Green Options

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This Spring, update your patio, porch, or deck in one easy step. Mad Mats are fantastically chic outdoor/indoor woven rugs made from 100% recycled plastic (disposable bottles, packing wrap, etc.). Created in Thailand under Fair Trade conditions, Mad Mats will not work with factories that employ children or produce environmentally harmful waste.

The mats are washable (just run them under a hose), reversible, and really comfy underfoot. The flat weave and soft […]

Guayaki - Organic Yerba Mate Tea - (Guayaki.com)

I really only drink two things - water and tea. And I’m pretty fussy about the quality of each. Since I gave up the sauce (caffeine that is), I’ve been enjoying Yerba Mate as my new primary tea source. Guayaki sent me some samples to review for the magazine and I am now addicted to their Organic Yerba Mate. Not an awful addiction as addictions go. The company […]

As my friend, Sustainable Lifestyle Guru and Karmakonsum founder Christoph Harrach states, the Green Fashion movement is a web2.0 movement. He calls it “Eco2.0″. Weather it’s true or not globally, in Germany most cool green fashion labels available are sold online.

Some labels go even further and let their customers be part of their communities deciding over styles, models, and where the money spent for charity goes to. Fair Trade clothing sold over music labels, online design contests, innovative ideas are getting so normal that we don’t even react. But isn’t it great to not only decide for wearing great clothes with a conscious feel, but also being able to connect to your clothing labels within social communities? In the end social fashion is starting to mean more than organic cotton, it can meanwhile mean that you as a costumer decide how the new collection looks!

One of my German favorites here are Armed Angels, who have a radical community approach combined with high ecological and social standards of their production and Fairliebt (”Fairly in love”), who sell simple Fair Trade shirts with a strong feeling for a new community of young, conscious buyers with a dedication to great style.

Nestled in the peaceful beach bordering countryside of southern Maine, you’ll find one of the most sustainable yarn companies on the planet. Unexpected, no?

Hope Spinnery has prided itself on being as eco-friendly as possible: the fiber processing mill is run completely on wind power captured on-site; all fibers are purchased locally from sustainably-dedicated Maine farms; only Earth-friendly soaps and natural dyes are used on the yarns; by-products from the spinning process are reused elsewhere at the mini-factory.

The company’s yarn, made from mostly wool and alpaca, are available by skein and in 6 different patterns kits (5 hats and 1 mitten pattern to choose from). Hope Spinnery recently launched their online store, so you can see the stock they have right away and choose the color and fiber that would be perfect for your next project.

Whether you are Christian or not, children love to hunt for a basket full of goodies on the springtime holiday of Easter, which this year falls very close to the spring equinox. My childhood memories of Easter are filled with fake, green plastic grass, gross gooey marshmallow bunnies, and of course, the ubiquitous chocolate bunny. My children’s Easter gifts are a much more eco-friendly than those of my youth. Here are a few ideas I have come across this year for an eco-friendly Easter:

• Green Gift Ideas: Stubby Pencil Studio is now carrying wooden toys. The Spinny Speller is great for teaching children phonemic awareness and reminds me of the homemade phonics mediators my grandmother used to make for her first graders. The Made By Me wooden kits are perfect for little hands to decorate and assemble. Both toys are made in the USA. Stubby Pencil recycled cards and eco-art supplies also make nice additions to your child’s Easter basket. The cards now come in eco-friendly packaging consisting of a custom button/string tie envelope made from 30% post consumer recycled paper and green seal certified.

Organic yarns have been the majority of the fibers featured in our Yearn-Worthy Yarns series thus far. For this week’s installment, we are covering another vital element of green living and sustainable production - fair trade.

Wikipedia explains fair trade quite clearly as “an organized social movement and market-based approach to alleviating global poverty and promoting sustainability. The movement promotes the payment of a fair price as well as social and environmental standards in areas related to the production.” Based in Oneonta, New York, the Da’vida Fair Trade Store sells its own line of hand painted and hand spun yarns made from alpaca, wool and yak fibers.

Painted by Lisa Meriam, a sheep farmer who lives in upstate New York, Da’vida’s collection of yarns come uncolored from Uruguay, Bolivia and Peru.

Often one of the earlier decisions that eco-entrepreneurs make is whether or not to seek certification. Depending on your industry there are a variety of certifications. Those considered most meaningful and trustworthy (but, not always) include:

Energy Star -for appliances and electronics

USDA Organic Seal - for food and personal care items among others

Green Seal - for household cleaning products

Forest Stewardship Council - for wood and paper products

Fair Trade Mark – for a variety of products

Unfortunately there are also look-a-likes too, such as: Sustainable Forestry Initiative – developed by the timber industry. In fact many, if not most, large companies and trade groups have put together coalitions, certifications and labeling standards that appear to stamp products as, “green” when they perhaps only mean… trying to be green at best and greenwashing at worst.

Kelli first wrote about Inca Kids in her post “Three Fair Trade Toy Companies“. Inca Kids is fair trade project supporting unprivileged Peruvian artisans. Gilda Pedraza of Inca Kids explains:

I am not selling products; I am offering the opportunity to directly support a poor family in Peru every time you buy something. With every purchase you are saying YES to an artisan interested in keeping his or her

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Six years ago, when my daughter was a baby, there was very little available in organic, affordable clothing for children. Thankfully, that has changed. A new company called Happy Green Bee is offering organic, fair trade, sustainably produced cotton clothing for infants and toddlers. The company was founded by mother, conservationist, and Burt’s Bees founder Roxanne Quimby.

Happy Green Bee clothing comes in bright, colorful patterns. Not only is their clothing line cheerful, comfortable, and playful, but it is also ecologically responsible. Founder Roxanne Quimby explains,

We created Happy Green Bee so that a child can be a child, first and foremost. By using organic cotton, a comfortable and practical fabric, and simple bee-striped patterns, children feel as comfortable as they look, while their parents take a small step in making a big difference in the environment their children will live in.

Thanksgiving is only a week away, which means the gift-giving season is in full swing. To make your seasonal shopping easier and more sustainable, I’m bringing you a series of green online stores that offer a wide variety of eco-gifts that would make anyone on your list feel appreciated. The first offering in this series was Max and Zane and now, for my second installment, I bring you Organic Style.

Your […]

This cute toy from Under the Nile is one you can feel good about giving a child. The adorable organic hippo is not only made from cotton grown without pesticides, but natural dyes were used in its construction. Furthermore, the organic hippo is a fair trade product! Fair trade and organic, what else could you want in […]