Bags · Eco-Chick

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Be a Cycle Hottie!

Keeping warm in colder weather without looking like a North Face refugee

We all know riding your bike instead of driving is not only eco-friendly, but good for our butts and legs (and hearts!) too! But to really make a dent in how many global warming gases you produce, you have to ride your bike for more than just recreation, and treat it as a vehicle, and integrate it into your life.

I ride my bike all over my seaside Connecticut town, as do plenty of other folks, the difference being that I don’t ever dress like a ‘biker’. I hate the spandex, helmets, and stupid bootie-shoes that Americans seem to think they need to ride a bike around town or on the streets. (Yeah, I know, helmets will save your skull, but you know what? I’m old enough that I don’t have to wear one, so I don’t. They’re ugly and mess up my hair. So sue me.)

A great example of a great warmer weather bike ensemble!

Turns out, I’m not as iconoclastic as I’d like to think I am. European ladies in cities like Amsterdam, Paris, and Copenhagen regularly ride their bikes, looking as chic as ever. Women wear whatever they would normally wear (read: really chic outfits and heels, jewelry, and even makeup!) to hop on their bikes to get around town. The site, Copenhagen Cycle Chic, documents this style phenomenon. Love it!

I ride in skirts and tights with knee-high boots in the winter to go to the library, sundresses with bare feet or flip flops in the summer to ride to my local beach, and my cute bags get thrown in the basket in front of me. Just make sure your bike has fenders so you don’t get dust and mud all over your adorable outfits!

bags, bikes, cities, dress, driving, Europe, farm, gas, Global Warming, Hair, Jewelry, local, makeup, produce, shoes, spa, style, summer, Tea, weather, women

Engage(ingly) Green

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by Starre Vartan · 01/31/08

I spotted Leonor Mendoza’s super-cool Engage Green bags in Grand Central at the Christmas Bazaar as I was zooming by to catch a bus to JFK airport, and I had to stop! I was so caught up in her descriptions and checking out the bags that I almost missed my ride! They first caught my eye because they are gorgeous, and second because I could tell they were made of unusual materials. My eye didn’t lie: Leonor constructs her bags variously from recycled paper and plastic, cork, organic cotton and hemp.

recycled paper tote

recycled paper makeup bag

recycled paper purse

recycled plastic (PET)

cork, organic cotton and hemp

organic cotton and hemp

bags, design, Recycling, Shopping

Plastic Bag Plague: Five Easy Ways To Remember Your Reusable

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by Olivia Zaleski · 01/30/08

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom started the fire. In March of 2007, Newsom passed the nation’s first plastic bag ban outlawing San Fran’s supermarkets and large retailers from offering customers non-biodegradable plastic bags.

Though Germany, South Africa, Ireland, Norway and Australia have long imposed restrictions on bag use, several countries and cities have recently jumped on the anti-bagwagon. In early January, China surprised the world by announcing plans to eliminate plastic bags this coming June. The next day, an inspired New York City ordered large stores and retail chains to collect and recycle used plastic bags. And in an exciting climax of events, supermarket chain Whole Foods Inc. declared Tuesday it will no longer offer free plastic bags to customers of its 270 stores in the United States, Canada and Britain.

Given that plastic bags are particularly bad for the environment, there is cause for hopeful celebration. Yet, as we move closer to plastic bag extermination, a nervous tension settles in the air. “Oh no. How will I–as lazy, forgetful or busy as I am–remember to bring my reusable bag? And every single time I go to the store? I’m doomed!!!”

1. Play Ball
If you enjoy pegging soft — or sometimes hard–objects at your coworkers, then you certainly won’t forget the 24-7 Bag. The genius invention of Stanford students, Hetal and Eva (not to be mistaken with fairytale protagonists), this stretchy tote shrivels into a good-natured pelting tool. At $15 (Are Hetal and Eva talking guilders here?), the 24-7 Bag makes a worthy investment. Not only will it rile coworkers, but you’ll stay armed with a reusable bag.

After a few rounds of cubicle dodge-ball and one harsh blow to the head, you’ll never leave this ball-sac at home–if not for artillery then at least for the grocery store.

2. Stuff Your Bra
Hippie chicks (sorry to leave you out guys), stop burning your bras!! Instead, use your faithful brassiere to support environmentalism. Triumph Japan’s “No! Reji-bukuro Bra,” Japanese for “No Plastic Bags Bra,” includes two reusable carriers, discretely folded into twin breast-enhancing pouches. Once removed, the compressed bags expand and enhance to large and durable totes–perfect for carrying heavy loads like watermelons and milk jugs. (tip via Treehugger.com).

3. Fill Your Pockets
If you claim “deep pockets,” why not fill them with a bag or two. Perhaps the easiest and cheapest reusable-bag antidote, this trick keeps you conveniently equipped for any unplanned purchases throughout the day. Simply deflate air from an old plastic bag and stuff jacket or pants’ pocket accordingly.

Best of all, this inexpensive last minute trick is easy to remember and maintain. When unpacking the groceries, you’ll automatically remember to stuff that empty bag back in your pocket.

4. Belt Up
Then again, if stuffing your pants’ pockets sounds uncomfortable or unsightly, why not attach a compact bag to your belt? Check out this reusable bag pouch from the Container Store. It simply clips on your belt, fanny pack, or girdle. Yes, it’s nerdy and you’ll still be unsightly — but at least you won’t look like your beleaguered by hip cellulite. Better yet, you’ll always have a reusable bag right there for a quick draw.

5. Key In
Except for the occasional goof up, we generally don’t forget our keys before leaving the house. If you’re forgetting your tote just get a reusable-bag keychain. Behold efficiency experts, Reisenthel and their Mini Maxi Shopper Eden. This durable shopping bag folds down to a palm size pouch with built in clip, perfect for attaching to your keys, laser pointer and bottle opener. Now if I could only remember where I put those keys…

For more on green living and simple tips catch up with Olivia Zaleski and her column, Enviro-Mental: Going Green without Going Crazy, every Monday on The Huffington Post.

bags, Fashion, Recycling, Shopping

Change Handbags

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by Starre Vartan · 11/29/07

Change Handbags is a small company run by two moms, Meg and Sara, so they know how to make a bag that’s useful and fabulous.

There’s the super-tough shopping/beach/carryall bags that you can have customized for fundraisers or an organization, or just use for shopping or the gym (made from recycled PET fabric with six outside pockets!)

And then there’s the amazing reversible bags which are soft and gorgeous. Literally two bags in one, which is eco-friendly in itself, these are made from low-impact, vegetable-dyed leather. 10% of profits from the bags go to groups that support women’s issues.

bags, boho, car, fabric, farm, handbags, Home, leather, mom, moms, recycle, recycled, Shopping, women, women's

Why Greenfest? Here's the Answer

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by Starre Vartan · 11/23/07

by Guest-blogger Katherine Cure

Katherine Cure sipping organic fair-trade coffee from one of the second-hand mugs that were available for use during Greenfest

“Greenfest? What’s that?” the tanned middle-aged East Bay native eating next to me asked, as I outlined to him my reasons for coming to San Francisco for the weekend. So I briefly cultured him on the green, before my mussels arrived. I explained what was about to happen: a three day festival that would display products, media representatives, fashion designers, energy producers and builders, all with green on their label. San Francisco, a known promoter of sustainable and environmentally safe practices (including bans to the use of plastic bags and Styrofoam takeout containers), was the chosen venue for what would be the last green fest of the year. “You should come,” I said, and indulged in my Italian dinner.

Little did I know, even after attending the same event the past month at the nation’s capital, what I was to encounter the next day. Multitudes of San Franciscan and East Bay residents invaded the premises, packed the aisles, and even had to be forced out (myself included…) from the organic beer and wine stand, at 8 o’clock, when it was time for closure. San Francisco’s Green Festival was a success. Good news for organizers Global Exchange and Co-Op America, who with this one, finished a series of four green festivals around America. Good to see the green spreading.

Zach the Poet

Be them hippies or more conservative looking types networking for their companies and local eco-initiatives, I was lucky to encounter a number of very interesting personages. One of my favourites, although I could not really see the environmental in his initiative, was Zach, a poet who sat with his blue antique typewriter and wrote poems about everything with the most beautiful smile. A poem about falling in love, he made for me. Green or not, his presence is the epitome of the immense variety that gathered at the festival.

The anti-plastic bag brigade

Products on display represented pretty much every possible marketable category: food, beauty products, baby diapers, accessories for pets, eco-fashion, building materials and even medicinal mushrooms! Tasty samples of organic farmed produce, fair trade coffee, tofu, multigrain crackers, chocolate, cheese and the powerful drink maca (intense stuff), guaranteed a healthy bite and a full tummy. Eatwell Farm a California-based organic lavender farm selling fresh lavender in bundles and in little cloth packages (that reminded me of my grandma’s closet) as well as oils and hydrosols, was one of my favourites. The extremely creative aisles of eco-fashion representatives clustered in the upper right level, was another one of my faves. Features included colourful displays of clothes and accessories with guaranteed sustainable materials and fair trade products whose profit will reach the communities that made them, instead of some retail store.

The Hippy Gourmet Team

Vibes were loving and energetic; people smiley, switched on and empowered. Puppet shows, reggae bands, live percussion and a couple of wanderers performing skits, culminated the green experience. Once you passed the front door, where I was stopped more than once having of course forgotten my badge somewhere, you were inevitably immersed in the environmental wave.

Jennifer Horning and Kirsten Muenster

The greatest acquaintance at the festival, (other than Coicoi and Ninka, my girlfriends from Berkeley), ends this tale. Jennifer Horning and Kirsten Muenster, the first one a lawyer and the second a jewellery designer, approached the E Magazine booth where I was volunteering, to talk to me about Ethical Metalsmiths, their initiative for delivering sustainable jewellery. A lot of issues are behind the rings we wear and that beautiful necklace we covet. We might be unaware, especially in underdeveloped countries, of the poor work the gold, emerald and silver mines that provide designers with raw material for their creations, under inhumane conditions. Not to mention the environmental impacts of mining. But rather than refuse jewellery (thank god!), supporting empowered women like Jen and Kirsten who wish to find fair and eco-friendly solutions to these issues, might be the answer. By recycling existing pieces, getting certification for the materials used, or just helping in making mining practices fair, these loving, knowledgable and fashionable ladies, to whom I give my ten, are striving to make a difference.

For more on Ethical Jewelry, see this E Magazine article.