Habitat · Eco-Chick

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Eco Chic Weekly 8/29/09

Eco Chic Weekly compiles the best of the best in green fashion and beauty blogging each week. Please feel free to copy and use this post on your blog with a link back to Fashion, Evolved.

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Learn how to make ethical fashion choices and upcycle your existing wardrobe this week on Green Girls Global.
Check out the Eco Fashion World interview with Maroussia Rebecq, founder of the Andrea Crews Collective.
Eco-Chick has rounded up some Eco Fashion News from around the web!
The Eco Diva goes local with Etsy.com!
Learn about Bangladesh Garment Factories Going Fair Trade at Ethical Style!
Check out Curatorial’s Limited Edition Collection featured on Feelgood Style.
Green Grechen discusses the impacts of milk silk.
Want to see some of the best organic fashion on sale today? Green Lashes and Fashion has a round up!
8 Ways to Get the Closest Eco Shave for Men and Women–on Greenopia!
Inhabitat is featuring the very drool-worthy Noon Solar Bags.
Modern Hippie Mag has a question about hair oil in their Ask the Beauty Chick column.
Are You a Green Beauty? Take the Quiz on Planet Green!
Upcycled bags are better the second time around…so says The Alternative Consumer!
Join in the Vintage Jewelry Obsession this Fall at The Green Girls.
The Thrifty Chicks are Standing Naked in a Thrift Store.
Treehugger dishes on the 7 Common Cosmetics Ingredients You Need to Avoid!
Fashion, Evolved interviews Jaszy McAllister creator of ethical, beautiful Jaszy’s Jewelry.

bags, Beauty, clothing, cosmetics, design, designer, Eco Chic Weekly, Eco Diva, Eco Fashion World, Eco-Chick, ecofashion, electronics, ethical, ethical fashion, ethical style, Etsy, Fair Trade, fall, Fashion, Feelgood Style, green beauty, Green Lashes and Fashion, habitat, Hair, Inhabitat, interview, Jewelry, local, Milk, mom, News, oil, Organic, organic fashion, PlanetGreen, silk, spa, style, The Green Girls, treehugger, upcycled, vintage, women

Dose of Reality: Engagements

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by Katie Kish · 01/22/09

engagement

To produce that single ounce, miners have to quarry hundreds of tons of rock, which are then doused in a liquid cyanide solution to separate the gold. Payal Sampat, the campaign director for Earthworks, the mining watchdog, told The Independent: “Gold mining is arguably the world’s dirtiest and most polluting industry.”

My boyfriend proposed not too long ago (so I guess he’s not my boyfriend anymore) and he said the hardest thing wasn’t worrying about if I’d say yes or no…or getting the mood right…or doing it at the right time…or any of those small things. He said the hardest part, by far, was finding a ring that wouldn’t make me go into a rant about mining and health or cry because of child soldiers.

Recently National Geographic put up a slide show about gold – its effects on people and the environment.
dirtygold

A wedding ring which costs around $2000 (CND) which is about 1 ounce of gold creates up to 30 tons of toxic waste. This toxic waste effects us all here in North America as our lakes are not only threatened to be turned into dump sites, but already are in some cases.

CBC News has learned that 16 Canadian lakes are slated to be officially but quietly “reclassified” as toxic dump sites for mines. The lakes include prime wilderness fishing lakes from B.C. to Newfoundland.
Environmentalists say the process amounts to a “hidden subsidy” to mining companies, allowing them to get around laws against the destruction of fish habitat.

And really…The real cost of gold is a dirty one that could be with us for centuries as shown be previous studies.

Environmental Fate of Mercury
* “Hot spots” at mine sites
* Contaminated sediments
* Transport to downstream areas
* Bioaccumulation and biomagnification in food chain
Risks to Human Health
* Consumption of contaminated fish
* Improper handling of contaminated sediments
* Inhalation of mercury vapors
* Low risk in municipal drinking water
* Some mine waters unsafe for consumption

And although there are attempts to make it cleaner, you can do your part to make sure your bling is ethical. My engagement ring is from Brilliant earth, which was his final choice after checking out blue nile, polar bear diamonds and greenKarat.

consumption, drinking water, Eco-Chick, epa, ethical, fish, Food, habitat, health, News, produce, sport, Tea, waste, water, wedding

Greenpeace Rates Seafood Sustainability at Supermarkets

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by Kimberly Jordan Allen · 12/11/08

This week Greenpeace released the second edition of a seafood sustainability report rating North American supermarkets. The initial report gave a failing grade to every single market, including the modern green mecca of Whole Foods. At the time of the first report, not one of the markets had policies in place that guaranteed environmentally conscious practices. In this recent report, four markets received passing scores, indicating a minor shift in purchasing.

Whole Foods made it back up the list to the number one spot, with Trader Joe’s coming in almost dead last at number seventeen. Many stores continue to stock “red list” seafood such as Chilean sea bass and swordfish. Some companies have made strides, but not one supermarket cited in the report has made a solid commitment to avoid seafood from fisheries that harm other sea creatures such as dolphins, sea turtles, and seals. All supermarkets rated still sell destructively fished and over-fished species, although some are faster to improve sustainability by refusing to sell certain items, including shark and orange roughy. Seafood sales currently amount to approximately $16 billion annually.

“While many supermarkets seek to green their image, the bottom line is that they are contributing to the crisis facing our oceans,” said Greenpeace’s Oceans Campaign Director John Hocevar, a marine biologist. “The initial steps being taken to implement sustainability policies and practices are the right ones but bigger strides are needed to prevent the collapse of our marine ecosystems.”

To help ensure the long-term sustainability of fisheries and marine ecosystems, Greenpeace advocates the creation of a worldwide network of marine reserves and fisheries management based on a precautionary, ecosystem-based approach. Today, supermarkets can help the oceans and meet consumer demand for sustainable products by refusing to sell seafood from fisheries that:

- exploit endangered, vulnerable and/or protected species, or species with poor stock status;
- cause habitat destruction and/or lead to ecosystem alterations;
- cause negative impacts on other, non-target species;
- are unregulated, unreported, illegal or managed poorly, and
- cause negative impacts on local, fishing dependent communities.

And what can you do? Many feel that eating fish is no longer a viable option since various species are being depleted at such an alarming rate. If you do eat fish, you can print out one of these wallet cards from the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and reference it when making seafood and fish choices. Also, shop at a local fishmonger rather than the supermarket, if you can. There you’ll be able to cultivate a relationship with the fish-sellers and you can work with them to make sure you’re getting locally-caught, sustainable seafood and fish. Ask questions.

car, eating, farm, fish, Food, habitat, local, oceans, Outdoors, reference, sales, sustainability, sustainable, Target

MMMMMmmmmmm……. KETTLE CHIPS!

5 Comments

by Starre Vartan · 01/29/08

So I don’t normally go on about how much I love a certain product on Eco Chick, unless it’s really, really good (and it relates to the environment, somehow).

But oh my god, how much do I love the new BBQ Kettle Chips! And I NEVER even pick up BBQ flavored anything, in fact, I’m not really into potato chips…..well, uh, except sometimes, like whenever I have a bag in the house.

Not only are these chips supertasty, but Kettle’s working with the National Wildlife Federation to promote the org’s backyard habitat programs, which encourages homeowners and renters alike to turn their little bit of backyard turf (or acres of lawn) into patches of wildlife habitat. This doesn’t mean keeping a black bear in your 1/2 acre behind the house, but what it does mean is planting indigenous flora to attract (and feed) birds, butterflies and beneficial insects, and providing places for animals and insects to nest and hide from predators. NWF will show you how, and if you get your yard wildlife-friendly through the program, Kettle Chips will send you a free bag of chippy wonderfulness.

(Now if only Kettle would start making ALL of their chips from organic potatoes!!)

Kettle also goes green by having a LEED gold-certified factory in Wisconsin, have revitalized a wetlands nearby to their Salem, Oregon HQ, and has wind turbines on their roof as well as offsetting the rest of their energy use with wind credits.

Food, habitat, potato chips, Wildlife

Eco-Fashion Makes Local Farmers Happy

4 Comments

by Katie Kish · 01/10/08

The organics industry is expected to boom faster than ever in the next few years. And I’m stoked.

It seems like everywhere I look, someone else is going organic. Just the other day I was perusing my favorite store, H&M and came across and entire organic section, that I had somehow missed the other times I was in there. We’re seeing them pop up all over – The Gap, American Apparel and prAna. It’s cool to be granola, and the farmers are loving it. As with the new craving for locally grown foods, the local farmers are starting to feel the love sustainably harvested homegrown threads.

Both American Apparel and prAna are not only continuing their lengthy organic roots, but will be doing so from Southern California to offset the carbon burned while transporting the goods! Woo!