Next week from March 1–7, the San Francisco Green Film Festival kicks off its second season with a new crop of eco-friendly entertainment. The lineup promises to be a mix of amusing, thought-provoking and inspiring events, appropriate for the die-hard green warrior and the casual kitchen composter alike.

As the Bay Area’s only green festival dedicated to films and new forms of media, the San Francisco Green Film Festival is a weeklong exploration of green issues and sustainable living.

This year’s films include local premieres of 40 films from around the globe, with 50 visiting filmmakers and guest speakers. The festival will also feature special events, parties, panels and educational programs, inviting festival attendees to get involved and take action with environmental causes important to them. This year’s festival will take place at the San Francisco Film Society Cinema, located at 1746 Post Street in San Francisco.

On opening night, attendees can enjoy the “The Island President,” a new film by Bay Area resident Jon Shenk. Shenk chronicles the year he spent with President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives as he confronted a problem no other world leader has ever faced: the literal survival of his country and everyone in it, due to the devastating impacts of climate change. Witness the first chapter of his global environmental fight, a fight that, following his forced resignation on February 7th, has clearly only just begun.

After the film, attend an opening night reception with food and beverages and live entertainment.

Highlights of the 2nd Annual San Francisco Green Film Festival include:

• San Francisco Premieres of Bay Area filmmaker Jon Shenk’s “The Island President”
• Anthony Baxter’s “You’ve Been Trumped”
• San Francisco premiere of a short film by Summer Rayne Oakes, who is billed as the world’s top eco-model.
• World Premiere of Mary Liz Thomson & Darryl Cherney’s “Who Bombed Judi Bari?”
• Sneak Preview of Emily James’s “Just Do It: A Tale of Modern-Day Outlaws”
• Launch of “Lights! Camera! Action Steps!” which links festival attendees who’d like to get involved with leaders in local environmental causes

For more information on the San Francisco Green Film Festival, click here. To buy tickets, click here.

With a conventionally made notebook, you might be running the risk of being remembered for all eternity for this week’s grocery list or that note you left for your roommate (“Stop using my deodorant!”) when said notebook ends up in a landfill.

I can say with some certainty that my “exceptional” ideas (“Bring back the sneaker skate.” “Breed a non-shedding cat.”) aren’t usually remarkable enough to be revisited next week, let alone in the next century. This is just one reason a totally recyclable notebook is vastly appealing to me: It will go away.

Ecosystem journals, planners and notebooks are touted as having a unique past, present and future. The book’s past are its various parts, which are made of 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper, while its present is whatever thoughts and ideas you record on the pages. Its future is in your hands: either recycle the book when you’re done or, if you are feeling like a smartypants, save it for future reference.

According to the company’s website, by using this paper in 2009, ecosystem saved 3,046 full-grown trees, 1,299,751 gallons of water and 283,974 pounds of greenhouse gases.

The notebooks come in a variety of styles — blank, lined and with graph paper — and can be customized to your heart’s desire. Just go to the company’s website and design your own notebook. Notebooks start at $6.95.

Lately, my toiletries have become a significant source of weight in my bag. It seems that the older I get, the more I like to be prepared for anything when I travel. An unexpected illness? I’m the one with the Pepto Bismol, Advil and the nasal spray. A hangnail? I’m packing nail scissors and an emery board. Having a stressful travel day? Bubble bath, a travel candle and an eye mask. Check, check and check.

All of these toiletries mean that I have been guilty of using a ton of Ziploc bags when I travel, lest my moisturizer or suntan lotion explode mid-flight. I try to reuse them but inevitably they wind up getting torn or just plain gross.

Enter the RuMe Baggie, a reusable, water-resistant zip top bag that now holds all of my lotions and potions when I travel. Designed as a reusable food storage bag, the fabric is food safe, machine washable and made in a Fair Trade factory in South Korea.

Whether you plan to zip up some salted peanuts or some bath salts, the RuMe bag is a great alternative to a plastic baggie and is much much cuter. It comes in a variety of vibrant prints and two sizes: the classic baggie (above) and the Baggie All, which sports three zippered compartments.

The bags cost $4.95 and $9.95 respectively.

In any case, when it comes to housewares I truly try to keep the clutter at bay, generally opting for multipurpose items or just doing things the old fashioned way rather than have a whole bunch of gadgets and gizmos lying around my house. So when GreenSmart threw its Manatee water bottle sleeve into a package with some other samples I thought, Meh, don’t need that. After all, who wants to keep the water in their bottle warm? Duh!

So, yeah, I’m not that smart. That the sleeve was also designed to keep beverages cold — EUREKA! — hit me halfway through Bikram class on Tuesday, a class during which I was fairly certain I would die from heat exhaustion. When I was finally able to find my Klean Kanteen through the blinding sweat, I discovered that the stainless steel bottle was the same temperature as the air… which, in a BIkram class, is roughly the temperature of the sun. The 110-degree water was less than refreshing.

The first thing I did when I got home was dig out my GreenSmart Neogreene sleeve that, miraculously, I had saved. I used it today and my water stayed cool through the entire 90 minute class. Unlike me.

According to the company’s website, Neogreene is a water-based material that is more eco-friendly than neoprene. The production of the material uses 25 percent less petroleum, 25 percent less energy and completely eliminates the need to use toxin-laden solvent adhesives to bind the fabrics to the Neogreene.

Now that my bottle is encased in its bright orange sleeve, it only resembles the blazing sun in color. The Neogreene Manatee sleeve is available in three colors and retails for $14 on the company’s website.

My new favorite thing is a chocolate milkshake made with Green & Black Organic Cocoa Powder. It is unsweetened, organic and fair trade and packs a punch when you’ve just got to have something chocolate. At 20 calories per serving, you won’t undo a good day of eating by indulging in this deliciousness.

For the “milkshakes” I fill the blender with ice, add two bananas, three heaping tablespoons of cocoa and a few tablespoons of organic honey (or Stevia, if you like it). Fill the blender with almond milk (I like Almond Breeze’s Unsweetened Vanilla) and turn that sucker on. Voila! It makes enough for two large shakes and is seriously delicious. Plus, these are gluten-free and a good source of potassium, calcium, vitamins A & D and fiber. Can’t say that about a Twinkie.

You won’t miss ice cream at all, I swear. I wouldn’t lie. Not about dessert.

Peace Soap is a liquid Castile — or olive oil — soap that can be used in the shower, to do dishes and laundry, even to wash veggies before eating. The soap is made from simple, natural ingredients, including coconut and hemp seed oils, which keep it from being drying. The Grassy Mint scent is mild and clean and leaves everything from your skin to your counter tops smelling fresh and delicious.

Unlike many natural soaps, Peace Soap has a satisfying lather, while remaining free of parabens or phthalates. It’s also biodegradeable and — for those of you who are sensitive — is even gluten-free. Kiss My Face products are never tested on animals.

Even better, 10 percent of profits from Peace Soap go to Seeds of Peace, an organization dedicated to empowering young leaders from regions of conflict with the leadership skills required to advance reconciliation and coexistence.

Peace Soap is available in four scents and retails for under $10 on the company’s website.

I also love candles but I think that most scented candles are, in a word, nauseating. Artificial scents don’t just smell gross, they are gross; the chemicals used to recreate the scent of a mountain breeze or an apple cobbler can be dangerous, especially for those with problems like asthma.

Red flower’s candles are different. Not only is my current favorite — the Indian Jasmine candle — scented with jasmine essential oils and topped with dried flowers, the company is dedicated to using healthy ingredients and fragrances across the board. In addition to using essential oils to scent the clean burning candle, the box it is packaged in is 77 percent post consumer recycled paper that is printed in a 100 percent wind-powered plant.

Even if you aren’t a candle fan, visit the company’s website just to peruse the descriptions. The Indian Jasmine candle is described as “slow, wet, velvety and generous.” Pretty much sounds like a recipe for sex to me. Unlike sex, though, the candle burns for 50 hours.

The candles, which come in two sizes and seven scents, retail for $34 and $12.

I think Kiss My Face has done it. Just in time for a long girls weekend, a box of sunscreens landed on my doorstep. While I didn’t have time to test them all — my niece will be charged with testing the Dora the Explorer colored sunscreen during our family vacation in a couple of weeks — the ladies and I did slather on several of the grownup formulas.

I used the Sun Spray Oil (SPF 30) and the Oat Protein Sunscreen Lotion (SPF 18) and really liked them both. I generally need more sun protection than an SPF 18 but I enjoyed the consistency of the lotion and the fact that it rubbed in well and didn’t leave white streaks that some zinc-based sunscreens leave. (The formula combines Titanium Dioxide and Zinc Oxide.)

My favorite was the Sun Spray Oil. One friend thought that it was too greasy but I disagree. I loved the way it applied and the sheen it left made my skin look glowy and healthy. The oil is fragrance free, offers UVA and UVB protection, plus it’s water resistant.

Kiss My Face’s entire line of sunscreen is available on the company’s website. All retail for under $16.

She’s so smart, she makes me pretty.

I was already a convert to the whole argan oil thing that Josie promotes when, last summer, I found myself in New York City at the Sephora store on 86th Street. I meandered over to the Josie Maran counter to see if there was anything new in the line when it dawned on me that I hadn’t ever tried the tinted moisturizer. So I picked one up.

For some background, as someone who is just short of being an albino and as a woman who doesn’t want to age like her father’s childhood baseball mitt, living in California has been a big pain in my ass. Even here in San Francisco, the sun is just EVERYWHERE.I learned the hard way (hello, you giant forehead age spots!) that I have to put on lotion and sunscreen and powder to achieve any kind of moisture/protection/normal-looking skin tone on my face. I’ll confess I skipped the sunscreen on a pretty regular basis.

So, oooh la la, was I thrilled when I tried the Argan Tinted Moisturizer. It saved me two steps and it has kept the sun spots at bay with zero effort.

The best part is this: twice in the past month people have seen photos of me on Facebook and asked me why my skin looked so amazing. Seriously? It is all Josie. If all it takes is $38, I’ll buy a little of that glow. She has some to spare.

Josie Maran Argan Tinted Moisturizer is available on the company’s website or at Sephora. All of the packaging is recyclable and nothing in the line has been tested on animals.

Last night I had the pleasure of attending the launch of the first annual San Francisco Green Film Festival, a labor of love for Rachel Caplan, the festival’s founder and executive director.

Caplan is the former festival director for the San Francisco Ocean Film Festival, the first and largest showcase for ocean-related films in North America. After realizing that San Francisco did not have a green film festival of its own – shocking, right? — Caplan founded the San Francisco Green Film Festival to provide a forum for films and discussions that link media arts with environmental activism.

The festival kicked off with a kick ass event: First, a screening of the documentary “Bag It” at the Landmark Theatres Embarcadero Center Cinema, then a fantastic party at the the beautiful LEED-certified Bently Reserve.

Wonderful from start to finish.

The film, which is an examination of the far-reaching effects plastics – specifically single-use plastics like bottles and bags — have on our daily lives and the planet, really struck a chord with me.

The film chronicles Jeb Berrier’s journey through our plastic world, starting with a simple question: What are plastic bags really made of? The fact that the “experts” can’t even seem to agree on an answer is just one of the disturbing truths uncovered in the film.

I loved the tone of the film because Berrier is not a radical environmentalist, just an ordinary guy who is taking a closer look at an item we all see hundreds of times a week: a plastic bag. When Berrier and his partner learn that they are expecting a baby, Berrier’s quest to understand the affects plastic has on both human health and on the health of the environment takes on a new urgency.

He starts by asking simple questions, namely are plastic bags really necessary? And what happens to them once they have been discarded?

What he learns quickly snowballs into a bevy of other, larger questions.

Here are just some of the facts uncovered in the film:

• The average American uses 500 plastic bags per year, for an average of 12 minutes each.
• Two million plastic bottles are used in the United States, every five minutes.
• Ireland reduced its plastic bag use by 90 percent after instituting a fee on single-use plastic bags.

“Think about it,” Berrier says in the film. “Why would you make something that you are going to use for a few minutes out of a material that’s basically going to last forever, and you’re just going to throw it away? What’s up with that?”

What I took away from the film is a reminder that when we say, “Oh, just throw that away”, there really is no AWAY. Everything we toss just goes someplace else. In the case of plastic, too often that is into oceans and streams and into the bellies of wildlife.

Click here to view a trailer of the film, which will be airing on National Public Television beginning on April 18.

The after party was a feat in and of itself, complete with art, music and terrific food from local sustainable food and beverage companies like Strauss Family Creamery, Aidells Sausage Company, Bison Brewing Company and Frey Vineyards.

The opening night festivities were presented in partnership with the Plastic Pollution Coalition, a global alliance of individuals, organizations, and businesses working together to stop plastic pollution and its toxic impacts on humans, animals, and the environment.

The festival runs through Sunday and tickets are still available. For a schedule of films and ticket information, click here.