By Tiana Griego •
July 4, 2008
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Clark’s Honey Farm is committed to help SAVE THE PLANET.
With all the news’s going around about the disappearing of the bees, (about 70% on the East Coast) I became very intrigued to learn more about this honey farm’s passion to help save the planet.
At the current time they have over 2,000 healthy bee colonies. Their goal is to double the colonies in the next few years. Each colony has over 60,000 + bees.
They claim to provide enriching environments for their bees to thrive. “The bees are instrumental in the survival of the planet”.
They also ship their bees across the country to help farmers in need of pollination.
Bees pollinate up to one third of our food plants, and in recent months, bee colonies have been mysteriously collapsing. Up to 70% of bees on the East coast have disappeared, and about 50% in other parts of the country. One recent news account from New Hampshire says this: “The problem, called colony collapse disorder, already has hit beekeepers in 24 states, part of Canada, and several European countries. Many bees seem to disappear, with few to no bodies of dead bees found near the hives. The remaining bees, meanwhile, show mysterious symptoms. ”
By Emma Pezzack •
July 2, 2008
The organic & natural beauty market is increasingly saturated with new brands and products, and growing confusion about what’s ok for you and what’s not. Now seems like a good a time to provide a basic outline of what you need to know. In the posts to follow I’ll cover these in more depth but here’s a good starting point:
Natural: Widely defined as any substance harvested or derived from nature and then isolated, processed or purified by a variety of environmentally sound techniques including filtration, fermentation, distillation, expressing and other like processes.
By Skye Kilaen •
July 1, 2008
Tenfold Organic Textiles bills themselves as “specialists in providing naturally dyed organic cotton products.” In addition to towels and women and men’s clothing, they also sell their organic fabrics by the yard. Tenfold Organic Textiles was founded in January 2006 to provide organic fabric to consumers, manufacturers, and retailers.
Their fabric is a 200 thread count plain weave cotton, which they recommend for quilts, clothing, and bedding. Currently the only fabric colors available are solids: madder red, pom orange, myra yellow, kasam olive, ash pink, bark brown, soot black, and sun white.
By Beth Bader •
June 11, 2008
Antibiotic free, cage free, biodynamic, grass fed, pastured, fertilized, free range, free roaming, free roaming, free running, irradiated, natural, no hormones, no chemicals administered, pasteurized, vegetarian fed, high-Omega 3, whole grain fed. All of these labels have been used just to market eggs.
In fact, eggs are the product with the most “eco labels” of all reviewed by Consumer Reports. How do you navigate the sea of label terms and find out [...]
By Kelly Rand •
May 29, 2008
For many, access to a good LYS (local yarn shop) is practically nonexistent. The closest place to get yarn, any yarn (not including eco-friendly options) comes in a big box.
Luckily, one brand that is commonly found in said box stores is Lion Brand and even more luckier is that Lion Brand now has an organic cotton yarn. Hallelujah!
Lion Brand Organic Cotton is free from herbicides, pesticides and other agro-chemicals. It comes [...]
By Emma Pezzack •
May 19, 2008
It could be that I’ve just returned from a holiday in the tropics but I LOVE these organic & natural Spray Lotion Mists from Ola Hawaii. The sweet, zingy, fresh smell of pineapple + lime is super delish but there are all kinds of scents to choose from if citrus isn’t your thing.
Keep it stashed in your bag during Summer heat to spritz
[...]
By Jennifer Lance •
April 30, 2008
It’s official, I got my first sunburn this weekend. It was only a light burn, but somehow I always forget the sunscreen during the first warm days of spring. Fortunately, I remembered to protect my children with SmartShield when we headed down to the river. One added bonus to this “serious sun protection” is it contains natural cedar bug repellent, which kept the “eye bugs” from swarming their faces.
SmartShield is an “eco-friendly” sunscreen and bug repellent combination, but it does not appear to be all natural, as there are some ingredients I do not recognize. I researched several of these ingredients on Skin Deep, as Smartshied itself has not been rated, and I discovered they contained a low to moderate hazard. The Environmental Working Group has done an extensive study on sunscreens and found that:
Our comprehensive scientific review indicates that 85% of 1,015 sunscreen products offer inadequate protection from the sun, or contain ingredients with significant safety concerns. Only 15% of the products on the market are both safe and effective, blocking both UVA and UVB radiation, remaining stable in sunlight, and containing few if any ingredients with significant known or suspected health hazards.
By MC Milker •
April 21, 2008
Some scary truths about consumers’ assumptions could lead to a “green” backlash concludes The Green Gap Survey, released this week by Cone LLC and The Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship.
We in the business of making environmentally friendly and natural product know that little regulation exists around the terms, “green,” “environmentally friendly,” and “natural.” But, consumers don’t and are, perhaps naively, trusting.
- 47 percent trust companies to tell them the truth in environmental messaging
- 45 percent believe companies are accurately communicating information about their impact on the environment
- 61 percent of Americans say they understand the environmental terms companies use in their advertising
Similar to Hope Spinnery in Maine that I featured a few weeks ago, Green Mountain Spinnery in Vermont creates their own yarn from United States-grown fibers (specifically alpaca, mohair, wool and organic cotton).
“Our mission is to produce and sell high quality yarns from natural fibers and design classic Vermont patterns. Transforming the many types of raw fibers into luxurious and long lasting yarn. The Green Mountain Spinnery helps to sustain regional sheep farming, and to develop environmentally sound ways to process natural fibers,” says their website.
Using vintage equipment, Green Mountain Spinnery creates yarns that take any project from plain to prodigious. Also similar to Hope Spinnery, GMS will spin yarns from fibers that you provide as well. The company has also released its own book of patterns, called The Green Mountain Spinnery Knitting Book, featuring “30 of their best loved contemporary and classic patterns.”
By Emma Pezzack •
April 2, 2008
Beauty in all forms has been a lifelong passion for me. With an appreciation for killer aesthetic combined with substance, it doesn’t matter to me if I’m looking at something vast and humbling as the ocean; the way someone’s face lights up when they smile; the solid, magnificent way in which a great tree anchors itself to the ground and stoically provides enough oxygen for two humans for a lifetime; or it could be the incredible lines of wear and character on the face of an old Tibetan woman, totally ravaged and laid bare as a proud road map of her lifetime and how she’s lived in it.
There isn’t an ideal or perfect beauty. We are all so completely and utterly different. You can have someone drop dead gorgeous who is shallow and mean and she’ll seem like the most unattractive person on the planet. Conversely, you might meet someone not so physically attractive but with a beautiful personality and radiance that can take your breath away. Beauty can’t be separated from the personality no matter how much spritzing, spraying, waxing and killing yourself on the treadmill you think will make you beautiful.
