FIJI Green Gal: Joining the blog today is one of my colleagues, whom we’ve dubbed “FIJI Hungry Gal” because the girl sure does love to eat! I can always count on her for a great restaurant recommendation and ideas for a dinner party menu. I’ve also had the good fortune to eat her cooking, and the girl’s got skills. She’ll be sharing some of her great food insights with us on this blog. Read the rest of this entry »

My fellow FIJI fans, if you”ve been keeping up with our FIJI Green blog, or even if this is your first visit, I”ve got very exciting news! You”ve got a chance to win two VIP Patron Passes to the Sonoma Jazz+ Festival, a four day Memorial Day weekend celebration of world class music, delicious food and fine wines amidst the unique ambiance of California”s wine country. Read the rest of this entry »

It occurred to me this is a wonderful place to share some of how I live a little healthier and greener, and in turn, improve what I’m doing by learning from our readers!

Nothing I do is extraordinary or time consuming, but I feel good about my little part. Here’s a list of what I do:

• I have two garbage cans in my kitchen, one for soiled stuff, the other for recycling.
• I recycle all my used coffee grains and filters and feed them to my yard as natural fertilizer.
• I replaced all my household cleaners with earth-friendly and non-chemical solutions. Vinegar and water on my hardwood floors make them shine better than any other product I”ve ever used!
• When running the water for my kids’ bath, I don”t let the water warm up before putting the drain plug in.
• I replaced every bulb in the house with those CFL light bulbs.
• We have large fish tanks and bought a pump to water the lawn when we clean the tanks. The water has great fertilizer in it!
• We use the door hanger advertisements as coloring books for my kids, and recycle the ones that don”t get put on the refrigerator for display!
• On the weekends, we try to walk more and drive less.
• I sign up for paperless statements when they’re offered.
• I re-use envelopes for shopping lists, etc… blank, white envelopes are perfect!
• I turn off the water when I”m brushing my teeth.
• We unplug electrics after using them.
• We purchase predominantly organic food.

I”d love to hear little steps you take that help you live a healthy, greener life!

Courtesy of finewaters.com, some nice news about progress on the recycling front…

“With data compiled during an extensive bale composition study in 15 locations in 14 states, the 2008 NAPCOR PET analysis states: ‘Water bottles are now the most recycled container in curbside programs by weight, and overwhelmingly by number.’ PET water bottles now account for 50% of all the PET bottles and containers collected by curbside recycling. This trend was consistent in all curbside bales sampled nationally, with no major shifts observed in any other plastic container category. The biggest jump in water bottle collection for recycling was in California, where a state-funded consumer education campaign, emphasizing that water bottles are recyclable, seems to be having the desired effect.”

There’s still a lot more we can do, though. Check out FIJIGreen.com to learn more about recycling’s environmental benefits, play a recycling game, and find out how you can help improve recycling rates across the board!

FIJI Green Gal: Here’s an update from Fiji courtesy of Molly, our FIJI Water Foundation coordinator…

FIJI Water and its hundreds of employees in Fiji were proud to join Fiji”s Earth Hour celebrations this year. On March 28th from 8.30pm to 9.30pm, the factory in Yaqara shut down bottled water operations and used critical lighting only, as did the logistics, finance, and foundation offices in Lautoka and Suva. We encouraged our employees, friends, and neighbors in the communities around our factory to do the same, supplied water to Earth Hour volunteers in the West, and also assisted in the collection and recycling of those donated bottles.

Elsewhere in Fiji, landmark buildings turned off their lights, restaurants held candlelit dinners with live guitar serenades, and at resorts guests were guided to their rooms by tiki torch.

Participating in this year”s Earth Hour is a part of our ongoing commitment to energy efficiency and the environment. As we work on big projects – cutting emissions across our products’ entire life cycle, promoting local recycling, investing in forest carbon and renewable energy projects- we also remember that there are small things we can all do every day to make a difference on our planet.

For more information about Earth Hour, visit www.earthhour.org and see how you and your community can be a part of next year”s celebration.