There's so much “green-speak” going on in Girlawhirl's world that every now and then she needs to take a deep breath and make sure she understands what's being said. And today is one of those days. She's checking in with the new terminology, making sure she's on top of the latest green phrases…

Girlawhirl's been paying attention to and purchasing organic food for a long time. And she thought she knew when it was a must to go organic: apples and strawberries to name a couple, and when she could stick with conventional: shallots and blueberries. But The Organic Shopper's Food Guide by Jeff Cox goes far beyond a list of what she should and shouldn't buy organic...

Girlawhirl already makes it a point to turn off her power strip when she leaves the office, ensuring that her computer, printer and all the other devices hooked into it don't continue to consume energy throughout the night. It's easy, the strip is basically at her feet and she can flip its switch with her toe. It's become her signal of sorts that the day is over...

In honor of Earth Day, Girlawhirl's taking a minute to reflect on some of the good things she's noticed when it comes to reducing carbon emissions, recycling and re-using, and getting “green” into the main stream. She's aware there's a long road ahead, but still, it's nice to see that strides are being made in the right direction. So here are a few things that she's happy about on this Earth Day...

With Earth Day upon her, Girlawhirl's taking stock of how far she's come with all the small adjustments she's made to her life to help reduce her carbon footprint and do her part to stop global warming. And while she's happy with the progress she's made, there are still plenty of things she can add to her repertoire. With a little help from Christie Matheson, in the form of her new book, Green Chic: Saving the Earth in Style, Girlawhirl's got plenty of ideas to continue on her green path...

In today's world of complete and total awareness of the impact the human race has on planet Earth, Girlawhirl's keenly aware of everything she does. Not washing out a moldy jar of something that she finds in the back of her fridge and tossing it into the regular garbage causes her such anxiety that she'll surely pick through her trash the next day and clean out the mess so the jar can then be recycled. And yet there are whole industries that continue to operate as if they are immune to what's happening to the planet, or worse yet, are above it all...