Green Products

Reimagining New Year’s Resolutions

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by Marisol Maddox

The beginning of a new year in our Gregorian calendar is culturally a time of renewal and fresh starts. We often focus on trying to improve ourselves as individuals, but maybe it’s time to re-envision what it is we are striving to achieve. I posit that we have been underestimating our capabilities, and we should realize that the self-reflective resolution making process creates an opportunity for more meaningful introspection and change. Perhaps in addition to a personal wellness goal, we can choose a goal that relates to our larger values system, and our footprint on the world.

Impact. The word has largely come to be associated with something negative, but there are positive impacts too. Spend some time thinking about the ways in which you impact the world and its inhabitants. Do your actions result in the kind of impact that you want to have? Focus on tangible actions. What are some small changes that you could make that would lead to a greater positive impact?

  • Pledge to not buy clothing you do not need.
  • Buy a certain percentage of clothing from fair-trade, eco-fashion companies.
  • Avoid buying plastic- seek out non-toxic alternatives.
  • Only buy non-toxic/ eco friendly gifts for kids’ birthdays.
  • Volunteer for a local organization that could use your help.

Play. “What is the extinction of a condor to a child who has never seen a wren?” – Robert Michael Pyle

If you have kids, consider how much of their play time and interactions include screens and technological devices. How often are they getting to enjoy the outdoors in an unstructured way, so that they get the chance to use their imaginations? Pledge to consciously unplug a bit more than you have been.

Listen. With tremendous partisanship and polarity comes the challenge of finding ways to bridge that gap (from both sides) so that respectful dialogue is once again possible. In order to do that effectively we need to hear what the other person is saying. In order to hear, we need to be quiet, and actually listen. Do you feel yourself not so much listening but just waiting for the chance to speak? What is the difference between listening and really hearing? Perhaps you could aim to be more present in conversations with others, and try to notice the difference in the way that it feels. Becoming a better listener will impact all of your relationships, not just the political divide.

Share your thoughts in the comments section. We would love to hear your new year’s resolutions! We wish everyone a blessed and green ‘17.

GreenFestival NYC 2016

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This year’s Earth Day Greenfestival at the Javits Center was informative and inspiring as it always is. It is an annual expo of green product innovators, natural body care products, green gadgets, healthy food, eco-clothing, and sustainability organizations. It was co-sponsored by Green America and the film Cowspiracy, which is an exposé of how the meat industry impacts the environment.

I always like to mention my favorite finds, and this year one of them is from Long Island:

SOS Natural Products is a Bay-Shore based company that makes natural mosquito repellent products, that includes a key ingredient—lemon eucalyptus. This has been found by the Center for Disease Control to be effective at repelling mosquitoes, an important thing to have on those balmy summer evenings.

SOS Mosquito product

A second favorite was Mariclaro, a Canadian company who makes upcycled briefcases, wallets and accessories for men from high end car parts such as Mercedes and Cadillac. They literally go to the landfills and pull out the usable seat belts, leather, etc. and hand-make impressively chic, stylish products.

Mariclaro Upcycled Seatbelt wallets and purses

A final mention goes to the Unitensil for clever design. It is a re-usable “spork/knife” that folds up and can fit in your pocket for anytime you are eating take-out to avoid the need for disposable plastic-ware.

unitensel

There are Greenfestivals around the country each spring; see greenfestivals.org.

Earth-friendly Fashion: a Movement, and a Mission

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When I walk into my local mall looking for a last-minute eco-friendly gift for a friend’s birthday, a wave of dread washes over me. I wish I could find natural hemp leggings or cute pair of fair-trade sandals—but instead I find an overwhelming selection of human rights and environmental horrors.

In one store there are racks of chemically dyed shirts. In another there are stacks of sweatshop-sewn blue jeans. I vow to next time to order an eco-friendly gift online. Frustrated and saddened, I leave the mall and instead buy her a Visa gift card.

Finding Earth-friendly fashion shouldn’t be this difficult. Clothing also shouldn’t be thought of as “disposable.” That’s why I’ve made it part of my mission to make it easier for people to access fairly, sustainably and beautifully made clothing. For the past several years, I’ve been working on a book explaining about sustainable and ethical clothing and where to find it (due later this year!), so people can appreciate more about what goes into making their garments.

Just last week Green Inside and Out co-presented its first film screening, The True Cost, an eye-opening (and tear-jerking) documentary that gives viewers a behind-the-scenes look of the fashion industry. The film was shown at the Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington, NY.[1] [Read more…] about Earth-friendly Fashion: a Movement, and a Mission

Recycle Your Old Sneakers

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When your sneakers are too worn out to donate, recycle them. Since the 1990s Nike has had a Better World – Reuse A Shoe program through which they accept any kind of athletic shoes, including other brands. They grind up the materials to be used for flooring and even zippers. According to their website, 28 million sneakers have gone through the shredders, one of them located in Tennessee. Flooring for tennis & basketball courts, running tracks and playground surfaces made with “Nike Grind” now cover about 632,000,000 square feet – nearly enough to cover Manhattan. You can drop of your old shoes on Long Island at:

  • The Nike Store at the Tanger Outlets in Deer Park or Riverhead
  • The Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City
  • Nike Store in Oceanside on Long Beach Rd.

For other locations around the U.S. see : http://www.nike.com/us/en_us/c/better-world/reuse-a-shoe

Note* Nike is one of the largest global users of organic cotton, but has been criticized for using sweatshop labor. Consumer pressure will help them continue in the right direction.

The Ugly Side of Gold and Diamonds—and Finding Truly Beautiful Ones

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loose-diamonds-recently-purchased-engagement-rings-300x240pxWhile gold and diamond jewelry is beautiful, it comes with a dark side that they don’t show us on commercials. Before just looking in the jewelry case, consider this:

“In Sierra Leone, Angola, the Republic of Congo, Liberia and the Ivory Coast the sale of conflict diamonds continues to thrive for many reasons. Rebels make large profits because they use free labor–They threaten villagers at gunpoint, forcing them to dig for diamonds. If villagers refuse to follow soldiers’ orders, their limbs are amputated as punishment. Rebels sell the diamonds on the black market for less than other diamonds. Therefore, wholesalers make a bigger profit. The rebels use the money gained from the diamonds to fund wars.”[1]— CNN

The UN has established the Kimberley Process to identify conflict-free diamonds that were obtained legitimately, however this does not prevent sale of unethical diamonds.

And mining the earth for gold is equally perilous, for the environment and surrounding communities. The Smithsonian has reported:

  • The majority of the world’s gold is extracted from open pit mines, where huge volumes of earth are scoured away and processed for trace elements.
  • To produce enough raw gold to make a single ring, 20 tons of rock and soil are dislodged and discarded.
  • Much of this waste contains mercury and cyanide used to extract the gold from the rock, and the contaminated soil runs off clogging rivers.
  • Air quality is also compromised by gold mining, which releases hundreds of tons of airborne elemental mercury every year, as well as sulfur dioxide.[2]

There is a No Dirty Gold campaign to raise awareness, and fortunately there are companies making jewelry from recycled gold and diamonds. [Read more…] about The Ugly Side of Gold and Diamonds—and Finding Truly Beautiful Ones