Starbucks EarthDay Celebrations

Reduce Waste At your Coffee Shop

In America we love our coffee and because of the abundance of coffee shops we can now pick up some quality blends and try many exciting variations without the need to purchase a complicated espresso machine or milk steamer, coffee bean grinder or tea infuser.

Although these Coffee shops are great for our coffee habits, there is a large cost associated with our visits. Beside the obvious financial cost of some of the fancier named coffee concoctions there is a very large environmental cost.

Coffee shops generally serve their brew in hard to recycle paper cups. A good estimate is that Americans throw away 18 billion paper cups every year. Paper and cardboard make up over 40% of the solid waste buried in North American landfills. Of that 40%, a disproportionate amount, is attributable to disposable coffee cups. Add to this waste the plastic lids and straws and cardboard sleeves that many of us use on our paper coffee cups whether we need them or not.

Luckily there are some very easy ways in which we can reduce our waste at coffee shops.
The best way to reduce this waste is to get a reusable mug or travel mug. Travel mugs tend to be better because they come with a lid in case you want to take them in the car and avoid spills and because they are insulated, which means your coffee will stay hot longer. Here are a few tips for using your reusable mug at the coffee shop:

1. Create a personalized travel mug that you will really like. Adding photographs and your name to your travel mug makes it stand out and you will want to use it more often.
2. Bring your Travel Mug with you. It will be of no use if you leave it at home.
3. Know how much liquid your mug can hold. At most coffee shops 12oz. is a Tall or Small, 16oz. is Grande or Medium and 20oz. is a Venti or Large.
4. Order the size drink you want that will fit in your mug. Sometimes you can get lucky and the barrista will fill up your 16oz. mug even if you only ordered a small or tall.
5. Order your drink type specifically and make sure that the barrista does not use a paper cup to write the order on. If you regularly enjoy the same drink get a reusable mug that describes your specific drink order on it and then point your barrista to this description.
6. Unscrew the top of the travel mug before handing your mug over. Keep the lid with you and replace it once you get your drink back.
7. Add your milk and sugar to your cup first before handing it over to the barrista. In this way you will eliminate the waste caused by spilling, if you add these later to an already full mug.
8. Ask the barrista what discount they offer for bringing in your own mug. Some coffee shops offer discounts as high as 30%. Don’t make this your reason for bringing in a reusable mug, just be pleased with yourself for helping to reduce the waste.

If you forget to bring in your travel mug then there are still a number of ways you can reduce waste during your coffee shop visit.

1. If you intend to sit in the coffee shop and enjoy your drink, you do not need a plastic lid. If you do need to take your coffee on the go then hopefully next time you will remember your reusable travel mug.
2. If you should spill any coffee on the counter top, do not use napkins to wipe it up. Ask the barrista for a rag to wipe up the spill.
3. The cardboard collar, meant for hot drinks, can also add to the waste. If you do not need one then do not take one.

Some estimates suggest that if we all use reusable mugs at one of the large chain coffee shops instead of their paper cups we would save more than 1 million tons of wood, 2 billion pounds of carbon dioxide, and 4 billion gallons of water every year. That’s the equivalent carbon dioxide reduction of keeping almost 800 000 cars off the road for at least 3 days.

So get a travel mug and persuade everyone you know to do the same. Make a difference, reduce the waste, get some discounts at coffee shops and feel good about yourself. Make the switch to a reusable travel mug today.

Contact us at support@gogreenmug.com or 714-345-1101, to personalize a mug or mugs for yourself or your business.

Prevent and Treat Mosquito Bites Using Everyday Items

We all have makeshift solutions and homemade remedies that are better for the environment (and often less expensive) than many products on the market.

Visit http://www.altuse.com/ to share your ideas with the green community, and learn other ways you can use everyday products around your home and garden. AltUse is giving away GoGreenMugs as prizes every day this week, so we encourage you all to participate by simply entering your ideas!

Here are just a few examples of how you can prevent and treat mosquito bites this summer:

• Rub a fabric softener sheet on your clothing to repel mosquitoes. Great for working outside or when on a camping trip.


• If you've already been bitten, try breaking open an aspirin and rubbing it on the bite to reduce the itch.

We hope you find their site useful and informative, and that you take a bit of time to share your ideas with the community!

Reduce Waste with Alternative Uses

One of the best ways to reduce our waste is to reuse everything you can. The more we reuse the less waste is created and we cut down on our contribution to global warming and pollution.

At GoGreenMug.com, you know that we are dedicated to reducing our waste and so we are pleased to join up with AltUse to offer a great promotion from the 10th-14th August.

AltUse believe as we do, that by reusing and finding alternative uses for products, we can seriously reduce our waste and reduce the effects of climate change. They enable us to save money and the environment by putting our stuff to use in many different ways. Check out http://www.altuse.com/ to find alternative uses for all your stuff.



The GoGreenMug promotion with AltUse starts Monday. With up to six winners everyday. We look forward to reading your entries.

Pressing for a Global Response to Climate Change

A recent article in Newsweek, http://www.newsweek.com/id/208164 had me thinking of the slippery slope of climate change and where we can go from here.

The problem with global warming is that it starts slowly, melting a little more ice over the arctic each year, but the rate of warming actually increases exponentially as the ice melts, melting more and more of it each year. Ice melt is just one example of why climate change is speeding up. The ice reflects much of the heat back out of our atmosphere. The less ice there is the less heat is reflected and the faster the ice melts. The Newsweek article above explains other ways that warming is speeding up.

The longer we wait to take action and reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emissions substantially the more quickly and urgently we will need to act in the future. At GoGreenMug.com we have already discussed numerous ways in which you can make a difference personally. You know that we sell personalized travel mugs at http://www.gogreenmug.com/ so that you never have to waste another paper or polystyrene cup at a coffee shop or in the office again. We also follow many of the other ideas that we have posted previously.

Unfortunately though changes are required on an even bigger scale. We may be able to personally reduce our emissions and waste but without a global consensus from governments, our personal commitments will not be enough to reverse the effects of global warming.

We have already seen President Obama and congress pass an environmental bill, but we all need to keep pressing to ensure steps are taken on a national and global level to reduce the effects of climate change. Here are a few suggestions of where to start.

1. Send letters or emails to your senators or congressman or elected officials wherever you live. Let them know that this problem is one of your major concerns and as your representative you would like them to press for quick and substantial global efforts to reduce global warming.
2. If you are not sure what to write in a letter, then go to online action networks such as the one run by Surfrider Foundation http://actionnetwork.org/surfrider/home.html . All you will need to do is sign up and then use the action network to submit letters that have been specially drafted for specific causes.
3. Support environmental groups on Facebook and Myspace by signing on to their causes. Large action groups can help to effect large changes.
4. Continue to make the small changes you have already committed to, such as driving less, always using a reusable mug and helping at beach clean-ups.
5. Share this information with your friends and family and get them to do the same too.

Every little bit counts, but remember we are under a time constraint, so whatever you decide to do, do it today.

The Algae Environmental Solution

Biofuels were once welcomed as the solution to using fossil fuels such as oil and coal. However it was quickly discovered that the energy cost to grow the corn and soybean used to make the bio fuels is not environmentally or economically sustainable and may in fact increase the amount of carbon dioxide emissions (in growing them).

Producing these crops (soybean and corn) in large enough quantities to supply food demand as well as bio fuels is a real concern. These bio fuels have been blamed for increasing the price of food and also wasting arable land to produce the crop for bio fuels.

Recently though there has been a shift from these first types of bio fuels to new advanced bio fuels that show some great promise. Exxon Mobil has teamed up with a bio tech research company to produce an algae based bio fuel. Algae has been welcomed as an excellent alternative to crop based bio fuels. It only requires water, sunlight and carbon dioxide to grow. It can be grown in large tanks and can double its size through photosynthesis, in about a day.

This sounds like the perfect bio fuel, and while we are excited to learn about Exxon Mobil's investment in cleaner fuels, we also remain weary that this algae based bio fuel will be a viable environmentally friendly fuel alternative. A crop that doubles daily and does not require the burning of fossil fuels to grow, will be a great boost to alternative fuels.

We like to keep things positive at GoGreenMug.com and so we will also believe that Exxon Mobil is investing in this technology because they understand the importance of reducing waste and finding a sustainable fuel source.

All this investment and reports of new technology and environmentally sustainable fuels suggests that we are on the right track to solving our environmental crisis. As investment grows so will the speed at which new discoveries are made. We look forward to reading about more of them and we will let you know if we find any of them interesting.

Everyday Tips for Combating Climate Change

Welcome, GoGreenMug Green News readers! This week, we'd like to discuss some easy-to-implement ideas for ways you can combat climate change.

Climate change affects habitats, wildlife, and people around the world. While some changes occur as a result of natural weather patterns, others can be directly linked to human activities. There is no question that the development of technology has advanced our capabilities exponentially over the past 150 years; unfortunately, some of that technology has had negative impacts on the environment, too. So now that we're aware of some of these impacts, it's our responsibility to our planet and future generations to take action. Many companies are devoting resources to designing cleaner and more efficient technologies to replace older equipment. But as individuals, there are many things we can change that will have a cumulative effect, as well. Some of these actions include:

1. Using compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) around the house - at least on commonly-used light fixtures, if not on all of them. The first few generations of CFLs weren't excellent; they took a while to warm up, and sometimes weren't that bright. But the technology has gotten a lot better, and there are many high quality options to choose from now.


2. Reducing the temperature setting on the water heater to "Warm" or 120 F. Especially during the summer months, your water will naturally be a little warmer, and things take less time to dry in the warmer weather (e.g., dishes, laundry).


3. Adjusting thermostat settings - during the summer months, increase the temperature a little, and if you have a programmable thermostat, remember to set it to turn off during the hours no one is at home. During the cooler months, decrease the temperature setting, and turn it off when no one is at home or when everyone is asleep.


4. Checking the showerheads - replace any showheads that use more than 2.5 gallons/minute with low-flow models.


5. Completely turning off appliances not in use. This means not only flipping the power switch on items such as tv's and audio equipment, since these usually have standby mode that continues to draw power. Turning off standby mode requires unplugging the device. As this is a little inconvenient, an easier way to implement this strategy is to connect multiple devices to an outlet strip; this way, you just have to flip the switch on the strip, and you're done. And if you use a surge protector rather than just an outlet strip, you'll have the added protection against voltage surges when the equipment is powered.


6. Checking that your vehicle's tires are properly inflated.


7. Using a resuable mug each time you get a drink, rather than using a single-use disposable cup. GoGreenMug.com is offering all mugs and gift certificates for only $14.99 this month.

We hope you will be able to make some of these minor changes to your lifestyles, in order to reduce your impact on the environment. All of these suggestions will also save you a good deal of money, as well. Have a great week, and if you have any other suggestions you'd like to share with the group, please submit a comment!

~Your friends at GoGreenMug

State Parks on the 4th of July

On July 4 every year, Americans celebrate Independence day. This falls almost bang in the middle of summer which means most people enjoy the day barbecuing, going to the beach or pool and in many cases camping out for the weekend.

This year we joined many others, camping at Leo Carrillo State beach park in Malibu, California. This is one of the beaches and parks slated to be closed should the State of California stops funding the parks, which they are proposing to do in order to cut their deficit.

As I was checking in to our camp site I was interviewed by KTLA news (a Los Angeles news channel) about the possible closure of the State Parks. I have talked about the State parks closing in a previous post (Saving California's State Parks) and that from our understanding the State may actually lose out on tax revenue by not funding the parks. I put this across to the interviewer and hope that I was able to make an impression.

The interview reminded me that we need to be vigilant and active to ensure we can continue to enjoy our environment and pass on this enjoyment to our children.

• We need to go out camping and make use of our State Parks.
• We need to join in at beach clean ups and similar environmental clean up opportunities.
• We need to let our selected Representatives, Senators and Congressman, both Federal and State, know that we support strong laws protecting the environment and reducing carbon outputs.
• We need to reduce our own waste in whatever ways we can.

Back to the weekend - we enjoyed a few days surfing, barbecuing and hanging out with friends on the California beaches. The camp site was full, which hopefully means the park was able to raise enough of its own revenue to support itself this long weekend. We hope that next year the state beaches, such as Leo Carrillo will still be open and that we can enjoy more of these fun occasions and not just on the 4th of July weekend. We have bought our annual state park pass, which means we feel confident that California's congress will understand the importance of the parks and keep funding them and gaining the tax revenue that the parks bring in.

At the beginning of July GoGreenMug.com linked with http://smart2begreen.com/ because we have been enjoying their website and articles for a while now. Please visit their site to find some green living tips.

Clean Energy for America

We were excited to learn this week that the House of Representatives passed the American Clean Energy And Security Act. This act proposes to create clean energy jobs, achieve energy independence, reduce global warming pollution and transition to a clean energy economy.

If you would like to find out more about whats in the bill, go to: http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h2454/show . There is a lot of good stuff in this act and some real incentives to encourage the reduction of carbon emissions and waste', and to invest in energy efficiency and renewable energy.

Although this act was passed, it only passed by 7 votes out of the 434 votes. We at Go Green Mug sent letters to our congressmen encouraging them to enact strong environmental laws and we know that our letters and thousands like them are needed to ensure our elected officials don't let us down.

The vote now will pass on to the Senate. Once again the vote may hang in the balance. We can influence our Senators decisions by sending them letters and letting them know that we support these proposals and that it will help make the country, energy independent and the planet more habitable. If you want to write letters to your Senator, the easiest way to do it is through an online petition site such as the Care2 Petition Site. On sites such as this and others, you don't need to come up with the words to write, you can put your name an a well written letter that will be emailed in your name. Easy but effective.

For now we will celebrate this passage of strong environmentally friendly act and look forward to this proposal becoming law in the very near future.

Have a great week and reduce your waste.

Respect the Beach

International Surfing Day was held 20th June around the world. We took part by volunteering with Surfrider Foundation at their booth and with a beach clean up at Huntington Beach.

Unfortunately the surf and weather was not the best at Huntington Beach for the festivities. Rain and wind forced us to spend more time under the tent, but we were there to have fun and respect our regular beach and that's just what we did. We hope you too were able to enjoy the beach or the ocean and that you did something to keep that beach clean and a place we will all enjoy visiting.

Here are a few pics from our day out.

Dennis in his International Surfing Day T-Shirt manning the Surfrider Newport Beach Desk.

If you were a surfer there were numerous boards available to test ride, although the conditions probably didn't allow surfers to really push their limits.

Tiki carving, live music, free mini burritos and energy drinks were all part of the action on the beach.

Remember that you can still pick up a personalized Go Green Travel Mug from http://www.gogreenmug.com/ for only $14.99. So visit the site today.

Have a great week and reduce your waste.

Too Much Trash in Our Oceans

International Surfing Day is on June 20th 2009. The day was created by Surfing Magazine to promote and celebrate surfing. The day is not only about surfing , it is also about the ocean and protecting it for our recreation both in the water and on the beaches.

On International Surfing Day, Go Green Mug will be at Huntington Beach, CA to take part in the fun and help with the beach cleanup. We would love to see you there too. Check out http://www.surfingmagazine.com/isd/ to find International Surfing Day activities in your area.

The recent crash of the Air France flight was a terrible disaster and the search for the remains of the plane highlighted another disaster, this one environmental. In the early stages of the search for the plane, the searchers thought they had found some of the debris from the crash, but on further investigation it turned out that this was not part of the missing aircraft but other, all too common, ocean trash.

The ocean is unfortunately full of trash, from large items such as couches and refrigerators to the tiny pieces of plastic that we have discussed before in the blog http://gogreenmug.blogspot.com/2009/01/coffee-shop-discounts.html. This trash circles around in the ocean currents and destroys marine life.

How can so much trash end up in our oceans that it becomes difficult to identify parts of a plane from other debris that just happens to be there? The fault of course lies with all of us, particularly in the USA. We know we can do more about our consumption of single use plastics or paper or polystyrene.
We know we do not need to buy bottled water.
We can bring our own canvas bags when we go grocery shopping and reject the plastic bags.
We can drive more fuel efficient vehicles or drive less and use public transport or bikes.
We can use reusable travel mugs at coffee shops and eliminate our use of paper cups.
And we can help at beach and/or river clean ups and prevent the trash from running into the oceans.

http://www.gogreenmug.com/ is still selling personalized travel mugs at only $14.99 with shipping. If you are not using a travel mug when you visit a coffee shop, then get one now.

Save California's State Parks!

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing to cut funding to 80% of California's State Parks. We live in Southern California and regularly enjoy the State Parks. We head to them to surf, camp out and go hiking. We plan numerous vacation trips around visiting these State parks and would hate to lose any of them.

California is in a budget crises, a big part of which is because of reduced sales tax revenue. People are buying less, as they try to save more and therefore the state is losing money from sales tax. Most of those people who used to spend their money at the shopping centers are most likely spending more time at the California State Parks. In a study published in 2008, the University of California-Berkeley found that for every $1 in public money spent on state parks, $2.35 is returned to the state in taxes from tourism and other revenue they generate.


It therefore seems to us, that California can only gain tax revenue by keeping the State Parks open and funded. With more Californians taking vacations at home this year and other US State residents also cutting back on their holiday travel, we suspect that the State Parks will be even more popular this year than ever before. Even without funding visitors will come to the parks anyway and enjoy the beaches or redwoods or hiking trails. They will park on the roads outside and walk in. However without funding these parks may need to reduce the number of rangers on duty and these rangers will have a wider area to patrol. This could lead to environmental damage such as fires, vandalism and erosion because of the difficulty the rangers will have in covering a park.

Of course we hope that we can all restrain ourselves from damaging property or causing environmental damage on purpose. But the rangers are there to guide all visitors to the park and are prepared to take the correct action to prevent or reduce problems when they arise.

There must be a better way for California to save money and solve their budget problems. Eliminating funding for the State Parks does not seem to be a good solution and may result in increased spending in the future. You can send a message to the governor and other state legislaters through the Surfrider Action Network at http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/caparks05_09 and tell them not to cut funding to our State Parks.

At http://www.gogreenmug.com/ we are having a huge sale in June. Visit our Go Green Mug website and personalize your travel mug for only $14.99 including shipping. Reduce your waste at coffee shops and keep the paper and polystyrene cups out of our landfills.

US Fuel Efficiency Standards Too Low?

Last week we discussed the new US fuel efficiency standards that were agreed between the White House, Environmentalists and the Auto Industry. We questioned the concerns of those who suggest that US consumers will not spend extra money on a more fuel efficient car unless the cost of fuel increases and remains high.

Continuing with this topic, we have also heard from the other side of the spectrum that the fuel efficiency standard of 39 mpg for a passenger car to be met in incremental stages before 2016 is too low. Here they may have a point. The average fuel efficiency of all cars, SUVs and minivans in the US is around 23 mpg. In Europe and Japan that figure is over 40 mpg. So if Europe and Japan already produce cars with an average fuel consumption higher than the standard set to be reached in the US by 2016 then why is this standard so low.

While you can buy a few cars in the US that get great fuel economy (Toyota Prius, Honda Civic Hybrid, Mini Cooper, Smart and now the VW Jetta TDI), around 40 mpg, there are not too many and at least 2 of them (the Mini and the Smart) are small cars. One of the reasons Europe in particular has such a good average fuel efficiency is that there are numerous cars that use clean diesel engines. In fact back in 2002 when I (Dudley) Lived in England I drove a VW Golf TDI (diesel) that got about 50 mpg, . In fact diesel engines get at least 30% more fuel efficiency than gas powered engines.

So why do we not have more diesel powered cars in the USA? Diesel engines actually produce less carbon dioxide emissions than gas powered cars but unfortunately they give off other pollutants such as Nitrogen Oxide and other small particulates. In the USA and particularly some states the emission standards are high and the higher sulfur content in US diesel means many diesel engines cannot meet these stricter standards. In Europe this problem is averted because their diesel has a much lower sulfur content than the diesel produced in the USA and therefore gives off less Nitrogen Oxide and particulates. The German engineered cars (Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes) also seem to be far ahead in producing clean burning diesel engines.

So we know how Europe achieves its 40mpg average fuel efficiency standard with diesel powered cars. We also know that there are less diesel cars in the US because of the concerns with emissions but that the technology is improving quickly and some diesel cars that are now meeting the emissions standards and being sold in the US.

If we take these diesel engines into account in the US, knowing that they can achieve fuel efficiency standards above 40mpg already then the 39 mpg standard set passenger cars by 2016 is really not good enough.

But lets look at this in a different way. Until now very few diesel powered cars have been sold in the US and if standards for gas powered cars was to increase to 39 mpg that would be a reasonable goal. If a smallish gas powered car in 2009 averages 30 mpg, then a 30% increase to 39 mpg over 7 years should be an achievable goal for most car manufacturers.

At http://www.gogreenmug.com/ we would love to see much higher standards but we also expect that once car manufacturers start to improve fuel efficiency there will be no point stopping at 39 mpg, because in the end we know that gas prices will rise and the demand for ever more fuel efficient vehicles will increase. We hope to see a hard drive storage space like evolution in fuel efficiency soon.

The Case for Raising the Fuel Efficiency of Cars

Last week President Obama announced an agreement between the White House, Environmentalists and the auto industry to increase the average fuel efficiency of passenger cars to 39 mpg. Unfortunately this cannot become the standard overnight or within the next year and the car manufacturers will have until 2016 to meet this standard. None the less it is a great achievement and proves that those of us who care about our environment now have a strong supporter in the White House.

There are always those who will find fault with a policy such as raising the fuel efficiency standards. One that particularly concerns us, suggests that consumers will prefer to buy gas guzzling cars as long as the price of fuel remains in the $2 to $3 range. Therefore although the car manufacturers will build fuel efficient hybrids and electric vehicles, the consumer will still want to buy large V8 SUVs.

We believe most people understand the need for increased fuel efficiency vehicles both for the environment and for economic, political and international stability and will buy more fuel efficient cars, when there is a large selection available. For those who do not buy into the reduce waste and save idea, the US government can always increase taxes on fuel (the US driver still pays less for gas than in most other developed nations) and pay off some of the US national debt.
Let's take a step back here though. The reason we want and need fuel efficient and zero emission cars is not only based on the price of gas at the pump. We all know that right now the Hybrid and Electric cars sell at a premium to their all gas counterparts and there are concerns that the car prices will skyrocket with the fuel efficiency standards. But we are already seeing that new hybrids are causing competition and reducing prices and we imagine that with more hybrids and electric vehicles on offer and increased competition from different car manufacturers the price of a fuel efficient vehicle will not be too different from those of a less efficient vehicle today.

At http://www.gogreenmug.com/ we are all about reducing waste. So what is important to us is that all cars will have better fuel efficiency by 2016 and competition will take care of the prices. Remember though that there are already many cars available that get more than the proposed 2016 standard of 39 mpg. So if you plan to buy a new car before then look out for those with the best Environmental Performance ratings (discussed in a previous post http://gogreenmug.blogspot.com/2009/03/buying-environmentally-clean-car.html), there is no need to wait.

Have a great week and reduce your waste.

Easy Ways You Can Reduce Landfill Waste (and why you should do it)

Our nation's landfills accumulate an enormous amount of trash every year. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Americans generated 254 million tons of trash in 2007 (http://www.epa.gov/osw/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/msw07-fs.pdf).



Although recycling rates have increased significantly in the past few decades (thanks to the development of new technology, ease and availablility of recycling centers and material recovery facilities, and increased public awareness), it is still essential that we make our best efforts to reduce the waste sent to the landfills in the first place.

The Sierra Club (http://www.sierraclub.org/) recently posted some strategies to help the average person reduce their waste. These strategies have been previously mentioned on our blog, but are definitely worth repeating, as changes to our daily routines can have a tremendous benefit to the environment over time.

The first strategy discusses ways to reduce packaging waste. This can be accomplished by bringing in your own reusable mug to coffee shops (visit http://www.GoGreenMug.com to design your own mug), buying in bulk, and bringing reusable shopping bags to stores.

The next strategy discusses how food waste contributes can contribute to global warming. The EPA reports that Americans discard 25% of their prepared foods. As the discarded food decomposes in the landfills, it releases methane gas, which is related to global warming. This type of unnecessary waste can be avoided by patrons ordering smaller portions and bringing their own containers to take leftovers home.

As you can see, the above strategies are very simple ways we can all reduce the amount of waste we generate, and how much of that waste gets thrown into our landfills.

Reduce Waste - Win a Free Travel Mug!

On a recent visit to our local coffee shop we were once again astounded that we were the only customers using our own travel mugs. Yes that's right, of the 12 - 15 other customers enjoying their coffee drinks at the tables, all of them were using paper cups and many had plastic lids and cardboard sleeves too.

At GoGreenMug.com we are concerned with the number of paper cups, plastic lids and other coffee shop waste that ends up in our landfills. The simple solution is to bring and use your own travel mug at coffee shops. It's time to step up our efforts.

We will be giving away one free personalized travel mug (100% free, shipping included) each week over the next few weeks to promote the use of travel mugs.

All you need to do is visit http://www.gogreenmug.com and design your own personalized travel mug. Add your name, drink options or any other text, photograph and quote. At checkout enter the coupon code: xjumnw1 to see if you have won.


The coupon code will be activated at a random time between the first posting of this blog and Sunday May 17th at 5:00PM.
If the coupon code works then you are the winner for the week. If the code does not work you will get the error message "The coupon code you have entered has expired." If you get this message, the coupon code has either not yet been randomly activated (so you can keep trying this code until the contest expires) or the free mug has already been won for this week.


We will be sending out a new code next week for another free giveaway or you can use coupon code: flwmiblg to receive an immediate 20% discount. Depending on your web browser, your designed mug may be saved for your next visit if you do not checkout.

Rules: The free mug coupon code will be made active at a random time during the period from the posting of this blog until Sunday May 17th at 5:00PM PST. The first customer to try the coupon code therefore may not win. The first customer to use the coupon code correctly once it is active will be the winner. This decision is final. Shipping to the USA and Canada only. We will contact the winner and request a photograph with his/her personalized Go Green travel mug and permission to post his her name on this blog. This coupon is only redeemable for a travel mug on GoGreenMug.com, and has no cash value.

Is Your Sunscreen Killing Coral Reefs?

Summer is approaching quickly now and we are all starting to enjoy the outdoors far more. More hiking, gardening and for some of us surfing and snorkeling. If we are going to spend time outdoors in the sun we all know that sunscreen is a must, but a study in January 2008 suggests that sunscreen may be killing off coral in the ocean.

The study found that four common sunscreen ingredients; octinoxate, oxybenzone, 4-methylbenzylidene camphor and the preservative butylparaben, can awaken viruses in an algae called Zooxanthellae that live inside many coral species. The sunscreen ingredients cause the viruses to replicate, eventually killing off the algae and spilling over to infect nearby coral.

The Zooxanthellae provide the coral with food through photosynthesis and also contribute to the bright and vibrant colors. Without them the coral loses its color and eventually becomes a white coral skeleton and dies.

I found out quickly that my favored sunscreen contained these four ingredients and I often find myself in the ocean and love snorkeling and viewing the corals. I searched and found very few alternatives. So although this story (about the coral) is more than a year old, I wondered what we could do about it, without an easy sunscreen alternative. Once again human consumption is causing possible harm to our planet, but this time we can't simply decide not to use sunscreen. Skin cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers with more than 1 million people diagnosed in America each year. Protecting yourself from the sun can significantly decrease your risk of skin cancer.

Before we all give up on our ocean recreation to save the coral reefs, I did find some information in my searches.

1. Look at the ingredients before you buy sunscreen. Look out for any of the 4 chemicals that awaken the dormant viruses: octinoxate, oxybenzone, 4-methylbenzylidene camphor and butylparaben and do not buy these sunscreens.


2. Natural sunscreens that have no synthetic ingredients are not known to harm the coral. They may also be better for your skin as studies have shown these synthetic nanoparticles may cause skin irritation and even illness.


3. Look for sunscreens using natural UVA and UVB blocking zinc oxide and or titanium dioxide.


4. Make sure your sunscreen contains both UVA and UVB protection. I won't get into the details but you need both.

I have a trip to Hawaii coming up, so I am off to find my natural sunscreen
Have a great week and Mothers Day and reduce your waste.
The GoGreenMug mothers day 20% off coupon is still available until May17. Coupon Code: grnmom2day

Need More Incentives to Save Water?

As mentioned in a previous posting, California is in a serious state of drought and there are many ways (some very easy and inexpensive, some not-so-easy and perhaps more expensive) we can do our part to reduce our waste of this vital resource.

In an effort to educate the public on this matter, the Association of California Water Agencies and the California Department of Water Resources have started a major campaign, placing ads on television, radio, and the web.

The website http://www.saveourh2o.org/ provides all kinds of information, including water saving tips for the indoors and outdoors, ways for kids to get involved, and a huge list of rebates available for water (and energy) efficient devices. So if the idea of our water supplies drying up isn't enough of an incentive for you to start making some significant lifestyle changes, hopefully the thought of saving money on your water and energy bills will encourage you to seriously consider these options.

And speaking of saving money, http://www.gogreenmug.com/ is celebrating Mother's Day by offering a huge discount of 20% on all orders through May 16, 2009. Simply enter coupon code: grnmom2day at checkout, and the discount will be applied. So design a mug for Mom today, or send her a gift certificate (the discount applies to gift certificates, too) and she can design one for herself. Thanks for reading our blog this week, and if any of you has any other water or energy saving tips you'd like to share, please feel free to post a comment or send a message to support@gogreenmug.com. Have a great week!

Earth Day Events and Photos

Today we come to the end of 2 weeks of fun environmental activities that we took part in for Earth Day celebrations. We have put together an assortment of some of the photographs from the events we attended.

We hope you had the chance to do your bit in the last two weeks. Of course you know that these last two weeks should not be the end of your environmental activities. Please join us in the coming weeks for more activities. We will post them in advance on this blog. We will be celebrating earth and the environment every day, so please join us when you can or tell us about what you are doing and how we can join you.

Go Green Mug have decided to extend our Earth Day discount of 20% off, until the end of April. So if you do not use a travel mug at coffee shops to cut down on your paper and polystyrene cup waste, then go to http://www.gogreenmug.com and personalize a travel mug with names and quotes and anything else you want. Add a photograph too. Use the coupon code: svplntmg at checkout to get your 20% off.

OK, we promised some photographs, so here they are:

On Saturday 18 April, we had a fantastic day in Southern California and took to the beach in Huntington Beach for a bit of surfing and sun. Unfortunately we have no pics from the day, but we got to enjoy the ocean and even lend a hand in a beach cleanup.

On Sunday April 19 we were at the Earth Day Celebrations at the Rainbow Disposal Center (on Nichols St.) in Huntington Beach and at The Lab and The Camp (the anti-mall) in Costa Mesa (on Bristol). We had the chance to see some neat environmental products and enjoy bites from locally grown organic food stores. Below is a pic of some wall art at The Lab.

On Friday 24 April we helped at a beach clean up at Big Corona beach in Corona Del Mar. Once again finding lots of small plastic pieces, cigarette butts and polystyrene all over the beach.
Saturday 25 April we took to the trails in Laguna Canyon and enjoyed another great day in Southern California. The trails seemed to be busier than usual as many bikers and hikers celebrated Earth Day this weekend.

Finally on Sunday 26 April (today) we were at the Muth Interpretive Center in the Newport Beach back bay to enjoy an Earth Day celebration complete with tarantulas, large iguanas and birds of prey. Here is Dennis helping out at the Surfrider Foundation exhibit.

Have a great week and reduce your waste.

Celebrate Earth Day 2009

Celebrating Earth Day today!

You know what we have been up to over the last week and into next week. If you would like to join us check out our previous post: http://gogreenmug.blogspot.com/2009/04/earth-day-activities-surf-hike-and.html

The video below is a sobering look at American consumption. Chris Jordan who is a photographer, artist and ambassador for earth day shows his work and discuss the impact. We all know about the number of paper cups being wasted in coffee shops, but Chris's image really brings it home. You can reduce this paper cup waste by using a reusable travel mug. http://www.gogreenmug.com are offering 20% off personalized travel mugs until the end of today. Use coupon code: svplntmg at checkout.
Starbucks are also offering a free cup of coffee today, April 22, to anyone who brings in their own reusable mug. Starbucks also offer 10 cents off on any beverage that you order when you bring your own mug any other time of the year. So get a reusable travel mug today.



Today is about celebrating Earth and all its wonders. So to lighten things up, here is the trail for the new Disney movie starting today "Earth" .


Earth day 2009 from Zoltan Ladanyi on Vimeo.

Have a great Earth Day and week.