Billboards, commercials, shopping bags, newspapers, pop-up ads … do you ever get sick of all the media around you? Finding anyone that is talking about something that actually matters is harder than ever these days, but a group of folks (in Los Angeles of all places) is doing just that.

Started only last year, GOOD Magazine is now up to its 7th issue and gains new subscribers every day. Billed as a magazine for folks who “give a damn,” GOOD donates the entirety of its $20 subscription price to a non-profit organization of your choice. Their goal is to reach $1 million in donations and they have just recently passed the half way point.

If you are going to talk about things that matter and reach out to people who “give a damn,” you better talk about the environment. Covering the entire breadth of social, spiritual, financial and political developments, GOOD consistently includes updates and features about eco-issues that affect us all in one way or another.

Having subscribed to the magazine since its first issue, I always learn something new from their intelligent, mildly-opinionated writings. Whether you agree or disagree with what you read, GOOD avidly encourages readers to voice their opinions on their site and via conversation with both friends and enemies. The fact that Green Options hasn’t yet reviewed an issue of GOOD is nothing short of a travesty, but that is all about to change. As with all their other issues, the November/December 2007 installment of GOOD discusses a medley of green concerns and successes. (more…)

Italian food has firmly staked its claim as one of the world’s most popular cuisines. A treat for the eyes, nose, and taste buds, it’s easy to see why the kings and queens of pasta live such happy and healthy lives.

The sights and smells of the Italian countryside serve as inspiration for California based Nomine’s line of soy candles. Pronounced “noh-mi-neh”, Nomine “simply means ‘name’ in Latin and was chosen to celebrate the power of the meaning behind names.”

Started by Nancy Covello as part of her dedication to alternative health therapies and a vegetarian lifestyle, all of Nomine’s burning beauties are made from only soybean wax and essential oils - 100% free of petroleum ingredients found in “traditional” paraffin candles.

Our wax burns longer, cooler, and clearer than paraffin candle waxes, with little to NO carbon build-up. Soy wax does not produce black soot, which can leave residue on furnishings and walls. The wax is made predominantly from domestically grown crops supporting U.S. farmers and the economy. (more…)

After the blue jean insulation is fitted, the low-VOC paints have dried, and the solar panels are functioning, it’s time to focus on the inside of your new home. With air quality indoors being rated as 4 to 5 times worse than outdoors and the fact that we spend 3/4th of our day indoors, the items that we choose to decorate are rooms with are just as important as our home’s basic building elements.

Sunny days call for open windows and screen doors, allowing the outdoor breezes to flow freely and temporarily remove many of the toxins captured indoors. When the temperatures drop, sealing cracks around doors and windows help to keep those breezes out (in turn, keeping us from cranking up the heat).

When the sun is out and the breeze is blowing, a funky chicken or mouse doorstop from Refab UK adds a nice hint of color to any home. If the temperatures are low, a psychedelic snake will keep out those nasty drafts. (more…)

That’s right - eco-minded crafters now have a new home at Crafting a Green World. Part of the Green Options blog network, I’m functioning as blog editor and head writer for this nifty new blog. For more details, here is my introductory/first post on the site:

Green is the new black, as they say, but what in the world does that mean? It means living sustainably is the “cool” thing to do, but some of us have been doing these things for years. Take crafters for example - many of us keep scraps of fabrics from other projects for future use, “frog” old sweaters and scarves to have fresh yarn to work with, and tweak items and patterns we find to make them just right for our tastes. The renewed popularity of green living has benefits for creative folks as well, including new sustainable fabrics and innovate ideas for reusing a plethora of resources.

For those of us to enjoy being a part of the creative process or are beginning to experiment with do-it-yourself projects, then Crafting a Green World is for you! We’ll be featuring everything from eco-patterns, supplies, and creators to book reviews and event/sale notices. Crafting a Green World (CAGW) is working to be your #1 resource for organic, natural, and recycled crafty projects, products, media, and businesses. Whether you are a novice, a pro, or somewhere in between, Crafting a Green World will have the sustainable crafty content you are looking for. (more…)

Who are the creative figures behind these cutting-edge, planet-friendly styles that are showing us sustainable has nothing to do with tie dye or itchy fabrics. We asked our resident fashion writer Victoria Everman to catch-up with New York’s Jenny Hwa.

New York based Jenny Hwa is the creative force behind loyale clothing. She first caught our eye with her bamboo and organic cotton bikini, followed by her widely-publicized first-ever organic cotton faux fur jacket.

Started in 2005 with fitness and yoga wear for women, loyale has quickly expanded into full, seasonal women’s collections; in the very near future, they will also be adding a men’s and children’s line.

One-of-a-kind fit and intelligent cuts are just two of the many alluring features of the loyale line. When it comes to the brand’s sustainability, they are a inspiration: using only sustainable fabrics, tree-free papers for hang tags, all items made in the US, and yearly profit donations. (more…)

Personalize your holidays and make them enviro-friendly with homemade decorations. The following three projects are fun and easy to do. They’ll be sure to bring your home to life during this special season.

COOKIE CUTTER ORNAMENTS
There’s a two to one chance that you have some cookie cutters shoved into the back of a kitchen drawer. After making a tasty batch of frosting-worthy cookies, you can turn them into affordable and festival ornaments! Attached to your cookie cutter collection? Visit your local vintage or second-hand home store for some inexpensive and sustainable options.

Supplies:
+ Cookie cutters (plastic or metal) — any shape (more…)

Preparing to install your first set of solar panels? Wondering if you are harnessing all the sun’s energy that you possibly can? A new device from California-based Solmetric stands to help both residential and commercial solar power users get the most from their investment.

Also useful when designing the layout of new construction or remodeling projects, the Solmetric SunEye is a “hand held electronic device that allows users to instantly assess total potential solar energy given the shading of a particular site. Identifying the shading pattern early in the process reduces the expense of system and home design and improves the efficiency of the final system or house,” according to the Solmetric website.

Release just last year, the SunEye was recently chosen as one of BuildingGreen’s Top 10 Products for 2007. Chosen from over 200 products being reviewed by the website, the SunEye joins fellow BGTV favorite LED light from LLF Inc.

An easy-to-use interface and USB connection for data transfer to your computer makes the SunEye simple for all users. What else does this swank little device do? Here are a few more of its efficient features: (more…)

Another year, another Buy Nothing Day I’m happy to be a part of.

“Water water everywhere but not a drop to drink.” Sound familiar? If we don’t preserve our favorite life-sustaining liquid, that classic saying is going to become commonplace - in some areas of the world, it already has!

Here are a few modern water facts:

• According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the current drought happening on the West Coast of the U.S. is the worst that has occurred in the last 500 years, with water flow levels at close to half those of the drought in the “dirty thirties” of the previous century.
• By the mid-1990s, 80 countries (home to 40% of world population) encountered serious water shortages; worst affected are Africa and the Middle East.
• By 2025 two-thirds of the world’s people will be facing major water shortages.

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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 might remember Rodale’s Organic Style Magazine, which ran from 2001 to 2005, acting as a vital source of information for consumers during the early stages of the second coming of the environmental movement. Bought by sustainable flower innovator Organic Bouquet in May of this year, I interviewed Organic Bouquet’s CEO Gerald Prolman not long after the deal was made public. Launched just a few days ago, Organic Style is primed to become a top eco-shopping destination.

“All the products sold on the site will be either certified organic, transition to organic, bio-dynamic, sustainable, Fair Trade or a new category we call ‘not certified but worthy.’ To help get the word out, we plan re-launch the Organic Style magazine in the second quarter of 2008. We plan to initially publish the Organic Style magazine quarterly and offer it as a free OrganicStyle.com customer benefit. We want to give our customers information that will be valuable in their lives, that will help them make informed decisions about a balanced and responsible way to live and celebrate life,” said Gerald Prolman in our August interview.

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Eep - Monday has come and gone, but I have yet to post my weekly interview with one of Portland’s finest. Though I am a day late, I’m no less excited to bring your my chat with Ryan Jacob Smith. Inspired by the beauty of the past and the ever-morphing punk scene, Ryan’s work features versatile narratives that range the environment and spirituality to survival, hurt, and healing.

In a previous interview, Ryan had this to say about how he expresses his range of concepts: “These themes are expressed through branches (which resemble arteries and veins), crystals, birds, moths, and anvils. Each of these elements represents the beauty of life, a hardship, or both.” Formally educated at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, Ryan now spends his days creating subtle yet powerful works of art (and some kick-ass vegan barbecue) in Portland, where he moved not long after graduating with honors in 2001.

Unlike those type-A artists, Ryan embraces the mistakes he makes on his own works, leaving scratches and slip-ups for all to see. Thanks to his formal education and desire for experimentation, Ryan’s pieces are a combination of illustration, painting, and collage; as well as the usage of acrylics, spray paint, silk-screening and graphite. Which one is his current favorite? You’ll have to read the interview to find out (wink wink).

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For penny pinchers and poor folks alike, Broke-Ass Stuart’s Guide to Living Cheaply in San Francisco has been an indispensable resource for affordable food and fun. After two volumes printed on his own dime, Stuart signed with NYC’s Falls Media to publish a full book of his Yelp-worthy suggestions and reviews. The original San Francisco book hit stores on the 6th and he is having one hell of a shin-dig this Thursday to celebrate its release.

When my boyfriend and I first moved to San Francisco in 2005, Stuart’s guide was a major resource for helping us navigate all the cheap and tasty foods the city by the Bay has to offer. Now, with over 200 pages and oodles of pictures, this new guide is a priceless tome for anyone living in, moving to, or visiting SF.

As part of his new book deal, Stuart has been living in New York City for over 6 months, working on a Broke-Ass Guide for the Big Apple (according to Amazon.com, it will be released in April of 2008).

Am I the only person that felt up-in-arms after hearing about all-natural Burt’s Bees being bought by the Clorox conglomerate? Having touched on the subject of sustainable sellouts once before on Victoria-E.com, the buyouts within the beauty industry have increased immensely in the past year (including Body Shop going to L’Oreal and Jason/Zia to Hain Celestial) … but WHY?

Extra investment capital and access to a wider market are the two most common reasons I’ve heard for a company being “absorbed” or bought out by another. Both are good arguments in favor of selling, but are you willing to do it at the cost of your current customers and their safety? What happened to the three-point bottom line of planet, people, and profit? Can no one be happy with their current success and not constantly insist on growing bigger and bigger and bigger?

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I wouldn’t be much of a writer if I didn’t spend part of my time reading. Not the best in the social department, the idea of joining a book club has been both intriguing and frightening to me. On top of that, I’m so oddly picky when reading fiction books that I rarely make it past the first few chapters. Uber-popular design site Apartment Therapy has solved all of these problems with their new Green Home Book Club.

Feeling disconnected is a natural part of working and interacting online, but the folks at Apartment Therapy have that aspect covered as well, allowing readers to vote on which book is next and consistently encouraging discussion. Amped is the only work I can think to describe how I felt when I found out that Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle won the vote for the Green Home Book Club’s first tome.

Already popular among critics and eco-readers alike, I’ve been teetering on whether or not to read the book. Thanks to the Green Home Book Club, I’ll get the pleasure of enjoying a good green read and being able to discuss it with others. If you haven’t heard about the book yet, here is an overview:

Hang on for the ride: With characteristic poetry and pluck, Barbara Kingsolver and her family sweep readers along on their journey away from the industrial-food pipeline to a rural life in which they vow to buy only food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it. Their good-humored search yields surprising discoveries about turkey sex life and overly zealous zucchini plants, en route to a food culture that’s better for the neighborhood and also better on the table. Part memoir, part journalistic investigation, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle makes a passionate case for putting the kitchen back at the center of family life and diversified farms at the center of the American diet.

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Recycling, organic cotton clothing, paraben-free cosmetics, public transportation - you’ve probably got the basics of green living integrated into your daily life already. Having done so many great things (big and small) to help out good ole planet Earth, how about doing something for yourself? A planet is only as healthy as all of its citizens, and if you haven’t been taking info account your mental and spiritual side, then we need to get you some help!

There are a number of great social sites on the web where you can meet and interact with other sustainable individuals, but most of us don’t have time to visit these sites regularly. Short on time but still looking to learn about all aspects of green living … ah, I’ve got just the thing! MindBodyGreen, a newly launched online destination to share and discover information, has already won a place on my “visit daily” website list.

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