The Laurie Berkner Band Blog

We're Back (AND With Something Cool!)

Hi bloggy friends!

We're back :)

We've been away for a few weeks, but with good reason!  Our entire team has been working REALLY hard on something new and special - and we're almost ready to announce it.

We're working with our friends at Seventh Generation on something everyone can enjoy. For a sneak peak of what is to come, check out this video:

 

What do you think it will be?  Announcement on Tuesday, June 28th - see you then :)

Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day, everyone! 

We are thrilled to celebrate our wonderful Earth today (and everyday!)

One of the great things about being a kid is all the fun things you can do to help the environment AND have a great time doing it.

Here are some fun, Earth-friendly activities:

1) Go for a walk and pick up litter.  Don't forget to sort between recyclable material and landfill garbage - you can even drop off compostable things at your local compost drop-off! You can play games while you do it, too - try "I Spy" or see who can pick up the most litter!

2) Make an eco-friendly snack. Go to your local Farmer's Market and pick out local and organic foods, then go home and start cookin'. 

3) Use those old bottles or egg cartons to make planters! First, get some seeds (we like Seeds of Change). If you're using a plastic soda bottle, have a grownup help cut the top off so you are left with the bottom 5-6". Next, decorate your bottle bottom with such recycled things as cardboard from cereal boxes (color or paint it!), pieces of cloth from old clothing, pictures from magazines or catalogues, etc. Poke small holes in the bottom.  Then, fill your planter with dirt and plant your seeds! Egg cartons make excellent herb gardens :)

4) Have old CD's and records lying around?  Make this clock!

5) Take some time to talk about nature, why it's important, why we are thankful for it, and ways we can help make it strong and healthy.  Read books, tell stories, and think about what would life be like without trees and nature. It feels good to give thanks!

6) Listen to this song!

Can You Imagine?

7) Next time you want to buy a toy, think about going home and making one, instead!  It's really fun to figure out what you love about a toy, and then recreate it for yourself. You can make trucks out of toilet paper rolls and dolls out of old clothing.

8) Reuse old baby food jars to make beautiful candle holders for your home or gifts!

Enjoy, and let us know what you do today!

Greening the Office: Almost There!

We are almost there!

Yesterday, we tallied up our "green points" by taking a survey that gives points for every earth-friendly step we take in running the office.  Our goal is to reach "Gold Certification" - a total of 200 "green points".

Some things that give us these points are:

• Changing our lightbulbs to CFL's
• Installing sink aerators to use less water
• Reusing materials as craft supplies, etc (see past blogs about this)
• Recycling everything we can't reuse
• Purchasing "carbon credits" to offset our carbon use when traveling and shipping items
• Using certified "green vendors" for all of our merchandise (Did you know our t-shirts are 100% Organic and Fair Trade, our shaky eggs are made from a  sustainable fast-regrowth wood, and our posters are printed on 100% recycled paper using soy ink?)
• Printing double-sided
• Installing a filtered water system to cut our bottled water usage
• And much more!

After the assessment, we were thrilled to see we've reached almost 400 points!  We can't wait to make it official - our Green Consultant, Michele, is busy finishing up the paperwork (which is mostly happening online to reduce the use of ACTUAL paper).

We hope to be certified as a Green Company in the next month or so!

Trail Mixes

Need a simple snack that doubles as a musical instrument?  Trail Mix is the answer!

Trail mix is easy to make, totally customizable, makes a great shaker (just put it in a takeout container!), and the best part? Everyone in the family, no matter how small, can help make it!

We asked our Facebook page for some suggestions, and here's a handful of the tasty answers:

Elaine McNeal: Melvin Any simple trail mix is always good. :) Mix together cereals, nuts, candies, pretzels, whatever everyone likes.

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Marcie Ochoa: Jacob's Popcorn: Your favorite popcorn, craisins and some plain cinnamon (no sugar added)- mix and enjoy. super easy and super yummy (and pretty healthy:-) )

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Melissa Jeter Ramirez: Reindeer poo!!! Crispix cereal or rice chex, honeycombs, pretzels, mixed nuts, peanuts....mix it all up. Melt almond bark(dark or white) and pour all over. Mix up again. Cools in less than 10mins. EAT and ENJOY!!!

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Betsy Arndt: Sophie's Snack mix- scoop of pretzels (any shape & size or a varitey), scoop of goldfish, scoop of chex cereal, scoop of nuts if not allergic. Thow it all in a bag and let your child shake, shake, shake to mix it up. :) You can also add animal crackers, cheeze its, pretzel goldfish, raisins, or any thing your heart desires. :)

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Jennifer Liss Diffley Honey graham cereal, mini marshmallows and mini chocolate chips...s'mores mix!

Happy Halloween!

Our pumpkins are carved, we're finishing up our Halloween costumes, we have some fresh batches of pumpkin seeds, and we're all set for Halloween!

We hope you have an awesome time this Sunday - and we want to know all about your costumes!  Please be sure to post your photos on our Facebook page and let us know how you made them/where you found them.

Need Laurie Berkner Band Halloween costume ideas?  Click Here!

How about some great fall-themed activities? Click Here!

Having a pumpkin day? Check out some pumpkin-themed ideas and tips by clicking here!

Don't forget to check out our Halloween Webcast.

Happy Halloween - be safe, have fun, and don't forget to munch on a couple of healthy snacks in between all those sweets :)

Homemade Toys

Making homemade toys saves money, reuses resources, teaches kids about how good it feels to make something yourself, and leaves you with a totally cool product! Your responses were awesome, and we hope you all can use some of these ideas to get inspired to make your own toys!

Wilhelmina Indigo Dooley
my mommy made mussels one night and she washed the shells and broke them apart and i painted them white and made them into little ghosts. i took them to show and tell at school and gave one to every one in my class!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i was born on hallows eve so i was born a day after halloween. :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

Amy Otto
we made an "i spy" bottle that has been used often for 2 years! just put some little toys or silly shaped beads into an empty plastic water bottle. (i found a set of colorful animal shaped beads for under $1 at my craft store) fill it the rest of the way with rice or bird seed, seal the lid with glue, and attach a list of all the items to find. i took a picture of all the items, printed it, then cut it apart and glued onto an index card for non-readers.

Faith Gates
I like to take empty plastic pretzel containers and cut a coin slot in the lid. I take baby food jar lids, or the metal ends of frozen juice or biscuit tins and use them as "coins." I print round circles on the computer that are the size of the lids and pop them right in. That way I can create my own custom matching game. For the metal ends, I ... Read Moredraw on them with permanent marker. It's fun to match a lid with the number "2" to a lid that has 2 dots! And the kids learn to put the lids back in the jar through the coin slot as they make each match!

Grace R. Stoddard Herman
Water bottle, fill with white corn syrup and dif types of glittery confetti and food coloring, replace the cap and tape it. Instant lava lamp minus the lamp.

Rachel Brown
Who doesn't like moon sand!?

Recipe for homemade moon sand (1 batch)
6 cups of play sand (I got a 50lb bag from Lowes, it was $4.99 plus tax)
3 cups of cornstarch (most dollar stores carry it for $1 per box...you'll need around 24 boxes for the whole 50lbs!)
1 1/2 cups of cold water
Step one: Mix the water and cornstarch together thoroughly, this will take a few minutes to get it nice and smooth.
Step two: Gradually mix in the sand, one cup at a time. You'll need to really work it in with your fingers.
Step three: Play with it!
Step four: When you're all done, pop it in an airtight container.
Step five: When you next play with it, you'll need to revive it with 2-3 tablespoons of water. Just sprinkle it over and work it in.
That's all there is to it. Very cheap, very easy and the kids will get to play with heaps of the stuff. Play sand also comes in different colors, so buy different colored bags to mix things up a little. Have fun!


Christiana 'Skidonenko' Finch
I made my daughter a magnet set. I bought a small metal lunchbox and printed out all the letters, numbers, and shapes put them on foam, then wrapped them in packing tape (for durability) and put a magnet on the back. They are all stored in her lunchbox and she can stick them on the outside to spell things and practice letters, numbers and shapes. I made this for her when she was 1 1/2 and she is now 4 and still loves it! I love it because she learns through play - she loves it because it's one of a kind!

Kammi Sommerschield Freed
I bought a plain white metal lunchbox tin from a craft store. Off the internet I downloaded free templates for paper dolls and paper doll clothes and hair-do's. I used permanent marker to draw the doll onto both sides of the lid of the lunchbox. I laminated the papers with the clothes/accessories/hairdo's using clear packing tape and then cut out all the pieces. I put put a little magnet on the back of each piece. Everything fits in the tin and it's a portable magnetic paper doll set. Perfect for the car or restaurants.

Do you have great homemade toy ideas?  We'd love to hear them!

Baby Food Candle Holder!

We've been brainstorming a lot about ways to reuse common household objects.  Baby food jars are the perfect object to make use of in all kinds of fun ways!

Here is a great craft idea that can be given away as a beautiful little gift or used to brighten your home.

Make a Baby Food Votive Candle Holder!**

Step 1: Gather Your Supplies

What You'll Need:

• Baby food jar - washed and dried
• Ribbon
• Temporary tattoos or stickers
• Jewels, gems, etc
• Fun piece of fabric
• Craft Glue
• Rubber Bands
• 1 votive candle
• Sand/small stones (to keep the candle in place)

Step 2: Attach your stickers/tattoos

Our dino tattoo got a little crumpled, but the "Laurie Berkner Band" one came out great!

We used Laurie Berkner Band temporary tattoos - just place the tattoo on the glass like you would on your skin, wet a sponge or paper towel, hold it on the paper part of the tattoo, and then carefully peel the paper away.  If you mess up, scratch it off (or use rubbing alcohol) and try again. 

If you're using stickers, just place them on the outside of the jar in any place you like!

Step 3: Tie ribbon around the top - Be Careful!!

The trick here is to make sure the ribbon is tied tightly and isn't overlapping with the top of the candle - you don't want to accidentally burn it!!!  Cut any excess ribbon and double check that it's safe.  It's very important to be sure this is safe!

Step 4: Cover your lid

We used a piece of an old LBB t-shirt - BUZZZZ!

Place the jar's lid on your fabric (lay the fabric upside down) and trace the lid with a pencil.  Then, cut about 1/2" outside of the line so your fabric is a little bigger than the lid.  Glue it onto the top of the lid, and use your rubber band to secure it

Step 5: Add flair!

Add sparkle glue, glue-on ribbons, sequins, scrap-booking stickers, letters, and anything else you like to make your candle have some extra flair! We added pink ribbons using glue.

Step 6: Fill with a little sand or small rocks

You only need enough to keep the candle in place.

Step 7: Add your candle

Simply place your candle in the sand.  You can add more sand if you need to make it more secure

Step 8: Add lid and share!

Put the lid back on the candle and give to a friend/family member or display for yourself!

 

**Note: Please be sure a GROWN-UP lights the candle and to never leave a burning candle unattended!  Keep an eye on your candle the first few times you burn it to be absolutely sure your ribbon is not in the way.  Also, never use flammable materials (glues, etc) on a candle project!  If you are in doubt, just use the candle as decoration or place a battery-operated bulb candle in your holder instead :)

The Importance of CFL's

We all have heard by now how changing out regular incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL's) can make a big difference.

We recently had a friend break down exactly how much energy we are saving by switching out our old bulbs.  We were impressed by the amount of energy - and money! - we're saving:

Main Room:
2x100W to 2x23W = saving 154 Watts

Bathroom:
1x100W to 1x23W & 175W to 1x18W = saving 134 Watts

Workroom:
3x60W to 3x13W = saving 141 Watts

Kitchen:
1x60W to 1x13W = saving 47 Watts

So, judging by past habits, we will be saving 1kWh of electricity for every 3 hours the lights are on.  That's $1 in savings for every 24 hours use the lights ($0.13/hr electricity rate).  That saves us $5/month (conservatively, probably it's a bit more) and reduces our carbon footprint.

Good news!  And such an easy step in helping our planet AND our wallets.  We really hope you'll take a moment to switch out your old bulbs and start saving, too!

Waste Audit

Today, Michele (our Green Consultant) came to the office for a waste audit.

What's a waste audit, you ask?  Basically, Michele collected all the trash cans and recycling bins in the office and dumped them (separately) out onto a big plastic tarp in the kitchen.

She then went through all the trash and took notes on everything that could have been recycled as well as which items in our recycling bins couldn't be recycled.  We felt pretty bad that we had shrimp for lunch recently, but she was a trooper :)

Why sort through a bunch of trash? Many people have lots of questions about what can and cannot be recycled, and unfortunately this can have some pretty negative consequences.  For instance, if non-recyclables wind up in a recycling bin, you run the risk of the ENTIRE bin being thrown in the trash!  That means that everything that has been carefully sorted as recyclable ends up in the dump, landfill, or worse: streets, rivers, or oceans!  

Laurie has spent a long time explaining to all of us in the office the rules of recycling for NYC, so we were pretty anxious to see how we were doing.

The verdict? We only had ONE misplaced item in 8 trash cans/recycling bins - a small makeup box had made its way into the trash when it should have been recycled. 

We're only 2 steps away from receiving GOLD certification for sustainability! It's been a long road, but it gets easier and more habitual everyday. 

What do YOU do to live as sustainably as possible?

The Oil Spill - What can we do?

I went to the farmer's market on Friday and at one of the stalls they had this sign up:

It's 46 days and counting into the oil spill. . .do you really need another plastic bag?

Yow, good point, I thought, trying to shove all of my greens and strawberries into the two bags I had.  No matter how many reusable bags I bring with me every week, I always seem to end up with at least a couple of new plastic ones by the time I get home.

I went to the beach with my daughter the next day and saw a surprising amount of garbage washing up on the shore.  As we walked past plastic lids and Styrofoam cups on the sand, all I could think was, I'm grateful it's not oil.

Now it's been 50 days.  The pictures I've seen (as I'm sure many of you have too) of birds covered in oil, with only their eyes showing under all of the thick sludge is so tragic, and the knowledge that the spewing still hasn't stopped is, to me, criminal.

What can I do??  I'm not planning to go down to the gulf and help clean the birds, and I can't make the oil stop.  I know it's going to take a lot of money to clean this up, and while it's not a time for blame, I would much prefer to send my money to places like Haiti where there is no multi-billion dollar company that was responsible for the disaster (and doing something as dangerous as drilling a mile below sea-level) who could be paying for it.

Even if we stop off-shore drilling in our waters, as long as the demand for oil doesn't lessen, companies like BP will just find another place to drill. And very likely it will be in countries where the regulations are far less strict than they are here, and where a spill like this could be even more devastating.  Plus, that foreign oil will come to us on tankers which are far more likely to leak than oil rigs.  We need to find other ways of fulfilling our energy needs.  Reducing our own individual usage is a big part of it, and so is creating alternative energy sources that are gentle on us and our planet and that are actually available for us to use.

So after I didn't take that plastic bag on Friday, I did something else that took less than a minute.  I signed a petition.  MoveOn.org (an organization that I have no connection to other than being one of the 5 million members who receive their emails) is asking people to sign a petition to be sent to Obama that simply says:

"It's time for a bold plan to get America off of oil. Please learn from the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and take action to end the U.S. addiction to oil."

To sign it, click here.  (http://pol.moveon.org/nomoreoil/?rc=fb)

The Sierra Club is also sending messages to tell Obama to move beyond 
oil. (https://secure2.convio.net/sierra/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=4435)

Tomorrow I'll send some money.  Probably to a group like Second Harvest Food Bank (http://no-hunger.org/).  They are the closest food bank to the spill and are responding to the increase in need for food as a result of spill-related unemployment.  

Perhaps some of you could provide other suggestions?  If so, please respond to this blog.  I'd love to know what else I can do and I'm sure others would too.

Warmly,

Laurie