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Shades of Green
There are green things we can all do to protect the environment. Look for frequently updated tips in Living Green Notes. Light Green – Easy, everyday things we all can do! Medium Green – With a little effort we can do it! Dark Green - These just take a bit more $$, or time!
 
We'll help remind you with this free cling!

From our surveys of Minnesota shoppers, we've found that folks are pretty comfortable with the idea of bringing their own shopping bags to the store as a way of reducing trash. More than 40% of those surveyed claimed to have brought their own bag at least once in their last five shopping trips.

While using a reusable shopping bag is pretty easy, it turns out that remembering your bags on your trips to the store is not.

Drop by our web site and we'll send you a free window cling to remind you that you've got more than enough shopping bags to do the job.
Tired of phone books piling up on your front doorstep, especially if you don’t use them anymore? Visit www.yellowpagesoptout.com to opt out.

Simply enter your ZIP code to find the phone book publishers in your area that are participating in opt out requests. You will need to inform each phone book publisher that you would like delivery stopped. Opt outs take 60 days to process.

Recycle the books you have

If you have old phone books, recycle them. Minnesotans only recycle 20 percent of the 5,000 tons of phone books that are delivered in the state each year.

Contact your county for information on your recycling options or visit www.recyclemoreminnesota.org, which has a list of all of the county recycling programs in the state. Many curbside programs take phone books year around.
Do your Halloween plans include face paint? Read the Food and Drug Administration's advice for using face paint safely. You might also have fun making nontoxic face paint at home! These recipes use common household ingredients.

First, make a base out of unscented lotion, pure cocoa butter, or a mild toothpaste (avoid mint flavors, as they can make skin tingly). Then, add the following ingredients for color.

Even though these are made with food ingredients, make sure your kids don’t eat them because of the base! Also test a small patch of skin first to make sure your child isn’t allergic to the food you’re using.

  • Yellow: Add 1/4 tsp. of stale turmeric to base.

  • Pink: Using a sieve, mash the juice from 3 fresh or thawed frozen raspberries, blackberries or beets directly into the base. Or, use a deeply colored berry juice or puree.

  • Mint green: With a fork, mash 1/4 of a small avocado until creamy. Mix this into your base.

  • Purple: Using a sieve, mash the juice from several fresh or frozen blueberries into the base.

  • Brown: Add cocoa powder or chocolate sauce to base.

  • White: Mix powdered sugar and water.


You may not have these ingredients at home, but for bright green and black (some of the scariest colors!) look for squid ink (black) and spirulina or bright green chlorophyll (green) to add to the base.
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