Earth Blog

Today is National Arbor Day and Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) tweeted a link to their "Right Tree, Right Place" tips to remind their 4.6 million customers to make “informed landscaping choices” before planting trees and shrubs.

FPL has been designated a "Tree Line USA" utility for ten years in a row by The National Arbor Day Foundation. The non-profit is known for their “Tree City USA” and “Tree Campus USA”  but they also recognize utilities that are mindful of trees by their implementation of excellent tree care practices and teach their workers proper tree stewardship.

“Here comes Peter Cottontail
Hoppin’ down the bunny trail
hippity hoppity
reducing his carbon footrprint
along the way!”

Tomorrow is Easter and Peter Cottontail asks in his famous song that you: “Try to do the things you should!” He also mentions you should be “extra good” and if so “he’ll roll lots of Easter eggs your way.”

Here are some tips to make Easter egg-stra special and green! That was the only and last egg pun that will be in today’s post.

Did you know that white chocolate isn’t real chocolate? White chocolate contains no chocolate liquor which is the main ingredient the treat would need to be considered real chocolate. What it does have is cocoa butter and the FDA says it must have at least 20% cocoa butter and no more than 55% sugar to be called white chocolate. Who other than Willy Wonka could have known that chocolate is a complicated confection?

Dark, bitter and semisweet chocolate is required to have 35% chocolate liquor while milk chocolate must contain 10% chocolate liquor.  Anything less is not up to the FDA’s standards and is likely labeled “chocolate flavored” or could be made of carob. 

Carob has a different texture and taste than chocolate but contains the same amount of calories. It is commonly used in gourmet dog treats to give them a harmless taste of chocolate.

There is just twenty days until Christmas; have you been thinking about our Green Holiday tips? Have you started your shopping? If you haven’t there are plenty of green buying guides and ideas popping up all over the Internet to help a confused consumer get through the gift-giving season.

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone. If you participated in the chain-store chaos of Black Friday here’s hoping you had a safe one without being pepper-sprayed over a super deal and went on to shop locally on Small Business Saturday. But now you need to start thinking about the kind of tree you want to buy and it’s not just about whether or not it leans a bit or if it’s a little thin on one side. What are the ornaments you use made of? Unfortunately, the work doesn’t stop there - you should start to think about the materials you are going to wrap your loot in so you can stack that loot gorgeously under your festively decorated tree. Does it sound overwhelming like the joy has just been sucked out of your holiday season? Fear not! A greener Christmas is a lot easier than you think.