Los Angeles · Eco-Chick

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CHEC: Children's Health Environmental Coalition

The Children’s Health Environmental Coalition (CHEC) is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating awareness and preventive action through educating parents, caregivers, and the general public about environmental toxins and the importance of living a sustainable existence. Focusing on our youth, the CHEC hopes to minimize unnecessary exposure to man-made toxins that exist in our homes and public spaces, thereby preventing risk and generating grassroots action.

The CHEC is supported by a diverse group of board members who span vast sectors of the environmental spectrum. Some of these members are: Erin Brockovich-Ellis, the Director of Environmental Research at the Masry & Vititoe law firm in Los Angeles, Olivia Newton-John, Tessa Hill, whose son Clinton Hill founded Kids for Saving Earth before he died of cancer, and James and Nancy Chuda, who founded the CHEC after losing their daughter Colette, at five years old, to a form of environmentally derived cancer that was preventable.

The Chudas have been prominent in the realm of environmental education and reform. After losing their daughter at such a tragically young age, they began a foundation in her name that became the CHEC. Legislation has passed, including the Healthy Schools Act of 2000 that was signed into law in September of that year, in large part due to their passion and commitment to creating a healthier world for our children, and the CHEC is an organization that pays homage to their cause in a myriad of ways. With public representatives such as Laura Dern, Amy Brenneman, Leo DiCaprio, Myra Goodman of Earthbound Farms, Jeffrey Hollender of 7th Generation, and Meryl Streep, as well as professors, scientists and administrators from Yale, UCLA, Harvard, and the National Institute of Health Sciences, the CHEC is a prominent voice for environmentalism in the international community.

The CHEC has a new blog that focuses on precaution, prevention and self-empowerment when it comes to making our homes and the surrounding environment as safe as possible for ourselves and our children. The blog is sharp looking and well-written – highly recommended for anyone interested in living organically.

Cancer, car, children, coal, community, design, eating, farm, farms, health, Home, kids, Los Angeles, magazine, Organic, rum, schools, spa, sustainable, Toxins

I Hear Country in LA

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by Brianne Goodspeed · 09/09/06

Given the slick and shlocky stuff that pervades the radio, music that goes by the name “country” is likely to elicit only rolled eyeballs and guttural groans. But it’s worth remembering that country music isn’t all kitsch. Some musicians (I think of Johnny Cash and Gillian Welch) manage country music’s story-telling tradition with authenticity and bonafide pathos.

Los Angeles-based “I See Hawks in LA” gets to the story-telling, too. If you’re the kind of person who likes a song that begins, “She was born in a school-bus on the Blue Ridge Parkway,” you might want to check out their stuff, here. Also worth checking out is their blog, In the Nest and on the Road.

Los Angeles, Music

Dispatch from LA

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by Brianne Goodspeed · 09/01/06

Maybe this is where Paris Hilton lives

When I moved out to Los Angeles three weeks ago, some of my friends were puzzled. I am not a city girl. I don’t like clubs, or fashion, or glitz, or glamour. I sleep in my sleeping bag even at home, and I cut my toenails with a jackknife. I tried not to think about how long it would be before I would again taste spring water bubbling out of the ground. Sure enough, after only a couple of weeks, I was close to urban-induced hysteria. “What have I done?” I thought, as I pined for a quiet place to pitch my tent.

So, it’s with delight (or perhaps urgency) that I’m discovering that LA is a greener city than outsiders realize. Last weekend, I learned that the LA chapter of the Sierra Club was hosting a ten-mile hike in the nearby San Gabriel Mountains. “Mountains,” I thought. “Sign me up.”

In addition to promoting “the exploration and enjoyment of Earth’s wild places,” the Sierra Club is one of the most powerful environmental advocacy groups in the nation. Founded in 1892 by John Muir, the Sierra Club now has over 750,000 members. 58,000 of them make up the Los Angeles Chapter. Since its inception, the club has been responsible for protecting over 132 million acres of national park and wilderness land.

On Sunday, twenty-seven of us hikers met in Sierra Madre, a little bedroom community less than an hour from my home, and car-pooled up a scenic winding road to Chantry Flats, where our hike through the Santa Anita canyon would begin and end. For the past few years, Chantry Flats has been inaccessible by car while the Forest Service repaired the road, but in June, the road re-opened, and visitors have since had access to the Flats and the canyon.

The sun was already high by the time we reached the trailhead. Our group waited while everyone got their boots tied. And then emptied their bladders. And then filled their water bottles. Uugh. I wanted to go—to be out on the trail—and instead it was like we were sitting in traffic, wasting out time on a beautiful day. But as we set off into the woods, two hawks swooped and circled above, and I fell into an easy pace with a stranger walking next to me. I thought of Edward Abbey, who advised, “Breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air.”

The most delightful part of the Santa Anita loop is the first two miles. The trail meanders along a creek and past little cabins built underground and into the hills, making the woods feel like some clandestine gnome colony where cheerful dwarves might burst from miniature doors, singing songs and skipping down the trail. The houses are all stone or painted dark green and brown to blend into the landcape.

Just beyond the gnome colony, a short spur path leads to Sturtevant Falls, a waterfall and tiny, but deep blue-green swimming hole. I hadn’t even dropped my pack or kicked off my shoes when a formerly dignified-looking guy in his forties shed his t-shirt and crashed into the water. He resurfaced a moment later with a big, goofy grin and exclaimed, “Wow! This is fantastic!” with such authentic joy that I thought, “Yeah, here we go, Los Angeles. You’re not all botox and fakery, are you?”

The Santa Anita Loop leads up several switchbacks and skirts Mt. Zion. An overgrown spur path leads to the summit, offering views of Mt. Wilson to the west and Arcadia to the south. On the final leg of the loop, another hiker picked some fuzzy-looking berries off a bush, popped a couple in his mouth, and offered me the rest. I sucked the skin off, shot the seed out of my mouth and into the woods, and realized that I would probably survive Los Angeles.

Two days later, after a particularly terrible bout of traffic, I returned to Chantry Flats to repeat the hike, this time alone. I was standing at a junction in the gnome colony, when a man carrying a toolbox came around the bend. (I saw with a twinge of disappointment that he was not a gnome.) As we chatted, he told me that he had moved from Phoenix to live in one of the hillside houses. He must have seen the envy in my eyes, because he giggled in a way that made me wonder if he were a gnome afterall, and said, “I have a feeling I’ll see you out here again.” I smiled and continued on my way, winding up and over Mt. Zion, back down to my car at Chantry Flats, and home to the city.

bags, Bush, cape, car, community, design, epa, exploration, fall, Fashion, Glamour, Home, Los Angeles, mom, paris hilton, shoes, skin, sleep, spa, spring, t-shirt, Tea, urban, water, Water Bottle, wood

Ms. Green Jeans

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by Starre Vartan · 07/26/06

Check out this interview (from Grist) of Tierra del Forte, the designer behind Del Forte Denim. The questions after the jump are a little more ‘fun’ than the first few shown here, so read on!

24 Jul 2006

What work do you do?

I’m a designer and the founder of Del Forte Denim.

How does it relate to the environment?

We design and manufacture a line of premium organic denim for women. We also strive to educate consumers about the dangers of conventional cotton agriculture and the restorative effect of organic farming. Non-organic cotton can cause permanent damage to the soil, the water, the air, and to farm workers. Our jeans are made entirely in the U.S., and we’ve chosen to use 100 percent organic cotton.

What are you working on at the moment? Any major projects?

I’m working on shipping our first round of production (very exciting!); on launching Project Rejeaneration, which will allow customers to return their used Del Forte jeans to us for inspired reuse; and on creating our website.

I’m also still buzzing from the excitement of two recent fashion events: Walk the Talk and Eco-Petal (Eco Chick Note: See Summer’s coverage of the event below). Walk the Talk, in June, was an eco-fashion gala in San Francisco that brought together social entrepreneurs, visionaries, and celebrities to encourage global leadership and a sustainable future for our planet. Eco-Petal, which just wrapped up, was a 10-day fashion show and boutique event in Los Angeles for a small group of eco-fashion designers like me. The main purpose of the event was to draw attention to the world of eco-fashion and to show people that caring about the environment doesn’t mean compromising your sense of style.

How do you get to work?

Most days, I work out of the studio in my home, so I have a very green commute! For meetings, I do have to drive because I carry around a huge suitcase full of samples of my jeans, jackets, and skirts. I can’t wait for the Saab hybrid convertible to make it to market (and to be able to afford a new car!).

What long and winding road led you to your current position?

I’ve been working in denim design since I graduated design school in 1999. After six years, the excitement was gone and all that was left was a lot of stress and the realization that I wasn’t contributing to the world in any way that I could feel good about. Fashion is glamorous and lighthearted, but there is definitely a dark side. Most of our clothing is made in overseas factories by people who are not protected by the kind of labor laws we have here. It is also produced with no regard for environmental impact. Although I never stopped enjoying the design process, I didn’t want to be involved in such an exploitative industry.

agriculture, book, car, cars, celebrities, clothing, community, consumption, cotton, denim, design, designer, designers, eating, Events, fall, farm, farming, Fashion, fashion show, fiat, Food, fruit, fur, garden, gas, Home, interview, jeans, kyoto protocol, labor, Los Angeles, model, mom, Music, oil, Organic, organic cotton, parties, PETA, produce, reuse, spring, style, summer, Summer Rayne Oakes, sustainability, sustainable, tv, water, women

Ask Chicky: Clear Skies or Dirty Air?

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by Starre Vartan · 03/06/06

Dear Chicky,

My boyfriend and I (we’re both in our early 30′s) have a bet: I say air quality is better than when we were kids, he says it’s worse. Who’s right?

–Itching to Be Right
Dear Itching,

Though it’s always fun to watch one half of a couple do the “I’m right and you’re wrong” dance, I’m sorry to report that nobody’s winning the bet on this one. You’re both right, depending on what kind of standard you’re using to judge air quality, and where you live.
Overall, air quality has improved in most parts of the United States, due to several decades of pollution rules and enforcement under the Clean Air Act. In the Southeastern parts of the country where population growth has exploded, there are higher levels of pollution than before (since housing wasn’t exactly planned around people riding their air-friendly bikes to work), but they’re still within the normal range on most days. Some cities, like Los Angeles, have made dramatic improvements in air quality, something that Angelenos notice when they step outside their doors and enjoy visible views. That’s the good news.