| In This Issue |
| Keep It Local |
| New Product HIGHLIGHT |
| Plastics Update |
| A Holiday Reminder |
| Recommended Reading |
| RGG Events |
NH Open Doors is this Veterans' Day Weekend Sat. & Sun. November 8th and 9th. Be sure to check out their website for a map that guides you to the participants of this Open Door event occurring throughout the state.
Event Link
Lakes Region Energy Expo, Saturday November 15th. "Sensible Answers to Your Energy Questions" - A marketplace, exhibit and workshop to answer energy questions.
Event Link
America Recycles Day is Saturday November 15th. Jump on the band wagon if you haven't already. Remember that REDUCE and REUSE come before RECYCLING.
Green Friday, November 28th, is the day after Thanksgiving. Commonly known as "Black Friday", Green Friday offers you the opportunity to support your local independent retailers by shopping downtown at participating stores rather than at malls. To help celebrate, Green Concord is offering special promotions and raffles for green shoppers that day. Real Green Goods will have live music from 2-4 by Landscaper Danny. For more information, visit www.greenconcord.org.
Midnight Merriment is Friday December 5th. Join in Main Street Concord's official start of the holiday season when participating downtown businesses will remain open until midnight with old-fashioned hospitality and festivities planned.
Thursday Evenings Reminder - Many downtown stores on Main Street in Concord have extended their shopping hours into the evening on Thursdays. As you drive along Main Street, look for the tall blue "OPEN" flags designating participating businesses that offer these extended hours.
RGG Events
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| New At RGG! |
Widu wooden combs and brushes handmade in Italy from Forest Stewardship Council-certified ash wood. The rounded bristles are also made from wood and are embedded in natural latex. No plastic used anywhere in this brush!
Shop Online
New from Twist, a 100% biodegradable cleaning and polishing cloth made from bamboo.
Shop Online
Born Free silicone pacifiers, 100% free from bisphenol-A, phthlates, and PVC.
Shop Online
Larry's Beans - Certified Organic, Fair Trade, and Shade Grown Bird Friendly whole coffee beans.
Two new flavors from Art Bars exquisite Swiss Chocolate: Dark Chocolate with Cocoa Nibs and Dark Chocolate with Quinoa Crisp.
Blooming Expressions - Ornaments crafted from 100% recycled cotton fiber, fresh flowers, and wildflower seeds.
Lagniappe Gift Wrap - Reusable gift bags made from 100% Organic Cotton complete with ribbon ties.
Energy Star Rated LED Holiday Light strands in white lights or colors.
Soy wax candles and beeswax tea light candles and other shapes are fully stocked.
Shop Online
Check out the new Sale Table in our store with assorted discontinued, irregular, or slightly damaged items. |
| Green Tip |
Avoid "Hidden" GMOs in Your Thanksgiving Dinner
Courtesy of the Institute for Responsible Technology and the Center for Food Safety, a new free down-loadable Non-GMO Shopping Guide at Responsible Technology is available. We also have a supply of these same brochures available in the information section of our store. Avoid foods made with Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) with the new Non-GMO Shopping Guide. Brand named food items are listed along with "invisible GM ingredients". |
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Keep It Local
Keep It Green
Now that the national mayhem is over, we can concentrate more on local issues. Whether you're in California or New Hampshire, everyone is feeling the local economic impact of the financial crash that has happened since our last newsletter. As a Main Street business, we can tell you first hand that there has been a slow down in Main Street activity. There are fewer shoppers, more careful shoppers and more window shoppers.
So what's an earth friendly, eco-conscious holiday shopper to do? Our advice is - keep it local. Keeping your money on Main Street is going to help your community and your neighbors get through tough times. For every $100 you spend at a locally owned company, 68 of those dollars will stay in the local economy, compared with $43 at a non-locally owned company. Keeping it local also helps the environment because transportation costs are greatly reduced. (RGG also sells online which is another way to save on transportation costs)
This weekend New Hampshire Made is presenting New Hampshire Open Doors. You can visit artisan studios, shops, and galleries throughout the state on your own self-guided tour. Real Green Goods will proudly be participating in this event which will take place this Veterans' Day Weekend, November 8th and 9th.
Real Green Goods is committed to offering as many locally made products as possible, a daunting task given our strict eco-criteria. We are proud to have more than 30 different products made right here in New Hampshire by local artisans, and another 20+ made in New England, all of which have met our green scrutiny. Look for the red tags designating "NH Made" when you come to the store!
And if tightening the belt is in order, that's just where "green living" comes in to play. So much of the advice that is good for energy savings also means money in your pocket. So remember to shut off those lights, turn off and unplug unnecessary electrical appliances, and turn down the thermostat (unless you haven't even put it on yet!). Some added savings can be gained by reducing kitchen waste such as replacing paper towels and napkins with tea towels and cloth napkins, and using reusable containers instead of aluminum foil and plastic wrap. A customer who replaced 2 shower heads with our low-flow shower heads has saved 18% in not only direct water costs but also the cost of heating water. (He really did do all the calculations - we love customer feedback!)
So... as you enter this holiday season, please remember to keep it local and keep it green. Thanks to all of you who ask how we're doing and offer support. In these tough economic times, we continue to specialize in practical items for your green living choices. |
New Product HIGHLIGHT
Larry's Beans" is 100% Fair Trade, Shade Grown, Organic Coffee
 - Our shippment from Larry's Beans has arrivedthis week from, we are delighted to be offering several varieties of some of the finest coffee in the world.
- Did you know that coffee is the world's second biggest commodity, oil being the first?
- Over 70% of the world's coffee comes from small family farmers in countries like Guatemala, Nicaragua, Peru and other developing countries.
- 100% of Larry's coffee is Fair Trade, Shade Grown, and Organic or Transitional Organic (in the process of becoming organic).
- Shade grown coffee, the traditional way of growing coffee under a canopy of native trees, ensures the biodiversity of the resident and migratory birds and other animals.
- Fair Trade Proof - Larry's Beans is a founding member of Fair Trade Proof which provides customers online access to the documentation between roaster and farm cooperative. Go to Fair Trade Proof to trace the path of the exact coffee beans you are purchasing.
- Larry's uses state-of-the-art bio-bags for their coffee that biodegrades in your home compost, or in a landfill. For more about Larry's biodegradable packaging, Bio-Bags
- For some of the most entertaining and informational video clips, go to Home Movies Be sure to scroll down to choose from various video clips, turn up to volume for some fine Nicaraguan music, and meet the actual people on their farms from where these select delicious coffee beans are grown.
- From National Geographic's The Green Guide, read about the importance of purchasing coffee with as many certifications as possible. The Green Guide |
Plastics Update: "Would You Like Those Headphones Leaded or Unleaded?"
Electronics cords are wrapped in polyvinyl chloride (PVC), an environmentally destructive plastic that often contains brain-damaging lead and hormone disrupting phthalates. The lead is added to stabilize the PVC so it does not crack with age and it also acts as a fire retardant. PVC-free earphones are available, and for tips to avoid possible contamination go to The Green Guide
With regard to holiday lights, according to The Green Guide, completely lead-free Christmas lights are not available at this time. For now, a warning label is placed on the cords and on the boxes of holiday lights which reads, "Caution: handling the coated electrical wires of this product exposes you to lead..." Take precautions: wash hands after handling or wear gloves, and supervise children. For more information about holiday lights, go to The Green Guide |
A Holiday Reminder from National Geographic's The Green Guide: The importance of the Fair Trade Label
- When buying chocolate, be aware that 284,000 children work on cocoa farms under abusive labor conditions.
- 43% of the world's cocoa beans are grown in West Africa where these conditions exist.
- Look for the Fair Trade label when buying chocolate which guarantees that no child labor was used and that the farmers earned a fair living wage.
- Real Green Goods offers Certified Fair Trade and Certified Organic exquisite Swiss chocolate Art Bars in two new flavors: Dark Chocolate with Cocoa Nibs and Dark Chocolate with Quinoa Crisp. |
Recommended Reading
The Green Collar Economy
 Relevant reading in our current economic hard times, "The Green Collar Economy- How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems" by Van Jones describes solutions to building a new healthy green economy to replace the current failing economy, and the connection between our ravaged environment and the economy gone-bad. With a forward by Robert Kennedy Jr. and praise from Al Gore, this book is also highly recommended by our staff here at Real Green Goods. |
Notice - We will be closing early at 3 p.m. on Wednesday Nov. 26th, the day before Thanksgiving.
Thank you for reading and for caring about the environment. And, as we say at Real Green Goods, Have a Green Day!™
Sincerely,
All of us from Real Green Goods |
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