Editor’s note: EcoSalon is fully FTC compliant. We will always disclose sponsored editorials to you.

ExclusiveSaffron Rouge and Alima Pure debut Obsidian, an exclusive eyeshadow just for EcoSalon readers.

When organic beauty shop Saffron Rouge told EcoSalon that they wanted to work with Alima Pure to create an exclusive eyeshadow for us, we were more than thrilled to participate and of course, to let our readers know about the line. From Manhattan to Cape Cod, we’ve been on the green scene and meeting up with organic makeup stylists who have taken the time to try out the line. Our talented artists were able to transform even two busy editors into lovely-lidded ladies. Check it out!

Our first stop was to eco-boutique Kaight, trendy mecca for sustainable shoppers in New York, where we met up with green friends and Green Beauty Team founder and award-winning runway makeup artist, Kristen Arnett. Arnett made us over on the shop couch (thanks to Kaight’s fabulous founder and owner, Kate McGregor for sharing the space!). Arnett created different looks for us to show how well the shadow works for day and night. She demonstrated a natural, fresh look on DuFault and a just-a-little punk night look on Ost. (See the slideshow below for close-ups.)

EcoSalon Managing Editor Amy DuFault (left), and Editor-in-Chief Sara Ost get made over by Green Beauty Team Founder, Kristen Arnett.

On Cape Cod, where Managing Editor Amy DuFault hails, we headed over to local hot spot, Salon Belor and met up with makeup stylist Sara Gilman and our model Dena Papi for some more takes on the Obsidian/Pink Coral duo.

Model Dena Papi gets her eyes and lips Pink Coralized.

A satin matte shadow, Alima Pure is created with lush mineral pigments and can be applied wet, resulting in an intense eye liner, or applied dry over the lid to add color and warmth (see the slideshow to watch it transform). We loved the combination of the Pink Coral with the Obsidian and how they could interchange for day to night depending on how it was applied. We also were amazed to see that the Pink Coral could be used wet as a lip gloss.

EcoSalon’s exclusive color, Obsidian, we found to be a wonderfully, shimmery dark grey-brown that makes a gorgeously dramatic shadow and can pull double duty as a liner. And the color works well on all skin tones. Thanks to Alima and our sponsor Saffron Rouge, the spring to summer trend of muted darks and nudes as well as bright corals are a perfect accessory to everything from citrus frocks to neutral dresses.

Considering themselves color as much as fashion junkies, Alima says their reasoning behind choosing our exclusive color was based on being avid readers and realizing our audience is stylish and sophisticated but that there’s “Enough whimsy and playfulness on the pages of EcoSalon to know that a little sparkly fun is not out of the question!”

View the slideshow below to catch behind-the-scenes shots of our fun makeover journey.

To get your free eyeshadow:

The Alima exclusive eye shadow and our makeover adventure has been proudly sponsored by Saffron Rouge, the organic beauty and personal care online shop. In this special exclusive offer, Saffron Rouge is giving away a free EcoSalon eyeshadow by Alima to any reader with the purchase of $100 or more in organic beauty products. Saffron Rouge has a comprehensive assortment of cosmetics, hair care, skin care and personal care (even products for men and baby!) that is upscale, chic and 100% sustainable and healthy. They’ve got all your favorite brands – Alima, Weleda, Dr. Hauschka and many more – so be sure to bookmark them. Use the exclusive discount code ECOSALON at checkout on your next order to get the free Obsidian shadow.

• «
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• »

• 11
• 12
• 13
• 14
• 15
• 16

Amy DuFault before, ready for her makeover on a sunny but brisk day in NYC with Kristen Arnett at Kaight Shop. What look will Arnett create?

• «
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• »

• 11
• 12
• 13
• 14
• 15
• 16

Arnett and DuFault chat about the look they want, and get started. Arnett is a big fan of Alima. You can see how much fun these two are having. Boutique visitors were curious what we were up to, and Arnett was happy to share her organic beauty tips.

• «
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• »

• 11
• 12
• 13
• 14
• 15
• 16

Pretty and polished, DuFault shows off Arnett’s first makeover, a perfect daytime look that’s fresh for spring. Arnett used the Obsidian powder to form a thin, muted eyeliner, then blended carefully. She finished with a little bronzer and lip gloss.

• «
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• »

• 11
• 12
• 13
• 14
• 15
• 16

DuFault looking a little mischievous. (When doesn’t she?)

• «
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• »

• 11
• 12
• 13
• 14
• 15
• 16

The obsidian and peach combination works perfectly with DuFault’s coloring.

• «
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• »

• 11
• 12
• 13
• 14
• 15
• 16

Editor-in-chief Sara Ost’s turn in Arnett’s hands.

• «
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• »

• 11
• 12
• 13
• 14
• 15
• 16

Arnett gets to work. Ost’s usual routine is just a little mascara and lip gloss, and she tells Arnett to get creative.

• «
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• »

• 11
• 12
• 13
• 14
• 15
• 16

Arnett uses Obsidian and a wet brush to create a sexy defined cat eye.

• «
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• »

• 11
• 12
• 13
• 14
• 15
• 16

The finished look! Ost hasn’t seen it yet. Arnett explains it’s amazing the versatile looks that can be created with a wet brush and a good mineral powder shadow like Alima.

• «
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• »

• 11
• 12
• 13
• 14
• 15
• 16

Mama like.

• «
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• »

• 11
• 12
• 13
• 14
• 15
• 16

Arnett, Ost and DuFault at Kaight after the Saffron Rouge makeovers are complete.

• «
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• »

• 11
• 12
• 13
• 14
• 15
• 16

At Salon Belor, our gorgeous model Dena Papi gets an Alima makeover by Cape Cod makeup artist Sara Gilman.

• «
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• »

• 11
• 12
• 13
• 14
• 15
• 16

Gilman uses the accenting peach color to add extra dimension and fullness to Papi’s smile.

• «
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• »

• 11
• 12
• 13
• 14
• 15
• 16

A subtle smoky Obsidian smudge makes the look both natural and sexy.

• «
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• »

• 11
• 12
• 13
• 14
• 15
• 16

DuFault, Papi and Gilman with the finished look. We love how striking Papi looks with the lip and eye combination.

• «
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• »

• 11
• 12
• 13
• 14
• 15
• 16

Thanks to Kaight for hosting our NYC Saffron Rouge makeovers!

If you like this special offer from Saffron Rouge and EcoSalon, let us know in the comments. Tell us what you think of Obsidian, how you’d like to wear it, and what future exclusives you’d like from us.

The post EcoSalon Exclusive! Alima Pure Eyeshadow Gift Offer from Saffron Rouge appeared first on EcoSalon.

ExclusiveBright Young Things launches a sustainable capsule collection at Urban Outfitters.

The Bright Young Things first season collection is debuting at Urban Outfitters with a four-piece capsule collection. The versatile collection can be worn in multiple ways and includes: The Converter Pant, The Everything Halter, The Wrap Skirt-Dress, and The Coat-Dress. Designer Eliza Starbuck says the collection was inspired by the idea of updating American classics in an effort to offer basics that are multifunctional.

“If I were to pinpoint the icons that are behind the style inspiration I’d say they’re a mix of Laurence of Arabia, Katherine Hepburn, and Carmen Miranda, although I certainly hope they don’t come off that way,” says Starbuck. “I wanted them to be for today’s versions of these characters.”

The New York-based line debuted at The GreenShows in September at the 2010 New York Fashion Week with just one little black dress. The dress itself has encouraged thrifty, creative dressers everywhere to embrace the fact that less is more and no better was that celebrated than through Starbuck’s creation of the first LBD for Sheena Matheiken’s The Uniform Project.

As for the Urban Outfitter collection, expect to see a pant with fun twists like a basic trouser with side entry that allows the wearer to wear it at three different levels on the waist (high-waisted, a slouchy-cuffed slack, or a drop crotch harem style pant), and an Everything Halter which was designed to be twisted and wrapped into different looks or flipped upside down and worn as a sexy skirt or beach cover up.

Producing the line in Manhattan’s Chinatown allowed Starbuck to closely monitor production and make adjustments to the production if necessary.

“It was really cool to get to know the factory workers,” says Starbuck. “There were days when I was in there working side by side with them.”

When asked if she thinks more women are getting creative with their clothes, Starbuck says it really depends on the individual.

“I know some amazingly creative dressers, women who inspire me to get dressed in the morning,” says Starbuck. “Then there are so many women who don’t have the confidence to stand out and assert their own sense of style, who tend to imitate the style they see on celebrities or that they see on TV or in magazines.”

There’s also the matter of personal priorities.

“Of course there are those women out there who really can’t or don’t care about fashion and have other things they focus on,” says Starbuck. “I try to design clothes that would work for any of these types, but I think the women who like to experiment will have the most fun with it.”

The Bright Young Things capsule collection can be seen now at Urban Outfitters, with pieces priced from $89-$240. Materials include tencel and hemp blends.

The post Bright Young Things Debuts At Urban Outfitters appeared first on EcoSalon.

ExclusiveThe clash over plastic, and a surprising industry admission.

The Fifth International Marine held a week ago on Oahu was like the prom for plastic garbage nerds. All sides of the issue converged on Oahu. There were the cool kids (Jack Johnson strumming some tunes), the industry guys sporting pleated pants held up by braided belts (evaporating bad cologne), science dorks walking quickly from point A to point B without so much as noticing the sun, and vociferous activists pumped up on coffee. It was many fish in a small pond, a full net of stakeholders concerned with how the chemical bottom line translates to plastic pollution in our shared ocean. The general tenor of the NGOs was simple: call a spade a spade. Calling plastic pollution ‘marine debris’ is ducking the problem. Calling it what it is, makes people act. And after this conference, I’d expect we’re going to see this issue amplified.

Starting with the Science

What we know, is that we don’t know a lot. Expeditions to sample the ocean surface for plastic are expensive, and precious few have ever made it out of port. I spoke with Kara Lavendar Law, from SEA Education, who has the most data on plastic distribution in the ocean. SEA has been monitoring plankton for over twenty years in the North Atlantic and Caribbean, and as a result, has pulled up a lot of plastic in their samples. While we’ve only really heard about the North Pacific Garbage Patch in the media, there exists much more data on the North Atlantic, thanks to Law and her team. The situation is startling: 6.5 pounds to 184 pounds per square kilometer of water. (There are 315 million square kilometers of ocean on planet earth – and we’ve only been packaging everything we consume in plastic for 40 years.) It’s important to note, however, that outside of the gyres, plastic is still present, but ostensibly in smaller quantities – though this isn’t for certain. From personal experience, having sailed three times across both the North and South Atlantic conducting sampling, I’ve never seen a plastic-free sample.

What’s most surprising about SEA’s data is that it suggests plastic density has flatlined over 20 years. A scientist isn’t going to to go on the record making claims without proof, but she will pose the questions: Where is it going? Is it sinking? Consumption and population are both going up, which means more plastic is going into the ocean, so why is the data flatlining? The plastic has to be going somewhere. Various theories float around at the conference. Nearly every scientist believes that input is getting greater but to date, there has been no comprehensive study of the ocean floor for plastic pollution.

Industry

I spoke with the American Chemistry Council representatives at the conference. Their massive public relations problem is oceanic plastic pollution. These are the guys who have to deal with fourth graders asking them why they kill turtles. The American Chemistry council represents all the companies that produce the resins that the manufacturers make everything plastic out of. They like the “Marine Debris” label because it encompasses all the jetsam in the ocean. But what’s out there is plastic. As if sea turtles weren’t bad enough, there’s the even bigger publicity nightmare: dangerous chemicals in mothers’ breast milk. That’s the kind of issue that drives public outcry and policy that limits their activities on the books.

Mostly, they’ve tried to promote recycling as the solution, even though the capture rates post consumer are so low they almost cease to matter (3-12%) worldwide. The real problem, though, is that recycling doesn’t work. You can’t make a bag out of a bag, and this is hardly an extreme claim from an environmentalist contingent. The industry is well aware of this, which I confirmed when I spoke with Mark Daniels of Hilex Poly, the largest recycler of polyethylene in the country.

Here’s why recycling doesn’t work: to make another bag, 70% virgin content is introduced in the new bag, along with 30% post consumer. The result of recycling one bag roughly introduces 3.3 new bags into the waste stream. Daniels didn’t like that I was using math, but finally, after asking him this question: “So, is this a fair statement: no matter how much you recycle, no matter how much recycling infrastructure you build, the net result of recycling is more plastic in the world, bags or otherwise?” His answer, simply enough, was “Yes.” (I almost fell out of my chair.) By his own admission, the net result of recycling compounds the plastic problem rather than ameliorating it. Daniels used the phrase “Cradle to Cradle” several times and I kept asking him to define what that means. He couldn’t. He’s making three cradles out of one cradle and they’re made of plastic. The interest in recycling is economic, not stewardship. What they fear is that people will quit consuming their products. Recycling is a system neatly built to ensure perpetual consumption by duping people into believing they’re doing something good for the environment.

Now, you can make a PETE bottle out of a PETE bottle, but the regulations to make it food safe again makes it cost prohibitive. For the most part, the only thing that can be made from recycling plastic is another plastic product. Whether they’re durable goods or single-use isn’t really the point. Plastic is plastic.

The NGOs and Activists

These are the people flaming pissed about belly-up sea turtles, bird carcasses with lighters in them, seals strangled by plastic box ties, fish caught in six pack rings. They’re also mad about everyone – you, me, your children – being full of chemicals from plastic. The American Chemistry Council sponsored this conference (as did Coca-Cola), so it appears at least that they’re trying to engage the activist and science community more transparently. As an activist, getting an ACC official on the phone has been an incredibly difficult task and here, at the conference, they were subject to all the major activists working on this issue. They don’t like that we’re going after bans of their products, again, feebly arguing that all we need to do is recycle. Activists in the rabble groaned when an industry representative championed a new plastic bottle made out of plant-based material as progress. Leave it up to the plastic industry to turn organic material into something that doesn’t biodegrade.

Activism starts at home. Refusing single-use plastics, opting instead for the coffee cup or stainless steel bottle, is a big step. Then it’s time to start engaging the businesses you frequent and ask them a simple question, “What are you doing to reduce your plastic footprint?”

Next up in the series, we’ll talk about how much plastic we all use, where it hides, and how to avoid it.

Image: Micro-fragments of plastic the beach of St. Helena, a very remote island in The South Atlantic. Credit: Stiv Wilson

The post Plastic Surgery: Hawaii, Science, NGOs and The American Chemistry Council appeared first on EcoSalon.

ExclusiveFollow the money – If you’re trying to understand why things happen the way they do, it’s as good a hint as you’re ever going to get. In the business investment world, where ideas are funded and smart minds turned loose, you can follow dollar trails upstream to venture capitalists and angel investors – and the values and ways of thinking that critically impact the American business landscape. What follows is the first in a series of articles examining equity investment’s relationship with businesses that have traditionally been out of its mainstream, including women-owned, green and long-term-growth-oriented.

Facts are indisputably facts. And the facts are that women make up a minute fraction of the venture capital and angel investment community, and that women entrepreneurs receive a tiny percentage of that community’s investment dollars. And while there are a lot of ways you can look at, explain or explain away these facts, one thing is certain: When you take half the population out of the give and take of this economic equation, society, the economy and yes, investors themselves, are going to lose out.

The numbers are truly staggering in a backwards-thinking kind of way. As of about two years ago, 10.1 million U.S. firms were owned by women (that’s more than half), employing more than 13 million people and generating $1.9 trillion in sales, according to the Center for Women’s Business Research. Moreover, research has shown time and again that businesses with women at the helm, or at least with significant representation at the highest levels, consistently outperform significantly male-dominated organizations.

Now put on your cognitive dissonance hat and get this: According to Babson College research, only about 5 percent of all equity capital investments in the country go to businesses headed by women and just 3 percent get investments from venture capital.

While we do seem to live in era where working (and voting) against one’s own interest is as much of a rule and as an exception, investment communities have always done a pretty good job of watching (or at least scratching) their own backs.  So why are they shooting themselves and all the rest of us, while they’re at it, in the wallet?

Sharon Vosmek is the CEO of Astia. Founded in 1999 in Silicon Valley, the group is a not-for-profit organization that connects female entrepreneurs to investors, industry leaders, advisors and service providers. Despite Astia’s commitment to women, Vosmek points out that the role of the VC isn’t necessarily to support female entrepreneurs in the first place.

“I don’t see this as the work of VCs,” she says. “Their job is to make investments that return the best IRR [internal rate of return] to their LPs [limited partners].”

That said, however, she points out the business case for making such investments a priority: “What we know … is that companies that have women in executive leadership, outperform those that do not. Therefore, what we expect to see is a greater number and percentage of investments going into companies with women in those roles. Not because they need support, but because they outperform the market.”

So the question is begged: Why would a profit-oriented capital investment industry ignore such data? Is it about male bias against women? After all, 95 percent of VCs and 85 percent of angels are men.

Vosmek says there’s a problem with such a straightforward explanation: There just isn’t enough data to support the claim. Beyond the anecdotal, there’s just no information from “the inside” that shows a systemic anti-female approach to investment.

Fear, Not Loathing

There is, however, clear data about the power and impact of hidden bias and the fear of “the other” in the business world. The Level Playing Field Institute defines hidden biases as “perceptions, preferences, stereotyping of individuals or groups that often occur at the subconscious level… they may adversely impact our judgments and interactions with others and result in unfair behaviors. They become established and systemic in organizations and distort the playing field by conferring advantage for some and disadvantage for others.”

In a largely homogeneous world such as the VC and angel community and especially one dedicated to mitigating perceived risk though working with “known” quantities, the impact of this bias is bound to play itself out. So, in the end, what we might be seeing is less of a male versus female issue as much as one of same-sex cronyism and our preference for what Vosmek calls “all things like ourselves.”

“In our society, men and women are still by-and-large in separate business networks,” she explains. “VC and angel investment relies heavily on trusted business relationships; often for early stage investors, the only risk that can be mitigated is that of the individuals involved and if they are known to the investor. Trusted business relationships are always going to win in this scenario.

“You can see how within the high-growth space, groups who are not naturally in each others’ networks, will suffer as a result. Entrepreneurs will suffer because they will lack access to capital. Investors will suffer because they will lack access to the full complement of deals. [But] this is a societal issue, not one of VC or angel [investors], per se.”

Girl vs. Boy

There are some who, while agreeing with impact of the preference for same (or fear of other), say there are other forces impacting how women are perceived and behave as both entrepreneurs and business risk-takers. And some see it more simply than others.

Writes three-time start-upper, Brazen Careerist CEO and even brazener stereotyper Penelope Trunk in TechCrunch under the headline “Women Don’t Want To Run Startups Because They’d Rather Have Children”: “… you could tell that story [why women don’t get funding for startups] on one page: Startups move at break-neck pace, under a lot of pressure to succeed bigger and faster than any normal company. And women don’t want to give up their personal life in exchange for the chance to be the next Google. Or even the next Feedburner. Which is why the number of women who pitch is so small, and, therefore, the number of women who get funding is small.”

A more nuanced take, perhaps, comes from Cyan Banister, who is an investor, entrepreneur, and founder and CEO of Zivity, an artist/fan interaction platform that features comedy, music, animation and nude performance art. She has been named by Fast Company as one of the “The Most Influential Women in Web 2.0,” and is no stranger to the Silicon Valley investment scene and the fabled investment offices of Sand Hill Road. While her focus is primarily on the tech sector, she’s not afraid to make some broad brush strokes when looking at women in the entrepreneurial business world.

Banister agrees with Vosmek that “networking is largely at play” in the misfire between venture and angel investors and women entrepreneurs, but does say that gender differences are indeed another important element to consider: “In a world where taking risks is key,” she says, “women are more risk averse then men.”

This she attributes to “wiring” that goes back to our most ancient ancestors.

“People forget we’re animals,” she says. “We [women] are built to protect and nurture families while men play the role of risking their lives to bring back food. Just go to any poker room in a casino. How many women do you see? I’m not saying this is the case across the board, but men are largely more ready to assume risk than women.”

Banister acknowledges that these views may be controversial, but insists that they’re critical in understanding the dynamic behind why there are so few women investors and notable Google and Facebook-like stories involving female founders.

“When it comes to both playing the role of investor and that of the business person seeking investment, men and women are different,” she says. “Male investors traditionally seek big pay-off opportunities while women, me included, focus on slow growth over time. My husband [prominent investor and entrepreneur Scott Banister] is always looking for a 20-times return, while I look for two- or three- times return over time. I’m seldom wrong and he’s wrong a lot – but when he’s right, he’s right big-time.”

It’s true, of course, that “there are several prominent women who have launched their own startups and received VC funding  including Amanda Steinberg of DailyWorth,  Rashmi Sinah, co-founder of SlideShare, Robin Chase, founder of ZipCar, Caterina Fake who co-founded Flickr and spearheaded Hunch.com,” points out Meghan Casserly in Forbes.  But if Banister is right about these proclivities, it’s easy to see how a community populated by men is investing in men, and how those investees are making more noise than women when it comes to media-hypeable stories.  Banister, who says that women bring to bear their own brand of profit-making value to the workplace, notes “there are hundreds of female success stories – you just don’t hear about a female Mark Zuckerberg.”

Stepping Up and In

High-risk or not, are women showing up to seek investment in the first place? Babson College research points out that “women appear more reluctant to apply for loans – more than 10 percent of men seek external equity financing, but less than two percent of women do the same.

“It is my opinion that this has to do with exposure to the opportunity of raising venture capital – and it is not unique to women,” says Vosmek. “The reality is that for most people, if you do not have role models who have gone before you, you are less likely to pursue an opportunity. We need more female high-growth role models.”

She adds that women are not pursuing high-growth entrepreneurship commensurate with their representation in fields that should lead to high-growth entrepreneurship. Women, Vosmek says, represent 30 percent of MBAs, 50.4 percent of PhDs, and over half of all college graduates.

The very-visible-these-days Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg recently gave a talk at TED where she addressed this issue. “Women systematically underestimate their own abilities,” she said, adding that studies show that women don’t negotiate on their own behalf. Moreover, “Men attribute their success to themselves and women attribute it to other external factors. If you ask men why they did a good job they’ll say, ‘Because I’m awesome.’ … If you ask women, what they’ll say is that someone helped them, they got lucky [or] they worked really hard… It matters a lot, because no one gets to the corner office by sitting on the side, not at the table.”

Both visibility (like that of Sandberg, Banister, Trunk and others like them) and encouragement can be enhanced, says Vosmek, by groups such as her own Astia, as well as others like Women 2.0, Golden Seeds and Girls in Tech.

“These organizations work to expose and inspire women to high-growth entrepreneurship – and then once they get there, ensure they succeed by giving them access to the networks that lead to capital and expertise,” she says, adding that groups like the OpEd Project, which are set up to address the dearth of female voices in the media, can also play a positive role.

A Note on Ethics

The bottom line here is that there’s a prominent convergence between ethics and values, and plain old good business sense when it comes to investing in women. This is quite notable, as it’s not always the case that doing the right thing means doing the profitable thing (though the point might be argued that in the long run this is always the sustainable case).

Says Vosmek: “I think the best investors clearly articulate their values and entrepreneurs would be wise to make sure they choose investors whose values align with their own. I believe that a commitment to building inclusive teams is a value that also happens to be smart business.”

Indeed, both Vosmek and Banister present as extremely smart businesspeople as much as they do female role models. For both, the issue isn’t so much about sexism as it is about the missed value proposition of bringing women to bear on profit-making.

There’s also a tragedy here that transcends opinions regarding the “why” of the situation. Consider our job-strapped society and try this on (also from Babson College): In the United States, “Women are starting businesses at nearly twice the rate of men – if these women entrepreneurs started with the same capital as men, they would add 6 million jobs to the economy in 5 years.”

“For those of us seeking a jobs recovery – there you have it,” says Vosmek. “Solving this could be the competitive advantage the U.S. seeks.”

Image: kevindooley

The post VCs, Angels and Investing in Women: What Are They Not Thinking? appeared first on EcoSalon.

SeriesIt’s what happens when lush plants become wall decor.

EcoSalon was at the most recent Art Basel Miami Beach, and caught a glimpse of Doug Aitken’s Sex. A terrarium bursting with exotic flora representing a veritable Garden of Eden, this piece leaves plenty to the imagination. Just don’t tell that to Adam and Eve.

Editor’s note: This is the first installment of Kim Derby’s new art series at EcoSalon, The Heart of Art, offering a glimpse of artistic inspiration from artists around the globe. We heart art, and there’s nothing nicer than a midday dose to offer a moment of contemplation.

The post The Heart of Art: Garden of Eden appeared first on EcoSalon.

ExclusiveInterview with a leading slow fashion expert.

If late February finds you rather lackluster and beaten down, we just might have a cure for what ails you. Sasha Duerr of the Permacouture Institute recently released her new book, The Handbook of Natural Plant Dyes, and it is a true cornucopia of slow fashion goodness and ‘soil to studio’ guidance. Sasha is one of the leading experts on natural plant dyes and home-brewed recipes for creating customized color palettes that also touch on eco-literacy and bio-regional awareness. Identifying non-toxic dye materials that reside in your own kitchen, garden, or urban plot goes hand in hand with all of the focus and research one might put into shopping for and preparing organic foods. This is the first book that really highlights why fashion and food are intertwined, and why we can no longer afford to view textiles and clothing as something other than the underlying fiber of our everyday lives and shared communities.

The Handbook of Natural Plant Dyes: Personalize Your Craft with Organic Colors from Acorns, Blackberries, Coffee, and Other Everyday Ingredients might seem like a mouthful to some, but for artist and educator Duerr, it is vital that everyone celebrate the creative possibilities that exist in those findable organic materials that are very much a part of our long history with natural gardening and textiles. Granted, this Bay Area resident has loads of greenery and inspiration in the foothills of her community, but she will also be the first to admit that time outside in pristine nature is not the only way to re-connect with our environs and those traditions that might help us to revive plant dye knowledge.

I have always loved that Sasha does not have to hunt very far to locate indigenous plants (often called ‘weeds’) or resuscitate kitchen goods (coffee or onion skins) that magically find new life with just the right application of expertise. Her visually alluring book wisely takes the mystery out of dye alchemy so that everyone feels empowered to do the right thing, even if you opt to not try the recipes for some time. I, for one, would consider using this book as a text book in any sustainable fashion course, principally as a means to create a greater awareness about how accessible and affordable eco-fashion truly is.

An Exclusive Q & A with Sasha Duerr:

In an interview with the book’s publisher, Timber Press, Sasha explains why she initiated this project and what role it might play in our relationship with coloring fashion:

“The Handbook of Natural Plant Dyes is about experimentation with organic color recipes from my own kitchen, garden, and community. Books and information on natural dyes are diverse, and dye-producing plants and color recipes differ from region to region. As my love of natural color grew, I realized that many dye recipes have been lost to particular cultures and areas of the world. Through creative re-engagement we can begin to revive these recipes and reconnect with the long history of handmade beautiful and non-toxic color sources.“

Plant-based color essentially yields a complex brew of aesthetic and environmental benefits that toxic and synthetic dyes simply do not. Plant hues are far more varied and complimentary in palette and might be compared to a naturally occurring rainbow where all of the edges overlap and intermingle in the most mesmerizing way. Chemical dyes, in addition to being extremely harmful to work with and wear, are far more limited in their range of tonality and subtlety.

Sasha elaborated on her love for plant-based color and the unique creative and environmental possibilities via her blog:

“Plant-based dyes offer colors that are unusual, varied, and vibrant. Natural dyes harmonize with each other in a way that only botanical colors can. A natural dye, a red for example, will include hints of blue and yellow, whereas a chemically produced red dye contains only a single red pigment, making the color less complex. Even mixing synthetic dyes can rarely if ever achieve the range of shades that natural dyes possess. When you work with organic botanical color sources, you are literally working with living color. The unique qualities of naturally dyed textiles can often make the color vibrate or glow. Plant-based dyes also offer an ecologically friendly alternative to synthetic dyes because they come from plants, which can be renewable non-toxic resources and biodegradable.”

As a fiber lover and on-going student of sustainable textile methods and innovation, I asked Sasha these specific questions as part of an exclusive interview for EcoSalon readers.

EcoSalon: Are the recipes and projects in your new book for the beginner or individuals who have some experience with natural plant dyes/fiber?

Sasha: I aimed to do a combination of recipes for the beginner and advanced dyer. I wanted to offer an easy and accessible way for the beginning dyer to achieve beautiful and satisfying results without a lot of effort, and at the same time offer the more experienced dyer a plethora of plants they may not actually have thought of as dye producers. I also wanted to present everyone with more socially or environmentally engaged ways of working with one’s dye practice; for instance, teaching out of your local community garden, seed saving, helpful tips for mapping your neighborhood, offering fiber and dye plant exchanges, or uncovering long lost dye recipes from your family tree and native bio-region.

EcoSalon: What is one of the most commonly misunderstood plants (“weeds”) in your opinion, in relation to its amazing properties and qualities?

Sasha: We are currently working with what we call our “seasonal yellow” which, depending on what time of year the garment is dyed, uses a prevalent invasive weed in Northern California which is where I live  – such as Oaxalis or fennel (dry or wet season respectively!) to produce a super bright fluorescent hue. It’s a great way to think about color, and a useful way to use a weed that needs to be eradicated before it hits the compost pile so that a more bio-diverse natural habitat can thrive.

Another “weed” I love is nettle, as it can be a healing medicinal herb, delicious iron fortified food, and both a wonderful dye AND fiber plant. Any unsuspecting plant with which you can stack functions (i.e. use in multiple ways) is a value to both nature and culture in immeasurable ways.

EcoSalon: Are urban dwellers a part of the natural plant dye scene/movement as much as non-city dwellers?

Sasha: Absolutely. Connecting urban dwellers to natural dyes and eco-literacy through fashion and textiles is one of my ultimate loves and one of the reasons that I started the Permacouture Institute.  I visited the wonderful Textile Arts Center in Brooklyn last night for a book event, and there was an impressive turnout of local New York natural-dye enthusiasts. The Textile Arts Center is also actively working on planting a dye garden on their block and connecting students and textile artists to urban community gardens through natural color. This is something we strongly advocate through our work with the Permacouture Institute. We work closely with garden projects in Oakland and London, both very urban locations for plant dyers.

I am also very interested in bi-products and waste products of urban places that can produce dye colors…cities are excellent places to connect with florists, restaurants, herbalists and urban parks to discover what urban plant bi-products can be unique and brilliant sources of color. To quote a great permaculture saying, “If its not in production it becomes pollution.”

EcoSalon: Is there such a thing as  a natural/organic mordant?

Sasha: As far as botanical based mordants (non-metal based binders that help the dye hold to the fiber), many of the plants that I like to work with actually contain mordants in them naturally without additive—any leaves with plenty of tannins or Oaxalis fit that bill! Oak galls and acorns work well as botanical based mordants, and I am just starting to experiment with other natural methods of mordanting, such as working with protein bases like soy. The metals only ones I ever work with as mordants are alum and iron, those are the only mordants I advise using in my classes and in my book. They still need to be treated with care and used sparingly. But wow, there are so many natural dye books that should be used with extreme caution because they suggest using toxic heavy metal mordants such as chrome and tin, especially books from the 60’s’ and 70’s, which badly need environmental updating. The exciting thing is that there is a lot of experimentation being done to move into better ways of working in sync  with healthy plants for you and the environment and your textiles which have a wide range of gorgeous color and are not dependent on heavy metals. This is what excites me about moving the field of natural dyeing forward in a healthy and sustainable way.

EcoSalon: For Adie + George collections, do you think about the palette first or do you experiment with natural plant dyes that suit the season, and then build the collection around your slow fashion process discoveries?

Sasha: I am continually experimenting with seasonal color, and I’m very excited about the new plants I’ve been trying.  For Adie+George’s  AW11′ collection my obsession was working with avocado pits, which in California are an ongoing commodity and restaurant waste bi-product. I have also gotten really into what we call our “seasonal yellow”- either Oaxalis (Sourgrass) or Fennel, both bright florescent yellows made from invasive Californian weeds that dovetail each other in the wet and dry seasons in Northern California.  It’s always a combination of plants I have fallen in love with and the colors they produce worked well with fall fashion forecasting and with the designs and fibers Casey and I choose for the collection. Of course I always love seeing that the “avocado pit” palette is trendy on the runways in Denmark too, even though the plant originated very locally for us in Northern California.

As a co-founders of California-produced sustainable fashion label, Adie + George, Sasha Duerr and her design partner Casey Larkin have been able to put all of this ‘to-dye-for’ knowledge to the test, and the results have been both stunning and empowering when it comes to bringing fashion back to its roots. Adie + George’s locally-produced and plant-dyed knitwear uniquely demonstrates that fashion, beauty, and responsible production can all co-exist without compromise. Our Fashion Editor, Amy DuFault, viewed Adie + George’s Fall 2011 collection at this past weekend’s NOW Showcase in NYC, and  had this to say:

“It was truly a stand out line for me based on the fact that they’d created such lovely, feminine silhouettes and truly organic-driven color. Given the thoughtful context from which the brand is born, it stands out as a very progressive line to watch.”

To learn more about future book signings and projects related to the Permacouture Institute, you can contact them via their website or follow their blog.

Images courtesy of Sasha Duerr/Permacouture Institute, Tristan Davison, and EcoSalon’s Fashion Editor, Amy DuFault.

The post The Handbook of Natural Plant Dyes by Sasha Duerr Demonstrates Slow Fashion Goodness appeared first on EcoSalon.

ExclusiveThe final chapter in a voyage through the Atlantic gyre.

It’s not what you think, but it is true that I go both ways.

I’ve just finished an epic three-point, five-month voyage that had me sailing from Brazil to South Africa to Namibia to Uruguay. We crossed the Atlantic twice, traveling some 9,000 nautical miles by sea in a rugged sailboat. Along the way, I’ve recorded the adventure – and trials – here at EcoSalon, sending my dispatches to our editor at all hours via satellite. For those of you who are just joining the saga, in addition to journalism, I work with an NGO called The 5 Gyres Institute that hunts the world’s oceans for plastic pollution in areas that no one else studies. We maintain a constant presence at sea, and this expedition completed the first two research transects of The South Atlantic Gyre sampling the ocean surface for plastic every 60 nautical miles.

Here’s what I can tell you right now: There’s a lot of plastic between South America and Africa that no one has ever talked about, and I’ve just spent 63 days at sea staring at it firsthand.

At home in the States, I listen to politicians debate the importance of bag bans in my hometown of Portland. I watch science organizations and universities that study marine plastic pollution fight for supremacy on the issue, along with various NGOs vying to be the dominant voice of the movement. It makes me ill. Out there, in the wide blue frontier, ego is irrelevant. The west coast of the United States, where the vast majority of people who work on this issue reside (and where their research vessels are moored), is roughly 1,400 miles long. But there are millions of miles of beaches in this world with plastic on them and 315 million square kilometers of ocean surface with particles of plastic stratified to the depths. Despite what we hear, it has nothing to do with islands of plastic the size of Texas. It’s a soup, not a tarte.

And it’s crazy, isn’t it? That’s what this job impresses upon me everyday – that we are crazy to be so careless and inconsiderate with a material so resilient and toxic. Yet reflection inspires me, because I’ve also witnessed NGOs, scientists and politicians championing the cause in an ethical, selfless, passionate manner. These people matter, and we owe them our gratitude. They have mine.

All of us, humbly or arrogantly, started using plastic in earnest about 40 years ago. As a global society, we are head-over-heels in love with the stuff. Widespread utilization of plastic started, among several reasons, as a way to help women get out of the kitchen – believe it or not, single-use plastic adoption has roots in feminism – but the result has become a pernicious addiction to a wonder material that no one can figure out how to handle once it’s used. And so, in 40 years, we broke the ocean.

That’s a lot of space to break. In terms of pollution vectors, plastic is just another threat, but it’s a big one and as far as the amount of people working on the issue, it’s the underdog in terms of ocean advocacy.

What is big?

It is difficult to really convey how much space we’re talking about. Until you two-time (yes, I’m a sea slut; I’ve done the North Atlantic, too), crossing an ocean by ship, it’s almost impossible to grasp. Flying over the sea doesn’t exactly do it. You need the unique vantage of being that person on the bow of a ship chasing the horizon endlessly for months on end. You need to leave Africa and notice she’s out of view within six hours – and you won’t see anything but light blue on blue or dark grey on grey for a month. You might spot a couple of albatrosses or storm petrels, perhaps the occasional whale or dolphin. But for the most part, you don’t see anything other than a color pallet study for 30 days. Thirty days is a long time.

With the exception of windless days when we can dive and make repairs or conduct additional research, we’re constantly moving forward doing at least 155 nautical miles a day. 30 days, 24/7 moving, 8-9 miles an hour.  There is nothing to hit, nothing to see, no one to meet, with one exception: every hour, we saw plastic. You can get remote as you want to get, and you’re still going to find plastic.

It is no exaggeration to say that we know more as a species about outer space than we do about our own shared oceans. We know it’s really big, so consider the size in the context of an additional ocean reality we now know: on average, there is a pint glass-full of plastic particles scattered over something the size of a football field with the occasional bucket, toothbrush, water bottle or bleach bottle on the 50 yard line tossed in. Over 315 million square kilometers on this planet, this is an almost incomprehensible amount of pollution.

While the media love to run Texas Sized headlines about the North Pacific Garbage Patch, which confuses the public about the true nature of this problem (and some NGOs too), our team and others working with us everywhere in the world are finding the same plastic everywhere – without exception. Density varies, but frequency does not.

It doesn’t matter who owns the issue. A global problem needs a global solution, and this is absolutely a global problem. We need to go beyond the North Pacific, beyond the USA-centricity, beyond the ego and the get. We must start engaging each other as a species, worldwide, and stop this madness made real by something as absurd to our true needs as mere convenience.

Editor’s Note: This is part 14 in an exclusive series. Voyage with Stiv and catch the latest each week here at EcoSalon during his months-long journey into the heart of the South Atlantic Gyre and beyond.

The post Reflections from a Two-Timer appeared first on EcoSalon.

ExclusiveThe voyage into the heart of the Atlantic gyre continues.

To make landfall in Uruguay, we’re dependent on our engine to propel our vessel through the windless areas of the open sea. But today, as we followed a line of garbage where we pulled out milk crates, buckets, and nondescript plastic garbage, we heard something terrible. The engine seized. Assessing, we determined that the gearbox had broken, rendering the engine useless. To fix this problem we’d need a machine shop, something one doesn’t have 1200 miles from land. The gearbox shaft extends to the propeller. When the propeller doesn’t spin, the boat doesn’t move forward. End of story.

So here I am, spinning slowly between swells on a becalmed sea with sails hanging, adrift in the South Atlantic with new thoughts on the definition of “the middle of nowhere.” Until wind, we wait, we sweat and we swim. The sea is so placid right now, we can watch small fragments of plastic on the surface floating by.

As Skip Dale donned Scuba gear to sort out the propeller shaft below Sea Dragon, I filmed from the water – the interaction between sea life and a fairly substantial ghost net (net bolus, net ball) we had happened upon just before the gearbox broke. Still under power when we discovered it, we had nearly missed it, and would have if it not for Simon’s spear. Yes, our South African artist crewmate, Simon, had brought a handcrafted, hand-fabricated spear on the expedition, the purpose of which had eluded me until now. Seeing it on the dock in Cape Town, I simply thought: hey, he’s an artist; this object is useless at sea, but it’s cool for photos. I could not have been more wrong. As I watched the bolus drift pass, Simon reared up, and like a Zulu warrior took a short running start and launched the spear from the stern. As if he’d done this a million times before, he hooked the net straight away (the design featured a barb so that it sticks whatever it speared), and he pulled it to the boat with a retrieval line, tied a line to it and then let it drift behind us.

A ghost net is a tangled mess of ropes and fishing nets that floats on the surface, kind of like an iceberg. From surface observations it appears small, but underwater it’s a massive ball that extends downward. Rope and fishing tackle are no longer made of natural fibers, having been replaced within the past 30 years by the non-biodegradable counterpart, polypropylene.

As I swam with the bolus, about 50-100 small fish took shelter under it. Three large Dorado orbited the smaller fish under the bolus and at one point I was able to get within a couple feet of them. Beautiful.

What’s bizarre about ghost nets is how many different kinds of ropes and netting materials comprise them. The ropes don’t necessarily come from the same source vessel, harbor, or watershed, but still somehow, in a great cosmic-drift-grind, they find each other out here, in the open ocean. Drifting through time and space, they conspire only to tangle together, tangle marine life, and slowly disintegrate in the sun, sending pollutant infused plastic fragments adrift in the ocean.

Simply touching this net-ball made a cloud of polypropylene dust explode into the water. I watched as the tiny fish just breathed right through it, unaware. As I hovered there, with Sea Dragon’s belly in the azure distance, I began to shudder to think about where I was, what I was doing and what I was seeing.

With a chill, I realized I was the first person on earth to shoot underwater video footage of a naturally occurring net bolus in the middle of the South Atlantic Gyre. It’s not a realization that fuels the ego, but one that stirs the senses as they rub up against the definitions of words like massive, horrific, unseen, random and sublime.

With modern technology, it’s often easy to forget you’re in the middle of the ocean – indeed a blue desert that encompasses 70 percent of the earth’s surface (only five percent of which has been explored). Yet here I was, having no idea that when I woke up this morning what awaited me in 15,000 feet of water.

Here I swam, untethered to anything, alone, observing bits of manufactured goods that once started out as oil in the ground. That oil was extruded from different sources, then refined at different refineries and shipped to different rope factories all over the world, sold, bought, lost only to one day collect here and be happened upon, quite by accident by our crew. And at this strange moment, in this nondescript patch of pure blue, I observe this entanglement as a sinister, toxic shelter for sea life drifting in a cerulean nether land. It’s like, as one crewmate said of our samples, finding a Twinkie in outer space.

Unfortunately, what we’ve confirmed now, in two separate expeditions, is that the Twinkies are everywhere.

Editor’s Note: This is part 13 in a special series. Voyage with Stiv and catch the exclusive each week here at EcoSalon during his months-long journey into the heart of the South Atlantic Gyre and beyond.

Images: Stiv Wilson

The post Twinkies In Outer Space appeared first on EcoSalon.

ExclusiveTouring St. Helena and beyond.

“He died of stomach cancer,” are nearly the first words that come out of our tour guide’s mouth. The guide, a diminutive woman of no more than four and a half feet, is adamant on this point. We’re standing in the drawing room of Napoleon Bonaparte’s exile house on one of the remotest islands in the South Atlantic. After the battle of Waterloo, Napoleon was captured by the English and was exiled to St. Helena, one of only three inhabited islands in The South Atlantic Ocean. The Saints, as they are called, maintain that Napoleon’s death at age 51 was of natural causes – not of arsenic poisoning which many of the French believe – in parting, our guide might as well have said, “we really, really, really didn’t kill him…really!”

St. Helena is home to about 5,000 residents most of which live in a small town called Jamestown. This island is rarely visited by tourists, as there is no airport. Leaving or visiting the island means boarding a ship. Supplies come every six weeks by ship from South Africa.

A British Protectorate, St. Helena served as an important resupplying point for The East India Trading company in days of yore. The streets are cobblestone and the architecture British colonial. Just off the key, a mote stands in front of a castle gate that extends across the valley floor to the steep cliff sides that rise on either side of the town. Along the cliffs are decrepit bunkers and batteries used for defending Jamestown from attack. Dying of natural causes or murdered didn’t matter, Napoleon wasn’t going anywhere.

Our crew was on a stop over enroute from Walvis Bay, Namibia on our way across the Atlantic to Montevideo, Uruguay. St. Helena sits about 400 nautical miles directly north of the northeast border of The South Atlantic Gyre, the area where my crew is sailing through to study plastic pollution.

Arriving in the morning, we swam from our ship waiting for customs and immigration to clear us. From the deck I spotted a massive Whale Shark cruising the anchorage. Standing on the bow-sprit of our sailing vessel, Sea Dragon, I could see her speckles, her leviathan, ponderous bulk, wallowing in the clear cerulean water below. Witnessing such creatures in a place known to few on the planet is to enter another dimension, one more like the place a child’s mind manifests when in enthralled in a fantastical storybook.

It’s at these moments nature makes me present, illuminating for me the phantasmagorical industry that she really is, that she wants to be, if we just let her. A degree of respect pays for itself in aesthetic truth and bounty preserved. Conservation itself is an investment in the bank of wonder. For me, everyday on the sea conjures such revelations. It’s truly a gift to be 37-years-old and feel my baseline notion of purity deepening, when many believe the world is or already has gone to shit. 24-hour news cycles be damned. Give me mother ocean, a stiff breeze, dawn and dusk. I will navigate my own way.

I was off to the landfill and to the one beach to look at washed up plastic. Yes, our taxi driver was surprised. There are few taxis on the island and typically they’re only used for tours. There is nowhere else to go than Jamestown. To me, seeing waste from a community of 5,000 people who consume products of the modern world in a limited space is a fascinating enterprise. It’s akin to geneticists studying pure bloodlines of indigenous peoples. Self-reliance and limited space can often make proper waste management not a moral responsibility but a practical need.

The dump was better than many I’ve seen. One of the things I look at as a plastic pollution researcher is how the stuff enters the ocean. Often, island landfills will be situated just adjacent the sea where winds will blow a river of plastic trash out at the same break-neck speed with which humans consume it. St. Helena’s was no different than other islands with regard to how its landfill was sited, but I could tell by how the tree line leaned that the dominant wind was onshore and constant under-tilling of the earth stopped the vast majority of blow-trash from entering the ocean. However, the location was atop of what would be a watershed when the rains came.

It’s a funny concept, burying trash that doesn’t biodegrade. It’s not really going anywhere. There is no “away” in “throwaway” as they say. Living on a small island reminds you of that immediately. The plastic buried here are the dinosaur bones of tomorrow. And to tomorrow the anchor comes up and the quest continues. South America, here I come. How dirty are you?

Editor’s Note: This is part 12 in a special series. Voyage with Stiv and catch the exclusive each week here at EcoSalon during his months-long journey into the heart of the South Atlantic Gyre and beyond.
Images: Stiv Wilson

The post Garbage, Saints and Whale Sharks of The South Atlantic appeared first on EcoSalon.

ExclusiveBreaking news of a mysterious bee death epidemic in SF.

Make a list of the foods you love. Then start crossing out the ones that are pollinated by bees, and imagine never eating them again.

I’d have to say goodbye to avocados, strawberries, squash, almonds, okra, cucumbers, broccoli, beets, cauliflower, cabbage, cantaloupe, beans, peppers, citrus, figs, fennel, and coffee. And it doesn’t stop there. Fully one-third of the foods we eat depend on bees for pollination.

Recent history: Bees are dying all over the place, “colony collapse disorder” enters the national consciousness, a leaked EPA memo points to a particular pesticide, Army researchers enter the fray. In the midst of all of this news, just as it seems scientists might be closer to identifying the cause of Colony Collapse Disorder, a new mysterious bee die-off is happening – right now – in San Francisco.

I discovered this entirely by chance when I met a fellow cookbook author named Penni Wisner at a professional gathering. The day we met, she had just learned that the beehive in her Lower Castro San Francisco backyard had collapsed, practically overnight.  As she told the story of how the process unfolded, everyone in the room was swept away by the heartbreaking mystery of the hive’s demise.

Penni’s hive was set up and administered by Robert MacKimmie, whose business, City Bees installs hives in backyards around the city. He’s there to save the bees, but also to market hyper local honey at farmers’ markets around the city. Residents get honey, a vibrant garden full of pollinators, and the distinctive joy of hosting a hive.

When Penni’s bees arrived in June, she was at first a little afraid of being stung. It didn’t take long for her to discover that the bees were gentle good company that greatly improved her quality of life. She described them as a “wonderful, sweet addition to the backyard environment.” Penni found their flight patterns “fascinating” and told us that when she was working in her garden with the bees, she felt “there was something important going on, like I was among an intelligent form of life that I didn’t understand.” Coexisting with the bees gave her a sense of contentment. And the sweet aroma of the brood became a fixture in her life. Turns out that it’s not the scent of honey, but the brood of baby bees that attracts bears.

Penni described the scent as physical, almost primal: “An elixir aroma of sweetness, and intoxication, like a tropical fruit…sexy and floral, but funky, too.”

One day in early December, she noticed an absence of brood aroma coming from the hive. That’s what first tipped her off that there might be a problem with her bees.

It seemed impossible. On November 1^st, Robert had harvested four gallons of honey; and the hive had been buzzing with contentment and life. Up through Thanksgiving, there had been plenty of activity and the hive appeared healthy and vibrant. On December 5^th, when Penni noticed dead bees outside the hive, she contacted Robert. When the two opened the hive on December 15, there were only about 150 bees out of a probable peak population of 20,000. Stunned, they simply sat down in the yard in shocked silence and grief.

After speaking to Penni, I got in touch with Robert to see if he had any ideas about the cause of the massive die-off. He told me, “it seems like a brand new syndrome because massive bee die-offs at the hive are normally explained by parasitic tracheal mite infestations, not normally a problem in this area, or more often, from a pesticide kill based on agricultural exposure. This current combination of symptoms doesn’t fit what beekeepers have experienced before. These were all strong, robust hives that completely collapsed within weeks or a month. The reported losses are citywide, so pesticide exposure doesn’t seem to be a likely culprit, especially in November.”

He’s just put the word out to other beekeepers in the city and has confirmed that at least six beekeepers have collectively experienced 10 hives with this type of collapse during recent months. Other collapses where the bees completely disappear have also become more numerous in recent years. The circumstances of these specific collapses are entirely different from what is typically seen in a Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), in which all of the bees disappear, leaving only a queen and a few workers.

“There are new, greater challenges to beekeeping in general, and the ability to keep bees alive has been getting worse during recent years. The past month, it’s just plain bad, though other hives have been completely unaffected,” Robert told me.

Researchers from Davis, UCSF, and San Francisco State are currently analyzing the bee DNA to try to pinpoint the cause of this new die-off, though, because the collapsed bees haven’t been continuously monitored, there can be no indicator of what influences may have changed. For now, it’s too soon to tell how widespread it is. It will probably be at least a month before information is available.

In the meantime, outside of this San Francisco crisis, the media has been abuzz (sorry!) with bee news over the past few months. In October, the New York Times reported that a probable cause of CCD was uncovered by entomologists and army researchers working together. The collaborative team used a military-developed software system to uncover a new DNA-based bee virus, which was then linked to a previously known fungus. Tests on hives that had collapsed found both the fungus and virus present in all cases.

Previously, scientists had thought that a pesticide, specifically one called clothianidin, which is manufactured by Bayer’s Crop Science division, was the likeliest cause of CCD. So this new research looked to be a surprise break-through. Nowhere in the research was Bayer’s pesticide clothianidin mentioned. Shortly after the New York Times story was published, Fortune Magazine revealed that the main scientist involved in the army study had received a funding grant from Bayer. Oops!

Even discounting that appearance of conflict of interest, the army study was hardly conclusive. The virus/fungus combo being present in all collapsed hives doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the only cause of the die off. Another substance could be weakening the bees and making them more susceptible to both. In fact, neonicotinoids, the class of pesticides to which clothianidin belongs, can have cumulative effects on insects that include immune system disruptions and neurobehavioral problems.

On the heels of this news, a leaked EPA memo emerged showing that the core scientific study upon which EPA granted Bayer the conditional registration of clothianidin was deeply flawed, and EPA knew it.

The Bayer-designed study had three major problems: It was conducted on the wrong crop, it was conducted for an insufficient amount of time, and the test fields and control fields were not properly separated. According to this article in Fast Company, the pesticide, though used on other crops, is most commonly used to pretreat corn seeds. MacKimmie told me that concerned parties view the Bayer trials as lacking credibility because instead of testing in the US with neonicotinoid tainted pollen from corn which actually impacts bees, the approved trials were in Canada and used canola.

Whatever the causes, bees are dying, our food supply is threatened, and we have the EPA knowingly approving the use of the pesticide that has been shown to harm bees. Meanwhile, a new and mysterious collapse disorder is unfolding in San Francisco.

It’s time to pay attention to the bees. They might be trying to tell us something.

This is the latest installment in Vanessa Barrington’s weekly column, The Green Plate, on the environmental, social, and political issues related to what and how we eat.

Image: Mike Baird via Flickr

The post Exclusive: EPA Ignores Its Own Science and Approves Bee-Killing Pesticide; Mysterious New Die-Off Unfolds appeared first on EcoSalon.