At a loss for original ideas for Mother’s Day? TheGreenGrok, with just a little tongue in cheek, is here to help.
Attention Kids of Soccer Moms
Oh those soccer moms — schlepping their kids from practice to practice and game to game, standing at the sidelines cheering on their own kids while trying to pretend to the other moms that their kids are great, too, and then, dealing with the post-game reality that Andy’s or Jane’s uniform won’t even need to be washed before the next game. Oy. If your mom is or ever was a soccer mom, she needs a break and some recognition. And TheGreenGrok’s got just the present for you and your mom, and it’s environmentally friendly too!
An all-expenses-paid trip to Brazil along with seats to the World Cup this summer!
Just think — no carpooling, no need to bring drinks and snacks for the team, and an opportunity to watch adults play, adults who grok the game and play at the highest level in the world.
Giving mom a trip to Brazil to watch World Cup soccer turf-side would be a great if not-too-affordable gift. But it is green — FIFA has announced it is offsetting CO2 emissions for travel to the game. (Flickr/jasonwhat)
Sound good, enticing? Sure, but you’re probably wondering, how is this green? Here’s how: FIFA, short for the Federation Internationale de Football Association, the games’ organizing body, is promising to offset travel-related carbon emissions. Quite a deal. All you have to do is get plane tickets to Brazil — and tickets to the matches [pdf] and a hotel and such — and FIFA will do its part to curb the associated global warming pollution. And while your mom is there, she can join the movement to save the Brazilian armadillo. How’s that for green.
Quite a hat trick, if you ask me. Score one for mom, one for the game, and one for the planet — or, in the style of World Cup sportscasting, GOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!
Estimated Costs: Tours start at ~$2,000–$12,000 (and up) … plus airfare.
A New E-Car for Moms on the Go
Whether driving around town as a soccer mom or just a person on the go, your mom is most likely spending a lot of green to keep the gas tank full and in the process putting a lot of CO2, that’s carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere. (For an average American car it’s about one pound of CO2 for every mile driven [pdf].)
It’s also possible that your mom is driving a car that lacks pizazz, that might not be nearly as classy as the driver herself. The answer: we suggest you buy her an electric car.
Now, you could buy her a Nissan LEAF or a Chevy Volt — they do great in the low-carbon-footprint department (see here and here) but not so much on the classy end.
So why not go for broke? Literally. For example, the Tesla Model S, available for purchase right now starting at a mere $70,000 (before any tax credits such as this one).
TheGreenGrok checks out the interior of the classy, all-electric Tesla Model S. Learn more about electric vehicles in TheGreenGrok videos here and here.
Is that too rich? Then check out the forthcoming all-electric B-Class Electric Drive from Mercedes-Benz available for a mere $42,000 (again, before tax credits).
It’s scheduled to go on sale in these 10 states in July: California, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont. If those states are not convenient, you may want to wait until next year to buy mom this car when expanded availability is expected.
Estimated Cost: $42,000–70,000+ (before tax credits)
A GreenGrok E-Card for Mother’s Day
OK, perhaps you’re finding the above two options a bit steep. You love your mother, she deserves the best, but thousands of dollars for one Mother’s Day would set an unsustainable precedent. If that’s the case, we have one more option. Believe me, it’s a deal.
Yep, how about an e-card? But not just any e-card, one specifically designed by the award-winning, internationally renowned TheGreenGrok Graphics and E-Card Department.
Check ‘em out: Mother’s Day E-cards.
Estimated Cost: $0.00 to $0.12 per card
Now, this is the honor system, so do mom proud and mail your payment to:
TheGreenGrok Graphics and E-Card Department
c/o The Folks at TheGreenGrok
1 TheGreenGrok Square
Durham, NC 27708
Happy Mother’s Day, everyone! YIKES. Just realized I got to get something for my mom!! See you next week.
The Wildflowers E-card for green moms.
Choose from our three options, and send your mom an e-card.
The Sedona E-card for moms who rock.
Choose from our three options, and send your mom an e-card
The Arctic E-card for cool moms.
Choose from our three options, and send your mom an e-card
