It used to be that being vegan meant slim pickings. This was most definitely true when it came to food; and it was also true when it came to fashion.

What girl doesn’t love a gorgeous pair of shoes, a waist-accenting belt, or the must-have perfect seasonal outfit or purse? It’s not easy finding fashion items you love, let alone those that fit your ethical standards. But there’s been good news in the fashion world for vegan fashionistas as of late.

Gorgeous designs from Vaute Couture were featured in New York’s Fashion Week earlier this year as the first-ever all-vegan runway collection. Scores of shoe companies now cater to vegans with incredibly stylish designs, high quality/low-impact manufacturing, and notably ethical standards. And more and more high-end designers are getting in on the eco fabrics, that are good for the environment as well as feel great on the body.

Now, iconic fashion store Urban Outfitters is getting in on the game. The struggling retailer has added the Della fashion line to its offerings. Della works directly with women seamstresses in Ghana to make the handcrafted clothes and accessories.

Based in Los Angeles, Della’s proceeds go to support the community in Hohoe, Ghana. All products are 100 percent vegan, handcrafted and says founder Tina Tangalakis, “Della is actually the name of the first person I met in Ghana, he was the driver for the volunteer organization I traveled with and he greeted me when I arrived at the Accra airport with a warm, happy smile. The welcoming, caring person that Della is acts as a reflection of what I want the business Della to be.”

Keep in touch with Jill on Twitter @jillettinger

Image: Elvert Barnes

The post Urban Outfitters Launches Eco, Vegan Fashion Line appeared first on EcoSalon.

Column Chocolate is a guilty pleasure in more ways than one.

For most people, chocolate evokes positive associations: indulgence, childhood, Valentine’s Day. But in Western Africa, the connotations are far less positive. There, an estimated 1.8 million child laborers work tirelessly to produce the cocoa that goes into our Easter bunny chocolates.

The ills of the cocoa industry first entered the public eye in the early 2000s, after a BBC documentary called “Slavery: A Global Investigation” highlighted the child labor and slavery abuses occurring on West African cocoa farms. According to the International Labor Rights Forum, child workers in the cocoa industry typically “labor for long, punishing hours, using dangerous tools and facing frequent exposure to dangerous pesticides as they travel great distances in the grueling heat.” In addition, those working as slaves “suffer frequent beatings and other cruel treatment.”

The Good

The BBC documentary sparked a loud, though short-lived, public outcry. Soon after it was released, U.S. House Representative Eliot Engel and Senator Tom Harkin sponsored the Harkin-Engel Protocol, a public-private agreement to eliminate the “worst forms of child labor” (as defined by the International Labour Organization) in the growth and processing of cocoa in the Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, where nearly 75 percent of the world’s cocoa supply is grown. Signed in September 2001, the agreement, better known as the Cocoa Protocol, outlined six actions, each with specific deadlines.

• Public statement of the need for and terms of an action plan.
• Formation of multi-sectoral advisory groups. (By December 1, 2001)  
• Signed joint statement on child labor to be witnessed at the ILO. (By December 1, 2001)
• Memorandum of cooperation. (By May 1, 2002)
• Establish a joint foundation. (By July 1, 2002)
• Building toward credible standards. (By July 1, 2005)

The agreement was signed by multiple stakeholders, from the heads of the Chocolate Manufacturers Association and World Cocoa Foundation, to the coordinator of the Child Labor Coalition, to the presidents of the world’s top eight chocolate manufacturers at the time. It was a significant commitment to ending child labor in the cocoa industry, from the people in positions to effect that change.

The Bad

The Cocoa Protocol was first lauded as a success, but its long-term results have been less than impressive. By the first protocol deadline in 2005, the industry had still failed to implement an industry-wide certification program. An amendment gave the stakeholders three more years, but by 2008, the objectives were still not met. In 2010, the parties signed yet another document – commonly referred to as the 2010 Joint Declaration – that reaffirmed their commitment and added the goal of reducing the worst forms of child labor by 70 percent by 2020.

It’s evident that the Cocoa Protocol still has a long way to go. A 2011 report from the Tulane University Payson Center revealed that about 1.8 million children continue to work in cocoa agriculture in the Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana alone. In the Côte d’Ivoire, about five percent work for pay, and in Ghana, about 10 percent do. In the 12 years since the Cocoa Protocol was signed, only about five percent of child laborers have been exposed to its related initiatives.

In early 2012, the issue was again brought to the public eye thanks to a CNN Freedom Project documentary called Chocolate’s Child Slaves. While exploring cocoa farms in the Côte d’Ivoire,  filmmakers found that not only were child labor and slavery still very prevalent, but many of the employers they encountered hadn’t even been informed of the need to change their practices.

So What Now?

Educate yourself further.

This column just scratches the surface of the abuses and ills of the cocoa industry. To learn more, I recommend watching Mika Mistrati and U. Roberto Romano’s 2010 documentary, “The Dark Side of Chocolate,” and checking out the “Chocolate’s Child Slaves” content from the CNN Freedom Project.

Sign the petition.

Oxfam recently launched a “Women and Chocolate” petition as part of its larger “Behind the Brands” campaign, which seeks to change the way big brands do business. The petition calls on the top three chocolate manufacturers — Nestle, Mars, and Mondelez International (formerly Kraft) — to reduce gender inequality in their industry. While a separate issue from child labor, it’s still an important one.

Indulge responsibly.

Relax — no one is asking you to boycott chocolate now that you know its darker side. But you might want to consider switching your loyalties to Fair Trade brands that work directly with certified slave-free cocoa producers. And beware of Fair Trade brands that are actually owned by troublesome corporations, like Green & Blacks, owned by Mondelez, or Dagoba, owned by Hershey. My personal Fair Trade favorites are Equal Exchange, Kopali Organics, and Divine Chocolate.

Images: Kirti Poddar, Peter DiCampo/Oxfam America, Clive Dara

The post Behind The Label: The Unsweet Dark Side of the Chocolate Industry appeared first on EcoSalon.

VideoAround the world on two wheels.

Be they humorous or touching, all of these videos are about celebrating life on two wheels, for work, for pleasure, for simplicity, proving that no matter where we are in the world, the bicycle is a beautiful thing.

USA with Euro flare: Le Velo

India + Zambia + Ghana + Guatemala + USA: With My Own Two Wheels

USA: Scrapertown

Ghana: Bikelordz

Scotland: Way Back Home

USA: If I Ride

Canada: Lifecycles

USA: Holstee LIFEcycle

Gambia: Freestyle Cycling

USA: LIFECYCLE: 365 Days in the Life of a Bike in NYC

Slovenia: Making of Orto Bikes

Sweden: Robo-Rainbow

China/USA: The Flying Pigeon

Denmark: Copenhagen: City of Cyclists

South Africa: South African Bicycle Portraits

Australia: Marry Me

The post 15 Bike Videos From Around the World appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnExploring fair trade firsthand.

Fair trade fashion is fashion with meaning, fashion that was created with respect for people and planet. It undeniably has the “moral and just” ring to it, but what does it actually mean? Being inside this industry – talking the ethical fashion talk – can at times lead to a disconnect from what a fair fashion framework actually translates to in the reality of its production.

When it comes to sourcing fabrics, creating garments, and inserting them into the marketplace as competitive and fashionable commodities, getting in on the sourcing journey is integral to a better understanding of the truths behind this mentality. Based here in Ghana for the month, I’m on an eye-opening adventure with Brooklyn-based fashion label Afia. Along this fabric sourcing and production journey, I’ve shared some of the stories that remind me of why “make fashion fair” is my mantra.

Designs Done Right

The fabrics are where it’s at for designer Meghan Sebold who has always fed her self-proclaimed “utilitarian creativity” by styling and altering clothing. For Sebold, “Fashion as art has a practicality to it because clothing is a basic need (or maybe that’s how I excuse myself from being attached to material things). I can look at a painting hanging on my wall and that’s well and good, but it’s more satisfying to me that I can use this shirt every day as something functional and still have created it in a visually pleasing way.” Her fashion label Afia merges a collection of all of her favorite things: challenging comfort zones and norms, intuitive living, predicting trends, fusing worlds, and making a process personal.

Into The Textiles

Sebold’s sourcing expedition begins in the hot, hectic and cacophonous markets of Accra, Ghana. Maneuvering in and out of tiny shops that contain fabric stacks as high as the ceiling, finding the true Ghanaian-made cotton wax prints is something Sebold explains as not as simple as you would expect. “There are many imitations so we’re well-educated on which brands are authentic. New fabric styles are printed every month and when they’ve sold out in the market you may never see them again – that means every one of our pieces is limited edition and a collector’s item after the season is over.”

A continual cultural experience, Sebold selects design silhouettes that honor the textiles; “the fabric is really the main event, I just enhance it and make it wearable.”

Tailored Humor

Making one-of-a-kind pieces that you can covet, but also feasibly afford is something Sebold feels strongly about. The focus of every Afia collection is, “To make it as accessible as possible. Sustainable fashion shouldn’t be a luxury or a sacrifice of personal style.” And wearing that motto on her sleeve goes hand-in-hand with the recurring feeling she attaches to her collections: a sense of humor.

“Humor is the most essential quality to survival. If I didn’t have a sense of humor, I would be curled up in a fetal position in a stairwell,” says Sebold.

Women to Women

Once Afia’s designs and patterns are agreed upon, the next step is traveling to Kpando, a smaller town where Sebold does a large portion of her production. After a 4-hour ride into the countryside, packed into a tro tro (Ghana’s most typical form of transport, which is basically a mini bus), the Afia team arrives at Dzidefo, a women’s sewing cooperative, that sits atop an orphanage managed by the lovely Mama Esi. Mobbed and overwhelmed by the energy and enthusiasm of the children that live there, moments were quickly made that warmed our hearts and left footprints on our souls.

Hands On

An intimate group of seven local women from the community make up the sewing cooperative. From the early rooster call to the rustle of fabric to a baby’s morning cry, these sounds all set the stage for each day’s first stitch from their vintage Singers. The women, with their babies or little ones, bring a homey, relaxed dynamic to the sunlit work environment.

Collaborative Creations

“Collaboration is what it’s all about – but it also takes a lot of navigating and communication to make it a collaboration where people willingly and generously contribute their talents. The process can be uncomfortable at times, but I think that’s how you know you’re onto something. The mindset must be that the teaching and learning goes both ways.” For Sebold, listening and sharing is the way forward in creating beautiful garments together. Working with the women at Dzidefo is both challenging and fulfilling, but connecting across cultural and language barriers provides motivation for both Sebold and the women sewers to learn more from each other and create more gorgeous garments together.

Fashion For The Future

The constant thread woven throughout all of Afia’s work is to showcase how incredibly interconnected we are to people around the world. Sebold explains, “As it relates to fashion, there’s a huge disconnect between the producer and the consumer, mostly because there’s an ugly story behind the $20 shirt being sold to you. I believe in transparency on all levels, and offer Afia to consumers as a stylish and ethically-made option.”

While Afia is just a needle in the hay stack when it comes to fashion brands today, Sebold and her team are stitching a distinct respect, human dignity, and understanding into the composition of their fabrics. This positive, inspiring energy is contagious; its viral potential will always resurface to the forefront of my mind through traveling and exposure to new faces and places.

The post THREADED: Engaging In Afia’s Ghanaian Sourcing & Production Adventure appeared first on EcoSalon.

The Deepwater Horizon disaster has leaked more than one million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The magnitude is so large that many people are struggling to put the numbers into tangible context. Cutler J. Cleveland, a Boston University professor of Geography and Environment, and the editor of the Encyclopedia of Earth, has calculated the energy equivalents for EcoSalon readers to better grasp the enormity of this disaster. Dr. Cleveland is also a Senior Fellow at the National Council for Science and the Environment.

The energy content of one million barrels is about 5.8 trillion Btu (British Thermal Units), which is equivalent to:

1. Years of energy used in a single average America home: 61,117

2. Number of miles that could be driven by a Prius: 2,320,000,000

3. Number of airplane round trips between London and Louisiana that could be taken by BP CEO Tony Hayward: 198,352

4. Hours of motor gasoline consumption for the entire United States: 3

5. Minutes of world energy use: 6

6. Minutes of energy that could power the entire country of Ghana: 22,252 (about 15 days)

7. Members of the Chinese population whose energy consumption could be met for year: 98,472

8. Number of Americans whose energy consumption could be met for year: 17,211

9. Dollars of GDP produced in China: $210,893,753

10. Dollars of GDP produced in the United States: $743,971,267

11. Amount of energy harnessed from 3,385,540,566 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches

12. Number of acres of corn needed to produce the equivalent amount of ethanol: 159,928

13. Number of Tour de France races that Lance Armstrong could complete burning an equivalent amount of food energy: 81,408,631

14. Years of energy use in Boston’s John Hancock Tower: 30.3

15. Equivalent amount of energy in tons of firewood: 494,459

16. Tons of steel that could be produced: 354,393

Images: Steve Punter, (A3R) angelrravelor (A3R), goldberg, Kossy@FINEDAYS, futureatlas.com, RaSeLaSeD – Il Pinguino, nova3web, cathyse97, lauren keith, docsdl, scalleja, spcbrass, Lars Plougmann, malias, Adam Pieniazek, smith, on1stsite.

The post Gulf Oil Spill by the Numbers: 16 Different Ways to Understand the Disaster appeared first on EcoSalon.

Ben Lebrave, left, in Lomé, with a member of the group called Milenivo. “They mostly make ‘crunk’ style hip hop,” he tells me in an email.

Imagine getting off the airplane in Accra, Ghana and these are your directions:

“In west airport, ask for the north Dzorwulu (“djuwulu”) traffic light by the Fiesta Royale hotel. At that traffic light, there are women selling food, look for the place with the most people, where there are also taxis. There is a trotro station, tell the women you’re looking for sexy eyes, and tell her you’re looking for Kubolor, she’ll show you the way”¦”

These are the directions that Ben Lebrave has to guide him. Lebrave is a 30-year old French man currently living in Los Angeles who has just embarked on a month-long trip starting in Accra, Ghana, where he will meet with musicians like Kubolor and set-up partnerships to develop his budding record label, Akwaaba music.

Before he left in mid-April, I met up with Lebrave at a cafe in Venice Beach to talk about his previous three trips to Africa and his plans with this trip: to collect more music and set up recording partnerships with recording studios in Ghana.  Lebrave launched Akwaaba Music in 2008, with one ultimate goal: “to make African music as easily available anywhere as any music.”

Lebrave, who has worked for Moonshine Music and Digital Media Group was inspired to set out on his own to create an African record label when he took a one-week trip to Ghana. He had realized that his job at Digital Media Group was about to be cut and was in search of exotic music, rather than the indie genre he’d been working with.

“The cabby from the airport starts talking to me,” Lebrave recalls. “The cabby tells me, “˜The hotel where you’re going is not so great. Why are you here? You want to hear music?’ Then, he takes me to a place with a crazy base sound system.”

“Being in a place with blasted loud music was so refreshing,” Lebrave remarks, as a contrast to his experience as a DJ in Los Angeles where he had to obey a restrictive rules with regards to curfew and noise.

“It’s poor – a couple plastic tables, fridges, a couple subwoofers (a little soundsystem) – but much more interesting than what I had heard in hip hop or reggaeton, with distinctly Ghanaian chords.”

In 2006, Lebrave appeared in a Big Mac commercial and he used the $35,000 he earned from that commercial to strike out on his own and fund future trips to Senegal, Ivory Coast, Togo, Benin, and Angola.

He says that his relationship with Akwaaba and love of travel gives him a more in-touch approach to bringing African music across the Atlantic.

“There’s a growing interest in Africa but no one goes. Even people in South Africa don’t go and fly to Africa to meet with musicians on their turf,” he says.

Author John Collins reported in 2000 that so-called “world” music amounted to 14 percent of global record sales and that African music is the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. market, increasing about 40 percent per year since 1995 (“The Generational Factor in Ghanaian Music” p.72.).

But Lebrave isn’t sure how the importation of music from Africa to America officially translates into the official fair trade label. He says this concept is called “equitable trade” in French. However, “Fair Trade” is applied to paying people a decent wage, but in his case he is sharing ownership of right to an artist’s music.

When he launched Akwaaba and told people it was a fair trade label, people thought he was using the label as an excuse to compensate for mediocre music.

“They’d come back to me and say, “˜Dude I thought your music was fair trade. It’s actually pretty good.'”

“No standards have been developed for music,” David Funkhouser of TransFair USA wrote in an email to me. “TransFair USA has ownership rights to the phrase “Fair Trade Certified” and they certify products (coffee, tea, chocolate, flowers, olive oil, etc.) for which standards have been established.”

Lebrave says that in standard music industry contracts, the royalty rates are 10 percent, but with Akwaaba, he pays the artists 50 percent of the profits using Western Union, since most artists don’t have a bank account.

In November 2008, Lebrave put out Akwaaba’s first compilation. The second compilation came out in February 2009, and since then he’s released one compilation per month.

According to an Internet statistics site, the Akwaaba website currently has about 3,000 views per day. Since January of 2010, Lebrave has sold 1,000-3,000 songs per month, mostly on iTunes, and is increasingly selling directly off BandCamp for a dollar per song. “Just A Band” a Kenyan group, accounted for nearly half of those sales. “Another slightly more glorious amount,” he points to, is a recent deal where a TV show will pay $3,500 for a song by Iba Diabate.

Lebrave writes from Ghana today of one of his first meetings, with Panji of Pigen Music, “he considers that taking an African artist and modifying his sound to appeal to a specifically western audience is doomed for failure. We couldn’t agree more!”

To keep up with Lebrave’s blog and his latest beats, you can check out: www.akwaabamusic.com. One of my personal favorites is “Sunrise” by Just A Band, with a hushing, sexy and mellow melody set over a clucking of background percussion that carries the song’s current.

The post Traveling to Ghana in Search of Akwaaba Music appeared first on EcoSalon.