Greenopia has just rated 25 wineries for their environmental impact. Here’s why:

Any oenophile worth her spitting glass has heard the dire stories about how global warming will affect wineries, altering the very microclimates that make it possible to grow champagne in Champagne, France and enable growers to eke out a Pinot Noir under a very precise set of conditions. Wine production is a multibillion dollar-a-year industry in the United States, and wine-growing regions are set to migrate northward (or shrink- by up to 80%- disappear altogether) as warm days with moderating sea breezes shift with the increased temperatures, and general local and worldwide climate disruption alters the conditions and locales where grapes have been growing for hundreds of years.

So it makes sense that the wine industry (and vino lovers) would take action against climate change and environmental degradation.

Well, some are and some aren’t, and with some wineries taking action and plenty of others burying their heads and ignoring their industry’s impact on the environment, which is significant. Tremendous amounts of water are needed to irrigate vineyards, and millions of acres of land are taken up with growing grapes, both of which has in impact on local resources and affects wildlife. Shipping and producing wine (and wine bottles) produces carbon dioxide and other emissions.

Does this mean we should stop drinking wine to solve global environmental problems? No! Growing food (or grapes for wine) can be done organically and sustainably, with care taken to mitigate the local and planetary impacts of wine growing and production. So you can have your wine, and a healthy world too. But where to start?

Greenopia, who rates everything from the environmental impact of airlines, to big box stores, recently put our research team to the test; each winery was examined by obtaining hard data from the companies themselves pertaining to the growing practices, transportation, building logistics, and attributes of the wine packaging. Weights were set based off the relative life cycle impacts of each criterion during wine production. Larger commericial wineries and smaller estate wineries were all examined.

At the top of the list, receiving 3 leaves out of a possible 4, were Alma Rosa (organic grapes), Frog’s Leap (great environmental reporting and LEED-certified building), and French Rabbit (low-impact packaging in the form of the Tetra-Pak).

To see the full rankings of all 25 wine companies, go here.

Consumer support of these wine companies matters. “We are proud and honored to be recognized by Greenopia for our deep longstanding 25-year commitment to organic viticulture, sustainability, and fair business practices,” said Thekla and Richard Sanford, owners of Alma Rosa Winery & Vineyard. “We pledge to continue our efforts toward environmental responsibility and social justice.”

Healthy Child, Healthy World is an organization founded by Nancy and Jim Chuda. After losing their daughter, Collette, to a non-hereditary form of cancer, the Chuda’s decided to dedicate their lives to environmental safety and children’s health. Healthy Child, Healthy World, (formally the CHEC, the Children’s Environmental Health Coalition,) serves to inform, educate and promote environmentally conscious practices in all aspects of our lives. Healthy Child’s new paperback book Healthy Child Healthy World: Creating a Cleaner, Greener, Safter Home, has just been released in paperback and is receiving high praise.

Healthy Child has always been friendly and responsive whenever I contacted them. As a new mom and a writer I tend to do a lot of research and Healthy Child and its affiliates have come through every time. On a few occasions I received responses from the CEO himself. Even in his busy day managing a large organization, being a new father, and writing a book he took the time to answer questions and be available. Healthy Child is truly passionate about what they do. They have worked to initiate legislative change, they have lobbied politicians, and they have become one of the leading resources for eco-friendly families. So, I may be a bit biased about this new book, but I really enjoyed it and found it useful. This is resource you can come back to again and again.

Chistopher Gavigan, the CEO/Executive Director of Healthy Child, has written a guide for families that is more important today than ever. Gavigan addresses issues that need to be discussed, such as: what to do with the harmful products in our homes while we “go green”; why antibacterials are a no-no; why bright blue yogurt is bad; avoiding the word “fragrance” at all costs; how hair dyes contain lead; whether to binky or not to binky; which toys to freecycle; how to avoid electromagnetic overload; which are the best veggies for a kid’s garden (one of my favorite sections!;) and generally, how to do it all in a cool, calm and collected way.

Another item worthy of note: the back of the book features a lengthy summary of organizations and companies specializing in everything environmentally friendly. From sunscreen to biodegradeable dishware; to home water testing and non-toxic art supplies, there is a book, website, or phone number listed in reference to just about everything.

The tone of Healthy Child Healthy World is not alarmist or negative, but full of tips, guides (many that can be photocopied and put into one’s wallet,) and resources for all things eco-savvy. These days, before running out to acquire things they don’t need, many parents are thinking about health, the environment, and creating a minimal footprint. Healthy Child offers an excellent how-to manual for creating a healthy, toxin-free home.

I’ve heard the two windiest spots on our planet are the Coachella Valley of California and South Africa. The wind in California has prompted the installation of thousands of windmills in the Coachella Valley, which generate electricity for nearby Palm Springs and areas spreading toward the Los Angeles basin.

Standing majestically, like some invasive alien lifeform or uniform militia, the windmills have now become the major landmark of the Palm Springs region. Assembled in the desert like something out of a Pink Floyd movie, with towers as high as 150 feet and turbines as wide as the wings of a 747, the windmills are striking.

The American Wind Energy Association calculates there is enough available land in the Midwest or in just 100 square miles of Nevada’s windiest regions, to house enough wind farms to supply the energy needed to power the United States. The U.S. has been slow to move into wind power, although it is now picking up significantly. In the early years of development, windmills were simply too expensive to produce, install, and maintain. However, over the last ten years, the expense of windmill power has dropped over 80%. Following in the footsteps of progressive countries, such as Denmark, where over 10% of energy is windmill generated, the U.S. has finally been increasing wind energy production.

There are three main arguments against wind farms:
-the environmental impact of the windmills
-energy used to produce and store energy
-the usual NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) syndrome.

As far as the environmental impact goes, massive turbines can disrupt local ecosystems and wildlife. For example, flight patterns of migratory birds have been altered and birds have died due to collisions. A solution to this is that wind farmers and scientists are working together to avoid placing windmills along flight and migration paths, while also working to avoid endangered plant and animal territory.

The production of the windmills is not without the depletion of non-renewable resources. The storage of the energy harnessed requires battery use, which means toxic waste. The windmills can be massive, which requires large transportation services as well as the use of raw materials to build them.

As for NIMBY, the windmills can cause a fair amount of noise pollution. Besides noise, some people consider windmill farms eyesores. Some people think these problems can be avoided through decentralization of power generation. By going ‘off the grid’ and building homes in windy areas, people can have their own windmills right in their back yard. (RITBY?) Excess energy can be sold to local utilities, which makes the turbines a good long-term investment.

In this time of climate crisis, utility companies need to be willing to participate in a metering program in order for this to happen and right now, the U.S. still has a far way to go before this works as well as it could. Energy utilities generally only pay 35-40% of the retail rate (due to government energy subsidies.) This could be interpreted as a way to dissuade individuals from pursuing this type of self-sufficiency. Wind certainly seems to be a better option, in comparison to coal, oil or nuclear energy.

The February issue of Lucky Magazine (with an Eco-Chick favorite, Hayden Panettiere), on the cover, has some really fun green content, along with their regular fashion how-to’s and trend reports. It’s great that mags aren’t just running ‘green’ issues anymore; now ecofashion and beauty products are just a part of the mix.

In “Shop with the Pros,” Sara Snow, the host of The Discovery Channel show, Get Fresh, goes shopping for her favorite eco-friendly products. Snow says, “I think there’s a direct link between cosmetics and health. Some of the preservatives are hormone disruptors, so I go for organic–and chemical free– as much as possible.”

The Shopping Report section, entitled “New, Green and Great” covers five up and coming eco-boutiques in cities around the country. Setchi, in D.C., Pivot in Chicago, Eco Citizen in San Francisco, and Arcadia Boutique, in Philly.

Yes, I’m talking about regifting, the act of taking a gift you received, but don’t want and giving it to someone else. Although the practice pre-dates the green trend, regifting is one of the most environmentally responsible things you can do over the holidays.

By regifting you’ll eliminate the need for new gifts, whose production requires the unnecessary dissipation of energy and extraction of natural resources. Regifting will also prevent items from ending up in the landfill or incinerator. According to the EPA, each American throws away an average of four pounds a day. That’s a total of 210 million tons a year. Garbage cans everywhere should now read, “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle . . . Regift!”

Even Emily Post–Madame Manners herself–was a regifter. According to Post, good etiquette doesn’t require you to keep anything. Good etiquette simply requires you pretend you like the gift upon reception.

So there you have it! Regifting is neither tacky, nor cheap. Best of all, it’s good for the environment. But first, a few cardinal rules to keep in mind. Follow these tips and you’ll be sure to regift with finesse and tact.

1. Avoid Perishables.
Next Christmas, that food basket will be a collection of moldy crackers, rancid cheese, and outdated muffin-mix. Unless you’re going to claim it’s vinegar, best to avoid beverages with a funny smell and inch of sediment on their bottle’s bottom.

2. Avoid Out-of-Date/Extinct Products.
Unless your giftee is an avid collector, avoid articles of clothing, music and electronic gear of decades past. Chances are your recipient will know you originally received that home BETA video recorder in 1988.

3. Avoid Dead Giveaways.
Certain regifts are a plain and clear message that a) you’re regifting and b) you’re an idiot. For example, never regift monogrammed items . . . unless you have a plan to explain why your initials should be emblazoned on their bathrobe. Promotional items from your company’s “fun day” are also poor choices.

4. When in Doubt, ReWrap (with recycled or “green” wrapping paper, of course).
Gifts should always be in their original condition (i.e. unused and in box). If you’re not fortunate enough to have “an original-condition situation,” then make sure your gift is covered in non-tattered or faded paper. Nothing says this has been sitting in the bottom of my closet like disheveled wrapping paper.

5. Take Notes.
If you are going to regift, be sure you know who gave you what. Keep track in a notebook or computer file. Yes, it’s nerdy, but you’ll be happy you did. Nothing is quite as awkward as regifting to the person who gave you the gift in the first place, especially if that original giver is a grim-faced and resentful relative. You know, the one with a sense of humor akin to a dead fish?

Check back for more tips on living the green life from Olivia Zaleski every Wednesday on the Huffington Post’s Living Now Page.

Of course all teenagers and college students hate their parents a little bit (or a lot, depending on the hormones), as it’s part of forging one’s own identity. Isn’t it the American way to hold your parents in contempt until you’re at least 25, and then become them?

But these kids are going to have good reason for their anger, and I predict a revolution when these tiny tots grow to understand the legacy their parents have left them. They will inherit a planet-wide environmental mess, and it might not be impossible to fix, but it’s going to take the best minds of their age (plus their offspring), lots of money, and a singular desperation to fix what’s wrong before it’s too late. What these kids face in the coming years will make the mistakes my generation has been left with: Rockefeller drug laws, repeated pointless wars in the Middle East, and lack of marriage rights for homosexuals, seem like quaint oopsies in comparison. They’ll be figuring out how to handle the planet-altering effects of massive droughts (hey, it’s already happening) and global warming has barely gotten underway), disintegration of ecological webs as species disappear during the current mass extinction, and human migration due to the effects of global warming, not to mention changes we can’t even foresee yet.

Well, you say, each generation has to pick up after the one prior to it in one way or another; what gives those kids in diapers more permission than anyone else to let us have it? The answer is that we know what we’re doing to the environment and we still continue to do it.

Not only that, but Americans use more resources than almost anyone else, so the bulk of blame falls on us. There is no reason anyone under 50 should choose not to recycle, yet most of the places I’ve worked don’t have a serious program to deal with office waste. We are all aware of how much CO2 is spewed into the atmosphere every time we fly (about ½ a ton for a domestic flight), yet we hop on last-minute getaway jaunts like they’re going out of style. I could go on, but we all know our eco-sins.

The truth is, faced with the information-packed movies The Eleventh Hour and An Inconvenient Truth, coupled with the constant natterings, warnings and protestations of hundreds of green bloggers like me and the mainstream media alike, (2007 was The Year of the Green for glossy mags), the environment still places near the bottom of the concerns of voters according to a USA Today/Gallup poll.

What to do? If you’re a parent, an aunt, uncle, godfather, stepmother, or any permutation of the above, or even hope to have kids one day, start thinking less about what piece of junk to buy the kids in your life, and start thinking about what your real legacy to them will be.

To get you started thinking about the issues, why not write a note to your sure-to-be-angry descendants, and tell them exactly what you did — or didn’t do — to try to give them a healthy, sustainable world. Check out The DeSmogBlog’s 100 Year Letter Project where the adults of today write to their heirs. Andrew Revkin, one of the top science/environment journalists for The New York Times, covered this ingenious combination of the personal with the global on DotEarth, the Times’ enviroblog and he got some great responses in the comments section.

Before you pop that tyke into the back seat of the new SUV you bought for “safety” reasons, or purchase that plastic learning cube for him in hopes it will eventually get him into Stanford, take a step back and think 50 years down the line, and what he will write to his grandchildren about you.

Originally published in The Huffington Post 

I was thrilled to see some seriously fun totally over-the-top delicious green stuff featured in Vogue’s December issue (it’s the one with the impossibly gorgeous Penelope Cruz, above, on the cover).

First up, there’s “Season’s Greenings” by William Norwich, who talks to three fabulous greenies. Sheherazade Goldsmith, author of A Slice of Organic Life, recommends bamboo salad tongs, the Linda Lee Hundred Trees Charm from Barney’s, recycled wallpaper from Lim and Handtryk, and vintage Louboutin mules. She’s also a fan of a cool site, re-found objects, and only buys wooden toys for her kids. (That’s her sitting pretty in a London nursery below). Elizabeth Wiatt, NRDC trustee and LA power-player, likes Dr. Hauschka products, soy candles from Lafco House and Home, and vintage banana-leaf envelope sets. Anna Carter, a trustee for the Natural Resources Defense Council and wife of Vanity Fair’s Graydon Carter suggests Paporganics hemp wrapping paper, hand-crafted cushions from Robert Kime, and is a fan of Behnaz Sarafpour’s Spring collection.

In addition to all the green gift-giving suggestions, there’s an article covering the hipness of riding bikes, entitled “Wheels on Fire” (which calls to mind the theme song for Patty and Edina’s misadventures on Absolutely Fabulous). Apparently model Agnyss Deyn arrived at fashion week on two wheels, and Helena Christensen calls riding a bike a “cozy habit”.

The piece points out what visitors to Europe have known for years: On the Continent it’s all about integrating pedaling into your life, so you can wear whatever you like, from ballgowns to heels with skinny jeans. Bikes are designed to carry both people and stuff (including beer!). My favorite quote? “It’s easy enough to wear a skirt on a bike. And guys love it,” says Christiansen. I can vouch for this, as I always ride my bike around in ‘non-sporting’ gear.

So next time you think you need a special outfit to ride your bike, think again (though it would behoove you to have fenders to keep the mud and moisture off). And if you need some tips on cool bikes, and what to wear while doing it, check out the full article.

Travel and Leisure Magazine really did it up this month for their ethical travel issue. Unlike some green theme issues, every inch of this one is packed with great resources for all of us who love to jet off into the unknown but have terrible, terrible guilt about the environmental consequences. Any resource that helps me find ways to mitigate my waste and carbon output while travelling makes a difference.

From short tips (like those in the scan above) to longer pieces, the editorial staff at T&L deserves serious kudos for this issue. You can see some of the content online here, but this is one of those magazines (along with Domino’s amazing green home decor issue from last year) that I’m keeping as a resource in my library- it’s that good.

And don’t forget that the holidays are coming up….save your wallet and go lighter on the Earth by swapping stuff you want to get rid of and get gifts for your family at the same time!

Swaptree is a national service, only in the US for now, where you list what you want to get rid of and list what you want (cd’s, books and movies only). The site’s software does the rest, finding matches among people. It’s really sleek and super easy to use even if you’ve never done anything like it before. It does get a little addicting seeing what you can get for what you already have!

Swaptree is a site where you can trade books, music, movies and video games that you don’t want, for the books, CDs, DVDs, video games that you do want, for free.

Unlike auction sites or other used item sites where you can sell or purchase items, on swaptree your items will only cost you the price of shipping. So if you don’t really see the point in selling a book online for $3, just so you can then go out and buy a new book for $15, then swaptree is for you!

The best part is that once you get an item from someone and you finish reading, listening or viewing it, you can just list it on swaptree and get something else for it!

On Neighborrow you can borrow, trade or recycle locally (though they do have a mailing option, the site encourages near-by borrowing).

Borrow: Neighborrow enables you to borrow things that you want to use but do not want to pay for (books, movies, music, tools, household items, baby items, etc). You can also borrow things that you only need once in a while or things that you only need to use a single time. It makes “no cents” to purchase or even to rent certain things, especially if you do not have to. Once you borrow something, we keep track of where it is, where it has been, and when it is due back.

Trade: If you do not want the item back, but do not just want to give it away or throw it out, you can trade it for neighborrow-bucks. This “currency system” means that you do not have to find a counter party that has something you want. You can then use your neigborrow-bucks for anything on the site that someone else doesn’t want.

Recycle: Get rid of items you do not use anymore. We make it easy to find someone who wants it so it won’t go to waste