Paper · Eco-Chick

Browsing all posts tagged with paper

Lara Miller: Eco Fashion’s Quick Change Artist

Eco Fashion designer Lara Miller is an Eco Chick fave; her supermodern, often convertible, sensuously romantic, yet travel-friendly designs are deceptively simple but always on point.

Lara says she didn’t plan her designs for the travelling types (though they suit us so well), but that her ideas come from a playful, fun place that happens to result in highly variable separates (think dresses that can be worn three ways, or trousers that have adjustable hems):

I graduated from a very conceptual design program at the School of the Art Institute where I researched Eadweard Muybridge images and architectual theory by Gregg Lynn. I was fascinated with the idea of animation and gestures in every day life, especially when getting dressed. I wanted to give the wearer a relationship to their pieces and allow them to be more individual. As my line and I have grown up, the functionality has really become key.

The Fern Flip wrap in recycled cotton
More »

2010, art, car, Chicago, clothing, cotton, design, dress, dresses, eco, fabric, fabrics, fall, fish, News, newspaper, north carolina, ny, paper, recycle, recycled, spa, t-shirt, t-shirts, Theory, travel

Five Surefire Ways to Get Rid of Junk Mail

8 Comments

by Melissa Goldberg · 09/04/08

If you’re like me, you love getting mail. The holiday cards, the thank you notes, etc. There is little more exciting than the sound of opening an envelope and reading a real piece of mail. But what I hate is the junk mail. Specifically the catalogs that clog my mailbox and pile up day after day.

Turns out that more than 19 billion catalogs are mailed to households in the United States every year. That’s 63 catalogs for each man, woman and child in the US. Well, I wanted to put an end to this flood of useless mail. I knew my family was getting a ton of these unwanted, unrequested catalogs from companies like LL Bean, Land’s End, Victoria’s Secret, Restoration Hardware and a whole host of other companies well (frankly, for me, it was eighty-two companies). Eighty-two, that is how many different companies have sent me a mail-order catalogs in the past 2 months. That is more than one catalog a day not including repeat catalogs! That’s a lot of junk mail.

How do I know it is eighty-two? About two months ago I began using Catalog Choice, a free service that contacts mail-order companies for you to remove your name from their mailing lists. I knew I received a lot of catalogs but I had no idea that is was SOOO many.

Using the Environmental Defense Fund paper calculator, Catalog Choice calculated the impact of all these catalogs on our environment. More than 53 million trees are need make 3.6 million tons of paper and 38 trillion BTUs of energy are need to produce the paper (enough to power 1.2 million households per year.) This process emits 5.2 million tons of carbon dioxide equal to annual emissions of 2 million cars — significantly contributing to global warming.

More that 53 billion gallons of wastewater is discharged to create the catalog paper — enough to fill 81,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. This doesn’t even take into account the amount of greenhouse gasses emitted by the US Post Office from delivering these useless pieces of paper.

Since its launch last year, almost one million people have joined Catalog Choice and already opted out of 13,117,365 catalogs. More than 1,000 companies have joined in to help people opt out of getting their catalogs, but there are a few that have decided not to participate. Out of the 82 companies on my list just Garnet Hill, the Metropolitan Museum of Arts Store, Nordstroms, and Title Nine are not participating. To date, 22 companies on my list have confirmed the opt out and Catalog Choice is working on the rest.

Catalog Choice is not the only service out there. For a fee, GreenDimes and 41pounds.org will get rid of unwanted junk mail and catalogs. OptOutPrescreen.com will stop unwanted credit or insurance offers. Even the Direct Marketing Association offers ways to remove your name and address for mailing list.

It is so easy you have to try. All you have to do is input them, and Catalog Choice does the rest.

Let me know how many catalogs you get rid of!

To read more of my posts check out my blog Green Luvin’ and join me on Facebook.

catalogs, junk mail, paper

Deplasticize Your Life!

4 Comments

by Starre Vartan · 08/18/08

This movie from the 1950′s shows Disney’s “House of the Future” which is totally kitted out in plastic EVERYthing. Ironic that here I am from 2008 writing about how to get plastic out of my life!

I haven’t picked up a plastic bag in weeks now*, and I’m looking for a new eco-challenge. I think a wholesale elimination of ALL plastic from my life could be a worthwhile next step towards the continuing greenification of my life.** Why plastic? Yes, it CAN be great (plastic medical devices save lives and plastic helps reduce the weight of cars so they’re more fuel-efficient), but mostly, it’s evil.

Reason 1: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an area TWICE the size of the continental U.S. that’s filled with floating plastic debris. The smaller the plastic gets, the higher in the water column it floats, with marine life choking on the stuff. The source of the debris? North America and Asia (that’s you and me).

Reason 2: Plastic is made from petroleum, a non-renewable resource that we’re spending millions of dollars and the lives and well-being of our fellow humans to obtain. Eight percent of oil worldwide goes to make plastics. My use increases demand.

Reason 3: Many plastics (we’re not even totally sure which ones yet) leach toxic chemicals into our environment (and us, especially fetuses) when they’re created, and into our bodies when we use them for food and beverage storage. Life is toxic enough without adding to it.

Instead of plastic storage containers, try: Glass ones. There are all kinds, from traditional round-shaped ones from Pyrex, but I like these square versions with frosted tops even better.

Instead of plastic produce bags try: Cloth or reusable ‘green’ bags (or none at all). Naturally-protected produce like bananas, oranges, apples, limes and avocados don’t need a bag- I never use them and my veggies aren’t suffering. Only leafy stuff and small fruits and veggies (cherries, brussels sprouts) really need to be bagged. I use the Evert-Fresh bags (but several companies make these now) because they keep produce fresh in the fridge way longer than supermarket produce babs. You can bring these to the market for those items that demand a carrier, and you can just rinse and reuse these. (I’ve had mine for four years now.) A friend of mine likes different-sized cloth bags which she throws in the laundry every now and again, so that’s another option.

Instead of plastic wrap try: A dish! (My father who lives in Australia actually taught me this one-thanks Dad!) Instead of putting plastic over a plate of leftovers, just use another dish of the same size or smaller. Want to be able to see what’s under there? Use a clear glass plate. For bowls, use teacup saucers (you can find these a goodwill for pennies. Food will stay moist and protected sans plastic, and the plates are reusable forever.

Instead of plastic baggies try: Wax paper bags or a cloth napkin.
This is a toughie. Sometimes there’s nothing like a sealable plastic bag- for something mushy or potentially messy- if I have to, I use mine over and over until they die so I don’t buy more than a box of these every couple years, if that. But for drier items (sandwiches, fruit, cut veggies) a wax paper bag will keep moisture in and it will eventually biodegrade (unlike plastic). I use a cloth napkin for short-term transport of homemade burritos, sandwiches and veggies which won’t leak much but need a bit of protection. I can use it as a napkin while eating; plastic, not so much.

Instead of plastic silverware, try: Bringing your own.
I carry my own utensils- or I should say utensil- with me: the Aussie splayde is perfect, but a spork works too, so I never need to use plastic. You could also try a set of collapsible chopsticks (I find a need a spoon more often than a fork, but think about what you eat and what works for you).

*The key to avoiding plastic bags is to carry an oversized bag so you always have a place for small items, keeping a fold-up reusable bag like Envirosax in your bigger bag, and leaving your canvas bags for grocery shopping in the car so you’re always prepared.

** So far I’ve switched to 75% organic food in my home, I drive only on the weekends, I’ve gotten a super-efficient furnace, use only low-VOC paints, compost food scraps, grow my own veggies and herbs, buy from my local farmer’s market from April-October, adopted all my animals, buy more than half my clothes and shoes from sustainable companies (see my blog, Eco Chick for a listing), take the train instead of flying, switched from a desktop to a laptop (they use 90% less power), bought a water and energy efficient new washer, and line-dry my clothes whenever possible. I’ve been vegetarian for 15 years, so that’s not recent, but it still counts!

Amazon, Animals, Australia, bags, BPA, car, cars, clothes, eating, Eco-Chick, Energy, epa, farm, farmer's market, Food, fruit, fur, garbage, Home, homemade, local, News, oil, Organic, organic food, paper, plastic, plastic bags, plastics, plates, produce, reduce, reuse, shoes, Shopping, sport, sustainable, Tea, vegetarian, water

Best Ecofriendly Coffins

12 Comments

by Kimberly Jordan Allen · 06/10/08

I had read about people being cremated and adding their remains to coral reefs, but the other day, while perusing the Happy Hippie site, I noticed this tidbit on an eco-friendly company that sells many sustainable options if one is going to have a burial.

I realized that there are a few interesting biodegradable options when choosing a mode of interment:

-The Eco Pod (seen above) coffin lets you enter the ground in recycled paper.

The coffin table with it’s covers on to be utilized as a coffee table before death

Remove the top covers to store games, books and magazines, and eventually in which to place the body, which will biodegrade through the bottom slats, which the designer also said “mimics the human skeleton”

At Brooklyn Designs this year, one of the most innovative ideas was from Charles Constantine of the Pratt Insitute. This beautiful “coffin table” is meant to bring death into the center of family life (literally) by being used as a coffee table until such time that it is needed, so that it serves two functions. Charles said that in this way the family could become comfortable with death and be a part of the final resting place of the person who has passed.

-The Everybody Coffin is inexpensive and simple to assemble (?!) I am not sure who is going to want to build this after experiencing a loss, but maybe a family would get together to build it as an homage to the deceased. From personal experience, when my father died, I don’t think any of us would have been able to manage something like this, during such an intense time.

I like the idea of building it as a way to honor a loved one. You could incorporate flowers, botanicals, notes, letters, natural paints, and make it unique. Otherwise, if the family is too bereft, green funeral homes would assemble this for you. Since it doesn’t contain harmful chemicals such as formaldehyde, this could also be used for a cremation.

This wicker casket a nice option if one wants to go au natural and is planning on a ceremony. At first, we found it hilarious that you could go out in wicker! I have a “thing” about wicker, for some reason, so my hubby told me that if I get too cantankerous in my old age, I’m going out in one of these.

There are also biodegradable urns if you do go the cremation route.

And where to put that biodegradable coffin? Check out some of the natural burial grounds in the United States:
-Green Springs Natural Cemetery 93 acres in NY State
-Glendale Memorial Nature Preserve – 350 acres in Florida.

book, books, coffee, coffins, death, design, designer, ecofriendly, farm, Home, magazine, magazines, Outdoors, paper, recycle, recycled, spring, sustainable

Pointless Packaging Winner: Neutrogena Wave Power Cleanser

16 Comments

by Starre Vartan · 06/09/08

You know, there was a time, when I was a teenager, that I used to love Neutrogena products. I had the idea that they were cleaner, purer and better for my skin and hair than other drugstore brands. I definitely fell for their shampoo that was supposed to clean all the other shampoos from your hair (I’m not sure if it worked but I always bought it!).

Though I know Neutrogena hasn’t really gone the natural and organic route, the impression of them being at least somewhat more ecofriendly has always stayed with me. Not anymore! They are now selling motorized hunks of plastic that will inevitably be just another piece of junk that will end up in a landfill. Do we really need a battery-powered face scrubber in the world?

These days I use an all natural soap (LOVE handmade Copa Soaps which have just a recycled paper ribbon for packaging) to wash my face and it’s never been better. Shame on you Neutrogena! There’s a climate crisis going on and you’re manufacturing more plastic, plastic-coated packaging, making batteries, and shipping it all over the world for what? Not to mentions I’m sure the ‘cleanser’ is full of chemicals.

AND IT GETS WORSE!! The Wave Power Cleanser uses disposable pads! So you have to buy more overpackaged, disposable pads if you want to keep using the damn thing.

Not to be mean, but I hope this is a giant fail for Neutrogena: Ladies, Don’t Buy It! I’m thinking of starting a letter-writing campaign to Neutrogena because I’m so pissed off.