Lush · Eco-Chick

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It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like…Consumerismtime!

Unlike my craftier sisters, I don’t start making gifts in October. I also refuse to make exhaustive lists of people and gift ideas and plan shopping excursions to find just the right piece of junk to wrap in expensive paper that will exist, perfectly preserved in a landfill until the aliens come.

I’m a last-minute gift-buyer, and proud of it! (Because I’m tired at being annoyed with myself. So I’m embracing my late-shopping tendencies). The last few years I usually haven’t started shopping until around the 15th, and that date is coming up quickly. So here’s my exhaustive list for gifts that won’t take too much time to get but won’t rip a whole in the atmosphere or poison a town’s water supply either.

(Don’t forget that gifts of time or experiences–a nice dinner, babysitting for a harried new parent, or a free closet organizing– can be the best and cheapest gifts of all; I especially like giving a dinner out, so I can enjoy it too!)

Sometimes you need to give something in a (recycled) box, tied with a (reused) ribbon. Here are my choices for Gifts You Can Put in a Box Under the Tree:

Pangaya has a green gift guide for easy picking and choosing of lovely eco-fashionista duds. Have all your selections shipped directly to gift recipients so you don’t have to. Double-shipping- having gifts shipped to you, then shipping them to recipients, should BE AVOIDED at all costs! Just think of all the fossil fuel needed to ship something twice….(There is free shipping on all orders through 12/17/06. Also, check out the Pangaya blog– there are great discounts and specials every day advertised there.)

The t-shirts at Intention Creations are based on the concepts discussed in “The Secret”, “What the Bleep”, “Ask and It is Given” and a number of other
resources.

Get a solar panel, organic cotton baby toys, or recycled yoga mats at Gaiam (shipping is only $4.95 for all orders.)

Whole Foods (only in Cali) is selling windpower credits on cards.

At Do Great Stuff, you can buy from a lot of mainstream online stores and your commission will go to the non-profit of your choice (perfect for if you’re buying new books or that gadget your Dad really, really wants, and promises to use forever).

The site explains it this way:

Online merchants pay commissions to websites that bring them customers. When you shop at any store in the Do Great Stuff online shopping center, your purchases generate commissions. Most of the commissions we collect go to help non-profit organizations selected by our members. The rest of the commissions are used to pay our overhead, keep our site operational and hopefully someday generate some profits, which would allow us to donate even more money to worthy causes.
For each merchant, we clearly post on our site how much commission will go to the charity of your choice and 100% of that posted amount will go to charity.

The National Wildlife Federation has a whole catalog of gifts that you can browse through, but I really like the pewter ornaments (see above), because for every one you buy, a tree is planted.

Some ideas for Giving a Good Feeling:

I’m adopting a Blue Footed Booby for my Dad, cause he can relate to these guys.

The World Wildlife Fund has an animal-adoption program. When you donate money to your (or your giftee’s) fave animal, they get an adoption certificate, a color photo and an information card about the animal. For donations of $50 or more, you get a plush toy of the animal (and let me just warn you, these are ridiculously cute toys!!).

Greenpeace is just doing some kick-ass work lately. They continue to be a really activist-based group who is out there giving grief to whale hunters and clear-cutters. They are one of the leaders behind the campaign to get Apple and other electronics manufacturers to clean up their act and make their products recyclable (with 1 million iPods selling every week, there’s good reason why).

Give a gift of time or money to your local animal shelter or environmental organization in someone else’s name. Often smaller groups struggle to make ends meet and make important contributions to the land you live on and the water you drink (and save the stray animals in your streets!) Remember, a regular donation monthly (even if it’s just 10 bucks) is better than a one-time donation, and it’s easier on your wallet. Many groups have a set-up so you can automatically debit your checking account on a regular basis.

If you’re not sure where your local animal shelter is, go on Petfinder and put your zip code in; rescue groups and shelter names in your area will come right up.

If you don’t like any of my suggestions, Lime has written a great article, Giving Gone Green that gives some more ideas and advice!

The Center for a New American Dream also has gift ideas and some sound ideas for beating holiday stress.

Animals, atmosphere, Baby, book, books, car, consumerism, cotton, donations, eating, electric, electronics, Fashion, fish, Food, giving, holiday, Home, junk, local, Lush, mainstream, News, Organic, organic cotton, paper, recycle, recycled, resources, reuse, Shopping, t-shirt, t-shirts, treehugger, water, Wildlife, yoga

Lets Be Clear

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by Katie Kish · 11/23/06

Canada has been dealing with some rough water issues lately, and the David Suzuki Foundation is taking note of it. Since late last week residence of Vancouver have been facing mudslides over taking their resevoirs where the city gets their water. The extremely high level of turbidity has caused an advisory for Vancouver residents to boil all of their tap water.

Water contamination is something Canada has faced in the past with over 200 different contaminations. But why? One would think that after like 80 contaminations we would be looking to the causation of this. David Boyd answers this question.

Canada’s water quality guidelines are actually voluntary. There are currently no legally enforced rules to protect our water. Mr. Boyd says the Federal government should step in and establish mandatory standards that meet or exceed those of other countries.

No really?

North Americans in so many areas have been given a horribly skewed sense of security. At a young age in geography class we’re told that 70% of the earth’s surface is covered in water, that’s a lot of water. But then we have to factor into that how much is actually drinkable. Most of it, 68.9%, is trapped up in glaciers and another 30.8% is in groundwater. That leaves us with a tiny 0.3% of our fresh water resources in lakes and rivers.

It’s only going to get worse as global warming gets worse. The Great Lakes will decline greatly and most of the water that melts from glaciers is going to go into the oceans, which isn’t drinkable. Our alternative – bottled water – isn’t so awesome either.

Health Canada’s website on bottled water reports that there’s no evidence to support this. In fact, Professor Rolf Halden of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, had this to say about water in U.S. cities. “The truth is that city water is much more highly regulated and monitored for quality. Bottled water is not. It can legally contain many things we would not tolerate in municipal drinking water.”

Not to mention it’s really expensive. Rock on water shortages in Canada. But what can we do? The solution is the same for everything – educate people. We all know that “educate people” over simplifies to the point that it hurts. Luckily, David Suzuki is a bit more optimistic than I am and offers a few ways that we can all help out a little bit, and keep track of what water supplies.

Water conservation starts at home. Here are some things you can start doing at home right now to protect our water for the future.
* Low-flow shower heads can cut your water use in the shower by more than 30%. You can also reduce your water use by installing a, low-flow toilet that uses less water.
* Household cleaners are flushed away then go through treatment facilities, but trace elements become part of the water cycle. A lot of household cleaning can be accomplished with good old white vinegar and baking soda. (Really!) For ideas visit H2Ouse.
* Shower with a friend! It saves an average of 200 liters of water and it’s lots of fun. You’ll have a helping hand scrub those parts of the back you can’t reach on your own.
Learn more:
* This blog has links to find out what’s happening with the world’s water.
* Environment Canada’s Conserve water page.
* If you want to see how much water you’re using, and aren’t afraid of giving your e-mail address to the government, check out Environment Canada’s water use calculator.

Turns out, I use a lot of water…

Your daily average water usage: 478L
Your province’s daily average: 425L
Canadian national daily average: 335L

baking, bottled water, cities, cleaning, conservation, dress, drinking water, giving, Global Warming, health, Home, Lush, News, oceans, oil, reduce, resources, soda, water

Flushables

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by Starre Vartan · 08/10/06

Flushaway

Among the women I know there are three types when it comes to dealing with good ole ‘Aunt Flo’: there’s the pads only crowd, the tampon champions and the diva cup/sponge menstruation alterna-nation. I count myself among the first group, which is also the most wasteful of the bunch. My grandma told me that it wasn’t a good idea to block the flow, and I’m sticking with her advice, but I do feel guilty taking what is totally biodegradable and packaging it up in layers of plastic that then is preserved practically forever in landfills. And no, I’m really not going to wash my own reusable pads. No.

Recently I’ve been using Naturacare pads (they make tampons too), which are dioxin-free and made from all plant materials. They are totally biodegradable. Their tampons are 100% organic cotton and also dioxin-free (and if you’re still using regular tampons, read this article, because you should stop right now! You’re putting chlorine-bleached, unnatural materials inside your body and letting them sit there for hours. If you don’t think your body is absorbing that stuff, then you probably aren’t eating organic either! Many natural health practitioners also say that tampons block the natural flow of energy during menstruation and actually cause cramps.)

So, I’m excited that Flushaways are here because not only are they biodegradable, they are, as the name implies, flushable. Even for septic systems! And yes, they are the ultra-thin kind with wings, which are the best. I’ve tried them out and they are just as good as any of the evil plastic, commercial brands out there.

car, cotton, Dioxin, eating, Energy, health, Lush, Organic, organic cotton, plastic, waste, women

UnCommon Scents

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by Kimberly Jordan Allen · 01/10/06

There is nothing more odious (pardon the impending pun) than that heavy, pungent perfume you can smell from a mile away. And many of us have spent time perusing the shelves of that ubiquitous modern shrine to plasticity called Sephora only to leave with a pounding headache that has that “fake vanilla” scent stamped all over it.

Ugh.

I have been a true scent-junky for at least fifteen years and recently, upon applying a commercial fragrance, noticed I started sneezing almost instantly. I started to wonder just what exactly is in these products we apply on a daily basis. Being one who tries to always buy organic, it dawned on me that my personal doctrine to “stay natural” had not penetrated my hankering for smells.

Many companies, even those claiming to be “natural”, use synthetic fragrance and chemical additives such as preservatives and artificial coloring, and contain dangerous chemicals such as phtalates that are proven endocrine disruptors whose activity has been found to mimic hormonal signals in the body.

There are what I have always considered to be more natural alternatives to smelling like “Calvin Clone,” but often you end up smelling like a head shop or your grandma’s lavender garden when using organically derived essential oils. Some of us like smelling like a head shop, but for those who want something more unique, there are some interesting alternatives.

Rich Hippie is a line of completely organic, wild-crafted perfume, founded in LA. Through the use of carefully selected plant extracts and the implementation of traditional perfumery practices, Rich Hippie has created an environmentally conscious fragrance line that is original and hip.

The line boasts scents such as “Psychedelic – a sensual, lush, mysterious and romantic scent with extracts of organic Madagascan vanilla bean, organic ginger root and organic sweet orange peel,” “Nirvana” – a “unisex scent with extracts of organic sandalwood, West Indian bay leaf and organic Italian bergamot peel,” and “Wild Thing – an intoxicating, romantic, and sensual floral with rare Indian jasmine, Albanian Orris root and Egyptian rose.” There is also the signature scent, “Rich Hippie” – a “hip, bohemian, seductive floral with extracts of exotic African flowers, Madagascan Vanilla bean and Guatemalan Cardamom.”

These perfumes ain’t cheap, at an average of $85.00 per 1/2oz, but to support a small company that is investing in organic farming practices is worthwhile compared to the minimum $35 to $40 that is typically spent on factory-made fragrances that are known health hazards. According to the FDA, perfume companies don’t have to publish their ingredients anywhere, because they are considered “trade secrets”. Through growing consumer pressure to monitor cosmetics companies and clearly substantiate the safety of perfumes and other products, the FDA has clearly delineated its authority over this domain on its website This means there is no way for us to know what is in common colognes until independent labs do their own analysis and there aren’t a lot of scientists lining up to joust with big name cosmetics.

California is actually the first state in the union to implement the “Safe Cosmetics Act,” signed into law by Governor Schwarzenegger in 2005, which states that manufacturers must disclose (to the state) any ingredient that is on state or federal lists of chemicals linked to cancer or birth defects.

For more information on what is actually in your beauty products see NOT TOO PRETTY, SAFE COSMETICS and how they are affecting the environment see MARINE LIFE