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!

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)!

Just Like Our Green Idol: Brad Pitt

After having Leonardo DiCaprio, Angelina Jolie, and Lisa Simpson now we are having Brad Pitt as our Green Idol. Brad was twice nominated as ‘The Hottest Man Alive’ by People magazine. However, like many people say it’s the inside that counts. He proved to the world that he also has been hot on the trail of the emerging green-building movement, narrating a sustainable design TV series, and supporting Ed Norton’s Solar Neighbors Program.

He also has been leading an eco cause called Global Green USA’s Holy Cross Project, which is made to push the sustainable redevelopment of New Orleans after the Katrina.

That project will provide affordable-housing project, which will include five single-family homes, an 18-unit apartment building and a community centre. “What happened two years ago was a man-made disaster,” says Brad, “and this building offers a man-made solution.”

1000 Green Steps believe that with more people going green through their green steps, we will be able to create a better living place on Earth

Happy Green Living!

Trashion

No, 1000 Green Steps didn’t do typos. Trashion is a fashionable way to reuse trashes as some fascinating fashion items. Just like 1000 Green Steps, at the first time you might feel hesitate to even have a look at that. However, try to believe that these kinds of fashion really does exist and they’re actually hip!

Visit Haute Trash to browse through their amazing ideas of trashion items and get awed the moment you enter their home page. Furthermore, believe it or not they actually made up awards for trashion. Windfall ecology festival June 2007: Trash Fashion & Design Awards combines and celebrates the elements of fashion design with the creative use of garbage.

Happy Green Living!

Ecotourism

Have you ever heard the term ‘ecotourism’? In case you’re not used to that term, the definition of ecotourism according to Wikipedia is travel to fragile, pristine, and usually protected areas that strives to be low impact and (often) small scale.

1000 Green Steps will recommend this to you because it has some positive benefits compared to ordinary travel journey.

Firstly, this kind of travel will allow tourists to enjoy and discover our nature and those travel agencies were still able to gain profit for that, but it will not let our environment left unprotected.

Another benefit of ecotourism is that this kind of travel will educate tourists about nature in its own unique, unexplainable, and active way. That will awake city people that everything is not always the same as what it says in the picture.

1000 Green Steps say: Make them feel it, and they will never forget it.

Happy Green Living!

Norway Fjord

1000 Green Steps had written an article about considering ecotourism as a travel option. Now, we are back to submit some place options for you to visit! The first one is Norway Fjord, where the strict environmental regulations are as famous as a junk food restaurant. As an international leader of environmental policy, Norway Norway has taken care to protect its unique coastline by regulating the fishing, whaling, and sealing and petroleum industries. For more information, visit the Norwegian Embassy Web site.

Enjoy their snowcapped mountains, tumbling waterfalls and crystal-clear waters there!

Happy Green Living!