Green Options

Ever wonder what fashion bloggers are really like? We have! While it would be difficult to try and analyze ourselves, we jump at the chance to chat with other eco-minded online writers to get their perspective on sustainable fashion and its place in the entire green movement.

Launched a month and a half ago as part of the new EcoGeek blogging network, Wearing the Future is all about “straight talk as much as style, so you won’t have to worry about fluffy, PR-soaked, greenwashing nonsense.”

I recently had the pleasure of chatting with the blog’s chief editor and head writer, Kyeann Sayer (pronounced like “cayenne” pepper). As a long-time writer for Treehugger.com, Kyeann has an impressive media resume - she has been featured on CNN, MSN, I.D. Magazine, Domino, Spin, Outside, and Women’s Wear Daily … just to name a few.

In our lively conversation, Kyeann and I talk about the beginning of Wearing the Future, her favorite eco-fashion brands, personal style’s place in the world of green living and more - read on for all the juicy details!

Victoria Everman: How did you get connected with Hank Green of EcoGeek? Did the two of you come up with the idea for Wearing the Future together or was he on the look-out for an editor and writer already? 

The top 10 headlines in international environmental news for the week of March 24 - 30.

1. World — Earth Hour 2008

As the clock struck eight in the evening, people across each time zone turned off their lights on March 29. It’s activism en mass and it’s called Earth Hour. The purpose: to inspire people to take action on climate change and to demonstrate that massive and immediate action is possible.

Earth Hour began as a city-wide voluntary blackout in Sydney, Australia, in 2007. This year, they’ve moved the date ahead two days and invited the world to join in. Even Google’s joined in. People from roughly 35 countries participated in this global event, which has become a yearly call to action. Read more: EcoWorldy, CNN.

2. Asia — Japanese Man Crosses Pacific with Wave-Powered Boat

A Japanese man named Kenichi Horie is attempting to be environmentally friendly by boating across the Pacific without sails and without fossil fuels.

How does he do it? With a wave-powered boat. Wave power has been discussed quite a bit recently, with a lot of applications including traditional grid energy generation. However, Kenichi is taking things to the next level by powering his ocean going vehicle with the very thing it bobs atop. Read more: Gas 2.0.

Amy Winehouse

If you appreciate irony, as I’m sure you do, then you’ll understand there’s something quite beautiful about the fact that Amy Winehouse will shortly be securing a $700,000 deal to sing at the opening of a nightclub in Rotterdam, Holland.

Irony, yes, because the club will be powered by widdle and Amy’s career is going down the pan due to a vicious circle of relapses. (Rehab? No thanks.)

I simply love this new recycled and reversible swimsuit out now by Victoria’s Secret. I’m really impressed with how the company is shaping up and evolving from their troubled past.A fresh start for them was making their catalog green a couple years ago (thanks to the amazing activists and the will inside the organization) thank goodness. The guest designer for this adorable green suit is Aaron Chang. Chang is a well known surf photographer turned swim wear designer. Aaron is creating sexy swimsuit lines from 100% recycled plastic soda bottles. He started off with organic cotton.Swimsuit themes are inspired by the natural world with sunsets, oceanscapes, botanicals, and animals, all of them brilliant and colorful.. They are also reversible so it is like getting two suits for the price of one. Such a smart, sweet and simple concept.

I’ve been admiring luxurious hemp fabrics and found this Virdis Luxe interview to share here :: Focused mainly on sheer silk hemp, “Viridis Luxe creative team of Hala Bahmet and Amadea West designed a collection of fashionable sweaters, skirts, wraps and tunics… Their hands-on approach to beautiful, sustainable creation involves long fiber hemp harvested by hand, along with the use of all-natural dyes and routine supervision to ensure healthy factory working conditions.’

Feelgood Style is a weblog about beauty with integrity. Our site is devoted to the future of sustainable fashion, beauty and health that balances substance with style. Style is and has always been a reflection of our dreams, imagination, and aspirations for our selves and our world. And in a time of growing consciousness about how our choices literally do change the world — style is more important than ever. Because ultimately it is not simply awareness and concern that matters — it is our inspiration and our willingness to embrace intriguing new ways of caring, living, and being that will create our future. This blog is about sharing that inspiration and dreaming with joy about that future.

We’re about caring for the earth while caring for yourself. We’ll share the best in beauty, fashion, and style that is on the path to making a more sustainable and elegant world.

Every season, new trends, patterns, colors, and styles, arrive, but nowadays even “new” has a new meaning. Because new inventions like solar textiles, smart wearables, and design printing, promise to make our future both stylish *and* smart, while new materials like organic fibers and new practices for their creation strive for ever greater harmony with our environment and society.

In a press conference on Thursday, Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute, shared his concern that greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere will lead to grain and water shortages in India and China as well as rising grain prices in the United States.

“The world has never faced such a massively predictable potential reduction in grain harvest as we are now looking at with the melting of the glaciers in the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau,” said Mr. Brown. “Keep in mind, this is not based off of a climate model with somewhat theoretical projections. This analysis is based on what is already happening–on a trend that’s very well established in both India and in China.”

Often the second banana to the world of knitting, crochet is steadily gaining more followers thanks to just how easy it is to pick up the hobby. Instead of using two needles, all you need is a ball of yarn and a crochet hook to create everything from toys and toaster covers to sweaters and stylish accessories.

For the first book on our Top 5 Must-Have DIY Crochet Tomes list, most knitters will recognize Debbie Stoller as the editor-in-chief of Bust Magazine and the writer of all three Stitch ‘N Bitch books. Crafters were both surprised and delighted when she released Stitch ‘N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker in 2006.

Similar to her first Stitch ‘N Bitch book about knitting, The Happy Hooker is an introduction to the history and process of crochet as well as a kick-ass pattern book. Whether you are an experienced knitter or new to fiber crafts all together, The Happy Hooker is the perfect first crochet book for everyone.

Crochet shares some similarities with knitting. One major likeness is that the more you know, the more likely you are to make a mistake. No crocheters’ bookshelf would be complete without The Crochet Answer Book: Solutions to Every Problem You’ll Ever Face; Answers to Every Question You’ll Ever Ask by Edie Eckman.

With line illustration, charts, details on tools, specific techniques, standard crochet abbreviations, common crochet terms and phrases, standard body measurements and sizing, suggested sizes for accessories and household items, and yarn care symbols; this is the only book you will need when your loops and hooks don’t look right.

Answers to detailed questions about all aspects of crochet is the feature element of the book, with chapters on gauge, circles, edges, and finishing. Thanks to Edie’s support, you will feel more confident to progress into more detailed crochet patterns and projects.

The fight against climate change has moved on considerably in the past year. Today, the debate is less about if, and more about what.

But concrete action has been slow, and whilst the world continues to talk, emissions continue to rise. However, another small but significant step has been made during the past week with an agreement between EU leaders to commit to legislation setting firm targets for a 20% reduction in Co2 emissions before 2020.

Janez Jansa , Prime Minister of Solvenia who currently holds the rotating EU presidency told reporters that EU leaders have taken a “huge step forward” with this agreement.

“People are getting fed up with a situation where everyone’s talking about doing something about climate change but no one’s actually doing anything,” says Thomas Vellacott, director of Switzerland’s WWF and the man behind a petition for a national vote on climate change.

Under the Swiss system of direct democracy voters have a right to challenge parliamentary laws or pass constitutional amendments by collecting a minimum of 100,000 signatures to force a ballot. In just 18 months, a coalition of green organizations have collected over 150,000 signatures, enough to force a vote on increasing Switzerland’s current 20% Co2 reduction targets to a slightly more ambitious 30%. The initiative has been so popular that people have reportedly been queuing up to sign the petition.

As I monitored the results of Tuesday’s primaries, mostly thanks to my Twitter friends, I was once again struck how the candidates and general population are ignoring the greatest issue facing human kind: climate change. Media outlet after media outlet proclaimed the economy as the greatest concern of voters; however, the connection to the environment seems to be lost in the hype. Not only is environmental degradation caused by our hunger for rapid, continual economic growth, but the environment also offers the solution to leading us out of recession.

Whether you like it or not, we live in a corporatocracy where decisions are made in favor of short term profits in contrast to the long term effects on our environment. When we expect that our economy will perpetually grow without considering the environmental consequences of corporate decisions, we are doomed. This is what the presidential candidates should be talking about: how can we ensure a stable economy that protects the environment. The solution is green jobs.