Before bamboo, soy and coconut fibers, there was organic cotton. Arguably the most popular sustainable fabric available, organic cotton is grown without pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizers, all of which are used on conventional cotton crops. Organic cotton is used in T-shirts, diapers, sheets and more. But is it truly the better choice?

Critics of organic cotton rant about water resources needed to grow it, chemical dyes and the significant carbon footprint created to ship it. Proponents of organic cotton remind us of its reduced or nonexistent chemical usage and the smaller farms where it’s typically grown, and of the GMO (genetically modified organisms) seeds used to grow conventional cotton. We delve into the fact and fiction about organic cotton to give you an honest look at how sustainable this fiber really is.

1. Chemicals

Considered one of the most chemically dependent crops in the world, conventional cotton uses 10 percent of all agricultural chemicals and 25 percent of the world’s insecticides—in the U.S., one-third of a pound of chemicals are needed just to grow enough conventional cotton for a regular T-shirt. “Organic cotton is a solution to the problem of chemical use in conventional cotton,” says Lynda Grose of the Sustainable Cotton Project. Additionally, Grose says growing organic cotton is a great transition crop to convert chemical-intensive fields to a future organic farm, whether it’s for growing food or fabrics. “The ecological goal is to convert fields from chemical controls to biological controls.”

Organic cotton crops are kept healthy with a number of natural methods that help control weeds and pests. According to the Organic Consumers Association’s Clothes for a Change program, these methods include mechanical or hand-weeding, crop rotation, planting several crops together (intercropping), use of mulches, adjusting planting dates and densities of crops, and introducing beneficial predator insects.

[[ KEEP READING! THE FULL ARTICLE IS AT LIFE.GAIAM.COM]]

[Image courtesy of chadmill on flickr.com]

Nicole has come a long way from making clothes for her Barbie dolls at age eight. Five years after graduating from Ryerson University, Vancouver native Nicole Bridger is setting a new standard for style mavens. Victoria Everman chatted with Nicole just before the Green Living Show where she will be displaying her fashions.

London calling
After graduation, Nicole jetted off to London for the unique opportunity to intern with cutting edge fashion icon Vivienne Westwood. From her, Nicole learned that knowing the business world is just as important as designing. Upon returning to Vancouver, Nicole teamed with Lululemon founder to create Oqoqo, the company’s casual sustainable brand that is still gaining new fans.

Awards follow
After two years at Oqoqo, it was time to do her own thing. Creating her own self-titled company, the Nicole Bridger collection first premiered in Spring 2007 and won British Columbia Fashion Week’s Generation Next Designer award.

Though not nearly as edgy at Vivienne Westwood, Nicole’s designs clearly have their own sense of personality and passion for living life. “My designs are for a particular person. She’s 35, lives a healthy lifestyle, professional, expressive, current, and daring,” said Nicole in an interview last month. “I get inspired by painters such as Monet and Van Gogh. However, mostly I get my inspirations from what I am going through in life. The clothing I design portrays my emotions and life lessons. For example, my last fall collection is called Unconditional Love. For fall ‘08, the collection is named Surrender.”

Socially conscious clothing
A strong philosophy stands behind the Nicole Bridger line. (more…)

Weekly recycling, home composting, grocery shopping at the farmer’s market – you’ve made some good changes to live greener. So what’s next? It’s time to take your eco-friendly inspirations out into your local community to inspire and support others in lightening their footprint, too.

Making a difference doesn’t have to involve a boatload of time or money, either. These five ideas make a big difference for the environment — and they’re among the most likely to succeed in any type of neighborhood. Start simple, start small, start making your community a better place to be.

1) Organize a Walk-to-School Group

According to Mother Earth News, almost a third of the air pollution in the United States comes from passenger vehicles. “More than 12.5 million children and adolescents 2 to 19 years of age are overweight,” says U.S. Surgeon General Rear Adm. Steven K. Galson, M.D. It may seem like a lofty goal, but addressing two issues (automotive pollution and childhood obesity) with one solution is easier than it sounds.

Organizing a walk-to-school program within your neighborhood or entire school is as easy as getting the word out. Talk to your neighbors about getting together at a certain time each morning to walk your kids to school. If you want to go bigger, talk to the school’s principal or ask to take the idea citywide at the next town meeting (see #5). You and your children get some much-needed exercise — plus you’ll be reducing harmful vehicle emissions.

Resources:

+ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Kids Walk-to-School program (includes Power Point presentation and extensive resources)
+ National Center for Safe Routes to School

2) Create a Monthly Swap Get-Together

Any season is a good time for spring cleaning, but what to do with that collection of unwanted stuff? Swap it! Arrange a once-a-month get-together with your friends and neighbors to exchange anything you’re ready to part with.

[[ KEEP READING! THE FULL ARTICLE IS AT LIFE.GAIAM.COM]]

[Image courtesy of ikhlasulamal on flickr.com]

You’ve established a healthy workout schedule, working up a sweat three to five times a week—but why aren’t you losing weight? Depending on how much weight you have been trying to lose, you may have hit your fitness plateau.

The solution isn’t necessarily longer workouts. We consulted two of our favorite fitness professionals to find out their favorite strategies for kicking up your workout. The best part? Their methods won’t make you add more sweat sessions!

1. Vie for Variety

If you’ve been doing the same moves for months on end, your body is probably bored. “Each time you perform an activity, your body gets efficient at that activity and it remembers the movement and gets better at doing it. This in turn allows the body to go on autopilot, which decreases the number of calories burned,” says Patricia Moreno, a fitness professional for more than 20 years and the founder of intenSati™ fusion exercise techniques.

Adding variety can be as simple as doing your usual workout in reverse order or picking out a few new moves from a fitness magazine. When working on your cardio, vary the incline and don’t hold onto the handles—your glutes will work harder than ever. “If you love to go fast, slow it down and add some resistance. If you love to go slow, increase the speed and lower the resistance,” Moreno advises.

Feeling adventurous? Try a new exercise class! Curious about yoga? Longing for the days of ’80s step-aerobics classes? Replace one of your usual workouts with a class you’ve wanted to try or one you wouldn’t normally take.

2. The Joy of Jump Ropes

Not only will adding jump-rope intervals to your workout shock your body into burning more calories, it may shorten the time you spend sweating. Jumping rope between lifting weights “creates an interval workout with bursts of energy, and you will burn many more calories,” says Tanja Djelevic, Los Angeles celebrity trainer, fitness writer and founder of Loud Teenz health and self-esteem program.

[[ KEEP READING! THE FULL ARTICLE IS AT LIFE.GAIAM.COM]]

[Image courtesy of mikebaird on flickr.com]

Since its inception in the autumn of 2005, Passenger Pigeon has become a green fashion favorite among women of all ages and financial means. Heather Schibli and Wendy Trass have created a company appreciated for its intelligent and passionate designs.

Green Living fashion writer Victoria Everman recently spoke with Heather and Wendy about Passenger Pigeon. - GreenLivingOnline.com Editor

The label was previously named Calledyourbluff and was changed to Passenger Pigeon when the brand began using sustainable textiles. Why did the collection change to eco-fabrics? Do you find working with sustainable fibers to be more limiting when coming up with designs?

Wendy: Do we feel limited? Yes and no. In the past we’ve dyed fabric because it only came in beige, and the very reason we use prints so much is because much of the available fabric is quite basic. Working within these limitations means that we have to get pretty creative sometimes, but I think that’s where the charm of our line comes from.

There’s actually a good range of eco-friendly textiles, especially for more casual fabrics like knits and twill. The one thing that we would like to see more of is affordable organic wool and other heavier fabrics for winter. However, it seems every week we get new, exciting swatches from different suppliers. There seems to be a lot happening in the textile industry to develop beautiful, new, sustainable fabrics.

(more…)

March 24th — Eggstacular! by Kelly Rand: “Half eaten boxes of marshmallow Peeps; straw from Easter baskets strewn about; slowly coming out of a sugar high; plastic egg halves littering the floor. Does this sound like you and the aftermath of Easter? Feeling a little unsure of what to do with those plastic eggs now that the hunt is over and …”

March 24th — Recycled Plastic: Artist Call for Submissions. by Juliet Ames: “Lark Books is a fantastic publishing company that brought us all kinds of art and craft books including the addictive “500 Series.” Every year they publish 60-70 new titles and invite artists to submit work to be included in future books. They now have a wonderful …”

March 24th — Plastic Egg: It’s Not What’s for Dinner by Autumn Wiggins: “In keeping with this week’s theme of what to do with those pesky plastic eggs, I set out to find a worthy project. My enthusiasm was curbed when I came across reports of lead being found in these things. At the risk of being the antagonist, telling you what not to do with …”

March 25th — Wanna Be On TV? Casting For a New Teen Craft Show by Victoria Everman: “Crafter extraordinaire and co-host of DIY Network’s Creative Juice TV show - Cathie Filian - also has her own production company. With her fellow executive producers Greg Byers and Steve Piacenza, Cathie is on the hunt for teen/young adult crafters to …”

March 25th — Pizza Box + Plastic Easter Eggs = ? by Skye Kilaen (more…)

It’s easy to get caught up in the idea tat to live a greener, healthier life, you have to completely reinvent your ways. But more often than not, lasting change comes by making things simpler, not harder. Instead of thinking about all you should do, try a gentler approach - one that goes back to basics. Reusable shopping bags. Manual can openers. A walk to the corner store. Handmade gifts. A sustainable future doesn’t grow out of a to-do list, but from a desire for the kind of lifestyle that brings us back to ourselves. - Terri Trespicio

Here-here to that, sister! Though it is tough to get away from cleaning the bathroom and doing laundry, most “modern” inventions and products end up making our lives more cluttered and complicated instead of relieving us of senseless stress. Keeping things simple (or at least progressing them towards that end of the spectrum) is the overall theme of Body+Soul Magazine’s April 2008 issue - right in time for Earth Day, of course.

Learning how to kick back and take things in stride is the theme of this issue’s Reader to Reader column (page 20) . In celebration of the premiere of Sundance Channel The Green’s second season on April 1st, Body+Soul is giving away a luxury goody bag (worth over $2,500!) to one lucky reader. All you have to do is reply to this month’s Share Your Wisdom - “When’s the last time you did something out of character, unplanned, or spontaneous? What effect did it have, and what surprise you about the act - or results?” Selected responses will be printed in the August 2008 issue. Visit the Body+Soul website to enter and for more details.

[[ KEEP READING! THE REST OF THE REVIEW IS AT FEELGOODSTYLE.COM]]

March 17th - Tools to Use: Knitting Needles by Kelly Rand: “Learning to knit can seem a bit overwhelming, especially if you are familiar with long-time knitters and all of their tools and many needles. At the basic level, all you need to get started is a pair of needles and some yarn. Beyond that there are some very helpful tools to consider and …”

March 17th - Recycled Jewelry: Where Has Your Jewelry Been? by Juliet Ames: “At the heart of the green crafting movement are artists using bizarre materials to make their crafts. I absolutely love making and wearing jewelry made out of unexpected materials. When has a gold heart necklace from the mall ever sparked a conversation in the way …”

March 18th - Top 5 Must-Have DIY Crochet Tomes by Victoria Everman: “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 …”

March 18th - Artifacts: Caution! You are Entering a Go Spin Zone. by Autumn Wiggins: “It’s a warm sunny day in a quaint suburban park. Children are in line for a turn on the slide, but a bakers dozen have gathered around a picnic blanket under a nearby tree. Puzzled parents suspect a stranger is handing out candy, or has a Spongebob episode …”

March 18th - Fabulous Fabrics: Oliveira Textiles by Skye Kilaen (more…)

Too many Easter traditions are going the way of the evening radio shows and home telephones. Fashionistas everywhere agree we need to keep the custom of a new Easter bonnet alive.

Rebirth through fashion
Worn by girls and women to church services, and the parade that followed, the new Easter hat was often seen as a necessary luxury after the forty-day reprieve of Lent. For the devote, a new hat and outfit symbolized spiritual rebirth (Cleanliness is next to godliness.)

While a drop in church attendance and an increasingly casual society have led to the downfall of this fashionable classic, there’s no reason to avoid an Easter bonnet. No matter your denomination, a stylish hat can make any outfit look more put-together and spring is the perfect time to splurge of a sustainable chapeau.

Nicely knitted
Cozy and chic, knitting or crocheted hats are not only for snowy days. If you don’t have the time to pick up a set of needles and make your own head topper, some of the top chic eco-fashion brands have you covered. Stewart+Brown sells a beautifully unique Peasant Cap with Mongolian cashmere, available in three different colors.

Online shop Dan.K.Forest offers eight different knitted hats made from organic hemp, all for less than $25 each. Also made from hemp, Livity Outernational produces a full collection of urban-savvy beanie with and without rims.

Recycled and ravishing
(more…)

March 9th — Put All Your Eggs in One Basket by Autumn Wiggins: “A traditional Easter requires quite a bit of wasteful accoutrement. If you are trying to go green, there’s a lot of ground to cover. Maybe you’re already making preparations to color eggs with natural dyes, or even sprouting your own wheat berry grass for baskets instead …”

March 10th — Mapping It Out by Emma Henderson: “Maybe its because I’m longing for a good holiday or perhaps its just that I love the colours and endless possibilities of maps but I’ve been seeing them all over the place recently. This image forms part of a collection of maps belonging to designer Benita Larson via Poppytalk. I love …”

March 10th — Journals to Check Out by Kelly Rand: “I have about a gazillion journals. They can be found stashed all about my house, so as to be within easy reach when an idea strikes (at least that’s what I tell myself). In truth, my journal collection stems from my inability of locating the journal that I had last put pen to paper. I can never …”

March 10th — Recycled Newspaper Crafts by Juliet Ames: “Here at Crafting in a Green World, we clearly like crafting with recycling paper! Emma’s post on maps and Autumn’s posts on recycling folded paper and Playing Card Bags made me want to risk the paper cuts to craft. I am discovering, through writing these blog posts, that I am …”

March 10th — Green Crafter Highlight: Meet Sweet Pepita! by Juliet Ames: “Even our littlest crafters deserve hip eco-friendly clothing, and that is exactly what you will find at Sweet Pepita. This green crafter extraordinaire dropped her metal smithing tools for a sewing machine after the birth of her daughter Pepita, in an effort to make …”

March 11th — Green Pop Shop at Poppytalk Handmade by Victoria Everman (more…)

Are you getting sick of my little intros? If so, leave a comment and let me know. If enough folks say “yes”, then I’ll simply provide you good readers with the Crafting a Green World weekly collection of posts.

March 2nd — Artifacts: Tune In, Turn On, Tie Knots. This is Macrame. by Autumn Wiggins: “Yes, I know what you’re thinking…plant hangers and googly eyed owls…haha. Make fun all you want, but you’ll be overlooking one of the most sustainable, inexpensive, and meditative craft techniques out there. I’ve tried …”

March 3rd — Recycled Glass Art by Juliet Ames: “I am having such a great time discovering artists using recycled materials in their crafts. I was so excited about this recycled glass artist, I could barely wait until Monday to share it with the CAGW readers! John Bassett has been making these amazing glass panels and …”

March 3rd — Tools to Use: Scissors by Kelly Rand: “Another thing to consider when crafting with an environmental conscious are your tools and what they are made from. Tools made from recycled or sustainable materials are out there and available for use. One of the first items on any crafter’s list is a good pair of scissors …”

March 4th — Join BurdaStyle’s First Mini Sewalong Challenge by Victoria Everman: “Looking to add some spice to your Spring wardrobe? Need a new creative project to work on? We introduced you to Burda Style during the early days of our blog. Now its time to share the details for their first mini-challenge for all the …”

March 4th — Fabulous Fabrics: Organic Cotton from Mod Green Pod by Skye Kilaen (more…)

Unless you live a Compact-like lifestyle, you are going to be shopping on a somewhat regular basis. Whether it be home improvements, gifts, furnishings, crafts, gardening, fashions, babies, sports, pets or anything else you have going on, there is a green option to be found.

But where do you buy from? I’m all for promoting local businesses and buying from small stores right in your own town. Unfortunately, depending on where you live, you may have little to no options in that category. The easiest thing to do is log on to the internet (and you already have since you are reading this) and partake in the massive variety it has to offer.

After the runaway success with their first thepurplebook: the definitive guide to exceptional online shopping in 2000, authors Hillary Mendelsohn and Ian Anderson have released a number of specialized editions. Hitting book shelves in January 2008, thepurplebook Green: An Eco-friendly Online Shopping Guide is the latest of their incarnations.

New to the eco-lifestyle or so sustainably settled that you have a composting toilet and solar panels, thepurplebook Green Edition has something to offer everyone. Though the book is about shopping, it continually reminds readers to reuse what they already have. “The greenest thing you can do is to extend the lifespan of the products you already own,” says Hillary in the book’s introduction. “When it comes to shopping, it’s usually a matter of buying eco-friendly versions of the same products you already use.”

A simply worded, yet somewhat extensive, chapter on The Green Lifestyle covers everything from buying organic and conserving water to renewable energy options and avoiding petroleum-based products. The next chapter, Eco-Shopping 101, gives an informative overview of what it means to buy green in all areas of life, including food & drink, household goods, health & beauty, apparel, babies, pets, furnishing, gardening, home improvement and more. As a fashion maven, I was impressed with Hillary’s coverage of sustainable fabrics by including their drawbacks and lack of regulation.

[[ KEEP READING! THE REST OF THE REVIEW IS AT SUSTAINABLOG.ORG ]]

It all started out with just little old me, trying to post at least once a day to get Crafting a Green World on its feet. That was just four months ago. Now, CAGW has seven other writers with more on the way. To see how much the blog has grown in such a short time still makes me take a pause.

Thanks to all of the kick ass writers on our team, CAGW is up to at least 10 posts a week! We’ve got some exciting series in the works, so make sure and stay tuned for all the upcoming developments.

February 24th — Artifacts: The Eco-Hippies by Autumn Wiggins: “Welcome to the first installment in a series of posts about crafty relics with an ecological twist. Mostly, I will be highlighting a history of methods and finished objects created with what would be considered sustainable materials by today’s standards. I think back to …”

February 25th — Recycle Sweaters Into Yarn by Skye Kilaen: “Normally we buy yarn in order to make sweaters. Did you know you can also do it the other way around? Ashley Martineau started knitting and quickly found that it can become an expensive hobby. To feed her addiction, she started unraveling sweaters from …”

February 25th — Trending Green by Kelly Rand: “New online knitting mag MetaPostModernKnitting arrived on the internet last week with the fashion forward in mind. Complete with great patterns, blog and articles, MPMK is a welcome edition to the online world. In their first issue, The Knitting Bully contemplates …”

February 25th — Recycled Photo Collage by Juliet Ames: “I forgot how much fun it is to make a collage but after seeing this collage by Justyn Hegreberg, I can’t wait to dive in! Justyn’s work is so interesting and original because he uses recycled photographs (mostly doubles and blurry snapshots collected from Craigslist) and …”

February 26th — ReadyMade Readers Renew Broken Umbrellas by Victoria Everman: “When was the last time you cleaned out your attic? How about your basement? Are there still boxes sitting around from when you first moved in years ago? Under all that dust and clutter, I bet there are some pretty random things …”

February 27th — No Limit Hold’em: Make a Playing Card Bag by Autumn Wiggins (more…)

What a crazy two weeks it has been! Lots of writing projects and a few changes over at All Green Magazine. Thanks to my diligent work on the website’s Leisure section, it is quite full with ideas of fun things to do in Connecticut. Now, I’ll be working on writing about Eco-Fashion and doing Media Reviews for the website. That means I’ll be writing about sustainably stylish stores and brands, along with reviewing green books, movies, documentaries, TV shows and more! I’ve already written my first piece for each of my two new categories - I’ll be featuring those right here next week. Until then, enjoy my most recent (and last for awhile) Leisure articles below.

Connecticut Embraces Its Passion for Horticulture with the Federated Garden Clubs - “Established during the spring of 1929, the Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut is now made up of over 8,000 members and 152 clubs. As one of the 13 educational, charitable non-profit organizations operating as part of …”

Take a Local Vacation at One of Connecticut’s Green Inns and Bed & Breakfasts - “According to an extensive 2007 Expedia.com survey, 35% (that’s nearly one-third) of all Americans don’t use their allotted vacation days. Alarmingly, that percentage is up from questionable investments by carbon offset organizations could make a person …”

Dive the Depths of the World’s Oceans at Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration - “Billed as “Connecticut’s premier destination for entertainment and education,” the Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration certainly lives up to its claims. I spent a solid four years living in Connecticut before I finally visited …”