Unite

With the New Year quickly approaching, you may be wondering what you can do to make 2009 as green as possible. Here are a few tips that should help you make your New Year more environmentally friendly.

Parties

1. If you’re having a New Year’s Eve party, send out e-invites instead of paper ones. You’ll not only receive your RSVPs faster, but you’ll save paper, ink and money. Also, encourage guests to carpool to save gas.

2. Purchase re-usable cups, plates and utensils, or ones that can be composted. This will save on garbage that goes into landfills.

3. Instead of giving out gifts, give each person who attends a list of green resolutions they can make for 2009 and by telling them about Green Groove.

4. Re-use old holiday decorations or wrapping to decorate for your party. This saves money, waste, and gives you a chance to think of creative ideas that will make your party unique.

Resolutions

1. Everyone makes New Year’s resolutions, and generally they’re too vague or grandiose and don’t ever get fulfilled. This year, make smaller resolutions that you know you can accomplish. Creating a phased withdrawal with Green Groove is a great way to start.

2. Help your friends, co-workers and family come up with green resolutions. There are even things you can do together, like adopting a mile on the highway and picking up trash, or cutting down on paper towel use. Having someone there to keep you on track, and to chart progress with, is a great motivator for continuing your resolution all year long.

If everyone takes the time and makes the effort to come up with green resolutions that will last all year, and follow through with them, a big difference could be made. Even if it’s something as small as creating a compost pile in your backyard and reducing your household waste, it makes a difference. The New Year is the best excuse to start making green changes in your life, so get to it!

Trying to find a "green" gift? Search no longer. Simply sign up a friend or loved one with Green Groove. You can do this one of two ways. First, you can easily sign someone up on our signup page. Just create a user ID and password for them using their email, then all you have to do is email them the information along with our site address (www.greengroove.org) and tell them to get started. Secondly, you could go to our new start page to put together a quick plan for someone, create a user ID and password using their email address, and the plan will be emailed straight to them. They can roll with that plan, or come back, sign in, and create a new one. Nothing quick, easier, and most importantly greener.

There is no question that politics, and this year's U.S. presidential election, will play a very important role in shaping the policies that help save our planet from catastrophic climate change. Make sure your voice is heard. Go vote in favor of the candidate you think will help promote a greener future. Go vote! This is one of the very rare opportunities Green Groove will actually allow a regular plan goal to be substituted with this very simple, yet crucial, time-sensitive goal. Vote on or before Tuesday, November 4th, and feel free to swap that with your regularly scheduled goal. Also, please let us know who you voted for, and why, right on the Green Groove Unite blog post.

Now, we don't want to exclude young Green Groove participants, and those who may be citizens of other countries, so we have something for you too. If you are ineligible to vote in the United States, you may take this as an opportunity to share with your friends and family the importance of making one's voice heard.

By the way, congratulations to all of the Green Groove particpants who have made a stand and begun to conduct a phased withdrawal on catastrophic climate change! Hopefully it has been a enlightening, and fun, experience. Thanks!

We are pleased to announce the introduction of our new blog to the website. Here we can share views on a whole variety of different issues that affect the green way of living. Topics of discussion can range from standard headline news to green humor (whatever that is).

It is our goal to bring to you the writings of several different Green Groove enthusiasts. If you are open-minded and enjoy writing, or ranting, about something you think would benefit others who read this blog, please do email blog support to find out how you can publish your thoughts here.