It’s holiday time, and I just got a note from an organization that I wish I’d included in my article, Gifts for Good in the Dec08 issue. It’s called Books for a Better World,and it simply creates libraries in needy Latin American towns. It’s an organization that’s dear to my heart, because it was started by a friend of mine in Arizona, Kae Robb, and it’s based in Central America, where my mom is from (her country is Costa Rica). My son and I actually used Kae’s model to start a small library in a Costa Rican school, which turned out to be a fantastic grow-a-world-vision experience for both of us. Kae passed away a few years ago from breast cancer, but her vision continues under the leadership of people she mentored. It’s all run by volunteers, and it’s a worthy organization if you’re looking for a place to donate this season.

There’s a great (and superusable) tip on IdealBite today. Evidently, reducing your margins on Word docs can save reams upon reams of paper. This morning I saved one piece of paper by reducing the margins on a story I’m editing from 1 inch to 0.5 inches. Here are more good ways to cut down on your office’s paper use

1. Print only the pages you need. After you select “print,” enter the page range (ie: 1 to 1, 4-6). In Excel, you can also select a range of cells to print.

2. Print two pages per sheet. Most peoples’ eyes can handle two to four pages per sheet.

3. Set computer printing defaults to two-sided.

3. Print text from webpages in Word by selecting the desired text and copying/pasting it into a Word document. That way you won’t end up with html code, blank picture boxes, or random headers and footers. OR select “printer friendly” or “text only” (usually at the top of a webpage) and print.

4. Ask your office to purchase 100 percent post-consumer-recycled office paper from a eco-conscious office-supply company. (Our offices buy from Colorado-based Eco-Products.

5. Only print when you have to!

My doctor recently recommend hydrocortisone cream to reduce my baby’s inflammed rash–a.k.a. eczema–which he developed from the buckets of drool constantly trickling down his chin. But isn’t hydrocorisone risky for babies (and, over the long term, for adults)? Considering its side effects include skin thinning and unusual hair growth, I wondered if there was a natural alternative. I asked a friend of mine, Erin Stokes, ND, who practices naturopathic medicine in Boulder, Colorado, and she suggested trying a product with calendula, a natural topical anti-inflammatory. I already had the Weleda Calendula Baby Cream at home and ended up buying the Burt’s Bees Baby Bee Skin Creme, which isn’t made with calendula, but has other skin-soothing ingredients his skin seems to like. The combination of those two creams seems to be working so far.