Alongside Everlane and Durated the most recent, brilliant service to come to life for consumers who care about what they purchase is Zady, an online shopping platform that artfully tells the stories behind the beautiful and skillfully crafted products it sells. Transparency is the key concept behind the clothing, jewelry and gifts featured on Zady, as style savvy and expertly curated brands are selected only if they can provide clear information on their production processes and the quality of the materials they choose. This is all relayed to the customer in a creative and accessible way with maps, key labels and a story on the evolution of the brand. This is socially conscious shopping 2.0. 

Learn more about this awesome new resource for the conscious consumer in the exclusive EcoSalon interview below with founders Maxine Bedat and Soraya Darabi.

Paneled Crewneck Sweatshirt by Cotton Citizen

LO: Where did the idea for Zady come from?
SD: We met in high school, but began sewing the seeds fro Zady after reconnecting with each other many years later. Having read articles about one another, and each interested in what the other was doing professionally, we decided to meet up. Maxine was working on the non-profit she founded, The Bootstrap Project, which helps revive craft traditions in the developing world and finishing law school.

MB: During this time, Soraya was advising startups based in New York City. I had come across the Fast Company magazine issue with Soraya on the cover in the airport, upon a 2010 trip for The Bootstrap Project.  Soraya read an article on Bootstrap’s beautiful artisanal crafts in a House & Home magazine. After the first coffee, I asked Soraya if she might help with the digital strategy for TBP and I was happy to have the help. Over the next few months, we realized a few things:

1) We liked one another still!

2) We had complementary skills

3) We had a shared and growing interest in understanding how supply chain works and how beautiful things are made.

As we passed articles back and forth about the negative impact of fast fashion and sent each other recommendations for newly discovered products with origins they could actually trace, the idea of Zady was born – a company that searches the globe for and with the consumer to curate a selection of products that are both beautiful and ethically produced. The connection with The Bootstrap Project as a source of craft revival and economic development was important, so we decided to give 5% of proceeds from Zady to Bootstrap to help artisans in the developing world continue to create beautiful craft and preserve their important cultural traditions.

Messenger Bag by Claire Vivier

LO: What sets Zady apart from other online shopping platforms?
MB&SD: Since our launch in late August, Zady has become a destination for consumers to purchase high-quality, luxuriously made goods that are timeless in style, from designers and brands that offer complete manufacturing transparency.

Clicking on a product icon on our map shows you the history of an item through lines. A Gloverall Duffle Coat, for instance, will have a line that appears showing that the wool for the coat comes from Italy; another line will shoot out to England, showing that the brand is headquartered there, and that manufacturing also takes place in the UK. We try to make the supply chain of great products as transparent as possible.

We are also a team of digital natives and want to bring our readers and shoppers as close to ZADY as they can possible get.  We’d also like to connect them closely to the brands we sell – and they love.  So social media is a strong component of our website, and a strong component of our own messaging.

Le Kraft Leather Notebook by Le Compagnie du Kraft

LO: How do you choose which brands to feature and sell?
MB&SD:  Style is the first and foremost important thing Zady looks for when deciding which designers and products to carry. We look for items that are well-made and timeless in style. Something you can return to over and over and then again ten years later.

Next, Zady only works with designers who are able to verify the following: where the company is headquartered, where the products are manufactured, and where the raw materials come from (this is demonstrated by Zady’s “Origins” map view, which allows consumers to essentially shop the globe).

And then lastly, Zady looks for products that meet any of the following criteria (identified by badges on the site): high-quality raw materials; raw materials were locally sourced; made in the USA; made in an environmentally conscious manner; handmade; or from a Bootstrap Project artisan.

The Astrid Cuff by Dream Collective

LO: Do you think Zady is satisfying a demand for locally and responsibly made items?

MB&SD: Just as Whole Foods sparked a movement based on the belief that we should question where our food comes from, Zady is at the forefront of a movement, known as conscious consumerism, which demands transparency for sourced products. Conscious consumerism is a new vision for shopping. It means an understanding of the quality and origins of an item, and the support for purchasing timeless pieces over throwaway consumption. Currently more than 2.5 billion pounds of our clothing ends up in landfills each year. The planet is running out of space for our fast fashion habits.

There are consequences, of course, to the low prices and incredibly fast manufacturing time of this type of clothing. Poor quality, excessive waste, and outsourced manufacturing to facilities with unsafe, unregulated and illegal working conditions are just some of the effects of this type of production.

Zady serves as an alternative for those seeking timeless style with a conscious stamp of approval.

If we take a moment to look through the clothing in our grandparents’ closets, we would find decades-old items that have survived and resurfaced through several style trends over the years. These items were made by true artists who utilized high-quality fabrics with the intention of creating clothing that would withstand time, seasons, and trends. After all, our grandparents built their wardrobes over time. Future generations are in jeopardy of missing out as today’s mainstream fashion is predominantly focused on the idea of purchasing low-cost, trendy items, intentionally made to be thrown away at the end of a season, rather than those that are made to be timeless and classic.

Nesika Dress by Pendleton The Portland Collection

Images: Zady

Related on EcoSalon:

Complete Factory Transparency: Everlane Delivers 

The Dawn on  the Not So Clueless Fashion Consumer

The post Zady: An Artisan-Powered Platform for Socially Conscious Shopping appeared first on EcoSalon.

The shoppy ones? Check, please.

As if to match the excess of cakes and cookies and champagne of the holidays, the run up to the new year has been a media glut of roundups, predictions, trend pieces, and years-in-review – and not just at EcoSalon. Today is the first day of 2012, and while our managing editor has reminded me it’s better late than never for my own take on all the things, I’m not sure it’s better on the whole, on account of what I’ve learned in the process of writing this article.

I’ve learned that if you Google “culture trends 2012” to research ideas for this article, you will turn up all sorts of trend forecasts, pages and pages of them, only they will not have anything at all to do with culture: not the kind of culture you wrote thirty pages about in graduate school that in hindsight seems so much less annoying than Powerpoint, not the hipster-meets-highbrow culture of McSweeney’s and Harper’s and the New Yorker of which you are so publicly fond, not even the pop culture slizzurp of “Last Friday Night” and dubstep of which you are merely privately fond in your car at extremely loud volumes until you pull up to a stop sign.

No, if you search for anything about cultural trends to attempt to pull together a thoughtful few paragraphs, you will instead be directed to all things consumer. Specifically, what consumers are going to want. And how to sell it to them more. You don’t even need to search “consumer trends” to learn about consumer trends. “Cultural trends 2012” gets you the same ample linkbelly of commercial conflation:

Business News Daily ranks second in the first page of Google search results returned for my search on “cultural trends” despite having nothing at all to do with culture and everything to do with, I see what you did there, consumption. And this goes on and on for pages, for any number of culture trend related searches, on multiple engines. It would appear the most important cultural trends to watch in 2012 are the ones that make people shop, or help us understand how and why and where and when they shop or what they’re going to expect from their shop experience as they shop. And, shopping.

Has my Latin grown so rusty I’ve forgotten “culture” and “consumption” are one in the same? No, just my American.

The trouble with digging up meaningful ideas as societal guideposts for the coming year is that the sort of people and publications discussing these things aren’t about to do it in an easy-to-glean listicle for our ADHD-in-an-app convenience. The listicle, then, is the baby of the Marketing Firm PDF and FaceHuffBeastTwit.

There are the tech topics: screens, apps, mobile, are-we-or-are-we-not-doing-QR, all of which kind of makes me want to hurl my iPad at the next kid with a beard and a flannel shirt that is supported (crucially) by an arm band. The internet is the greatest thing, and the most important thing, of our lives. Think Wikileaks and the Arab Spring; think mass reorganization of production and the coming end of The Job; think information at your fingertips and GPS when you get lost. That doesn’t make me want to hurl my magical, revolutionary device. What does? That if they censor the internet, we will simply build a new one. That we shouldn’t just make more internet, but better internet.

There are the color trends of Pantone, where mugs help remind you that orange is for so much more than just annual squash slaughter. It’s for your stuff in your house, too! There are the 10 consumer trends of JWT, key among them: food as the defining eco issue to watch, the engineering of randomness for delight and discovery, and marriage? Optional. (Which would seem rather more like culture and less like consumer.)

Style, you’re going to need a cocktail (ring). There are Coolhunter, Coolhunting, Polyvore, PSFK. There are the glossy fashion predictions and Tumblr trendhunters and street style bloggers ad infinitum.

There are the inevitable, but inevitably useful, portmanteaus. Flawsome: Grow up, angry customer, and adore ye slightly imperfect but authentic brands, you’ll feel more human. Aw. Recommerce: One woman’s remorse purchase is another woman’s Craigslist score. Maturialism: Because we’re grownups and we can talk about sex without referring to it as “riding the ride.”

There are the gems.

The excellent curation of Paola DeLuca for IED Firenze, whose Trend Book is filled with exceptional insights into four distinctive cultural personality types: the Alter-Eco (nature, localized, junk to funk), the Lessential (transparency, cutting edge, all in one), the Youniverse (androgyny, moi, je joue), the Showstopper (electrofied, geomatrix, stating your status). They speak to the continuing importance of design in our lives, the electric vitality in indulging a superficial yet essential joy that is playful and exuberant over narcissistic and…Kardashian.

A pop lyric I caught on the radio months ago still pings in my skull: “La, la, la, whatever!” is the chorus from “Tonight, Tonight.” Song writing of this kind should be grounds for a visit to the shrink, yet it isn’t. We can all, for the love of god, lighten up now: A burst of innocence is hardly exclusive to an inner life. We’re going to want, and need, both.

Gaping Void: Hugh MacLeod’s prescient insights into mediocrity (including Kathy Sierra!) and millionaires.

There are the rising cultural trends. Some poised to burst, some nascent, some redux, some radical, some required, some holistic: cities, mobile, populism, intuition, connection that allows for silence, integrity in every sense. (We’ll explore all of these in 2012.)

There are the new definitions. It’s going to be good to be gay, and not just for our voyeuristic decorating pleasure on a cable television show. How about them genders? Men are far from over (really, really, really), but women are hot, hot, hot (so nevermind the TechCrunch games, which will soon be an embarrassment). What is an American, anyway? Rick Perry and his ilk are on the wrong side of history.

There are new roles for us all, and we’ll be talking about it a lot.

A word about green. There will be the arguments in environmentalism, from consumption and media to marketing and energy policy. We must learn that “borrowing a page” – modeling – is no recipe for innovation but is simply doing the same old thing with a green sticker slapped on it; we must understand that no end justifies any means, for the means are ends themselves. We must learn that myopic sacrifice is asking people to participate in cult, not culture. We must accept that luxury can be our word. Luxury is simplicity and sustainability, it is living well and doing well, it is intent and heart over letter and law.

There are the messy bits to get through first. I fear reality television will only get worse before we all get better. Teen moms? Toddler beauty pageants? There will be so many apps, we will have apps just to organize our apps, and “There’s an app for that” will become the new “That’s what she said,” if it hasn’t already. And let’s not forget the Election. Obama will win, but not before the politicians and pundits execute their special mission to exhaust us by March with the exact same black/white, red/blue “thinking” they’ve traded in for the last twenty years. This time, we won’t just change the channel – we’ll create different ones. (Moveon.org 2008? Only the beginning.)

Messy. But we’ll begin to appreciate this, gradually finding confidence and inspiration – even laughter – in the emergence of real argument. I suspect that in place of Maturialism in the trend forecasts for 2013, we may just see Maturity.

And on the other side, men and women will begin to breathe – or at least text – a little easier around each other. We’ll learn that people do give a damn about the planet (nearly every major American city will work to ban the plastic bag, we’ll finally catch on to the fish problem, and everyone will want companies to recycle their used products).

And most important, Grandpa will finally learn to Google it himself.

Image: Patrick Hoesly

The post And the Most Important Trends to Watch in 2012 Are… appeared first on EcoSalon.

Let me make this clear: I am not someone who is averse to complaining. In fact, a good part of my workday is devoted to griping about the minor annoyances of everyday life. It may not be something to be proud of, but I make an almost-decent living just by complaining.

So it is only fitting, I suppose, that I should now be complaining about how annoying I find it when other people complain – especially about things that I find perfectly acceptable and inoffensive. To wit: I was shocked and dismayed this week to learn that Frito Lay has abandoned its efforts to package a line of their salty snacks in compostable packaging because consumers felt that the bags were too loud. To which I can only ask: too loud for what? Were people bringing Sun Chips into opera houses, where the crackling of the bag distracted the audience from the second act of La boheme? Were cardiac surgeons being startled in the middle of heart transplants because someone down the hall was recklessly opening a bag of Cool Ranch Sun Chips? Were librarians around the country up in arms because Story Hour was being drowned out by raucous packets of savory corn snacks?

What does this say about us as people? Do we really feel that a bit of noise is too big a price to pay for reducing the amount of waste in landfills? Can we really not tolerate a little paper rustling if it will help to reduce ozone-destroying carbon emissions?

I also have to say that I find it hard to believe the biodegradable bags were so unbearably loud. I live in the path of an airport – there are planes booming over my house on a regular basis, causing me to pause in the middle of phone calls or – even worse – to miss several precious seconds of dialogue on Project Runway.

Were the Sun Chip bags louder than that?

And even if they were, I defy anyone to look at a photograph of polar bears clinging to the remains of melting icecaps and then say to my face that “global warming is bad, and all, but dang those bags were loud.”

I don’t care. And neither should you.

We have become a nation of cranky, coddled malcontents – like The Princess and the Pea, we are unwilling or unable to handle the slightest discomfort, even if it will lead to the greater good. People need to suck it up and stop making a big deal about such minor problems. And they should leave the complaining to trained professionals. Like me.

Image: cogdogblog

The post What? I Can’t Hear You Over the Sun Chip Bag! appeared first on EcoSalon.

Shopping is an adrenaline rush. How else to explain the talking ceramic cat you had to have, or the face cream that you bought because it was guaranteed to return your skin to the hue it had in the womb? Sure, the Great Recession has shifted Americans’ shopping habits, but we’re still a spending force to be reckoned with. Luckily, there are things we just don’t need on this planet. So take a look at some items you might want to trim from your shopping list.

Microwave oven

I haven’t had a microwave since Clinton was in the White House. Sure, on occasion I’ll miss the opportunity to melt down butter without burning it on the stove. I’d just rather give the counter space to something more deserving, like cookies. Or cupcakes. Or brownies…

Electric wine bottle openers

Waiters can open a bottle of organic wine, at the table, with just a mere flick of a wrist and cork-screw. Mentally raising a cork out of the bottle with special brain powers would be cooler, but for now a simple corkscrew works fine. And gives good strength training!

Bread machines

Sure, bread machines can be an awesome way to get perfectly-shaped loaves of steamy, fresh bread. But allow us to face the delicious reality of fresh bread. If you’re taking the time to make fresh bread in your bread machine, you probably have the time to bake fresh bread in your oven. Hard realities, folks. Hard realities.

Neck creams

It’s become casual sport in Hollywood to guess an actress’ age by her neck, which still remains hard to control by Botox or a lift. So now there’s a whole industry of creams dedicated to the neck. In reality, you should just use the same creams and treatments on your neck as you do on your face. Moisturize tone, mask – just bring it down a few inches lower than your jaw line.

Beauty products tested on animals

To which we and super cute-bunny-that-fits-in-a-hand say – really? Products like said Botox are continually tested on animals with appalling results. There’s a whole world of products, beauty or otherwise, that are cruelty-free. You can find them here.

Hand sanitizers

I’m not saying medical professionals should go without, or that we should immediately start diving into gas station bathrooms to dance around barefoot. But washing your hands will kill germs just as easily as hand sanitizers. Sanitizing your paws every time you touch a door knob will kill most bacteria. But the tough ones that survived will multiply and will be stronger than the cousins you killed off. (Read more about that here.)

The latest product from Apple

iPods are fun. As are iPhones and yes, even iPads are kind of cool. Do they get more fun as the latest updates cycle through every year and/or month? (As giant UFOs bearing the Apple insignia lower into our horizons.) Sure, maybe we all need the ability to instantly play music/record/brew latte with our phones. But why not let your old apples actually fall from the tree before you replace them?

Automatic toilet flushers

One of the greatest questions of our time is obviously – do toilets really need to flush on their own, causing us to flee to the other side of the stall to avoid splash back? And repeat.

Motion-Activated Anything

Recently, I saw an advert for a motion-activity candy dispenser. (Because obesity isn’t enough of a problem in this country. Yes, I’m waving a cranky cane right now.) Motion-activated devices are fantastic for people with disability issues. But how many wheelchairs do we see on escalators? We also opened doors for centuries without the power of electricity.

Throw pillows

When you’re lost under a gigantic pile of plush, you have no one but yourself to blame.

Images: sparkys, susang2, Bed Bath & Beyond, crystalwood, chungyc, ivyfield, amanderson2, @davestone

The post 10 Things We Don’t Actually Need appeared first on EcoSalon.

The worst environmental disaster in America’s history is still happening right now – so where are all the benefit concerts, the televised fundraisers, the celebrities posing for photo ops in canoes? The truth is, despite the severity of the situation, very few people are willing to pony up the cash to help with relief efforts for a simple reason: BP is a billion dollar corporation, and it should be coming out of their wallet. But as BP hedges and fights, environmental organizations on the scene need emergency funds.

That, in a word, sucks. How long can we wait for a corporation that’s clearly in denial of its responsibilities to act, while we watch animals suffer, hard working people lose their livelihoods and an ecosystem change forever? Hopefully, more people will step up to the plate and come together to help a region that’s desperately in need. But in the meantime – even if you can’t (and perhaps shouldn’t) head down to the Gulf yourself to help out, you can contribute in these seven small, fun ways – like sipping on specialty cocktails, downloading songs and shopping for delicious-smelling soap.

Dine Out For the Gulf

From June 10th-12th, all you have to do to aid in oil spill recovery efforts is head to a local restaurant and enjoy some good food and specialty cocktails. Restaurants around the country participating in Dine Out for the Gulf will offer up Gulf seafood offerings and donate either a portion of total sales or the sales from specific menu items to organizations supporting the Gulf Coast fishing industry.

Get Anything You Want at Amazon.com

Got some shopping to do? If you spend some cash at Amazon.com via the Hope Vote website, a portion of your order will go to Gulf oil spill relief at no extra cost to you. HopeVote.com donates a portion of the profits it earns through the Amazon Affiliate program to charitable causes, with the recipients chosen through site users’ votes. Proceeds are currently benefiting the National Wildlife Federation and the Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund.

Help Canada Get Clean with LUSH

All eyes might be on the Gulf of Mexico right now, but LUSH wants to remind us that Canada is in the midst of an oil crisis, too. The cosmetics company is not only parading its employees around in oil barrels, but offering shoppers a chance to clean themselves in order to clean up oil pollution. One hundred percent of the proceeds from LUSH’s Wild Rose Country Bath Bomb will go to the Rainforest Action Network in support of their tar sands campaign effort, or you can get smooth and deliciously scented with the ‘Charity Pot’ hand and body moisturizer, which benefits the Dogwood Initiative’s No Tankers campaign protecting Canada’s Great Bear Rainforest from oil spills.

Wear Your Support On Your Chest

Want to spread awareness of the spill? Say it loud and contribute to cleanup campaigns at the same time with the COAST Save the Gulf! t-shirt. COAST Apparel is donating 100 percent of the proceeds from the sales of this tee to two non-profit organizations: the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana and the Gulf Restoration Network.

Download a Charitable Tune

Send some of your hard-earned pennies to the Waterkeeper Alliance just by downloading a new tune from Grammy Award-winning singer Sophie B. Hawkins, who’s donating all proceeds from “The Land, the Sea and the Sky”. Hawkins told US Magazine, “I don’t think there’s anybody else standing out in the forefront. I just performed a sold out show as a benefit for the organization Waterkeeper Alliance. It was a really good show and I met all these people, so [my outreach has] really been blossoming from there because what I realized is that everyone is looking for some way to do something. In addition to the concert, I am donating the proceeds from my song’s iTunes sales – I’m not taking a penny of this.”

Build a Bear, Help a Marine Mammal

Marine mammals may not be fuzzy and huggable as teddy bears, but Build-A-Bear Workshop is looking to spread the love. The interactive retailer, which allows customers to make their own custom teddy bears, donated $5,000 to the Louisiana Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Rescue Program within the Audubon Nature Institute and will invite guests to donate $1 at the cash register in any Build-A-Bear location in the U.S.

Help New Orleans, Wherever Your Travels May Take You

Booking a hotel sometime soon? No matter where you’re going, a portion of the cash you spend on your hotel could go straight to New Orleans to help with both Hurricane Katrina and Gulf Coast oil spill recovery. Expedia Inc. launched a new website and charity program, TravelRelief.org, that allows you to send eight percent of your total hotel booking price to the charity of your choice – including The Greater New Orleans Foundation.

The post Spend to Save (The Gulf): 7 Easy Ways to Help Oil Spill Recovery appeared first on EcoSalon.

According to the 2007 WWF Deeper Luxury Report, the luxury industry lagged behind other brands of consumer products when it came to sustainability. They claimed the cause to be lack of consumer awareness and public demand.

The report ranked a number of companies that included Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Hermes on a sustainability scale, and no companies were given a score higher than a C+. Many brands even failed to get a passing grade.

Three years ago, this report was thought to be the tipping point of the industry. After all, many luxury consumers are increasingly well-educated and concerned about social and environmental issues. Yet the luxury brands were missing out on opportunities to become sustainable leaders.

So where do luxury brands rank today? Particularly the luxury fashion brands?

The answer is not an obvious one. In fact, it is very difficult to uncover the luxury fashion companies who are demonstrating ethical excellence. Given the increase in multinationals who report on their corporate social responsibility (CSR) behavior, it would seem that either luxury brands are slow to engage, or they are doing a poor job at communicating what steps they have taken toward sustainability.

Is it accurate to say that consumer awareness and public demand is still at fault? Or is it that executives have simply become complacent? There are likely a number of reasons why this sector has a poor track record.

But let’s start with the sustainable luxury consumer. Who are they? Let’s face it, they are not you and I. Rather, they are a small percentage of the population who, by definition, can afford indulgence. They are not driven to consumption by necessity, but rather out of pleasure.

I’m not convinced that the reason for this sluggish shift is entirely due to a lack of consumer awareness. It could be that the luxury consumer has simply become accustomed to a lifestyle of waste, and can’t be bothered to make any changes in their shopping habits. Given the resources available to them, awareness is at their fingertips. So if they are truly hungry for sustainable luxury brands, they should know where to find them.

But maybe they are truly concerned consumers, keen to indulge in products that have a lighter environmental footprint. The only obstacle they face, however, is the lack of options available to them. Certain sectors are undoubtedly leading the way in the world of sustainable luxury. There are many options for the home, the car, and even travel. It appears however, that it is the luxury fashion industry that is digging in its heels.

So if its not about a lack of consumer awareness, it may have something to do with the complacency of companies – particularly those where there is a generational gap in decision-making. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it right?

Wrong. Clearly it is broken. The reality is that we cannot continue to deplete our earth’s resources at the rate of those before us.

We must all come together in this crucial paradigm shift, and luxury brands have the ability to take a leadership role.

According to Graydon Carter, editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair: “For the new generation, luxury brands that will not take environmental issues into consideration will lose most of their appeal. Modern brands must address these questions. Ignoring them would be old-fashioned and would equal a return to the previous century.”

If we all aspire for luxury, then the same could be said of sustainable luxury. Will our younger generations flip through Vanity Fair and Vogue magazines, ogling ads for sustainably made Chanel bags, or hemp silk gowns by Versace? Possibly. One can only hope.

Images: chad davis, dr_vaibhavahuja, Sarah McD

The post Sustainable Luxury: An Emerging Trend? appeared first on EcoSalon.

Imagine a TV ad featuring a loopy  Zooey Deschanel singing the praises of plastic. Not pretty, nor as comfy as the touch and feel of cotton – which carries its share of pitfalls as well. Still, ubiquitous plastic has functioned as the toxic fabric of our lives for the past sixty years.

Wake up and smell the polymers. Literally.

Synthetics play an inescapable role in our lives, unlike the cotton-coated world portrayed in Deschanel’s ad. Consider:

You awake, clad in polyester pajamas, squeeze toothpaste from a slick tube onto the polyamides nylon bristles of your toothbrush, wash your hair with phthalates-enhanced goo from colorful containers, and comb your tresses with a plastic comb that was (of course) hermetically sealed in plastic casing.

You use a plastic sealed tampon and head to breakfast, descending stairs carpeted in stain-resistant synthetic shag embedded with acid dye blockers to brew coffee through a plastic cone filter. You remove the foil crown from your yogurt container and the chunky green cap from your bottle of Simply Orange. You fry an egg in your non-stick, polytetrafluoroethylene treated pan. You climb into your car – the interior, carpet, dashboard and windshield fabricated with more of that plastic. You don your polycarbonate eye wear and apply a smudge of sunblock from that tube in the glove compartment, and you’re off.

You’re sipping your beverage from a plastic lid, ready to embrace a work milieu stocked with royal blue Papermate pens, a plastic keyboard, a double decker printer and mystery mesh task chairs with sturdy polyurethane arms.

You get the picture, and yes, it isn’t the hopeful one conveyed to college grad Benjamin Braddock in The Graduate in 1967. Plastics, considered king when petroleum was abundant, could become a thing of the past sooner than you think. Here’s another word for you Ben: Tanked!

“It’s not talked about on CNN, but informed people including the CIA and Defense Department know oil supplies are crashing rapidly,” observes conservationist Brad Hoyt about the looming crisis. “We stopped producing the oil we need in the ’70s and those we are exporting it from will stop because they don’t have enough to meet their own needs. What will we do then? We will either have to do without or go to war with Mexico and Saudi Arabia and take their oil.”

Mexico’s exports to the U.S. declined to 0.51 barrels per day from 2005-2008, and in 2010, supply is expected to fall to 2.5, nearly half a million barrels per day less than in 2009. In other words, a major source for manufacturing the fabric of our lives is seriously threatened.

“The possibility that Mexico’s oil and gas exports to the U.S could go to zero within seven years looks very real,” says investment analyst Chris Neddler of Energy & Capital.  “Rising domestic consumption with declining supply puts an ever-tightening squeeze on imports, yet I have found no evidence that policymakers are paying any attention to this critically important dynamic.”

Meanwhile, what many of us cannot ignore is the damage already done from petroleum-based products, especially the Pacific Ocean plastic islands which serve as graveyards of misguided consumption and evidence we are destroying places where we don’t even go.

Human beings have always manipulated materials for everyday objects. Reeds for baskets, clay for dishes, metal for tools and carts. The term plastic is derived from the Greek plastikos, which means fit for molding, something that can be pulled, cast or pressed into various shapes for tubes, bottles, boxes and fibers.

The commercial plastic or celluloid we have come to know and rely on, is largely derived from petroleum, which is a concern since it is basically toxic and something you don’t really want on your skin. Back in 1951, two research chemists discovered polypropylene polyethylene while greasing the wheels for a manufacturing process that begins with drilling and refining to form the powdery polymer compound. From there the compound is molded and cooled and divided into tiny pellets to be shipped to the makers who continue to mold it into almost everything you touch and feel.

Imagine a day without the touch and feel of plastics. If you can, you are way ahead of the pack, and most likely will fare better when the celluloid that engulfed your existence becomes a memory. But don’t  be alarmed. The vast stores of the stuff we have produced the past 10 years, alone, should get us through the hump until those helpful chemists come along with another brilliant idea.

Images: ringoblog, The Find,  Urban Boundaries, Richforth, Ancora

The post Wake Up and Smell the Polymers appeared first on EcoSalon.

A Bay Area family talks of moving to Portland, Oregon where they have friends and family and can secure a nice-size house and even land (what a concept!) for what it might cost to buy a two bedroom condo in San Francisco. But it just doesn’t seem to be the right time to sell the 40’s era family home Gary Hauser grew up in, and now shares with his wife and daughter. It also doesn’t seem to be the right time to invest in something new. The answer? Rent with no repent.

“We’re thinking of renting out our house while renting something either in Portland or an apartment in a sunnier location in San Francisco until the market picks up,” Hauser says. He may be onto something as renting could very possibly be replacing buying as the new American dream.

Rental Savings

There are strong arguments for renting instead of buying including the steady climb of mortgage interest rates along with the difficulty in securing in loan.

Rising Rates

An average 30-year-fixed went up 12 basis points to 5.23 percent April 1, while a 15-year fixed climbed to 4.53 percent and a jumbo 30-year fixed loan jumped to 5.92 percent. And while housing prices might be lower, renting costs have dipped as well, making it easier to get a better deal on a nice house in an upscale hood.

“It’s just a chain reaction since properties are going down in value, the property owners will eventually lower their rent to keep up with the market,” says Stop Stupid Stuff, a mortgage tutorial site.

While more people may be able to afford buying right now, the mortgage sites argues you can actually save a great deal by renting in certain locations.

“Some would argue that the difference in mortgage and rent is not that much that makes renting a bad idea but if you are living in a posh location where the mortgage could reach $5,000 a month, you will be able to rent a property within the same location with less than $4,000 a month,” it tells us. ” The $1,000 difference per month is just too large to be ignored.”

According to James L. Harrison of the Real Estate Blog, if you can afford not to sell your home, you can benefit from a steady cash flow that you can apply to your expenses and taxes while retaining ownership and making a profit. If you are relocating, you avoid the risk of selling and losing money, and can simply enjoy the income until you come back. He argues you also unload a lot of headaches assumed by the renter.

“You shall no longer have to pay the mortgage interest payments, insurance payments, property taxes, maintenance, repair and cleaning services,” he says. “You might be surprised to know that all costs of collecting your rent like traveling, local transportation, maintaining, and repairing your rented property can be deducted form the tax. Moreover, the depreciation expense is also taken care of my the amount of rent that you are getting. Hence, you have a good tax shelter, and save a lot of money.”

Disadvantages to Renting

Playing Landlord

The biggest disadvantage is having to play landlord, according to Alla Gershberg, MBA and a principal with the Paragon Real Estate Group in San Francisco. “Managing a rental house and tenants can be a hassle and cost a lot if you choose to hire a professional property manager,” she finds.

She adds that once you decide to sell, it can be tricky. “If you decide to sell because of rent control laws, evicting tenants to sell the home later may be problematic, prohibitively expensive or even impossible. If it’s impossible to evict the tenants, then you have to show it while it is tenant occupied, which can bring up multiple issues pertaining to appearance, showings and open houses. It makes it virtually impossible to perform any staging of the home to make sure it shows in its best possible light.”

She adds that rental properties rarely show as well as owner-occupied properties and renters often neglect basic upkeep and maintenance. Agents also find most buyers don’t want to buy tenant occupied homes and those buyers willing to deal with the issue expect a significant discount on the price.

“Renting for an extended period may affect the $250,000-$500,000 exclusion from capital gains for ownership occupied properties upon sale.”

Like most agents, Gershberg discourages clients from putting off selling homes  because it can be difficult to predict when the market will actually pick up, and meantime, the rental market also can weaken at the same time. She figures in terms of making an investment, you will probably fare better in the end from selling.

“It depends on the property,” she shares. “Rents in good neighborhoods are doing well but unlike multi-unit rental properties, single family home rents typically don’t generate income commensurate with current values. In other words, you could invest the proceeds of a current sale more profitably than the return one gets from rental income on a single family home.”

Renting a Room, Good Compromise

Until you decide about renting or selling, it might pay to simply rent a room in your house to eke out some extra income, just as our grandparents did during war time and the Great Depression. It will also give you a sampling of what it is like to play landlord, including collecting monthly rent and asking your tenant to do his or her part to keep up the room and shared grounds. Just follow the m.o. of best landlords, and do a good background check!  Remember, you can also take something in trade for that great green gardener, organic chef or babysitter that happens to need a room. It could be a great win-win situation.

Images: The Truth About…, All starplr, TV Rage

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Is summer fresh produce from Chile growing on you? Are you grateful to be able to buy grapes, plums, peaches and other August fruit in the dead of winter because of that 2004 free trade agreement?

That mindset is what the earthquake-ravaged country is cultivating in a new Cornucopia television ad campaign reaching out to American consumers who buy produce at Safeway, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Winn Dixie and other outlets that peddle an array of both imported and locally harvested fruits and vegetables.

The buy local mantra of the eco movement threatens international growers whose livelihood depends upon the plastic sealing and heavy fuel shipping of fresh foods to markets throughout the United States, including rich agricultural states like California, Arizona and Texas.

That threat has been worsened by the recent 8.9-magnitude quake which damaged roads, bridges, harbors and other key infrastructure while hampering communication lines used by processors and packaging plants.

The 30-second ad, tells us “right now it is summer in Chile” where vast natural resources allow it to grow produce, dairy, meat products, olive oil, wine, seafood and more. What swank menus don’t feature Chilean sea bass? The buttery male voice asks you to experience the abundance of the central American’s country’s harvest, “in season now at Winn Dixie.”

It has been pretty good so far with nearly half of all fruit in the U.S. coming from Chile.

The Stats

The California and American Chambers of Commerce report Chile is our 25th largest export partner, sending us $1.3 billion in fresh fruits in 2003, and packaged food exports worth a whopping $1.5 billion in 2008. The Philadelphia Inquirer tells us the bulk of the crops shipped to U.S. shores (65%), enter Philadelphia to be directed to stores east of the Mississippi River. The rest comes through Los Angeles. California, alone, lists Chile as its 22th largest export buddy. This graph shows countries that imported fresh fruits from Chile in 2008-2009.

Are We Also Buying the Image?

The primary world exporter of grapes, Chile controls 24 percent of the global grape market. Raisins, our favorite dried fruit, are produced at home, but we also imported 42.5 million pounds in 2008, mostly from our partner, Chile. Chilean wine, also threatened by the quake, has also been a popular choice here with trendy reds and subtle whites, and Chile has enjoyed the status of being fourth in the world for wine exports. The country is the world’s larges plum supplier with 36 varieties grown annually. It is the second largest exporter of kiwifruit, another gourmet staple, and after the 2004 trade agreement, it upped its peach exportation greatly, shipping over 60 percent of its peaches and nectarines to the U.S.

We also buy Chilean farmed salmon which has boosted the country’s seafood industry. The USDA reports salmon exports exploded from 1.2 million pounds in 1989 to 50 million in 1996, not a welcomed increase by our own salmon farmers who have sought legislation to reduce the surplus.

All About Image

The cornucopia ad, funded by the Chilean exporters Association (Asoex) and The Export Promotion Bureau (ProChile) and fielded by the Chilean Fresh Fruit Association (CFFA), is designed to promote Chile as not just a country with plentiful resources, but a country you can trust to put the healthiest food on your table.

Fruitnet tells us retailers were offered five-second tags at the end of the spots in exchange for in-store promotions. That is why one of the ads says “now in season at Winn Dixie.”

“We have many creative promoters among our partners in retail,” says Tom Tjerandsen, North American managing director of CFFA. “We marvel at the multitude of ways that retailers choose to ensure that they take full advantage of our television support.”

In deciding for yourself, you might want to consider the issue of pesticides in fresh foods, one of the main concerns of the local food movement. According to Consumer Health, residues of the toxins are present on many of our favorite fresh foods, including grapes, peaches, apples and celery. But surprisingly, research shows the crops we import from Mexico and Chile are not more contaminated than domestic foods, despite what is commonly believed.

A reason for the belief is that Chilean farmers in the past have been pressured to use pesticides like Dormex even though exposure has proven to harm the health of growers and their unborn children. Chile imports some 15, 000 tons of the chemicals each year and experts say there are some 928 registered pesticides in use there, including 39 prohibited or severely restricted by the United Nations and governments of the world. Grapes grown in the Copiapo Valley are heavily sprayed, and grapes showed high traces of residue on the Consumer Health study.

And if you are buying Chilean salmon, you should know last year the FDA stepped up its scrutiny of the glut when the New York Times reported on the spread of infectious salmon anemia (ISA) plaguing the Chilean farming industry, as well as unsanitary, overcrowded salmon pens and poor environmental conditions. Stores like Safeway restricted imports, and Chile responded by promising to tighten its control by tripling inspections and reducing antibiotics.

Looks like we have to do some policing at home, as well. Consumer Health says 11 of the 12 highest contaminated foods recently tested were U.S. grown, including peaches, pears, apples, winter squash, and green beans. The key is to know what you are eating, and to properly wash and peel fruits and vegetables before eating.

Still, buying locally raised, organic food is the best way to avoid exposure to toxins. And buying locally grown, organic fare also is the best way to promote and support local farmers who are stepping up to the green plate. Will Chile suffer greatly if we refuse to buy what the country is selling?

I suppose that is a risk we must take in considering our future. When I was a child, we only bought peaches, plums and grapes in the summer – that is – when it was summer in sunny California.

Images: athrasher, CFFA/USA

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You’ve decided to up your game and green your urban nest. Before phoning that $150-an-hour architect who erected your sister’s efficient rectangular hillside dwelling, pick up this third revised source book, ecoDesign, from Chronicle Books. Inside, you’ll find more than 700 everyday consumer products, resourced by environmental educator and consultant, Alastair Fuad-Luke, a lecturer at Cranfield University in the UK.

The emphasis, naturally, is on recycled, recyclable, reusable and energy efficient. Don’t even worry about the taste factor, since everybody is getting into the game when it comes to upscale greenery. The Objects for Living section of this book showcases lighting fixtures, furniture, appliances, textiles and fashion, as well as transport, leisure and recreation. They are cool by virtue of being clever in material, sparing in application, ingenious in artistic composition. And some are affordable, which is for many of us is key.

The author backs up his selected inventory with words to live by: “As the products in this section illustrate, it is possible to tread more lightly on the planet, to consume and waste less, yet to maintain or even improve the quality of life.”

This is a user friendly source book – think detailed product information, a revised list of manufacturers, design studios and organizations committed to sustainability. (There’s also an extensive reference section defining new and hybrid materials that are outsourcing our petroleum-based past.)

Image: Chronicle Books

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