Green Thinking Blog

As Laurel mentioned, we will be doing a variety of articles from now through the beginning of the year to help greenify your holidays, and my first contribution has to do with STOCKINGS. 

Warning:  This is another article about foot products.  You might think I have a foot fetish by the way I have plugged Simple Shoes so many times, and now I am going to plug socks.  While feet are important, not only for standing, a mode of transportation, toes as cute decorations, create your own unique scent, I do not have a foot fetish.  At least I don’t think so.  If you have one, glad I can help!

The stocking tradition started way back when little children would hang their snow drenched, wet stockings from the fireplace hearth to dry & someone got a clever idea to fill them with goodies.  Stockings can now be as simple as a sock with a hole in it, or as ornate as a homemade quilted sock the size of my leg that has embellishments of gold and diamonds. 

What I would recommend is checking out the eco-friendly variety on SockDreams.com.  This female owned company out of Portland has every kind of sock that you can imagine!  Long ones, short ones, striped ones, lace ones, hemp ones, organic fiber ones, and socks that use 80-85% recycled cotton! 

This year, go for the stocking you can wear and wear and wear & will do just as much good on your feet as on your hearth.  I think Santa has a soft spot for sustainable fiber socks - you are sure to get a spot on the Nice List this year.

All Hallow’s Eve or Halloween is upon us!  As a tradition it is time for ghouls and ghosts to knock on your door & collect sugary treats in non-recyclable wrappers.  A time for malicious tricks to take place & painstakingly carved jack-o-lanterns to be smashed to bits for revenge of no King Sized candy bars…

Agh, those were the days…

These days we can celebrate Halloween the green way…and I am not talking about dressing up like an asparagus!

Treeswing has sponsored a community movement called, Green Halloween.  This non-profit, month-long event started in Seattle in 2007 to educate communities on health, the environment, and community change.  2008 marks the groups’ first nationwide event to promote a healthy, fun, Halloween!

GreenHalloween.org has a plethora of resources from healthy teeth to organizing your own neighborhood Green Halloween block party.  It provides useful tips on what to buy & being conscious of what not to buy to reduce waste, how to invite people, what food to serve, and how to make it festive to the holiday…

My fave recipe has to be WASABI EYEBALLS….muhahahaha!

TRICK OR TREATING

Parental units and kids at heart and people looking to make a difference:  Check out Reverse Trick or Treating.  This is a new concept for kids to help spread the word of fair trade and to help end poverty in cocoa farming communities.  It never ceases to amaze me what things you can learn in a day or how impressed you can be by your fellow mankind.  Awesome, and all in the name of fun.

Or, just serve something healthy. I know kids - boo hiss!   Come on, you really do like granola bars.

COSTUMES:

My friend always has great ideas for costumes that use household items.  Some that are suiting to the environment: 

Dress as the sun.  Wear a yellow t-shirt & sunglasses.  If you have a little sister, steal her headband and afix some used aluminum foil from your leftover pizza in the shape of sunbeams so light reflects off it.  Carry a flower around as your friend.

Dress as sleep.  We all need this to be happy happy happy and promote a peaceful world!  Wear an airplane pillow around your neck, slippers, and afix a sleeping mask to your forehead.  Bring a stuffed teddy with you as a friend.

This is my idea: Reuse last year’s costume!  Who remembers that stuff anyway?!  or Trade costumes with a friend, or pieces of costumes to create a new one! Fun Fun Fun!

HAVE FUN!  BE SAFE!!!

There is nothing nicer than the smell of fresh laundry swaying in the breeze, while you watch it from your big front porch sipping lemonade…YEA RIGHT!  Who has time to make laundry so glamorous?! Not me.  But, I also don’t like the fact that I have to burn so much freakin’ energy just so my clothes can fluff…

In the meantime, I have cut down on dryer time by using a drying rack, which works…but we may soon have alternatives.

According to an article written by Angie Lewis, (Greenscape/first Monday/Sept. 2008) Hydromatic Technologies Corp., a local here in Orlando, FL, has created a dryer that uses 50% less energy, drys clothes 41% faster, and greatly reduces the risk of dryer-related fires compared to a conventional dryer.  This innovation uses a nontoxic and nonhazardous heat transfer fluid to heat the air blown inside a dryer.

Owner and entrepreneur, Michael Brown, began his scientific quest in a lab in his garage.  He had previously worked as an appliance repair man and was familiar with thermal fluids.  With this technology, Brown will beat the U.S. DOE’s deadline for “green” energy dryers three years early.

Keep on the lookout for a possible conversion kit for conventional dryers to turn hydronic.

Attention eco-fashion lovers! I’ve rounded up a few of my favorite earth-friendly clothes, shoes, and accessories for you. The best eco-friendly finds are vintage or second-hand items that don’t require new resources to make. But, there always comes a time when you need something new. Maybe you’ll find a little green fashion inspiration here. I tried to choose classic pieces that weren’t ridiculously expensive.

Chica Rosa Bag - This adorable clutch would be great for a night out or as a handy makeup bag. The outside of the bag is made from 200 recycled aluminum can tabs and nylon thread. The inside has a nylon liner and a zipper to close it. Get it at Elsewares for $36.

Women’s Yuri Jacket - I think this basic black jacket is worth the $116 because you could find SO MANY occasions to wear it. It would be great paired over a button-down for work, or you could be saucy and wear it alone like the girl in the picture for a night out. Available in black or white, the jacket is made of 100% hemp muslin with a 100% silk lining.

Women’s Del Forte Denim Daphne Shorts - I love the dark denim and the cuffs on these long shorts. I also love how the girl in the picture is rockin’ some pointy toe pumps with them. They’re made of 99% organic cotton and are on sale for $68. That may be too pricey for a lot of people, but these were too cute for me not to mention!

Women’s ‘Cushee’ Flip Flops - These casual flip flops are made from hemp and recycled rubber. They come in sand, chocolate, or black colors. They look super comfy too! I really like the sand ones with the pink sole. $25 from Simple Shoes.

Women’s Organic Fine Jersey Short Sleeve T - I bet this baby-tee is super comfortable with its organic fine jersey material. The little green contrasting stitch on the shoulder is a cute touch too. $18 at American Apparel (a sweatshop-free company).

Women’s Loyale Temalpaid Pant - These yoga/dance/workout pants are low-rise and come with free shipping. Grey with purple or blue stripe at $55 from Pangaya. 92% Organic Cotton.

Men’s CAReen Shoes - These kicks are made from recycled tires and organic cotton. They come in muted colors including classic taupe, olive, espresso, and black. $65 from Simple Shoes.

Men’s Gap (PRODUCT) RED™ empowered T - I really like this basic off-white tee with the subtle block letters that spell “empowered.” The material is 100% cotton, and half of the proceeds go to the Global Fund to help fight AIDS. $24.50 at Gap.

Men’s Mossimo® Organic Shirt - Brown Suede - This classic button-down shirt is on clearance at Target for only $15.39 ($16.70 for XXL). Other available colors are blue stripe, green stripe, or taupe stripe.

Men’s Minimalist II Board Shorts - These solid color board shorts have a durable water repellent finish and are made from 100% recycled polyester through Patagonia’s Common Threads Recycling Program. Available for $55 in the following colors: meditation green, carbon, low tide, mars red, and blueblack. Patagonia gives 1% of profits back to the planet and is LEED-certified.

With over 500 exhibitors, there is no way Laurel and I could ever share all the great stuff from each booth. So, we decided we would each pick some of our faves (it was a close call) to share some interesting companies, products, and services we learned about at Green Expo 2008.

My boyfriend and I are suckers for relaxing with the scent of incense in the air, so imagine my happiness when I picked up free samples of Lama Chodpa Incense. Lama Chodpa Incense is handmade incense from the Nub Gon Monestary in Tibet. Monks of this society make the incense from carefully ground herbs and let it dry in the sun. Each ingredient is blessed and one is blessed first for a 9 day ceremony and then for a full year by a meditation master. Not only is this incense free of chemicals and pesticides, it smells great!

Next, we went to visit the gents from Wildlife Solutions, a wildlife removal company that practices humane ways. With their outback theme from down under, these guys gave us a cute magnet with a baby raccoon on it, fake plastic snakes to scare our friends, and introduced us to a real snake—to scare us. The most important thing they shared, however, was their service. This company offers humane removal of animals such as raccoons, snakes, rats, bats, and squirrels. They remove the animal, clean up after it, find out how it got in, and then perform any repairs to prevent you from having any more unwanted roommates and preventing the animal from getting hurt.

100Fires.com caused Laurel and I to kick ourselves the minute we walked in the door. One thing we do best is shop, and we forgot our wallets, which we realized the minute we walked to a booth dedicated to books. This bookstore is dedicated to providing literature on sustainable living. While we encourage you to partake in your local library system, in the event you can’t find a book you are looking to borrow, 100Fires can find books that are hard to find. Important genres to search, the kids section. Educate early and save the future Earth.

Continuing on the subject of shopping…we also stopped by Ten Thousand Villages booth. Ten Thousand Villages is a fair trade store that sells products made by artisans in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. These stores allow the artisans to practice a trade that provides a decent wage and a chance at a higher quality of life. They featured the best gift ideas for anyone on your list. From sculptures to jewelry to trivets, they have it and it is made beautifully!

Laurel provided links earlier to seeing if the Green Expo is coming to your area, if it is, we highly recommend you go—but be sure to set aside the whole afternoon!

Do you have t-shirts that are holey, smelly, and with dark yellow pit stains?  Get a clue, your local thrift store doesn’t want them.  The dog won’t go near them.  But they still have potential. 

Cut ‘em up.  Old sleeves make a great head scarf and the remaining shreds make excellent cleaning rags!  Spray some eco-friendly all-purpose cleaner and you’re off!  This way you can avoid more garbage, and the multiple handiwipes it takes to clean the surface of your table. 

I was browsing an issue of Slap Magazine at my boyfriend’s house the other day. What do you normally look at in magazines? Pictures. So there it was, a full page advertisement featuring green shoes. Not green in color mind you, but eco-friendly kicks.

So I took my search to the world wide web. You can find shoes made of all kinds of earth-conscious materials: bamboo, hemp, recycled car tires and bike tires (which probably make you walk faster), and vegan- and vegetarian-conscious shoes that remove all animal products, by-products, and animal testing for the devout. One of the most interesting and beneficial sites I came across was SimpleShoes.com. Simple is educating their consumer and allowing you to shop right there—two of my faves combined!

This company is not only concerned with the why of their earthly cause, but the how. Dedication to using earth-friendly materials (organic cotton, water based glue, hemp, recycled rubbers, and so many more!) in production makes their shoes 100% sustainable. By using the entire recycled tire, they are saving it from going to a landfill. That same recycled tire is then saved from sending poisonous gases into our air because, if it were in a landfill, it would be burned to make more room in that landfill. Hello?! Save a step and make some shoes!

Planet Shoes features Simple shoes along with other companies that are in touch with the greeness of the feet (Earth, Acorn, and Patagonia to name a few).

Check out each link, and when you shop, think of lil’ ol’ me. You could be green from head-to-toe so easily!

Looking to add something sustainable to your wardrobe? Try the unbelievably soft, organic cotton and bamboo t-shirts from Tees for Change. They offer a variety of colors, styles, and positive mantra statements to choose from.

Tees for Change make a great present with prices from $28-$32. The high-quality material of their shirts is so soft! In addition, Tees for Change has a partnership with American Forests’ Global Releaf and promises to plant a tree for each shirt you purchase.

We were happy to receive an email from Tees for Change on Monday which announced the arrival of their Spring/Summer 2008 collection. New colors of tees have been added including: eggplant, chocolate, cherry red, midnight blue, pomegranate, and avocado. Also, they now have 12 different mantras to choose from. Check them out below:

Breathe deeply
Chase dreams
Choose happiness
Embrace change
Live passionately
Laugh often
Live fully
Live mindfully
Practice kindness
Practice yoga
Seek balance
Today matters

We are loving Tees for Change and their motto: “Sustainable Tees on a Mission.” Try them out and let us know what you think!