girls go green

What I've been up to recently

2011-10-17T17:25:00.000-07:00

So first of all, I started high school! All of us who wrote on this blog did. We all went to different schools which makes a variety of things difficult, least of all, blogging. Not that we were particularly good at posting regularly before or anything.
Anyway, high school is great. I absolutely loved my middle school, and high school is different in many ways but also pleasantly similar. One thing I like about my high school is that there is a well established environmental program, so there is a huge amount of recycling and composting going on compared to the throwing things away to be sent to a landfill.
I was pleasantly surprised at how easy making friends has been. That was what I was most nervous about, but really people are extremely open to meeting new people. It is because of those people that the first month or so went by way too fast, as I am sure the rest of high school will go.
p.s. something that I've been meaning to do for a really long time is edit my tutorial on how to make a lined bag out of upholstery samples, because the way I put the handles in isn't really very good, so I will do that sometime soon!

This is part of some seat cushions I'm making my aunt out of plastic bags

Daisy Chains and Nail Polish

2011-06-12T15:20:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
My friend Emelia and I just made a new blog called Daisy Chains and Nail Polish. go check it out! http://daisychainsandnailpolish.blogspot.com/

Two years ago...

2011-05-30T21:28:00.000-07:00

We started this blog. That was the end of sixth grade. Two years later, we're at the end of eighth grade, the end of middle school, the end of being at the same school.

I have no idea what is in store for our little blog, but I hope we keep posting. Or recruit current students at our school who aren't graduating. That could potentially be fun.

Anyway, we just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has been with us since the beginning, all the encouraging comments and emails, and really to anyone who has visited our blog, any time in the past two years. Thank you.

Relay for Life

2011-05-15T11:50:00.000-07:00

Hi guys!
Anna and T.Y. here!
Yesterday, we participated in Relay for Life. Relay for life is many things: fun, sad, and tiring. It's a fundraiser for cancer research by the American Cancer Society. One in every 100 Americans participates in Relay.

The one we went to was at Memorial Stadium by Seattle Center. It began at 2pm with an opening ceremony followed by a survivor lap where everybody who beat or is still fighting cancer walks around the track. Meanwhile, people arrive with tents and play games in the field. Each person is part of a team usually in memory of or to support someone with cancer. The event ends at 8:00 am the next morning. At all times someone must be walking around the track with your team baton.

http://www.keweenawnow.com/happenings/relay_life_03_06/images/rfl02_hope_lumin.jpg
It's a fun event with sad moments such as the Luminaria ceremony. You decorate a paper bag with someone's name and a message which they fill with sand and a candles. Last night they spelled HOPE on the bleachers, but in previous years they make a ring around the track. It's a sad hour but hopeful at the same time. Go to the American Cancer Society' website (http://www.relayforlife.org/relay/) to find out when the next Relay for Life is in your area!

SEATTLE GREEN FESTIVAL

2011-05-13T18:41:00.000-07:00

Next Saturday and Sunday (21, 22 of May) is the Seattle Green Festival at the Qwest Event Center. It's a weekend of family fun, environmental and socially responsible businesses and organizations, and inspiring speakers. Check it out at http://www.greenfestivals.org/sea/updates/

Sadly I and my fellow eighth grade authors will not be able to go to the festival on Saturday because we will be doing our eighth grade play but if you do go, post a comment on the post to tell us how it was!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-05-08T10:02:00.000-07:00

We all know that a hard-working mother loves a nice bouquet of flowers on Mother's Day, but how about finding a more thoughtful and eco friendly way of doing it? Instead of stopping by the nearest QFC, Safeway, etc. you could go to your nearest farmers market and pick up a bouquet. They're much larger, cheaper, more beautiful, and weren't shipped across the country in refrigerated trucks. You would also be supporting you local farmers. Even closer to home would be to pick flower's from you garden or if you are like me, take a stroll around your neighborhood with a pair of snippers and help your neighbors use their surplus flowers! :)

What ever you do, don't forget to thank you mom for all of the hard work she does!

Eco Company

2011-05-08T09:50:00.001-07:00

So I was flipping channels this morning while my mom slept in for Mother's Day when I found this really awesome television show. It's called Eco Company. It's hosted by a group of eco-concious (not hippie) teens who report on the latest finds in the green community as well as other teens making a difference. For example, today they reported on a "renegade lunch-lady" who makes everything from scratch in addition to another stroy on a women who make really awsome cloths out of candy wrappers (shown above.) From what I saw, the stories are mostly in California, but you could learn a couple of interesting things. Go to there website, http://www.eco-company.tv/ to find out more. In the Seattle area, it broadcasts on channel 13 Fox at 9:30 am. Check it out!

International viewers

2011-05-03T22:02:00.000-07:00

This is a bit random, but exciting: in the last month we've had viewers from Canada, Moldova, Indonesia, India, Ukraine, Russia, Italy, Latvia, Malaysia and the United States!

May Day

2011-05-01T15:20:00.000-07:00

Happy May Day everyone! And what a glorious one! Nice sunny weather just in time for those May flowers! It makes me happy!

Also: Our middle school days are numbered, which means that we will be going off to different schools around Seattle. We won't be seeing much of each other (sad, I know). My idea: Each one of us shall post something about the green-ness of our school, and maybe form clubs at the schools (as in the Girls Go Green club)? or shall we stick together, and spread the word about this amazingly amazing blog? Something to think about.

Creative Minds Go Green--Studio 360

2011-04-24T19:59:00.000-07:00

On Sunday April 24, Studio 360 did a radio program and green designing. It was really interesting and the description on there website is below. To listen to the show just follow the link below.

http://www.studio360.org/2011/apr/22/

To celebrate Earth Day, Kurt Andersen looks at creative approaches to our environmental challenges. President Obama is still pushing on environmental issues even in the face of Congressional gridlock. We hear from scientists, engineers, and artists developing cutting-edge solutions that just might change their corners of the world entirely.

Wear “Green” Clothes After St. Patrick’s Day-guest post

2011-04-16T22:30:00.000-07:00

Hi guys, this is a guest post from the lovely Krista Peterson. Enjoy!!!

Every March we find ourselves rummaging through our closet, turning our dresser upside down, and pulling the cushions up from off the couch so that we can find that one green shirt we’ve got stored away for St. Patrick’s day. Well, did you know, wearing “green” clothes can be a fashionable, fun, and environmentally conscious way of expressing yourself even after St. Patties Day? And I’m not just talking about the color. Clothes that are “green” are made from eco-friendly, organic materials that are often recycled and reused. Aside from pulling off a funky, cool new look, you’ll be doing your health and the environment a big favor.

Some huge reasons to make the switch over to green clothing are the health benefits. Did you know that eco-friendly, organic clothes contain virtually no toxins that can damage your skin and cause allergies? Other store bought clothes, especially those made in China, can contain formaldehyde and asbestos. Side effects of extended contact with these toxins include asthma, headaches, depression, insomnia, and in extreme cases: mesothelioma, a cancer of the lungs.

Sporting “green” clothes and accessories also does the environment a huge favor. Often times, worn out clothes will end up sitting in landfills, taking up precious space where a school, park, or library could have potentially been built. Certain materials, such as nylon and leather, can take up to 40 years to decompose! Taking the time to repurpose your old clothes into creative, unique fashions can make a bigger impact than you may think. And not only is it an environmentally conscious practice, it can be a fun activity for the whole family.

And when people start asking you where you got such a cute outfit, you can proudly explain to them how you made it from scratch! Organic clothing is becoming the latest trend when it comes to expressing yourself while protecting your environment. Avoiding asbestos and formaldehyde is pretty important too; especially when you consider how short the mesothelioma life expectancy is. Switching over to a “green” lifestyle can help you make healthier choices every day. Even when it comes to the big ones: like deciding what to wear!

Students Rebuild: Japan

2011-04-12T11:30:00.000-07:00

http://canelsonauthor.com/official/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/jp9.jpg (source)

So I am sure all of you have been thinking about the people in Japan, so here's an easy and fun way to help the relief efforts.

Students Rebuild is an organization that helps with relief efforts of natural disasters. For Japan, they are asking people to make paper cranes of any size or paper. Their goal is 100,00 cranes to represent 100 wishes. Each crane will donate $2 and then be made into a fantastic art installation. The deadline is April 15 so HURRY!!!!!

For more informatioin go to their website: http://studentsrebuild.org/japan/

How to make a skirt out of a sweatshirt

2011-04-09T16:44:00.000-07:00

This is an extremely easy and quick project. I'd had this sweatshirt that I wore all the time, practically every day, but then then it got this really big hole (I don't even know how it happened!). I've seen skirts make out of sweatshirt material in stores, and really liked them, but why buy something that you can make easily? Especially when it is better for the environment!

Anyway, here's how I made it:

(learn how after the jump)

Materials:

1 sweatshirt (with or without a zipper, pretty much any shirt with long sleeves would work)

Enough elastic to go around your waist
scissors
sewing machine or needle and thread

Instructions:

Lay the sweatshirt flat, and cut across underneath the armpits.

At this point you can take it in a little bit on the sides if you want to reduce bulk, just make sure you can still put it on easily. Now for the waistband.

2. Cut a sleeve off of the part of the sweatshirt you aren't using. Depending on the size of your waist and how thick you want the waistband to be, you may need more.

3. Cut off all of the seams on the sleeve.

4. Cut long rectangles that are 5 inches wide and as long as you can make with your fabric. Sew enough rectangles together to go around the top part of the skirt + 1.5 inches for seam allowance. Sew the rectangles into a loop.

5. Right sides together, pin the waistband to the skirt and sew all the way around.

6. Pin the top 1 inch of the waistband down, then fold the edge of the fold down to the seam.

7. Pin and sew, leaving a 1 inch gap for the elastic.

8. Using a safety pin, thread elastic through waistband,

9. Sew the elastic together (make sure it isn't twisted!) and sew up the hole.

Now you have an extremely cute, and environmentally friendly skirt!

tutorial coming soon...

2011-04-07T21:59:00.000-07:00

Guess what I'm making!!! (Hint: it's recycled)

p.s. tutorial coming soon!!! (But not for the project in the pictures)

A History of Composting at our School

2011-03-20T12:58:00.000-07:00

Our school has had an off and on relationship with composting. Sometimes we've had to stop because of fruitflies, sometimes because students were confused about which bin was the compost bin, sometimes because of lack of food scraps. I don't actually know if there was composting the year before my class started middle school (maybe I'll interview a teacher or a former student...).

Anyway, when we started middle school there wasn't composting. Actually there might have been and I just don't remember, but I'm pretty sure there wasn't. Then, about midway through the year a parent helped start a worm bin. We started off pretty well, but then it sort of dwindeled, I think because most girls didn't want to touch the worms. At the end of that year, a small group of girls started Girls Go Green. However, we focused on paper, not really on compost.

The next year, the green team was started by the same parent who had started the worm bin. We partnered with Washington Green Schools, and had monthly meetings. We did a variety of things, but as this post is about composting, I will focus on that. At first we had a big compost bin in the kitchen, but unfortunately girls were confused about which bin was the compost bin and which was the garbage. Plastic was mixed in with the food scraps, too much to sort out. We also had fruit flies.

Learning from our mistakes, we put out a smaller compost bin, with a lid that not only would keep out the fruit flies, but also cause students to think more before they/we put things into the compost bin, thus keeping out plastic. We had this untill the end of the school year, but there was one flaw: due to the small size of our school, we eat in the classrooms, so students would just put their lunch waste into the trash cans in the classrooms. We tried covering the trash cans with cardboard one lunch to make students think before putting foodwaste into the trash cans, but it didn't really help.

The next year, this year, the school got small compost bins for each classroom. The only problem was that they were messy and smelled bad, so nobody was really emptying them, creating a lovely living envifonment for fruitflies. So it was decided that we would put them away for the rest of the fall and wait untill the fruitfly season was over.

And then, one fateful day, our wonderful math teacher decided to start them up again. She went out and got biodegradable garbage can liners for the compost bins to reduce disgustingness and held the first green team meeting in months. We decided to empty them as many times a week as possible and created a scedual of who would be in charge of emptying them each day.

And so that is where we stand now, and our current system is working very well right now.

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to put that into words and I hope you enjoyed it.

By the way, I made some bags and a wallet out of a leather jacket I got at a clothing exchange. Does anyone want to see pictures?

St. Patrick's Day

2011-03-17T20:30:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
I hope everybody wore green! After all, not only would you be celebrating the holiday but also showing off your environmentally friendly-ness. I would like to apologize, though, for not having posted in months. This is what I, and the other green girls, have been doing:
1. History Day-- the competition of which is tomorrow!!!
2. Science fair
3. Being on the crew of two plays(Harvey and Midsummer Night's Dream--which opens next week!!!!)
4. Pi day (March 14, 3/14 get it?)
5. School, for over six hours each day(we do, of course, love it)
6. Sports
Yes, I know, lame excuses. But what is a middle school(soon to be graduated-ahhh!) girl to do?

(source)

Kenting, Taiwan

2010-11-24T04:28:00.000-08:00

I have been asked to keep posting about Taiwan, so here is goes.
I'm in Kenting right now. It is in southern Taiwan, and right on the ocean (either the South Chine Sea, or the Phillipine Sea, not sure). Amazingly beautiful, just like anywhere else on the island. There is A LOT of sea glass on the beach. Sea glass is (or are) pieces of glass that have been dumped into the ocean, smoothed by the waves, and washed onto the shore. The glass is, sometimes, very soft, and very beautiful.
Yesterday (which was tuesday, my time, early tuesday morn, Seattle time) my family and i went to the 2010 Floral Expo in Taipei. it was beautiful, and lots o fun. The very last thing we did was watch a 3D movie called the Inconvinient Truth of Taiwan. It was not exactly connected to Al Gores Inconvinient Truth. The movie was about a boy who lost everything to a mudslide, including his grandmother (but not his dog or kite........). The mudslide was caused by a typhoon. I still don't know what the moral of the story was, but it was still interesting. At the Expo, there was also a building made entirely out of recycled garbage, but, unfortunately, I was not able to go into it.
I don't know how to load pictures onto the posts, and will try when I get back home.

Taipei, Taiwan

2010-11-22T00:23:00.000-08:00

Wow we haven't posted in a while. Hello from Taipei! I am there (or here.........) at the moment, and i couldn't help but notice the they Taiwanese and Chinese that are here are very into recycleing. They are also big on reusing waste (you know, waste, human waste. There were many adds about how they reuse waste at the zoo). They have open sewers (kinda), so walking down the street there are little pockets of horrible smells.
Anyways, thought you guys might want to learn about that, and we really needed a new post.

My creative space

2010-10-28T19:27:00.000-07:00

This is the first my creative space I've participated in, and I'm kind of nervous, but I just had to show you guys these bags I just made using the buttercup bag pattern from Made by Rae, which I am considering buying so I can sell bags made with it. I printed it out a while ago, but never got around to making it because I didn't have any magnatic snaps, although I just realized I could have used velcro, but then I saw this amazing teal velvet upholstery fabric in my large drawer of fabric and just started cutting. Even though this was very much not the kind of fabric the pattern called for, I think it turned out wonderfully. I was so in love with this pattern, I made another one imediately ouf grey jeans.

Please excuse the bad photos, the light was very bad.

More creative spaces here!

2010-10-28T18:26:00.000-07:00

We had a soccer game today. We won, which is very good because if we had lost it would have been the first game we had lost, and as this was our last game, I am very happy. We scored two goals, they didn't score any. We had cupcakes afterward.
Any way, I keep looking at this blog, and I keep looking at the backpacking pictures, getting tired of them, but not knowing what to post. The green team hasn't really started this year(I know, my fault), so I don't really feel like I have anything to post about that has to do with school and the environment. Other than a generic post about why you should be environmentally conscious this Halloween. As in, give out healthy treats and use recycled materials for your decorations and costume. Of course, do all that, but do you really need me to say it?
Another issue I have been having that has kept me from blogging is that this is a group blog and all of the posts should relate to all of us and or the rest of the world. This is girls go green, not girl goes green. The thing is, I'm kind of out of topics that fit into that category.
Basically, the point is that I am going to start writing about things that may not necessarily have anything to do with greenness and our school, but hopefully not both of them. Also, girls who can post here, please do so. But no pressure.
So, question: is your costume going to be made out of recycled materials? Or at least homemade?

Backpacking pictures

2010-08-26T22:08:00.000-07:00

So here are the backpacking pictures!!!

Lindsey, thank you so much for sending me the pictures!

how to make a plastic bag flower

2010-08-16T21:13:00.000-07:00

Usually when you do something with plastic bags(crochet, iron, braid,etc.) you use the bag part of the bag, and the handles go to waste. Here is a project for the handles(although if you want to you can just use the bag part to cut out the circles).

Materials:

4 plastic bag handles
safety pin/ needle and thread, button, hair clip, glue

Directions:

(for a pin)

1. Cut the middle seam off of one on the handles and flatten out the halves to make two squarish/rectangular pieces of plastic.

2. Cut out a circle from each squarish/rectangular pieces of plastic.

3. Repeat steps 1&2, until you have used up the four handles. Vary the size of the circles.

4. Stack your circles on top of each other, with the smallest circles on top.

5. Pinch the middle of the stack, and fold the stack to look like this:

6. Stick your safety pin through all of the layers of plastic.

Fluff it up a bit, and you have a recycled flower pin!

How to make a plastic bag flower barrette:

1. Do steps 1-4
2. Sew a button on to the stack, but as you sew it on, grab bits of plastic with your needle so it gets poofy.

This is how the back should look

Here's the front!

Link parties!

Backpacking trip--day 1

2010-08-07T12:02:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday, two teachers and 9 girls(whose ages ranged from 12-14) piled into a large white van and drove to the traildhead of the spider meadow loop trail(we were only going part way). Jenny and Lindsey are the names of the two teachers, and they were taking us backpacking. This was the third time in 2 years that they had taken girls from our school backpacking.

In the summer of 2009, there had been only one backpacking trip, and this summer there have been two. The second one was the advanced trip, and the one I am talking(or writing) about now.

So anyway, after 2 days of planning and gathering gear(that had been Monday and Tuesday), and a loooooond van ride during which we listened(and sang along) to: Lean on me, you've got a friend in me, imagine, fairytale, don't stand so close to me, hoedown throwdown, as we go on we remember, lets get down to business(played and sung very loudly), and many more, we were at the trail head.

We pulled our very heavy backpacks on to our backs, and then walked for five miles. The hike was beautiful and fairly easy, with many river crossings.

I did the same backpack trip last year with my family, and even though I'd seen the meadow before, its beauty was still astounding. The meadow is bowl shaped, and a mile across. All around the meadow there were peaks, some still with snow on them. My description doesn't at all do the meadow justice, so hopefully I'll be able to find some pictures of it.

We decided on a campsite that in our opinion is the most beautiful one in the entire meadow. We had easy access to running water(not potable, but we had several water pumps), an amazing view, and enough room for our five tents.

It was nearly 5:00 pm when we got there, so after all the tents were put up, and the water bottles refilled, the group of three who was supposed to make dinner did so.
You see, we split up into groups of three, were given an extremely tight budget, and walked to Safeway to get food for the 2 meals each group was in charge of(I was in the breakfasts-for-both-days group).

Dinner was Spanish rice with chicken, and couscous.
After dinner we stayed up talking until it was dark, and went to bed.

By the way, pictures and accounts of the next two days of backpacking are coming soon!!!!

More invasive weeds

2010-07-27T21:00:00.000-07:00

You may or may not remember our previous posts about invasive weeds, but I was kind of in the mood for another post about noxious weeds, so here they are(I apologize for the horrible pictures--they were taken at sunset):

Nipplewort (Lapsana Communis)
Nipplewort is native to Europe and southern Asia, and the young leaves are edible. It has a longish stalk, and little yellow flowers that look kind of like mini dandelion flowers.

English Ivy (Hedera helix)

We've posted about this before, but here is some more info on it. It is native to most of Europe, and western Asia, and climbs when possible, but if there are no vertical surfaces, grows as a ground cover.

Blackberries

There are four kinds of blackberries I know about in the pacific northwest:

Himalayan blackberries(Rubus armeniacus or Rubus discolor)
Evergreen blackberries(Rubus laciniatus)
Creeping blackberries(R. procumbens)
Cell phone blackberries(that was a joke)

Himalayan and Evergreen blackberries are invasive, and the picture below is one of the two (I'm not sure which), and both have sharp thorns. They also both have very sweet berries. Creeping blackberries are native, and, as the name states, creep. Their thorns are much less sharp than Himalayans and Evergreens. They also have berries that while still are delicious, have a much more delicate flavor than the other two.

Holly(Ilex aquifolium)

First an foremost, to anybody named Holly, I'm not talking about you. You have a very pretty name, and I really hope I don't offend you.

Though this plant is invasive, it is not an official noxious weed, as there is a board that has to say it is bad enough to be a noxious weed. My dad is actually trying to get it made official, because that way there is a lot more the county can do about getting rid of it.

Holly can only be killed effectively with an injection of herbicide, which makes it even worse.

scary environmental fact

2010-07-27T09:27:00.000-07:00

Did you know that 100 million pens are thrown out daily?

Image via Wikipedia

2010-07-22T19:22:00.000-07:00

Did you know that not only are pesticides bad for the environment, but may also cause ADHD? Yet another reason to buy organic food if you can!
To find out more, click here.

random green tip #13

2010-07-16T16:39:00.000-07:00

Now that it's summer, and (finally) sunny, dry your clothes on a clothesline instead of in a dryer(unless you are felting an old sweater!). According to consumerenergycenter.org, dryers are the most energy using appliance after refrigerators.

image source

what to do with a pair of old gauchos(sort of)

2010-07-02T14:20:00.000-07:00

I had this pair of gauchos that were hand-me-downs, but I'm not really gaucho person, and they also fitted me a bit strangely, so I thought I'd turn them into a skirt.

I cut up the crotch(for lack of better word) seam, and had an idea:

or:

I can't decide if I like it, or if it's too weird.

What do you think of it, and what should I call it?

Photo credits:

model: me

photographer: Andrea

P.S. Do you like the new background?

How to make a lined tote bag out of upholstery samples

2010-06-21T20:46:00.000-07:00

I was given a bag of upholstery samples that would have otherwise been thrown out, and I immediately thought that the fabric would be perfect for a bag.

Materials:
-8 squares of upholstery fabric or another thick fabric(2 of the squares are for handles, so if you have something else you want to use for handles, you only need 6)
-another fabric for the lining
-sewing machine or needle and thread
-pins
-seam ripper

Directions:

1. First, sew 6 of your squares together to make a big 2 squares by 3 squares rectanle.

2. cut a peice of fabric the same size as the 3 squares by 2 squares rectangle, fold both of them the hamburger way, sew their sides together.

This is what my liner looks like rightside out:

Follow steps 3-4 for both the liner and the outside

3. pin gussets by folding a triangle where the height is the side seam and the bottom fold, and pin. Then sew.

This is what it will look like after sewing the gussets:

4. cut the triangles off, outside of the seam so it looks like this:

5. iron the folds on the outside bag where you want the bag to stand up so you have a more structured base.

6. put the outside bag inside the liner so all of the seams line up, right sides together. Pin the top edges together. Sew around the top, all the way around except for a 4 inch gap so you can turn the bag rightside out.

7. pull the outside fabric through the hole.

When you are done, the bag will look something like this:

8. put the liner inside the bag, and pin around the top

Now for the handles:

(If you have something other than upholstery fabric, like a tie or ribbon, to use as your handles you can skip steps 9-12),

*do steps 9-12 twice

9.Cut a square in half, and sew the long ends together

10. Fold the strip in half, and sew up the side without the fold.

11. Turn the strip inside out

12. Topstitch around the edge

Here is what my finnished handles looked like:

13. next, figure out where you want the handles and seam-rip the top seam where you want them

14. Stick the ends of the handles into the seam-ripped place and pin, so it is sandwitched between the liner and the outside fabric.

Here's what my bag looked like after pinning handles:

15. sew around the top of the bag.....

And you are done!

card hat

2010-06-19T15:29:00.000-07:00

It was crazy hat day at my little brother's school, so I recycled an incomplete deck of cards into a hat. It got tons of compliments, as it is over a foot tall!

It was very easy to make, I just made a ring of cards, slightly smaller on the top than the bottom, then continued stapling rings of cards on, using less cards for each row. It might have been cool to make a point, but unfortunately we ran out of cards.

Here is the little brother himself, posing in front of the rasberry bushes! Isn't he cute?

2010-06-14T16:34:00.000-07:00

Summer is nearly upon us, and so I decided to make a skirt out of t-shirts (actually one of them is a pair of jersey knit pants.)

So here's what I did:

Materials:

-2 t-shirts

-1 piece of wide elastic

-Thread

Tools:

-pins

-scissors

-needle or sewing machine

Directions:

First, cut 2 large rectangles from each of your two t-shirts by cutting off the sleeves and collar and then cutting anything else you need to make the edges strait.

Basically, just sew the rectangles together, alternating in color.

So you have a big tube.

Then turn your head to the right because I was having some trouble uploading pictures to blogger, and sew the elastic to the skirt(I used the waistband from the pants I was using instead of one of the t-shirts). While you sew the elastic to the skirt, pull the elastic so that when you sew, the fabric will ruffle up.

Cut the skirt to the length you want it plus a little bit extra for the hem, hem it, and....

ta-da!

I'm not sure if I like the color combination enough to wear it out, but it is extremely soft and comfortable not to mention extremely easy to make, so I am definitely making it again.

Random green tip #12

2010-06-09T21:07:00.000-07:00

Do not use disposable plastic water bottles. They are not only bad for the environment but unhealthy. And they are expensive.
For one thing, plastic water bottles are bad for the environment. There are several reasons why. Number 1: They are made of plastic. Plastic, the polymer that holds together the modern world and is made from oil. Plastic, the material that is also not very recyclable. In addition to the fact that only about 1% of plastic water bottles are actually recycled, when plastic is recycled, the recycled plastic objects are of worse quality, and usually can not be recycled again.
Number 2: Hardly any of them are recycled, and the caps can not be. See above.

Now, for how disposable water bottles are unhealthy: The plastic contains BPA which is very bad for human development. The BPA leaks out of the plastic into the water especially if the bottle gets warm or is used multiple times.

And the cost: I think this is sort of self explanatory.

However, never fear! Although most reusable plastic water bottles also contain BPA, there are a plethora of companies that make and sell metal watter bottles that come in a variety of prints and colors!

1 year

2010-05-29T11:03:00.000-07:00

It's kind of funny, I checked the date of our first post, just to see how close we were to 1 year, and found that we started blogging exactly one year ago!
By the way, I know we have been neglecting the blog recently, but the school year is almost over, so I have hopes that we will blog much more than we do now.

rainbow

2010-05-19T19:26:00.001-07:00

I just had to photograph this amazing rainbow. The picture doesn't show its amazing brightness, or the fact that it was a double rainbow. Remind anybody of a certain song?

green school news

2010-05-04T18:52:00.000-07:00

We (our school's "green team") ordered 100 wrap n' mats to sell at school events, partly as a fundraiser, but mostly as a way to reduce waste at lunch (we've found that most of our waste is from lunches). Anyway, the wrap n' mats arrived a few days ago and they are gorgeous!
We also have a new student welcome potluck coming up, and we plan on having our compost bin out and being used!
Not having anything to do with school, my mom's sewing machine is currently out of order(usually when it isn't working i can just clean it and everything is good, but this time it's something else) and I'm having upcycling withdrawals(jk). Luckily i've got my wonderful crochet hook and plastic bags! I'm making a new (big) bag, and I'm not sure if I should add a stripe like i did for this one. Any suggestions??
I was hoping to make this post a nice and long one, but I simply can't think of anything else to write about, so adios!

Where have all the Pandas gone?

2010-05-03T20:37:00.000-07:00

There are more panda expresses in the world than there are pandas in China.

leaves

2010-04-27T20:00:00.000-07:00

Did you know that every year we throw away 24 million tons of leaves and grass. 75% of our waste in the fall is leaves.

source

Random green tip #11

2010-04-22T15:59:00.000-07:00

When printing things(hopefully on scratch paper or double sided), there is a setting(I'm not sure if it's on macs) where you you can use less ink on your printing. It can be found under properties. You can also use ecofont, which I don't think microsoft word has, but if you just type ecofont into the font drop-down menu thing it lets you use it.
Happy earth day!

Amazing recycled craft

2010-04-20T18:03:00.000-07:00

I was immediately struck by the awesomeness in this tutorial for recycled wall art. I loved how not only does it recycle paper towel tubes, but it looks amazing!
On a different subject, we have not been posting very much lately, and I thought it might be good to have specific series for specific days of the week. Like we could feature green etsy sellers(or something), and we did have random green tips which could be Thursday, and scary green facts which could be Monday. Just an idea, and so I guess I'll be back here on Thursday with a random green tip!

empty spools

2010-04-13T21:05:00.000-07:00

So, I do a lot of sewing. Which means a lot of thread. Which means a lot of empty spools. And I am known for my upcycling habit at school, so our science teacher sometimes gives me particularly interesting pieces of "garbage" that she knows I'll be able to use for something. So she gave me her empty spools.
So now I have a lot of empty spools that keep staring at me, telling me to do something with them. Actually it is me that is doing the staring at them, and nobody is actually telling anybody to do anything, and I could probably go on for another couple paragraphs about how I have so many spools that can't talk while making this sentence the most run on sentence in the history of run on sentences, but I would love to get back to crocheting plastic bags while reading because I was recently given a whole new bag of blue newspaper bags, so I shall get to the point.
Actually there are two points:
1. see if you can guess how many spools there are. please comment and tell me your guess.
2. does anybody have any ideas of what to do with the spools? please comment about that too.
Thank you everybody!

100th post!!!!!!!!!

2010-03-10T17:49:00.000-08:00

Hey Everybody!

This is our 100th post!!!!!!!!!!!!

To commemorate the fact that it is our 100th, T.Y. and I decided to make another video tutorial about how to make something green. We made a tutorial for how to make a juice pouch bag. Everything was going all good untill I tried to upload the video to blogger. I tried over and over again to upload the video but it would just not work. I tried everything I could think of, but the video refused to upload.

So anyway, now we didn't have a 100th post that was particuarly different from the usual. But then, at our wizard of oz cast party, we were on a dock looking into lake washington, and in the water, just sitting there like it belonged, was a beer can. And so, Andrea had an idea: we take pictures of trash around our city and that could be our 100th post. Then I had the idea to also take pictures of things in our city that is particularly green.

And so, I bring you a few highs and lows of green-ness in Seattle.

2010-03-02T17:15:00.000-08:00

T.Y. and I made a video tutorial (I'm not telling what it's about!), but it is absolutely refusing to be uploaded. I'll keep trying! I just thought I'd tell you why our 100th post is taking so long.
First of all, this is our 99th post. Yay!
Secondly, our Spanish teacher was spotted using a pen similar to this one!!!!! It had red instead of green, and sported someone else's logo(as in not the cascade land conservancy). When questioned, she stated that it had been left in her room. Muy interesante...(insert chin stroke here--it would be better if it were me stroking my beard, but as I am the wrong gender for those(girls go green), a stroke of the chin will have to suffice). Anyway, yay to la maestra de espanol(does anybody know how to do the n squiggle on blogger???) and to whichever company was using that kind of pen to print their logo on, and to whomever left the pen in the Spanish room.

Thirdly, the week after next is "play week" where we will all go down to the theater to finalize our play! The play is the wizard of oz. We're doing it '80's themed: like hair and costumes. And this has to do with greenness because? Oh yeah, a lot of the costumes are recycled. The plaid for Dorothy's costume out of little squares of fused blue and white plastic bags(I made it actually), and the lion's mane is lots of pieces of fabric and the for the scarecrow, instead of straw, newspaper is being used.
So that's pretty much all the interesting little green stuff that I can think of!

Ink cartridges

2010-02-27T13:55:00.000-08:00

did you know that you can recycle ink cartridges? I didn't!!! So now instead of throwing them out you can recycle them!!!

BREAK

2010-02-15T16:56:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,

its break! but that doesn't mean u should stop being green!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ Sorry, that was really lame, but i don't know what else to write.

BE GREEN!!!!

The sunshine award

2010-02-06T15:56:00.000-08:00

2010-02-04T19:39:00.000-08:00

Finn has told me that she is tired of the last post and would like a new one. I don't think she actually thought I was going to do anything, but I thought this would be a good time to post some pictures of my recent green crafty projects and my works in progress. So here they are:

I decided to make some hand warmers out of a t-shirt and perhaps embellish them.

This was originally a dress, but I didn't like it, so now it's a shirt! It looks kind of weird on my sewing dummy, but I made it several years ago and I've grow quite a bit since then.

This jumper is made out of a large pair of jeans!

I'm not entirely sure if this is green or not. I got the yarn from the big tub of yarn at school.

My huge finnished plastic bag bag, soon to be posted on etsy( I keep forgetting to take pictures of it when it's light out, and I much prefer natural light to arteficial light.

A scarf out of nylons

My nutrition facts wallet, more pictures of which can be found here.

So there are my recent and current projects!

PLASTIC IS TAKING OVER THE WORLD

2010-01-28T20:36:00.000-08:00

OK, dear readers, I will admit that that was rather uncalled for. And really the first thing that popped into my head.
So anyway, I usually go to PCC where none of the produce comes in plastic, and you can get stuff in bulk, rather than in little vacuumed packed bags, but today I was at a not-PCC big chain grocery store, and I was rather freaked out.
For one thing, the lemons, limes, apples, oranges, satsumas, garlic, onions, and avocados all came in plastic mesh, the same stuff I used to make the mesh clutch purse a few posts back. And if the produce wasn't already in plastic bags, there was also lots of bags for you to put them in(and not 100% post consumer waste ones like they have at PCC either).
And then everything else is plasticked within an inch of its life(really, I think there is probably more plastic than food)
I was washing capri suns yesterday when it sort of hit me, how much really good quality material is just thrown away on a regular basis.
so please please please, when shopping, choose less packaged food whenever possible.
-Anna
p.s. we are almost to our 100th post!!!

One Square Inch

2010-01-26T17:49:00.000-08:00

I would like to bring to your awareness, if you do not already know of it, a particularly interesting website. The website is this, http://www.onesquareinch.org/. The basic idea is that, "if a loud noise, such as the passing of an aircraft, can impact many square miles, then a natural place, if maintained in a 100% noise-free condition, will also impact many square miles around it. It is predicted that protecting a single square inch of land from noise pollution will benefit large areas of the park."
This idea was Gordon Hempton's. So he decided to find one square inch of the earth that is not polluted by human made sounds. The Olympic National park was chosen for one square inch because "it has a diverse natural soundscape combined with substantial periods of natural quiet." Also it doesn't have any roads like other national parks like yellow stone, grand canyon, or Hawaii Volcanos. Also, "Because there are few noise intrusions in the backcountry wilderness, noise sources are easier to identify at Olympic than at other parks. The variety of natural soundscapes presented by different habitat types such as alpine glaciers, rain forests, lakes and streams, and wilderness beach provide meaningful examples of soundscape beauty."
They also record the natural sounds that can be heard from there and have recordings of things like snow melting and dawn which are truly beautiful that you can download and listen to.
They also have a book called One Square Inch of Silence (no, really)
I would most certainly check out the website!

paper free day!!!

2010-01-20T19:16:00.000-08:00

don't forget our school's paper free day is tomorrow!!!

Paper Free Day January 21, 2010!

2010-01-19T15:37:00.001-08:00

Hey People,

Remember, at school on Thursday, the 21 of January is Paper free Day. That means you can't use any new paper (scratch paper ad notebooks are fine). We are trying to save a planet, so if you do this everyday, then it will help a lot. REMEMBER PAPER FREE DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BE GREEN, SAVE THE PLANET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

jeans

2010-01-14T19:45:00.000-08:00

I was wondering, how much water does it take to make a pair of jeans? So I googled it, and one site said 400 gallons, and another tried to sell me jeans, but the majoraty of the sites had a number that you will not beleive. I'm not sure I should even tell you, you might decide to go on a jeans strike. Or you might want to make some jeans bags, named by my lovely hummanities teacher "butt bags". Or you might want to start just getting used jeans. Ok, now you guys will seem a little bit unimpressed when I tell you, after this huge deal I've made. Anyway, it takes about 1,800 gallons of wonderful, fresh, practically drinkable water. Thats the same as about 30 bathtubs.
So please, next time you are planning on getting another pair of jeans, try getting them used. Please.

Mesh clutch purse

2010-01-08T19:10:00.000-08:00

Eleonor won the mesh clutch purse!

2010-01-03T21:10:00.000-08:00

Hey guys!
Happy new year! sorry that was kind of late. School starts again tomorrow! I've been very crafty in a green way... T.Y. and I made 4 Capri sun bags for the auction and I've been making lots of plastic bag bags. If anyone has any capri suns I need them. I'm making 32 capri sun bags for the auction. I have like 200 and I need like 300 more. And I'm not kidding. People at school, pleeeeeeeaase can I have your capri suns?

Mesh clutch purse

2009-12-29T19:55:00.000-08:00

I made this bag out of 2 plastic bags and a one of those pieces of plastic mesh that the cutie satsumas are packaged in. The bag turned out pretty well, but there are a few parts of it that didn't. The mesh was pretty hard to work with but I think I'll do better with it in the future. So it wasn't really good enough to post on my etsy. But then I didn't know who to give it to so I thought, why not have a give away on the blog? Just comment on this post about your favorite post on this blog. I will enter you a second time if you tell somebody about this giveaway and they mention you in their comment. I will draw a winner on the eighth of January (of 2010!!!!)

holiday green facts

2009-12-23T13:15:00.000-08:00

if every American family wrapped just 3 presents in re-used materials, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields.
if everyone sent one card less, we would save 50,000 cubic yards of paper.
if every American family reused 2 feet of ribbon, we could tie a bow around the earth.

-Anna and T.Y.

what to do with your old nylons/ stockings/ pantyhose/ nylon stockings...

2009-12-21T20:21:00.000-08:00

Hello dear people,

I realize we haven't had a particularly interesting post for quite some time. Of course, we have had Eleonor's Starbucks love thing, and my green holiday gifts post, but neither of those were things about what we have been doing. Alright, I will admit this is a roundup of uses for pantyhose/ nylons/ stockings/ etc. found on the Internet, but at least it's more than 20ish words.

Anyway, I shall proceed. So, my mom uses stockings/ nylons/ the most easy-to-get-holes in-things in the world for work, which means I have a pile of the things on my bedroom floor. Do not worry, it's not like she's dumping them on me. I actually specifically asked her to give them to me. I couldn't bear to see them, perfectly good pieces of fabric (at least to me), going to a landfill. I digress. I did a little bit of googling to bring to you, dear reader, the 10 best uses for old stockings/ yeah...I'm not writing that again.

1. Use the foot as a hairnet (only if there aren't any holes in the toes)

2. Use the foot to strain lumpy paint(then you have colorful pantyhose feet!)

3. stick the last little piece of a bar of soap in the foot and tie a knot so you can be green by being green!

short Q&A before we continue:

Q: did that make any sense to you?

A: No.

Q: is it possible to use more than just the foot of the nylons?

A: Of course it is!

4. reuse the elastic in the waist

5. If you drop something on the floor and you just can't find it, rubberband a little peice of pantyhose to the end of the vacume cleaner and vacume away! Whatever you dropped will stick to the fabric rather than go down into the deep, dark, stomach of the vacume cleaner. Expect to find all sorts of things you thought you had lost forever.

6. fold a leg into a nice little square and CLEAN stuff.

7. put a leg over a broom and be amazed at how much stuff is picked up that usually is ignored by your broom.

8. use little wads of the material to remove nail polish instead of using cotton balls.

9. put a peice of stocking over the bristles of your brush, and when your brush gets full of hair, you can just pull off the peice of fabric and with it comes your hair!

10. cut off the legs, tie them together, and knit or crochet with them!

Startbucks LOVE project

2009-12-18T13:01:00.000-08:00

Hey peoples!
This is a really cool video by Starbucks! it raises awareness about AIDs. show it to EVERYONE you know! Here is the link:

http://starbucksloveproject.com/#/main/

it is so amazing how people from all over the world can come together to do something like this.

random green tip #10

2009-12-16T20:16:00.000-08:00

Pencil shavings are compostable, so empty your pencil sharpener in the yardwaste bin. Also, use hand powered pencil sharpeners whenever possible. Not only do they save energy, but they don't eat up your pencil as much so your pencils last longer!

random green tip #9

2009-12-16T19:47:00.000-08:00

You can compost anything made out of natural fibers like cotton or wool. Preferably fabric with little or no chemicals.

green gifts

2009-12-07T16:12:00.000-08:00

For those of you who aren't into the whole crafty thing, here are some sites that have green gifts:

we have a pretty header!

2009-12-02T19:24:00.000-08:00

Made by our very own Finn, we have an absolutely amazing new header. Also, thanks to Lindsey(our art teacher for those of you who don't know her) for teaching me how to put a picture on the header.

random green tip #8

2009-12-01T17:55:00.001-08:00

cotton and wool are compostable as long as you cut off any tags, elastic, ect. However, before you compost something, see if it can be given away or given to goodwill.

random green tip #7

2009-11-30T19:34:00.000-08:00

Whenever possible, do not use overnight shipping. Overnight shipping usually involves airplanes, which uses 6 times more energy than ground shipping. Also, planes release their exhaust higher up in the atmosphere, so they do more damage with global warming than gases emitted at ground level.

random green tip #6

2009-11-29T13:58:00.000-08:00

In Seattle, you can recycle plastic...

planting pots
berry trays larger than 3"
lids larger than 3"
cups
clam-shells
non-prescription medicine containers like aspirin and vitimins

the paper is dry!

2009-11-28T11:57:00.000-08:00

The paper that T.Y. and I made is (finally) dry. I think it took so long because a. it was sitting on a cold basement floor, b. it was sitting on wet paper on a cold basement floor, and c. the paper is very thick.

Anyway, despite all that, the paper looks great. the best pieces were the ones where we used regular (though found in the recycling bin) printer paper. The covered-in-adds junk mail still looks fine, though the color isn't quite as nice as the others.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

random giving

2009-11-25T17:51:00.000-08:00

Do any of you L-Dub people remember how at the end of last year we were going to randomly place a book somewhere were it would be found with a note that said something like,"You found this book. You can read it, and when you're done, put the book back for someone else to find". Or something. So, in honor of thanksgiving and the holidays, put something somewhere someone can find it. It doesn't have to be a book, as books don't tend to be waterproof. Or you could do sort of a chain mail version: "This (insert name of object) is for you! Now it is your turn to put something somewhere. Just include a note similar to this one!" Or you could just have a note that just says, "this is for you. keep it and cherish this random act of kindness". Or you could say, "go to girls-go-green.blogspot.com" actually maybe that would be kind of weird. so don't do that.
Just give a gift.

the results are in

2009-11-21T10:50:00.000-08:00

Ok, I kind of forgot to draw the name for the giveaway yesterday, but never fear, I remembered today. The winner will receive a wallet made from candy wrappers. I wrote all of the names down (on scratch paper of course), cut them out, and put them in a hat made from recycled materials. I then asked mi madre to do the honors.
The winner is (drumroll please)...

TY!

how to make paper

2009-11-18T18:46:00.000-08:00

with the holidays coming up, it's time to start making or buying gifts. Especially green gifts! In this tutorial, T.Y. and I show you how to make paper. You can also add seeds and give the gift as a plantable one!

Materials:

blender
2 tubs
water
measuring cup
white glue
scissors
some kind of screen(we actually used a silverware divider that was made out of a screen-like material)
PAPER

Unfortunately, I can only upload 100mb to blogger at a time, and the video is slightly bigger than that. I just thought you might like to know why there are two parts:)

recycled costume

2009-11-16T18:02:00.000-08:00

does anybody have any blue plastic bags that they don't want? if so, I would love them. Also, remember that giveaway from a long time ago? Well I am going to draw the winning name on friday. If you commented on that post you will be entered, but you can also comment on this one if you have not.

Random Green Tip # 5

2009-11-14T20:19:00.000-08:00

Before printing anything off the computer, think carefully about whether you need to print it. And definitely don't print multiple copies! (Unless necessary) Also, try to print on scratch paper.

Also, when shopping for paper, look for recycled brands.

random green tip #4

2009-11-12T16:28:00.000-08:00

When not using your computer, unplug it or attach the cords to a powerstrip and turn off the powerstrip. Even when they're not on, computers use huge amounts of electricity each year.

random green tip #3

2009-11-12T16:16:00.000-08:00

Yes, this may sound obvious, but I'm writing it anyway: Turn off lights when you're not using them. That also goes for appliances.

2009-11-10T15:59:00.000-08:00

Hey peeps,
My dad was featured in the Campain for America's Wilderness newsletter, and I just thought I'd share it with you. You can find it here. I love hyperlinks!

random green tip #2

2009-11-09T16:25:00.000-08:00

When making flashcards, cut your note card in half. One whole note card has plenty of paper in it for at least two words, especially if you are making the flashcards for a translation of a language to another language, because each side only needs room for one word.

ironing plastic

2009-11-08T20:21:00.000-08:00

I was ironing candy wrappers and chip bags, and I have a few tips for you if you want to make your own.

Try to stay away from twixes and other candy wrappers with metalic insides. They take a lot of time to fuse corectly, using up electricity with the iron
thin wrappers work the best. You just have to fold them several times.
when ironing chip bags, don't fold them at all, and just sweep the iron over both sides
avoid cheetos. they melt and buckle up.
Always, always, always put a peice of wax paper between the plastic and the iron; if you don't, you will have a BIG mess.
don't take too much time with each peice of plastic. You don't want to waste energy with the iron. Also, you don't want to realese too many plastic fumes.

That's pretty much all! Just be creative with your recycled material.

Napkins

2009-11-04T19:37:00.000-08:00

Random green tip: At resturants, only take one paper napkin. People tend to grab a handfull of them, which usually are then thrown away.

2009-11-04T17:03:00.000-08:00

I'm soooo nervous about my audition.
Deepika

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T09:13:00.000-07:00

Have a green Halloween!

Fall fest

2009-10-30T07:28:00.000-07:00

That was such a great fall fest last night. The costumes were great, not to mention the food. I have a bag of balloon scraps that I'm not completely sure what to do with. Any ideas? Anyway, thank you student council and Heather!

2009-10-27T14:40:00.000-07:00

Hey 7 th grade I am so excited i can finally post on girls go green!
Deepika

PLASTIC BAGS ARE BAD

2009-10-26T19:42:00.000-07:00

EVERY YEAR 100,000 MARINE ANIMALS AND 2 MILLION BIRDS DIE EACH YEAR FROM INGESTING OR GETTING CAUGHT IN PLASTIC DEBRIS.

capri sun bags

2009-10-25T14:12:00.000-07:00

Here they are!

The first bag...

and the other side

and the smaller bag...

that has a back that looks just like the front!

Fall fest

2009-10-23T20:11:00.000-07:00

hey chicas,
i can not wait for fall fest! It will be soooooooo much fun! I just got back from my little brother's fall fest which was really fun. There were tons of adorable kindergarteners there (were we really that tiny just a few years ago?). Sarina was also there, as were some of my other friends from elementary school. We all played on the playground and it was just like old times. I apologize for this non-green post. Tomorrow I will post pictures of my capri sun bags.

Milk carton wallets

2009-10-22T17:32:00.000-07:00

Hey guys!
This is a site that Kirsten found; it shows you how to make a wallet from a milk carton http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/carton-wallet-675068/
We are going to be making them in school, so collect your clean, half pint milk cartons and give them to Kirsten. Oh, and one more thing, I'm going to bring my camera to school tomorrow to take pictures of our Oddessey projects to post here. Ok. That's pretty much it!

JUNK MAIL IS BAD

2009-10-19T21:13:00.001-07:00

every year 100million trees are cut down for junk mail.

Halloween costumes

2009-10-19T18:07:00.000-07:00

i have seriously no idea wat im going to be for halloween. PLEASE give suggestions, and those that arent silly, like a lion or something. waiting anxiously.

Halloween costume

2009-10-19T17:47:00.000-07:00

hey people,
just wanted to say that I'm almost done w/ my halloween costume (made almost all out of recycled materials) I just have to do the skirt and I'm done! I died a couple of goodwill sheets for this costume so it won't be like, all white. Please comment or, f you're an author of this blog, post about what you're going to be. I would love to hear about it. Thats all for today!

Scratch paper

2009-10-15T17:40:00.000-07:00

Please please please put your paper with a blank side into the scratch paper bin. We are wasting quite a bit of paper that way. I mean, sure we're recycling our paper, but that takes a lot of energy, which could easily be saved. Very easily. Anyway, have a green afternoon!

The Odyssey project

2009-10-13T17:31:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
Isn't it cool that we're making our Odyssey art projects with recycled materials? I'm going to take pictures to post here when we're done.

Compost

2009-10-12T20:33:00.000-07:00

Many people don't like compost because it stinks and has fruit flies.
Besides taking it out more often and having a good lid there isn't much more you can do for smell. But i've discovered a green way to deal with the fruit flies.
Take a glass and put some wine in it.
Cover tightly and put a rubberband around the edge.
Make a small Peircing in wrap.
Soon you'll have fruit flies in the glass not in your kitchen.
Change about 1 a month.
A great way to reuse some wine and get rid of fruit flies without chemicals.

Done!

2009-10-11T16:03:00.000-07:00

I just finnished my crochet plastic bag bag, so here it is:

Ashland

2009-10-10T08:41:00.000-07:00

Eleonor was right: Ashland was wonderful, and fairly green; from the way the restaurant would only give you water if you really wanted; and the little signs on the napkin dispensers in the cafeteria that said that a soda can is forever, and of course the thrift shop. There was also that little retro store that had a purse made from beer cans! Unfortunately, at the cafeteria, lots of food that, if it were here, could be recycled. I don't actually know for sure that the food isn't recycled, but I do know that if it is, it is being done behind the scenes where the students aren't actively making the decision to recycle; they just put all their food on the conveyor belt.
Anyway, to wrap things up, the plays were amazing and the workshops were very fun. Thanks to Jenny, Heather, and all the parent chaparones for making such a great trip possible.
Also, if you're an author for this blog, it would be great if you were to write about your Ashland experience.

Back From Ashland

2009-10-09T17:32:00.001-07:00

Hey Guys, we're back from Ashland. I was really amazed by how green everythiung was, enviorentally (sp?) and actually green. It was amazingly fun, and i think that our class has bonded even more.

Ashland

2009-10-04T10:49:00.000-07:00

Tommorrow's Ashland. That means a week without posting. We'll have to write a lot when we get back. I can't wait for tomorrow. Will tomorrow ever come?
-anna

Denim bag

2009-10-03T20:15:00.000-07:00

I just finnished a denim bag out of jeans. I made a video tutorial of how I made it which I promise to post once I get it out of short clip form. I'm done with my corset (made of odwalla juice containers, remnents and an old pillow case). TY is right: Who knew being green could be so fun and easy?

Green Socks

2009-10-03T19:33:00.000-07:00

hey,
did you know repairing your own cloths is not only fun but also green?
if you darn your holy socks instead on throwing them out your being green!! you can google how to darn socks.
WHO KNEW BEING GREEN COULD BE SO FUN AND EASY

BLOGTOBERFEST!!!!!!!!

2009-10-01T19:59:00.000-07:00

hey pple, blogger fest goin on. have fun!

ashland

2009-10-01T18:25:00.000-07:00

i can't wait for ashland!!!

Blogtobererfest

2009-09-30T18:08:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

Guess what I just signed us up for? Blogtoberfest!!! It means that we have to post every day in october. Today is actually the first day because this festival was organized by an Australian and in Australia today is October 1st! So this is our first bloggerfest post. I added their pretty button to our sidebar! Thats all for today! Hasta manana!
-anna

2009-09-30T16:52:00.000-07:00

Dow Constantine got King County executive