Summer days are drifting away, and that can only mean one thing…back to school time! If you’ve been looking for a way to get your kiddos (or nieces, nephews, or grandchildren) excited about the transition from swimming pool to elementary school, we have the solution: fun illustrated books with eco-conscious themes.

Rascal and Shady Recycle and Reuse by Beth Starr

Who wouldn’t love to learn about responsible waste management from two rascally raccoons? This new book, Rascal and Shady Recycle and Reuse, from Westfield resident Beth Starr is a treat. Because she’s local, Starr also hosts educational classroom programs at local elementary schools and uses her books as teaching tools.

The Earth Book by Todd Parr

How do you tackle the world’s big, complex problems when you’re still pint-sized? Leave it to author Todd Parr, who packs dozens of child-appropriate earth-saving tips into his practical yet entertaining book, The Earth Book. Look for this one locally at Global Gifts (and don’t forget to take your Green Savings Indy coupon for 10% off!).

I Am Mr. Ellie Pooh by Dr. Karl Wald

Send your child to show-and-tell with this one, and he or she is sure to get the class talking. This delightful storybook, I Am Mr. Ellie Pooh, is made using elephant dung paper…as in, Ellie Pooh. If that’s not clever recycling, we don’t know what is.

Piece out,
Renee & Meghan

As if your trip to the Indiana State Fair didn’t leave you full enough, the foodie fun continues later this month with two scrumptious, sustainable eating events. Ladies and gentleman, fill your bellies!

Piece out,
Renee & Meghan

We haven’t been this excited since Project Runway’s Christian Siriano fashioned a dress out of Reese’s peanut butter cup wrappers! On October 22, the Indianapolis Museum of Art will host Project IMA: Fashion Unbound, a runway show featuring apparel made from unexpected materials, including those that have been reused or repurposed.

Piece out,
Renee & Meghan

You sit down to lunch at a local restaurant, scan the menu, and notice a hamburger made with Indiana beef. Seems like the greenest choice, right? Maybe not. Before you say bring it on to that burger, keep in mind that “Made in Indiana” doesn’t necessarily mean sustainable. Sure, it may have traveled a short distance from farm to fork, but did the farming process take a greater toll on our local environment?

Piece out,
Renee & Meghan

You may have balked at the idea of biking to work and said no-can-do to composting, but here’s something we can all get on board with: eco-friendly treats. We’re not talking about mud pies or bug juice here. These local purveyors get two thumbs up for using locally-sourced ingredients and/or green business practices - and for dishing up some of the tastiest stuff this side of Candyland.

Ice Cream

• Visitors to BRICS in Broad Ripple sample from reusable metal tasting spoons, eat from ceramic dishes (or compostable to-go cups), and recycle at a designated green container. In lieu of selling bottled water, the store offers a bottle-filling station.
• Stop in to Zionsville’s Traders Point Creamery for an organic milkshake or pint of ice cream to go. Either way, you’ll get a treat made with local organic milk that’s traveled mere feet from farm to cone. (Save $1 with Green Savings Indy)

Pie

• In addition to the savory varieties that put Daina’s Petite Pies on the map, Johnson County-based Daina Chamness uses local fruit in her individual-sized Caramel Apple Crisp and Bumbleberry dessert pies. (Save $2 with Green Savings Indy)
• You’ll go in to Locally Grown Gardens at 54th & the Monon Trail for Ron Harris’s gorgeous selection of local produce, but you’ll likely emerge with a homemade honeycrisp apple pie or blueberry crisp, too.

Small Bites

• Fancy up your next campfire by roasting 240 SWEET Artisan Marshmallows, made with ingredients like Indiana corn starch and Michigan beet sugar.
• True to its name, Suzanne Litteral’s Litterally Divine all-natural and organic toffee and truffles taste, well, heavenly. (Save $3 with Green Savings Indy)
• Where can you find delicious homemade popcorn, two of the nicest business owners on the planet, and a planet-saving business agenda to boot? Just Pop In and find out. (Save $5+ with Green Savings Indy)

Piece out,
Renee & Meghan

We know better than to take sides in the traditional books vs. downloadable e-books debate. But we’ll gladly offer up a few of our favorite eco-themed reading recommendations. Whether you’re toting your paperbacks to the pool this summer or curling up with your Kindle, add these titles to the top of your list.

Meghan’s Pick
No Impact Man by Colin Beavan
Follow the adventures of a New York family as they forego takeout containers, electricity, and even toilet paper, all in the name of saving the planet. After you’re done reading it, be sure to check out the documentary film version of Beavan’s story, also titled No Impact Man.

Renee’s Pick
Humoring the Horror of the Converging Emergencies by the ApocaDocs (a.k.a.  Indiana natives Michael Jensen and Jim Poyser)
As if the ApocaDocs’s take on news articles with titles like “Sea otters worth $700 million in carbon credits” wasn’t enough to cackle yourself into taking action, their hilariously frightening book is now available for download or purchase. Their solution to the state of the planet: “we have to shift to a more humble, efficient, slowed-down and locally-oriented society/community.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Whitney Brake’s Pick (Whitney is an IPS reading teacher)
The Talking Earth by Jean Craighead George
Middle school-aged readers will enjoy this tale of Billie Wind, a young Seminole girl who struggles with balancing her tribe’s beliefs about the planet with more current environmental concerns, like pollution and nuclear war. Billie goes to the Everglades in search for answers, with an otter, a panther cub, and a turtle serving as her guides.

Lynn Jenkins’s Pick (Lynn is the publisher of Indiana Living Green)
A Conservationist Manifesto by Scott Russell Sanders
“It’s pertinent and local,” Lynn says. “He’s a dedicated Hoosier from Bloomington and makes many references to Indiana. Without rants and shouts, he’s able to gently write us to anger at the atrocities that man heaps on nature.”

Share your fave environmental reads in the comments section of this piece. We’ll select a few “best sellers” for some fun gifts from our bag of eco-tricks.

Piece out,
Renee & Meghan

Summertime, and the livin’ is easy. Except when it’s 90 degrees and humid as heck and if one more mosquito bites you, you’ll freak! No, when the mercury rises to unacceptable levels, a simple stroll around Monument Circle feels more like slogging through an urban swamp. Solution? Pedicabs, people! They’re Indy’s latest, greatest, and greenest form of getting around downtown.

Instead of: Increased perspiration.
Try: Alternative transportation. Pedicabs (a.k.a. “bike cabs”) are the perfect solution when you don’t want to bike or walk (hey, we ladies don’t always wear the most sensible shoes). Two new companies to try: Indy Pedicabs and Circle City Pedicabs.

Instead of: Shelling out your last dollar on a (gas-guzzling, carbon dioxide-spewing) taxi ride across downtown.
Try: Spending a few singles on a (zero-emission) pedicab ride. Indy Pedicabs works for tips (suggested: $1 per city block per person), while Circle City Pedicabs charges a flat $5 fee for ride in the Mile Square.

Instead of: Telling Grandma she can hoof it 9 blocks to the Circle to watch the fireworks.
Try: Telling Grandma you’ve reserved a zippy little pedicab to escort you to the Regions Bank Freedom Blast. Contact the companies directly to find out how to ride - or just hail one when you see it downtown. And don’t worry…both companies’ carriages have overhead canopies so Grandma’s ‘do stays dry.

Piece out,
Renee & Meghan

The soil’s been tilled
The seeds in the ground
Who woulda thunk
A garden downtown!

Growing Places Indy is committed to cultivating the culture of food and urban agriculture. They’re hosting three more volunteer day workshops this summer, including:

• June 27, 1-4 p.m., volunteer in the garden; 3 p.m., Rain Barrel-Making 101
• July 18, 1-4 p.m. Urban Composting Basics
• August 8, 1-4 p.m. Harvesting and Ways to Preserve the Harvest

The produce grown in the Slow Food Garden is sold to area restaurants (City Cafe, Goose the Market, R Bistro, Recess, Meridian, H2O, Pizzology, Petite Chou/Napolese) throughout the 2010 season. Summer interns will also sell the produce at the City Market Wednesday Farmer’s Market.

You’re off to Great Places
Today is your day!
So, “Piece out” for now
From your friends Meghan and Renee!

Ah, summer…the most wonderful time of year for a ride on a ferris wheel, a stroll through a barn full of goats, and the unveiling of the latest deep-fried treat-on-a-stick. While all this has its time and place (don’t even get us started on the sugar-coated magic of the elephant ear), we’re excited to hear about another type of fair that’s taking place this summer. The Indiana Sustainable Living Fair is on Saturday, June 26 from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. at the Marion County Fairgrounds, 7300 E. Troy Ave. The event is a hodgepodge of environmentally-focused seminars, demonstrations, workshops, exhibits, and vendors. And while you won’t find giant turkey legs and funnel cakes there, you will get your fill of information on local chemical-free food, renewable energy, gardening, holistic veterinary practices, and the like.

Piece out,
Renee & Meghan

Some people say we have our heads in the clouds, but we think we’re down to earth. At the beginning of 2010, we had a rather lofty aspiration for our lil’ green newsletter: to build our subscriber list to 10,000 by year’s end. Big goal? Totally. Yet this is one case in which bigger - unlike cars, utility bills, and carbon footprints - is actually better.

If you enjoy receiving Green Piece Indy twice a week, show your support by…

1. Forward your Green Piece Indy tips to all your eco-conscious friends. Whether you like GPI for the witty headlines, the helpful hints, or the sense of connectedness among other greenies in the community, we hope you’ll encourage others to subscribe.
2. Send your friends a link to our website, www.greenpieceindy.com. There, they can sign up in 3.2 seconds and begin receiving tips each Tuesday and Thursday.
3. Order or pick-up a Green Savings Indy coupon book. You’ll save money, support local green businesses and help keep us going - everybody wins!

To thank you for your efforts and to reward new subscribers, this week we will randomly select a handful of new subscribers and send them and their referrer goodies from one of the following:

• The Hot Cookie (all-natural and organic cookies)
• Green Savings Indy (coupon book)
• Twisted Limb Paperworks (notecards)
• Herbal Art (all-natural soaps)
• Kroger (reusable shopping bags)

10,000 may seem like a number better suited for a Jules Verne novel or a Natalie Merchant-fronted band. But with your help, we know we can get there!

Piece out,
Renee & Meghan