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

Wildlife Works

1 Comment

by Starre Vartan · 09/25/06

I’m so beyond broke, but the next time I have some cash burning a hole in my pocket, I know where I’m going to go shopping: Wildlife Works. Not only is their stuff riduculously adorable and totally my style, but everything is made from environmentally-friendly materials (mostly organic cotton). AND the profits from the sale of the clothes go to support habitat conservation in Africa. AND they hire locals to work in both the factory and on the wildlife reserve. They explain:

In Kenya, Africa, our Rukinga Wildlife Sanctuary has opened a key migration corridor for endangered elephants, cheetahs, wild dogs, zebras and 43 other large mammal species.
Formerly this area was rife with poaching. Currently, for every person making clothes at Rukinga Africa, we have one person on guard against poachers. Therefore as clothing sales build in the UK and the US, we can afford to protect more wildlife and more critical bio-diverse land.
We work closely with the local community in building schools and helping educate youngsters and their elders alike, regarding the positive effects of wildlife conservation.
As sales build and the factory becomes busier, we employ more people in conservation to look after more wildlife and more land.

Africa, clothes, clothing, community, conservation, cotton, dogs, habitat, local, Organic, organic cotton, sales, schools, Shopping, style, Wildlife

Attention Caffeine Junkies!

5 Comments

by Starre Vartan · 12/28/05

If you drink coffee (about 50% of Americans drink it every day, and 80% quaff it sometimes) you should know where it comes from. (and hey, now it’s good for you, so go ahead!)

The exhaustively researched cover story for the Nov/Dec Issue of E/The Environmental Magazine, “Grounds For Change” covers the coffee industry, from small fair trade outfits to Starbucks.

There’s three labels to be concerned with if you care about people, birds and the health of the earth: organic, fair trade and song-bird friendly. To make your life easier, if your coffee is organic, chances are it’s fair-trade and good bird habitat, so you don’t need to go nuts looking for triple-certified brew. Besides the labelling, organic coffee just tastes better. For the last few weeks I’ve been sipping on Equal Exchange’s decaf and it is the best decaf I’ve ever had! (I know, I know, decaf, I ‘m a weenie).

This is why: “Coffee grows best in tropical highlands,” explains Chris Wille, the Costa Rica-based chief of the Rainforest Alliance’s Sustainable Agriculture Program. The bushy plants are maintained at a height of six to eight feet. After the seeds are dried and hulled, they become green coffee beans. A mature coffee plant generally yields about a pound of roasted beans per year. According to Connecticut-based roaster Coffee-Tea-Etc., “Every step in the process from climate and growing conditions, genetics of the tree, to the final brewing methods affect these natural chemicals. Each of these factors affects the distinct taste of the final brew.”

‘This is what shade-grown coffee looks like. Integrated with the forest, it makes a better tasting coffee.’

‘This is what coffee that\'s grown in the sun looks like. Monoculture alert!’

There are also some excellent sidebars to the article, including one on where to find this good-for-us-all brew.

agriculture, birds, Bush, car, coffee, Fair Trade, habitat, health, junk, magazine, Organic, Plants, rainforest, Starbucks, sustainable, Tea