Today is my birthday! For some reason all of the birthdays in my family seem to cluster around July. We usually end up celebrating them with one big party, but this year I want to make it an eco-friendly birthday bash. Here are some tips to green birthday parties.

Try these tips to create a green birthday celebration! Photo By cafemama/Courtesy Flickr 

Cake

• Rather than purchasing a store-bought cake, bake one yourself. Green your baking by using all-organic ingredients.

• If baking from scratch is too much for you, try the baking mixes from Pamela’s Products. These simple mixes use gluten-free, organic ingredients.

• Decorate the cake with flowers or herbs cut straight from the garden. 

Food and drink  

• Provide healthy snack foods. Try making guacamole instead of dunking chips in processed cheese dips. To make guacamole, simply combine mashed avocados, diced tomatoes, a chopped onion, salt, pepper and lime juice, or try this recipe for guacamole. Or make popcorn on the stove using organic popping corn and vegetable oil instead of microwaveable popcorn filled with preservatives and artificial flavorings. 

• Instead of soda or other beverages sold in plastic bottles, make refreshing iced tea or lemonade for your guests. Purchase organic iced teas or make your own sun-brewed iced tea.

Decorations

• Make a funky table setting (and create less waste) using mismatched reusable dishes, instead of disposable ones. Provide cloth napkins instead of paper ones.

• Hold the party outdoors to take advantage of the sunlight or if it’s at night, create a festive mood by lighting candles instead of turning on outdoor lights.

• Use potted plants for decorations or visit thrift stores to find cheap vases and odd knickknacks for center pieces.

• When you blow out your candles feel good about choosing to celebrate with an eco-friendly party.

Do you have any tips for making birthday parties and other celebrations eco-friendly? Tell me about them in the comments section.

I love my car. It has always gotten me everywhere I need to go, and doesn’t complain if I sing loudly and off key. But lately I’ve been hanging out in it a little more than I like. Between three weddings, family visits, and friends who keep moving out of state, this has become a summer of road trips.

Even if I can’t cut down on the amount of traveling I have to do, at least I can try to make the rest of my trip as green as possible—beginning with the snacks I bring with me.

Whenever I go on a road trip, I always bring a thermos of something to drink with me. Not only does this save me money by keeping me from spending $4 at Starbucks, but it also generates less waste and is healthier. My favorite beverage is iced tea because it not only tastes good, but gives me a little bit of caffeine for the long stretches through Kansas cornfields.

Instead of grabbing a bag of chips to throw in the passenger seat, I’ve decided to try something a little healthier—and greener. I’m making my own trail mix. It’s simple and you can customize this recipe to fit your own tastes.

Homemade trail mix is a healthy road trip snack. Photo by  cuttlefish / Courtesy Flickr.

Begin with organic granola. I like to use a plain variety so I can add my own extras later. Trader Joe’s has a variety of granola cereals that work well. For one serving, I usually start with about 1 1/2 to 2 cups of granola, but you can always add more.

Next, throw in a handful of your favorite type of nuts. Peanuts, pecans, almonds, walnuts, and cashews all work well. Make sure they are unshelled, and either unsalted or only lightly salted.

Then add a handful of dried organic fruit. Raisins, dates, cherries, and cranberries work well and are fairly easy to find. My personal favorite are dried tart cherries, which have a nice tang to them without being overwhelmingly sweet.

Finally, if you have a sweet tooth like I do, you can add a small handful of chocolate chips to the mix. I prefer dark chocolate, but the mix works just as well with milk chocolate or even peanut butter chips. Simply mix everything together and you have the perfect snack food for on the go. 

Happy trails!

Enjoy a couple of scoops of ice cream this month to not only beat the heat, but also to celebrate a national holiday because July is National Ice Cream Month.

President Ronald Reagan gave July this tasty title in 1984. He also designated the third Sunday of the month as National Ice Cream Day. This year that day falls on Sunday, July 19.

To celebrate this Sunday (and maybe the rest of the month too), fill up your bowl with organic ice cream or homemade ice cream!

Chow down on a couple of scoops of organic ice cream to celebrate National Ice Cream Month. Photo By sea turtle/Courtesy Flickr

For an organic ice cream option, try Stonyfield Farm Organic Ice Cream. These pints of ice cream come in seven tasty flavors. You can even get a coupon on Stonyfield Farm’s website.

If you want completely natural ice cream, try these two methods for making this tasty frozen treat yourself.

Method 1: Use an Ice Cream Maker

Follow this delicious recipe for Double Chubby Cherry Ice Cream using all organic ingredients. Once the ice cream mixture is complete, use an ice cream maker to form the ice cream. To conserve energy (and get a work out!) use a manual ice cream maker that you crank yourself. If you don’t want to wear out your arms, take turns with family and friends to finish cranking the ice cream.

Method 2: Use Two Coffee Cans

For this method you need two coffee cans. One must be larger than the other.

1. To make one serving of the ice cream mixture, combine 1/2 cup organic milk, 1 tablespoon organic sugar and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract, chocolate syrup or cocoa powder in the smaller coffee can and seal it tightly.

2. Put ice and rock salt in the larger coffee can, then place the smaller coffee can in the larger coffee can and seal it tightly.

3. Shake the large can vigorously for 10 minutes. Then check the mixture to see if ice crystals are forming. If they are, stir or whisk the mixture. Continue shaking until ice cream forms. Make sure to eat this ice cream immediately.

Also check out these herbal ice cream recipes.

Do you have another method for do-it-yourself ice cream? What flavor of ice cream will you be enjoying this month? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Another giant has fallen. After two years of fruitless preservation attempts, a cultural icon, the Nakagin Capsule Tower in Japan, is going to be razed.

Designed by architect Kisho Kurakawa, the Tower was completed in 1972. It was intended to serve as a bachelor hotel for businessmen working in the affluent Tokyo neighborhood of Ginza. Kurakawa was a leader in the Metabolist movement of the 1960s and 1970s which envisioned cities formed of modular components designed for flexible and organic growth.

The Nakagin Capsule Tower in Japan was an architectural icon. Photo By damon.garrett/ Courtesy Flickr 

The Nakagin Capsule Tower was the world’s first example of capsule structural design built for actual use. Two towers rise 11 and 13 stories respectively, and are surrounded by an outer layer of prefabricated living units attached to the core by high tension bolts. The 140 capsules on the Tower were all pre-assembled in a factory, and although the capsules can be added or removed as necessary, none of them have been replaced since construction.

Capsules act as offices or small living spaces, and can be linked together to create a larger space. A one-person capsule is 4 meters by 2.5 meters and contains a built-in bed, bathroom, circular window, kitchen stove, refrigerator, TV and tape deck.

The Nakagin Capsule Tower has become emblematic of post-war Japan. So why is a building of such historic and cultural value going down?

Over time, and because of lack of care, the Nakagin Capsule Tower slowly sank into disrepair. To bring the building back to its original glory would take a full-scale restoration. Residents also began voicing concerns about the presence of asbestos.

On April 15, 2007, the management decided to raze and replace the Tower. They cited concerns about the Tower’s ability to withstand an earthquake. It didn’t hurt that the new 14-story building planned for the site would increase floor space by almost 60 percent, bringing in a lot more rent money.

Kurokawa protested, asking them to remove and replace the capsules with updated versions. Japan’s four major architectural organizations backed Kurokawa. The Tower was designed for flexibility, to morph and change with the times. Such an endeavor would also generate far less waste than building a new Tower. But the cost was simply too much.

With Kurokawa’s death in October of 2007, much of the advocacy for the Tower ended. All attempts to save the building in the last two years have come down to a simple property rights issue—if you want it, you pay for it. So at long last, demolition day draws near for this landmark building.

It is a tragedy that housing developments of historical and cultural significance are torn down simply because they are not considered sexy investments. But until our mentality changes, it’s sayonara to buildings like the Nakagin Capsule Tower.

My search for sustainable sunglasses continues. In my previous blog post I gave readers two options for cute eco-friendly sunglasses from iWood and Kayu. But readers mentioned that $180 to $370 dollars was too pricey for a pair of sunglasses — even sustainable ones.

I’m happy to report another (slightly less expensive) option in eco-friendly accessories: Oakley just launched its first pair of sustainable sunglasses. Priced at $100, these eco-friendly sunglasses are at the lower end of Oakley’s price spectrum.

Oakley recently introduced its first pair of eco-friendly sunglasses made from recycled materials and accented with 100 percent certified-organic bamboo. Photo Courtesy Oakley

Oakley uses excess materials produced from the manufacture of other eyewear to create the frame of the Bob Burnquist Signature Recycled Gascan sunglasses. The Oakley labels that accent the frame and the included storage bag are made from 100 percent certified-organic bamboo. The sunglasses’ packaging is made from recycled materials and uses eco-friendly inks.

Made for men, these sunglasses have a chunky black frame and a simple design. Yet this product may mean more sustainable sunglasses (and maybe some with feminine designs) in Oakley’s future.

The sunglasses honor Oakley skateboarder Bob Burnquist, a supporter of green initiatives and environmental protection. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the sunglasses will go to the Action Sports Environmental Coalition (ASEC), an organization that educates others about environmental responsibility, and was co-founded by Burnquist in 2001.

Do you own a pair of sustainable sunglasses? What do you think of Oakley’s first attempt at sustainable eyewear? Leave me a comment and tell me about it!

As I look out the window of my office gray clouds cover the sky, hinting at rain. I check the forecast online—it’s supposed to storm all weekend. Unfortunately not all summer days are sunny. Try these green indoor activities to perk up a gloomy day.

Perk yourself up on a rainy day with these green activities. Photo By pshutterbug/Courtesy Flickr

Eliminate clutter

Go through your clothes and decide what you can toss. If you can’t remember the last time you wore it, chances are you don’t need it.

Try swapping your clothes with friends rather than throwing away your used clothes. You could even host a “clothing swap party” and barter your clothes with a group of friends.

For the clothes that none of your friends take, try repurposing them. Turn old sweaters into oven mitts (use only 100 percent wool) or use old sweater pieces to make patchwork blankets or pillow covers. Tear T-shirts into rags for dusting or washing the car. Turn the top half of jeans into a retro purse by sewing the leg holes closed and attaching a belt for a strap. Check out more tips for greening your closet.

If you plan on donating your old clothes, don’t stuff them in plastic trash bags. Pack them in reusable cloth bags to take to the drop-off location.

The average household receives 900 pieces of junk mail a year. Go through all of the extra envelopes, coupons and credit card applications you have lying around and chuck them in the recycling bin.

Start a project

Make a cute, quirky lunch tote out of old plastic bags. Try this easy project using materials you have lying around your home. All you need to complete this project is 4 to 8 plastic bags, an iron, wax paper, clothes pins and a ruler.

Play a green game

Visit Planet Green Game to play a free green game online.

Starbucks collaborated with Global Green USA, a national environmental nonprofit organization, to create the game. After looking at how greenhouse gas emissions associated with its operations negatively impacted the environment, Starbucks created the game to educate the public (and itself) about climate change.

The game takes place in the fictional town of Evergreen. Players look for ways to reduce CO2 emissions and reduce the impact of global warming. They earn points by completing various green challenges.

Continue your green web-browsing by taking an online quiz to test your knowledge about air, water and land.

Bake organic

Create something sugary and delicious with organic ingredients. In your recipes for cookies, cakes and pies try using organic flour, sugar, eggs, butter, chocolate, etc. I suggest using Organic Turbinado Sugar and Organic Shaman Chocolates.

Try this tasty recipe for Cherry Chocolate Scones.

If baking from scratch is too much for you, try the baking mixes from

Pamela’s Products . These simple mixes use gluten-free, organic ingredients.

Do you have any fun green activities to brighten up a rainy day? Tell me about them in the comment section.

At once a glorious success and also a failure, the Beddington Zero-Energy Development in London (known as BedZed) has helped transform ideas and pioneer the way for sustainable architecture.

Located in the London borough of Sutton, BedZed was designed to be a carbon-neutral community with sustainable housing on a multi-unit scale. BedZed would have ample green spaces and gardens, recycling facilities, water and energy-saving features, and a green transportation plan.

Beddington Zero-Energy Development in Sutton, England. Photo Courtesy Bioregional Development Group.

BedZed was designed by architect Bill Dunster for the partnership of the Bioregional Development group, the Peabody Trust, Arup, and Gardiner and Theobald. Built between 2000 and 2002, BedZed was short-listed in 2003 for the Stirling Prize, which is awarded to the building with the most significant impact on evolution in architecture in the past year.

One of the things that makes BedZed so unique is the magnitude of its plan. Instead of creating a sustainable home, BedZed sought to make a sustainable community comprised of 82 houses, 17 apartments and 1,405 square meters of workspace.

In order to achieve its goals of carbon neutrality, BedZed incorporated a plethora of green technologies and lifestyle changes. BedZed was built from natural, recycled and reclaimed materials (found locally whenever possible) to keep its carbon footprint low. Roof top gardens and standard gardens provide places for residents to grow their own food. Waste-water recycling and low-flow appliances help conserve water. Super-insulated homes retain heat, and a centralized Combined Heat and Power plant (CHP) reduces the energy needed to warm the homes. The houses embrace passive solar energy with south-facing terraces for maximum sunlight and heat gain while offices, which often use air conditioning to counter overheating, stay cooler on the north side of the building. The home ventilation system uses wind cowls to let in air while preventing heat loss in winter.

Lifestyle changes as well as architecture are also a part of BedZed’s environmental strategy. The community encourages people buy local, organic food or grow their own in the community gardens. Easy-to-use, home recycling bins cuts down on waste. BedZed promotes pedestrian walkways and cycling, and bus and train stops are within walking distance of the community. Carpools and a car club cut down on personal car use.

BedZed village square. Photo Courtesy Bioregional Development Group.

All in all, BedZed should have been the perfect green utopia. Unfortunately, many parts of the project failed when put into practical application. One of BedZed’s major hindrances is the expense of going green. The CHP and waste-water system were new technology and needed replacements and modifications over time—ones that the housing community simply could not afford. While CHP systems have worked elsewhere, at BedZed it was too unreliable, and could not supply the needs of the tenants. Other facets of the architecture, such as the wind cowls, were effective, yet more expensive than they were actually worth. BedZed was not able to meet its overly ambitious goals of being a carbon-neutral community.

Despite its faults, BedZed can hardly be considered an unmitigated failures. An evaluation by Bioregional in 2009 showed that the homes used 45 percent less electricity than the average home in Sutton. BedZed homes used 81 percent less gas to heat and less than half the water used by locals in Sutton. Eighty-six percent of BedZed residents said they bought organic food, while 39 percent even tried to grow some of their own food in the gardens.

While BedZed wasn’t the perfect green utopia, the companies involved in its creation have learned from their mistakes and have continued to move forward with new sustainable buildings and communities. We need more BedZeds as we continue to move forward toward a greener future.

Cake decorating has always been a part of my life. For birthdays and holidays my family and I always make creative cakes. From a butterfly to an island to a funky geometric design, we always have a theme for our cakes.

I won’t lie — baking the actual cake is always the boring part for us. But desserts are meant for eating, not just viewing. Last year, we used fondant on my sister’s polka dot birthday cake. It was adorable, but her friends were actually picking the fondant off the cake in order to eat it!

For Fourth of July we’re making themed cupcakes, and we want them to taste as good as they look.

Confession: I’ve never made cupcakes from scratch before. This recipe may look a little daunting, but if I can do it, you can do it!

We did a test run Wednesday night, and they turned out great. The combination of sweet and tangy makes these cupcakes unique. The proof? We gave my dad just a piece of one to try because he’s usually not a fan of cupcakes, and he immediately requested a whole cupcake instead!

Red Velvet, White and Blue Cupcakes
Serves 24

Cupcakes

If time is short, you may need to buy an organic cupcake mix. We made these red velvet cupcakes from scratch. I modified the ingredients in this popular red velvet cupcake recipe to make them more organic. Often, organic foodies stay away from red velvet because of the excessive amount of dye.

Historically , red velvet originated in the South, and before the 20th century, it got its reddish hue from the chemical reaction between the cocoa powder and the acidic buttermilk. This is how we achieved our red velvet.

If you are looking for a natural way to get a redder hue, try organic beet powder. Most stores will not carry this item, so plan ahead and order it online.

1/2 cup organic butter
1 1/2 cups organic raw cane sugar
2 organic, cage-free eggs
1 cup organic buttermilk
1/3 cup beet powder (in the spice section of most grocery stores)
1 teaspoon organic vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon organic distilled white vinegar
2 cups whole wheat or organic flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place 24 unbleached baking cups in muffin tins or grease the pan. (Do it over the sink so you don’t accidentally dump an entire bottle of vegetable oil in your muffin cups like I did!)

In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the eggs, buttermilk and vanilla. Stir in the baking soda and vinegar. Combine the flour, cocoa powder and salt; stir into the batter just until blended.

The batter looks a bit funky, but it tastes really good.  As a recent organic convert and picky eater, I’ll admit it seemed a bit grainy to me at first, but after a few “taste tests” I was on the bandwagon! Photos By Samantha Schwartz

Spoon the batter into the prepared cups, dividing evenly. You will only need to fill the cups halfway. They rise beautifully.

Bake in the preheated oven until the tops spring back when lightly pressed, 18-22 minutes. Cool in the pan set over a wire rack. 

Icing

Cream cheese frosting is an old favorite with red velvet cupcakes. This recipe is adapted from a popular recipe to be made with organic ingredients.

2 (8-ounce) packages organic cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup organic butter, softened
2 cups organic powdered sugar
1 teaspoon organic vanilla extract

Mix butter and cream cheese until creamy. Stir in vanilla. Add sugar gradually.

Decoration

Decorate your cupcakes as cute, mini American flags.

3 small packages organic blueberries
2 packages organic strawberries

Wash the blueberries and drain them in a colander. Dry with a cloth. Runny blueberries will ruin the white frosted background! Set aside.

Hull (remove the tip and white inside from) the strawberries. Put the strawberries in a food processor and pulse until strawberries form a liquid mixture. Make sure there are no huge strawberry chunks that will mess up your stripes. Pour the mixture into a pastry bag. Set aside.

Frost the cupcakes in white.

Take a huge dollop of frosting so that when you spread it, you are only touching frosting, not cake. This way, you’ll avoid getting cake crumbs in your frosting.

Line up blueberries in a grid in one “corner” of the cupcake. Try to make the sides that face the inside of the cupcake straight.  

The smaller your blueberries, the easier this will be. You may find that turning the blueberries on their sides helps them fit. 

Draw horizontal stripes using a small tip on your pastry bag. While an authentic flag has 13 stripes, that many lines could overwhelm the cupcake. Four or five stripes can give the desired effect.  

And we’re done!!

Fun and festive, these red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and fruit are made with all organic ingredients.

Let me know if you give this a try. Also, if you have an organic Fourth of July recipe or delicious organic dessert recipe you’d like to share, please leave a comment!

For more recipe ideas, try one of Natural Home’s favorite cookbooks.

I’m not a big drinker, but sometimes after a long day, I like to open a beer and relax. Being a noncommittal person, I don’t like to tie myself down to one beer, and with so many options out there, it doesn’t make sense to always buy the same thing. Lately my quest to try different beers has led me down a greener path – and there are a lot of green beers down that road! 

Not all USDA organic-certified beer is made with organic ingredients. Beer is traditionally brewed from hops, and hops are a delicate crop. They’re highly susceptible to pests, mildew and fungi, making it difficult to grow hops in a damp, northern climate. Most organic hops are grown either in New Zealand or on small-scale farms in Wisconsin, the Northwest, Western Canada and England. This makes it difficult to get organic hops for brewing, which is perhaps why the USDA has allowed certified organic beers to be made with non-organic hops. 

Despite this, finding a beer made with organic hops isn’t too difficult. Here are a few I found: 

Stone Mill Pale Ale: Most organic beers come from microbreweries, but this one’s straight from beer giant Anheuser-Busch. Brewed at an organically certified brewery in Merrimack, New Hampshire, this beer has a fruity aroma and is distributed nationally. 

Peak Organic: This brewery currently offers seven different types of beer made with organic ingredients, including some interesting flavors. Peak Organic distributes nationally, and a six-pack costs about $8. National Geographic’s Green Guide labeled Peak Organic products as the greenest beer available.

The Fish Brewing Company makes four different types of organic beer. Photo Courtesy  The Fish Brewing Company    

Fish Tale Ales: The Fish Brewing Company, located in Olympia, Washington, offers four organic ales for about $8 a six-pack. Unfortunately, the company only distributes its beers in Alaska, Northern California, the Pacific Northwest (including parts of Canada), Wisconsin and Florida. 

For a listing of more organic beers, check out Natural Geographic’s Green Guide beer buying guide or Mother Earth News magazine's home brewing page

Local and home brews 

From the brewing process to cross-country transportation to keeping it cold before you can buy it, beer consumes a lot of fossil fuels before it gets to you. Buying beer locally and brewing your own beer are two ways to cut back on the amount of greenhouse gas emissions your beverage creates. 

Buying beer from a local brewery not only cuts back on these emissions but is also a great way to support your local economy. In Lawrence, Kansas, where I live, Free State Brewery is a popular local restaurant and bar. Free State offers seven different beers, all brewed on site, including the Ad Astra Ale, the Oatmeal Stout and my favorite, Wheat State Golden. Free State also offers the Growler, a 64-oz reusable jug. Although these beers aren’t organic, at least I know my beer isn’t consuming unnecessary energy to get to me. 

Brew your own beer at home to cut back on the amount of greenhouse gas emissions your beverage creates. Photo By ahockley /Courtesy Flickr 

Brewing beer at home is also a good way to make your beer greener – and cheaper. I’ve never attempted it myself, but I have a friend who frequently makes his own. Good luck to you if you try! 

If you know of any good organic beers, post a comment and let me know! I’m always on the lookout for something new.