Christmas · Eco-Chick

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Bizarre Bazaar in LA

While I can’t really conceive of being somewhere sunny and warm (not that the Northeast has been exactly frigid lately) for the holidays, I guess people on the West Coast DO still celebrate the Christmas Holidays. If you’re down for some eco-friendly shopping (think recycled candy wrapper purses, hand-knitted goods and silkscreened t’s) all in one place, head to the Bizarre Bazaar on Saturday, December 16th.

Two bucks gets you into the Shrine Auditorium Expo Center where the Bazaar is being held.

Where: 700 West 32nd Street, Los Angeles 90007
When: 11am-7pm

Christmas, holiday, Holidays, Los Angeles, purses, recycle, recycled, Shopping, silk

Eco-Wrapping

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by Ann Benoit · 11/20/06

presents

Although the Holiday season hasn’t officially hit (I know its not even Thanksgiving), its never too early too start thinking about environmental ways to approach the season. It is estimated that almost 25 million tons more waste is created during the holidays than over a typical ten-week period. The extra waste amounts to 25 million tons of garbage, or about 1 million extra tons per week!

If every family reused just two feet of holiday ribbon, the 38,000 miles of ribbon saved could tie a bow around the entire planet. If every American family wrapped just 3 presents in re-used materials, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields. The 2.65 billion Christmas cards sold each year in the U.S. could fill a football field 10 stories high. If we each sent one card less, we’d save 50,000 cubic yards of paper.

So enough of statistics! Here are some tips to be more environmentally conscious when wrapping presents:

Instead of using wrapping paper, get in the habit of wrapping your family presents in cool fabric and ribbons that you reuse every year. If you’re super crafty, make cloth sacks out of fun fabric and ribbon closures or knit one. Thrift stores often have great options for inexpensive fabrics. Get creative!

If you do use wrapping paper, try to buy only recycled options. Fortunately attractive options exist! One of my favorite companies, paporganics, “sustainable stationary and gift wrap” sells beautiful gift wrap and all the trimmings (hemp wrap, gift enclosure cards, natural ribbons and gift tissue). savitris makers of handmade recycled paper products also sells gorgeous gift wrap that i would drool to get a present wrapped in. BuyGiftPaper.com sells inexpensive recycled wrapping paper in solid colors ($12.95 for a 24″x100′roll) and KidBean sells recycled hemp wrap.

Use recycled craft paper to create your own recycled wrap with interesting stamps or sponge painting

Make sure to recycle all wrapping paper when possible, but check first with your local recycling program to make sure they accept conventional wrapping paper. Most conventional wrapping paper contains a high content of metal and is therefore not accepted by most programs. When not using recycled wrap, try not to buy the metallic wrap because of this reason.

Make your own wrapping paper by recycling ordinary items from your house. Colorful magazine pages, the comics, wacky personals pages, phone book listings all make interesting and unique wrapping materials. Make a collage and use that. Why buy paper when you can just reuse something cool you already have?

book, car, Christmas, Crafts, fabric, fabrics, garbage, giving, Handmade, hemp, holiday, Holidays, kids, local, magazine, Organic, paper, recycle, recycled, Recycling, reuse, sustainable, Tea, waste

Way Out Wax Does Lavender

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by Kimberly Jordan Allen · 09/16/06

Walking by a mainstream candle store on my way to the health food shop made my head pound almost instantly yesterday. The vulgar synthetic pumpkin smell being pumped out of this place was nothing remotely similar to any natural smell I have ever known. I am always amazed how many people burn these candles indiscriminately in their homes, sometimes all day long, filling the air with a stench that is supposed to evoke the aroma of a sugar cookie, an autumn breeze, or the smell of Christmas – Ugh! These odoriferous bombs make my nose itch. Go natural. Don’t expose your family and loved ones to synthetic, artificially derived fragrances that can cause allergies, asthma, and headaches. There are plenty of natural essential oils that can produce a pleasant scent experience.

As far as natural goes, lavender has always been one of my favorite herbs. At the health food store, I picked up a lavender candle made by Way Out Wax and it filled my house with the soothing smell. I try to support Vermont industries, having lived there in the past, and Way Out Wax makes it easy. This candle company makes some of the best smelling handmade candles around using soy and beeswax while avoiding dyes or artificial fragrances. Lavender has long been used as a stress aide, headache reliever, to deter insects, for skin problems and to alleviate insomnia and depression. As with all herbs, if you plan to use the essential oil directly, research the herb and its properties and cross-reference existing conditions and contradictory indications regarding therapeutic use.

allergies, autumn, candles, Christmas, dyes, essential oils, farm, Food, Handmade, health, Home, insects, Lavender, mainstream, oil, oils, produce, rape, reference, skin, soy, sugar

Excuse Me, There’s Blood on Your Diamond

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by Starre Vartan · 07/06/06

“I don’t understand about diamonds, and why men buy them. What’s so impressive about a diamonds except the mining?”

—Fiona Apple

Many of the prisoner-laborers who work Sierra Leone’s open-pit mines end up in shallow graves, executed for suspected theft, for lack of production, or simply for sport. (© Jean-Claude Coutausse/ CONTACT Press Images)

A few years ago, I asked for jewelry for Christmas; I wanted my boyfriend to give me something that I could wear and be reminded of him. When he gave me a pretty sapphire and diamond necklace, I tried not to be horribly disappointed. After I explained why I wasn’t into the gift, he gallantly returned the expensive necklace and exchanged it for a gorgeous green amber amulet for half the price. Amber I can love: Composed from the preserved living blood of a tree, it often contains pockets of ancient air, or even an unlucky insect, and catches the light in ways that a diamond never could.

Maybe its because I studied Geology in college that I see diamonds differently than most women. To me they are just cold carbon chains, unique from common coal and graphite only in the way the atoms line up. Diamonds have a crystalline lattice structure as opposed to coal’s earthy conglomerate one.

But I’ve determined that its neither geology nor taste that is the real reason that I don’t want a diamond ring (or teardrop earrings, or a honking diamond necklace when I strike it rich) one day. It’s the fact that the majority of diamonds are made from the backbreaking labor of the African people who mine them (who make about $30 a week officially, but usually make half that) and the Indian people who cut and polish them (the average price to cut a stone is about .25) Diamonds are also used to fund wars: Rebel leaders in Sierra Leone have used diamonds to pay for weapons that have thus far killed 75,000 and left 12 million homeless. Since Americans buy 65% of the world’s diamonds, you can bet our lust for the gems has financed murders.

Most poor countries have few laws to protect the environment and even less to enforce them. Diamond mining opens gaping holes in the Earth and pollutes the water as topsoil and mine ‘tailings’ (toxic chemicals) wash into surrounding waterways. I’ve seen this first-hand in the US, where there are regulations, and lets just say ‘destroyed landscape’ pretty much sums it up.

On top of all of this, diamonds are a racket. It costs less than $10.00 to dig a .8 carat diamond out of the ground, polish it, and ship it to the US, where it will be sold for $1000 or more. Diamonds are only valuable because companies set artificial price controls. Diamond marketers spend billions yearly on advertising to convince us that diamonds mean love, power and exclusivity, when really they are plentiful and cheap.

From Wikipedia:

The production and distribution of diamonds is largely consolidated in the hands of a few key players, and concentrated in traditional diamond trading centers (the most important being Antwerp). The De Beers company holds a clearly dominant position in the industry, and has done so since soon after its founding in 1888. De Beers owns or controls a significant portion of the world’s rough diamond production facilities (mines) and distribution channels for gem-quality diamonds. The company and its subsidiaries own mines that produce some 40 percent of annual world diamond production. At one time it was thought over 80 percent of the world’s rough diamonds passed through the Diamond Trading Company (DTC, a subsidiary of De Beers) in London, but presently the figure is estimated at less than 50 percent. De Beers used its monopoly position to establish strict price controls, and market diamonds directly to consumers in world markets.

You can read more about Amenesty International’s experience with diamond mines here. And don’t let me get into gold mining…(that will have to be a future post).

If you or your loved one insists on a diamond, there are thousands of vintage stones out there; you can use one to create a new ring or necklace, or enjoy a more old-fashioned style. There are also many great sustainable jewelry companies out there, and there IS the option of ‘conflict-free’ diamonds from Canada, but for me, the environmental consequences of any kind of mining are too extreme to justify it, even if the miners are paid a fair wage.