Articles Written by Julie Hancher

Ah, the holidays of gift giving have come and gone. We drank champagne at Midnight with loved ones and perhaps watched questionable men in dresses dance and sing on New Years Day. Now what? (Find out more, after the jump.)

Happy New Year! As I stated on MNN, one of my new years resolution is to help pass Philadelphia reduce plastic bags. It's easy: we want common sense legislation to encourage reusable bags and discourage single bag use. How can you help and get involved to reduce plastic bags?

Our Twitter friends at The Hub asked: @greenphillyblog we've just navigated a move&have a lot of bubble wrap! Where can we recycle it? #Philly — The Hub(@thehubtalks) December 11, 2012 Whether you've just moved (as well) or received some gifts wrapped in bubble wrap over the holiday season, packaging may be unavoidable. What can you do with bubble wrap after you're finished with it? (Find out, after the jump!)

Happy New Years Eve! 2012 has been quite eventful for Philadelphia, especially with these 6 Philly green initiatives. Green Philly Blog's year was full of furthering sustainability, both online and off. We hosted a Philly Spring Cleanup Day Site in Northern Liberties, removing many pounds of trash and debris from a shared sports park. We were thrilled at the turnout and plan on increasing cleanups for 2013 due to the success. Our “Ban the Bag” day

Ever see those commercials for 'microbeads', created to massage and exfoliate your body or face? They're typically purple or a color in a clear cosmetic gel and advertised to be AMAZING? (Find out more, after the jump!)

Avoiding more of those climate change movies because you already recycle and bring your own coffee cup to Wawa? Sick of those eco propaganda "art forms" guilting you for how much "we" Americans waste each year? Good news: Chasing Ice is a different type of Climate Change movie. It never talks about what you're doing wrong, what's really in your food or what you're not recycling. Instead, Chasing Ice shows you the result. Last week, (Find out more, after the jump!)

How can you take those dying Christmas trees with all the pine needles and turn them into a greener 2nd life? We have good news for our Where Can I Wednesday column: there are a LOT of choices this holiday season! (Find out a full list of locations by neighborhood and guidelines to recycle those Christmas trees, after the jump!)

  Merry Christmas & Happy (Sustainable) Holidays from your friends at Green Philly Blog! Xo, Julie & Beth

Stores and marketers want to sell you crap. I know, because I'm a marketer. Don't buy into the gimmicks of "iPhone holders", solar-powered waving queens and a banana whip maker. (Um, we gave you a Banana Whip recipe. Just use your existing food processor or blender.) Single-use (or single purpose) products often times end up (Find out more, after the jump!)