Since I started this blog journey little over a month ago I’ve had a very loyal Switzerland-based follower. She’s great and is determined to share her environmentally conscious lifestyle on her blog. ( she blogs about other things too! ) I had a chance to talk with her about how she decided to start her blog, her choice to take a strong stand with environmental/social issues, and her plans for the future. I thought it might be nice to share some tips on how to start your year off right and maybe make less of an impact on the environment this time around. She’s provided a great list of tips for living a greener life at the end of this post.

Don’t forget to hop over to her little corner of the internet, check out what she’s been up to. She was kind enough to share my blogging adventures with her readers as well. Go to fourleafcloverblog.com!

VEDA: You’ve found a really great Niche to blog in. I think environmental blogging is definitely going to be a new trend. How did you get started blogging and do you have any big goals for your blog?

FLC: I wouldn’t say my blog is just an environmental blog; I write about all of my interests! I’d thought about starting a blog off-and-on for a few years. Finally I decided I had time and nothing to lose so I started designing my website and, after a couple of months, the next thing I knew I was writing post after post and people were visiting and commenting. I’m so glad I decided to start a blog. The blogging community is full of nice and wonderful people and I feel as though my blog has been embraced with open arms. I hope to continue writing about the things I love and I hope that, with time, many others will find my blog a place to learn and take action as well as a place to share their thoughts.

VEDA: You frequently post about current events and I was wondering what are your daily resources that you visit for inspiration. Are there certain websites that you read everyday to pull information?

FLC: Oh, gosh… I’d have to show you my entire RSS feed to show you where I get all of my information and it’s quite full! I always link to the original story where I found the information, but most of the current events I write about are from the news or emails I receive from different organizations. As for websites, Care2.com, TreeHugger.com, and GOOD.is are a few I check daily and the ones with stories I’ve featured the most from on Four Leaf Clover thus far.

This is a really great video posted about a little while back.

VEDA: I’ve noticed that people can be intimidated by unsettling current events. How do you get people to interact with your blog in a way that commenting extends the conversation?

FLC: I try to write all of my blog entries as though to a friend or how I would in my journal. I’ve been an animal rights activist and vegetarian (now a vegan for over a year) since my sophomore year of high school, I was the environmental club leader in high school and part of my town’s environmental committee, I attended a Sierra Student Coalition camp, a couple summers ago I had an internship with PETA UK and I wrote for my school’s newspaper where I sometimes was able to write about these type of issues. My life in the past few years has all added up to the way I write about difficult issues going on in the world.

VEDA: You’re using SocialVibe to raise money for the whales & dolphins who are threaten by whaling. Have you found success using this too? I find this cause very exciting. Would you like to share any information about what you’re trying to do?

FLC: Through SocialVibe I’ve been able to get some of my friends involved and aware of the plight whales and dolphins face today. I fully believe that a single person can change the world so every one person who knows that much more about an issue is important. The cause I currently support is the Whaleman Foundation’s whose mission is to end all commercial and scientific whaling and stop dolphin slaughter. Many people found out about this cause because of the show Whale Wars as well as the Oscar winning film The Cove. So far the Whaleman Foundation on SocialVibe has raised over $50,000. SocialVibe, as a whole, has already raised over $700,000 for over forty non-profit organizations so they’re definitely making a difference and are a huge help to many causes. All you have to do is make an account and do a few activities once in a while to help raise money for a cause you care about and it’s all free!

VEDA: I know you are committed to bringing attention to the social/environmental issues we face today. Are you doing anything outside of the blog world to help? Do you have a career in the environmental department?

FLC: Since moving to Switzerland, I’ve not been able to get involved in any organizations like I did in the US and UK so my activism is strictly internet-based. Signing letters and petitions is often times a daily action for me. I had been posting actions that people could get involved in on my Facebook, but I decided to take it a giant step forward with my blog. This way I can reach friends and many, many others which is what I’ve always wanted to do. This year I hope to go on a volunteer program for environment and animal conservation. Following that, I’d like to attend university and study these topics. Finding a school here in Europe with a course in English that I’d like to take is harder than taking action, ha!

Unwanted and once-loved tee shirts are redesigned and sold at dothegreenthing.com. Click image to shop now!

Eva’s done a really great job of gathering some helpful tips for us to reference when making simple lifestyle changes. These tips can be used by anyone whether you have your own home, rent, live with someone else, etc. Living in an ecological and efficient place is not only better for the environment, but it can make home feel fresh and more home-like than ever before.

1 6-month eco challenge, 2 drink coasters on Etsy, 3 house plants for cleaner air, 4 bike rims in The Veda House loft, 5 homemade composting, 6 Martha Stewart etched glass jars, 7 Treehugger tips, 8 CFL light bulbs, 9 eco-friendly cleaning solutions, 10Sierra Club blog

If you have anything to add, please leave a little note below. If you like what you see at Eva’s blog, share the love with a note to Eva in the comment section!

Over the past couple years I’ve bumped into the designers/illustrators/print makers at Brainstorm Print & Design. I’ve been following their work as they’ve grown their business and even own a few of their prints. ( SHOP prints here! ) The couple in business and in life live/work in Philly, PA and have a wide variety of clients. You may have seen them on these blogs: NotCot, Design Milk, OMG Posters, IndieFixx, Okay Great, Posters and Prints Blog, and many more. Let’s get to know them a little bit more with an old fashioned Q&A. See below!

TVH: When did you guys decide you wanted to go into business together and start what is today Brainstorm Print and Design? How has the company evolved over the years?

BPD: We met in 2007 in college, through a printmaking class, mutual friends, and a few parties. Within the first month of our relationship we were already collaborating on work. It was a major magnetic force between us. I think we knew from the get go that this was something that would become who we were not only as individual artists, but as a couple. We have evolved mainly in location, but also in our attitudes towards each other. We’ve gotten to know each others rhythms having lived together right from the beginning. We still work in similar ways from early on, collaborating on everything, and helping each other out with every step. We’ve just gotten better at it!

TVH: What are you favorite kinds of projects to take on? Do you favor one printing technique or style of another?

BPD: Our favorite types of projects (besides our own personal work) are the ones with interesting clients who can give us creative freedom from designing at the start to producing a screen printed piece at the end. We are big fans of tangible artwork and being able to hold in your hand a final product. It’s really important to us and it makes it all worthwhile at the end. We always use screen printing because it is super versatile and kinder to the environment than most other printmaking methods.

TVH: I’ve noticed the both of you have moved into a new work/ live loft? How has that been? Has it made going to work any easier?

BPD: YES. Considering that we moved 4 times in the last 15 months. Out of college we were living with parents for a bit. Then with roommates and working in cold, dingy basements to get the business off the ground. We are proud to say we have earned our own space doing what we love. There’s really no restrictions on what we can and can’t do in our warehouse. And that really goes both ways with the interesting neighbors we have. But above all else living in a warehouse space like this is really worth it for the creative community, city opportunities, and price. Seriously people, move to Philly.

TVH: What does a typical day look like in the life of “Briana and Jason”?

BPD: A day in the life of us consists of many different things. Being partners both in business and in life makes for a wide range of plans. On any given day we could be signing and stamping our own posters, mixing inks, emailing wholesale or consignment clients, making a new licensing deal, discussing contract projects, coming up with new ideas for prints, drawing, going on Facebook and twitter, napping, pulling prints, cleaning screens, cooking food, perusing the internets, going to Lowes to fix or improve something in the loft, working on craft show displays, rearranging the studio (again), organizing the desks, watching movies, going out for a beer with friends in the middle of the day, uploading photos, doing laundry, picking up film separations. Never all in one day, but any combination of them can happen. Bottom line is there is ALWAYS something to do. It’s never boring.

TVH: Lastly, are there any upcoming Brainstorm Print & Design events coming up that my readers should know about? Anything excited planned for 2011?

BPD:2011 is going to be huge for us. We are hoping to add craft shows to our list that we haven’t done yet, mostly because of location. We plan on flying and traveling farther around the country (definitely west coast) to sell prints everywhere. We are working on getting plenty of new and exciting sets of prints out this year, as well as working with some of our fantastic repeat contract clients. Also, having lived in Philly for about 8 months now, we are starting to get into doing more gallery shows. So we’ll see if that lifestyle sticks!