As part of our ongoing commitment to operating as an eco-friendly, green designer label, we’ve taken the Acailawen Designs website carbon neutral! You will now see “green website” verification buttons on pages across the website. The CO2 emissions produced by the operation of this website are now being monitored with the help of a great new carbon monitoring widget from greenweb.org. After all, a website is an important aspect of any business and its footprint should not be overlooked. Now, with website CO2 monitoring, it is easier than ever to calculate monthly website emissions, so that they can be directly neutralized.

So, how does this work? Greenweb’s widget calculates not only the energy used by the web server hosting the website, but it also takes the energy usage of each website visitor into account. It determines the location of each website visitor, the time each visitor spends on site and the energy used to power the visitor’s computer during each site visit. It then calculates the total CO2 emissions produced through the website’s operation over the course of a month, so that these emissions can be regularly offset. More information on website CO2 monitoring and neutralization can be found on the greenweb.org website.

So now, in addition to all of Acailawen Designs’ other environmentally responsible studio and business practices, all of its website related C02 emissions are being offset on a monthly basis through carbon offset earning programs and other activities that have a positive environmental impact. Monthly offsets exceed Acailawen Designs’ carbon footprint, including all website related emissions! More details can be obtained on the website’s green website certificate or by contacting us through the website or on one of our our Facebook pages.

Additionally, this site also now hosts a Social Vibe activity widget that allows site visitors to offset even more CO2 emissions while visiting the site! You can help us fight climate change, right here in The Buzz. It couldn’t get any easier!

You probably already know that Acailawen Designs is an eco-friendly label. What you may not know is the steps that we take to operate as a green business. Working in a traditionally “dirty” industry produces many unique opportunities to reduce carbon emissions, cut waste and make positive changes for a cleaner, more sustainable future. Being a green business means lessening our negative impact on the world and finding creative ways to help make a difference. Hopefully, our desire to see a cleaner, more sustainable industry emerge will take hold.

As I see it, being green starts at home and then spreads to other areas of our lives, including the place where we work. The process involves making simple, every day changes based upon the three R’s of sustainability. We can do this by reducing environmentally unkind practices, reusing materials on hand in creative ways to limit our waste production and recycle what’s old into something new. This is not only possible at home or in the office, but in the studio as well. It just requires a good look at existing practices and then finding more environmentally responsible ways to reduce our impact on the world around us.

As a designer in a traditionally “dirty” industry, my commitment to operating a green business poses some unique challenges. However, this also means there are many opportunities for improvement. A few of the more eco-friendly choices made at Acailawen Designs include…

• Selecting natural and biodegradable alternatives to toxic chemicals whenever possible
• Obtaining and using recycled, reclaimed and natural materials as part of the design process, as well as around the studio and the office
• Maintaining strong safety practices in the studio
• Obtaining rough gem material from small-scale mining or old stock supplies rather than large commercial operations
• Purchasing from ethically sourced suppliers
• Avoiding dirty gold as part of our commitment to the No Dirty Gold campaign
• Reusing packing materials, as well as containers and other materials that can serve another purpose
• Limiting work-related mileage, planning trips out intelligently and working in a home-based studio
• Recycling what cannot be used in the studio and/or office
• Limiting electricity and water usage, responsibly disposing of waste and looking for new ways to conserve
• Offsetting any remaining carbon emissions through other carbon-offsetting activities.
• Sharing this knowledge, and our enthusiasm for greener working practices, with others in the industry

Being committed to operating a green business in the areas of jewelry, accessories and art is something that I take very seriously. This commitment is shared by my team and also underlies the relationships that we establish with our business partners and customers. Environmental responsibility is vitally important to a sustainable future, not only globally, but as a business and an industry. It is not only important that we take steps to ensure a brighter future, but that we encourage others to do the same. Even small steps can quickly add up and make a big difference over the long run.

As of today, you can access The Buzz directly from Facebook through our new Facebook application, in one of two easy ways.

First, you can access this section of the website by visiting The Buzz at Acailawen Designs application page on Facebook. If you like the Facebook integration that we’ve added to The Buzz, be sure to click “like” while you’re on our application page to let us know.

Additionally, you can also access The Buzz through your Facebook application bookmarks once you’ve authorized the application, either by connecting to Facebook while here on the site or by adding the application from our application page. To add the bookmark to your list of application bookmarks on your Facebook home page, just follow these five simple steps…

1. Click on the “Account” link on your Facebook navigation bar
2. Select “Application Settings” from the drop down menu.
3. Once your application settings page opens up, find The Buzz at Acailawen Designs in your list of authorized applications.
4. Next, click on “Edit Settings”link to the left of the application name.
5. Finally, check the box next to Bookmark The Buzz at Acailawen Designs and then click okay.

Once you’ve added the bookmark, you can quickly access The Buzz here at the Acailawen Designs at any time from your Facebook homepage.

[UPDATED: JUNE 27, 2010]
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Earlier this month, I added the Facebook Social Plugin so that you can now view our latest wall posts from the Acailawen Designs page on Facebook without having to leave the site. I also added a box for the page in the right hand sidebar, so that you can easily “like” the page on Facebook to add it to your Facebook news feed and gain access to content that doesn’t get published to the wall. Well, I have added a new page specifically for my Green Couture Jewelry designs and change the original page on Facebook to cover more general company news, reviews and information on my upcoming accessories line. You will now find both pages listed in the right hand sidebar under their own headings. Additionally, I have added custom feeds from each of the Facebook pages to their own posts under Facebook Highlights -Feeds.

Here are the direct links to view each page feed:

Acailawen Designs Green Couture Jewelry Page Feed

Acailawen Designs (General News) Page Feed

View wall posts from the Acailawen Designs Green Couture Jewelry page on Facebook any time by simply visiting this post. To add the wall posts to your feed while on Facebook, and gain access to exclusive content not published to our feed, just click “Like” in the Facebook Social Plugin box below, immediately under the page name, or click like in the box under the right hand sidebar heading “Jewelry Design on Facebook.”

Note: If you want to add Acailawen Designs’ Green Couture Jewelry page to your Facebook news feed, be sure to click the like button in the Facebook Social Plugin box above. To like this post, click on the like button below.

If you’d like to view our general news page on Facebook, you can also view Acailawen Designs (General News) Page on Facebook Feed post here in under Facebook Highlights – Feeds.

View wall posts from the Acailawen Designs page on Facebook (our general news page) any time by simply visiting this post. To add the wall posts to your feed while on Facebook, and gain access to exclusive content not published to our feed, just click “Like” in the Facebook Social Plugin box below, immediately under the page name, or click like in the box under the right hand sidebar heading “General News on Facebook.”

Note: If you want to add the Acailawen Designs general news page to your Facebook news feed, be sure to click the like button in the Facebook Social Plugin box above. To like this post, click on the like button below.

If you’d like to view our green couture jewelry page on Facebook, you can also view Acailawen Designs Green Couture Jewelry Page on Facebook Feed here under Facebook Highlights – Feeds.

Earlier this month, I brought wall posts from the Acailawen Designs page on Facebook to The Buzz section of the site through the Facebook Social Plugin. I also added the application to our Facebook page. No those who follow Acailawen Designs on Facebook can view blog posts from The Buzz in a tab on our Facebook page. After receiving a lot of positive feedback, I decided to investigate additional options to increase Facebook connectivity here in The Buzz. As a result, there are some cool new features to announce!

I have added full Facebook connectivity here in The Buzz at Acailawen Designs. You will now find the popular “Like” button below posts, as well as new Facebook Connect, Community and Activity blocks on the right hand side bar. Now it is easy for you to stay connected to Facebook while visiting the Acailawen Designs website, as well as to share content from our site with your friends on the number one social network on the net.

I hope you like the new Facebook features here in The Buzz! Try them out and let me know what you think.