A round-up of what we’re reading right now. 

We might be able to grow tropical fruits in urban northern climates after all. And make it look good. Say hello to bananas in Paris. [Via GOOD]

You can accomplish a lot simply by being more optimistic. [Via Inc.]

Summer camp isn’t all kayaking and making lanyards. From culinary arts to military training, check out these interesting camps around the world. [Via TakePart]

Another reason to take time to unplug: exposure to dim light (i.e. your computer and television) at night may lead to depression. [Via CNN]

Ever thought about launching a food truck? First you will need a name. Don’t worry, there’s a generator for that. [Via McSweeney’s]

Americans wash their hair almost twice as much as Europeans in a week. How much is too much? [Via Organic Authority]

Choose your reading list carefully, because your bookshelf can say a lot to a potential partner. [Via How About We]

Image: twicepix

The post Link Love: Urban Bananas, Why You Should Be More Optimistic, and How Unplugging Can Save You From Depression appeared first on EcoSalon.

Bast is a fiber group that includes hemp, flax, jute, nettles and the less familiar kenaf. The plants in this fiber group are characterized by an outer bark that contains strong, cellulosic fibers, and kenaf is quickly becoming a sustainable favorite among textile innovators.

Bast fibers have been around since early civilizations as they were the simplest fibers to process before mechanization of fiber and textile production. Kenaf has been documented as a textile plant by the Egyptians as early on as 1,000 B.C. , although it’s believed to have originated in Asia. The plant appears similar to other bast fiber plants, but is actually related to hibiscus and cotton, thus its latin name Hibiscus cannabinus.

Kenaf is claimed to be one of the most sustainable fiber plants in existence, due to its growth rate and excellent ability to replenish the environment it grows in. It can be grown in several places including the U.S., converting more CO2 than 2 acres of tropical rainforest during its growing season whilst also improving soil structure and fixing nutrients into the soil. The plant requires minimal amounts of water, nearly no fertilizers or pesticides and grows extremely rapidly to its full 15 feet in only 150 days. As a natural material, kenaf is completely biodegradable since neither cultivation nor processing require synthetic chemicals.

Kenaf is a superior option for garments, as its extremely long fibers make for very fine yarn when spun. The stalk of the plant contains 30% less lignin (a glue-like substance that fills in the spaces between plant fibers) than other bast fibers, thus making the extraction of long fibers much easier when compared to other similar plants. Nearly 50% of the plant stalk contains fiber that can be extracted for a number of applications, such as knitted or woven textiles. Kenaf has also been found to work exceptionally well blended with cotton, and is also suitable for a number of applications including furniture, shoes and outerwear because of its natural absorbency and fire-retardant properties.

U.S.-based Kenactiv Innovations, Inc. has found very successful and tangible methods for processing kenaf fiber for different uses. The company operates fiber extraction methods with food-safe, natural enzymes and closed-loop processes. The company is currently focusing on solutions for commercial non-wovens, alternatives to petro-chemical plastics, soil composites (kenaf biochar can replenish pesticide-ridden soil), mulch and animal bedding. Although they are not currently producing kenaf yarn in the U.S., plans for fiber extraction and spinning facilities are underway, as are larger plantations in Arizona that will accompany previous growing operations in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.

While Kenactiv currently produces kenaf yarn in India, where it is used for apparel and accessories. The process in India involves a bath soaking of the plant stalks, after which the long fibers are stripped and dried. The company doesn’t currently work with designers or apparel companies within the U.S., as their production facilities in the U.S. don’t yet have the proper equipment for extracting and processing long fibers. However the company continues to develop new technologies for processing and diversifying the use of kenaf fibers, with the aim to create a viable market for kenaf textiles in the U.S. by bringing the first bast fiber production and spinning plant to the country. Although the company is proprietary in regard to their processing methods, hopefully they will be open to collaboration and share their knowledge about sustainable and intelligent methods for processing bast fibers.

Also check out:

Fiber Watch: Off Of Wine Bottles & Into Clothing

Fiber Watch: Tencel The Tenable

Fiber Watch: The Sartorial Sting Of Nettles

The post Fiber Watch: The Bast is Yet to Come appeared first on EcoSalon.

“There’s no silver bullet, we need more like silver buckshot to take care of this problem.” -Jessica Yu, Director of Last Call at the Oasis

According to Last Call at the Oasis, based on our current rate of water usage, we have a window of 60-100 years left for readily available, clean drinking water. Produced by Participant Media, the company responsible for An Inconvenient Truth, Food, Inc. and Waiting For “Superman,” Last Call At The Oasis presents a powerful argument for why the global water crisis will be the central issue facing us this century much to the disbelief of many.

“If I were king of the world, I would turn off the tap for 5 minutes a week just to show people what it would be like to not have water,” says director Jessica Yu. “We need to act as though the worst case scenario is here and offer a lot of ways for people to participate.”

Yu says her own tipping point for wanting to create a film like this one was that the more she researched the problem of water scarcity as well as quality, her views on the resource went from being completely abstract to a more focused and harsh take on the reality. “The question now is, how do we get people to think rationally and make them feel different about the choices they’re making?” says Yu.

Jessica Wu, Last Call at the Oasis Director

“A lot of it is denial. Denial applies to most people. It’s not on our radar that water problems can actually happen. What we really need to see is not just one place but the whole planet and how we need to work together. We’re not any different from those places we see having water problems now, they’re just in a different place than us,” says Yu.

Throughout the movie we see angry locals (who have a right to be angry), graphic Superfund sites and enough environmental catastrophes to make even the toughest stomach churn, but Last Call at the Oasis is also balanced with a hefty dose of scientific evidence. Yu says there is a lot of skepticism about losing access to water and the scientists featured in the film put themselves out on a limb being part of it.

“Most scientists are trying to publish in academic journals but the scientists in this film are really speaking out and taking a chance at getting their message out. They don’t get a reward for this,” she adds.

Illuminating the vital role water plays in our lives, exposing the defects in the current system and depicting communities already struggling with its ill-effects, the film features activist Erin Brockovich and such distinguished experts as scientist Peter Gleick, best-selling author Alex Prud’homme, Jay Famiglietti, The director of the Center for Hydro­logic Modeling at the University of California, Irvine and author/professor, Robert Glennon.

In 2005, Las Vegas consumed around 190 gallons of water per person per day, according to the Western Resource Advocates group

Environmental activist, author and television celebrity Erin Brockovich is featured in Last Call at the Oasis as the environmental activist she has been for over two decades. Going back to Hinkley – the same town she once got the largest toxic injury settlement in U.S. history for ($333 million in damages to more than 600 Hinkley residents) –  Brockovich tells people at a town meeting that “Superman aint coming” to help them. As the camera grazes the crowd, one can’t help feeling uncomfortable by the people staring at her straight-faced and disbelieving that hexavalent chromium is now in their water.

“It’s this complacency that concerns me. We have to look at why we think that an agency or a group can always fix things for us. I think when it came to Hinkley, it was a real shock. They really thought that Superman was going to come and save them,” Brockovich tells EcoSalon, adding that this film wasn’t created to create more skeptics.

Erin Brockovich

“We are on the cusp of greater and bigger things to come: the way we value land and health…we need to push back at a local level which means going to local meetings and making an impact, find ways to solve some of the issues and work with the companies. It’s not a separate thing – institutions and towns need to work together,” Brockovich says.

She also states that the issue of water protection and quality is not a Republican/Democrat issue, insisting that this is America’s issue and we need to all be on the same page to progress.

“I had this interesting moment a few weeks ago where this 21 year old girl came up to me who had just seen the movie Erin Brockovich. She said the movie inspired her and that she was ‘so empowered to want to do this now after seeing your movie!’ I reminded her that the movie came out 12 years ago, but then I realized at that moment that there’s a whole new generation of activists coming. This is a pivotal moment for me. For all of us,” Brockovich says.

Can a movie like Last Call at the Oasis do anything to stir concern in us? Scott Horsley, President of Horsley Witten Group, a company working with water remediation issues nationwide, recently viewed the film.

“Some communities are better than others. Here in the water rich Northeast U.S., there is plenty of water but the contamination and threat of storm water contamination still remain the leading cause of pollution. It will be difficult and expensive for communities to correct that problem but a film like this can start the conversation for sure.”

While each featured person in Last Call at the Oasis has their own line on how that connection will be, one thing holds true: we’ve reached a point where water needs protecting and it might even have more worth than oil.

“It’s time to roll up our sleeves and get rid of this false sense of security,” says Brockovich. “Regardless of all the apathy, this problem is now in all our backyards.”

Go here to see where Last Call at the Oasis is screening starting today.

Until you can see it, watch the trailer here:

The post ‘Last Call at the Oasis’: A Documentary About Our Global Water Crisis appeared first on EcoSalon.

Penelope, please go back to giving good business advice, and spare us the sensationalism.

I began reading Penelope Trunk’s posts after I heard about her much-criticized tweet wherein she expressed her real-time relief that she was having a miscarriage. And though it is complicated, I understood her reasons for feeling that way when she wrote about the miscarriage and tweet at length in The Guardian. Trunk has often caused fury when her words have been taken out of context, but increasingly, the sensational quotes are an accurate barometer of her actual meaning. As a personal blogger, there is nothing wrong with this, but as a purported business expert, it’s disappointing that she often capitalizes on her substantial online presence to fan stereotypes and give irresponsible advice.

Inc. magazine calls Trunk “arguably the world’s most influential guidance counselor.” Trunk does have a refreshingly honest voice and not a small amount of bravery for writing so frankly about her sex life, her Asperger’s Syndrome and her work experiences. I enjoy her stories and her sometimes off-center personal musings. Heather Armstrong’s comedic and compelling voice on Dooce makes me laugh out loud for the same reasons. But, while levity makes career advice palatable, sensational post topics that, in turn, disparage women, encourage them to have plastic surgery or instruct them to use their twenties to find a husband and thirties to have children, are a very poor use of Trunk’s considerable influence.

I see some of my own work experiences mirrored in several of Trunk’s posts, like Why Problem Employees Don’t Get Fired and How to Use Cold Water as a Productivity Tool. I also learned a little from posts like 5 Things to Do When You’re Unemployed. Hint: It’s Not Job Hunting, How to Face Cash-flow Issues in a Start-Up, 7 Things to Consider Before Launching a Start-Up, and How to Get Good Ideas for Start-Ups.

These are helpful, relatable pieces. Are they link magnets? Perhaps not, but these show her human side and help people benefit from her experience. I like that she is unflinching when she talks about her own mistakes (lost an opportunity to write a column for Wired? Ouch!) and honest when she recounts her lessons learned. These are her strengths as a woman who gives advice on careers with some personal gems thrown in.

Unfortunately, she goes over the edge with posts like Why Women Should Lie Even More Than They Do, Forget the Job Hunt. Have a Baby Instead, How to Pick the People You Work With, and most recently, Male Founders: Want to Kill Your Start-Up’s Chances? Hire a Woman (which was subsequently renamed Are Start-ups Better as Single-Gender Affairs? Hat tip/Desiree Vargas Wrigley). In these pieces, Trunk is single-minded, imperative, and extremely biased.

As standalone posts, they do not support the image of Trunk as a business expert qualified to give advice to any generation of management, employees or job hunters. If I hadn’t read some of her other posts, these would have driven me away immediately. As well as earning her significant backlash from commenters and other bloggers, her BNET business expert colleagues also weighed in with their own disagreement with some of her views. Are opposing points of view, controversy and frank discussions good? Sometimes, but not at the expense of your credibility.

Why Women Should Lie Even More Than They Do. I cringed when Trunk advocated that prospective employees should lie about their height, age and previous salary in a job interview. What? When would I be asked about my height in a job interview, and how would I possibly lie about it? My age can be easily checked by the legal documents I need to supply to accept the job. Salary can also be verified, although I admit to a heavy bias against companies who demand to know your salary history and requirements as a condition of looking at your resume. Has Trunk never heard of background checks? Regardless, lying about these things can only bite you later, as Trunk’s BNET colleague Suzanne Lucas points out, as well as lose your coworkers’ trust and respect. I can see absolutely no benefit to taking that advice, and telling women to artificially inflate their previous salary “because the men do it.”

Forget the Job Hunt. Have a Baby Instead. Trunk also says that if you are unemployed, you might as well have a baby since you are out of the workplace anyway. Instead of spending time finding another job, then leaving to have a baby, just use that time you are already out of work. Of course this only works if you can afford to have said baby without the income you had before, you still have health insurance, and you actually want a baby right then. Having one out of “convenience” might not be the best idea. In addition, trying to find and then excel at a new job while taking care of a newborn can be difficult. Granted, you have an “excuse” to be out of work, which is another point I think she is making, but it’s a very questionable – not to mention impractical – course of action.

How to Pick the People You Work With. As a founder of a start-up, Trunk could certainly dictate who she works with, but her advice for choosing whom to work with includes: people who are attractive, but not more attractive than you (it’s important not to look ugly); women who are happy, but don’t smile too much; people who swear, but are not trashy; and people you admire. Also, you should not work with fat people because you’re likely to become fat, and fat people can’t think as clearly as thin people under pressure. And women, especially, (not men) should not be grouchy. I’m not sure what happened to simply choosing people who are qualified for the job. Maybe you need to be qualified, attractive (but not too), happy (but don’t smile), not grouchy, not fat, swear a little and be admirable.

As a mother, understandably Trunk devotes time to talking about children and career. Although fundamentally I agree with Trunk that relationships and family are important and careers can (ideally) be built at any stage of life, I don’t think women need to be told stridently and repeatedly, that there is a rigid schedule they need to adhere to (as she does here, here, here and here). Constantly stating that women should be married before thirty, and trying for children in their early thirties (because she says there is a high probability they will miscarry at least once) before hitting the dreaded thirty-five (after which she cites the even higher probability of having a special needs child) is not only inappropriate, but discounts women who do not want to be married and the growing number of women who do not want children at all. Trunk clings so narrowly to her own experiences and beliefs she can’t see or address other situations.

Male Founders: Want to Kill Your Start-Up’s Chances? Hire a Woman/Are Start-Ups Better as Single-Gender Affairs? This is the most recent post that sparked widespread rage amongst businesswomen. Trunk told male start-up founders that they absolutely should not “do a start-up with women” because diversity disrupted their focus and progress. As evidence, she cites an interview with one author and his one book, along with the fact that she, herself, was so emotional and difficult to work with, in order to state categorically that all women are liabilities during the high-pressure, early stages of a start-up.

But what about the many examples cited by her readers that she is wrong? Several wrote in that their start-ups benefited from having women in the group, and that qualifications are all that matter. Trunk herself was integral to starting three successful companies. Despite her self-admitted occasional outbursts and crying, she describes developing the start-up idea and securing funding at crucial points in the process, as well as putting in the time and effort to make Brazen Careerist successful.

If no start-ups included women at the beginning, or had women founders or co-founders, we would never have had these female-inspired companies or many others where women play an important role. If she is saying that women-run start-ups should only hire women, that goes against her advice to stay away from workplaces dominated by women, and that women should only run start-ups with men, although men shouldn’t run one with a woman. So where do women belong in the world of start-ups? Nowhere?

This is a huge opportunity (and a lot of respect) lost. Instead of calling out the fact that outbursts of any kind by either men or women aren’t appropriate (as Jessica Wakeman also points out), Trunk focuses on women as the problem. I have worked with many female and male managers with all kinds of temperaments – women who would never have an unprofessional outburst and men who acted like whining teenagers. Casting all women in the same emotional, unprofessional light while exempting men is nothing short of silly.

Trunk could have taken this opportunity to talk about where she went wrong and how others could learn from that, as she has done to better effect in other posts. To me, an “influential career guide” would not take this stance, fuel this stereotype and discourage women in this way. The saddest thing this post does, is to fan the flames of women’s insecurities and tell the rest of the world via hugely influential business and tech blogs that women don’t belong in start-ups.

Wrigley writes,

“As a 5 month pregnant CEO and co-founder of a funded start-up, I blew off her comments as inflammatory press intended simply to make me visit BNET. But … I realized that what Penelope has really done is simply put pen to paper for that little voice in the back of our mind (aka the Lizard Brain) that keeps us all from achieving our goals and our true purpose.

… The reality is that the journey of an entrepreneur is hard, it’s time consuming, it’s stressful, and it’s the most incredible experience of one’s life. It is the act of creating something out of nothing that provides value. Why would anyone deny women that opportunity? And why, Penelope, would you feed that little voice in people’s heads when it’s already so powerful?”

The idea that people might actually internalize and act on some of this advice in a time when jobs are hard to come by, when people need inspiration, and a person’s reputation in business is critical, is disturbing. It’s dangerous to hold Trunk up as a career guide when some of the advice she gives is not only irresponsible, but morally or legally questionable (lying in an interview, hiring people based on appearance). It all serves to undercut her legitimacy.

Perhaps I just prefer the infrequent, quieter, warmer posts (the post about how she mentors the two boys in her town who wanted to start a company is excellent). Or, perhaps I just don’t like to see a woman digging her own professional grave. Linkbait today, gone tomorrow.

Image: elliottng, eschipul

The post An Open Letter to Penelope Trunk. Sincerely, the Women appeared first on EcoSalon.

Dawn Pickering, founder of San Francisco-based Pickering International, Inc. opened the doors of her fabric import and wholesale company in the early 90s.

Since then Pickering’s offerings have expanded into nine distinct fabric categories specializing in textiles made from sustainable and organic fibers and certified by recognized green standards like GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard).

I caught up with Dawn recently.

What fabrics do you currently offer and who are your customers?

We currently offer hemp, soy, bamboo, organic cotton, organic linen, silk, wool, tencel blends and recycled fiber blends. Our customers come from the apparel, footwear, accessory, baby and children’s and home fashions/home furnishing industries.

Where are your fabrics sourced?

Our fabrics are all milled in China. The raw materials also come from China, with the exception of the organic cotton which is Turkish, and the wool which is Australian.

What’s the biggest misconception regarding manufacturing in China?

China has been known as a very polluted country due to its speedy industrial growth. How is it possible for it to produce certified organic and eco friendly textiles in the meantime? Well, the truth is that the government has implemented strict environmental protection laws in the recent years. All the textile mills and dyeing houses must meet the set standards or face severe penalties. The eco movement has taken root steadily in China as consumers are more informed on environmental issues than before. With a growing demand from both domestic and international markets, China is producing a commendable amount of eco textiles because all the natural resources are readily available right there.

How do you stay true to your fair trade practices?

Our management team visits our manufacturers at least twice a year to verify that they are continuing to adhere to our company’s Manufacturing Inspection Guidelines. These guidelines are in line with the principles described by the Worldwide Responsible Apparel Production website. We personally check and confirm that workers operate in a well-maintained, healthy and safe environment; that they are well-trained for their jobs; that they are treated with respect; that they are paid fairly and have health insurance, sick leave and maternity leave; that there is no child labor and more.

Have you considered working more with U.S. mills for organic cotton or Canada for hemp?

We have not considered working with U.S. mills for organic cotton because the price point makes it unappealing to our customer base. Canadian hemp has traditionally been geared toward oil production so the hemp is harvested at a later stage of its life cycle. Though there have been discussions about growing hemp for fabric there, and some funding provided for development of that industry we have yet to see Canadian hemp fabrics appear on the market. We would certainly be open to sourcing there if and when that happens.

Do you support research for alternative fabrics?

Absolutely.

Talk about Patagonia and Nike and how they’re implementing eco-fabrics slowly. Looking at the future, what will the impact of large corporations like Target, Payless, Kohls and Wal-Mart (in addition to Patagonia and Nike) investing in sustainable fabrics be?

As a small business owner this is a hard question to answer. These companies tend to have very tight margins and a price-sensitive customer base so they may be limited in how much of their product lines they can convert to sustainable fabrics. There was some concern that the needs of companies like these would outstrip worldwide organic cotton production but according to recent information from Organic Exchange the opposite is true.
In your opinion, can the U.S ever be a leader in sustainable fabrics?

We aren’t as familiar with the U.S. market. It makes sense that each region should focus on producing fabrics from the raw materials that come from that region. One of the benefits of working with China is the range of raw materials to choose from. The most readily available raw material here in the U.S. is probably plastic, so a good place to start might be recycled PET & recycled poly.

Image: telmo32

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