Wood · Eco-Chick

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"I swear to God I'm a Virgin"

So I came across Sworn Virgins about a year ago – a very LA brand line of eco-fashion. Not quite sure exactly what their production policy is, but it does mention that they use no sweatshop labor and it alludes to the fact that they may use lenpur (wood pulp). No sign of using organic cotton, though it does seem to me that cotton is a main staple fiber in their design.

cotton, design, Eco-Chick, Fashion, labor, Organic, organic cotton, wood

Laurie David, I Presume?

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by Starre Vartan · 04/02/06

Laurie David is everywhere these days. And that’s not hyperbole. She’s omnipresent in the green world, from a huge profile in Vogue’s March “Power” issue, to Women’s Wear Daily, to another profile in Elle (which I’m guessing led to her guest-editing the upcoming May “Green” Elle, printed on 10% recyled stock).

Who is this eco-warrioress? A former talent coordinator for David Letterman, ex-comedy producer, and former vp of comedy devlopment for Fox, and current NRDC trustee, and oh-yeah, she’s married to Larry David of Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm fame.

She’s using her considerable Hollywood clout for the good of the greens. She’s begun the Virtual March on Washington to stop global warming, and got both Oprah and Fox News to do a show on the topic (not together! Though that’s a funny thought)

In March’s Vogue Laurie explains that her children were her impetus to get involved:”I say what the impact would be on my kids’ lives.”

On top of all this work, Laurie has been involved in getting three different enviro specials on the air.

As E/The Environmental Magazine summed up in a recent interview:

Today, if you haven’t seen an information-crammed environmental special produced by Laurie David, it’s because you aren’t paying attention. Her live Earth to America special featured Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Robin Williams, Will Ferrell and many others. Her excellent and sober (no rock music, no celebrity voice overs) HBO documentary Too Hot Not to Handle will air on Earth Day, April 22 (7 p.m. Eastern Time, 8 p.m. Central). And Participant Productions’ An Inconvenient Truth, featuring former Vice President Al Gore talking about global warming, is coming soon to a theater near you.

But don’t let the big name-dropping fool you. From Newsweek’s “quote of the week” section, talking about Too Hot Not to Handle: “This isn’t about box office. None of us are going to make a dime. [What's at stake] is, you know, the planet.” I’m sure I’m not the only one who likes to read those kinds of quotes from someone with real influence.

I’ll leave you with these words from Laurie, from the E Magazine interview:

Scientists are the most cautious humans on the planet, and they are now all saying that they have underestimated everything. They are saying we now have less than 10 years to start slowing [global warming] down. Less than 10 years. If you need a better wakeup call then that, I don’t know what it is. And if they are saying less than 10 years, my feeling is that it’s probably five years.

children, comedy, earth day, Easter, Eco-Chick, Global Warming, Hollywood, interview, kids, magazine, Music, News, produce, spa, stop global warming, style, Vogue, women, wood

Earthships Take Flight

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by Kimberly Jordan Allen · 03/31/06

About ten years ago I was in Colorado and one of my friends took me to see some alternative housing structures that were being built in the mountains. The first was an amazing teepee that had a woodstove and the second was an ‘earthship’.

I was blown away by the originality of the design and the ingenious idea of using recycled materials to build the home. The foundation was primarily compiled of recycled auto tires that had been cut in half and packed with dirt. Walls were plaster surrounding aluminum cans and bottles, solar panels were feeding batteries for power, and rain water was being filtered for drinking.

These homes are visually striking in their symbiotic relationship to surrounding terrain and can be completely off the grid. My husband and I fantasize about building one someday and there are seminars you can attend in Taos, NM to learn how to build your own from scratch or even retrofit existing homes.

Earthships are now sprouting up all over the world. Their ingenous co-existence with the earth makes them an intelligent alternative to exhausting the earth’s limited resources.

batteries, car, carbon, design, Eco-Chick, filter, Home, recycle, recycled, resources, water, wood

Greenpeace TV

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by Jennifer Cross · 02/21/06

According to a survey by Salary.com, the average worker admits to wasting 2.09 hours per eight-hour workday (not including lunch and scheduled break times). Participants in the survey sited “personal Internet” use as the biggest distracter from their workday.

It is well known that the Internet does have the ability to beckon us away from end-of-the-month budget reviews, proposals with a 5 p.m. deadline and other important work-related duties that we are actually paid for. It’s essentially inevitable. But at least now there is a way to waste away your 2.09 hours, be entertained, and become better informed about environmental issues, and it’s through Greenpeace TV.

The Friday the 13th ad that can be found on Greenpeace’s UK site urges us to “Tell Tony Blair nuclear power is not the answer to climate change.” We are encouraged to do so by watching a highly convincing act of terrorism whereby a highjacked plane flies straight into a nuclear power plant while a British family watches from the seashore.

Another great ad that will eat up three minutes and 29 seconds of your day is told to us from the perspective of some great apes. The spot begins when a family’s house is torn apart with a chain saw (an analogy to the ape’s ancient forest being sawed down by international loggers). The apes pose the great question, “Why destroy ancient forests for wood and paper when it could all come from responsibly logged wood and timber?” That’s a great question indeed.

In addition, you can eat up your time by watching clips about everything from E-Waste in Hong Kong to the fictional Greenhouse Olympics. They are well-produced, high quality and likely will bring you a better chuckle than skimming through listings on match.com

budget, climate change, Eco-Chick, Home, lunch, nuclear, nuclear power, paper, produce, reviews, tv, video, waste, wood

UnCommon Scents

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by Kimberly Jordan Allen · 01/10/06

There is nothing more odious (pardon the impending pun) than that heavy, pungent perfume you can smell from a mile away. And many of us have spent time perusing the shelves of that ubiquitous modern shrine to plasticity called Sephora only to leave with a pounding headache that has that “fake vanilla” scent stamped all over it.

Ugh.

I have been a true scent-junky for at least fifteen years and recently, upon applying a commercial fragrance, noticed I started sneezing almost instantly. I started to wonder just what exactly is in these products we apply on a daily basis. Being one who tries to always buy organic, it dawned on me that my personal doctrine to “stay natural” had not penetrated my hankering for smells.

Many companies, even those claiming to be “natural”, use synthetic fragrance and chemical additives such as preservatives and artificial coloring, and contain dangerous chemicals such as phtalates that are proven endocrine disruptors whose activity has been found to mimic hormonal signals in the body.

There are what I have always considered to be more natural alternatives to smelling like “Calvin Clone,” but often you end up smelling like a head shop or your grandma’s lavender garden when using organically derived essential oils. Some of us like smelling like a head shop, but for those who want something more unique, there are some interesting alternatives.

Rich Hippie is a line of completely organic, wild-crafted perfume, founded in LA. Through the use of carefully selected plant extracts and the implementation of traditional perfumery practices, Rich Hippie has created an environmentally conscious fragrance line that is original and hip.

The line boasts scents such as “Psychedelic – a sensual, lush, mysterious and romantic scent with extracts of organic Madagascan vanilla bean, organic ginger root and organic sweet orange peel,” “Nirvana” – a “unisex scent with extracts of organic sandalwood, West Indian bay leaf and organic Italian bergamot peel,” and “Wild Thing – an intoxicating, romantic, and sensual floral with rare Indian jasmine, Albanian Orris root and Egyptian rose.” There is also the signature scent, “Rich Hippie” – a “hip, bohemian, seductive floral with extracts of exotic African flowers, Madagascan Vanilla bean and Guatemalan Cardamom.”

These perfumes ain’t cheap, at an average of $85.00 per 1/2oz, but to support a small company that is investing in organic farming practices is worthwhile compared to the minimum $35 to $40 that is typically spent on factory-made fragrances that are known health hazards. According to the FDA, perfume companies don’t have to publish their ingredients anywhere, because they are considered “trade secrets”. Through growing consumer pressure to monitor cosmetics companies and clearly substantiate the safety of perfumes and other products, the FDA has clearly delineated its authority over this domain on its website This means there is no way for us to know what is in common colognes until independent labs do their own analysis and there aren’t a lot of scientists lining up to joust with big name cosmetics.

California is actually the first state in the union to implement the “Safe Cosmetics Act,” signed into law by Governor Schwarzenegger in 2005, which states that manufacturers must disclose (to the state) any ingredient that is on state or federal lists of chemicals linked to cancer or birth defects.

For more information on what is actually in your beauty products see NOT TOO PRETTY, SAFE COSMETICS and how they are affecting the environment see MARINE LIFE