Eco-Chick · The modern girl's guide to living green & fabulous.

Breaking the Silence with Congo Week

Last Sunday kicked off “Break the Silence” Congo Week. (I know, we’re a bit late!) From now until October 25th, students from the US, Canada, England, Belgium, Germany, France, Brazil, Jamaica, Norway, Korea, Ghana, Mali, South Africa, Columbia, and others are running events to raise awareness about what is going on in the Congo.

What is happening there is one of the greatest humanitarian crisis in the world today. The United Nations said it is the deadliest conflict in the world since World War Two. However, hardly anything is said about it in the media; though last weekend, The NYTimes published an article to shed some light on the story.
Basically, militias are being sent into the Congo to break the spirits of the people there through rape and violence so that they can mine and steal the resources of the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo) such as Coltan (used to make computers, cell phones, DVDs, kid’s game consoles, etc), copper, and diamonds and then sell it to the corporations.

Guess who some of those are? (It’s companies in the US, Europe, and Asia who supply us with all our cool stuff).  How often do you buy a new tech gadget? Are you quick to go for the refurbished tech piece, or the brand spankin’ new edition that gets updated yearly? All those gadgets are made from special base metals in the Earth, and are incredibly valuable in a poor continent like Africa- valuable enough to rape and kill over.

This long-standing war also feeds into the epidemic of AIDS. Through the rapes, the virus has spread. Thankfully, there are inspiring people like YOUTH AIDS activist Suzanne Africa Engo who is taking a stand and raising awareness for the AIDS epidemic. Right now she is on her journey, running 858 miles from NY to Oprah’s studio in CHICAGO. Check out her site and blog to see how you can help her on this journey. 

A simple solution of free trade can help disintegrate the use of rape as a war tactic. Pressure manufacturers to reclaim/recycle materials that we already have, and not to finance the militias (take action in a number of ways here). Do we really need to buy a new Laptop or DVD player every year or two or three that is made of raw materials that are gotten through murder, torture, and rape?

I know this is all over whelming but a little bit of effort to make a change goes a long way for any cause. We as human beings need to take a stand for our given rights to love, have peace and own our bodies…for the sake of humanity.  Invoke democracy. Speak to others, write to authorities, demand free trade, research, ask for help if you need it.  VOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“Be the change that you want to see and help create the world that you would want to bring your own children into.”

Eco Chic Weekly – October 20, 2008

Green Girls Global shows off the gorgeous jewelry made from antique and reclaimed glass by artist Laura Bergman.

Eco Chick dishes about four of the season’s sexiest sustainable shoes!

Victoria Everman reviews the effective, affordable, and artistic oral care line from Radius.

Safia Minney shares her eco style tips with Greenmystyle.com.

Fashion, Evolved. blogs about poverty and fashion for Blog Action Day.

GreenGirls.tv presents their weekly video wrap up.

Green Cotton reports on her recent trip to Belize!

Get a glimpse of the highlights from the European fashion weeks on DC Goodwill Fashions!

Green Gretchen got engaged and tells us all about conflict free diamonds!

Fig+Sage gives us the scoop about Saffron Rouge, the new organic line by

Portovert Debuts

Back in the beginning of December, I mentioned that a new online-only wedding magazine would be debuting in January. Well, Portovert is up and running, and it looks like they have some great content going on in their premiere issue!

If you are getting married, or know someone who is, check it out as there are some great features, like “5 Ways to Be Greener” during your nuptuals, and “Perfectly Zen” with tips for stress reducers prior to the Big Day. And don’t forget to check out their resources page, which they’ll be adding to as time goes on.

I attended the magazine’s launch party last week and there was all sorts of mainstream media there covering it (and eating awesome organic munchies, along with organic wine and vodka- Yum!). The wedding industry is so insanely waste-producing in so many ways that it’s great to see a publication dedicated to going green. Just think, if your average to-be-married couple just did half their wedding in an eco-concious way I’m sure they would save money (I say spend it on the Honeymoon!) and use fewer resources.

My Top 5 Wedding Planet- and Pocket- Savers

1. Request stuff you actually need and will use for wedding presents (duh!). If you are requesting linens, go organic (there are soooo many companies that offer organic sheets and towels now, in gorgeous colors and prints that rival anything you’d find in a department store or Pottery Barn). If you do need cookware, go for the good stuff that will last you a lifetime (I’m still using pots my grandmother got at her second wedding in the 60′s). If you are already pretty set with stuff, ask friends to give to your favorite charity/animal advocacy group/women’s shelter/environmental organization.

2. If you travel for your Honeymoon, buy carbon offsets for your plane trip (Mental note: that would be a great gift!) and stay at one of the many eco-lodges around the world. A honeymoon is a great excuse to go somewhere exotic….just don’t get so blissed out with your honey that your forget the gorgeous planet that you’re enjoying!

3. Consider only serving organic food or organic alcohol at your reception. If you can afford it, do both. If you have a summer or fall wedding, you should be able to find the bulk of the food at the farmer’s market. Going local will be delicious, cheaper, healthier and better for the planet. Using locally-grown flowers to decorate is also cheaper and Earth-friendly.

4. Skip the goody bags filled with junk-nobody needs. it. Or try giving away seed packets or soap– something that won’t end up in a landfill.

5. If you are going to get a diamond ring and gold or platinum band, look for certified non-conflict gems (ask the jeweler to see the paperwork, they’re obliged to show them to you) and recycled metals, or better yet, go vintage! (For Eco Chick’s coverage of diamonds, click here and here.)

More New York Events

This isn’t so much an Eco-Event as it is a Chick-Event.

Jessica of Feministing is speaking at the panel, which will be on blogging and feminism.

Tuesday, November 14
7pm
Altschul Atrium, Altschul Hall
(Barnard is located between 116th and 120th streets on the west side of Broadway)
Free & open to the public

From the Barnard Center for Research on Women:

Cyberspace . . . will have important effects in encouraging women to participate in designing and implementing models of economic development, constructing stable democracies, ensuring that different cultures can exist side by side without violent conflict and providing the sense of trust, partnership and solidarity that are necessary to any society in which people cooperate for mutual well-being. – Lourdes Arizpe

Of the internet’s viability as a tool for political change, we ask, is there a better example than the blog? Young and youthfully minded feminists have learned that blogging allows them to carve out personal and political spaces where their lives, their issues, their analyses of the world can come into sharp focus. Outside the confines of mainstream media, where women are addressed (usually exclusively) as consumers, feminist bloggers have become the cultural producers blazing some of the most radical and rousing paths toward revolutionary social change.

This one is free and has no reservations required. I’ll be at this one for sure! Go! It will be really interesting. I think that the topic of women in the blogosphere is a HUGE considering the male dominance that we see. It should be fab.

Animals In Medical Research?

When we talk of using animals for biomedical research there are two ground cases as to why it is morally unacceptable; first, it wrongly violates the rights of animals and second because it wrongly imposes on sentient creatures avoidable suffering. In the following I will explain when neither of these arguments is sound based on the misunderstandings of rights and the mistaken calculation of consequence.

When we speak of rights it is understood as the claim or potential claim which one person or party may use against another. To claim that there is a full right we must know who holds the right, against whom it is held and to what it is a right.

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