Earth Day: Laura Luna's top 6 ways to be Green and Fabulous!

Happy Earth Day everyone! Today, I will be joining my Latina Lifestyle Blogger Sisters in dedicating a post to Earth Day. Now you know that I had to do Earth Day the fancy lady way, so today I will be sharing with you Laura Luna's top 6 ways to be green & fabulous (these are all things that I've tried in my own personal life)

1. Recycling - Raise your hand if you're a diva and love wine (or a stiff martini)? Hand raised? I knew it. At Casa P-P (the name that my partner Jess and I have given to our home) there is NO shortage of wine. Divas and bottles of wine lol

Thankfully, the City of Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation provides LA residents with a the largest curbside recycling program in the US! If you look at the table below (provided on the LA Bureau of Sanitation website) you can see that LA is the city with the highest recycling rates! How fabulous is That?!

RECYCLING RATES FOR 10 LARGEST U.S. CITIES*
	City	Recycling Rate	Population
1	Los Angeles	65.0%**	3,834,340
2	San Jose	60.0%	939,899
3	New York	55.0%	8,274,527
4	San Diego	54.9%	1,266,731
5	Chicago	52.4%	2,836,658
6	Dallas	44.6%	1,240,499
7	Philadelphia	42.0%	1,449,634
8	Phoenix	23.0%	1,155,259
9	Houston	16.7%	2,208,180
10	San Antonio	4.0%	1,328,984

More amazing is that you don't even have to sort it, they do all the sorting for you. How much easier could it get?

2. Reusable Aluminum Bottles - It's no longer fashionable to drink water out of a plastic water bottle! Did you know that When plastics break down, they don't biodegrade, they photodegrade. This means the materials break down to smaller fragments. These readily absorb toxins which contaminate soil, waterways, and animals upon digestion. That's not only gross and mean, but totally NOT Fabulous. Jess and I now carry aluminum bottles and refill from water fountains and such (we use a Brita dispenser at home). What's cool about these bottles is that they have cute designs and you can use them to show your individuality. Take a look at some options from Sigg here



3. Composting - If you recall, earlier in the year, I wrote this post about composting and another LA Bureau of Sanitation program where you can go take a class on composting and even get a composting bin at a discounted price, FABULOUS! We haven't had a chance to go to the composting class, however we've started our own compost by using a plastic bin and getting tips from the internet. It's so cool to see all the kitchen scraps turn into soil that we can use for potting our spring flowers.



4. Ride Sharing - It's no secret that gas prices are cutting into many a fancy lady shoe/shopping budget <--faux fabulous. Since I'm not independently wealthy, I have a budget and after noticing that SO MUCH of my hard earned money was going to buy gasoline, I took a look at where I could cut costs. I'm lucky to be employed by a large company with a very generous commuter program. I took a look at the transit schedule and the policy and by adding only about 1 hour to my commute (taking public transportation and the company sponsored shuttle to Union Station) I was able to save a TON of $! I've pumped less than $25 in gas in the last month <-Fab!

As a "prize" to myself for loosing the 1 hour of sleep, I've given myself a small shopping/entertainment allowance. This month, with my allowance, I've bought myself tickets to go see Dita Von Teese at the Roxy at the middle of next month!! So check to see if you have a commuter program at work. You might be surprised at the benefits and cost saving options!


5. Reusable Bags - Last but most certainly not least, is the use of reusable bags. We've all seen them. You can buy them at almost ANY store (Trader Joe's & Fresh and Easy first come to mind) According to the Californians Against Waste website, Californians use 12 billion plastic bags every year. 12 BILLION! That's not only not fabulous, that's unacceptable!!

We have about 15 reusable bags that we take our lunches in and use for grocery shopping and such. I recommend storing some in your car (if you use one) for those last minute small shopping trip. It all counts!!! Here are some cute options from Trader Joe's


6. Vintage - Last but certainly NOT least is buying vintage clothing. If you follow me on twitter you know that I'm the BIGGEST fan of Etsy. I love looking for vintage clothes and household items on etsy because you can view clothing items based on size (a great option for us plus size gals). How is buying vintage "green"? Well think about it, it's basically like recycling clothes. If you purchase all vintage, you're not really contributing to the environmental waste of making new clothes. Plus I feel like it's a bit more ethical, since a lot of vintage clothing was made by ILGWU members as we know, most clothing now a days is not made in the US and made in sweat shops by people who are not being paid living wages. Plus, it's easier to stand out in a crowd if you're wearing clothes that were made more than 20 years ago!

Keep your eye out in the next few days for a new post on some great vintage items that I've scored in the last few weeks!!


So there you have it, my 6 ways to be Green and Fabulous! Any tips that you can share to be Green & Fabulous? Please share!