Earth Day 2010 – Our favourite initiatives
It’s Earth Day 2010! The day when people worldwide keep the environment and our planet at the forefront of their minds as they go about their day. People in newsrooms across the globe will pause as they stand in front of the side-by-side recycling bin and garbage receptacle and actually CONSIDER putting their crumped up piece of paper in the recycling bin rather than the garbage can (hey, consideration is progress!).
Over the past few months we have come across some great green initiatives and products, so in honour of Earth Day 2010, we are sharing them with you today!
1. Shot In The Dark Mysteries’ Earth Hour Mini-Mystery – $19.97, 1 hour to play, 5 people
Okay, come on! You couldn’t expect us to post a blog about Earth Day without tooting our own horn a bit here. Shot In The Dark Mysteries is VERY environmentally conscious, and this year we launched a game designed to be played in the dark for Earth Hour, called (not surprisingly) The Earth Hour Murder. It takes an hour and about 5 people and is a great way to do something wonderful for the earth. Light some candles and put on your sleuthing hat, because you’ll solve a murder in an hour! It’s also a pretty *tame* game compared to some of the stuff out there, so it could be played by the younguns at the parents’ discretion.
A game designed with Earth Hour and Earth Day in mind - playable in the dark!
We also recently launched our tree planting program, so from here forward, whenever anyone purchases a game through Shot In The Dark Mysteries, a tree is planted in their name. We figure this helps offset the paper used when printing our games (or the gas consumed when driving to the printer) and helps decrease your carbon footprint. It’s like guilt-free murder! Purchasers receive an email when their tree has been planted, and because we support multiple locations worldwide (because our games are PLAYED worldwide) they also are informed where their tree has been planted.
2. Kaboose’s Earth Day Activities for Children
Don’t let the title fool you, there is more than just Earth Day activities for children on this website – they also offer ways to clean green, green recipies, the top 10 earth day movies and even a quiz to test your earth day IQ (not to brag, but The Mystery Maiden got 100% and was dubbed an “Earth Day Ace”!). Check them out here!
3. Ecotainers
I may plot murder for a living, but anyone who knows me knows I’m a coffee junkie. I have hundreds of reusable travel mugs, but my coffee indulgences are often on a whim (hence the hundreds of reusable travel mugs!). That’s why I love these Ecotainers. They are coffee cups that are 100% compostable, so I can throw them in the green bin! I love it. No more feeling like a bad person just because I have a caffeine addiction and fail to plan ahead. Even better, the coffee shops that usually use them also use compostable stir sticks and have very green coffee practices. Can’t wait for Starbucks and Tim Hortons to get on board!
It should come with a little cape because this cup has superpowers!
4. Ecopots
I was surprised and delighted when I recently purchased a lilac tree starter kit for my new yard and found that the gorgeous little pot that was provided was biodegradable! They are called EcoPots and they are soooo gorgeous. So, not only do I get a pretty pot and a fragrant lilac tree, I don’t have any of those nasty green plastic pots that will remain in my garage for the next 20 years because I can’t bring myself to throw them out.
EcoPot - a biodegradable plant pot
5. Mokugift
This one I found while my (now) husband and I were planning the favours for our wedding, and wanted to include seedlings our guests could plant. It’s cheap ($1 each), virtual (you can send a card and gift a tree to someone) and gives you feedback on the impact you’ve made. There’s also a cool iPhone application! We will be using Mokugift for part of our tree-planting initiative.
So, there’s Shot In The Dark Mystery Games’ favourite initiatives for the start of 2010. You can make a difference today simply by purchasing a mystery game for you and your friends and/or family’s next gathering! Any of our games are eligible for the tree-planting initiative, and you can view our games HERE!
Happy Earth Day everyone – I’m off to send letters to Starbucks and Tim Hortons, asking them to bring in the biodegradable coffee cups – it’s the least I can do for our earth.
