A Boticca necklace giveaway for two lucky winners.

How long do you think it’d take to establish the following: an online boutique offering in excess of 6,000 items from over 240 designers in more than 40 countries on 6 continents, and a total of $2.5 million in investments from the likes of Links of London and the founder of Saba? Whatever your wildest guess, we’re betting it’s not 12 months.

Even though Boticca was only founded in October 2010, its rise has been meteoric – partly due to some very high-profile customers including Eva Longoria, Cameron Diaz, Pixie Lott and Victoria Beckham, but also because it’s a brilliant idea, brilliantly executed. It’s free for an independent designer to set up shop on the site (although there’s a selection process, equating to invite-only, to ensure the quality remains high) – and Boticca takes just 25% of any sales revenue, with the remaining three quarters of the sale price going directly to the designer. Compared with the 60%+ deductions of going through a luxury retailer, it’s an attractive business model.

The Happy Mood Adjustable Necklace (top image) is created by Caipora, a collective of designers working through Boticca – and it’s crafted from vegetable ivory, a material we’ve been fans of for years.

We were lucky enough to catch up with Caipora’s founder Zel Albuquerque, to find out why she’s chosen ethical jewelry-making as a way of life and as a platform for change…

1. Give us a little insight into what it takes to run an ethical jewelry business.

I think that you need to have the ability to combine a love of fashion with a passionate belief in being environmentally responsible.

2. How do you source your materials?

The natural materials are sourced through riverside communities’ native knowledge as well as through eco-friendly merchants. Golden grass and seeds are collected during periods of harvest and off-cut materials from other industries are recycled. Most of these recycled materials are regulated by bodies such as the Forest Stewardship Council.

3. What sustainable practices do you follow?

We follow a bunch of sustainable practices such as:
- Recognizing the importance of recycling all materials
- Contribute to the sustainability of endangered areas
- Protecting the environment as our designers ensure to use only easily replaceable natural materials
- Improving the social condition of those who are involved in the creation of the jewelery
- and finally, guaranteeing impeccable quality and finish in every one of our designs

4. What provided the inspiration for a line that embraces sustainability principles?

The ideal of adding more beauty and meaning into people’s life.

5. How do you think design has the potential to influence how people think about sustainability and the environment?

Through meaning and its positive attitude. Some choices in design can represent accomplishments, such as – respect, beauty, happiness, health, wealth and meaning. Some choices in design can preserve valuable principals, embrace restrictions and strive towards a better relationship between the environment and ourselves. I believe beautiful and ethical designs can make people feel proud about their purchases and naturally provide something extra, unique and representative. It reinforces the aesthetic and what it brings to the wearer.

To celebrate the spirit of Boticca, we’re offering a Caipora necklace giveaway!

We’re giving away two of them to two very lucky readers – and one of them could very well be you. How do you make yourself eligible? By subscribing to our very own Boticca newsletter or Boticca’s (if you haven’t already), by following these links:

•  Boticca: enter your e-mail address at the top of their homepage…

• …and EcoSalon: click “Subscribe”, handily lit up in red on the right, here!

Subscribe by December 20 and you’ll be entered!

Clean energy, public transit and local food make these 10 big cities the greenest of them all.

Honking cars emit foul black clouds, skyscrapers blot out the sun, litter lines the gutters and healthy green space can be hard to come by. But in many of America’s biggest cities, these negative traits are being eclipsed by clean, efficient public transit, bike-friendly infrastructure, multiplying trees, reliance on renewable energy and a fierce pride in locally-produced products. Slashing greenhouse gas emissions and coming close to zero waste is no easy feat for a metropolis with a population of at least 250,000, but these 10 cities – from Boston to San Francisco – prove that sustainability is possible on the largest of scales, in good economic times and bad.

10. Boston, Massachusetts

Representing the entire East Coast in impressive renewable energy stats, Boston boosted its solar power with the Solar Boston program and counts wind among its top three sources of electricity, with a turbine on city hall and more slated for several public schools. Other big plans include turning fall leaves and other yard clippings into power and fertilizer with a new biogas facility, and using recycled trash to power homes. For those residents who don’t rely exclusively on the nation’s most utilized public transportation systems, taxis will soon be another green option as they’re all required to go hybrid by 2015. New bike lanes and 250 bike racks have increased Boston’s pedal power, and the city saves a whopping $400,000 a year thanks to LED traffic lights.

9. Denver, Colorado

The Mile-High City is an outdoor wonderland with 14,000 acres of parkland in the mountains, 200 parks within the city limits, 850 miles of dedicated bike trails and 29 recreation centers. Denver preserves and protects its active, natural heritage with conservation measures like a no-pesticide policy in its parks and the Mile-High Million program, which plans to plant one million trees in the metropolitan area by 2025. For a city in a semi-arid region, Denver is adept at managing its water consumption, offering residents incentives to keep their usage down. Any concrete going into new city projects must be green, and Denver has also made some significant renewable energy goals, hoping to run on 20 percent wind power by 2020.

8. San Jose, California

Maybe it’s not California’s best-known or most-beloved city, but San Jose deserves some serious accolades for its clean-tech goals and innovations. Angling for the title of clean tech capital of America, San Jose has already created over 25,000 jobs in green industries and actively works to lure green businesses to the city. In fact, after Tesla Motors relocated its headquarters there in 2009, San Jose began rapidly developing infrastructure for electric vehicles including plug-in charging stations. It’s home to many of the nation’s top solar manufacturers as well as the world’s largest testing facility for solar products.

In a bid to become a zero-waste city, San Jose has managed to divert 62 percent of its waste to recycling and plans to reuse 100 percent of its waste water for landscaping within the next 15 years. The city’s Green Vision plan also includes a goal to reduce per capita energy use by 50 percent and get 100 percent of its energy from renewable sources within the same time period.

7. Oakland, California

Hop on a zero-emissions bus for a tour of one of America’s model green cities, checking out dozens of urban farms, renewable energy projects and a wide variety of eco-friendly businesses. Oakland is working to rise above high levels of unemployment and poverty to position itself as a leader in sustainability, particularly in the areas of local food, green jobs and renewable energy. Taking cues from its bigger Bay Area sister San Francisco (and sometimes even eclipsing it), Oakland gets 17% of its energy from renewable sources like hydroelectric, biomass and wind, and in 2007, it won the City Solar Award from NorCal Solar for having more solar power wattage than any other big city in Northern California.

The city aims to lower its greenhouse gas emissions to 36 percent below 2005 levels by the year 2020, the most ambitious target in the nation. It’s also home to Van Jones’ Ella Baker Center, one of several local organizations that focuses on training low-income adults for jobs in green industries.

6. Austin, Texas

Austin may be best known for its vibrant music scene, but this city shines just as bright in the sustainability arena. Not only is Texas’ capital city bicycle and pedestrian friendly, with plenty of mass transit and even hybrid plug-in stations, but its building codes encourage green practices and home energy audits are mandatory when selling a house. Austin is also the largest local government to run on 100% renewable energy, and by 2020 the city aims to have 30% of its residential, commercial and industrial energy consumption shifted to clean sources.

Birthplace of Whole Foods, Austin is brimming with organic restaurants and natural food stores, including America’s first zero-waste, packaging-free grocery store, In.gredients. If you’ve never been there and imagine the entire state of Texas as a dusty wasteland full of tumbleweeds, banish that notion from your mind, at least as it pertains to Austin – this city is surprisingly lush, offering stunning outdoor settings for biking, kayaking, swimming or just relaxing.

5. New York, New York

The fact that the Big Apple can compete with much smaller cities like Austin and Oakland is reason enough to land it in the top five greenest cities. It’s undoubtedly no easy task to keep a teeming metropolis of over 8 million residents from turning into an environmental nightmare, and while New York City can’t boast quite the same statistics on clean air or water conservation, it excels in public transportation and does surprisingly well on greenhouse gases and public park space. It’s the city’s very density that makes it so efficient, with just 20 percent of the population driving their own vehicles on a regular basis. Tall, jam-packed skyscrapers are more energy efficient than single-family homes, and of course, they use up a lot less land. Mayor Michael Bloomberg is further kicking up the city’s eco credentials with tree-planting programs, hybrid taxis and a program that phases out heavy heating oils.

4. Chicago, Illinois

Boardwalks, parks, nature centers, organic restaurants, green hotels and lots of eco-friendly shops: Chicago definitely has a lot to boast about.  The United Nations chose it as one of just two U.S. cities for UN-Habitat’s 100 Cities Initiative for its work over the past two decades addressing climate change and healthier, greener living in general. Since 1989 the city has seen 500,000 trees planted, 10,000 bike racks installed, 114 miles of bike lanes established and 900 acres of abandoned, polluted land returned to productive use.

Chicago’s City Hall boasts a stunning rooftop garden, adding to more than 2.5 million square feet of green roofs within the city limits – more than all other U.S. cities combined. A downtown airport was demolished to make way for a 100-acre park, adding to the city’s reputation as a testing ground for reducing the urban heat island effect. The city is also making headway on a 2008 climate goal that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent come 2050.

3. Seattle, Washington

All of those waterways surrounding Seattle don’t just give it its postcard-perfect beauty and contribute to its wet, mild climate – they also provide over 90 percent of the city’s power in the form of hydroelectricity, and more low-impact hydropower plants are planned to reduce impact on wildlife like salmon. The city’s two global warming initiatives, Seattle Climate Action Now and Seattle Climate Partnership, have distributed thousands of home energy efficiency kits to residents and urged over 100 local businesses to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. And when something like blackberry brambles threaten to overtake Seattle City Light’s substations, the utility employs a chemical-free solution: goats.

2. Portland, Oregon

Seattle’s carbon-neutral electricity makes it the star of the Pacific Northwest when it comes to climate change, but Portland has it beat in all-around sustainability and green living. A quarter of Portland’s workforce commutes by bike, carpool or public transportation with about 9,000 city residents biking downtown every day. The first city to adopt a climate change action plan, Portland offers free plug-in parking spots for electric vehicles and has more LEED-certified residential towers than any other city in the U.S. Portland is beating back sprawl with zoning regulations that encourage dense urban growth while leaving farmland for agricultural use. And on top of all of this, Portland has rightfully earned a reputation as a laid-back, eco-friendly place to live thanks in part to a lively local food and beer scene.

1. San Francisco, California

While Portland and Seattle are snapping at its heels, San Francisco manages to hang on to its title as the greenest city in America for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that city residents seem to have concern for the environment encoded into their DNA. Voters routinely approve aggressive green programs like banning plastic grocery bags and financing renewable energy for public facilities. San Francisco diverts a jaw-dropping 70 percent of its waste thanks to mandatory recycling and composting, and urban farms produce 20 times more food than the city’s residents can consume in a year. Nearly half of all San Francisco residents bike, walk or take public transit every day. Despite being more populated, San Francisco has a lower annual output of greenhouse gases than its Pacific Northwest competition, and is on track to reach its goal of 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.

Images: Tony the Misfit, Manu_H, dherrera_96, Wikimedia Commons, Ella Baker Center, Andreanna Moya, njt4148, compujeramey, wordridden, periwinklekog, kevincole

We learned that we need better green messaging, cities are where we’re going, and children should spend time in nature early and often.

The first annual SXSW Eco conference was a success by many measures. The number of attendees exceeded the organizers’ expectations, the sessions were lead by well-known industry pioneers and up-and-comers, and the discussion was informative and productive. Here were some of the highlights we found most applicable.

Senior Editor, Andrea Newell:

The green movement is losing the messaging war.

As Anna wrote earlier, the green movement is facing the sad truth that people aren’t moved to combat climate change when confronted with grim statistics, alarming graphs scolding and guilt. It isn’t working. We need a new way to connect with people and get them to care.

Knowing your audience is Business 101, yet green has promoted a generally one-size-fits-all rationale. Comedy Central’s Kelleigh Dulany, VP of Corporate Responsibility talked about how she narrowed the focus of the message to Comedy Central’s demographic, made it relevant to them, and, of course, delivered it with humor. Dulany said, “Make the change small, make the result big and make the impact local.”

Due to what many feel is alarmist green marketing, people get the idea that if they are not significantly changing their lifestyle to be green, they are not doing enough. So they do nothing. The truth is that if many people made small changes in their conservation habits, that would make a bigger impact than a few people making big changes. So, taking baby steps toward a greener lifestyle still helps.

Most of us will live in or near cities by mid-century.

As our population grows, it will naturally consume more space. By 2050, 70 percent of the world’s population will live in or near cities. Cities will expand because that is where the jobs, education and resources are. The turning point will be how those cities react to their increasing size and population. Infrastructure is crucial. Sustainable cities in the future will include better public transportation, bike trails, child-friendly spaces and quality education, good jobs, and access to healthy food.

In addition to planning for better cities, many metropolitan areas need to plan for environmental changes. Melanie Nutter, Director of the San Francisco Department of the Environment, projects that sea level will rise nearly 55 inches by the end of this century. For San Francisco, surrounded by water on three sides, this is a serious issue. The airport will be underwater, as will 99 miles of roadways. These are eventualities that she knows she must start planning for now. Amongst many aggressive environmental initiatives employed by the city, currently it leads the country in waste disposal (more than 77 percent is composted, recycled or reused) and has set a goal of zero waste by 2020.

Robin Rather, CEO of Collective Strength, Inc. makes the argument that we’re all in this together – cities, suburbs and rural areas. Our current us-versus-them mentality works against progress and change. She contends that we all have to face this problem united, whether we live in super-hip cities like San Francisco, cities in dire straits like Detroit, a Rhode Island suburb or rural Nebraska.

The children are our (environmental) future.

Several speakers and organizations have identified a new, desirable demographic to target – children. (Relatively) free of cynicism and unswayed by complicated charts, children easily believe that the environment is precious and important simply by spending time outside.

Keynote speaker Mark Tercek (The Nature Conservancy) fell in love with nature when he wanted his children to develop an appreciation for the outdoors and they planned many exploratory family trips. TNC supports programs that help urban youth who would not otherwise get to spend time outdoors participate in nature activities. Keynote speaker Philippe Cousteau certainly was brought up to love the water, but his foundation, EarthEcho International focuses on encouraging children to appreciate oceans and their ecosystems. Disney reaches out to children through Iron Way Films using creativity and imagination, and Comedy Central speaks to teens and young adults through humor.

It’s fitting. Children will inherit our planet, so the idea that they should learn to care about it early on is the right one. If children hold so much sway over parental buying decisions, perhaps they can exert influence over some greener behavior, too.

Marketing Manager, Anna Brones:

It’s all about food.

What is the one thing that connects us? The one thing that can get anybody talking? Food. ”We cherish our connections to food. We do not cherish our connections to turning off our lightbulbs,” said journalist Simran Sethi. If there is one thing that binds us, no matter what side of the political spectrum we are on, it’s what we eat, and when it comes to talking about the environment and our health, food is also one of the main common denominators.

We need to have uncomfortable conversations.

Population control, religion, race – these are all things that many of us steer clear of, but if we don’t bring these important issues to the table we are going to have serious missed opportunities. Roger-Mark De Souza of Population Action International made the connection between access to reproductive services and family planning and climate change; if we slow population growth we can limit carbon emissions. Here is an area with potential for significant impact, and yet it is one of the many important questions that won’t be on the table at the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development held in 2012. If we continue to veer from the difficult questions, we can forget progress.

Listen before talking.

Action is needed, but to inspire action we have to know who we are talking to and how they will respond. This requires listening. Identify not only what communities need, but what they want. We live in an era that requires serious action, and we need it now, but if we continue to preach, we won’t effect real change. As Andrew Hutson of Environmental Defense Fund, pointed out, we cannot lead discussion “with ideas that threaten people’s core beliefs and values.”

Editor-in-Chief, Sara Ost:

Life, sustainability, and the pursuit of happiness.

“We need a Rosetta Stone” for green messaging was Gary Lawrence’s quote retweeted round the conference room in “Let’s Stop Talking about Sustainability: How Our Green Vocabulary Is Failing Us.”

We need a ring decoder, someone else said. We need to know how to market and message for our target audiences, another panelist noted. Well, yes.

What are these words that will work? We know what they aren’t. Green, eco, sustainability, environmentalism, climate change, global warming, conservation, cutting back, recycling, reusing, reducing and worst of all: sacrifice. Green doesn’t just have a sex appeal problem (on the level of Christian rap; besides, who wants to be a color?), it has a happiness problem.

We environmentalists can argue about consumption, mitigation versus paradigm shift, and technology until the grass fed cows come home. The fundamental problem is that green, The Movement, asks for sacrifice and gets snippy when it doesn’t happen. If sacrifice were going to work, it would have already. We live in a nation where the grand directive from our President in the weeks after 9/11 was for us to shop. I don’t think we’re at a point as a culture anymore where we can be asked to sacrifice in the face of very real problems – at least not without government involvement (think enforced rations circa WWII).

I’d like to remind people that Obama was able to win an election on simple appeals to our common humanity, to the good in us: “Change” and “Yes we can.”

In this particular panel, Lawrence asked us to consider appealing to the core emotions we all share. These are fear, aspiration and nostalgia. He then said what I consider to be the most profound thing I heard at the entire conference: “We are forgetting about happiness.”

It strikes me that we live in a culture where happiness is not a value – despite the fact that it’s written right into our Declaration of Independence. What American doesn’t recall having to memorize “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” in grade school? Yet we don’t take  vacations. Paternity leave? What’s that? Hell, we barely get outside. Take a look at infant mortality rates, the number of adults on antidepressants, the media we consume – it’s awful. On the flight in, I happened to sit next to a woman who counsels Fortune 50 executives on communication and negotiation. She had that glow that really present, grateful, active people have. I was riveted by the earful she gave me about high stakes negotiating, and equally moved when she said, after a pause: “People who live here don’t see just how self-loathing we are. Other cultures are blown away by it.”

Of course, I also couldn’t help but think about Steve Jobs and his impact on the world during all of this green discussion and debate. People love Apple because there’s an element of happiness to the products. Design is soul.

It’s simple, but green needs some soul.

Image: Kewl

ColumnNatalie Chanin’s bi-weekly column, Material Witness, offers a seasoned designer’s perspective on the fashion industry, textile history and what happens when love for community trumps all.

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to travel to Berlin and speak at the Hello Etsy conference. Every speaker was incredible and the amount of information and energy that was present during each presentation was astounding. I think that it will take me weeks to process the incredible passion that fueled those days (and nights) in Berlin. It is almost impossible, at present, to string together a cohesive thought as the ideas are still swirling in my mind; however, I keep coming back, over and over again to Charty Durant’s talk and the images she used to illustrate her ideas.

Charty is a former fashion editor of the Sunday Times, The Observer, and British Vogue and a lecturer at the London College of Fashion. Early in her talk, she reminded us that “Our love of adornment and artistry is uniquely human. Other animals don’t do it– you don’t see tigers walking around wearing earrings. It is as natural and necessary to us as breathing. It really is. How can this joyful human expression be driving our destruction?”

She goes on to talk about two photographs that were taken around the turn of the last century: “I love this picture. This is by Henri Lartigue, the great master who documented the last century. It is a picture of his family members. So, this was the beginning of the 19th century. And you can see here that women are wearing corsets, full gowns, very, very complicated stuff. It was the Victorian era.”

“But, you know twenty years later, they looked like this.”

Charty goes on to explain that in this twenty-year span, women went from the extreme constrictions of Victorian purity to “no underwear, suntans, and short hair.” She correctly states, “That is an extraordinary expression of how fast society went in a
twenty year period.”

Around the turn of this new century, I find the promise of such a leap heartening as I think about the throngs of samples now being presented globally in the name of seasonal fashion. The funny thing about seasons now is that there are so many of
them! We went from the four seasons we all know: spring, summer, winter and fall to additional fashion seasons with names like Holiday 1, Holiday 2, Cruise 1, Cruise 2, Pre-Fall, Spring 1, Spring 2, etc.

How encouraging to think that something that was so ingrained – the Victorian-era vision of the perfect woman – melted away in twenty short years into women’s freedom of living a more undressed life. The thought of that sweeping change gives me
incredible hope that the rapidly growing fashion industry will evolve one day soon, too.

Charty also pointed out that our fashion has changed so little in the last twenty years. It feels to me that we are caught up in a Victorian-like cycle of ever-developing seasons (with ever growing closets) that could possibly evolve any moment into a more humane, beautiful and forward-thinking fashion perspective. During her presentation, Charty talked about the joy of longing as she saved her money to purchase a beautiful chandelier from an antique store. She explained that she was not able to afford the piece but went back to the store over and over again to admire its beauty. The shop keeper saw her longing and agreed to sell it to her over time. During the months that she put away funds to buy it, she built a story, a relationship, a conversation with that product and she still loves that piece today. So it could be with fashion as well: we could long and want and save to get that piece that we will be proud to wear in 20 years.

I see our society moving towards a period of undressing. Charty’s comparison between the austere Victorian woman and the freedom of the modern woman is relevant in today’s world. I am beginning to witness such an undressing, a peeling away of cheap layers and transitional garments coupled with a return to the idea that quality clothing can last a lifetime. This undressing also includes the principles of sustainability and slow design. I see the undressing as a sexy and beautiful act, one that truly represents who we are as women today.

My grandmother had two dresses as she was growing up: one for every day of the week and one for Sunday. I am not suggesting that this is practical in our modern lives. My love for clothes could never survive such austerity in my closet. I prefer the thought of longing, saving, receiving and then savoring. As part of her Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin recently sent out this Bertrand Russell quote: “He forgets that to be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness.”

Charty said at the beginning of her speech, “I spent 25 years in the fashion industry. I love fashion. I love creativity. I love the beauty and the passion of the industry. The thing I love most about fashion is that it’s a haven for eccentrics and mavericks – and long remained so.” I feel the same way.

Someone recently told me that they wanted to be buried in an Alabama Chanin garment. And, I can’t tell you how proud that makes me – but I hope that she will also wear the piece while she is alive. Wear it a lot. Because the true beauty of our garments lies in the fact that they grow more beautiful with each wearing.

Natalie Chanin is owner and designer of the American couture line Alabama Chanin and author of three books including Alabama Stitch Book  (2008), Alabama Studio Style (2010) and the upcoming Alabama Studio Sewing + Design which comes out spring 2012. Look for her bi-weekly column, Material Witness here and follow her on Facebook and her own blog at Alabama Chanin.

Top Image: Pennyspitter

A roundup of some of our favorite food related articles.

It’s no secret: here at EcoSalon we’re big on food. Eating it, dreaming about it, cooking it, reading about it, thinking about it, talking about it, and writing about it. We even have two weekly columns devoted to all things culinary. Why? Because no matter who we are or where we live, we all must eat.

Food touches so many aspects of our lives, far beyond just the dinner table. It’s intertwined in culture and politics, economy and tradition. What lettuce we buy at the grocery store can affect a farmer, a town and a watershed on the other side of the country. What country is marked on our bag of coffee can indicate how workers are treated. How much we eat and how much we throw away, says a lot about our consumer culture as a whole, and the lack thereof in other regions.

Given all of that, what we eat, where it comes from and how we eat it is in fact one of the greater defining factors of who we are as a society and how we think about the world and our fellow human beings. But food is also fun, and it’s an ongoing adventure to identify new things to eat and how to cook things, or to simply be reminded of a product that we may have overlooked.

In honor of food, and given that it’s the season for dinner parties and farmers market strolls, here are the top 10 food stories that you may have missed the first time around but are certainly worth a read, be they thought provoking political pieces, or just reminders of why we love food:

1. What Does $20 Billion in Wasted Food Look Like?

Did you know that in Britain alone $20 billion worth of food is wasted per year? That equals out to about a third of Britain’s groceries. But what exactly does $20 billion in food waste look like? The real visual just might get you seriously thinking about what food you keep and what food you throw away.

2. The Sexual Politics of Dinner

I grew up with a mother that made fantastic meals, in fact she is truly a lover of good food. Sometimes cooking is simply a task that needs to be completed, and when it comes down to it, men and women approach that task differently.

3. Living in Sin With Breads from Berlin

Bread. Good old bread. Gluten-free may be the current mantra of many, but this article is a good reminder that, serious food allergies aside, we shouldn’t be afraid of real food. Check out the complete list of fresh-baked, dark-brown breads and why they have a culinary, and nutritional, advantage.

4. What We Don’t Know Can Hurt Us

Most of us are well aware that vegetables are better than fries and whole grains far outweigh their processed counterparts, but how much do we really know about what we eat? Nutrition fads draw attention, but it turns out, that in seducing us with things like “fat free” and “low sodium,” we’re distracted from what’s really good for us, and the choices that we make because of it, could be detrimental.

5. 10 Street Eats

What’s a better way to explore a new place than by its food? The Green Plate columnist Vanessa Barrington takes us on a tour of 10 street foods, from Banh Mi to Burek, complete with recipes for those of us with minimal travel plans on the summer to do list.

6. Boost Your Brain With the 20 Smartest Foods on Earth

If these 20 foods aren’t on your “Keep on hand at all times” list, they should be. From avocados to oysters to eggs, these are the foods that make for powerful brain boosters and you should be putting on your daily, or weekly, menu.

7. No Excuses, Just Vegetables

A guest post from urban gardening extraordinaire Mike Lieberman, this article is a great reminder as to why we should all be making an effort to be growing more vegetables at home. Lieberman outlines the first important steps to home gardening, and highlights the most important: no excuses. Just do it!

8. The Facts About Food Dyes

Hold the sprinkles, please. Food dyes may have more side effects than you think. Linked to allergies, cancers and even hyperactivity, you may want to rethink what colorful items you’re putting in the pantry.

9. The Conscious Case Against Veganism

A vegan turned omnivore posits why the sustainable path may not lead to veganism, eliciting plenty of thoughts and comments from the EcoSalon community. The moral? “Conscientious consumption means eating and living ethically, not religiously.”

10. Just Cook: How to Integrate Cooking Into Your Daily Life

With all this talk of food, what’s the most basic way we can have an impact: cook consciously. Cooking keeps us from processed foods, saves us money and gets us to eat healthier. So what’s stopping you? Read this hassle free guide to ensuring that cooking – and cooking well – becomes a part of your everyday routine.

Image: Anna Brones

It’s time to reconceive environmentalism and sustainability and help them evolve into a larger movement.

*Author Richard Louv is the author of The Nature Principle: Human Restoration and the End of Nature-Deficit Disorder and Last Child In The Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder.

Martin Luther King Jr. taught us, by word and example, that any movement — any culture —will fail if it cannot paint a picture of a world that people will want to go to. As others have said, his speech was not called “I Have a Nightmare.”

For decades, our culture has struggled with two addictions, to oil and to despair. It’s pretty clear by now that we can’t kick one of those habits without kicking the other. Yet, for many Americans, perhaps most of us, thinking about the future conjures up images of “Blade Runner,” “Mad Max” or Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road”: a post-apocalyptic dystopia stripped of nature. We seem drawn to that flame.

It’s a dangerous fixation. Think how children and young people must feel today, growing up in a time when so many adults seem to accept, with a shrug, only darkness ahead. The key question here is: How do we change our vision of the future? Where do we start? Here’s one suggestion: reconceive environmentalism and sustainability – help them evolve into a larger movement that can touch every part of society.

Here are seven reasons for a new nature movement:

The evolution of windows toward sustainability.

It’s something you probably don’t think about very often – windows. They tell us a lot about a building, from its age and style to how energy efficient it is. An average home may lose 30% of its heat or air-conditioning energy through its windows, which is inexcusable considering how technology has improved since the first windows.

It wasn’t until the late 17th century that glass windows became common in homes. They were strategically placed and sized depending on geography and the sun (south-facing windows let in more light) to keep the home a comfortable temperature year round. Windows were small because glass was expensive and small meant less chance for heat to escape.

The current technology can be overwhelming and there are entire courses offered on the intricacies of the energy-efficient window. But suffice it to say that preventing air leakage, reducing condensation and increasing insulation are part of the package. Glass is stronger and thicker allowing for the use of larger slabs – entire walls can be windows. The Farnsworth House is a prime example.

Over time, windows have evolved from a mere hole in the wall to crucial components of a building’s energy efficiency rating. Here are a few of the ways that windows have changed for the better:

1. Stronger glass allows for larger windows. More natural sunlight helps regulate a building’s temperature, as in the new Virgin America’s new eco-luxe terminal at SFO.

2. Sealed window frames prevent condensation and air leakage.

3. Non-toxic gases (i.e. argon) used as filler between pieces of glass prevent loss of hot or cold air.

4. Double or triple glaze windows (storm windows) drastically improve insulation and temperature regulation.

5. Low-e glass coatings let in just the right amount of sun – because in warm climates we want the sunlight but not the heat, while in colder areas we welcome the sun’s heat and want to capture and keep it.

All of these factors improve the energy efficiency of our buildings and add credits toward LEED certification. And you thought windows were just for pretty views.

Image: dorena wm

AFINGOs Fashion Forum New York is gathering fashion industry innovators.

Back in New York April 1st to host another stand-out symposium, Afingo.com, a pioneering online platform connecting designers with esteemed fashion industry insiders, will host Fashion Forum New York at the Fashion Institute of Technology’s K.M. Amphitheater.

Liza Deyrmenjian, co-founder and CEO of AFINGO says: “The AFINGO Fashion Forum is a space where the fashion-interested and the fashion expert can meet and both walk away with more knowledgeable ideas and information to help move their respective businesses forward. It mirrors the mission of Afingo.com, bringing that online experience into a real-time environment.”

The event is slated as an all day affair with five themed panels chock full of industry greats such as Keith Pollock, Editorial Director of Elle.com, fashion consultant Julie Gilhart, and Jeffrey Costello & Robert Tagliapietra, co-founders and designers of Costello Tagliapietra, and geared towards a better understanding of the ever-evolving industry. While young designers just starting out (or even in the throes of their career) will gather lots of valuable information attending and networking, seasoned professionals might learn a thing or two as well.

Current panel titles and moderators include: Iconic Wisdom: A Discussion With Designer Cynthia Rowley, Ready To Launch Your Line?, moderated by founder and lead orchestrator of Mercedes Benz New York Fashion Week, Fern Mallis, Sustainability & Philanthropy, moderated by Jill Fehrenbacher, Founder of Inhabitat.com, Social Media and Publicity, moderated by Refinery 29′s Editorial Director Christene Barberich, and Innovation, moderated by Ben Fischman, CEO of Rue La La.

According to AFINGO, A portion of the proceeds from both a VIP reception the night before and the day-long series of discussions in New York will benefit the non-profit Goods for Good, “Specifically the organization’s tailor-in-Training program, which reroutes new and unused surplus fabric from the fashion industry to under-resourced vocational training programs in Malawi.”

If you think you’d like to attend, like this on Facebook, then leave a comment below and we’ll be picking a winner on Monday morning who will walk away with two free all-day passes to this event!

We look forward to seeing you there!

An annual photography competition dedicated to sustainability.

“Many photographers are concerned about our world and are producing work that, while often beautiful, still has a very powerful message for us: This is not art for art’s sake, it is art for our own sake.”
– Joerg Colberg, photographer, critic and Prix Pictet nominator.

The Prix Pictet was launched three years ago by the Swiss private bank, Pictet & Cie. Photographers are challenged to create a series of images that expose major social and environmental issues facing our time. It isn’t about just “art” or “photojournalism,” and it certainly isn’t about a specific people, race or region.

The themes for the first two years of the competition were Water and Earth, respectively, and this year’s theme Growth proved to be just as challenging and inspiring. How does one confront such a grand idea, the need for advancements yet the fear of too much too fast, via pictures? The website describes Growth as follows:

“…growth is a paradox. Just as growth threatens to bring environmental catastrophe, so it improves the health and living standards of untold millions around the world. We now face a global crisis in land use and agriculture that could undermine the health, security, and sustainability of our civilization…Meeting these huge new demands will be one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century.”

The participating photographers were nominated by a group of experts from around the world that included museum directors and curators, critics and journalists. Then a small jury got to work choosing the “shortlist,” or the work that best communicated the theme. The 2011 shortlist of twelve photographers was announced last November.

A winner will be announced March 17, but there aren’t any losers in this group. Yes, it’s a competition and about $100,000 is at stake, but all of these images are stunning, poignant and prove to successfully communicate an important message.

Here are the twelve photographers and a link to their series of images on Growth:

Christian Als: Kibera – The Shadow City (above)

Edward Burtynsky: Oil (above and top)

Stéphane Couturier: Melting Point (above)

Mitch Epstein: American Power (above)

Chris Jordan: Midway: Message from the Gyre (above)

Yeondoo Jung: Evergreen Tower (above)

Vera Lutter: Body of Work (above)

Nyaba Leon Ouedraogo: The Hell of Copper (above)

Taryn Simon: An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar (above)

Thomas Struth: Paradise (above)

Guy Tillim: Petros Village (above)

Michael Wolf: Architecture of Density (above)

From this group the 2011 winner will be chosen, as well as a Commission winner. The latter is picked by the Partners of Pictet & Cie, and invited to travel to a part of the world where the Bank is involved in a sustainability project. This year it’s the Tusk Trust in Africa.

A big bank putting money somewhere other than its own pocket? Round of applause, please.

The winners will be announced by Kofi Annan, Honorary President of the Prix Pictet, on opening night (March 17) of an exhibition honoring all twelve photographers at the Passage de Retz gallery in Paris. The exhibition will run from March 17 through April 16.

Dear Editor,

My name is Leslie Hicks, and as a blogger in the eco-friendly sphere, I have read and enjoyed many of your columns, most recently the piece on AT&T vs. Verizon and their respective environmentally-conscious efforts. Most of the time, I find your columns to be interesting, informative, and I reference them often in my own tweets (@LeslieJHicks). Because I do read your posts often, I felt, as a reader, both qualified and compelled to inform you that the article by Libby Lowe, titled “Jesus, Enough with the Chicken,” is not only inaccurate in several respects, it’s embarrassingly misrepresentative, and reads more as a tantrum, which I’m sure was not Ms. Lowe’s goal.

Firstly, the title of the piece is not only blasphemous in a thoughtless effort to employ a pun, it’s insensitive. I don’t know how much of the Bible or how much about Christianity any of you have actually read with an open mind or with a desire to truly understand what you’re attacking so carelessly, so I’ll explain exactly what I mean. Blasphemy is defined as “1 a: the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence for God, b: the act of claiming the attributes of deity 2: irreverence toward something considered sacred or inviolable,” which is exactly what your title does (except for claiming attributes of deity). In case you’re unaware of why exactly invoking Jesus’s name in such a way is blasphemous, and thus, offensive, allow me to direct you to the place in the Bible which clearly spells it out—this site lists the Exodus 20:7 passage in many different translations, which is sure to get the point across. You may want to pay strict attention to the NIV, The Living Bible, and Revised Berkeley translations. The sentiment is paralleled in the New Testament as well (Ephesians 4:29, Colossians 4:6). At the very least, the piece’s title is unfortunately negligent of professionalism, and at worst, blatantly disrespectful to a figure Christians recognize as Lord. Do you want to take that stance as a publication?

A second issue I take with this article is that it grossly misrepresents Christian values. For one thing, the term “Christian values” links to another obviously slanted article on a religiously-themed amusement park, as if to conveniently, albeit ignorantly, sum up Christian values in that post. Could someone please do me the favor of pointing out one Christian value in that article (and I don’t mean what you think or have heard from anti-Christian, misinformed activists are Christian values, I mean values that actually exist, substantiated by Biblical evidence)? Also, no one is “hiding” behind Christian values to fuel “bigotry,” sorry. In fact, most Christians, Christians who adhere to the principles and commands outlined in the New Testament, (as most educated Biblical scholars know to be the standard by which we’re to live our lives, not the Old Testament, which is present and still useful for prophetic examples, for historical records, and useful accounts of actions), will not shy from telling anyone that being homosexual is an abomination (also repeated in the New Testament, not just in Leviticus, as some confused reader argued in a comment).

Since true Christian values appear to be unknown or disregarded by your writers, I’m happy to share some that apply to this column/social conflict: God created us male and female to be husband and wife—Genesis 2: 18-24, Matthew 19: 4-5; engaging in homosexuality is an abomination and gross repudiation of God’s law—Romans 1: 18-32, 1 Timothy 1: 5-11; homosexuality is a sin, yet can be forgiven like any other—Romans 3:23, Acts 26: 17-18; Christians are to love all people (John 13:34-35, Romans 13:8) but to not take part in or support sin (Ephesians 5:11, 1 Timothy 5:22); God is not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9), but will not tolerate sinful behavior (see Romans passage). True Christians, on the basis of Biblical doctrine, do not seek to dehumanize or mistreat homosexuals—we love them as fellow human beings, and will be the first to agree that bullying is never acceptable. However, a belief system is not synonymous with bullying. We simply do not accept a homosexual relationship as legitimate or recognizable on the level of marriage. As long as you’re entitled to support same-sex marriage, we’re entitled not to. A truly non-bigoted organization cannot argue that, especially if the organization it opposes is a privately-owned company with the same rights to religious freedom and freedom of speech. Not agreeing with the company’s mission statement is one thing—maligning that company as “bigoted” is entirely another.

Of course, I cannot speak for every individual that claims to be a Christian, I can only speak for myself and for what the Bible says or logically implies. I certainly do not condone each and every group or organization that claims to be Christian or to be upholding Christian values—indeed, some are indisputably racists, child molesters, bigamists, etc. However, an honest and critical thinker will hesitate to apply the word “Christian” to any that eschew Biblical doctrine but instead construct their own religion and ordinances.

I’m fully aware that very few people actually consider the Bible to be a true, reliable, and revelatory guide for living, but rather regard it as a simple collection of stories. You’re entitled, as free agents, to believe whatever validates and serves you the best—and, I’m sure, you do. However, it’s not just the Bible that says homosexuality is unnatural—science refutes many of the propagandist claims for its inherent nature and inevitable expression. Of course, the strongly suggestive lack of evidence for genetic inheritance of homosexuality has been largely ignored by the homosexual and advocating community. Please also note in the above article the mention of the inaccurate compound word “homophobia,” which, intended to describe one who is discriminatorily averse to the homosexual lifestyle, literally means an irrational fear of homosexuals, which is not the same as the lack of acceptance based on principle, and is likely nonexistent entirely.

Homophobia is not the only misnomer being employed among the homosexual-rights activist community. So too is “bigot” and “bigotry,” which is specifically used by your own Libby Lowe (and in your publication’s flurry of tweets as well). She describes bigotry as a deplorable mindset against the homosexual community. However, a cursory search of the etymology of the word “bigot” clearly reveals that the word was initially used as a snub of religion by the French. Curiously, that original use and context would in fact put you and anyone else who expresses contempt for and intolerance of religious ideology (“we won’t coddle,” as your tweet says) in the line of fire for being actual bigots. Bigotry isn’t confined to Christianity, as you allege—it applies to anyone who is obstinately devoted to their own prejudices, beliefs, opinions, politics, etc., and intolerant of others’. You could be accused of the same mindset you blindly accuse Christians of. Plus, the earliest English use carried with it the connotation of a religious hypocrite, which also doesn’t apply here, since any sincere, practicing member of the Christian religion which condemns homosexuality is hardly a hypocrite—he or she is a strict adherent.  No one who reads and lives by the Bible can credibly also say that being a homosexual is perfectly acceptable.  Too, bigotry has also been historically applied to those who harbor prejudice against a certain creed or racial/ethnic group—and, since homosexuality is not a religion, race, nor is it inherent, it’s not on par with the preceding categories and thus is (conveniently) misused as a term for the strong conviction that homosexuality is wrong. And let’s not forget that prejudice means the uninformed, preconceived adverse opinion of someone or something. One would be hard pressed in light of another’s Biblical study and scientific knowledge to correctly say that anyone who is opposed to homosexuality is uninformed or ignorant.

The bottom line is Ms. Lowe and whoever else rallies behind her article are fundamentally wrong—the article’s claims are uninformed, unsubstantiated, and lack depth. And, it’s clear that this piece isn’t really about the food chain at all, but rather just another seized opportunity to picket for unquestioning acceptance of a lifestyle just because it’s allegedly widespread (homosexuals make up a very small percentage of the American population, contrary to pop culture portrayal, as the NHSLS found) and popular to do so. The folks who seem the most uncomfortable, actually, are Ms. Lowe and her enablers—uncomfortable with companies that exercise their religious freedom, which Ms. Lowe claims to like, yet…puzzlingly does not like when it allows those who are opposed to homosexuality to promote their beliefs. That’s ironically, inconsistently intolerant if you’re honest with yourselves.

In closing, I’d like to again state that I respect you as columnists, and I will likely continue to enjoy reading some of your articles. If you truly value your readership and are truly non-discriminatory as your attack on “discriminators” would imply you to be, I’m confident you’ll not only respect and honor my arguments, beliefs, and opinions, you’ll have the courage to publish them. Courage is, after all, part of having a heart, isn’t it?

Sincerely,
Leslie Hicks

From the author, Libby Lowe:

Leslie,

I appreciate that you took the time to share your views, but I think you missed the point of my piece. You say that I misrepresented Christian values. I wasn’t trying to represent Christian values, I was representing my values.

I am suspect of anyone stepping up to explain or represent the beliefs of an entire group – be it a religious, political or otherwise collection of like-minded (not single-minded) people – no matter how many quotes you have to try to support your points.

I’m not going to get into a debate with you about homosexuality in the bible or whether sexuality is genetic. I assume agreeing to disagree will be the result of any debate we might have, but I will say that being informed doesn’t get you off the hook. Your statements about homosexuality, no matter how you couch them in niceties about loving them as fellow human beings, make your position clear. Call it intolerance, call it bigotry, use whatever word you like, but homophobia is homophobia and it hurts people.

You say that it’s clear my story isn’t really about the food chain, but “rather another seized opportunity to picket for unquestioning acceptance of a lifestyle.” I say that your letter isn’t really about my story, but a seized opportunity to promote intolerance in a far
more transparent way than a little text on a sandwich wrapper.

Yes, I am uncomfortable with Chick-fil-A’s corporate belief system. But I do believe the organization has every right to put those beliefs out there. In fact, I am glad to know where they stand so that I can make an informed choice as a consumer.

Libby Lowe

From the editor:

Leslie,

The EcoSalon motto, “Have a heart,” does indeed stand for courage, including in the face of discrimination, which is why we would no sooner have a “heart” for homophobia than we would for pollution. Chick-Fil-A’s environmentally negligent fast food business model, coupled with the organization’s activism against civil rights, is a perfect example of the kind of unenlightened, unsustainable activity we find indefensible.

I must take issue with your interpretation of our motto, as if embracing a life lived from the heart – that is, bravely, generously and consciously – would cover all opinions and beliefs simply because they exist, regardless of their validity. EcoSalon is no more obligated to “honor” intolerance of an adult individual’s consenting habits in the bedroom than it would be to honor creationism as a debate, sexism as a precedent, or racism as mere prejudice.

While religious belief is a fundamental right and one we clearly support in this piece, there is simply nothing morally courageous about homophobia, however gently it is applied. Therefore, we appreciate you expressing your views, but remain unapologetic in our criticism.

The heart of EcoSalon beats for progress.

Sara Ost

Have something to say? Speak up! Letters to the editor can be sent to editor@ecosalon.com. Submission is no guarantee of publication. Letters may be copy edited for grammar and clarity.

Last month’s letter: Flowery Feminists