Helpful tips on creating a better and healthier living environment for you and your family.

Going green may seem like a current trend, but the benefits of leading a more organic and sustainable lifestyle will far outlive any trend or fad that seems to be happening. One might even say it is similar to the princess dresses for girls trend that will probably always be a “trend” as long as there are little girls who love to dress up in pretty clothing and make believe they are princesses. It is evident that the princess trend is a strong as ever with the emergence of e-commerce stores selling extraordinary princess dresses along with all the necessary accessories such as tiaras, crown, and cone hats (for the medieval princess), white gloves, capes and cloaks , and the absolutely important magic wand. No longer is mom’s old dresses good enough for the princess look. Now little girls can get the Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty among other princess dress styles. So like some of these trends the princess dress trend most likely will not go away anytime soon. With advancements in production of everything from food to cars becoming more “earth friendly” we will start to see the benefits and hopefully can bring much of this into our own homes.

The green trend is seen in many eco conscious businesses from green grocers, to clothing, to home building, to to restaurants and to even gift baskets. It should come as no surprise that the specialty gourmet food sector is in the forefront of the gift basket and food gifting market. Continuing consumer interest in all foods organic, natural and gourmet is the perfect fit with the selling of gift baskets . What better way to show your support for a more eco conscious world than sending baskets that include organic, handmade, recycled and recyclable products. For the “green” giver, they make healthy, socially responsible, and environmentally friendly presents. One of the best boutique organic gift basket providers features premium organic and sustainable products from U.S.-based artisan producers and leading organic brands. They offer a wide range of themes ranging from birthdays to new baby, to spa, anniversary, get-well, to holidays. In addition they offer kosher, vegan and gluten-free gift basket collections. And to follow through with a total commitment to the eco philosophy, they also made an environmental commitment that includes reducing waste in packaging and shipping by using only recycled and recyclable materials and minimal packaging. They even have installed energy-efficient lighting in their offices and make their local deliveries in a hybrid vehicle. There are other organic, all-natural gift basket store online. Quite frankly, life is too short to not make a difference in everything a person does. We say: no to fake food and YES to honest organic and natural foods. We say: no to chemicals and YES to body care products made from the finest natural and organic ingredients. We say: no to wasteful packaging and YES to containers that can be re-purposed.

Some businesses by their very nature are green in that they don’t contribute to pollution or climate change by virtue of what they are. My friend Ralph Deluca buys and sells vintage movie posters and other collectible items serving a clientele of collectors. If you buy or sell film posters as a business you have the ultimate in recycling, basically conserving as an artifact an art object from a past that’s becoming more distant every day increasing the age and potentially the value of the poster with time.

Another way to start leading a more organic and sustainable lifestyle is to make use of those recycling bins that may be hidden away in your garage. This simple step of tossing that plastic bottle into a different bin can make a huge difference.

Those of you will children and especially toddlers will want to make sure you are using environment friendly cleaning products, these not only are better for the environment but are not toxic to your little ones as are the heavy chemicals in the usual cleaning products.

Make sure to check all of the packaging when ordering your celebratory gift baskets to separate out all recyclable items.