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Eco Chic Weekly – October 20, 2008

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by Amanda Quraishi · 10/20/08

Green Girls Global shows off the gorgeous jewelry made from antique and reclaimed glass by artist Laura Bergman.

Eco Chick dishes about four of the season’s sexiest sustainable shoes!

Victoria Everman reviews the effective, affordable, and artistic oral care line from Radius.

Safia Minney shares her eco style tips with Greenmystyle.com.

Fashion, Evolved. blogs about poverty and fashion for Blog Action Day.

GreenGirls.tv presents their weekly video wrap up.

Green Cotton reports on her recent trip to Belize!

Get a glimpse of the highlights from the European fashion weeks on DC Goodwill Fashions!

Green Gretchen got engaged and tells us all about conflict free diamonds!

Fig+Sage gives us the scoop about Saffron Rouge, the new organic line by

autumn, car, conflict, cotton, Eco Chic Weekly, eco style, epa, Europe, Fashion, Jewelry, News, Organic, poverty, reviews, shoes, spa, style, sustainable, tv, video

Eco Chick Book in Star Magazine!

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by Starre Vartan · 08/28/08

Wow! My book was on the “Hot Sheet” page of Star Magazine last week (the one with Brad and Jen on the cover). What a fun mention! (See bottom right of page below.)

They were also awesome enough to mention the book on the main page of their website. Thanks!

book, Eco-Chick, media, reviews

Green Gifts for All the Lovable Weirdoes in Your Life

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by Starre Vartan · 12/07/07

You know those lists of gifts everyone has now? They’re killing me. So I had to make my own because my friends and family are a motley bunch, and the usual stuff (even the usual green stuff) isn’t going to cut it. Plus, they have high expectations because I am an Eco Chick! Sheesh! Well here goes what I’m going to give some of my favorite folks (yes, all of these are actual people in my life!) this year:
For The Discerning Partyer

Who doesn’t love vodka? There are some great ones out there that are organic and/or sustainable. Check out my reviews of 360 vodka and Reyka, which are both good bets. I’ve also enjoyed Square One at more than a couple of green events I’ve attended in the last year. It’s delicious and made from 100% organic rye. If your local liquor store doesn’t carry it, ask them to stock it, or check here.

For the Obsessive-Compulsive Worried Mom’s Kids

Oompa toys are classy and so very adorable so they will fit in with “grown-up” decor from modern to antique. Blocks and playsets are made from wood, not plastic, a healthier, more eco-friendly (and less tacky) choice. Besides the wooden toys, there are super-mod sustainable easels and organic stuffed animals. So cute I kinda want some of these playthings!

For the Essentialist Dad

My Dad’s been a minimalist for years, eschewing anything that isn’t utilitarian; you know, he’s one of those people who’s living room looks a bit like an art gallery with barely a chotchke in sight. He’s also a surfer and loves the ocean as much as I love the mountains, so this year I’m going to give him a Starfish from Oceana, which is an organization that works to protect marine ecosystems. Of course I’m not buying a real starfish, but a symbolic one, which comes with a cute cookie cutter in the shape of a starfish (there are 15 other animals you can buy, each with it’s own cutter). A sugar cookie recipe is included from celebrity chef Warren Brown of eco-friendly bakery CakeLove in DC.

For the Ex Who’s Still a Good Friend

A laptop case from Act2Greensmart is a great gift for someone that deserves a something they can really use. This one is the only one I’ve found that’s 100% recycled as its made from recycled plastic bottles.

For the Vegan Chef

They’ll love you forever if you show up with some vegan marshmellow (technically ricemellow) or hot chocolate mix, both of which are hard-to-find items when you’re totally a totally animal-free eater.

For the Back-to-the-Lander

The Self-Sufficiency Handbook is a comprehensive, illustrated, and detailed new book that gets into the nitty gritty details of how to live an off-the-grid lifestyle. Topics include water collection and storage, soil care, sections on geothermal, wind and solar power, toilet systems, stoves, chicken- and beekeeping and more. Fun reading even if your idea of getting back to nature is sipping a soy latte at the corner cafe al fresco.

For the Design Whore

The Green Glass Company makes this gorgeous, gorgeous glassware, all by recycling wine bottles!

With the machinery Bobby and Kobus custom engineered and built (only one of its kind in the world), The Green Glass Company added a ‘twist’ to its original goblet design. Producing two separate drinking glasses from one bottle without any waste glass was the challenge. The result was separating the bottle into two pieces, creating a tumbler from the bottom portion of the bottle and a goblet from the top portion of the bottle.

For the Green Tech-head

The Hymini is just so damn cool. This little device (it’s about the size of my hand) converts either solar power or wind power into stored charge that you can then connect to your iPod or cell phone for instant energy. Use the wind-converter while you’re riding your bike, on a boat, or just out the window on a breezy day. Use the little solar panel when it’s….sunny! Either way, in about an hour you’ll get enough for two hours of playback on a device. The energy can be stored for about two weeks, so you can collect free energy now and use it whenever. You can also stick it into the wall to grab a charge from conventional power sources. The Hymini has a cool little LED light and it’s cute too!

For the Spa Junkie

There’s a lot of great eco-friendly bath stuff out there. I should know as it’s one of my jobs to keep up on this stuff. But when you’re talking luxury, and you also want some seriously sustainable suds, Maile Kauai makes quite the impressive combo. Most ingredients are organic, and essential oils are wild harvested (meaning they are culled from uncultivated lands without overharvesting). In a handmade box you’ll get (to give) a whole home-spa set including a soy candle, Body Lather, Mango Butter Bun and Body Cream. Choose your Hawaiian-inspired aromatherapy with options of Pikake, Plumeria, Gardenia or Coconut Vanilla.

Animals, Baby, bath, Beauty, book, car, corn, decor, design, eating, Eco-Chick, Energy, epa, essential oils, Events, farm, Fashion, fish, garden, Green Gifts, Handmade, health, Home, junk, kids, liquor, local, mom, oil, oils, Organic, party, plastic, plastic bottles, recipe, recycle, recycled, Recycling, reviews, soy, spa, style, sugar, sustainable, Target, vegan, waste, water, wind power, Wine, wood

IPCC's last report

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by Katie Kish · 05/04/07

If Ralph knows it, you REALLY should know it.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change told us earlier this year that we’re basically all screwed. That the poor are even more screwed. And that we need to do something about it. Today they will be releasing the fourth report, where they will tell us what we can actually do, and really… the requests and reccomendations aren’t all that surprising.

Basically, from the reports that I’m seeing as previews, we need to divert substantially from using the energies that we’re so used to using today. We need to invest more money into sustainable energy and promote sustainable energy use. Give incentives for buying clean energy and make more products that don’t use theh extensive and dirty energies.

All night talks in Bangkok went on as economists, scientists and government officals discussed how they would tackle the problem of huge emission levels from the oil and gas industry. The parts per million of C02 in the air have raised more than a third since the start of the industrial revolution, and now is the time to hault these emissions to spare the earth some pain, and people in developing countries. If the there is a deley on action the greehouse gases in the atmosphere could raise by an additional 90% by 2030, on top of the 70% increase we’ve had since 1970. C02 is extremely important to keep our eye on because so much of it is produced every year (25 billion tons…) and it just sits in the atmosphere making it progressively worse.

atmosphere, car, climate change, eating, electric, electricity, emissions, Energy, garbage, gas, News, NYTimes, oil, produce, reviews, spa, sustainable, taxes

Save The Chimps

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by Kimberly Jordan Allen · 11/19/06

We haven’t done a lot on animals/mammals here at Eco Chick, but it seems to me that our relationship with other species is a huge part of our societal experience. Some say I am anthropomorphizing other creatures, and that my passion for animal rights is sentimental at best. I think that being raised on National Geographic PBS specials, picture books of oceanic tours with Jacques Cousteau, and being taught to support the WWF made me predisposed to this ‘big-hearted naivety,’ and I am grateful to my father for always exposing me to the natural world.

The other night I saw a show done by PBS’ Nature called “Chimpanzees: An Unnatural History,” that traces the way chimps have been treated in Western culture. Used for space travel, scientific testing, and for entertainment in Hollywood, this creature, that has 99% of the same DNA as humans (closer to us genetically than they are to gorillas,) has suffered horrifying injustices. Some of the chimps shown on the program had not been out of a cage or felt sunlight for fifteen years. This moving study shows the chimps being transported from a bio-medical facility in New Mexico to an island in Florida that was created for them to be free and enjoy their final years in peace without ever having the threat of going back into a laboratory. Save The Chimps, headed by Carole Noon, Ph.D., was founded when the U.S. Air Force announced it was “getting out of the chimpanzee research business.” STC built the sanctuary in Florida for the chimps only. There is no gift shop, there are no viewing pens, and there is no exploitation. If you are interested in volunteering, donating, or giving a memorable gift this year, check out the site of this benevolent organization. You can do everything from donate money to sending some cran-raisins for an adopted chimp. I plan to take my kids to do some volunteer work one day as a mini eco-vacation.