The 2009 Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) starts this Friday, February 13 and will run through Monday, February 16.

The GBBC is an annual four-day event during which bird watchers of all ages count birds, creating a snapshot image of bird populations across North America and make it as green steps.

These green steps are free, fun, easy, and open to all ages and levels of bird-watching expertise. You can count for as a little as 15 minutes on one day, or you can count as long as you like on each day of the event. All you have to do is fill out an online checklist at the Great Backyard Bird Count website.

Last year, participants submitted more than 85,000 checklists and reported more than 9.8 million birds of 635 species. As the count progresses, you can go to the website to follow what is being reported and see how the 2009 numbers compare to previous years.

The GBBC is a joint project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Audubon.

Green Small Business

Maybe you are wondering what reasons are 1000 Green Steps throwing at you now, but 1000 Green Steps will always have the list for you to read along and here they are:

1. Attract more customers

As you see each day people are growing more and more aware to our environment status. They keep on changing their life habit into green ones. So if you can show them what a ‘green’ you could be, you’ll attract even more people in.

2. Saving your unnecessary energy bills

Having too much money spent just to pay for electricity or water is such a waste to your income. Save your environment by first saving your own money!

3. Develop your brand

By going green you have the chance to help develop your business brand. This positive association will remind clients about your business when they think about environmental issues.

Happy Green Living!

While many other industries in our life has taken their green steps, restaurant industry seem to prevent being left out behind. This eco friendly restaurant choice is from a vegetarian place, called Vitaorganic in North London.

Vitaorganic Café in the Aveda shop in Marylebone has to be one of the most detoxifying experiences there is. The food is billed as organic, live and ‘enzymatic’ (which must be good, right?). They use no refined foodstuffs, and they use modern and ancient holistic principles to ‘cook’ their food. So, no temperatures above 100°C, no microwaves, no aluminium, or deep frying, so that everything is in its pure and natural state as far as is possible. According to Vitaorganic, they focus on UN – ultimate nutrition, ie raw foods; and ON – optimum nutrition, which means food cooked at a low temperature to prevent as much vitamin loss as possible. Not only is there all of this planet-loving energy-saving, but it’s all gluten and wheat free. The dishes on offer run along the lines of orange and sweet potato dhal, or green vegetable and sprouted buckwheat soup, which are not only delicious but filling and inexpensive to boot. Unsurprisingly, the owner is a practising Buddhist.

Happy Green Living!

Looking for the perfect Valentine’s present for the eco-friendly man in your life?

If so, check out these unique gift ideas from WhoIsYourMan.com.

The company offers an “Eco-Man” gift case that includes:

• cutting-edge C-IN2 designer underwear woven from bamboo, the Earth’s most plentiful grass, and

• designer men’s skin care products by the equally organic and sophisticated Bullie.

Sounds like the perfect combination for the environmentalist in my life.

But, here’s the real question: How well do you know your Valentine? Are you certain that he truly is an Eco-Man? Tell him to do green steps starting from here.

I suggest taking the WhoIsYourMan Personality Test just to be sure…

…and I’m happily adding this post to my “Environmentalists Can Have Fun” and green steps category.

Do you know anybody in this world who actually doesn’t like music? Don’t bother thinking! You are not going to find them, anyway

So if everybody like music and everybody live in this planet, why don’t 1000 Green Steps hear many songs composed special just Mother Earth?

Listen to these beautiful songs sang by our famous musician who cares about our planet. Try to think about this: If those people care, and why don’t you?

List of famous songs dedicated for our planet:

• Calypso - John Denver
• Om – Moody Blues
• Saturn – Stevie Wonder
• Only So Much Oil In The Ground – Tower of Power
• A Gallon of Gas – The Kinks
• Dirty Business – New Riders Of The Purple Sage
• Apeman – The Kinks
• Saltwater – Julian Lennon
• Poison In The Well – 10,000 Maniacs
• I’d Love To Change The World – Ten Years After
• Don’t Kill The Whale – Yes
• Vapor Trail – Rush
• Underground – Wishbone Ash
• (Nothing But) Flowers – Talking Heads
• The Last Resort – Eagles
• Pass It On Down – Alabama
• Garden Of Eden – New Riders Of The Purple Sage

Good sites to find more songs:

• Grinning Planet
• Wikipedia

Feel like singing? Write your own song composition and get other people influenced.

Happy Green Living!

Habitat Suites

When you are thinking about having an eco-tourism journey, be ready to rest your body inside an eco-friendly hotel. 1000 Green Steps recommend Habitat Suites Hotel as the most eco-friendly hotel in Texas considering ‘green’ features they offer to their customers. Those features include:

• They are solar-powered
• Grounds maintained with the use of natural, nontoxic fertilizers and pesticides
• Nontoxic, phosphate-free, natural cleansers used in cleaning
• Air ozonators/ionizers used for clean air quality in suites
• Biodegradable, recycled, unbleached paper products/recycling program
• Ladybugs populate our grounds, fostering healthy plants, the natural, chemical-free way
• About 20% of our energy needs are satisfied by our on-site 18 Kilowatt 108 solar panel PV (photo-voltaic) system

By those features 1000 Green Steps believe that they have good reasons to make Habitat Suites win awards and the latest was in 2006 they received the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce first ever environmental award, the “Greenbelt Award” and 2007 got us another “Greenbelt Award”

Room Rate starting from $137/night

Happy Green Living!

Erin Brockovich

After 1000 Green Steps brought you fun through environment songs and idols, now it’s time for us to watch those movies about our environment. No! I’m not asking you to watch a boring documentary film about how polluted our earth is, but this is more like a true story film showing us what to do to fight mean people around us

“Erin Brockovich” is a 2000 drama film which dramatizes the story of Erin Brockovich’s first fight against the American West Coast energy giant Pacific Gas and Electric Company known as PG&E. The film was directed by Steven Soderbergh and featured actress Julia Roberts in the lead role for which she subsequently won the Academy Award for Best Actress. It is based on a true story and the real Erin Brockovich has a cameo appearance as a waitress named Julia.

Do you feel like watching it? 1000 Green Steps, too!

Happy Green Living!

Samsung E1107 Solar Cell Powered Cell Phone

You’ve seen Green Roof, you’ve seen Electric Drive Transportation, you’ve seen solar panels, and you’ve seen wind energy already.

However 1000 Green Steps was wondering if you’ve heard about SOLAR-POWERED CELL PHONE? This is the latest innovation released by Samsung Mobile starting from June 2009 at India, Europe, Southeast Asia, Southwest Asia, and Latin America. This dual band phone has its own solar panel at the back just like at the picture.

It has many usual features such as FM Radio, MP3 Player and Games. What makes it special is that this Samsung Crest E1107 Solar-Powered Cellphone contains some unusual features such as a powerful torch light, mobile tracker (sends out an SOS in an emergency, and notifies you when the SIM card is changed), and a fake call feature so you can quickly get away from people you don’t like.

This phone is available in your local gadget stores starting from $59!

Happy Green Living!

In this high-technology era, almost everyone has their own air conditioning (AC) in their house. It is already well-known for its useful benefits which could increase or decrease a room temperature with the help of electricity. However, AC is also known as one of the major causes of Global Warming.

Luckily for those who have been addicted to AC ad can’t survive a day without it, 1000 Green Steps have the good news (as always!). 1000 Green Steps found an AC pre-cooling system which is able to blow your guilty feeling away.

This Cool-N-Save product is said to be able to save up until 30% of your electric bill compared to your ordinary AC. It also only uses less than 6 cents of water each day. Amazing goods do exist, don’t they? Find this AC online at Go Green Items at only $95.99!

Happy Green Living!

Green Birthday Party

Gifts

1000 Green Steps think that it’s nice to apply gift exchange in a birthday party. That is even better if every child brings a ‘green’ friend of them (plants, soil, or even animals!) and in the end they will go home with their own new ‘green’ friend.

Garnish

For the party supplies, try IKEA dinnerwares which are recycled plastics. If your child demands characters decorations such as Spiderman or Princesses, try drawing (or tracing) favourite characters or items on kraft paper to make a tablecloth. Even better, let the kids do it at the party. As for balloons, it might be easiest to go cold turkey. That may sound outrageous, but there are plenty of reasons. Fancy mylar balloons are not biodegradable. Even normal latex balloons, which do eventually break down, can cause problems.

Goodies

While kids are thrilled to rip open these sacks of treasure, the pleasure is usually short-lived. There is a reason that these items were inexpensive – they are poorly made, mass-produced, and definitely not sustainable. Use a small cloth bag or a recycled cardboard instead, or if you are on a budget, you can go back to number 1 where goodies bags are no longer needed to be provided by the host.

Happy Green Living (or Partying)!