The Fields Sculpture Park 
at Omi International Arts Center
1405 County Rt. 22 
Ghent, New York 12075

Richard Nonas, Smoke, May 2009, wood, 1.5' x 80' x 90'. Photo: courtesy of the artist.

There’s always a bit more time to go see art exhibits in the summer, but it can be so hard when it’s nice out to contemplate spending a day inside. Luckily, there’s a way to do both at places like ART OMI, the PepsiCO sculpture park and Storm King Arts Center, where you can enjoy the summer sun AND revel in modern art too. June 13 (1-5pm, free admission) marks the opening of the Summer 2009 outdoor sculpture installation at ART/OMI.  

The annual Fields Sculpture Park exhibition will feature works by a selection of international artists, including Orly Genger, Richard Nonas, Julian Opie, Margeaux Walter, and Heather and Ivan Morison.  

This year’s show is curated by Bill Maynes, Kathleen Triem, and Peter Franck who have garnered works by these and other talented artists so that we might revel in the experience of sculpture under the trees.  Genger and Nonas have specially created large-scale, site-specific installations.  Be sure to also visit ART/OMI’s  Charles B. Benenson Visitors Center & Gallery, a 4,200 square foot LEED building designed by FT Architecture+Interiors.  The structure is a showcase for green design systems and a venue for ART/OMI’s other art and environment cultural offerings.

I just love the products at Greensender.com and recently they just open The Bottle Shop where you can custom-design and personalize a premium SIGG reusable water bottle. Using a high-tech laser-engraving process, Greensender engraves a name and art selections on to the bottle — yielding a beautiful and vibrant personalized mark.

The bottles make a great Father’s Day gift. I just bought them as teacher gifts. Shh..don’t tell them! They are great for any gift occasion and the entire family — at the beach, camp, gym, pool, and more. Always know which bottle is yours. Want to get them for an entire team or company? The Bottle Shop will work with your own art to make the perfect bottle for you!

Best of all, because you know me –  Melissa Goldberg, if your order before August 1st, you can get a free tee shirt. Just put “Friend of Melissa Goldberg” in the comments section at checkout and note size and men’s or women’s shirt and a tee will be added to your order free. Isn’t nice knowing me?

Hey and why don’t follow me on Twitter @Green_Luvin?

Revolution, you say? YES! Because in this area of Manhattan, just days ago, this area was covered in cars and gridlock. And now people are catching rays, reading, chatting, resting, and yes, even napping! What I call civilized!

And, I would argue, I revolutionary act, taking the streets back from the car. LOVE it! Check the excellent backstory in New York Magazine about the fab woman, Janette Sadiq-Kahn (NYC’s transportation commissioner) who made this all possible in New York Magazine.

Thanks to Matthew McDermott of Treehugger for the awesome pix and original coverage.

Healthy Child, Healthy World is an organization founded by Nancy and Jim Chuda. After losing their daughter, Collette, to a non-hereditary form of cancer, the Chuda’s decided to dedicate their lives to environmental safety and children’s health. Healthy Child, Healthy World, (formally the CHEC, the Children’s Environmental Health Coalition,) serves to inform, educate and promote environmentally conscious practices in all aspects of our lives. Healthy Child’s new paperback book Healthy Child Healthy World: Creating a Cleaner, Greener, Safter Home, has just been released in paperback and is receiving high praise.

Healthy Child has always been friendly and responsive whenever I contacted them. As a new mom and a writer I tend to do a lot of research and Healthy Child and its affiliates have come through every time. On a few occasions I received responses from the CEO himself. Even in his busy day managing a large organization, being a new father, and writing a book he took the time to answer questions and be available. Healthy Child is truly passionate about what they do. They have worked to initiate legislative change, they have lobbied politicians, and they have become one of the leading resources for eco-friendly families. So, I may be a bit biased about this new book, but I really enjoyed it and found it useful. This is resource you can come back to again and again.

Chistopher Gavigan, the CEO/Executive Director of Healthy Child, has written a guide for families that is more important today than ever. Gavigan addresses issues that need to be discussed, such as: what to do with the harmful products in our homes while we “go green”; why antibacterials are a no-no; why bright blue yogurt is bad; avoiding the word “fragrance” at all costs; how hair dyes contain lead; whether to binky or not to binky; which toys to freecycle; how to avoid electromagnetic overload; which are the best veggies for a kid’s garden (one of my favorite sections!;) and generally, how to do it all in a cool, calm and collected way.

Another item worthy of note: the back of the book features a lengthy summary of organizations and companies specializing in everything environmentally friendly. From sunscreen to biodegradeable dishware; to home water testing and non-toxic art supplies, there is a book, website, or phone number listed in reference to just about everything.

The tone of Healthy Child Healthy World is not alarmist or negative, but full of tips, guides (many that can be photocopied and put into one’s wallet,) and resources for all things eco-savvy. These days, before running out to acquire things they don’t need, many parents are thinking about health, the environment, and creating a minimal footprint. Healthy Child offers an excellent how-to manual for creating a healthy, toxin-free home.

The June issue of Vogue is packed with Green Goodness! I saved it for my flight to London last week and I was so pleased to find so many verdant gems among the regular great-as-usual Vogue content and reporting.

Gorgeous shoot, all sun-drenchy and summery. Here Cameron wears a Hessnatur silk and cotton tank, an Ecote belt and Del Forte organic cotton jeans.

First, Eco Chick Cameron Diaz not only graced the cover, but was featured in an eco fashion spread inside the mag, wearing some of my fave designers, including John Patrick Organic, Stella McCartney, Del Forte, Hessnatur and Olsenhaus, all of which have been featured on this site.

A 3.1 Philip Lim dress in eco-dyed natural silk with an Eco Emporia belt made from recycled fire hose.

Gisele Bundchen looks naturally gorgeous in this 100% organic cotton suit colored with low-impact dye from Loyale.

Though Gisele DID date Mr. Supergreenie Leo DiCaprio for some time, and she has a great green blog, she also seems to have no problem wearing fur or representing some pretty ungreen companies like True Religion jeans and Victoria’s Secret.

However, she is incredibly influential (and is the top-earning model in the world, according to a recent Forbes report) which is great news for Loyale’s Jenny Hwa, who designed the lovely greenblue bikini pictured above on The Body. I’ve been a big fan of Loyale (see Spring ‘09 here) for years (featured the line in Plenty when I style edited there) and it’s so great to see a New York-based eco designer like Jenny getting her due in Vogue.

I was especially excited to see that in the travel special of this issue, Vogue highlighted get-in-shape getaways with a green bent (my preferred mode of vacation), including Charym, a local-to-me yoga/hiking/mountain biking spa in my home state of Connecticut. Is that a woman about to go river kayaking in VOGUE? (Not in those boots, though they are superfab, but anyway). Other vacays encourage surfing, organic massages, horseback riding and trail running. Hey, I trail run!

And the last page of Vogue’s June issue features the Fendi Abici bike (only a Benjamin under $6K! What recession?) But it IS Fendi, and this officially means city biking is in, which in an indirect (but important, I’d argue) way bodes well for bike lanes, pedestrian-focused cities, and pushing the car OUT.

My wonderfully grey kitty, Penelope, who actually allows me to leave the heat off by keeping my lap warm while I blog, so I think she might have a negative carbon footprint!

……..you get embarassed when you absolutely HAVE to buy a bottled water one night after closing down a bar in the East Village. Severely dehydrated, and sloshed, you have so much guilt about buying water that you tell the bodega owner and the guy you’re hanging out with ALL about how bottled water is evil. Double d’oh!

……..your basement is filled with things that you haven’t figured out how to recycle yet. But you WON’T get rid of them until you do!

……..you’re so eagerly awaiting a trip to the farmer’s market, you’ve already picked out which cute cloth bags you’ll be taking with you. And the market’s two days away.

……..you’ve actually wondered about your cat’s carbon footprint.

This is the fifth post in an ongoing series (of my green neuroses!) Others linked below:

Read You Might Be #4 here

Read You Might Be #3 here

Read You Might Be #2 here

Read the Original You Might Be here

After reading through these I realize I think I have a recycling fetish! Is that bad?

One of the best things about Sustainable NYC is that it is a little bit of everything.

This eclectic shop in the equally eclectic East Village (139 Avenue A/ 9^th Street ) of Manhattan is self-described as an emporium of “local, organic, recycled, fair-trade, re-purposed, biodegradable products and gifts.”  Yeah!  And if that weren’t enough greening going on, they are also home to the Ciao for Now café and ongoing eco events and workshops!  

You might just find something you were looking for or there just might be something you weren’t look for that you find.

I had fun being the camerawoman and stylist for this fun video that Ayana Meade, my colleague at Greenopia, modeled, MC’d, and edited. We visited two of my favorite eco boutiques on the Lower East Side (LES) of Manhattan: Kaight (new, modern eco fashions), and Hairy Mary’s (vintage and reconstructed clothes) and talked to their owners about what made them passionate about what they stocked, the environment, and how they chose their wares.

Many thanks to Kate McGregor, owner of Kaight and Sharon Broit, owner of Hairy Mary’s for taking the time to speak with us!

Kaight received the highest rating of four leaves by Greenopia’s independent rating system, and Hairy Mary’s will be ranked soon!

The shortlist for the fourth annual Observer Ethical Awards, in association with Ecover, is announced. Last year’s awards saw Divine Chocolate scoop Ethical Business of the Year, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall Celebrity Campaigner of the Year and Ken Livingstone Politician of the Year. Thousands of entries have now been whittled down to 33 shortlist nominees. Why the Ethical Awards?

Ethical issues have been variously pitched as cool, transformed, rebranded and even normal (praise indeed given their former tie-dye/wind-chime hugging roots). This is all absolutely valid, but for our fourth awards, I’d like to pitch the ethical outlook as being simply vital.

Inevitably, given the current fiscal climate (politely described as “challenging”), some leaders and big businesses will try to weasel out of environmental and social justice commitment or scale back previously “ambitious” plans to become low carbon. If you like, this is the opposite of greenwashing but just as pernicious.

The best defence against such weaseling, when commitment to a better planet is more important than ever, is mass engagement and enthusiasm for new and better ideas, campaigners and their projects. And the Observer Ethical Awards are all about enthusiasm. Each year this is reflected in the fact that you vote in your thousands for the people and ideas you think make a real difference.

The entrants were judged by a combination of reader votes and by a celebrity panel that included; Jo Wood, Ben Okri, Rick Edwards and Deborah Meaden. The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in London on Wednesday 3 June.

The Observer Ethical Awards are instrumental in bringing green issues to the forefront of consumer minds and making businesses reassess their attitudes towards sustainability. The awards recognise those who pioneer a sustainable future and identify products, ideas and companies that make ethical living possible.

For the full shortlist or more information on the Observer Ethical Awards, check this page out.

Thanks to Flickr user Emutree for this great image!

When I first started driving 15 years ago, I had it out for Exxon. I had seen the oil-covered birds from the Valdez oil spill in Alaska and had cried for the sad-eyed seals who were hosed down by volunteers. For years — at least a decade — I refused to buy gas at Exxon and would ask my friends to indulge my boycott, especially when Exxon dragged it’s feet cleaning up. I was voting with my dollars, dammit.

And then I went to college and figured out that ALL the oil companies were evil, what with lobbying against CAFE standards (if we had stuck by CAFE, we wouldn’t need foreign oil today), not to mention the really crappy coffee at their associated convenience stores. And then Exxon merged with Mobil. So I gave up my boycott eventually, stopped at an Exxon if it was convenient, and boycotted lots (and lots) of other things.

And then came those interminable, spam emails about how we should all get together and not buy gas and that would really show those oil companies who’s boss! (These are all false and this scheme will never work). But there seemed to be no point. The oil companies had us addicted and it didn’t matter who we bought our crack-gas from!

Well, it turns out it does. While I’m 100% behind the idea of getting rid of personal cars altogether, like those happy biking Germans, or of running ALL cars on non-fossil fuel alternatives by 2030 (as Sweden built into their recent energy and climate bill), the thing is, these initiatives will take time. (In the meantime, you can at least bike to work!). And I’m impatient. I want to do something now (I can’t bike to work, I work at home!

Well, I’m going back to voting with my dollars. Turns out there’s a significant difference in how environmentally-friendly (or not) the oil companies are, and why shouldn’t that info impact my decision about where to spend my money (on gas and snacks, and, yes, maybe even some bad coffee) this summer? The research team at Greenopia spent weeks digging into sustainability reports, oil spill data and alternative energy initiatives, ranking the top 10 oil companies for their Earth-friendlier initiatives.

I’m back to shunning Exxon & Mobil, as they are still up to their climate-screwing ways. And they’re sixth on Greenopia’s list; I would prefer to buy from one of the top three oil companies, who are at least LESS evil.

1. British Petroleum (BP) ranked number one for sustainability among oil companies. Why? It has one of the most transparent and complete sustainability reports, but most importantly, it’s taking its slogan, “Beyond Petroleum” seriously. “BP supports and is pursuing development of solar, wind, hydrogen, and biofuel technologies. BP has pledged spending of $8 billion dollars towards renewable over the next few years, making it one of the biggest renewable donors in the world. BP is also progressive in its stance on climate change and publicly admits its merits and is acting to improve its own internal performance," writes Greenopia research director Doug Mazeffa in his report on BP.  Though BP isn’t as bullish as it once was on alternative energy, they’re doing better than the rest.

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