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Behind the Scenes of the Project Green Search Model Competition Finals

Project Green Search, the first-ever green model competition, has a winner! Rachel Avalon hails from Los Angeles, California, and beat out over 130 other serious contenders for her new title as Green It Girl (read more about Rachel and her plans here). But before the winner was chosen, there were activities, photo shoots and some very good times.

The Ten Gorgeous (and Green to the Core!) Finalists Photo by Courtney Dailey.

Judging Project Green Search was lots of fun; I got a chance to go to most of the activities with the finalists and got to know them; what an impressive group of young women! From an Indy racecar driver to a natural nutritional counselor, to a college activist and an environmental educator, this was a talented and driven group of contenders. And as you can see, all of them were gorgeous too! The judging crew and I (see below) had our work cut out for us.

The judges! From left to right: Michael Zaliski, CEO of Omniquest Media, Anna Griffin, editor-in-chief of Coco Eco Magazine, Starre Vartan, author and publisher of Eco-Chick.com (I’m wearing an organic cotton dress by Doie), Remy Chevalier, Co-founder of Project Green Search, Deborah Lindquist, ecofashion designer, Josie Maran, former model and force behind Josie Maran Cosmetics, and Darren Moore, host of AlterEco and founder of Ecovations.

Day One: I got a chance to meet all the girls at a breakfast at our hotel, The Standard on Sunset Boulevard. Everyone was so excited to be there, and Taryn from EcoDivasTV started filming right away, and off we went!

Vanessa Meier even looks gorgeous in curlers! At Shades salon in LA. Image by Remy Chevalier for Lu Magazine.

art, bamboo, cashmere, community, contest, cosmetics, cotton, denim, design, designer, dress, Eco-Chick, ecofashion, electric, environment, farm, Fashion, fur, Furniture, garden, green model, greens, Hair, hemp, Home, interview, it girl, Josie Maran, Los Angeles, magazine, media, model, natural, nontoxic, Organic, organic cotton, pictures, skin, Starre Vartan, tv, video

Crude, the Film, Shows Real Price of America's Oil Addiction (Hint: It's Not Just the Environment)

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by Kimberly Jordan Allen · 08/10/09

Crude is the story of a community of 30,000 tribal members in the Amazonian jungle of Ecuador who hold a corporation to bear for its crimes against their land, their livelihood, and most importantly, their lives. The film follows the intricacies of what has been called the “Amazon Chernobyl.”

The indigenous population claims that Chevron, the parent company to the former Texaco, spent thirty years contaminating the air, land, and water of an area the size of Rhode Island which is now called the “death zone.” Cancer, leukemia, and birth defects are among some of the effects of Big Oil. The film was shot and edited over a period of three years, with Berlinger and the crew sacrificing their own safety by facing both environmental (toxic fumes, disease, searing equatorial heat) and man-made dangers (shooting near the Colombian border where drug runners and FARC rebels are very active) to capture a story they felt must be shared with the rest of the world.

Berlinger’s cinematic sensibility paints a picture that captures the lush vitality of the Amazon, the horrendous atrocities endured by the tribespeople, and the complicated path that social justice must traverse, all the while avoiding cliche and stereotypes. Amazon Watch and the Rainforest Foundation have both been instrumental in bringing the Ecuadorian devastation to the public eye.

Trudie Styler, Sting’s wife, and noted activist, appears in the film to lend celebrity to the cause. Repeatedly referring to the Amazon as “the lungs of the earth,” Styler and others point to the far more serious nature of the toxicity than mere dollars can assuage. If Ecuador is in trouble, we are ALL in trouble. If tribe members cannot fish or swim, that affects us directly. Transnationals can no longer act in a vacuum of backyard antics.

Vanity Fair featured an article in the 2007 Green Issue on the case in Ecuador, and attorney Pablo Fajardo, who passionately represents the plaintiffs. In one scene in the film, Fajardo notes that he is not intimidated by the high powered legal team because he has truth on his side, which makes his work that much easier. He doesn’t have to work diligently to create lies about what is happening.

Without sensationalizing the health effects of the toxic swamp left in the Ecuadorian jungle, Berlinger simply allows the water to tell the tale. The water, the rivers, the streams, and pools appear fresh from a distance as children play, women wash, and people drink. Once approached, the rainbow sheen of petrol catches the light and the scent of gasoline sends heads reeling. The ground is soft sludge as the pollutants work their way through the soil and into the Earth. One of the Texaco/Chevron representatives claims: “this is not contamination, this is industrial exploitation that your government permitted.” Amazing. This film must be seen.

In order for this film to have a chance of being seen by the rest of the country, it must nearly sell-out in NY, LA and SF, so tell your friends, blog about it, spread the word…go see this film. Because the film doesn’t have huge marketing dollars, it’s up to people like you and me to spread the word online.

Here are some important screening dates: for locations click here
-NYC: September 9-22
-L.A.: September 18-24
-S.F.: September 25-October 1
-D.C.: October 23-29

Amazon, Cancer, Chevron, children, cities, community, death, exploitation, farm, fish, gas, health, Lush, News, NYC, oil, Outdoors, Politics, rainforest, rum, style, Tea, Vanity Fair, water, women

Boys and Girls Club "Be Great, Be Green" Contest Finalists: Saving the World, and ADORABLE!

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by Starre Vartan · 03/25/09

I’m so honored to be one of the five judges for the Boys and Girls Club’s Be Great, Be Green competition, which encouraged Torch Club members (ages 11-13) to come up with an original project to green their communities. I’ll share the Top Five entries with you here- and let me know who YOU think should win the grand prize ($2500)! Sponsoring organization, the Staples Foundation both provided the prize and surveyed all the Torch Club members about their top environmental concerns (nationally, the kids were concerned with global warming and pollution; locally recycling topped the list- smart kids!).

The official winner will be announced on Friday, so I’ll update this post then. In no particular order, here are the five top entries (hundreds of kids participated); the Torch Club members were asked to come up with creative ways to improve their local environment. Warning: I cried several times reading through the long descriptions of the project while voting (I was on an Amtrak from Boston to NYC- quite embarassing), but I couldn’t help it, these kids are INSPIRING!

Torch Club Name/Location: Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Kalamazoo Torch Club; Kalamazoo, MI
Project Name: Clean Kids/Fresh Air Initiative
Recognizing laundry detergent as one of the greatest needs for community families, Torch Club members decided to make their own laundry detergent and bottle it using recycled containers. Several recipes were researched and tested and the final version cost $.38/gallon, well under the price of the majority of brand names. The profits made from detergent sales will be used to care for a fruit orchard and pine tree farm.

This is just extremely practical, and so smart in these economic times. And those huge plastic laundry containers are so wasteful! Hopefully these kids learned what a scam a lot of the stuff (especially toxic cleaning products) are; expensive and unhealthy!

I love seeing kids put their hands in compost! Get messy! Play with worms! Yeah!

Torch Club Name/Location: Boys & Girls Clubs of Emerald Valley Torch Club; Eugene, OR
Project Name: The Miracle of Worms, Lessons through Vermiculture
This project allowed Torch Club members to use what they learned through previous national projects and take recycling to the next level. They introduced composting to the Club and introduced vermiculture (composting with worms) to its members. The Torch Club was responsible for the constant care of the worms and used worm debris as a nutrient-rich fertilizer for dirt used for plants, flowers, fruit trees and garden vegetables. Selling this enriched dirt demonstrated how Torch Club members are recycling to sustain their community’s environment.

I just love the idea of kids learning about vermiculture! I grew up playing with worms- every kid should have the pleasure of their slippery wriggliness, and watching them make rich earth from compost is a great lesson that nothing is wasted in nature.

Torch Club Name/Location: The Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Denver Torch Club; Denver, CO
Project Name: Recycling Program
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Denver created a project that demonstrated the importance and impact a recycling program could have both within their club and throughout the Denver community. Torch Club members created flyers with information on what types of materials could be recycled and where fellow members could easily find recycling bins. They also posted statistics about pollution and trash build-up and their negative effect on the environment. In an effort to reduce the amount of trash in their community, Torch Club members designated different parts of their neighborhood each week to receive a trash pick-up.

The part I liked best about this one is that the kids talked to lots of folks in their community (including other kids!) about why recycling really matters. That takes guts!

This ferret was fed with fresh organic produce grown by the kids in The Caring People Alliance

Torch Club Name/Location: The Caring People Alliance in Philadelphia, an affiliate of Boys & Girls Clubs of America; Philadelphia, PA
Project Name: “The Caring Garden Project”
The Caring People Alliance Torch Club is being recognized for their “Caring Garden” project, which involved growing a vegetation garden to demonstrate how the earth can be used to produce products that benefit others. With the help of their local community, Torch Club members designed and created raised garden beds that produced an assortment of vegetables that were fed to animals in the Club’s Caring Paws Program, which teaches kids about treating and caring for small animals.

The full description of this one made me cry on the Amtrak (in public) when I was reading through the judging materials. This urban group not only made a beautiful community garden, but then they fed themselves AND rescued animals with it! Sniff!

The Edgewater Torch Club kids assembling the monofilament recycling bins

Torch Club Name/Location: Edgewater Boys & Girls Club of Volusia/Flagler Counties;
Edgewater, FL
Project Name: “Monofilament Recovery and Recycling”
The “Monofilament Recovery and Recycling” project included researching the dangers of monofilament (a thin string made from a single fiber used for fishing) to humans, birds, and other animals. In response to their findings, the Club developed a recycling program, which consisted of creating monofilament collection bins and distributed them throughout the community, in particular to fishermen in the area, for an easy way to dispose recycled items. The project successfully raised awareness around the danger of monofilament and will result in long-term benefits to wildlife and their community for years to come.

So thoughtful and region-specific! A great idea that will save animals far into the future (birds and other animals eat monofiliment (fishing wire), or it strangles them.

The bins that were installed by club members for recycling the monofilament

community, kids, local environment

Brainforest: How Does Community Sustain Us?

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by Alicia Lubowski-Jahn · 03/03/09

Brainforest is a Chicago-based creative agency that has integrated an ethos of social service (people) and sustainability (planet) into the workplace (profit). The Triple Bottom Line seems to come effortlessly to a company that volunteers at the Greater Chicago Food Depository, dedicates pro bono service per annum to a specially selected client, including the Gilda’s Club Chicago, and established a non-proft organization Bfriend, Inc. to support charitable projects.

Most recently Bfriend, Inc. implemented a supply re-use program called Creative Pitch. Art materials donated by Chicago-area design and marketing businesses are gathered and distributed free of charge to neighborhood schools in need of art and educational supplies. Similar creative re-use programs have sprung up in other cities, including New York’s Materials for the Arts, Fort Lauderdale’s Trash to Treasure, and Oakland’s East Bay Depot For Creative Reuse. Unwanted and unused materials that would ordinarily be pitched in the dumpster, are creatively re-purposed and re-cycled to pitch in.

A reciprocal exchange lies behind Brainforest’s ”good works” initiatives, which are designed as “giving back to the community that sustains us.” As Dian Sourelis, a Partner at Brainforest and Founder/Chairperson of Bfriend, Inc, explains, the projects have grown organically from a wholehearted desire to serve others: “We are generous people. We think about what we can do for other people. People who work here really want to do that.” Behind Brainforest’s acts of giving back to the community, lies a message about the many returns of a circular sustainability. Through giving, lies the potential to receive again and again.

business, cities, community, creative reuse, design, Food, giving, Hair, Home, Organic, rainforest, reuse, schools, sustainability, trash

Starre Vartan to Speak at "Plugging Into Green" Panel in Brooklyn

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by Starre Vartan · 01/20/09

P.S. 107 Kicks off its 5th Annual “Readings on the 4th Floor” Series by Plugging into the Green Movement Leading writers from the frontlines of “green” discuss life and community-changing strategies.

Why in a city with the cleanest water in the country do the mass of New Yorkers cling to their chemical-infused bottled water? Is “reduce, reuse, recycle” a livable reality for most families?

Leading writers on all issues green will gather to sort through the facts from the garbage at the 5th Annual “Readings on the 4th Floor” series which kicks off Wednesday, January 21st in Park Slope, Brooklyn at 7:30 PM.

The theme of the first reading is “Plug Into Green.” The reading and discussion will feature:

Elizabeth Royte, author of Garbage Land & most recently Bottlemania
Helen Coronato, author of Eco-Friendly Families
Starre Vartan, author of The Eco-Chick Guide to Life

The discussion will be moderated by Graham Hill, founder of Treehugger, the internet’s leading green news portal.

Each of the authors approaches different aspects of green. Coronato has produced a hands-on guide for families that want to adopt eco lifestyles.

Royte is an investigative reporter devoted to uncovering the truth behind topics like the marketing of bottled water and the disposal of trash in America.

Starre Vartan is determined to prove that green can be fabulous, fashionable and not too expensive.

The unifying tone of the panelists is one of levity and humor toward a crucially-important topic: Green doesn’t have to be dull or scolding.

Plug into Green will be held on the 4th Floor of PS 107, which is located at 13th Street and 8th Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Tickets are $15 online at www.ps107.org or $20 at the door.

All books will be available for sale.

This esteemed topical literary series continues to raise funds for the newly renovated fourth floor library/art/performance space of P.S. 107 and has featured everyone from Pulitzer prize winning authors such as Jumpha Lahiri, Interpreter of Maladies, to leading journalists including George Packer of The New Yorker.

The series this year will continue through the spring with evenings devoted to making theater happen in New York and Brooklyn nov