{Organic Wednesday} The Green Bride Guide

Yes! I finally finished reading The Green Bride Guide book! It is the best selling green wedding book on the market. Comprehensive, easy-to-access resource for anyone interested in planning a green wedding. It provides readers with general advice and specific eco-friendly ideas. I'll be adding a lot from this book to my Wednesday post! Buy your own copy here: buy now You can also go on to their website to find TONS of great Eco-friendly information, vendors, and green gifts. www.greenbrideguide.com

Why incorporate green wedding details? The average wedding costs almost $40,000 (WHOA!!) and weddings are a $60+ billion industry. Having a green wedding is an opportunity to make a difference by supporting companies that actively incorporate social and environmental responsibility into the way they do business. Each one of the 2.5 million weddings this year in the United States will produce 400-600 lbs of garbage. That's a lot of waste! 

The Green Bride Guide by Kate Harrison

How to create an Earth-Friendly Wedding on Any Budget

·         In the same way that a wedding is an opportunity for you and your fiancé to showcase your tastes, it is also a unique chance for you to showcase your values.

·         http://www.greenopia.com/NY/greenopia_area.aspx?section=about_us

·         http://www.dvgreen.com

·         Coop items to reuse again: glasses, vases, folding chairs, tablecloths, napkins

·         Black henna is bad

·         Not all recycled papers are the same. There 2 main types of recycled paper: pre-consumer waste paper     (aka regular recycled paper) and post-consumer waste paper (PCW). Most paper that says it is recycled is made from pre-consumer waste paper unless otherwise indicated. Pre-consumer waste paper is leftover paper from the manufacturing process. For example, when envelope patterns are cut from large sheets, the leftover sheets can be turned back into pulp and made into more paper. Although it just seems like good business practice this is technically not recycling, and the new paper is labeled “recycled”. By contrast, post-consumer waste paper (PCW) is made from paper that has reached its end-use, like paper that ends up in your recycling bin and is reclaimed. For obvious reason PCW recycled paper is preferable so when shopping for paper try to find the stock that is made with as much PCW paper as possible

·         Consider using a single calla lilly down the aisle

·         Soy, palm, and beeswax candles are clean burning and often last longer

·         Good wood to use antique wood, recycled wood, driftwood, bamboo, okay wood to use birch, ash, beech, cherry, elm, hickory, maple, oak, pine, spruce, sycamore, and Sitka Spruce

      CharityWatch is a nationally prominent charity watchdog service whose purpose is to help donors make informed giving decisions. Their web site will provide you with information about our organization, the charities we rate, and our method of grading charities. Other features include tips for giving wisely, a helpful-hints guide for getting the most for the dollars you donate; tips for online giving; answers to frequently asked questions (FAQ); praise from both the press and regular American citizens; useful and interesting articles on a variety of topics relating to charitable giving; and more.

How does your favorite charity rate? Of the over five-hundred charities currently rated by CharityWatch, only a select number qualify for our listing of Top-Rated charities based on our rigorous analysis. Groups included on the Top-Rated list generally spend 75% or more of their budgets on programs, spend $25 or less to raise $100 in public support, do not hold excessive assets in reserve, and receive "open-book" status for disclosure of basic financial information and documents to CharityWatch.  http://www.charitywatch.org/

After looking thur here are my TOP choices of the "A" organizations:

http://www.awionline.org

Since 1951, the Animal Welfare Institute has been dedicated to reducing animal suffering caused by people.

http://www.thp.org

The Hunger Project (THP) is a global, non-profit, strategic organization committed to the sustainable end of world hunger. In Africa, South Asia and Latin America, THP seeks to end hunger and poverty by empowering people to lead lives of self-reliance, meet their own basic needs and build better futures for their children.

http://www.bbbs.org

Big Brother Big Sister, positively impact a child for the better, forever.

Also on December 11th CNN broadcasted an amazing show about Heroes. Many tears were shed! The top ten were selected from more than 10,000 nominations submitted online on the CNN Heroes website. These four really touched my heart! 

American Widow Project: provided support to more than 900 military widows since 2007.

Global Soap Project: recycles partially used hotel soap to save lives in impoverished countries.

Yayasan Bumi Sehat: Robin Lim and her team have helped thousands of low-income women have a healthy birthing experience.

World Access Project: provided hundreds of wheelchairs to people in rural Mexico.