Swaptree Planting One Tree for Each Swap Today

April 22nd, 2009 Posted in event, green business, reusing, save money | No Comments » Make sure you like EcoJoes on Facebook to stay updated on green ways to save money and help the environment. Just click the "like" button below. Muchas gracias!


In celebration o’ Earth Day (Fun Fact: Earth Day was started by someone named Gaylord), Swaptree is planting a tree for each trade completed today. “‘Old on a tic”, you might exclaim, “Just wot is this ‘Swaptree’ thing, anyway?”
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Reusable Coffee Mugs Equals Save Some Cash Money

April 8th, 2009 Posted in food, green business, reusing, save money | No Comments » Make sure you like EcoJoes on Facebook to stay updated on green ways to save money and help the environment. Just click the "like" button below. Muchas gracias!


That is one happy coffee
To make a long story short, I won’t have internet at my house ’til Friday, so yesterday I went to Swift Creek Coffee House to leech off their wireless internet.

So as not to be a complete scrub READ MORE »

More Free Tote Bags – Forget Plastic Bags

February 10th, 2009 Posted in free, green living, reusing | 1 Comment » Make sure you like EcoJoes on Facebook to stay updated on green ways to save money and help the environment. Just click the "like" button below. Muchas gracias!


Gadzooks, this made the front page of Care2. Vote for it, por favor.
Man oh man, it seems the free tote bag offers never stop. I already have about 4 or 5 reusable cloth bags that I got for free at mi casa, but just in case you need a reusable cloth tote bag, hur ye go:

Free Tote Bag Numero Uno

This is only available to our brothers to the north, the mysterious “Canadians”. Simply sign up for Heinz’s baby newsletter, and they will repay you with your very own tote bag. Fill in your “province” (Canadian slang for “state”) and address, and ye shall receive.
You wacky Canadians

Free Cloth Tote Bag Numero Dos

Mantra Energy is giving away a free tote bag also as well too. Simply fill in their short form, mash the “Submit” button, and twiddle your thumbs whilst awaiting the arrival of your eco-friendly reusable bag.
Funky fresh neon green tote bag

La Tercera Bolsa Gratís

Cancer patients only!Cancer patients only! This here free tote bag is only for people with cancer. If you don’t have cancer, then you just mosey along and don’t click THIS LINK. If, however, you or a family member or close friend has cancer, then go on and get them this cancer tote bag.

Welp, that about wraps it up for free tote bags. Once you get them, bring them to the grocery store and amaze everyone with your eco-savvy by using reusable cloth bags. Until next time, this is your host, Joe.

Glass Creatures from my Creek

January 11th, 2009 Posted in cleaning, green living, projects, reusing, water | No Comments » Make sure you like EcoJoes on Facebook to stay updated on green ways to save money and help the environment. Just click the "like" button below. Muchas gracias!


Deep in the sprawling Peck Estates there is a meandering brook, full of plants, wildlife, and brisk, babbling water. Whenever I grow weary of my toils to better this planet called Earth, I cast my eyes upon this creek, and tears of wonder carve clean trails down my dusty face.

Chair in Creek

But it’s not “all good in the hood”, as Mister Rogers would say. Over the last month or so, I’ve cleaned out a LOT of litter just from my small part of the creek. The litter has ranged in size from tiny shards of broken glass to a metal chair to a freaking stop sign.

After cleaning all that mess out, me and Tiff decided to make some creek animals out of the junk, since all the trash had come from the creek. What follows may shock and even horrify you. Prepare to look upon the creek creatures.
CLICK THE PICTURES TO SEE A BIGGER PICTURE

Glassy the Turtle

Tiff’s abstract masterpiece.
Glassy the Turtle

Turkey Thing

Made from a gen-u-ine 40 bottle (and maybe an old racquetball?).
Turkey Thing

Glass Frog

If you use your imagination, this pile of reused glass might look remotely like a frog.
Sopa

Simple Snail

Another Tiff creation. My blurry picture does not do this glass snail justice.
Snail of Glass

Parrot with Coke Bottle Body

He’s all spirally and mess.
Glass Parrot

Snake made from Broken Glass

That’s his tongue on the left.
Glass Snake

Glass Hell Monkey

Its tail is made from a LipSmackers brush. He is one menacing mamma jamma.
Glass Monkey, that Funk Monkey

We recycled all the leftover broken glass and old cans and bottles. All in all, it was a good way to reuse some litter, and make some “art” from it. If anyone else has done cleaned up litter from a creek or stream and made something from it, por favor let me know!

Monk Temple built from Reused Glass Bottles

December 6th, 2008 Posted in green construction, reusing | No Comments » Make sure you like EcoJoes on Facebook to stay updated on green ways to save money and help the environment. Just click the "like" button below. Muchas gracias!




One night in Bangkok and the world’s your oyster. But what about the rest of Thailand? Journey with me, if you please, 370 miles to the north-east of Bangkok to the Wat Pa Maha Chedio KaewSisaket temple (nicknamed Wat Lan Kuad, or “Temple of a Million Glass Bottles”).


Wat Lan Kuad monks started collecting discarded glass bottles way back in 1984 so they could decorate their buildings. Apparently, their creativity with how they reused the glass bottles inspired tourists to start bringing bottles to the temple. Today, their seemingly fragile (yet actually pretty sturdy) temple is infused with over a million reused glass bottles! Hot dang!

I’ll leave you with some pictures of this magnificient temple. It’s purty cool how they used the glass bottles and even the metal caps of the bottles. ¡Disfrute los fotos!





I found out about this from good ol’ Been-Seen, who in turn found out about it from some Yahoo page that don’t exist no more.

How To Reuse Your Old Shoes

November 18th, 2008 Posted in green business, recycle, reusing | No Comments » Make sure you like EcoJoes on Facebook to stay updated on green ways to save money and help the environment. Just click the "like" button below. Muchas gracias!



If you’re like me, you probably have at least one really old pair of shoes lying around somewhere. They’re too old/holey/torn up to wear, and yet you cannot find it in your heart to throw them away, discarding all those hours of hard work from child labor in the Philippines. But hearken, there’s a way to recycle your old sneakers!

Good ol’ Nike has set up a shoe recycling program, wherein you turn in your old shoes and they ship them to a processing plant. At the plant, they separate the old shoes into 3 different materials (rubber, foam, and plastic) and grind them up. They’ve recycled more than 21 million pairs of shoes since 1990!

Once they’re ground up, they can be turned into running tracks, new shoes, basketball courts, or even new clothes. That’s a lot better than just throwing away your old shoes to just sit in a landfill for centuries. So take a look around your house, find some old sneakers, find the nearest dropoff location, and recycle your old shoes.

Another Free Reusable Cloth Bag

November 13th, 2008 Posted in free, green living, reusing | 1 Comment » Make sure you like EcoJoes on Facebook to stay updated on green ways to save money and help the environment. Just click the "like" button below. Muchas gracias!



The Free Cloth Tote Bag Bonanza continues with a superbly crafted tote bag from Stouffer’s. Yes, Stouffer’s, maker of famous frozen dinners, is giving away free grocery tote bags. Here’s how to get your very own so next time someone asks if you want flimsy plastic or wasteful paper bags you can rudely thrust your cloth bag into their jealous face.

  • Go to Stouffer’s and register
  • You will get 100 points
  • Donate at least 20 points to get a free tote bag!
  • Send me $4 via Paypal

It’s just that easy. That last step is very important people! So register for that site, donate your points, getchoself a cloth bag, and start eschewing plastic and paper bags once and for all.