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

Get Out of the House!

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by Starre Vartan · 10/06/06

Don’t start hibernating yet, there are a ton of great green events coming up!

Swap-0-Rama-Rama

When: October 8th, from 1pm to 8PM
Where: 3rd Ward, 195 Morgan Ave. Brooklyn

What’s Swap-o-rama-rama?

Swap-O-Rama-Rama is a clothing swap and series of do-it-yourself workshops in which a community explores creative reuse through the recycling of used clothing.

I’ll be there! Come say hi if you see me!

Ear to the Earth Festival

When: October 6-14

Where: Throughout New York City (check here for venues)

A little bit about Ear to the Earth: 

Why are we doing this?

We are, all of us, faced with impending environmental disaster and disruption on a global scale. Yet collectively we are relatively passive as we go about the details of our lives.

As composers, musicians, and sound artists working on Ear to the Earth, we asked ourselves: What can we do? How can we inspire active sensitivity and engagement in environmental issues? How can we maintain our own sensitivity to the world?

Listening to the world is one good way to become more sensitive to the environment. Listening through the ears, sensibilities, and talents of sound artists is yet more compelling and engaging. And creating environmental sound art is active participation and involvement.

Amazon Watch Party featuring Q’orianka Kilcher (she played Pocahontas in the movie The New World with Colin Farrel and Christian Bale) an organic lunch, and speeches by indigenous leaders from the Amazon basin.

When: October 12, (Indigenous People’s Day)

Where: the Gallery One San Francisco One Embarcadero Center  (Clay & Battery), San Francisco

Amazon Watch’s Mission Statement:

To work with indigenous and environmental organizations in the Amazon Basin to defend the environment and advance indigenous peoples’ rights in the face of large-scale industrial development-oil and gas pipelines, power lines, roads, and other mega-projects.

Amazon, clothing, community, creative reuse, eating, Events, gas, lunch, Music, New York City, oil, Organic, party, Recycling, reuse

five and a half. handmade, recollected

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by Ann Benoit · 10/02/06

five and half‘s recycled handmade journals are by far my favorite journals. Made of interesting, recollected papers, the journals are a really great and inspiring twist on the traditional journal/sketchbook while also being environmentally friendly. five and a half was started by eco-chick, Judy in Brooklyn and has since taken off, with her journals selling online at her store and at various stores in New York City, Chicago and Berkeley. The journals come in 2 sizes— “pocket” and “large” (I personally love the large) and the prices are really reasonable ($16 and $22) for a handmade journal. Although the store will be closed until November 15th, they reopen just in time for the Holidays to buy journals/sketchbooks for your favorite eco-chick!

book, books, Eco-Chick, Handmade, holiday, Holidays, Home, New York City, paper, recycle, recycled

Nukes 'R'nt Us

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by Starre Vartan · 08/21/06

Model and Environmentalist Betcee May, and tireless Environmental Activist Remy Chevalier want to pull the plug on Indian Point, followed by Vermont Yankee and Millstone.

If you’ve been following Eco Chick for awhile, you will know that we are anti-nuclear power, even though there are some environmentalists who think that nukes are the answer to fighting CO2-belching coal plants which promote global warming. We are not one of them. (Here I use the royal we, you know, the editorial…)

Here on the East Coast, Indian Point is the worst of the worst. Even if you believe it has a perfect safety record, (which it emphatically doesn’t) it’s way too close to major population centers (like the most densely packed part of the country, including New York City) and would be a perfect terrorist target. I, along with other folks, including Remy Chevalier, are working to shut it down. Westchester, Rockland, and Putnam counties in New York state and Bergen county in New Jersey have all passed resolutions to shut the behomoth down, and numerous school boards, municipalities, labor groups and others have done the same. Eliot Spitzer, candidate for Governor in New York, promises to shut it down if he wins the race.

Clearwater and other boats doing the protest thing. Don’t you want to join in?

You can read more about the details in this article I wrote for the Fairfield County Weekly, as well as checking out Riverkeeper’s site, attending the Rock the Reactors event in November, or attending the sail/gathering organized by the Clearwater on the Hudson River (that means in a boat, either yours or on board the Clearwater) on August 27th to protest ongoing safety violations at the plant.

coal, Global Warming, Hudson River, India, labor, model, New York City, News, nuclear, nuclear power, nukes, Plants, solutions, Target, water

From the Left and the Right: Meeting in the Green

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by Starre Vartan · 05/23/06

I may not agree with Greg on every issue, but I love the fact that his explanation for “Why I’m Green” is just a photo essay of him in beautiful surroundings like the above shot.  

The Republican party was not always the go-to group when it came to environmental armageddon (not that the Democrats have given any great show on the issue either). Every day I hear of more and more Republicans and Conservatives decrying our current policies, from the Crunchy Con book to the Green GOP site (their tagline is: “Republicans Love the Environment Too: Reconciling Republican Policies with Environmental Conservation), which is run by Greg (above), a New York City-based Repub.

Greg put the GreenGOP blog together to bring us news and information that proves there’s still a green side to the Right, and I’ve gotta show some love to my fellow Earth Lovers, no matter which side of the aisle they find themselves on. After all, it was Republican President Teddy Roosevelt , who once said:

“A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.” 

Roosevelt backed up these words by protecting 150 national forests. In all, Roosevelt protected some 230 million acres of national land. (From Environmental Defense’s site.)

On the other side of the fence is the Truth and Progress blog, which is put together by Lori Ehrlich and her team of bloggers. They cover topics from why liberals shouldn’t patronize Starbucks to little-known information about rabbits to personal stories of making life greener.

Lori is an environmental activist (though she doesn’t like that designation) who got her start when her daughter was playing in soot, and tracked it all over her kitchen floor. It turned out the black stuff came from right in her own backyard from a local power plant, and ever since that day 10 years ago, Lori has worked for a cleaner environment for her and her children.

She helped launch two environmental organizations, and was pivotal in brokering the corporate cleanup of a decades- old, power-plant waste site. She led a grassroots delegation to Capitol Hill last year to protest President Bush’s energy plan, provided environmental policy advice to the fledgling administration of Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, and has been named an “outstanding activist” of the year by a statewide environmental group. (from this article on Lori.)

I’m proud to add both these thoughtful and well-written blogs to our blogroll here at Eco Chick.

Amazon, book, Bush, children, conservation, design, Energy, giving, local, New York City, News, oil, oils, party, spa, Starbucks, Tea, waste

The New Green Gem

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by Danelle Brown · 04/17/06

Will Esquire, Harper’s BAZAAR, or maybe even O Magazine have the next big talked about “Green” Issues?

This I thought to myself while admiring the NYC skyline from within Central Park on an amazing Saturday afternoon. There was one particular building I was starring at, that made me think that this would be in the works shortly. Why?

The parent company of the above publications, The Hearst Corporation, was the owner of the building that held my focus while I was in the park. Next month, the new Hearst tower is set to open its doors as one of the 1^st “Gold Certified”  Green Office Towers in New York City.    

Located at 300 West 57^th Street, this immaculate structure designed by reknowned London-based architect Norman Foster, is a true ecosystem in itself. Superior indoor air quality, uber energy efficiency and self-sustainability, formaldehyde-free furniture, and carpet made of 100% recycled content, its architecture and interior design is green design at its best. NYC’s new emerald is sure to be the model form to guide future construction in the “Big Green Apple” and across the country.

I am sure others share my hope that in a few years from now, the New York City Skyline will be regarded as the “Emerald City”, a city filled with “Green” buildings that are not only brilliantly engineered but also aesthetically magnificent like a rare gem. The NYT just wrote on this very concept about green office building’s expansion in the city.

architecture, car, design, Eco-Chick, Energy, fur, Furniture, London, magazine, model, New York City, NYC, NYTimes, recycle, recycled, spa, style, sustainability