Brazil · Eco-Chick

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Melissa Shoes “Shop Within a Shop” at Kaight in NYC

Eco Chick Editor Starre Vartan trying on the (adorable) new Vivienne Westwood Lady Dragon Melissas with heart detail (here and below).

Melissa Plastic Dreams Shoes are made from plastic – normally NOT my fave material, but in the case of these fab stompers, I make an exception because: they are long-lasting, waterproof, ridiculously cute, AND the factory where they’re made in Brazil is closed-loop, meaning that NO wastewater or gases from the production process ever makes it into the environment. It’s practically zero-waste.

The company also partners with major designers like architect Zaha Hadid and Vivienne Westwood to create truly memorable designs. I’ve been (very actively) wearing my Vivienne Westwood maryjanes for a year now and they still look new! Also shiny like patent leather, but wears a LOT better.

And now one of my fave stores, Kaight in NYC, is ‘hosting’ a Melissa shop within the store, so you can check out a much larger selection of Melissas (avail online too!) and try them on if you visit the LES. At the opening reception, I tried on a few pairs and am loving the tortiseshell flats with the cute bow on the front, which are perfect for Spring.

Brazil, eco fashion, Fashion, NYC, shoes

Soy's Eco Creds

1 Comment

by Courtney Tenz · 01/30/09

Last month, when Starre asked us all for our New Year’s resolutions, I didn’t have to think twice about them because I’ve been thinking so much about these goals over the last year. But I just put all my eco goals for the year out there for the world to see without elucidating and that raised this question:

Why is soy considered “not necessarily doing better for the environment”? I thought that tofu was a good nonmeat protein alternative.

Here’s my attempt at answering that question, but bear with me: there’s a big debate about soy so there’s a lot of nonsense out there and I don’t want to rumor-monger. And along those lines, I won’t get into the health issue regarding soy (I know one dietitian who says it’s good for you and another who says only in moderation and though I trust both of them, the truth seems to be a few years away yet).

So the closest thing I have for an answer is to say, as I said in that previous New Year’s post, that I try to lead a one-earth life as it is so the things that I’m working on are pretty specific to me and what I think I can handle doing. I mean, it would be silly for me to say I’ll cut back on driving when the only time I get in a car is when I visit my ‘rents in the US which doesn’t happen all that many days in the year. And so, for me, the next step my vegan lifestyle has to take is less processed food and that means removing soy from my diet and eating more veggies and beans. Of course, eating tofu is not as much of an eco-sin as eating meat. As Starre said in her recent post to the new Pres:

Meat production is the most energy- and water-intensive food you can eat. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Department reports that 18% of greenhouse gases come from meat and dairy production. Go veg at least half-time Mr. President, and you will save your heart, your colon, and the planet.

Going local while veg is the next best thing you can do for you and the planet. Soy, however, doesn’t grow here in Germany and it’s not always easy in the US, either, to get locally-grown and processed tofu (especially that made from soy that hasn’t been genetically engineered, which is a huge enviro no-no in my book, and which accounts for 85% of US grown soy). In some of the countries that export soy to the US, it has become such a viable crop due to biofuels and its use as a cattlefeed that eco havoc is being wreaked in some places, and I don’t want to get behind that anymore by buying beans from Brazil. Or from anywhere else. So if I can swap a mushroom burger for a tofu burger, I will. At least, that’s what I’m resolving to do. But for everyone else, well, that’s up to you.

agriculture, Amazon, book, Brazil, car, driving, eating, Eco-Chick, Energy, epa, fall, Food, gas, Germany, Greensolutions, health, local, meat, New Year, New Year's, Obama, processed food, rum, solutions, soy, style, vegan, water

Eco Chick News Tweets!

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by Starre Vartan · 05/11/08

Tweet This!

How The Media Abandoned the Environment, at new techie-with-a-heart-of-green EcoTechDaily.

Check Chris Baskind’s op/ed on the lack of environmental coverage in mainstream media:

No, you’re not imagining things.
With U.S. gasoline prices edging toward $4.00 a gallon; oil prices at an all-time high, demand for materials such as copper outstripping demand; worldwide food shortages; major cities running short on water; Antarctic ice sheets crumbling into the Southern Ocean; and continued uncertainty over our climatological future, you’d think the environment would be front-and-center on the evening news. And you’d be wrong.

14 New Species Discovered in Brazil, from The Daily Green

Dan Shapely reports that there are indeed new things under the sun (at least to humans). Check the gorg flipbook!:

….at the top of the Serra Geral in Brazil’s Cerrado region, where 14 new species have been discovered during an expedition to the wooded savanna.

Another new Bike Chic page (I keep writing about this subject; check it here and here) and Carectomy has found another one!

If full body Spandex isn’t your speed, check out Cycle Chic, a London-based blog that offers tips on how to look devastatingly hot (wear designer pants from Stella McCartney, or your boyfriend’s t-shirt), stay sweat-free (don’t go too fast and sport a light, summery dress), and “cycle yourself slim,” all while biking to your intended destination.

arctic, bikes, book, Brazil, car, cars, cities, design, designer, dress, Eco-Chick, Food, gas, London, mainstream, media, new species, News, oil, Op/Ed, rum, skin, spa, sport, style, summer, t-shirt, Vogue, water, wood

Witnessing a Rape

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by Starre Vartan · 03/30/08

This image of razed rainforest in Brazil’s Mato Grasso that’s now planted with soybeans (from which to make fuel) is my definition of a travesty. That’s a bit of transitional forest in the foreground, nature hemmed into a tidy square so the developer can claim ‘conservation’ not doubt.

Time Magazine’s cover story, “The Clean Energy Scam” goes into the details of why ethanol and biofuels made from planting crops aren’t going to solve our global warming problems and in fact, may exacerbate them, creating food shortages to boot. Check it.

From the article:

From his Cessna a mile above the southern Amazon, John Carter looks down on the destruction of the world’s greatest ecological jewel. He watches men converting rain forest into cattle pastures and soybean fields with bulldozers and chains. He sees fires wiping out such gigantic swaths of jungle that scientists now debate the “savannization” of the Amazon. Brazil just announced that deforestation is on track to double this year; Carter, a Texas cowboy with all the subtlety of a chainsaw, says it’s going to get worse fast. “It gives me goose bumps,” says Carter, who founded a nonprofit to promote sustainable ranching on the Amazon frontier. “It’s like witnessing a rape.”

Amazon, Brazil, deforestation, Global Warming, rainforest

US Green Builders Praise and Celebrate

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by Olivia Zaleski · 05/01/07

What do you get when you mix green engineers, architects, and contractors with alcohol, awards, and a massive Samba band? Building-savants dancing the Brazilian tango and a fantastically good time.

Image by Christopher Auger-Domínguez, Studio 4b.

Saturday night, I attended the USGBC’s (United States Green Building Council) first annual LEEDers Awards Dinner. The event, sponsored by Green Depot, praised those individuals, who actively promote the design, construction and operation of “energy efficient, healthy, productive and environmentally responsible building in New York City.” In a large open loft on the Lower West Side of Manhattan, USGBC members and award recipients gathered to applaud honorable greenies such as Audi Banny, the senior co-chair of EGBNY (The Emerging Green Builder’s Committee), and Tim Fu the driving force behind LEED workshops and the EGB Career Fair held this past March. The highest honor went to Joyce LaValle, who pioneered the Greenbuild International Conference and Expo in Atlanta, bringing together over 12,000 industry experts, and influential leaders in the green building movement.

Image by Christopher Auger-Domínguez, Studio 4b.

The event also celebrated what USGBC President, Fiona Cousins, referred to as “milestones” in environmentalism. “The intergovernmental panel on climate change has declared human-made global warming a reality, the EPA have been told that they must regulate greenhouse gases, and Al Gore has won an Oscar for making a movie with climate change at it’s heart!” As guests congratulated, toasted, and samba-ed it was clear that these architects, contractors, and engineers were satisfied with their achievements, but determined to continue on their green mission.