh, I hope you don’t have to be present to win or you may have to fly to Saginaw or Kissimee to pick it up!  Just kidding.) 

The home will be open Thursday, Sept. 24 through Saturday, Sept. 26 from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.  Look for it sitting on the strip, in front of the Luxor, on the northeast corner of the property.  Just don’t say, “Avon calling” when you ring the doorbell; that’s so overused.

Eco-products for our furry friends can be hard to find, but I managed to track some down at the SuperZoo pet convention this week at the Mandalay Bay.  If you ever doubt how people splurge on their pets - you should go to one of these pet product shows!

Grooming products are always in demand.  One company, called Earthbath, puts out bio-degradeable and chemical-free pet shampoos, lotions, potions and wipes.  The products are people-tested and cruelty-free (although having a poodle-doo can be cruel, ha ha.)

Natural shampoos with ingredients like tea-tree oil, eucaplytus and peppermint and tango mango help moisturize dry skin and give your pooch a nice shiny coat.  Their oatmeal flavor is the best for itchy or sensitive skin.  There’s even a conditioner and bubbly cleanser for kitties made from cherries.  Meowwww.

No time for a dunk in the tub, Earthbath has a variety of flavored spritzes to spruce up your pup’s fur and get the stink off until you get them in the bath.  All natural wipes are great between baths, too and super for the St. Bernard drooler in your house.  (You can even keep them around when your hubby’s watching the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders this weekend on TV)  ha ha!  They also have ear and eye wipes - cool.  They’re the same ones the San Francisco Zoo uses on their new baby gorilla. 

But maybe some of the best earth-friendly items I found at the show are made by a company called, West Paw Design, out of Bozeman, MT.  They have some cool eco-toys for dogs and cats that are made with various amounts of pre-consumer and post-product waste and are totally recyclable.  There’s the Tux, the Zisc, and the new Bumi (pronounced boomie) and when your dog is finished chewing and tearing them up - you can send them back to the company where they are ground up and used to make new toys!  Priced at $10 to $15.  Neat.  There are fluffy kitty toys, too, made from recycled plastic bottles.  Huh?  Purr-fectly safe for your pet.

The Renitz doggie sweater is made in the U.S. from 100% reclaimed cotton.  No pesticides, no dyes.  They’re adorable and the small runs $34.  And an awesome pet bed - called the Eco Nap - is made with a neat material called, “Intelliloft” that are fibers made from recycled plastic soda bottles.  The tags on each item tells you how many bottles were recycled to make the product.  Now that’s eco-cool.  And I LOVE their website.  Great pictures and explanations of products and shows pets <with> the products.  Plus they have prices on everything.  You’ll have to show some restraint in spending because you’ll want to buy it all.

The eco-chat group, “Green Drinks” meets tonight at the Arts Factory downtown.  The subject of discussion tonight is the film, “The Story of Stuff.”  It’s an interesting look at how we’ve come to be a consumer-driven culture of mass-production, over-consumption and horrible waste habits.  It just may change the way you look at all of your stuff!

The group meets at 6:30 at Studio West in the Arts Factory, located at 107 E. Charleston, Suite 250.  Some treats are provided for a small price, but there is no cost to attend the chew-n-chat.  You can RSVP on their Facebook page.  Now where did I put that weblink… I know it’s here in my stuff somewhere… oh - got it!

On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). The U.S. EPA manages more than $7 billion in projects and programs that will invest in environmental protection and provide long-term economic benefits to aide recovery efforts across the nation. More than $41 million in Recovery Act Funds have already been obligated to Nevada, including:

• The Nevada Department of Environmental Protection’s Bureau of Air Pollution Control was awarded $1.73 million in Recovery Funds for the state’s clean diesel program. Nevada plans to implement a clean school bus project under this program, replacing many of the oldest diesel buses operated by Nevada school districts.

• A cooperative agreement with the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection will be used to distribute $1,266,000 for assessment and cleanup of underground storage tank petroleum leaks.

• The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection has been awarded Recovery Funding in the amount of $19.5 million for the drinking water State Revolving Fund program. It provides low-interest loans for drinking water systems to finance infrastructure improvements and ensures safe drinking water.

• The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection has been awarded $194,300 in Recovery funds for Water Quality Management Planning (WQMP). Planning is an important step in EPA’s goal to improve water quality in America’s lakes, rivers and streams.

• The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection has been awarded $19.2 million in Recovery funds for the state’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund program which provides low interest loans for water quality protection projects for wastewater treatment, non-point source pollution control, and watershed and estuary management.

• The EPA awarded $800,000 in Recovery Funds for Nevada to address brownfields projects to help communities revitalize abandoned and contaminated properties, bringing them to productive reuse.
  • Carson City will receive $400,000 in Recovery Act funds to conduct site assessments. In older parts of Carson City, mines, lumber mills and railroads have left hazardous contamination behind. 
  • Sparks will receive $400,000 for community-wide assessments as well. In Sparks, contamination was left behind at historic railroad operations, along with vacant warehouses, auto shops and petroleum handlers. The extent of contamination in both cities will be determined using Recovery funds.

Have you ever heard of a “smencil?”  Me neither.  You can’t eat it, but wait ’til you smell one!  Cotton candy, root beer, cinnamon, and very berry, to name few flavors.  You can find them at a really cool earth-friendly website called, “Stubby Pencil Studio.” 

Kate Rosenthal started the site about 3 years ago, when her twin daughters were two years old.  She wanted to find safe, eco-alternatives for art supplies for her girls.  She started with adorable Color ‘n Kids note cards - printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper and cholorine free!  And things took off from there.  Before she knew it - she found items like Beeswax crayons, Banana paper notebooks and monkey pencils.  What a wonderful menagerie of eviro-conscious creative stuff for kids!

There are things like O’Bon pencils, made from 100% recycled newspapers with rainbow and wildlife patterns.  Who knew you could roll old newspaper into pencils?  (Jeans into carpet was an eye-opener for me.)  But this is fantastic!  Then you take a great idea like that and make it even better by adding yummy smells like chocolate, watermelon or peppermint - and you have one gourmet-licious writing utensil.  They’re affordable, too; a set of five costs $5.95.  The peppermint Smart Smencils actually enhance your kids’ learning power by stimulating their concentration.  Seriously - research says peppermint is a great brain booster and kids who smell it - get better test scores!  That school tool gets an A+!

A must for little kids - is crayons, of course!  Don’t you have about a thousand of them all over the house and under the backseat of the car?  Well, Stubby Pencil Studio carries crayons so cool that I bet the kids will keep them in a safe place to use over and over again.  Soy crayons by Prang, don’t flake like regular petroleum wax color sticks and are made with pure soybean oil.  Eight crayons for just $1.00 - that’s very affordable.  And crayons made out of beeswax and vegetable oils with natural pigments for color?  What a honey of an idea.

Check out all the earth-friendly ideas for your budding artists - and YOU - at Stubby Pencil Studio.  (I didn’t even get to the Banana, Coffee and Tobacco fiber papers and notebooks.)  It’s a whole new world of green creative fun!  P.S. Kate says she can ship within 2-3 business days.  Yipee.  I can almost taste my grape smencil now!

You have to search store shelves and the web for eco-alternative school supplies - but they are out there!  Most of the time - but not always - they are a little more expensive.  Here’s what I found.

At office supply stores - like Office Depot and Office Max - I found laser printer paper made with 30% post-consumer waste, 100% recycled filler paper, and pencils made with 100% sustainable wood instead of wood harvested from rainforests.  Office Max also carries Fellowes brand mouse pads which are made from 100% recycled rubber.  Both carry the At-A-Glance notebook and desk calendars that are 100% recycled paper.  They carry EcoVue 3-ring binders that are made from 70% post-consumer waste and are 100% biodegradable.  And on their clearance shelf - I found pens made corn, recycled pencils and colored pencils and coffee paper - both stores carry Post-It notes with 30% to 100% recycled content.  At Office Depot, I also found Pentel RSVP pens made with about 60% recycled plastic.

I didn’t find much of anything really eco-smart at Target, except a nice contemporary 3-ring binder by The Greenroom.  It’s made from 100% recycled fiberboard and printed with soy-based ink.  Smart.

How about glue?  You can find washable, non-toxic glue by Elmer’s and other off-brands.  But it’s still far from enviro-friendly.  On treehugger.com, I found a totally natural paste and glue stick made in Italy by Coccoina.  It’s almond paste and tastes like marzipan - for those little paste-eaters in your house!  Only $3 for the glue stick.  That’s much cheaper than a visit to the emergency room!