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Copenhagen Climate talks are all over the news. This NY Times article was sent to me by a friend - Great reading while you're snowed in! Enjoy!

Hot Cocoa is the perfect Christmas treat in my opinion. It brings me back to my childhood and puts me in a festive mood while I'm wrapping presents (or watching It's a Wonderful Life for the 50th time.) This year I decided to put an eco-friendly twist on an old classic by making a vegan version (no animal products used.) It was even better then the original! Plus, sometimes it's just soothing to make something from "scratch" rather than use a prepackaged food. Tasty Vegan Hot Cocoa Recipe:

Want to limit the eco-impact from your gift-giving this year? Instead of the typical gift ideas, give an 'experience' gift. Movies, concerts, restaurants, massages or cooking classes all are thoughtful alternatives of the typical stocking stuffers. Another bonus: You can pick something you & the recipient both enjoy to spend time together!

My friends, co-workers & family know I co-write "Green Philly Blog" and ask for green advice. While I often can assist, I occasionally don't even know the answer... (Sorry to expose that fact.) As Beth & I have mentioned before, the green route isn't always crystal-clear - especially with green imposters. When I was asked about eco-friendliness of toilet paper, I had to do a little research. My old roomie & I were meant to be: As one visiting friend pointed out, we were huge fans of 1-ply toilet paper - not always found at mid-20, chick apartments. However, it turns out this mutual love of 1-ply is quite eco-friendly. Want to know what to look for in TP purchases? Experts recommend:

Introducing : Philadelphia Recycling Rewards Last week, Mayor Michael Nutter announced the Philadelphia Recycling Rewards program that will be citywide by July 2010. Philadelphia Recycling Rewards is a partnership between the Streets Department & RecycleBank that allows residents to earn points for discounts, full-value gift cards or charitable contributions at participating merchants and non-profits. Previous RecycleBank's partnerships have proven to increase recycling efforts & aid the local economy. According to Director of Sustainability Katherine Gajewski, this program is Philly's biggest Greenworks initiative to date in helping the City become the Greenest City in America. Philadelphia is now the largest City in the US to reward residents for recycling efforts. The program is anticipated to bring the City’s recycling diversion rate- the amount of recyclable materials that are diverted away from landfills—to record levels. $$ talks - Every ton of waste diverted from landfills saves the city about $65. City residents will be notified when Philadelphia Recycling Rewards will launch:

Copenhagen is all over the news this week... so what's the deal with the Climate Conference? This week our guest blogger, Clayton Bedwell, shares his expertise. With the largest and most anticipated global climate conference in history kicking off in Copenhagen, here are a few story lines that are shaping expectations: US & China Ready to Play Ball - Last Wednesday The Obama Administration announced they were ready to take a plan to Copenhagen that would reduce domestic greenhouse gas emissions to 17 percent below 2005 levels, by 2020, and an 83 percent reduction by 2050. One day later China announced a plan to slow the growth of greenhouse gasses by 2020. Clearly the US and China have realized that the age of running from global climate reform has come to an end, but given how little both countries are willing to sacrifice in relation to their European counterparts, its hard to imagine that the Copenhagen Climate Talks will yield the profound results that was once expected. East Angelia University & The Emergence of "Climategate"

Need another reason to have a leftover meal of turkey and stuffing? Over 40% of food produced in America is not eaten. Fossil fuels are used to fertilize, harvest and process much of the food we eat. Ample gas is spent transporting food from processor to manufacturer. Help lessen the impact by

It's no secret that 'organic' just sounds better. Many people easily make the transition to buying organic produce, but we often get asked what's really the payoff to switching to less-obvious organic products? Let's take wine for example (after all the holidays are coming up and for some that means 'social lubrication' is on the incline!) What makes organic wine special?

Eco-friendly products have flooded the market - which is great to see! Unfortunately, you have to be aware of possible impostors - some supposedly green products have a more damaging carbon footprint than a simpler, non-green branded product. How can you tell if a product is really green or if it's just marketing? This Sincerely Sustainable blog post shows the ANDREA air filter as a green imposter. While the intentions of ANDREA are good - transforming plants into air cleaners - there's a huge carbon footprint from creating this gadget (between sourcing, transportation and creating the manufacture and sale). A better alternative than ANDREA? Mother nature's "houseplant" - A novel concept, and it costs about $197 less than the $200 price tag. Other 'green' marketing scams & questionable companies include: