Green Fun in the Summer Sun!

Staycations

Years ago, our traveling companions referred to our family as the Griswolds on Vacation. We “packed to the nines”, meaning that although there were only five of us, we packed as though we were nine, replete with a 5-bike trailer, an inflated raft and two vehicles to haul everything but the kitchen sink across British Columbia and Alberta Canada. We were exhausted by the time we were packed and ready to roll; continually in a state of “tired” packing and unpacking that “Rubic’s Cube” of an overstuffed, compacted station wagon day in... and day out. When we pulled into the driveway after traveling like this for two weeks, we collapsed in a heap in our welcoming beds, chanting the mantra “Never Again!”

Staycations is the buzzword for stay-at-home vacations. With the rising cost of gas and the decline of the US dollar, many of us are seeking creative solutions, green solutions, to reduce our travel footprint. With the much-increased expense of traveling abroad, a growing number of vacationers, like myself, are choosing to be hometown tourists, saving money and supporting local economy, while exploring all there is to see and do within a short distance from our own backyards.

As a B&B proprietor, it is our guests, out-of-towners, who are experiencing our finest attractions, activities and natural resources. We’ve decided that since we are on an extended staycation through the summer season, to set aside time for ourselves this year to have “daycations”. Whether a daycation or a staycation, traveling light and traveling local gives us the opportunity to explore our local culture and natural resources like never before, and get the much-needed rest most of us are woefully lacking by the end of a typical vacation scenario.

OsoTalk

This week on OsoTalk Show, I’m discussing Staycations with web developer Effie Siverts. After a leisurely, scenic drive along the back roads through farmland and wine country en route to Le Roost Lorane B&B, Effie is enjoying what she refers to as a “daycation” and shares her staycation tips with us.

To listen, all you have to do is click on the "play" icon... easy easy easy! Thanks TalkShoe for this great widget!

Related Eco Matter:

Creating a list of Staycation tips.

OsoNew

OsoEco, an Oregon Biz to Watch

In it's July issue, Oregon Business Magazine names OsoEco as the #9 company in Oregon to watch....

“Web 2.0” is the now-ubiquitous term for websites and applications that allow users to interact and collaborate. Long ago the term degenerated into an overused buzzword, but it’s still around. Why? Because people keep coming up with great ways to interact online. Take OsoEco, for example, which describes itself as a sustainable social shopping community. OsoEco is targeting a type of shopper called social researchers — consumers who spend a significant amount of time learning from other online shoppers before purchasing something.

Don't Miss It!

Featured Eco Matters ::

Will what I eat affect whether I'll get sunburned or not?

I'm on an extended staycation, but the sun is shining just as bright right here at home as it is in Mexico or Hawaii. I want to find natural ways to protect my fair skin from burning while I'm out doors.

What’s on your summer reading list?

Time to catch up on some long overdue reading! What's on your booklist? Are you looking for green solutions? How about reading e-books, listening to audio books, checking books out of the library, visiting used bookstores, and/or picking them up at yard sales?

Featured Finds ::

This summer, form a family nature club | By Richard Louv | Grist | Grist Feature | 10 Jun 2008

Parents, grandparents and even kids can create clubs quickly in any neighborhood, urban or suburban. This is an approach that can reduce fear and increase motivation. Think of how much easier it is to maintain regular gym visits if you've got an exercise buddy waiting for you every Wednesday. The same impetus can work for parents who want to give their children and themselves the gift of nature. If it seems daunting to do the planning and organizing yourself, try partnering with another family.

Janus Youth Programs - Urban Agriculture Services

Village Gardens, a 56,000 square foot urban agriculture program, uses sustainable organic gardening and farming to increase access to healthy food, improve economic opportunities and build unity with low-income residents of North Portland. Based in the St. Johns Woods public housing development; New Columbia, the Housing Authority of Portland’s newly built Hope VI development; and on an acre of Metro land on Sauvie Island, the program includes individual and family garden plots, employment opportunities for adults and teens, after-school and summer activities for children, homework clubs, a mobile market shuttle and a youth-run entrepreneurial business growing and marketing specialty salad mixes at local farmers markets. Found at: www.janusyouth.org

Featured OsoEco-er :: David Frayne::

I am a puzzle solver, big picture analyser, innovator, inventor, someone who likes to stray from the beaten path.

Featured Movers & Shakers

Sustainable Travel International::

Conscientious consumers are now demanding best practices within the travel industry that protect the places they visit, and the planet at large. In response to this demand, Sustainable Travel International has developed the Sustainable Tourism Eco-Certification Program™ (STEP) and is working with NSF International to offer this voluntary initiative that's designed to assist travel and tourism providers in measuring and managing their impacts.

Featured Movin' & Shakin' Things Up! Video

Vacationing at Home: WISN.com News::

With the surge in fuel prices more families are canceling their summer roadtrips and planning vacationing at home. 12 News Shelby Croft talks to one family who's planning a staycation.

Take the Poll!

When was the last time you enjoyed a staycation?

Results from the Last Poll!

Last time we asked people who was the Mover & Shaker they saw as making the biggest impact in the past year.... Annie Leonard and her video, The Story of Stuff was the winner. Thanks everyone for participating!

Green Solutions from Real People :: Tipping Points

Build a Pizza Box Solar Oven with your kids! ::

The sun is hot enough to bake food. Here's how to make a simple solar oven that gets hot enough to warm up cookies and other treats, like s'mores. It won't get really hot, though, so you can't bake things in it and you won't burn yourself when playing with it. Be sure to have an adult help you with this!

Eeeks, Sputters, Gacks, Hairballs
and other things we think are fixed...

First, we want to thank everyone who let us know when the site was doing things that didn't seem quite right.

Well, the past couple weeks we've had several people reporting having trouble with images -- mainly uploading their own image to their personal profile.... sometimes folks would get our OsoEEEEEK page, and sometimes nothing would happen....

After some heavy duty investigating, the OsoEco Tech team is sure they've solved it. So, if anyone out there has any more problems with this, please let us know...

Thanks again for your patience with enduring these bugs -- we appreciate it!

LAST NOTE I SWEAR!

In putting together this enews theme, Fun in the Summer Sun, I came up with so much material that I couldn't fit it into just one blog entry -- so over the next week, I'll be posting additional entries under this theme.

Movers & Shakers

Introducing Cris

"Cris recently joined the team! She’s been one of OsoEco’s biggest fans.

"It will be a year this July since we invited Cris to participate in our first OsoEco community focus group. Once she got started, Cris hasn’t stopped giving us feedback by adding Eco Matters, Finds, Tags, alerting us to bugs and making valuable recommendations.

"This past year, the team envisioned bringing Cris on board, when the time was right, to be the communication liaison with other beta testers and citizen marketers. The time is right! So, while Cris helps us build community, the rest of the team is developing the web site, building valuable business partnerships and exploring marketing opportunities.

"We started OsoEco because we craved a site to share green solutions, knowledge and know-how. Cris would love to transfer her title of “Chief Power User” to another OsoEco-er! Again, thank you everyone for your patience, during our soft beta phase!”

-- Katie and Caroline, OsoEco co-founders

OsoTalk

You can listen to this newsletter on the OsoTalk Show. In coming weeks we'll be taping interviews, recording ditty's (okay maybe not...), and having a good old time with this great widget by TalkShoe.

To listen, all you have to do is click on the "play" icon... easy easy easy!

OsoNew

Mover & Shaker Max Gladwell has 7 Questions for OsoEco ::

"Caroline Cummings (CEO) and Katie Wilson-Hamaker (President) are co-founders of OsoEco, a wiki-driven online community for healthy, sustainable living...."

OsoEco Group on Facebook

I'd like to take this opportunity to extend an invitation to OsoEco-ers with a Facebook.com membership to join our new OsoEco Group on Facebook. This is another great way to enhance our relationships with one another, and introduce family and friends to OsoEco's growing community and OsoEco.com. Its our hope that people seeking to find a social networking group, which encourages living a green, more socially and environmentally responsible life, will discover OsoEco as they search Facebook or upon receiving a personal invitation.

Don't Miss It!

Featured Eco Matter :: So, who's movin' and shakin' things up out there?

We'd like to hear about Movers & Shakers in this green, blue, whatever we want to call it movement who are bringing about the positive, sustainable changes we want to see in our world. Especially ones that may be off the radar for some of us; unsung heroes we can recognize and support!

Have a person or organization you'd like to tell others about?

Featured Find :: Hosting by Dream Host

With a bit of research we found the most effective approach begins with resource conservation: turning off the lights, reducing travel, printing on both sides of the page. Efforts are being ramped up here daily to do what we do with less. The next step is to use clean, renewable energy....

Know of other green hosting companies? Add them into OsoEco! Don't know how to add finds to OsoEco (finds are products and articles) ? Find out here.

Featured OsoEco-er :: Chris Bailey ::

I'm working on being green, Slow Food, and so on. I'm also really into technology, and make my living as a software developer....

Featured Movers & Shakers

Carrot Mob Makes It Rain! ::

Rather than focus on how good or how bad companies are overall, we are going to focus on whether or not they have earned a carrot. When we offer a carrot to a company, we are signaling to consumers that this company has done something good and they deserve a carrot....

Youth United for Just & Clean Energy ::

Our generation needs a brand new vision for our future. We need to lead the world towards a just, clean energy economy that moves beyond dirty energy...

Featured Movin' & Shakin' Things Up! Video (12 minutes)

Aspen Environmental Forum ::

Plum TV sat down with some of the most prominent movers and shakers in the green movement Big names and big ideas were at the Aspen Institute for the inaugural Aspen Environmental Forum.

Take the Poll!

Al Gore, Annie Leonard, a local grassroots organization that you love? What Mover & Shaker has had the most impact on the environment so far this year?

Green Solutions from Real People :: Tipping Points

Hypermiling ::

Yahya Fahimuddin got tired of spending $60 to fill his Jeep, so he bought an old Honda Insight hybrid and took up hypermiling to squeeze every last mile from a gallon of gas....

Eeeks, Sputters, Gacks, Hairballs
and other things we think are fixed...

First, we want to thank everyone who let us know when the site was doing things that didn't seem quite right.

Several of you reported hitting our Eeek Page when you clicked on a link from an email you received from our site with a comment from a fellow OsoEco-er. This was a tough one for our hyper-techno team of Ethan, Lew, and Bryan, but they think they finally tracked it down.

As many of you noticed (especially those of you using Firefox on Window's machines), pages would sometimes display as long vertical lines -- instead of the nice, neat horizontal rows we wanted. Again, this one was a bear, but we Nancy Drew'ed it and got it working.

You've heard of hanging chads, well, we had our own hanging "add comments" button. People reported trying to leave messages for others and they'd click "add comment" and it would turn into "adding" and it would just sit there.

Thanks again for your patience with enduring these bugs -- we appreciate it!