We believe that style comes first.  However, by promoting our brand, we hope to enhance the planet, elevate consumer consciousness, and transmit our values, not just our sense of style.

Ecoist.com

Ecoist's bags are pretty pricey at $25 - $150 for any bags approximating a practical size, though they do carry other items and have periodic sales.  You can do what I do and window-shop by signing up for their email newsletter.  You'll be entered in a monthly drawing for a free handbag; besides, the newsletter is just fun to look at for the adorable and innovative designs they carry:

Ecoist's website also has a photo gallery that offers a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at all of the work that goes into making one handbag:

Look to Ecoist's website to learn more about their business model and philosophy, the variety of media coverage they've gotten, and of course, all the collections and products I didn't have space to cover.

I tell Hubs, 'I want to be an 'ist. What kind of 'ist could we be?'

He sugggested we be 'Parentists.' I told him I thought 'Cluelessists' was more appropriate.

WK's cat stuck a claw in his nip one morning last week when he was trying to get ready for school ~ tearing skin, drawing blood and evoking no small amount of whining by my one and only man-child. I had very little sympathy for him, especially when he asked for a bandage.

He pesters the crap out of that poor cat... he probably deserved it.

Later that night he was still complaining about how much it hurt. I taunted him mercilessly, saying I bet he had been like a chick with a new boob job, hiking his shirt up at school to show his wound to anyone with a quarter.

'Shoot, I should have charged a quarter! I would have made $4 bucks today!

Hubs was reading our local Auto Trader, doing that guy-thing of playing 'which foreign car will I buy with my lottery winnings' when he calls to WK.

'There's a BMW M3 with a SMG in here, what's that again?'

WK reads car mags like comic books. Really reads them, not just looks at the shiny pictures.

'That's a Sequential Manual Gearbox, the one with the F1 flappy paddles.'

Wha?!

This is the kid who can't remember from one class to the next what his homework assignment is, and he can pull something obscure like that out of the air. The Boy can have a conversation with anyone about anything automotive. But mundane, boring facts ~ like having more than two items on a to-do list ~ completely escapes him.

That's another bone of contention for me. Tests show that there is a definite, and severe deficit in WK's short-term memory, which begs the question: what can his brain actually retain and what can't it?

If we can only find a way to relate all his school work to cars, he'd be golden.

Some things are better the second time around. Case in point: Ecoist's collection of fashion accessories designed and made entirely from repurposed Coke Cola labels. Ecoist sources its raw materials from Coke manufacturers in Peru (rescuing the misprinted or discontinued), and local artisans weave labels into a variety of bags and clutches. Check out the process here.

According to Ecoist, the collection is certified fair trade, and they plant a tree with each purchase. It's partnership with soft drink juggernaut like Coke may not be able to help rescue the millions of bottles consumed and cast off in other parts of the world, but keeping the manufacture of their styling accessories local keeps the footprint small.

Baguette Clutch, $48 at Ecoist or check out the entire Coke collection.

I found these bags at Ecoist.com. Ecoist is a company that specializes in creating bags and other accessories with recycled materials. Some of their bags are created with recycled maps, newspapers, aluminum, and candy wrappers. My personal favorite is the confetti designs.

Go to Ecoist and click the "Shop Wrapper" and "Shop Movie Title" options in the upper right hand corner of the screen. That's way too much fun. I think the bar code style is the one for me.

Ecoist offers accessories made from mostly repurposed and sustainable materials and are produced in fair trade, sweatshop-free environments.

They hope to inspire more people to become "Ecoists" and think differently about the things they buy, how they are made, where they come from, and vote for a more sustainable world

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Speaking of Ecoist... these are probably the coolest laptop bags that I've ever seen - made out of upcycled movie posters. You would be so surprised what movies these posters were for, they look like abstract art. I love all the recycled-movie-poster stuff at Ecoist, like wallets and messenger bags...maybe because I like movies a lot, maybe because they just look cool.

Upcycling can be a dodgy style choice when it comes to the things we wear. I'm not sure how big a fan I am of the candy wrapper bag fad...those bags seem more like a novelty item than a functional accessory. But somehow the creative idea of repurposing the luminous and evocative images from movie posters into items you carry with you every day is simply a poetic choice.

These tote bags made from upcycled rice bags are not only funky, bright and well-designed, but they're also some of the best kind of shopping you can do. They're made by human-trafficking survivors and those at risk of being sold into slavery - and available online to us through an organization called The Emancipation Network.

You can get the same bag from Ecoist, as well as a bunch of other interesting upcycled handbag options (like candy wrapper weave and soda can pull tabs)...but for some reason they're not sold with the same story and I wonder if they're sourced from the same artisans..? Probably better to get them from TEN, who marks them up less too.

These folded wrapper bags are so tough and cool looking...

The Ecoist has the nicest collection I've seen

They are sorted by type of label/packaging.... I love the strawberry n' kiwi bag!

How do you make them?

You fold

the wrappers over on themselves, then make a chain of them, then sew them together!

Looks so cool... looks so hard!

This post explains it all

another cute bag, shown below on the right, is woven...

more nice bags

Hulu is a free streaming video site- like Youtube, but they carry entire shows and movies.  It's legal, and there's some stuff you have to sign in to watch, and there are a couple of commercials played during each episode.  But the videos stream pretty quickly and without weirdness for me, so that's a nice big plus.

You can watch clips or episodes from "Big Ideas for a Small Planet", which is a documentary series about sustainable topics- power, water, fashion (!?), and the like. "Eco Biz" profiles entrepreneurs in green businesses, and new eco-business strategies. "Ecoist" appears to be clips of famous people talking about their environmental activism. National Geographic has a passel of short environment documentaries posted, also. Oh, and Fox was helpful and posted their 10-second clips of famous people telling you to do green things from Earth Day. So, if you feel the need to hear Omar Epps lecture you on reusable bag use, be Hulu's guest.

As for environment movies, there's...uh...The Day After Tomorrow.  Which is awesome, but not in the informative way.

Looks like there are some entire channels dedicated to green programing now- Sundance's The Green, Discovery's Planet Green.  They've got reality shows (on Planet Green: Greensburg- after a tornado destroyed everything, they're trying to rebuild, well, green) and celebrities (Sundance does Ecoist, but a more entertaining series has Isabella Rosselini in elaborate insect costumes while describing in graphic detail their mating rituals.  Probably NSFW, or children for whom the facts of life have not been outlined, though bug love presents a much less loaded conversation-starter than most cable programming).  Plus home makeovers, science, history, business...like other cable channels, only I'm hoping the show host banter is less grating and more informative.

I've got at least a season of Steele left, but maybe I'll stream some Big Ideas afterward.  Anyone else seen these shows?  Whats good?

Tem bolsa de rótulo de balas e refrigerantes

De código de barras

E até de abridor de latinhas de alumínio

Ainda não presentes no Brasil. Mais informação sobre a empresa e outros produtos clicando aqui.

Ecoist bags are made in fair trade, sweatshop-free co-operatives in Mexico, Peru, and Chile, so whilst they do their bit for the environment, they do even more for local communities in helping to relieve unemployment and poverty.

As each bag is handmade from recycled materials, the designs will vary and may be different from that shown. Size: H12 x W25 x D6.5cm. Price £40.00 and available from John Lewis online.

Now that's a real sweetie!

Good Friday everyone! (Literally, lol!)

This Wednesday, March 26th, I will be at a super cool event called "Fashion @ MiaSci" which is The Miami Science Museum's "Happy Hour With Substance". I am heading up the Eco-Fashion segment which will include clothing from The Blue Butterfly and accessories by Ecoist - two of the biggest pioneers in Eco-Fashion in the South Florida area! Please come out and join us as this is sure to be a fantastic event!

L’econatale ha coinvolto anche il plurimmortalato albero del Rockefeller center a Manhattan, illuminato per l’occasione da lampadine speciali a basso consumo.

I supermercati hanno sostituito le buste di plastica con quelle di carta e offrono come buoni spesa video e libri del nuovo indiscusso profeta, paladino insigne della pace del mondo: mr. Al Gore.

Gli americani dunque, dopo la guerra, rispolverano per le feste un più confacente impegno sociale “civile” in nome di un consumismo che si rinnova tingendosi di verde. La rivista ecologista Plenty riguardo al pranzo di natale raccomanda di evitare verdure trattate con pesticidi e carne con antibiotici.

Caccia quindi alle boutique alimentari che vendono cibo ecologico, non sicuramente più sano, ma certamente più caro. 

Ma c’è chi è andato oltre, subendo così profondamente l’influenza dei proclami catastrofisti di Al Gore da cambiare radicalmente stile di vita.
Ignorando la circostanza per cui l’annunciato prossimo presidente degli Stati Uniti ha consumato nel 2006 221,000 kWh per illuminare, riscaldare e abitare le 20 stanze della villa con piscina a Nashville, c’è chi, fulminato da Una scomoda verità, sceglie di tornare alla vita delle caverne.

I coniugi Beaven conducevano esistenza vita tranquilla nel lusso del loro appartamento nella celeberrima 5a strada di New York fino a quando, guardando il documentario di Gore, si sono sentiti così in colpa di appartenere al genere uomo-inquinatore che hanno deciso di cambiare vita.

Michelle racconta così la conversione: «Sono andata a vedere “An Inconvenient Truth” in un cinema con l’aria condizionata. È stata una chiamata alle armi. Mi sono accorta che tutto quel che stavo facendo nella mia vita contribuiva alla distruzione dell’ambiente. È stato allora che ho deciso di dire basta». Colin e Michelle, con la loro figlia Isabelle ed il cane Friskie, raccontano in un blog, scritto da un internet point vicino, un anno di vita senza prendere ascensori (pur abitando al nono piano), auto, senza tirare lo sciacquone, guardare la tv, senza lavastoviglie, forno, stufa elettrica, rasoio, computer, acquistando cibi biologici da fattorie biologiche, lavandosi i denti col bicarbonato, andando al lavoro in monopattino e convivendo con una colonia di vermi a cui viene data in pasto la propria spazzatura.

Ma non sono i soli. Un gruppo di San Francisco The Compact (sfcompact.blogspot.com), in omaggio al patto del Mayflower firmato dai Padri Pellegrini per fondare una colonia americana che aveva come scopo quello di promuovere il bene comune, sono riusciti ad asternersi per un anno intero dal fare acquisti. Così John Perry, quarantaduenne che lavora nell'IT nella Silicon Valley, spiega che la sua scelta: “significa essere consapevoli degli eccessi della cultura dei consumi e del fatto che stiamo affondando le nostre risorse e impoverendo la gente nel resto del mondo."

Sempre negli States ci si può imbattere nei Froogles, un gruppo di persone che vivono barattando beni di necessità e vestiti su internet.
Mentre sulla rete sono sorti siti  di non-shopping come freecycle.org e garbagescout.com , sono sempre più di moda le yard sales, i mercatini del proprio usato che gli americani amano organizzare nel proprio giardino di casa nelle belle giornate.
Chissà se l’ideale di vita di questi neo-eco-radical-chic-contestatori non sia proprio quello attuato dagli Amish della Pennsylvania. Le donne non si tagliano mai i capelli e gli uomini dopo il matrimonio si fanno crescere la barba. Non hanno elettricità e si sposano solo nei mesi di novembre e dicembre durante il periodo di pausa di lavoro nei campi.

Jonathon Porritt, noto ambientalista inglese insignito nel 2000 dalla regina del titolo CBE (Commander of the British Empire), già consigliere del governo Blair, ha dichiarato all’Observer: "Sono molte le grandi idee che nei secoli hanno dominato il pianeta, fascismo, comunismo, democrazia, religione. Ma solo una ha raggiunto la supremazia totale. Si tratta del consumismo. Se vogliamo salvare il pianeta, dobbiamo smettere di comprare".

Il paradosso è questo accanimento contro ogni tipo di acquisto si viene ad esasperare proprio nel momento in cui inizia finalmente a decollare il commercio equosolidale, ex cavallo di battaglia ambientalista, ora accantonato e aumentano prodotti legati alla campagna Product Red, cui parte dei proventi sono destinati alla lotto all'Aids in Africa.

FG has blogged about them before, so faithful readers know how chic these little numbers are, and the benefits you pass on as consumers to the artisans who make them. I've spotted two of them in the office sported by fashion-forward, eco-conscious clients of ours. Here's a small, small sampling...

Small Clutch in Hot Red, $48 (before discount). We're told it holds a cellphone, wallet, keys, shades, and other small items.

Bar Code Coin Pouch, $28 before discount

Moo Coin Pouch, $28 before discount

Small Clutch in Green, $48 (before discount)

The Fab Factor: Artistically made from recycled candy wrappers, they are fairly traded, support the economy of the women who craft them. And as always, Ecoist plants a tree for every purchase made.

Shopping Tip: You can shop by color on the website--infinite array of patterns and colors--all one-of-a-kind and waterproof. Handbags and belts.

Ok back to work...enjoy!