Green Lifestyle

5 Action Tips For World Cancer Day In a Pandemic

/ thoughts / ,

With Covid-19 being front and center on everyone’s mind for almost a year, World Cancer Day on February 4th is reminding us that there are also other risks out there to watch out for – even in our homes!

According to WHO, cancer is the second leading cause of death globally (2018). The good news however, is that the survival rate is improving and that there are preventive measure we can take. There are some things we can do for our society as a whole and some we can do for ourselves and our immediate family.

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed but here are a five easy actions you can take and doing something is better than nothing!

1. Advocacy and Policy

Clean air and clean water as a human right should not be controversial. The NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council)  and the Sierra Club are two organizations which do some heavy lifting when it comes to advocacy for the environment and holding polluters and others accountable. The Sierra Club also actively supports political candidates that meet their tough requirements for endorsement. Through our “Water is Life” safety reflectors we have supported the NRDC and the Sierra Club for the last 4 years and we have no plans of stopping. Supporting environmental organizations and advocacy groups with donations and/or your time is a great way to help your whole community stay healthier.

"Water is Life" safety reflector by funflector
“Water is Life” safety reflectors are available in our webshop and most of the profit goes to the Sierra Club and/or the NRDC.

2. Take a Walk

…

5 Action Tips For World Cancer Day In a PandemicRead More »

5 Action Tips For World Cancer Day In a Pandemic Read More »

Streets Alive!

/ news / , , , ,

We can’t wait for Sunday and the Streets Alive Festival in Evanston IL! Last year, we had a great time at the Green Living Festival in Evanston, but the idea of combining the two festivals is totally awesome!

We’ll be there with America’s premier reflectors for walking, running and bicycling and with information on how you can use reflectors for marketing your brand to touch hearts and save lives 🙂

The Streets Alive + Green Living Festival takes place on Main Street in Evanston, IL this coming Sunday, September 13th, 1-6 PM. A map of all the activities can be found on the festival’s website.  Please look for the black funflector canopy  in the Green Living Festival section between Ridge and Ashbury and stop by for some treats!

The funflector booth at the Evanston Green Living Festival 2014.
The funflector booth at the Evanston Green Living Festival 2014. This year we’ll have space for our full booth 🙂

We believe that making “green choices” is important for all people on earth, and having the choice of walking/biking instead of driving is part of that. However, walkable neighborhoods do a lot of good to people in terms of general health and building a sense of community. The philosophy of the Streets Alive is right up our alley: “Streets Alive also encourages the community to collectively reimagine and repurpose our precious public spaces. Although car-free streets are temporary, they help us visualize different ways to use these spaces, and they demonstrate the pent-up demand for permanently safe, complete streets and vibrant, people-oriented open spaces.”

Looking forward seeing you there!

The funflector team

Streets Alive! Read More »

Come and Say Hello!

/ neat stuff / , , , , , ,

We will be at a couple of festivals and fairs this fall. If you are in the Chicagoland area, please stop by, get some safety reflectors, learn something new and say hello!

Scandinavian Fest

September 7th, Vasa Park in South Elgin, 10am – 6pm

Celebrate your Scandinavian heritage or just enjoy good food, entertainment and Scandinavian gifts anyway. Get in touch with Scandinavian organizations in the Chicago area and shop unique goods and Scandinavian foods from over 50 vendors from across the U.S.A. The festival features Scandinavian entertainment from folk music and dance to ABBA, pony rides and face painting and hopefully as much sunshine as previous years.

Scandinavian Fest at Vasa Park drew visitors from near and far.
Scandinavian Fest at Vasa Park drew visitors from near and far.

Chicago’s Green Metropolis Fair

September 14, Lake View High School, Chicago, 10am-4pm

Green Metropolis Fair 2014
Green Metropolis Fair, September 14

Evanston Green Living Festival

September 27, Evanston, 9am-3pm

The Evanston Green Living Festival is an annual community event presented by the Evanston Environmental Association  (EEA) and the City of Evanston. The festival is held at the Evanston Ecology Center and provides a venue where local organizations can present their green products, services and ideas to attendees who are looking for ways to lower their personal carbon footprint. This will be our first time exhibiting and we are excited to be part of it.

Warren Township High School Craft Fair

November 1st, Gurnee, 9am-3pm

Warren High School Band Booster in Gurnee organizes a huge craft fair early November each year.  Not only was it a good show last year, students also provided a phenomenal service and wheeled all our reflectors and displays to our booth. We are excited to be returning  as the Band Booster celebrates its 20th fair!

Student helpers at the Warren Booster Craft fair in Gurnee, 2013
Friendly student helpers at the Warren Booster Craft fair in Gurnee, 2013

Julmarknad at the Swedish American Museum

December 5-7, Chicago

The Julmarknad (Christmas Market) is our “holiday trip to Sweden” or as close as it gets. Swedish Lucia, music, food (meatball open face sandwiches!), baked goods (lussekatter & Princess Cake!) and Swedish related merchandize and hand made items. Don’t miss this weekend!

funflector® reflectors is one of many types of stocking stuffers you can find at the Julmarknad at the Swedish American Museum in Chicago.
funflector® reflectors is one of many types of stocking stuffers you can find at the Julmarknad at the Swedish American Museum in Chicago.

Come and Say Hello! Read More »

Sharing Bikes

/ go green, thoughts / , ,

Divvy Bikeshare in Chicago photo by the funflector BlogThe first web browser I ever used, had no clickable links. Instead the user had to type in the link that was displayed in the text. It was at CERN (where the world wide web was invented) in the early 1990’s and although it wasn’t super practical, we saw the potential and jumped right into it with excitement. Five years later, I found myself working on the 3G Mobile Network standards and had to explain to friends why it would be handy to have internet access on a cell phone. “Can’t people wait until they get home?!?” was a common comment by most, who only saw Internet as entertainment. Fast forward almost 20 years …

Sharing BikesRead More »

Sharing Bikes Read More »

5 Things to Do for Cute Polar Bears

/ go green /

Are there polar bears on the streets in Sweden? In my teens, I traveled a lot and I surprisingly often got this question from non-Europeans. NO, no, no, of course there are no polar bears on our streets!!! (The gulf stream keeps northern Europe much warmer than northern USA and Canada at those latitudes.)

Polar bear during the blue hour at Brookfield Zoo, Chicago, December 28, 5 pm.
Majestic polar bear at Brookfield Zoo on a cold December day..

Polar bears are adorable and a source for many aww’s on pinterest boards. However, real life polar bears are having a hard time coping with the shrinking ice on and around the North Pole. We all need to step up our efforts to slow down global warming. Did you know that global warming and melting ice is the main reason that more and more cubs get orphaned when their moms can’t find enough food?

Polar bear paw print safety reflector

So what can you do? Here are 5 ideas:

  1. Walk and bike instead of driving, but don’t forget safety reflectors if you are out at dusk or later. As much as you love polar bears, you don’t want to be as invisible as a polar bear in a snow storm!
  2. Replace your gas guzzler with a car that gets more miles on the gallon. Here is some help to find a car that fits your needs  – and the polar bears’!
  3. Your house needs a sweater and a wind breaker. Make sure it has both! Thick fiber glass insulation (sweater) does not help if the air flows straight through (no wind breaker). At a recent energy audit of my own house, I was shocked to see draft coming out of the latch plate in the door frame in a new part of the house. Cold air was coming straight down from the attic and channeled by the frame work. I thought the many inches of fiberglass in the attic would keep my new rooms warm and snug. Ha! If you live in metropolitan Chicago, contact Energy Impact Illinois to find out how to get access to government grants to improve your house. It is easier than you think! You will get a more comfortable home and the polar bears will thank you.
  4. Replace incandescent light bulbs with more efficient ones. If you don’t like the CFL bulbs, there are now LED bulbs on the market for most light fixtures and for dimmers. Choose LED lights with the Energy Star seal to make sure they perform well in the long run. It will be a while until you need to get up on the ladder again to replace the bulb in that ceiling fixture…
  5. Contact your congressman and your senator and tell them you are concerned with global warming and urge them to step up the efforts to increase power from renewable energy sources, protect the arctic from exploration and push for higher car fuel standards.

And, finally, here is today’s fun fact about polar bear fur: It’s long been thought that polar bear fur conducts UV light down to the body to keep polar bears warm. Well, it turns out not to be true. Polar bears appear black on UV cameras, because the fur absorbs the light but it does not make it into the skin and it does not keep the polar bears warm. You can find more in this article by the North American Bear Center.

The funflector team

5 Things to Do for Cute Polar Bears Read More »

The Ultimate No-Brainer / Small Foot Print #4

/ go green, neat stuff / , , ,

There is no Planet B. (duh!) Earth Hour (March 23rd at 8:30 pm) and Earth Day (April 22nd) are here soon to remind us to be careful with the only planet we have. However, it is not enough to be reminded, we also need to TAKE ACTION to leave a healthier planet behind for our children and for our grandchildren. As our followers know, we are all for walking and biking instead of driving, hanging out laundry to dry, reducing waste and recycling and more.

norwex_enviro_cloth
Superclean with just a cloth and water!
norwex_consultant_elisabeth_hubbard


Here is another one, the ultimate no-brainer: With LESS effort, LESS time, LESS money and NO chemicals, you can get a cleaner house, office and car, a healthier family and a happier planet!!! Everyone is a winner: you, your wallet, your kids and the earth – can it get better? So, let me explain:
With Norwex cloths you can clean your house, office, vehicle, windows, kitchen and bathroom – and your face! –  with just water. It is not magic, just Scandinavian technology of incredible skinny polyester fiber (quality microfiber) that picks up everything – dirt, grime, grease, crumbs and dust without additional chemicals. Read more in the Norwex product catalog!
So how can you get your hands on these amazing cloths? Here are three suggestions:
1. Buy them, either online or at my next party in Libertyville, IL (email info(at)funflector.com for dates and directions)
2. Get them for free! Book a real or online/catalog party. Introduce your friends to the amazing cloths and reap the rewards from the generous host gift program. As your consultant, I will guide you through and the online host portal will make it a breeze reaching out to friends and family near and far.
3. Earn an income on them! As a consultant you don’t only get free products, you also get a commission on every sale! Norwex has a figured out how to get you started with no startup cost! I did this a year ago and it’s been an amazing journey where each hour at work makes an impact in someone’s life! Be your own boss AND surround you with an inspirational team.
Take action NOW –  go green AND help yourself get more time for the things you love to do more than cleaning!

Take care,
Elisabeth Hubbard
Owner funflector.com & Norwex Independend Sales Consultant

The Ultimate No-Brainer / Small Foot Print #4 Read More »

Small Foot Print #2

/ go green, thoughts / , ,

We are big fans of making our footprints on earth as small as possible. There is no planet B. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about harnessing the wind. So what more can you do?

Here is our second suggestion: Redefine “bargain”—add the life time of the product to the bargain hunting game. You’ll be surprised how many nice quality items you can buy and still save money over time!
Let’s start with an example. While living in Europe, I used to buy a quality brand of indoor slippers. They would typically last for two years indoors and then be abused as back-yard slippers for another two years. After moving to the US, I bought the same brand of slippers, but a completely different model. At first, I was happy to find them at about half the price compared to Europe. However, after only one year of indoor use, they were ready for the land fill. Instead of leather, the materials were all man-made and were fraying everywhere. The straps had stretched, so the slippers did not stay on my feet any longer. So much for a bargain!

This is how much more it cost for four year’s use of “cheap” slippers:

…

Small Foot Print #2Read More »

Small Foot Print #2 Read More »

Small Foot Print #1

/ go green, neat stuff, thoughts / ,

We are big fans of making our footprints on earth as small as possible. Taking good care of the only planet we have, seems to be the obvious thing to do. So what can you do?

Here is one idea: Harness the wind — hang your laundry to dry in your back yard and save electricity and/or gas (and save on your utility bills)!
We had our clothesline put away during the winter months, but now it is out again! A big load of shirts and pants dried in just a a few hours. If you have some trees to attach the clotheslines to, it’s an investment of a couple of dollars for a clothesline and some clothespins. If, not this Dutch drying rack might be the best solution. We bought ours a couple of years ago and it is still standing strong. A friend recommended it after trying several cheaper ones which didn’t even last through their first Midwestern storm. I was happy to see that this model is still available at Gaiam. For a couple of more days you can even get a $20 discount (and free shipping)! It is easy to mount, folds up quickly and can easily be lifted out of its base to be put away. As an extra bonus, the scent of wind dried clothes and sheets is the best!
The Clothes Line Shop has clothespins and some practical accessories like baskets for clothespins to hang on the line. Good to know for when the green pouch, that I got in France 15-plus years ago wears out.

By the way, did you know our website is 100% powered by windpower?  Isn’t that neat?!

Elisabeth

Burbo Bank Offshore Wind Farm in England. By Steve Fareham at Wikimedia commons.
Burbo Bank Offshore Wind Farm in England. By Steve Fareham at Wikimedia commons.

Small Foot Print #1 Read More »

Scroll to Top