With new “crops” of eco-friendly textiles entering the apparel marketplace, you’ll find it helpful to brush up on some “green” options:

• Organic fabrics use no pesticides, herbicides or insecticides during the growing cycle.
• Soy silk uses liquefied proteins (a by-product of making tofu) forced into fibers which are then spun.
• Ingeo corn fiber is created by extracting starch and then sugars from corn, and processing them into a form which can be spun into a yarn or woven into fabric.
• Fortrel EcoSpun polyester is made out of recycled plastic bottles and is frequently used for fleece.
• Biodegradable fabric has the ability to naturally break down and return to raw material or to be absorbed by the earth. The Federal Trade Commission guidelines say only products that contain materials which “break down and decompose into elements found in nature within a reasonably short amount of time when they are exposed to air, moisture and bacteria or other organisms” should be labeled biodegradable.
• Natural bleaching means that hydrogen peroxide was used to whiten fibers, rather than a chemical such as chlorine.
• Bamboo fabric is made from the cellulose fibers of the plant. It’s naturally antibacterial and 100% biodegradable and sustainable.

1)  Change your lightbulbs! 

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, if every U.S. household replaced just one regular incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb, it would prevent 90 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, the equivalent of taking 7.5 million cars off the road. And the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says that by replacing regular light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs at the same minimal rate, Americans would save enough energy to light more than 2.5 million homes for a year.

On top of that, replacing one regular light bulb with an approved compact fluorescent light bulb would save consumers $30 in energy costs over the life of the bulb.

Compact fluorescent light bulbs use at least two-thirds less energy than standard incandescent bulbs to provide the same amount of light, and they last up to 10 times longer. Compact fluorescent light bulbs also generate 70 percent less heat, so they are safer to operate and can also reduce energy costs associated with cooling homes and offices.

2)  Change your t-shirts!

According to the EJF, as many as 77 million people are sickened from exposure to agricultural pesticides each year.  Of those, nearly 1 million are hospitalized.  Long-term exposure has been proven to cause various types of cancer, birth defects and neurological disorders.  All of this is preventable.

Conventional cotton is one of the most pesticide intensive crops on the planet, and nearly 1 BILLION lbs. of conventional cotton is grown to produce t-shirts each year.  If every conventional cotton t-shirt made this year was replaced with one made with organic cotton, we would save over 600 million lbs. of pesticides and conserve more than 240 BILLION gallons of water!

Please think about this the next time you need custom printed t-shirts.

Earth Day is celebrated on April 22 around the world, and more companies than ever before are using eco-friendly giveaways to promote their commitment to caring for the environment.

Editors of Counselor magazine searched for creative giveaways in the Advertising Specialty Institute’s exclusive promotional products database and found that marketers are snatching up everything from notebooks made of elephant poo to shower timers to paper embedded with wildflower seeds.
Products made from renewable resources continue to gain momentum, including dinnerware made from bamboo. Bamboo is one of the fastest-growing plants on the planet, growing up to four feet in one day, and it is 100% biodegradable.

The top 10 eco-friendly giveaways for Earth Day 2010 are:
1. Elephant-Poo Notebook – The ultimate recycled item, great for colleges and trade shows.
2. Bamboo Dinnerware – Perfect for office picnics, outdoor concert venues and fairs.
3. Seed Paper Postcard – Ideal for environment-themed mailings and print promotions.
4. Shower Timer – Municipalities and utilities can promote water conservation.
5. Recycled Tires Jar Opener – Auto dealerships and mechanics can give these to customers.
6. Pine Tree Seedling – Employees can participate in a tree-planting day at the office campus.
7. Organic T-shirt – Give one to each Earth Day event organizer and volunteer.
8. Compostable Pens – Hotels, banks and shops can use these biodegradable pens.
9. Nonwoven Bag – Local grocery stores can eliminate plastic and paper.
10. Hemp-Blend Polo – Companies can use this earth-friendly shirt for summer uniforms.

Promotional products, or advertising specialties, are items imprinted with logos or slogans to market a company, organization, product, service, achievement or event. They are frequently purchased as gifts to employees and clients for occasions year-round, and marketers often include them in their campaigns to dramatically increase response rates.

According to an exclusive study from the Advertising Specialty Institute, end-buyers identify promotional products as the most effective medium among all advertising, next to the Internet.

For more information, contact David Solomon, CEO/Partner, at david@orangehalo.com or at 678-612-5308.

About OrangeHalo:
OrangeHalo is the first and only exclusively eco-friendly promotional products company in the United States. With offices in Atlanta, GA and Tustin, CA, OrangeHalo is one of the fastest growing privately held companies in the country.

Reducing climate pollution through regulation with the Clean Air Act is not the preferred method of the Obama administration. Both Jackson and President Obama have stated that legislation is less cumbersome and would harness market forces. Last fall (27 Oct. 2009), in testimony before the Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works regarding the climate and energy bill (S. 1733, Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act), Jackson stated in the Q&A of the hearing that, “There is only one way to get economy-wide market incentives for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and that is through new legislation.”

Without legislation, EPA is forging ahead on regulation because it is required to by law. A 2007 Supreme Court decision determined that global warming pollution is covered under the Clean Air Act, ordering the EPA to assess whether these pollutants pose a threat to the health and welfare of Americans.

In December 2009, EPA completed its analysis and found that climate pollution indeed poses such a threat (see, U.S. EPA: Greenhouse Gases "Threaten the Public Health and Welfare of the American People"). The conclusion of this analysis is commonly referred to as the endangerment finding. Due to the result of this analysis, EPA is now required to take further steps under the Clean Air Act to protect Americans from dangerous climate change.

Currently, there are proposals in Congress to limit EPA's authority to regulate climate pollutants. This proposal is led primarily by Senator Lisa Murkowski along with a few others (see, As Weather Extremes Hammer Arkansas Farms, Senator Lincoln Endorses Veto of Finding that Climate Change Threatens Farmers), which, if it were to pass, would essentially overturn the endangerment finding and strip the EPA of its regulatory powers.

Jackson also addressed in this week's Congressional letter the potential impact of the proposal. She stated that voting for the proposal would be a “vote to reject the scientific work of the thirteen U.S. government departments that contribute to the U.S. Global Change Research Program. It also would be viewed by many as a vote to move the United States to a position behind that of China on the issue of climate change, and more in line with the position of Saudi Arabia.”  

Yesterday, in testimony before the Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works regarding President's Proposed EPA Budget for FY 2011, Administrator Jackson said one of the key aspects of the FY 2011 budget is taking action on climate change. These efforts are aimed at additional regulatory efforts, including new emission standards for mobile sources such as passenger cars and light-duty trucks, and providing state grants focused on developing technological capacity for addressing climate emissions.

Jackson also answered questions about the EPA endangerment finding and the science behind the analysis. When asked by Senator Inhofe (widely known to believe that "climate change is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people") if recent errors in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 4th Assessment report merited a review of the EPA endangerment finding, Jackson reiterated the multiple scientific sources used in the EPA analysis -- not just the IPCC; and stated the following:

"It is incumbent on me as Administrator to review any new information as it comes out and if anything changes [from] the multiple lines of evidence from many many sources, not just the IPCC. [If there are changes], then I would call for a review of the findings. But I have not seen that. "

Jackson further reiterated the science by stating, "The science behind climate change is settled, and human activity is responsible for global warming...That conclusion is not a partisan one."

For more on the science & IPCC see, Statement from WWF Regarding the IPCC and the Strength of Our Science (10 Feb 2010).

Sin of the Hidden Trade-off

A claim suggesting that a product is ‘green’ based on a narrow set of attributes without attention to other important environmental issues. Paper, for example, is not necessarily environmentally-preferable just because it comes from a sustainably-harvested forest. Other important environmental issues in the paper-making process, such as greenhouse gas emissions, or chlorine use in bleaching may be equally important.

Sin of No Proof

An environmental claim that cannot be substantiated by easily accessible supporting information or by a reliable third-party certification. Common examples are facial tissues or toilet tissue products that claim various percentages of post-consumer recycled content without providing evidence.

Sin of Vagueness

A claim that is so poorly defined or broad that its real meaning is likely to be misunderstood by the consumer. ‘All-natural’ is an example. Arsenic, uranium, mercury, and formaldehyde are all naturally occurring, and poisonous. ‘All natural’ isn’t necessarily ‘green’.

Sin of Worshiping False Labels

A product that, through either words or images, gives the impression of third-party endorsement where no such endorsement exists; fake labels, in other words.

Sin of Irrelevance

An environmental claim that may be truthful but is unimportant or unhelpful for consumers seeking environmentally preferable products. ‘CFC-free’ is a common example, since it is a frequent claim despite the fact that CFCs are banned by law.

Sin of Lesser of Two Evils

A claim that may be true within the product category, but that risks distracting the consumer from the greater environmental impacts of the category as a whole. Organic cigarettes could be an example of this Sin, as might the fuel-efficient sport-utility vehicle.

Sin of Fibbing

Environmental claims that are simply false. The most common examples were products falsely claiming to be Energy Star certified or registered.