Help Save Wildlife threatened by the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Hundreds of species of wildlife call the Gulf home. Dolphins, manatees, countless fish species as well as nesting birds and sea turtles - are at risk in the Gulf due to the oil spill. For many of these precious creatures, the threat is deadly. Your help is needed to save them. Please donate by texting "WILDLIFE" to 20222 & donate $10. You can also help threatened wildlife by sharing this message with your friends and followers.

To donate online: https://online.nwf.org/site/Donation2... 

You can read more about the How the Gulf Oil Spill Could Hurt Animals from sea turtles, birds, fish, dolphins and many other precious creatures here: http://www.nwf.org/News-and-Magazines... 

When the oil stops gushing, the National Wildlife Federation will be there to help wildlife. Help us help them!

NationalWildlife  Text "WILDLIFE" to 20222 to donate $10 to Save Wildlife in the Gulf.

Is my trash your treasure? If you own any TerraCycle products, there's a chance it was once my own trash. Because each month, over 200,000 pounds of trash end up in this eco-friendly company's warehouse to be reused in new products.

If you stepped foot into any Walmart during the Earth Day season, you may have seen their Capri-Sun pouch backpacks displayed next to bulk packs of Capri-Sun and perhaps you even purchased their Skittle package kite that was positioned next to the sweet rainbow tasting Skittles candies.
                       
What TerraCycle does is revolutionary to the green industry. Instead of using organic materials, they use recycled materials. The image above illustrates how an ordinary Pepsi bottle and recycled spray cap are turned into the perfect plant food sprayer. Other well known brand names like Capri-Sun and Skittles are also being collected and redesigned into usable items like TerraCycle plant food, coolers and kites, to name a few.
                    
This concept of re-using items to create new items, was displayed most artistically by some of my favroite artists, Sue Webster and Tim Noble. Their art is compiled of trash fresh off the streets of London. By projecting light through the meticulously placed trash, this duo has most certainly lived up to Terracycle's motto, "Outsmart Waste."

To collect the recyclable goods for new TerraCycle products, major companies like Kraft Foods Inc., Kellogg Co., and  and Nabisco have organized trash drives in schools. You can start your own TerraCycle brigade in your school or community too.
           
Other companies are sending TerraCycle their trash in hopes to offset their carbon footprints. Cumbersome cardboard boxes and wasteful plastic wrap used to package goods are usually tossed into dumps, but by donating these materials to TerraCycle, businesses are able to contribute to sustainable living.
Unfortunately, as this garbage is sent to TerraCycle warehouses there is not enough demand to produce more materials. Their eco-friendly initiatives are making a dent, but after a major Earth Day promotion, they're still seeing losses.

Retailers are being urged to carry TerraCycle items and with hope that they're able to survive in our economy, larger scale eco-friendly products can be created and even greater environmentally friendly initiatives can be taken.

Amazing eco-friendly effort alert! The name? Betacup. The mission? "To reduce the number of non-recyclable cups thrown away every year by creating a more convenient alternative to the reusable coffee cup."

The Betacup Challenge invites designers to create reusable coffee cups that will reduce the waste of non-recyclable cups. They've received over 152 ideas so far and 1500 are still in the processing period. Submissions are then posted on-line where a winner will be determined by votes. So do you have what it takes to create the next best reusable coffee cup? We've got tons of promotional eco-friendly drinkware at Motivators, but some submissions we've never even fathomed before.
                        

One submission, the Une Coffee Cup, is made of 100% recycled materials and has no differentiation of materials used for the base and cover of the cup. The black polypropylene and cool ribbing around the cup makes these an attractive choice.
              
Another submission, the No-Side, is also making waves. This approach is a bit complex. Customers will have to hold on to a special lid, bottom, strap and cap. When customers get to their desired coffee shop, a flat packed coffee cup side will be assembled into the mix. An elastic band will keep the components together and the cap and bottom will help to eliminate the waste of disposable alternatives.

I'm excited about the Betacup Challenge because people are broadening their horizons and sustainable solutions are being discovered. There are only about 3 weeks left to submit your design. So get to the drawing board and put on your green thinking cap. Bring on the eco-friendly promotional products.

At Motivators, we like to think that everyday is Earth Day. One April 22nd the world will join together to celebrate the beautiful world around us and combat the rising environmental issues we face. Our Earth Day promotional items will help to spread the word about living an eco-friendly lifestyle, but our eco-mission doesn't stop there.

We've partnered with the American Forests Global ReLeaf program to help give back to the environment. For every eco-friendly promotional product order we receive, we plant a tree. But as a part of our Earth Day efforts, we're practically planting a forest.

Our Earth Day Tree Campaign extends the ReLeaf program to our standard promotional products orders as well. However, to encourage customers to choose environmental items, we'll plant two trees for any eco-friendly promotional products on-line order. Even after our Earth Day promotion is over, we'll keep on planting those trees to show our dedication to the environment.

Want to join in on the eco-action? Learn how to plant your own tree! Not only is it something great to do for the environment, but it is a fun process that can bring people together while brightening up any home or office yard.

As Earth Day approaches, green efforts are popping up all over the community. Starbucks kicked things off yesterday with their, "Bring a travel mug, get a free coffee" green promotion. A local bar is promoting a $25 personalized beer glass on Earth Day. Bring it to the bar all spring and summer and receive free beer. And from Africa to Alabama people are organizing environmental events.

North Olympic Peninsula National Park is offering a free nature walk. From this Saturday through April 25th, admission to the National park will be waived as a part of their Earth Day celebration.
                        
From Earth Day 2010 events organized at the White house, to a fun road side clean up in your neighborhood, great sustainable efforts are being made. The most note worthy name of an effort I've found, is, "Who's Your Mama?" The awesome Earth Day film festival has been running since 2007 and accepts submissions of films with the theme of eco-friendliness.

What are the Earth day events in your community? Whether you're planting a garden in the park or collecting trash on the parkway, your Earth Day efforts will help to spread sustainability. And to help spread the word about your green beliefs, incorporate eco-friendly promotional products into every Earth Day 2010 celebration.

Motivators is dedicated to sustainable solutions. We want to broaden your horizons on environmentally sound living and can do so with any of our environmental books. There are guides to green living, fun informative children's books on recycling and even a "How To" on reducing your carbon footprint. These are awesome items that will help you to inform students, co-workers and your community about the importance of sustainable living.
                          
While attending the recent Go Green Expo in New York City, I found another awesome eco company that is dedicated to green living; Boho Magazine. This amazing new magazine to hit the shelves is made of 100% recycled materials. There are no glossy finishes and to make it even greener- they use all natural soy ink in printing. The Fashion/Lifestyle Boho mag hopes to bring the best in eco-fashion and living to mass amounts of people.
 
At the trade show, a Boho magazine employee explained that because of the high end recycled paper and soy inks, these magazines can get pricey. But with a growing fan base, and global movement towards sustainability, I see great things in the future for Boho Mag. They are the first magazine to be printed on all eco material with soy inks but have since been joined by other eco friendly magazine.

Hopefully as company's and other clients move towards using our eco-friendly promotional products, the appeal of these more pricey- but more sustainable magazines will increase.

Earth Hour took place last Saturday, March 27th. Across the globe, people were asked to turn off the lights at 8:30 PM and to keep them out for an hour in an effort to reduce climate change. An estimated 1 billion people participated in the event in 125 different countries. Check out the story of Earth Hour youtube style here.

World Wildlife Fund President and CEO Carter Roberts said, "Earth Hour is about Americans and people throughout the world standing up and saying ‘climate change is real and we need to do something about it now. From coast-to-coast, Americans provided strong affirmation that they are ready for the U.S. to be a leader in the green revolution."
                                 
Motivators recently ordered a big batch of imprinted recycled jar openers for our appearance at the Go Green Expo. Imprinted on each of the custom printed fluorescent Light Bulb Retread jar openers were the words, "Turn Out Your Lights!" Below it was the information for Earth Hour and their website address. On the other side were the words, "Turn On Your Branding!" and our Motivators contact information. We thought these were especially perfect for the green event because they're actually made out of post-consumer tires.
                                       
We made sure to reserve some of our eco-friendly promotional products for use at a later date. So, the week before Earth Hour, a couple Motivators headed out and hit the local streets with our giveaways. We hung out by the supermarket where shoppers graciously accepted out jar openers with their jars of spaghetti sauce and were excited to hear about the special event. We went to a tire store up the road and told them that these jar openers could be made out of their tires. They agreed to take a stack of our items and keep them on the counter for their customers.

      
Then on Saturday, I walked around the neighborhood and went door to door to promote the event in homes and businesses. I reached some very enthusiastic people and was so happy to spread the message of sustainability.

Unfortunately, at 8:30 PM I was at work at the Vanderbilt Planetarium doing a light show. I know, I knoooooooooow! It's awful of me! But work called and I didn't feel as guilty considering that many homes in our local Westbury shut the lights off because of Motivators.

Now let's gear up for Earth Day!

After a weekend well spent at the Go Green Expo in New York City, I can truly say that I've been greenified. I shook hands and made friends in sustainable businesses ranging from family run recycled jewelry makers to worldwide energy friendly car manufacturers. So what's the sustainable scoop?
           
Both environmentally concerned businesses and environmentally sustainable run businesses joined together to showcase the best in their products and services. It was amazing to see so many businesses revamping to include eco-friendly standards. It is important to know that going green cannot happen over night, but through steady applications of eco-friendliness, innovative thinking and customer consideration, it can be achieved. Two of the most interesting business I had the pleasure of hearing from are below. 
       
The Tooth Fairy and dentist, Sandra Senzon, has a line of natural product dedicated to keeping your teeth clean without harmful bleaching and detrimental chemicals. The booth featured a line of products that support her book, “Reversing Gum Disease Naturally.” This woman is dedicated and passionate about her job, which led to awesome innovations. Spread out across the front of her table were her original Tooth Fairy City comic books.

Sandra took the time to explain some of the 5 different comics she’s already completed with tales of the forbidden candy factory. These great comics are available for purchase and are a great idea for school programs. After flipping through the fun illustrations and dynamic text, I was reminded of our promotional coloring books. From the importance of buckling up, to recycling education and home safety books, there’s something for every occasion.
                    
JoiTees was another company that impressed me. Creator and designer, Joi Dawn seemed like a seasoned performer. After approaching her booth, she immediately made us feel welcomed and began explaining her organic/eco-friendly tee shirts in a fun and engaging way. Just like she was telling a story, Joi explained the imprints on each shirt and their origins. You’ll have to sign up to have her as a speaker to get the whole low down, but let me tell you it is quite the story!

Some imprints include, "My coochie is not a hoochie," "My butt is not a slut," and "C3 Calm, Cool, Collected." She went on to explain that they have both Breast Cancer and AIDs awareness tees. This immediately interested me because of our great selection of awareness products. That said, my favorite imprint? "I'm 100% Positive, except for my test results." I love bold statements.

One things for certain, these eco-friendly minded businesses have a whole lot of creativity. Stay tuned for more featured Go Green Expo products and services. Check out our environmentally friendly products in the meantime.

One of my favorite environmentally friendly products is the promotional retread recycled jar openers. These cool giveaways are made from recycled tires and can be used as coasters or jar openers all while representing your company, club or event. Because of my love for these items, you can imagine my excitement when I heard about a fantastic new eco-friendly tire on the market.
                          
The tire company, Kumho's has just launched the latest addition to their Solus collection. It's an eco-friendly tire paired with a 100,000 mile warranty. The company's marketing president said, "being eath friendly no longer requires sacrifices in tire performance. Past technology required giving up traction to be less impactful to our environment." 
     
These tires are made for the road, and I'm sure their scrap material would make one durable jelly jar. They've found a new formula that combines high anti-abrasion rubber technology with eco-friendly processing oils. It helps to make these all-seasons eco Solus HM tires cost effective, eco-friendly and safe for the roads.
                                
I'm so happy to see that every industry is working to become more and more sustainable. At this rate, every industry will thrive in sustainability this decade.