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

ECO LQ (Lifestyle Quotient): What life stage were you the "Most Eco"?

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by Summer Rayne Oakes · 12/02/06

It’s often difficult to keep up with the Jonses on all this “Good Green Citizen” stuff. For the majority of us out there, we can’t possibly give all we got, but we can do things in our everyday life to make a difference. Where we are in our life, how old/young we are, where we live, and what we do – all factor in to how we can contribute (or at least minimize our impact) on the planet. Don’t get riled up if you can’t give as much as Gates, or buy eco-islands like Leo. Do the best you can where you are at. It makes a world of difference…

So how can you see if you are a good green citizen? Administer your own ECO LQ Test!

Below, I listed a farily comprehensive list of the “green” stuff I have done since I was a young girl. What’s interesting is that I have lived in three very different areas in my life: a rural Pennsylvania town, a college campus, and a big city. I obviously have become more aware of my impacts as I have aged, but even the stuff that I do now (i.e. take public transportation + walk), would virtually be impossible to do if I still lived in PA. Conclusion: Do the best you can where you are at.

And on that note, I’d love to hear about other Eco-Chick reader’s Eco LQs. Look at some examples I’ve given below and write down what you do (or don’t do) and post them here!

What I do in my everyday life NOW – (NY, NY):

• Buy eco-friendly clothing, often times from local designers at a local store
• Buy organic food at local store, often travel to green market
• Will only buy enough food for the week; will rarely waste food
• Bought 6 houseplants today at the Green Market
• Take public transportation or walk everywhere (haven’t driven a car in 4 years)
• Recycle (paper, glass, cardboard, plastic, and aluminum)
• All furniture in house is used or was found on the sidewalk
• Use energy efficient light bulbs (at least in my room)
• Charge cell phone on solar power, or when charging from wall outlet, I will take the charger out when not charging
• Have plastic on our windows to help prevent heat from escaping
• Will rarely turn on main heater, may use a small heater for localize heating
• Buy fair-trade tea or sometimes chocolate. I don’t drink coffee, but if I did…
• Mainly use organic beauty and personal care products
• Will try to eat out at locally-owned restaurants
• Use environmentally-friendly cleaning products
• Use environmentally-friendly detergents
• Shut off water when not using it
• Use a water-saving showerhead
• Shut off lights when not in use
• Give to charity
• Socially active workplace

What I did in my everyday life at COLLEGE – (Ithaca, NY):

• Buy eco-friendly clothing
• Rarely bought organic, but got fair trade teas and bought locally
• Rarely wasted food
• Recycled
• Used public transportation and walked everywhere
• Shut off water when not using it
• Shut off lights when not in use
• Active in the community
• Socially active in workplace

What I did in my everyday life at HOME – (Northeastern PA):

• Clothing – I got a lot of hand-me downs and handmade clothes, but bought a lot of new stuff too
• Grew our own fruits and vegetables
• Cut our own firewood (sustainably) to heat our house, used natural gas
• Bought food in bulk about once a month
• Recycled
• Composted food scraps
• Had plastics on windows in the winter months
• Shut off water when not using it
• Shut off lights when not in use
• Give to charity
• Active in the community

And…my vices: too much air travel, and leave my computer on alllll dayyyy loooong.

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Bottle Upgrade

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by Ann Benoit · 08/22/06

Ok, so I admit that before we made the switch, my boyfriend and I collectively owned about 8 plastic Nalgenes — both of us unrationally phobic there would be some situation we’d be caught in without water. But that was before we realized that plastic containers might not be the best solution for holding our drinking water.

After reports that number 3, 6, and 7 plastics can leach into your water (especially over time and after washing), we decided to ditch the plastic and upgrade to metal water bottles and haven’t looked back since. My personal favorite is the stainless steel Klean Kanteen — I have both the sport bottle and the larger container. A bunch of my friends own the very stylish and design-friendly, Sigg bottles which are also non-leaching. Nalgene has recently released a new line of bottles which are made of a safer plastic, but i’m already sold on the alternatives.

design, drinking water, plastic, plastics, sigg, sport, water, Water Bottle

Move Over McMansion

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by Jennifer Cross · 04/13/06

Here’s a home that is built with no non-recyclable residue or plastics, utilizes solar energy (not only to heat the water but to produce energy as well) and looks incredibly fabulous. Sound like a fantasy of the eco-chick’s distant future? Not so – it exists today thanks to Germany’s WeberHaus.

According to Ann M. Requa, the WeberHaus Representative of Catalonia, Spain, “Germans demand good wood” and good wood they got. All the wood used in the WeberHaus construction comes from the Black Forest, which is replanted and within 100 years will grow 2-3 times its original amount. The wood is then fabricated to include insulation of mineral wool, recycled glass, soda and sand. This creates a wall so strong a VW Beetle was hung from one of their showroom walls for months.They are even fire-resistant. More »

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London is well-fashioned in many ways

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by Summer Rayne Oakes · 02/18/06

The Crafts Council Gallery will be hosting a show that will house the U.K.’s small, albeit blossoming eco-fashion industry.

Well Fashioned examines the various ways in which fashion designers approach ‘green’ fashion, from materials and processes to concepts and techniques. Some outfits use organic or alternative fabrics like hemp, bamboo, wild silk and ingeo. Other exhibitors consider the ecological value of synthetic fabrics and biodegradable and recycled plastics.

Curator Rebecca Earley comments: ‘We hope that the exhibition will sow the seeds of change for a more ecological and ethical approach to fashion. Given that the majority of a garment’s impact on the environment occurs after the item has left the shop, an important part of the exhibition looks at the role of the consumer. How can a garment be bought, washed and disposed of as ecologically and ethically as possible?’

Some notables that will be there: Terra Plana, Kate Goldsworthy, and Ting.

More information can be found via: The Crafts Council

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Crazy Capitalist and Enviro in the Same Sentence?

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by Starre Vartan · 11/22/05

Today’s NYTimes has an interesting article in a section I usually ignore. The front of the Business section has “Saving the Environment, One Quarterly Earnings Report at a Time.”

Wal-Mart uses a wind turbine to help provide electricity at a store in Aurora, Colo., as an experiment.

From the story by Dave Weaver:

A few years ago, scientists at Cargill Inc. learned how to make rigid, transparent plastics from corn sugars. There was just one problem: they cost a lot more than the oil-based plastics they would replace.

Plastic pellets derived from corn at NatureWorks. Some producers have adopted corn-based packaging, as the cost of oil-based products rose.

But that was before the price of oil shot up and companies came under pressure from consumers and investors to find economically sound ways to adopt “green” packaging and other environmentally friendly products and processes. This year, Wal-Mart, Wild Oats Market and many other retailers, as well as food suppliers like Del Monte and Newman’s Own Organics, all embraced corn-based packaging for fresh produce.

Sales at NatureWorks, the Cargill subsidiary that makes the plastic, grew 200 percent in the first half of this year over the period last year. “The early adopters were more influenced by environmental concerns than costs,” said Kathleen M. Bader, chairwoman of NatureWorks. “But now we’re competitive with petrochemicals, too.”

Cargill is one of several companies profiting from the concerns – of shareholders, communities and consumers – about global warming, leaking landfills and other potential environmental hazards. Huge companies like General Electric and Chevron now have separate businesses to market what they are calling environment-friendly products.

And new companies and university projects appear each day. Cornell University’s College of Engineering, for one, expects to have a commercial process for using bacteria to recoup energy from wastewater treatment within three years.

“There are a lot of creative types looking for the next big thing,” said Bob Sheppard, deputy director for corporate programs at Clean Air-Cool Planet, a nonprofit environmental education organization. “Well, these days, environment is it.”

That’s what I like to hear.

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