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

Heroines for the Planet: Anna Getty

One could peg Anna Getty any number of titles — holistic lifestyle expert, author, entrepreneur, yoga teacher, heiress, and environmental activist among them. But each come in a distant second to her most cherished roles, that of mother and wife.

What I found infinitely charming about Anna is that she doesn’t care how she’s labeled. Her main objective is to be of service to others and the planet, and so long as she’s doing just that, she’s at peace.

I asked Anna about her latest endeavors, how she helps others live more consciously, and whether being an heiress to an oil fortune has affected her environmental activism.

Lindsay: What compelled you to leave the glamour of Hollywood to pursue an interest in cooking?

Anna: To be honest with you the life I was living as a struggling actress was not very glamorous at all. I was working as a yoga teacher, a messenger and in a catering kitchen while pursuing my career. I did get the odd job but it was not consistent. I felt very insecure about myself and my future and ultimately when I thought about what I was doing studying for auditions, working my way through hours of traffic across Los Angeles to get to auditions only to be analyzed by a bunch of strangers in a room, I personally had not felt that I found my service or my calling in the world. Although I pursued an acting career for almost ten years, the shift came very easily once I made the decision. My goal was not to pursue my interest in cooking. I wanted to help people make more conscious choices about their lives, what they ate, how they took care of themselves, their families and children and the planet. I continued teaching yoga, took part of what I knew and loved ( cooking) and started forming my career. I feel like I cut and pasted or collaged together the work that I have come to do. The acting training did however bring me the confidence to do public speaking or work in front of a camera so it was not for nothing.

LB: What was the inspiration behind your cookbook “Anna Getty’s Easy Green Organic?” What about the process of creating the cookbook did you enjoy most?

AG: It’s already a few years ago but looking back, I was approached to write the book by my publisher. I had not intended writing a book, let alone a cook book. I had been a freelance writer writing for a couple different magazines and had been working with various non-profits in the green and organic movement so it pretty much fell together. Writing the book was very challenging because at the same time, I was offered a second book deal to write an eco-Christmas book that needed to be finished within a month of the cook book. So I had double the work. The best part was recipe testing and developing, experimenting with flavors, picking through the fresh locally grown, organic produce at the farmer’s markets and building a recipe around what I came across. I loved having my friends over for taste tests. We would open a bottle of organic wine and eat what I had made and I would get notes from them. It was a very fun and creative time in my kitchen.

LB: Are you a vegetarian now? What was your relationship with food like growing up?
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Eco Chic Exhibit Now On at Scandinavia House, NYC

Righteous Fashion

Leave it to the Swedes to put together an exhibit concerning eco fashion that’s both beautiful and seriously thought-provoking. Eco Chic: Towards Sustainable Swedish Fashion, which runs through August 21st, is a multimedia endeavor that showcases the whys, the hows and the hows of sustainable design.

Video by Eco Chick Contributor Alicia Lubowski-Jahn

First up, I checked out the short film about Dem Collective, a grown-to-sewn operation in Sri Lanka which both pays workers twice the typical wage and still makes a profit (as well as utilizing low-impact fabrics in production). The film asks the right-now question, “Is there such a thing as sustainable globalization?”

Dem Collective tunic shirts

Striking to me was the exchange wherein the narrator of the film asks a local Sri Lankan worker (not employed by Dem Collective, but instead works for a typical garment manufacturer) who is agitating for local labor rights, “Should we be ashamed that we don’t pay you more for your work?” The seamstress answers, after a moment of thought, “Yes.”
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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.

• 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.

Bubi Baby Butter

Bubi baby butter is soothing for babes and moms alike. The handmade combination of organic shea butter, coconut oil, calendula, and chamomile leaves skin hydrated during this cold, dry time of year.

The butter is free of petroleum by-products, fragrance, lanolin, and surprisingly, zinc-oxide. I have yet to find a diaper cream that does not have zinc-oxide, including many natural brands. There is debate about the safety of zinc-oxide, so some choose to avoid it. Most commercial creams contain zinc-oxide, as it helps to form a barrier for the skin. Soothing oils can work wonders in comparison to the commercial creams, and certainly won’t generate free-radicals or mess with my kid’s endocrine function!

Bubi’s works and can be used anywhere – parched hands, wind-burned cheeks and dry lips love it.

Top 5 Fave Natural Beauty Products for Winter

During the winter, I use more products than at any other time of year out of pure necessity. In order to avoid dry, scaly skin and lips, I do a lot of scrubbing and moisturizing. This winter, I became even more of a purist (or what some may call a control freak) than ever in terms of the ingredients of the products I’m using – I wanted them all to be super simple, healthy and natural. These 5 products didn’t just live up to my expectations, they were so great I just had to spread the word about them.

Vintage Body Spa Ginger Cardamom Cream Body Bar – This ultra-moisturizing body butter smells absolutely heavenly and it was the only thing that has managed to keep the soles of my feet soft and smooth.  Cocoa butter, shea butter, mango butter, jojoba oil, and sweet almond oil lightly scented with clove, cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, orange and mint.

Mountain Rose Herbs Restorative Skin Oil – For the rest of my body, especially my hands, elbows and legs, this moisturizing and healing skin oil has kept dryness and that unpleasant itchy, tight feeling at bay. Organic calendula oil, rosehip seed oil, vitamin E and a blend of essential oils including Neroli and Helichrysium.

Aubrey Organics Blue Green Algae Rescue Conditioning Mask – Finally, a vegan protein treatment for hair that really works. Aubrey Organics combines blue-green algae and red algae extract with coconut, shea butter, aloe, and lavender water in a deep hair treatment that keeps my hair glossy and healthy looking despite harsh winds and drying indoor heat.

Josie Maran Lipstick in Rumi Joon – This might just be the ultimate flattering nude lipstick shade for practically every skin tone. It’s also ultra-moisturizing, long lasting and free of toxic ingredients, petrochemicals, parabens and artificial fragrances. The tube is recyclable, too.

DIY Brown Sugar Body Scrub – This exfoliating and moisturizing body scrub is so decadent yet incredibly easy to make with stuff you’ve probably already got in your pantry. I scoop about 4 tablespoons of coconut oil into a microwaveable container, nuke it just until it softens and mix in ¼ cup of brown sugar, 1 tablespoon of honey and ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract. You could literally eat it (and I can attest that it tastes fantastic) and the brown sugar helps to gently buff away scaly skin.