Quiksilver "Slightly Choppy" Boardshort

I've never actually been surfing, but I admire the artistry, physical skill, courage and general coolness of surfers. Surfers get their thrills from nature without ripping up the landscape. Waves crash and reform. Surfers leave no tracks.

Even non-surfers can look the part in the new special edition men's "Slightly Choppy" boardshort from Quiksilver. Developed in collaboration with the Surfrider Foundation using artwork by Quiksilver designer Scott Richards, the "Slightly Choppy" boardshort features exuberant graphics printed on 100% organic cotton.

If you've never worn Quiksilver boardshorts before, prepare to be impressed with the design details, particularly the stretchy neoprene fly.

Founded back by two young American surfers back in 1976, Quiksilver has grown into a global brand popular among wave riders worldwide. So it's fitting that Quiksilver will donate a percentage of the "Slightly Choppy" boardshort sales price to help the Surfrider Foundation fulfill its mission of protecting and conserving the world's oceans, waves and beaches.

You can find the "Slightly Choppy" boardshort in Quiksilver stores nationwide, or from online retailers like Hansensurf.com and Swell.

Have a great weekend! See ya Monday...

Green Works Cleaners

I grew up in the 1970's and 80's when Clorox meant bleaching your clothes until the whites were blindingly, spotlessly, unarguably clean.

(Once Mama got the magic of Clorox 2 detergent, stains didn't stand a chance on colored clothes either.)

So anyone needing proof of the fact that green has gone mainstream need look no further than Clorox's new line of Green Works™ cleaning products.

The first new Clorox product line Clorox in 20 years, Green Works cleaners come in five varieties: All-Purpose, Glass and Surface, Bathroom, Dilutable and Toilet Bowl. (Technically, you could argue than an 'all-purpose' cleaner eliminates the need for the other four types...)

In any case, all four cleaners contain a minimum of 99 percent natural ingredients, with coconut derivatives and lemon oil playing starring roles.

The rest of the ingredient list is pretty short. A little corn-based ethonol here, a splash of filtered water there and some biodegradable preservative for good measure. No phosphorus, no bleach, no animal testing, plus a non-allergenic formula and an easily recyclable PETE (1) plastic container.

But here's the real kicker. In a blind test among 200 consumers, Clorox says its Green Works product line performed just as well or better than conventional cleaning products.

My own (non-blind) test at home yielded just as impressive results. Not only did the Green Works All-Purpose cleaner make short work of burnt-on stovetop gunk, it did so without giving me a headache or making me lightheaded like some of the traditional chemical cleaning products I've used over the years.

In a (coco)nutshell, Green Works gets the job done with cleaner, greener ingredients. That's why Green Works carries the EPA's Design for the Environment (DfE) certification. It also explains why the Sierra Club, one of the most respected environmental organizations in the country, agreed to form a partnership with Green Works. You'll find the Sierra Club logo on Green Works bottles, a sign of the brand's financial commitment to supporting the Sierra Club's conservation efforts.

You shouldn't have too much trouble finding Green Works at a store near you. Clorox says the products are available at some 24,000 mainstream retail stores in the U.S. and Canada.

Prefer to shop online? You can find Green Works at etailers like Drugstore.com and Ace Hardware Outlet.

The Green Writing on the Wall

Paper and pens are two of the most basic office tools, but while we've been recycling paper and using recycled paper for years, pens have mostly gotten left out of the recycling picture.

That's all changed with the release of Pilot Pen Corporation's new BeGreen line of earth-friendly writing instruments.

According to the nifty diagram on the BeGreen website, the pens are made from plastic scraps from other production processes. These scraps are collected, shredded, melted and made into the BeGreen pens. (Scraps from the BeGreen production line get thrown into the same pool of raw materials, closing the loop.)

All BeGreen pens contain at least 70% recycled plastic, but the green stars of the product line are clearly the BeGreen Precise V5 (89.2% recycled content), the VBall BeGreen (81.6% recycled content) and the G-Knock BeGreen (81.5% recycled content). Happily, most of the BeGreen pens can be refilled with black, blue or red ink when they run dry.

Personally, I like the precision of the V5. My handwriting is still pretty much illegible with the V5, but at least it's precisely illegible.

Naturally, BeGreen pens are sold in packaging made from recycled materials. You can find the BeGreen line at major office supply stores and national retailers including Office Depot, Office Max, Staples and Target.

With Pilot's BeGreen line, the pen is now greener than the sword. (Unless we're talking about recycled swords, which is a whole different story...)

Do the (Micro-Mini) Twist

Chubby Checker made "The Twist" famous with his gyration-celebrating song in 1960, but the coolest twist today may be Osram Sylvania's new micro-mini Twist CFL (compact fluorescent light bulb).

True, "micro" and "mini" are often associated in men's minds with va-va-voom skirt styles, but in this case the words accurately describe a bulb 30 percent smaller than standard CFLs. (The illustration to the left shows a micro-mini alongside one of Sylvania's regular CFL bulbs.)

Like all CFLs, the Sylvania micro-mini Twist uses far less energy than an incandescent bulb. You would need a 60-watt incandescent bulb to get the same lighting power as a 13-watt micro-mini CFL.

In the case of CFLs, helping to save the planet with your lighting choices can save you a little money too, particularly as energy costs keep rising. Since CFLs generally have a longer lifespan than incandescent bulbs, Sylvania calculates that replacing the purchase and usage costs of 12 60-watt incandescent bulbs (1000 hours each) with one 13-watt CFL (12,000 hours) could save $56 over the long run.

Early generations of CFL bulbs often suffered from an annoying brief lag time between when a switch was flipped and the lamp came on. Newer CFLs like the micro-mini Twist now feature Instant-On technology so that the lag time (if it still exists) is unnoticeable. And thanks to its 'Soft White' coating, the light quality of the micro-mini Twist seems comparable to that of an incandescent.

Why buy a Sylvania micro-mini CFL instead of any other CFL on the market? Well, perhaps you own a tiny lamp and need a bulb that fits? More generally, smaller usually equals better from an environmental perspective. Smaller bulbs require fewer raw materials than larger bulbs. So less size equals more environmental benefits.

One drawback to CFLs is that they contain the toxic compound mercury. Most CFLs contains around 5 milligrams of mercury (which Gaiam helpfully compares to the 500 milligrams of mercury typically contained in an old-fashioned thermometer). The smaller micro-mini Twist contains even less mercury - just 1.5 milligrams. Minimizing mercury helps us keep all from becoming Mad Hatters.

Of course, smaller products also requires less packaging. Sylvania has done a good job encasing the micro-mini Twist in 100% recycled paperboard.

Sylvania's micro-mini Twist CFLs come in 13, 20 and 23-watt versions designed respectively to replace 60, 75 and 100-watt incandescent bulbs. You can find 2-packs of the bulbs online at Amazon.com or offline at Lowe's or other hardware and grocery stores.

Cattle Drive

If you drive a car, you're not only burning gasoline in your engine, you're probably also cleaning your car with harsh chemicals too.

But you do have an alternative. Green Earth Technologies has introduced a line of biodegradable automotive products including the G-Wash (tm) Car Wash, G-Glass (tm) Organic Glass Cleaner, G-Wheel (tm) Wheel Cleaner and G-Tire (tm) Ultimate Tire Shine.

(Note that G-Oil (tm) Engine Oil is actually for 2-cycle engines - i.e. motorcycles, snowmobiles, chain saws, lawn and garden equipment, not cars.)

Vegans might want to cover their eyes at this point. You see, Green Earth Technologies has managed to scrub petrochemicals from its cleaning product formulas by substituting a "bio-base" made from animal fat - in this case, beef tallow.

But it's not as if cows were bred to become car-cleaning products. A press representative for Green Earth Technologies explained that the cattle industry produces billions and billions of gallons of beef fat in the course of preparing America's steaks and burgers.

Rather than let this fat go to waste, Green Earth Technologies has figured out a proprietary way to repurpose the fat to remove grime and dirt from your car's undercarriage.

FYI, the Green Earth Technologies cleaners aren't completely made from BBQ drippings. Formulas differ for each of product, but the company has incorporated fancy nanotechnology as well as plant extracts, organic alcohol and other good-for-the-planet ingredients.

For people who wash their own cars, it's great to know that you can suds up your jalopy without worrying about turning your driveway into a Superfund site. Green Earth Technologies has a perfect four-zero National Fire Protection Association safety rating. That means products from Green Earth Technologies are certified non-toxic, non-flammable, unreactive with other chemicals and safe on the environment.

Not yet satisfied with Green Earth Technologies' eco-commitment? How about this: labels on all bottles are printed using soy inks on biodegradable paper. G-Wheel bottles are made from recycled milk jugs, and all Green Earth Technologies bottles are fully recyclable.

You can find the Green Earth Technologies products online at Amazon.com, or offline at National Auto and select ACE True Value locations.