Shopping
Green Gift Monday – Responsible Gifting
Green Gift Monday is an alternative (or improvement) to Cyber Monday, November 28th, the biggest online shopping day of the year.
Promoted on by The Nature Conservancy, this awareness date represents conservation as opposed to consumption. Instead of buying more stuff, dontate to your favorite community organization, volunteer, or commit to conservation by cutting energy costs in your own life. DIY projects are a great way to cut energy waste, replacing inefficient appliances or learning creative solutions from others can really make a difference. › Continue reading
Veggie and Fruit Wash Soap Labels
Now those stickers on your fruit can serve a purpose other than at the register. Scott Amron has come up with a clever dual purpose UPC label sticker which not only tells the checkout clerk how much to charge, but also will clean the fruit once you are home.
For those who are unaware, fruit can be covered in all kinds of pesticides, wax, fertilizer, bacteria and nastyness, so it’s always a good idea to wash your fruits and vegetables, whether they are organic or not. This label just makes it easier since the wash comes on the fruit rather than buying it separately!
Engineered to only dissolve when rubbed with water, it is actually water resistant and won’t fall off before it reaches the check stand, and can always be peeled off if desired. It is also made from organic biodegradable materials which won’t harm the environment. › Continue reading
CRAVE Green in Seattle
| What: | CRAVEGreen day of Eco-Indulgence |
| Where: | URBAN enoteca 4130 1st Ave South, Seattle |
| When: | May 11, 2011 from 6-9 p.m. |
| Cost: | $35 and $50 Tickets |
Taking place on May 11, 2011 from 6-9 p.m. at URBAN enoteca (4130 1st Ave South, Seattle), CRAVEgreen is an eco-event of luxury and eco-indulgence. Featuring Natural and Organic spa services from Elaia Spa, an eco-friendly fashion show with the latest in sustainable style with designers such as Eileen Fisher, and fresh local and organic foods and wines catered by URBAN enoteca.
Future Standard Eco Shopping
A newcomer to the Eco shopping world, Future:Standard is all about ethical style. With well established and even some newcomer eco friendly designers such as Alex and Ani, and everything from recycled handbags to eco underwear.
“Future:Standard came about because I am looking forward to the day when clothing (and all of our products) does not need to be labeled ‘organic’, ‘sustainable’, ‘fair trade’, etc. That it is just assumed that it is all of these things, that it is the standard.”
Using the guideline of only buying from designers and manufacturers that have taken into account the planet and the people producing the item with a high value placed on the environmental and social impact.
In a world of imperfect products Future:Standard set their standards high. Each designer and brand brings something different to the table, from philanthropic business models to organic materials and fair trade certification.
Items that are selected must be transparent in their design, manufacturing and distribution processes.
“We look for brands that are doing what they can. We look for items products with a smaller footprint and a concern for the people behind the product. We ask each and every designer about their production processes. If it seems like the designer is working to become more sustainable and ethical, we will reward them by buying. We hope that traditional brands will begin to realize the value in creating ethical items.”
Eco Friendly Clothes Shopping – Verdessence
A topic covered often here on The Chic Ecologist are brands and stores which carry eco friendly clothing. Based in Chicago, Verdessence is an on-line retailer opened by Lauren McGinty and Michael McCarthy out of a desire to promote positive change in the world. They were kind enough to send me an item from one of the many eco-friendly brands they carry, a sustainable hoodie by Edun (and no, that is not me in the picture).
Edun is probably best know by its celebrity co-founder, Bono from the band U2. Edun is a socially conscious clothing company launched in spring 2005 by Ali Hewson and Bono with a mission is to create beautiful clothing while fostering sustainable employment in developing areas of the world, particularly Africa.
The hoodie I received was made in Africa (Madagascar to be exact) by sustainable and recycled elements like wool, polyamide, cashmere, and PBT. It has a very modern fitted look and is top notch quality, as I would expect with all the brands Verdessence carries.
I actually initially ordered the Sameunderneath hooded coat (which was brilliant by the way), but I indicated the wrong size. The return/exchange process was very quick and easy making it painless to get a really great item. › Continue reading
What Foods to Buy Organic
I’m preparing to get married in September, and I’ve been working super hard to keep my diet healthy, while still saving money for the wedding. Even if you’re not getting married soon, you’re still probably on a budget with the way the economy is right now, and buying organic food can start to add up when your budget is tight. While it is always a better idea to eat organic food, I realize that sometimes it’s not always an option. After consulting the Environmental Working Group’s lists, and other environmental groups, I’ve compiled a list of fruits and veggies to go organic with, or to bypass if the budget won’t allow. A good rule of thumb is to consider the thickness of the skin. Melons of any type have thick skins and so pesticides have a harder time getting in. Peaches, berries, and other soft skinned fruit however eat the pesticides up like water, and tend to be highest on the pesticide scale.
Don’t forget meats, dairy, and eggs too. While they are sometimes hard to find in organic depending on where you live, they are very important to buy organic, sometimes more important than fruits and vegetables. There are so many pesticides and toxins in what animals are eating, let alone the products themselves.
Foods aren’t the only things that you should be seeking the natural approach for either. If you suffer from allergies or other health issues, environmental toxins may be to blame. It’s a good idea to buy almost anything in your bedroom, organically. You spend (hopefully) 8 hours out of every 24, sleeping in your bedroom. That’s a third of your day, and that doesn’t include other activities that you might do in your bedroom, such as work, or reading! Switching to an organic mattress or pillows might make all the difference in the world.
Reusable Grocery Bags and Bacteria
Society has seen a quick adoption of reusable grocery bags, especially with legislative measures in their favor in several cities/states/countries (like Washington DC and the Republic of Ireland). This progressive adoption is understandable on at least three counts outside of these two places as well. Firstly, as these bags are convenient for grocery stores, which in turn will save money on paper and plastic bags. Secondly, as they’re also convenient for shoppers who no longer have to hope the bag boy didn’t over-stuff the flimsy plastic/paper bags they would normally use. And finally, convenient for the environment as it results in less dependency on plastic bags which would to take millennia to biodegrade. 
The quick spread of these bags comes at a cost though as the people adopting them aren’t properly informed as to the measures they’d need to take in order to safely use them. They’re bags, is there really anything non-intuitive about their use? It seems that there is. They’re meant to be washed on a regular basis, but the people who purchase them don’t seem to be aware of this fact by far as a recent study indicates that as much as 97% of randomly selected interviewees were completely unaware of this health precaution.
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Eco-Chic Expo Seattle
Now for a local, small business and community centric alternative to the Seattle 2010 Go Green Conference. Seattle’s Eco-Chic Expo is being held on Saturday, May 1st, at the Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center located in Northeast Seattle. A self described “interactive green lifestyle event”, the event is put together to provide the general public with an interactive day of tips, tricks and products to help people live greener, yet fashionable, lives. The Expo is free to the public and features a number of local companies dedicated to sustainable lifestyles. › Continue reading
