Jessica Marati – EcoSalon

The Friday 5: Elimination Edition

Mike Sowden — Fri, 04 May 2012 22:56:59 +0000

The best of EcoSalon’s stories this week.

Have you caught the buzz about Bully, the new film aiming to bring this life-wrecking activity out into the open? Fighting off censorship that would have kept it from reaching its target audience, it is now sparking the discussion its creators hoped to engineer. Get the full story here. (And three cheers for Canada, which currently has two competing anti-bullying bills going through its legislature).

If you’re a card-carrying foodie and you’re put on an elimination diet – end of the party for your taste-buds? Not so, as Sara Lingafelter explains – it’s helping her remember the pleasure that comes with slow food, starting with this citrus-free hummus substitute.

In the words of Sherlock Holmes – when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. Since the impossible seems to be part of the deal when it comes to Arizona’s recent law on conception, we must consider everything to be the truth. Check out Mallory Ortberg’s pre-natal advice for the mentally adventurous.

If you work for Kashi, you’ve probably had a stressful couple of weeks. After revelations about the company’s genetically modified and pesticide-reliant ingredients went viral, they’ve been fighting a publicity meltdown. Is it as simple as questionable sourcing practices that need to be cleaned up or just plain eliminated? Jessica Marati takes a closer look.

Finally, you may have heard that the world is warming up (yes, really) and the glaciers – the largest reservoirs of freshwater on Earth – are in retreat. Check out these 25 pictures of gorgeous glaciers from around the world. Last chance to see?

The post The Friday 5: Elimination Edition appeared first on EcoSalon.

50 Quotes About New York City: True, Not True?

Jessica Marati — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:57:43 +0000

We heart NY.

New York is the only real city-city. -Truman Capote

One belongs to New York instantly, one belongs to it as much in five minutes as in five years. -Tom Wolfe

I look out the window and I see the lights and the skyline and the people on the street rushing around looking for action, love, and the world’s greatest chocolate chip cookie, and my heart does a little dance. -Nora Ephron

New York remains what it has always been: a city of ebb and flow, a city of constant shifts of population and economics, a city of virtually no rest. It is harsh, dirty, and dangerous, it is whimsical and fanciful, it is beautiful and soaring – it is not one or another of these things but all of them, all at once, and to fail to accept this paradox is to deny the reality of city existence. -Paul Goldberger

I think you know that when an American stays away from New York too long something happens to him. Perhaps he becomes a little provincial, a little dead and afraid. -Sherwood Anderson

As only New Yorkers know, if you can get through the twilight, you’ll live through the night. -Dorothy Parker

Over the great bridge, with sunlight through the girders making a constant flicker upon the moving cars, with the city rising up across the river in white heaps and sugar lumps all built with a wish out of non-olfactory money. The city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world. -F. Scott Fitzgerald

I was in love with New York. I do not mean ‘love’ in any colloquial way, I mean that I was in love with the city, the way you love the first person who ever touches you and never love anyone quite that way again. –Joan Didion

New York is appalling, fantastically charmless and elaborately dire. -Henry James

Each man reads his own meaning into New York. -Meyer Berger

The true New Yorker secretly believes that people living anywhere else have to be, in some sense, kidding. -John Updike

I love New York, even though it isn’t mine, the way something has to be, a tree or a street or a house, something, anyway, that belongs to me because I belong to it. -Truman Capote

New York City is all about sex. People getting it, people trying to get it, people who can’t get it. No wonder the city never sleeps. It’s too busy trying to get laid. -Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City

In Rome I am weighted down by a lack of momentum, the inertia of a spent civilization. In New York I feel plugged into a strong alternating current of hope and despair. -Ted Morgan

A great many people go after success simply for the shiny prizes it brings… And nowhere is it pursued more ardently than in the city of New York. -Stephen Birmingham

As for New York City, it is a place apart. There is not its match in any other country in the world. -Pearl S. Buck

For in that city [New York] there is neurosis in the air which the inhabitants mistake for energy. -Evelyn Waugh

The lusts of the flesh can be gratified anywhere; it is not this sort of license that distinguishes New York. It is rather, a lust of the total ego for recognition, even for eminence. More than elsewhere, everybody here wants to be somebody. -Sydney J. Harris

I don’t like Los Angeles. The people are awful and terribly shallow, and everybody wants to be famous but nobody wants to play the game. I’m from New York. I will kill to get what I need. -Lady Gaga

Like a rat in a cage, pulling minimum wage. New York I love you, but you’re bringing me down. -LCD Soundsystem

Whenever spring comes to New York I can’t stand the suggestion of the land that come blowing over the river from New Jersey and I’ve got to go. So I went. -Jack Kerouac

Sometimes, from beyond the skycrapers, the cry of a tugboat finds you in your insomnia, and you remember that this desert of iron and cement is an island. -Albert Camus

New York is the biggest collection of villages in the world. -Alistair Cooke

Don’t you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. -Tom Hanks as Joe Fox in You’ve Got Mail

In New York the sky is bluer, and the grass is greener, and the girls are prettier, and the steaks are thicker, and the buildings are higher, and the streets are wider, and the air is finer, than the sky, or the grass, or the girls, or the steaks, or the air of any place else in the world. -Edna Ferber

Everybody ought to have a Lower East Side in their life. -Irving Berlin

New York is large, glamorous, easy-going, kindly and incurious, but above all it is a crucible – because it is large enough to be incurious. -Ford Madox Ford

Cut off as I am, it is inevitable that I should sometimes feel like a shadow walking in a shadowy world. When this happens I ask to be taken to New York City. Always I return home weary but I have the comforting certainty that mankind is real flesh and I myself am not a dream. -Helen Keller

A hundred times have I thought New York is a catastrophe, and fifty times: It is a beautiful catastrophe. -Le Corbusier

It is ridiculous to set a detective story in New York City. New York City is itself a detective story. -Agatha Christie

I would give the greatest sunset in the world for one sight of New York’s skyline. Particularly when one can’t see the details. Just the shapes. The shapes and the thought that made them. The sky over New York and the will of man made visible. What other religion do we need? -Ayn Rand

More than anything else New York is a city of superlatives, a place where the best, the brightest, the biggest is the norm. -Marilyn J. Appleberg

She has become a wicked and wild bitch in her old age has Manhattan, but there is still no sensation in the world quite like walking her sidewalks. Great surges of energy sweep all around you; the air fizzes like champagne, while always there is a nervous edge of fear and whispered distant promises of sudden violence. -Tom Davies

New York has a trip-hammer vitality which drives you insane with restlessness if you have no inner stabilizer. -Henry Miller

He adored New York City. He idolized it all out of proportion… no, make that: he – he romanticized it all out of proportion. Yes. To him, no matter what the season was, this was still a town that existed in black and white and pulsated to the great tunes of George Gershwin. -Woody Allen in Manhattan

New York is at once cosmopolitan and parochial, a compendium of sentimental certainties. It is in fact the most sentimental of the world’s great cities – in its self-congratulation a kind of San Francisco of the East. -John Gregory Dunne

When you leave New York, you are astonished at how clean the rest of the world is. Clean is not enough. -Fran Lebowitz

In New York City, one suicide in ten is attributed to a lack of storage space. -Judith Stone

New York had all the iridescence of the beginning of the world. The returning troops marched up Fifth Avenue and girls were instinctively drawn East and North toward them — this was the greatest nation and there was gala in the air. -F. Scott Fitzgerald

New York is a different country. Maybe it ought to have a separate government. Everybody thinks differently, they just don’t know what the hell the rest of the United States is. -Henry Ford

If you want to become a real New Yorker, there’s only one rule: You have to believe New York is, has been, and always will be the greatest city on earth. The center of the universe. -Ellen R. Shapiro

There is something in the New York air that makes sleep useless. -Simone De Beauvoir

New York is definitely haunted. Old lovers, ex-boyfriends, anyone you have unresolved issues with you are bound to run into again and again until you resolve them. -Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City

Maybe New York’s just too big a town. There’s millions of people in this city. How in all this mess is a guy supposed to find the love of his life? I mean, where do you even begin? -Josh Radnor as Ted Mosby in How I Met Your Mother

I remember walking across Sixty-second Street one twilight that first spring, or the second spring, they were all alike for a while. I was late to meet someone but I stopped at Lexington Avenue and bought a peach and stood on the corner eating it and knew that I had come out out of the West and reached the mirage. I could taste the peach and feel the soft air blowing from a subway grating on my legs and I could smell lilac and garbage and expensive perfume and I knew that it would cost something sooner or later—because I did not belong there, did not come from there—but when you are twenty-two or twenty-three, you figure that later you will have a high emotional balance, and be able to pay whatever it costs. I still believed in possibilities then, still had the sense, so peculiar to New York, that something extraordinary would happen any minute, any day, any month. -Joan Didion

I’m going to show you the real New York – witty, smart, and international – like any metropolis. Tell me this: where in Europe can you find old Hungary, old Russia, old France, old Italy? In Europe you’re trying to copy America, you’re almost American. But here you’ll find Europeans who immigrated a hundred years ago – and we haven’t spoiled them. Oh, Gio! You must see why I love New York. Because the whole world’s in New York. – Oriana Fallaci

New York walking isn’t exercise: it’s a continually showing make-your-own movie. -Roy Blount Jr

Concrete jungle where dreams are made, oh, there’s nothing you can’t do, now you’re in New York. -Jay-Z

The city is an amusement park: Everything is concrete, it’s full of tourists, and food vendors line the sidewalks. It’s like living in a casino: The lights never dim, there’s an incessant din of bells and horns, and there’s always someone, somewhere, crying in a bathroom. -Jane Borden

There is no place like it, no place with an atom of its glory, pride, and exultancy. It lays its hand upon a man’s bowels; he grows drunk with ecstasy; he grows young and full of glory, he feels that he can never die. -Walt Whitman

Images: Kevin Dooley, laverrue, Ludovic Bertron, joiseyshowaa, Genaro

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Want to see more quotes? Go here.

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Behind the Label: Design Within Reach

Jessica Marati — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 15:50:02 +0000

Looking at the costs of making modern design accessible.

In 1999, while on a trip to London, Rob Forbes bemoaned the fact that authentic modern design was only available to architects, decorators and people in a certain strata of society. Forbes made it his mission to make design accessible to the every day home shopper, and a new type of furnishings store, Design Within Reach, was born.

Thirteen years and more than 40 retail locations later, Design Within Reach’s message has certainly resonated. But in recent years, DWR has experienced significant financial difficulties and been accused of knocking off popular designs from lesser known brands. This week’s Behind the Label looks at the costs of bringing modern design to the masses.

Design Within Reach’s launch came at a time when pocketbooks were full and respect for design was starting to flourish in the United States. In its early years, DWR enjoyed healthy profits, entering the stock market in July 2004 with a $211 million valuation. But then, partly due to a series of recessions and partly due to poor management, the company started to slip.

Fast Company, in a December 2009 article dramatically titled The Rise and Fall of Design Within Reach, points the finger at former CEO Dave Brunner, who held the reins from 2006 to 2009. The article describes Brunner’s many shortcomings as a leader, from his dismissive attitude toward plagiarism to his impractical long-term vision for the company’s expansion. Under Brunner, management was “mean, dictatorial and mercurial,” said his successor, John Edelman, in a later Fast Company piece. “The people are hand-shy, like a dog that’s been hit. It’s almost like I have to put a piece of food in my hand to let them know I’m a friend.”

Since Edelman came on board in early 2010, he has worked to turn things around for Design Within Reach. Here, a rundown of the good, the bad, and the questionable, especially as it relates to company ethics.

The Good

One of Design Within Reach’s original goals was to educate the American public about modern design. Among the designers it highlights are masters like Charles and Ray Eames, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Philippe Starck. Though most of its furnishings are still “out of reach” for many consumers, DWR has certainly shown that appreciation for modern design transcends socioeconomic status.

Under Edelman’s leadership, Design Within Reach also went back to showcasing lesser known designers, including a handful who work with eco-friendly materials. Among these brands are Loll Designs, which creates outdoor furniture collections from recycled high-density polyethylene, and Jesús Gasca, whose mission is “to improve the habitat in which we live, by refining our designs, and [using] recyclable components and environmentally friendly manufacturing processes.”

DWR takes pride in its manufacturers, most of whom are top-quality, well-respected and based in the United States or Europe. “Behind every great designer is a dedicated manufacturer that strives to transform concepts into highly engineered, sustainable and beautiful pieces,” the website reads. These manufacturers are highlighted alongside the designers.

The Bad

From the start, Design Within Reach has had a funny relationship with borrowed designs, selling a mix of licensed and unlicensed items in its first stores, including an “inspired” version of Mies van der Rohe’s famous Barcelona chair, which DWR called “the Pavilion.”

But in 2007, the company started copying designs in a much more blatant way. The Fast Company article reported:

At least a dozen of the company’s current offerings are essentially unauthorized reproductions of a foreign design. “Rather than saying, ‘Let’s come up with something better to replace it,’ they said, ‘Let’s come up with something similar to what people liked,'”says a former DWR employee.

The article continues:

(Former CEO) Brunner saw DWR’s strategy as ‘completely legal. We’re not doing anything wrong.’ In every case, he said, DWR’s product-development team improved on the original design. In most instances, the tweaks were small and not obviously better.

Around that time, two companies sued DWR for trademark infringement: Heller, who claims that DWR ripped off its Bellini chair and called it the Alonzo, and Blu Dot, who says that DWR duplicated its Strut table and called it the Metric. Blu Dot says that DWR even went so far as to use Blu Dot’s own photograph of the Strut table in its advertising. Both lawsuits were settled out of court, and neither brand is sold at Design Within Reach today.

The Questionable

When Edelman took the reins from Brunner in early 2010, he immediately instituted a “no-knockoffs” policy and got to work mending DWR’s tattered reputation within the design community. While the company continues to sell licensed classics like the Eames Lounge Chair for Herman Miller and Phillip Starck’s Louis Ghost Armchair, the focus moving forward is on collaborations with new and upcoming designers.

The community has taken notice, and Edelman was included in House Beautiful’s list of “12 Design Visionaries to Watch” for 2012 and named a 2012 Game Changer by design-focused Metropolis Magazine.

Despite its previous transgressions, we have to admire Design Within Reach’s commitment to turning itself around, as well as its emphasis on supporting upcoming designers and working with reputable manufacturers to create high-quality products that last.

We do see, however, a lot of potential in DWR’s ability to promote not just great design, but also environmentally responsible practices. DWR has already proven that it can reclaim its position as a thought leader in the design world. Hopefully the next step is to use this prominence to promote a green design revolution.

Behind the Label: McDonald’s See What We’re Made Of Campaign

Behind the Label: Levi Strauss’ E-Valuate Program

Behind the Label: Chipotle, Food With Integrity

Behind the Label: West Elm Green

Behind the Label: TOMS’ One for One Campaign

The post Behind the Label: Design Within Reach appeared first on EcoSalon.

Behind the Label: TOMS’ One For One Campaign

Jessica Marati — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 14:14:49 +0000

TOMS is often among the first companies that come to mind when thinking of socially responsible businesses. But how effective is its One for One model, and why is it so silent on sustainability?

TOMS Shoes began with a restless soul, a trip to Argentina, a pair of traditional alpargatas and an idea for a for-profit company that would fight global poverty. It has since become a driving force in the world of social enterprise, infiltrating mainstream fashion with its simple but stylish kicks and providing more than one million needy children with shoes through its feel-good One for One model.

But though TOMS has galvanized millions of customers around its mission, some say that the TOMS model harms the communities it intends to help. Add a troubling lack of supply chain transparency and all of a sudden those warm-fuzzy feelings start to harden. In this week’s Behind the Label, we take a look at TOMS’ sustainability and giving practices to see if the company has earned its position at the top of the social enterprise food chain.

The original premise of TOMS is introduced simply enough:

If you’re new to TOMS, hi, we make shoes, and with every pair purchased, we give a new pair of shoes to a child in need.

TOMS implements its One for One model primarily through partnerships with humanitarian organizations like Partners In Health, IMA World Health, WE International and Goods for Good, as well as through high profile shoe drops coordinated by its non-profit Friends of TOMS arm.

Last June, in a dramatic unveil, TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie announced that the company was expanding from a shoe businesses to a broader “One for One” business, starting with the launch of a new eyewear line that provides sight to one person for every one pair of frames purchased, either through medical treatment, prescription glasses or sight-saving surgery.

Since its founding in 2006, TOMS has been particularly successful at engaging with college communities. Through TOMS Campus Clubs, like-minded students can unite around the common values of “conscious consumerism, helping children in need and being heard through their choices” and participate in events like shoe-painting parties and the now-famous One Day Without Shoes, a celebrity-driven campaign that calls upon people to ditch their shoes for 24 hours in order to spread awareness of global shoelessness.

THE GOOD

Through TOMS’ giving department, more than one million pairs of shoes have been distributed across 23 countries, including Argentina, Ethiopia, Haiti and the United States.

By pairing with reputable groups on distribution, TOMS aims to ensure that its aid is not isolated, but rather part of comprehensive development programs targeting healthcare and education. Goods for Good founder Melissa Kushner writes that these types of donations can be an effective form of aid, when done right.

After eight years of learning how to best provide goods to those in need, I can safely say that shoes, fabric, school materials as well as other necessities like eyeglasses can have a lasting impact, even after they wear out. Goods provision can be right and when it is, it has far-reaching benefits. For example: Goods for Good has witnessed a 25 percent increase in school attendance by providing students and teachers with re-purposed educational supplies and trained over 200 vulnerable people in the marketable skill of tailoring who in turn created over 24,000 school uniforms for orphans and vulnerable children, based on the gift of surplus fabric.

And TOMS makes a concerted effort to make sure its donations are “done right,” a former employee told EcoSalon. Giving partners are thoroughly vetted and communities thoroughly assessed to ensure that local economies won’t be disrupted by large-scale shoe distribution. Each order of donation shoes is made-to-order so that the giving partner can meet the needs of the children they serve – no surplus product in odd sizes here. And most of the donation shoes are basic black canvas, since black shoes are often required for school uniforms and school uniforms are often required to attend school. TOMS also works to establish long-term relationships through repeat giving, so that new shoes can be provided when old shoes are outgrown or worn out.

More information is available in TOMS’ first-ever Giving Report, published in 2010.

THE BAD

Despite TOMS’ efforts to give responsibly, its One for One model has become a subject of criticism from many in the international development community. In 2011, the blog Good Intentions Are Not Enough launched a counter-campaign to One Day Without Shoes called A Day Without Dignity, calling upon aid workers and people from areas that receive shoe drops and aid to speak up against TOMS’ “Whites in Shining Armor” approach to philanthropy.

More than 60 blog posts were contributed to the campaign, including one from Kelsey Timmerman, author of Where Am I Wearing? A Global Tour to the Countries, Factories, and People That Make Our Clothes, who wrote:

Yes, someone giving you a pair of shoes would sure be nice if you didn’t have a pair. But a job that allows parents to send their kids to school could change your family tree forever.

TOMS is also notoriously vague about the origins of its products, the sustainability of its supply chains and the ethical nature of its business practices. While I couldn’t find any direct links to production information on TOMS.com, a Google search revealed what looks like a hastily thrown together summary of TOMS Manufacturing Practices.

We want our customers to know as much as we do. As part of this effort of increasing transparency, we’ve provided some pictures of our factories in China, Argentina and Ethiopia. Regular visits by our production staff and third party audits ensure not only the product is up to standards, but that our factories provide a clean, safe place to work, fair wages and treatment, and never employ underage labor.

What followed were the three images in the screen shot below.

Mycoskie expands upon his approach to sustainability in a recent Q&A with 360 Magazine:

You hear a lot about sustainability in all different realms now. Definitely on the environmental side, on the business practice side, etc. For me, sustainability is knowing that when I give a child a pair of shoes, that when they wear them out or grow out of them, they’ll be able to get another pair, and another pair. We’re going to keep them in shoes because that allows them to go to school and prevents foot diseases. For us to truly say we’re sustainable, we have to not only build a business so we are allowed to continue to give shoes by selling shoes, but we also build profits so if we have a bad season, we can continue to give shoes.

Mycoskie’s is a valid perspective, though it entirely ignores the environmental and ethical factors that have become inseparable from the sustainability movement. That, TOMS has yet to substantively address.

THE QUESTIONABLE

TOMS is arguably the most successful social enterprise lifestyle brand today, proving that a message about doing good can become a mainstream movement that resonates across demographics. As Timmerman puts it, “step #1 is getting people to give a shit.”

The company is crystal clear about its intentions: to effect social change through a One for One charity model. No mention of pioneering sustainable manufacturing methods, or using zero-waste pattern design, or creating job opportunities in the communities they adopt. Just One for One charity. And there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that focus.

What I do find troublesome, though, is that TOMS continues to create a movement around conscious consumerism and being heard through choices, yet it continues to hedge questions about the sustainable and ethical nature of its manufacturing practices. Most conscious consumers are as conscientious about the origins of their products as they are about the impact made through their purchases. Greater transparency about TOMS’ production processes would ease the concerns of many who want to buy into the One for One movement, as well as validate the company’s reputation as a pioneer in the world of socially responsible businesses – assuming, of course, that TOMS has nothing to hide.

Behind the Label: McDonald’s See What We’re Made Of Campaign

Behind the Label: Levi Strauss’ E-Valuate Program

Behind the Label: Chipotle, Food With Integrity

Behind the Label: West Elm Green

The post Behind the Label: TOMS’ One For One Campaign appeared first on EcoSalon.

Behind the Label: West Elm Green

Jessica Marati — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 19:41:18 +0000

West Elm loves stamping their products “green,” but what exactly does that mean?

Brooklyn-based home decor store West Elm caters to urban design lovers with its aspirational blend of minimalist furnishings, global influences, and sustainable practices. Indie artist collaborations and eco-friendly materials play a large role in West Elm’s marketing, with the chain proclaiming that it aims to “get a little greener every day.” But what exactly does that entail? In this week’s Behind the Label, we take a look at West Elm’s sustainability practices – at least those that are visible to the public.

Launched in 2002 by the Williams-Sonoma group – which also owns Pottery Barn and Rejuvenation – West Elm is a relatively recent addition to the home furnishings scene. But with a popular mail-order catalog, strong online presence, and 40 retail locations in cities like Seattle, Austin, Denver, and New York, West Elm has quickly become a go-to destination for decorators who want a step up from IKEA but can’t yet afford high-end contemporary design.

West Elm has been particularly successful at securing great partnerships. Its ongoing collaboration with Aid to Artisans has yielded fair trade papier-mache sculptures from Haiti, handspun silk pillow covers from India, and found handmade rugs from Morocco, while its alliance with the 20×200 gallery makes framed artwork from emerging artists available at affordable prices.

West Elm also maintains close ties with its Brooklyn roots, working with DUMBO neighbor Etsy to highlight handmade products, collaborating with the Pratt Institute on lines of eco-friendly furniture, and featuring curations from BK-based design blogger Grace Bonney of Design*Sponge.

The Good

In addition to partnerships that support independent and local designers, West Elm also highlights the ecology of its products. Throughout its online catalog, you’ll find items stamped “Green” indicating that the item is either sustainable, organic, or made from FSC-certified wood or paper. Many of the “Green” items that aren’t FSC-certified are made from reclaimed or rapidly renewable materials, like jute, bamboo, hemp, bankuan, and abaca. Much of the remaining furniture is constructed from engineered wood – a composite material manufactured from a mix of wood particles and adhesives, such as plywood. Often, engineered wood is cheaper to manufacture and easier to fashion, and some would call it more sustainable than solid wood since it makes more efficient use of the wood particles.

The Bad

While West Elm’s heavy use of engineered wood may be better for forests, it can sometimes result in quality that is hit-or-miss – and furniture that falls apart after a few months certainly can’t be called sustainable. A few years ago, popular blog Apartment Therapy published a rant from a West Elm customer who claimed that her new bedframe broke after just two months of use, and that several of her friends had experienced the same issue.

Sure enough, the wooden slats under the mattress had caved in and were no longer supporting the mattress. Horrified, I looked under the slats and found, much to my disappointment, the middle piece which is the ultimate support system of the bed, was completely bent and in a word: useless.

The post kickstarted more than 150 comments echoing issues of poor quality, lousy customer support, and frustrating return and warranty policies. Granted, such incidents are often isolated, but quality does seem to be a recurring sore point among West Elm customers who choose to be loud about it on the Internet.

The Questionable

Apart from such quality issues, West Elm’s record is relatively clean, and the Williams-Sonoma group hasn’t been the subject of any major scandals in recent years.

That said, I can’t help being bothered by the lack of substantive information about sustainability and corporate social responsibility on West Elm’s corporate website. Very little is showcased about West Elm’s product supply chains, and apart from the sustainable capsule collections, it’s difficult to find a country of origin for the majority of items (most are labeled “imported”).

It seems that West Elm is doing great work by offering great design at decent price points with what we assume are eco-friendly practices. But it’s not enough to just stamp a product “Green” without showing customers why. I want to read, watch, and hear more about what exactly West Elm is doing to become more sustainable.

Behind the Label: McDonald’s See What We’re Made Of Campaign

Behind the Label: Levi Strauss’ E-Valuate Program

Behind the Label: Chipotle, Food With Integrity

The post Behind the Label: West Elm Green appeared first on EcoSalon.

Behind the Label: Chipotle, Food With Integrity

Jessica Marati — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 21:17:14 +0000

A closer look at Chipotle’s ode to sustainable eating.

For the past decade, Chipotle Mexican Grill has distinguished itself from fast food competitors by emphasizing Food With Integrity, a commitment to serving customers “the very best ingredients, all raised with respect for the animals, the environment, and the farmers.”

As a result, Chipotle has become that rare fast food brand that is trusted by sustainable foodies for using fresh, natural ingredients. But it’s certainly not perfect. The burrito chain has also been criticized for its approach to improving workers’ rights, as well as its unhealthily large portion sizes.

Chipotle’s Food With Integrity commitment encompasses the use of naturally raised meat, organic produce, and dairy without added hormones, with an emphasis on local sourcing. Funny enough, though, most patrons are unaware of Food With Integrity. In a 2007 Business Week interview, founder and CEO Steve Ells estimated that only 5 percent of customers know anything about the campaign. “The rest come in because Chipotle tastes great, or they like spicy food, or they think it’s a great value, or it’s convenient, or the place looks cool.”

In fact, Chipotle only just recently started emphasizing its sustainable values in its marketing. Last year, it created a stop-motion animated short film called “Back to the Start,” which was recently broadcast as the company’s first ever national television ad during Sunday’s GRAMMY Awards. Set to a cover of Coldplay’s “The Scientist” by country star Willie Nelson, the animated short depicts the growth of a factory farm, before its owner has a change of heart and decides to operate more sustainably.

Though his green marketing budget is slim, Ells himself is an outspoken advocate for sustainable farming and ethical animal treatment, and he frequently expresses his hope that Chipotle’s efforts will spur an industry-wide revolution:

Finding sustainable sources for food in each region can be difficult. But we are committed to serving food made with the finest ingredients available. The more consumers understand the benefits of eating food from more sustainable sources, the more they’re going to expect it from everyone.

It’s evident that Ells and his Chipotle empire are mighty good at talking the talk. But do they walk the walk? Here, a look at the good, the bad, and the questionable aspects of one of the country’s quickest growing fast food restaurants.

The Good

Today, Chipotle serves more “naturally raised” meat – defined as open-range, antibiotic free, and with a vegetarian diet – than any other restaurant chain. The company sources 100 percent of its pork and “much” (approximately 80 to 85 percent) of its beef and chicken from suppliers who adhere to these values, including the highly respected Niman Ranch in California.

In addition, 40 percent of Chipotle’s beans are organic, with a small percentage grown using conservation tilling methods. And in 2011, the company announced that it would use more than 10 million pounds of local produce from farms within 350 miles of the restaurants where the produce will ultimately be served, including bell peppers, jalapenos, oregano, red onions, and romaine lettuce.

To prove Chipotle’s freshness point, none of their restaurants have freezers, microwave ovens, or can openers. They do, however, have open kitchens for even further transparency.

The Bad

Since 2006, Chipotle has faced protest from sustainability advocates because of its refusal to join other fast food chains in a coalition to improve wages and conditions for Florida tomato pickers. In 2009, 33 individuals and groups, including Fast Food Nation author Eric Schlosser and Food Inc. director Robert Kenner, signed a public letter to Ells, calling on him to support the efforts of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a grassroots farm worker organization, by signing onto the Campaign for Fair Food. The letter challenged:

Your company has shown admirable leadership in working with – and incubating – meat suppliers willing to meet your higher standards. But your failure to do that same hard work in the Florida tomato industry – together with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) – threatens to render your announcement an empty gesture aimed more at public relations damage control than an effort to make real change.

Ells responded that the CIW “doesn’t see the bigger picture” of fundamentally changing the fast food world, though CIW has made landmark progress in improving workers rights, even earning a Hero Acting to End Modern-Day Slavery Award from the U.S. State Department in 2010.

Ultimately, Chipotle entered into an agreement with East Coast Farms, Florida’s largest tomato producer, where it agreed to pay an additional penny per pound of tomatoes picked. Despite repeated pleas from big names in the sustainability community, it still hasn’t signed onto the Campaign for Fair Food to address other workers rights.

The Questionable

Though the ingredients are fresh and more-or-less well-cultivated, the Chipotle Burrito has become an object of controversy because of its nutritional content, landing on lists of both the best foods and the worst foods.

On Chipotle’s website, nutritional facts are broken down by ingredient – helpful for build-your-own-burrito aficionados. However, this breakdown disguises the fact that a basic pork burrito with rice, vegetables, cheese, guacamole, and salsa can top out at more than 1,300 calories – more than twice that of a McDonald’s Big Mac. The burrito also contains 31 grams of fat, 105 milligrams of cholesterol, 102 grams of carbohydrates, and a whopping 2600 mg of sodium – more than your average daily allowance.

Experts remind us that even fresh, organic food must be consumed in moderation. Though Chipotle’s past efforts have made it a pioneer in sustainable fast food, the next step might be to adjust portion sizes to make them more in line with a healthy balanced diet.

Behind the Label: McDonald’s See What We’re Made Of Campaign

Behind the Label: Levi Strauss’ E-Valuate Program

The post Behind the Label: Chipotle, Food With Integrity appeared first on EcoSalon.

30 Gorgeous Photos of Winter Snowscapes

Jessica Marati — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:59:27 +0000

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

So far, the winter of 2011-2012 ranks as the fifth-warmest on record. And if temperatures continue to hover around the 40s through February, we’re set to break that record. For some, winter is as full throttle as it always has been. In fact, in some parts of the world, winter is even more hellish than it’s ever been. For those of you craving that white stuff, here’s some pretty reminders of what you could have if you were in the right place.

(above) Utah, USA

Vail, Colorado

Füssen, Germany

Nozawa, Japan

Wallpack Center, New Jersey, USA

Boulder, Colorado

Madrid, Spain

Jura, France

New York, New York, USA

Styrsö, Sweden

Pingree Grove, Illinois, USA

Yukon Territory, Canada

Guildford, England

Berks County, Pennsylvania, USA

Stockholm, Sweden

Languedoc-Roussillon, France

Asselt, The Netherlands

Hamburg, Germany

Lake Louise Park, Alberta, Canada

Mauna Kea, Hawaii, USA

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

SEE ALSO:

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40 Gorgeous Photos of Asia

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25 Images of Female Adrenaline Seekers

40 Photos from Flea Markets Around the World

The post 30 Gorgeous Photos of Winter Snowscapes appeared first on EcoSalon.

Behind the Label: Levi Strauss’ E-Valuate Program

Jessica Marati — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:49:42 +0000

Green jean, baby.

In 1873, Levi Strauss & Company invented the first blue jeans, a durable pair of trousers that could hold up to the task of constructing America. The rest is history. Today, Levi’s 501 jeans are the world’s best-selling item of clothing, and the blue jean, whether skinny or bell-bottomed, has been a global fashion staple for as long as most of us can remember.

Levi’s commitment to social responsibility has similar historical clout. During the Great Depression, for instance, Levi’s instituted shorter work weeks to prevent the massive lay-offs that were happening around the country. Levi Strauss factories were racially integrated long before the Civil Rights Act mandated it. And in the 1980s, Levi’s became the first American corporation to publicly address the HIV/AIDS epidemic sweeping the nation. The fight against HIV/AIDS continues to be an issue central to the company’s not-for-profit Levi Strauss Foundation.

In addition to its social responsibility efforts, Levi’s has also been a pioneer in the world of sustainability. Their current eco-efforts are founded on an intensive study of the entire product lifecycle of their best-sellers – the Levi’s 501 jeans and Dockers Original Khakis – conducted in 2007. From this study came the idea to further evaluate – or “E-valuate”, as they call it – 11 of their most popular items using primary data across several categories: contribution to climate change, energy use, renewable energy use, water consumption, land occupation, qualified sustainably grown fiber content, waste generation, materials efficiency, recycled content, land transformation, eutrophication, and restricted substance list adherence.

The Good

From the product lifecycle analysis, Levi’s had a better idea of their strengths and weaknesses as a company. They made the decision to hone in on two key phases – cotton production and consumer use – and they have aimed to reduce their impact in the energy, water, chemicals, and materials aspects of apparel manufacturing.

By making the decision to focus, Levi’s has taken a “do less, but better” approach to sustainability marketing. Over the past five years, they’ve made particularly significant strides in the area of water preservation. In 2010, they introduced the Water jean collection, which used up an average of 28% and up to 96% less water in the finishing process than traditional jeans.

“What’s different about the Water

A typical pair of jeans consumes 919 gallons of water throughout its lifecycle, including what’s needed to irrigate the cotton crop, produce the pant, and wash them at home. For Water

Levi’s also aims to change how customers use their products, after finding that nearly 60 percent of energy use involved in a product’s lifecycle happens after the jeans are taken home. Their “Care Tag for Our Planet” campaign instructs Levi’s owners to wash less often, use cold water in the cycle, air-dry jeans on a line, and donate old jeans to Goodwill, using innovative methods like a crowdsourced design competition for air-dry solutions.

The Bad

Apart from some backlash over a handful of tasteless ads, Levi’s reputation has been pretty pristine for the past few decades. That’s not to say their conscience is completely clean. In the 1990s, Levi’s was embroiled in a scandal involving factories in the Northern Mariana Islands, a commonwealth territory of the United States located in the Pacific Ocean. Though jeans from these factories were branded “Made in the USA,” they were produced primarily by imported laborers operating under “slavelike” conditions: 12-hour work days, seven-day work weeks, poor living conditions, payment well under the minimum wage, and an atmosphere of fear and control.

The high-profile case spurred Levi’s to establish a workplace code of conduct for its manufacturing suppliers. In 1991, the company released the first version of their Terms of Engagement, which spells out the ethical standards, legal requirements, environmental requirements, and community involvement that all of their suppliers and contractors must agree to and abide by.

The Questionable

Levi’s has a strong track record of operating responsibly, and is considered a pioneer in sustainability by many in the industry. The company has compiled an impressive body of information, literature, and resources surrounding its operations, and has been transparent both with its failings as well as its dedication to improve.

However, much of this information isn’t necessarily translated to Levi’s customers. The other day, I popped into a Levi’s retail store in lower Manhattan, expecting significant promotion around the WaterBetter Cotton Initiative jeans shipped out just a few months ago. Within the store, I couldn’t find any information concerning sustainability, and when I asked a salesperson for information about their sustainable jeans, she said she had no idea what I was talking about. When I mentioned water, she said that most of the denim in the store was made using 96% less water than usual – a pretty big exaggeration of the truth, which is that the Waterup to 96% less water than usual.

It was only when leaving the store that I finally stumbled upon a mention of Levi’s sustainable initiatives: a wooden “Care Tag for the Planet” sandwich board placed just outside the front entrance. Funny enough, the actual care instructions faced the wall, while an advertisement for a 30% off sale had prime real estate.

Levi’s is one of the few major apparel brands making waves in the world of sustainable manufacturing. That’s a major accomplishment, but it also comes with a major responsibility. Levi’s is missing the opportunity to educate a wider audience about the importance of sustainability by leaving its efforts out of its mainstream marketing.

A November New York Times article described a recent scene at Levi Strauss HQ:

After being briefed on the cotton initiative by the sustainability team, the new Chief Marketing Officer, Rebecca Van Dyck nodded her approval, then asked, “But do our customers know?”

They won’t if you don’t tell them.

Behind the Label: McDonald’s See What We’re Made Of Campaign

The post Behind the Label: Levi Strauss’ E-Valuate Program appeared first on EcoSalon.

30 Awesome Quotes About Food That You’ve Never Heard

Jessica Marati — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:28:59 +0000

EcoSalon’s favorite quotes about the simple pleasures of cooking and eating.

If we’re not willing to settle for junk living, we certainly shouldn’t settle for junk food. -Sally Edwards

Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity. -Voltaire

Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie. -Jim Davis

Sex is good, but not as good as fresh, sweet corn. -Garrison Keillor

I have long believed that good food, good eating is all about risk. Whether we’re talking about unpasteurized Stilton, raw oysters or working for organized crime “associates,” food, for me, has always been an adventure. -Anthony Bourdain

After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relatives. -Oscar Wilde

It’s difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato. -Lewis Grizzard

One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating. -Luciano Pavarotti

When baking, follow directions. When cooking, go by your own taste. -Laiko Bahrs

All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast. -John Gunther

We plan, we toil, we suffer – in the hope of what? A camel-load of idol’s eyes? The title deeds of Radio City? The empire of Asia? A trip to the moon? No, no, no, no. Simply to wake just in time to smell coffee and bacon and eggs. -J.B. Priestly

There is no love sincerer than the love of food. -George Bernard Shaw

The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found. -Calvin Trillin

Life is a combination of magic and pasta. -Federico Fellini

Soup is just a way of screwing you out of a meal. -Jay Leno

The tradition of Italian cooking is that of the matriarch. This is the cooking of grandma. She didn’t waste time thinking too much about the celery. She got the best celery she could and then she dealt with it. -Mario Batali

Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all. -Harriet van Horne

A recipe has no soul. You, as the cook, must bring soul to the recipe. -Thomas Keller

It’s so beautifully arranged on the plate – you know someone’s fingers have been all over it. -Julia Child

Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts! -James Beard

Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon. -Doug Larson

One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well. -Virginia Woolf

Cookery is not chemistry. It is an art. It requires instinct and taste rather than exact measurements. -Marcel Boulestin

I’ll bet what motivated the British to colonize so much of the world is that they were just looking for a decent meal. -Martha Harrison

Salt is born of the purest of parents: the sun and the sea. -Pythagoras

I prefer to regard a dessert as I would imagine the perfect woman: subtle, a little bittersweet, not blowsy and extrovert. Delicately made up, not highly rouged. Holding back, not exposing everything and, of course, with a flavor that lasts. -Graham Kerr

Great food is like great sex. The more you have the more you want. -Gael Greene

The belly rules the mind. -Spanish Proverb

For the first time I know what it is to eat. I have gained four pounds. I get frantically hungry, and the food I eat gives me a lingering pleasure. I never ate before in this deep carnal way… I want to bite into life and to be torn by it. -Anaïs Nin

Life is too short for self-hatred and celery sticks. -Marilyn Wann

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Images: kate hiscock, Poppy Thomas-Hill, Alpha

The post 30 Awesome Quotes About Food That You’ve Never Heard appeared first on EcoSalon.

40 Photos From Flea Markets Around the World

Jessica Marati — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:20:39 +0000

Shop ’til you drop.

When I travel, the first thing I do in a new town is check out the local flea market. Nowhere am I better able to get a sense of a place’s culture than by hobnobbing with locals while perusing dusty antiques, trying on secondhand clothing, or sampling bizarre street foods.

The world’s most famous markets are a kaleidoscope of sights, sounds, and smells. These 40 photos provide a taste, just enough to jog that wanderlust.

(above) Bazar Mora, Valparaiso, Chile

Camden Passage Market, London, England

Feria de San Telmo, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Izmailovsky Flea Market, Moscow, Russia

Otavalo Market, Otavalo, Ecuador

Chengalpattu Market, Chennai, India

Monastiraki, Athens, Greece

Santa Fe Indian Market, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Buleshwar, Mumbai, India

Place du Jeu de Balle, Brussels, Belgium

Boxhagener Platz, Berlin, Germany

Anjuna Market, Goa, India